Ambrosia SDiT

puppy haircut before and after!!

one of my part time jobs is at a movie theater, and this past saturday was the first time ambrosia came with me while i was actively working!

her crate is set up in the box office, so i was only selling tickets (no food/concessions) and she honestly did really well! we went for a 2 mile long line walk in the woods before the 4 hour shift, and while it took her a while to settle in and relax, she was passed out by the end of it.

my body seems to have finally adjusted to the pain flare from the cold weather, and we’ve been taking advantage of this by doing so many more outings! we’ve been going to lowe’s, pet smart, michael’s, and target, and ambrosia has impressed me more and more at each location

we went for a walk beforehand, and let her have zoomies in the yard (it snowed! therefore we *must* have zoomies) so she wasnt full of energy i asked her to settle. the issue was, we went to a panera, and this particular panera was on a very busy road, so it was difficult to get her properly focused before walking in.

inside the panera, she struggled to heel, as expected, due to her struggle focusing outside, but we quickly made our way to a table near the back, and i put my jacket on the ground to act as a settle mat for her.

she was happy enough to sit on my jacket, but had almost no interest in laying down. as far as i’m concerned that’s alright, because she was just watching the world go by and taking treats, no bad behavior. she even held her sit when a little girl came running up to us excited to see the puppy.

the worst part was near then end, when a man walked over and stared her down. she barked at him :( i was able to get her to stop pretty quickly, but she just wouldnt settle again after that, so we left.

all in all it couldve been much worse and i think we just need more practice with settling in public. the difficult part is that it’s now winter so settling outside isn’t much of an option, and the pet friendly patios of local breweries are closed for the season. we will return to panera and see how that goes, and reevaluate from there!

in the last few months, ambrosia has developed a lot of gear shyness- she never liked her harness before, but now she runs away as soon as i take it out! even though all the best things always follow the harness, like walks, playtime outside, table scraps in her dinner bowl, and treats. i think she just really doesnt like putting it on because she doesnt seem to mind too much once that part’s over. i’d like to work on this moving forward. ideally she’ll be able to comfortably wear a harness, shoes, and raincoat by the time it starts snowing here, but we’ll see.

i’d also like to work on her settles a bit more. i’ve noticed since i started full time work that ambrosia is much more restless. this tells we should get back to crate settles on my days off since she still wont tolerate being left alone in the crate and i’ve gotten lazy about having settle time when i’m not working. the goal is that we’ll be able to transfer this calm behavior to settling in public- i’d like to take her out to eat at some point!

i’m a couple days late posting but ambrosia is one!! (as of 9/27) i can’t get over how much she’s grown 🥺

ambrosia did so good seeing a marching band for the first time! we were right on the field in front of the speakers and close to the horns, so it was incredibly loud. in the video below, she was overwhelmed, but still happy to take treats from me.

after a few minutes, we added some distance, and in the picture, she chose to settle on her own!

we have two roommates in this apartment, one who she knows decently and who loves her, and another who isnt a huge dog person. the former has been at his parents house the last week, and probably will be there next week as well. the latter doesnt like to interact much with brosia, but (unintentionally) scares the crap out of her whenever she comes into a room.

the worst part is, the nervousness seems to be getting worse! we went through this when we moved into college, and our trainer experienced it the first few weeks she was there as well, so i really do think this is just initial nervousness about a new place, but omg it’s so frustrating to deal with.

on the bright side, we went to cvs yesterday (she had been pretty good all day and i had no concerns about her behavior in a public place) and she did so good!! i needed new batteries for my tv remote, and brosia was a pro in the store. even when a little kid ran very close to her screaming about the cute puppy, all she did was look up at me for her treat, which i was happy to give. her biggest mistake was getting a little too sniffy around the candy at checkout, but honestly, if that was the biggest issue, i’ll happily take it.

post-camp haircut before and after! i’m excited to have her hair left a bit longer now, she looks so cute!!

ambrosia got dropped off for her first overnight boarding with our trainer tonight!