So short, so sweet, knowing you...

Time to post about Pixie! She is sooooo cute! We got her the day after I posted last....and she was so sad to see the last owner leave :( She whined at the door for 10 minutes. Next she ran straight into the lounge room and pooped on the only bit of carpet we have in the entire house! TWICE!

This was jsut the beginning of a lot of toilet troubles which we endured for a very long time, and were almost the sole cause of selling her several times. But, thankfully, she went from 8 accidents in the house on the first day, to one a day or tow a day in a week. After 2 weeks she only had occasional accidents in the house if she didn't get out for long times or if she hadn't gone the previous night she might go in the morning before we woke up.

Another major problem we had with her in the beginning was tugging. She tugged on anything and everything! The wrold was a big tug game! Very annoying! The most annoying things she decided to tug on were clothes (socks and jean bottoms being the favourite) and the leash. We tried so many methods to get her to stop tugging on the leash. She chewed through and broke the two that she came with! So we went out and bought a new one, and boiled it in chilli! But the first time this didnt work, apparently Pixie likes chilli flavour. So we boiled it again....and this time we forgot about it. The water boiled away and the seeds started burning and smoking. Pixie, sleeping in the kitchen at this time, didn't even wake up let alone whimper or bark at the smell! So, shes no fire guard dog hahaha. Anyway, the burnt chilli seeds certainly did the trick with the leash. It was definitely not tasty anymore, and she let go of it fairly quickly. We coupled this with the submissive position whenever she did try it, and in about 2 days the behaviour stopped :)

As for the jeans, the only way we could fix it was to tell her no, and when it got over the top we put her in submissive position. I hated this, but I honestly could not distract with her toys, food, or ignoring her.

In the beginning we took her for the recommended walks for a high energy dog, which was an hour twice a day. That didnt last. It turned into about 3-5 hours of activity outside a day, depending on her mood. It is one hell of a job to keep up with her! The best times were when we met other dogs in the dog park, and she ran with them for a long time. Pixie always slept well when we came home then. 

In her time with us, Mike and I taught Pixie a lot of discipline, a few new tricks, and what the world is about. I have to say I don't think that her previous owners did anything with her! She has never had a bath, had her toes clipped, met many other dogs, or learnt any discipline whatsoever. So it was definitely an uphill battle to teach her even some of the simple things, like not chewing on random things in the house, but toys are good. Or sleeping when we did.... Or not jumping on visitors.  

Why am I talking about Pixie in past tense? Well unfortunately, after a month, we came to the conclusion that while our house was a lot better than her previous home, Pixe was still not getting quite enough exercise. Also, due to some stupid politicians Mike has to be out of the house from 8:30-4 every day of the week starting this week, to 'search for jobs' which takes about half an hour to an hour. So with him away that long, and me at Swedish lessons (SFI) until 12 every day, Pixie would have had even less exercise. Poor thing, we couldn't do that to her. 

So thanks to her cute face, excellent health, and my marketing skills, we posted an add on Monday and sold her on Thursday. The lady we sold her to lives on a farm and has kids and 5 cats. She needs to see how Pixie gets along with the cats, but if that all goes well, Pixie has found a new home! Good luck cutie! I will miss you, although I hardly spent any time with you. It was definitely the most positive time I've had in Sweden yet. Yes the last 2 weeks evened out the first two of nightmare! Bye Pixie :)