Belle Notes..........

(I will add as I think of things)

She is a very sweet girl that has a big job with the pups now.  When they are 8 weeks old, I will have her stop nursing and she does not have to be with the pups all the time.  When I did that with my last mother, Arionna, her personality really started to emerge.

I bought a "onsie" for her to wear when they are 8 weeks old so they can not latch on.  That way she can play with them.  She needs to dry up for two weeks before she can have her spay. Lori is trying to schedule it for the first week in October.

So happy to say she has gained 3 lbs since she has been with me and is just over 25 lbs now.  I would think 3 more pounds and she should be a good weight.  Her fur is quite thin now.  Fleas and being a nursing mom have contributed to that.

She loves the outside and is very alert.  When she sees something she wants to check it out.  A couple of days ago there were turkeys in the yard a couple of houses away.  She was pulling on the leash to go check them out, when I said ah ah and turned the other way walking, it was so cute, she looked at the turkeys and whimpered looking at me as if to say, please do we have to go the other way.  I really have not worked on leash training with her and she does pull some.  After she goes potty she wants to head right back to the pups so I do not try to discourage that.   When I open the door, she always comes to greet me with her tail wagging.  She seems to know the word "come on" as she will always come over to me or with me when I want her to go somewhere.  The only time she really gets excited and a bit jumpy is when I bring her food or when she sees something she wants to check out when outside.  I really feel she has had love in her past.  She is just too attentive to you and friendly not to have a good experience with humans.

She has not had an accident in her enclosure but is not in our home yet. I take her outside to potty about every 4 hours. I will bring her in our home when the pups are 8 weeks old.  (actually she has been in the laundry room on the hot days and did not have an accident in there)

The only thing she has bothered is she has gotten into the garbage.  She does not bother shoes to chew anything.  She likes bones and a soft blanket to lay on.

She is a wonderful mother and is protective of her pups with other dogs.  She has been fine with my dog out in the yard but if Cricket comes too close to the puppy pen, she lets her know to back up.  She will also bark when she sees a dog in the distance but if I take her up to the dog, she has been fine with it.