I apologize for sounding like I'm "gushing" or "gloating" but Tika is turning out to be an amazing little girl. God, Annie and fate must have sent her our way because she is such a little doll.
Firstly, she is four-years-old and I call her my little "olympic athlete." She is the tiniest little thing and quite thin from malnutrition, which is why I was shocked when she demonstrated how athletic she really is.
I have have a three-foot-high baby fence (from when my daughter was younger) that I put up trying to keep Tika confined to the living room (until she is fully using her pee pads). If I can't watch Tika 100%, I want her in the living room where her food, toys, bed and pee pads are located.
Last night I put the baby gate up and went to go wash some dishes in the kitchen. I suddenly heard the little pitter patter of her paws coming towards me down the hallway. I checked the gate and had no idea how she got out. So I put her back in the living room only to watch her step backwards, take a running leap and hop over the gate. I could have sworn she was a little cat by the way she gracefully leaped over the gate. I couldn't believe it and I showed Hannah and my mother - who couldn't stop laughing at how funny she is. We tried a variation of different boards in addition to the baby gate, but she seems to know precisely how to push the board out of the way or squeeze through a crack to escape. So I'm going shopping today for some tall, wire fencing that I can install inside my living room doorway to keep her confined to one room.
This actually made me wonder if Tika believes she is a cat. When I picked her up with the humane society in Thief River Falls she was kept in the cat area instead of with the dogs because she is tinier than most of the cats. She loved the cats and was playing with them and licking them when I first arrived.
Today I took her to a couple different pet shelters in our city to make a Christmas donation (in Annie's memory) and try to get her adjusted to other dogs so she doesn't growl and snarl at my mother's pug, T-Bone. At every shelter, she went straight for the cats and kittens to check them out, sniff them and lick them. As for the dogs, she wanted nothing to do with them and would growl and snarl, no matter how friendly the dog was. Tika also demonstrates the same snobby attitude that cats sometimes give dogs, as if they were lowlifes they want nothing to do with. So we have a lot of work to do in this regard, that's for sure.
Tika travels really well in the car and is so fascinated with the world around her. Tonight she went pee on her pee pad for the first time, which I am thrilled about.
It's funny, but I didn't realize how sick and how much pain Annie was in until seeing the energy and stamina of Tika. I can see how much of an effort Annie made to act like a puppy around us whenever she welcomed us home. Just lifting Annie up caused her to grunt in pain. I have so much appreciation for the effort Annie made to give us back so much love and appreciation. I think Annie would have loved Tika because she is such a funny, crazy little character. Tika looks and acts like a little "cartoon character" dog. We are so blessed to have her because she brings us so much laughter after having so much pain from losing Annie. |