Sierra Update/Settled In

Sierra is doing so wonderfully in her forever home! She has been meeting new people and has found her spot on the back of the couch where she can watch all the things that go on in the world outside her new home, and she can also watch for birds and squirrels! One of her favorite pastimes. Sierra is still shy of the camera but her mom knows how to get around that with some candid pictures of her sweet self. I will caption the pictures with the update I got from her mom.

She loves her spot on the couch looking out the window; first thing in the morning, she must have the curtains open so she can see what's going on in the outside world (and then snooze a little in the sun, when it's out). If we don't open the curtains, she'll nudge them open herself. She has also seen squirrels in the trees around our house, and, as it turns out, if she sees one squirrel in a tree once, she absolutely has to check out the tree for extended period every time she goes by it again, squirrel or no squirrel. If she does see a squirrel (a very rare occasion), she makes sad little "arooooo"ing noises around the base, and is very upset when I tell her that she will never, ever, ever be able to climb up the tree and get it. Poor girl.

...a picture of how dedicated she is to that spot on the couch...even if we haven't moved the cushion down so she can lay on it, she'll lay on it anyway.

Here is Sierra with her dad just snuggling in...her mom writes; Sierra has been doing very well. We bought her a little raincoat to help with her rain-aversiveness, and she doesn't mind the raincoat at all, but Dan reports he took her out in the rain last night without the coat and she didn't care. She does look awfully cute in that coat, though! If I ever manage to catch a picture of her in it, I'll pass it on to you for sure. She's a big goof, always grinning at us and looking for more rubbies and lovies. She's a very happy girl.

More from Sierra's mom; We trained her on "wait," which we use daily when we have to leave the house; we get her to sit across the room from the door, tell her "wait," and then we go out the door and close it, shouting "good girl" behind us. If we don't do this, she tries to follow very adamantly. We also use this before crossing streets. And we used this to get her to hold her sit before eating her meals, and now she will sit and wait until she's given a cue entirely non-verbally. Yay! So impressive!

Sierra snuggling with mom.....We are now teaching her "stand" (she knows "up" for when we pick her up, so we chose a deliberately different word), and she likes that one a lot. I bet it's good for her left back leg to gain that kind of strength and balance, too. It has shown to be useful, too, because the vet clipped her nails, but didn't file them at all, so they were a bit jagged (my father in law got a nasty scratch from her gallivanting across his lap while he was wearing shorts). We happen to have a built in scratch-post (our landlord had cats when he lived here himself), so through a combination of "stand" and lots of treats at the top of the post, I've gotten her to scratch that a bit, and her nails seem better for it (well, on the front feet, at least). Hopefully we'll get to "lay down" next, but that one's been tricky to get started with. As soon as there are treats involved, the last thing she wants to do is put herself in a position that makes them more difficult to get!

Then her birthday "cake," since her presumed birthday in her medical records was July 28th (this is funny and we'll take it, because that is also Dan's mom's birthday, and Dan's family dog, Mocha, has the same birthday as Dan's grandmother). It's just her normal wet food covered with a thin layer of pumpkin, plus an added treat, and her dry food around it.

How great is this update? We are so happy for our Sierra girl, she has come a long ways and we can't thank her mom and dad enough for adopting her and giving her the life she deserves.