Maddie visited Cheetah 8.9.09

Maddie and Cheetah had a fun visit on Sunday. This was the first time I have seen Maddie since her adoption and she is bigger than Cheetah! Not by much, but she's bigger and still growing. I expect that her frame won't get too much bigger, but now she will start to bulk up more. Her paws are big! But I would put them at about the same size as Schroeder if I remember correctly. I bet they end up about the same size and Schroeder (7.5 oz) was the only one bigger than Mouse (5.5 oz) at birth! For the record Maddie was biggest at 13.5 oz. (Do not ask me why I know that off the top of my head.) Maddie was also the only one born after midnight, so she has her own birthday too :-)

Anyway! She seems to have gotten over her chicken incident just fine. She was wary of me at first and barked, which mortified her owner, but it was fine. She doesn't remember me and she was in a strange place. God knows I am used to dealing with Cheetah when she does that to other people. I just turned to the side, averted my eyes, crouched down and let my hand be where she could sniff it. She calmed down pretty quickly.

We went straight out to the back yard and she sniffed around a bit while I went in and got Cheetah. Cheetah was SOOOOOOO excited she practically dragged me out the door and down the deck steps. (I always have Cheetah on a lead when introducing her to new dogs and people in case she takes offense to them. We have had big issues with her being territorial in the past.)

No worries though - Cheetah was crazy excited to see Maddie and she had zero problems with Maddie's owner or her friend that she brought along. So far, Cheetah is fine with her puppies' owners. She is also improving with other strangers in the house. She was very good when Kate visited and was good with my mother-in-law. I am careful about introductions - she always starts out in another room or meets the person outside and I can control her and her environment better as the inside introduction happens. She is not absolutely perfect but she is definitely getting better. She also did very well with her last owner when introduced in the house, but she had also seen them a few times in other places. I will be interested to see how she does when I have some people over on Wed night from the Rescue, and then on Sunday when we have the Rescue Angels anniversary celebration at my house when there will be approx 50 adopters and dogs coming and going from the back yard. If she can't take it I will confine her to my bedroom.

Anyway, I got off track. The pictures I took aren't fabulous (they are in with Cheetah post puppies), but I also got some video, which is posted in the usual place. Maddie looks absolutely beautiful - she is sleek and shiney and clearly happy. Her owner also is very good about guiding her and setting limits for her. I think she will probably get a little bigger than her owner hoped, but she is totally in love with her and it won't matter beyond some practical considerations.