Well, already after just one day Olive has shown great progress. There was no chewing while I was at work yesterday, no chewing while I was asleep and nothing had been destroyed when I went home to walk her this afternoon. She was being a very good girl. We picked up a whole bag full of different types of chewy bones for her, and a tennis ball. She's got things to occupy her now, plus I think she and the cat have finally become friends. I see them touch noses a lot lately. It's so cute!

She is okay on the leash, but the problem with living in a dog-friendly apartment with Olive is she's scared to death of other dogs (because her sister always picked on and attacked her). So whenever we even hear the jingle of another dog's name tags, Olive turns and tries to bolt back into our place. I have to practically drag her to "safety" where she can go potty in private. She doesn't even want to continue with the walk, even if we don't run into any other dogs along the way. I try stopping until she stops pulling, and usually after a minute or so of standing still, she'll stop and look at me, and eventually just stand calmly next to me or sit down beside me. But as soon as we resume walking, she's tugging like mad again. Things will be better when I move back home as we have a big yard where we can play on our own property without other dogs, and there aren't many dogs on my street, so the chance of encountering them on our walks is fairly slim.

Still, I hope to some day get her used to other dogs. Many of my friends have dogs and I'd like for them to be able to play together.

But anyway, this blog was supposed to be about her progress, and I must say I was very pleased this morning to find she had been chewing only on her own toys and bones all night. I also walked her almost immediately when I got home, before getting down on the floor to pet her, and this helped a lot to calm her down.

I have really been missing my weener dogs lately. They both died this past year, and they've been with us since I was 8 years old. I'm 23 now... I really miss them a lot. I think that might be a reason I have trouble bonding with Olive. I foolishly expected her to be just like them, and she's not. She has her own personality and characteristics. I just have to accept she's a different dog with a lot of potential. I'm sure it'll be okay.