Day Ten

she had her debut on my bed but won't get another chance too soon. She is not as caucious up there as Hapoo. She just puts herself down over the entire space and stays there, not willing to move down when told so. So she will stay off the bed for a very long time. I took her out for her morning walk early, an she growled as the old man on his bicycle arrived. He aproached us slowly, which she did not at all like. The coach and I know now when she growls, and it is allright and can be kept under control using easy strategies.

We met the coach outside this morning, for we wanted to go to the city anyway. There was only one traffic light to show, and she did fairly well. Quito even walked into the streetcar ahead of me, having shown an entrance, how wonderful. And then came a very busy day for her. We first met mom and the sister for brunch, and then started a shopping marathon.

We really walked in and out of clothes stores, for the coach needed a dress or something equally dressy for an occasion back at her home.

When Quito got too uneasy, I asked that we go to the city wall for a relieve break. We did, we even let her run free a little, contact with dogs included. I would never have done that, but since the coach was with me, I dared and nothing happened. However, Quito was so busy watching and sniffing, that she forgot the reason for the break. Since she is a real champion at holding it, I thought she was going to go for a world record, and we continued our shopping trip.

Of course, in the last store Quito finally relieved herselff in the middle of an aisle. She did that so quietly and discretely, that we only noticed it when we returned and walked back the same aisle. When we stopped and realised that that smelly pile must have been Quito's property, she took the chance to ged rid of the rest. Thankfully, the coach was with me, and she asked for something to get rid of the mess. She picked up the piles and offered to really clean up, but they called the cleaning person with her cart to do the job. While we were waiting, a lady passed and very loudly and with disgust exclaimed:

"Disgusting",

to which I replied:

"Yes, it is."

Of course it is disgusting, but once it is done and taken care of, there is nothing more that can be done. We had even stopped at the fish place so familiar to Hapoo, to ask for some water for Quito, so she would not have to suffer. But neither the coach nore I expected this to happen.

The coach had finally found something for herself, which is not the perfect solution, but it is something that she is happy with and can also be worn on other occasions. We had pasta at the pasta place, also owned by the fish folks, and then left for home. Quito was happy, I'm sure.

I have changed food bowls. She had one that was on the floor for both her water and the food, but she was not a good eater. Because she had always left food in the bowl, I decided to get the double bowl from the storage in the basement. The two bowls can be raised according to the dog's heighht. For some odd reason Quito immediately started eating much better and did not leave a crumb behind.

I have also ordered some meat from a butcher's. It is fresh meat without anything but some fruit and vegetable. It comes in portions of 500 grams and is frozen. I bet Quito will love it once I start feeding it at least during the weeks when I am on early shifts at work. I am considderate enough not to feed her raw meat when we are at work, some people might not like it too much. And when I go on long travels in summer, it is also more practical to carry kibble than meat. So I am going to feed her hhalf meat and half high quality kibble, we'll see how it goes.

Also this morning, I gave her a dog biscuit. She managed to eat it, but before that I practised some give and take with that biscuit. Believe it or not, she really seemed to have grasped the meaning of both words, as she really let me have the biscuit when I asked her to give it.

I am very happy with Quito, you can always be sure to have stories you can tell. Currently she is on her mat in the bedroom, where she is probably sleeping. She has done and seen so much today and mastered slippery floors and elevators and also passed by a million escalators.

Good night, Chris:-)