...especially when you have a puppy. And no matter how old Savannah gets (she is a bit over 9 months now) and no matter how big she grows (60+ pounds at this writing) something tells me that this dog will always have a lot of puppy in her.
There are still nights when Savannah wakes us up barking at least two or three times a night. Sometimes my husband hears every single bark and other times he sleeps through every bit of it. I realize there are all kinds of wildlife out on our property in the middle of the night, but honestly, one would think that Savannah would have gotten used to the 'normal' night sounds around here by now. I understand why she would bark at a raccoon that found its way up on our porch, but barking at a bunch of coyotes off in the woods is just beyond reason. And there are very few nights when we don't hear dozens of coyotes howling out there in the moonlight.
I have to remember all the good things about Savannah when she starts her roaring barks at two or three o'clock in the morning. And there certainly are lots of good things.
First of all, Savannah doesn't hurt the cats, and she actually seems to enjoy their company. Sweet Pea is an inside cat and is always in the house with Savannah and never once has this puppy tried to play rough with him. On the contrary, Savannah sometimes tries to get into Sweet Pea's very small pillow-bed when that cat is all curled up in it, and there are days when Sweet Pea is stretched out in Savannah's bed and this puppy does very little to persuade Sweet Pea to get back into his own cat-bed. I've walked into the kitchen at times and found Savannah and Sweet Pea side by side, just sleeping on the rug in the middle of the kitchen. And neither one of them will be the first to move, resulting in me stepping over and around them in order to prepare a meal.
With our two outside cats, Savannah will walk up to them and let either Mickey or Gatsby smell her nose or walk underneath her. The only times when Savannah has tried to run after those cats are when they're running and playing in the driveway, and I really don't expect Savannah to not run if the cats are running, so I just hold her leash tighter so I can brace myself to prevent her from taking off after them.
Savannah quickly earned our trust with being allowed to roam around the rooms of the first floor... she rarely touches things that are not her own toys, and even when all the Christmas decorations were up in the living room and dining room in November and December, this puppy didn't bother one little thing. I still have not encouraged Savannah to go up the stairs to the second floor, but that's for her own safety, not because I think she would bother anything up there. Both the back stairs and the main staircase are not carpeted, and I think she wouldn't be able to get up and down without sliding or falling on the polished wood. And maybe she knows that, because she hasn't ever tried to follow us up either staircase. (Yet.)
Within days of coming into our house, Savannah quickly learned to let us know when she had to go outside. And wonder of wonders, she does that without barking. If Savannah has to 'visit' the grass, she will walk up to me and put both her paws on my knees, looking straight into my eyes, no puppy-grin, no whining or barking, just a long serious look of full eye-contact. That's her signal to bring her outside. And always, always, she will go quickly in the grass after her 'request,' being very focused and very determined to do what she needs to do.
Savannah has also learned that going to the dog park is a special treat, and leaving the dog park is not a punishment. When we first started taking her there, my husband and I had to practically get her into a corner by a fence in order to put her leash on her so we could lead her out of the park. For the past couple of months, however, Savannah just calmly follows us towards the park exit and she walks right through the first gate where we can attach her leash to her collar, and then the three of us go through the second gate and out into the parking lot. I think Savannah knows now that we'll bring her back to the dog park another time, so leaving isn't all that awful. And she believes now that we are "her people," and I'm certain she doesn't want us to leave the park without her.
After that first two months of not accepting or even acknowledging my husband, Savannah has learned that he's a good guy, not a bad person who's going to hurt her. We still have no idea why she's so afraid of men, but Savannah fully trusts my husband now and has learned to be his best friend, especially when he's eating because he always saves her something from his plate. Savannah does not beg at the table, she just sits there quietly and waits, or she will lie down in her bed in the breakfast room and keep staring at Gary till he's ready to give her a piece of whatever he's eating. And never once has Savannah grabbed at whatever food she's given... she takes everything gently from our hands, no matter if it's a dog biscuit or a piece of bagel with creamcheese.
When I sit on the sofa in the TV room with a book, Savannah will jump up next to me and put her head on my lap or curl up so close to me that I can feel the heat from her body. She is content to just watch me reading, sometimes putting her paw on top of my book to remind me that she's there. She does the same thing to my husband when he's watching television... it's like she wants to get as close to us as she possibly can, which sometimes means she tries to curl up right in our laps. She's too big to be a lap-dog, but she doesn't know that, and we don't try to discourage her.
All in all, Savannah is a very, very good dog. I have to remember that (and all of the above) at three o'clock in the morning when I'm standing at the top of the stairs in the second-floor hallway and trying to wake up enough to walk down the stairs without falling into a heap at the bottom.
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