Day 2 (Monday) was stressful for my little girl (and me), what with the car breaking down and all the excitement involved. But it was made worse for me when my little girl's stools took on a "soft serve" consistency later that night.
Her breeder weaned the pups onto rice & chicken with a bit of potato and carrot and sent a small container of it home with us when we picked up our girl. I fed her a mix of 3/4 rice mix and 1/4 kibble her first day. Day 2, I increased the kibble to a half & half mix for her first two meals. The evening meal, she had cooked chicken and kibble -- no rice. My car broke down before we could make a grocery store trip. That night, she started with the "soft serve" poo. Maybe the soft stool was a result of the over-excitement from earlier in the day. Maybe it was too much kibble, too soon. Or, perhaps it was both. I was awake most of the night worrying about her as she napped, played and pooed until the wee hours of Day 3.
Day 3, Bodie was wiped out. She spent most of the much of the morning sleeping on my tummy:
While I was relieved that the soft stools had stopped, I started to worry because she'd not pooed all morning. In fact, it wasn't until the afternoon that she had another bowel movement. She seemed to sleep more than her first two days but she also played more rambunctiously than when she first arrived. The night of Day 3, she slept a full 2.5 hours before crying to get out. She went potty, played a bit, snuggled a but and then went back into her crate with only the slightest little whine. After that, she and I both slept 3 full hours! Still no crate accidents.
Aren't those nose freckles adorable?
Today (Day 4) my little girl is starting to act like an authentic border collie! Now, after each potty, the "Wild Thing" (as I've started calling her) romps like a rabbit, runs around my feet and snaps at my ankles. Sometimes, she does that instead of going potty. *Sigh* No poo immediately after each meal. Tonight I'll get my car back from the shop and will be picking up some rice. Maybe that will help regulate her little bowel movements. For now, I'm trying not to worry since she was so darned frisky today. It was another day of new experiences. She played tug of war with a weed, ate a spider web, attacked the bristle end of a push broom and barked at a sawed-off tree limb. Then she happily followed me inside (first time not being carried back to the house) and took a long nap in her crate.
Not sure why her tail is way up in one pic and way down in the other. The pics were taken less than five minutes apart.
I have not started any sort of training, as I had originally planned to do. She's had a hectic few days in her new home. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm taking her with me to my parents' house, where she will spend most of the evening in the garage. We'll pack up her x-pen, blanket, Sarah (toy she sleeps with), tug rope and a chew toy but I imagine she will still feel a bit unnerved by the experience. We'll see how she feels Friday. If she's as frisky and settled in as she was today, she might learn her name and perhaps Saturday we can start working on "sit."