Smart Pup

Miss Lexi seems to be catching on to the perimeters of her electric fence quickly. It was just installed on Saturday and by the next day she didn't want anything to do with the edge of our yard. Unfortunately, that caused a wrinkle in the training guide the company gave us. For the first week I am suppose to take her to the flags around the yard and use the phrase "back, back, back" if she starts to cross the line. However, Lexi won't have it, and being that she is quite strong, she pulls me away from the flags. So... instead I have let her walk free around the yard without a leash. Being said, I haven't had any problems with her running off, even when kids are playing in the yard next to us, the mailman pulls up, or bikers ride down the street. She actually seems to want to keep to spots close to the house. None of this surprises me though because Lexi has always seen things as obstacles/barriers if they are in front of her. We use to leave an empty laundry basket in the doorway to the bedroom so air could circulate if the windows were open. You'd think a relatively large Great Dane would walk right over the empty basket. Nope. Not Lexi. She turns the other way. Same goes for a chair. Book bag. Box. etc. Now, once the flags start disappearing, then I/we might need to be more observant of her in the yard. In that case, I will go back to a form of training to make sure she completely understands. Until then, I'm going to let her continue to sniff out the yard and get her own feel for the boundaries. The way I see it, if humans each learn at different speeds and in different ways, dogs/animals could/should be the same way.

While I am on the topic of dogs, I'm not sure I mentioned that there are two other Great Danes in our neighborhood. One of which is right behind us and he is a lot bigger than Lexi! I met the other Great Dane's owner this morning as I was walking Lexi, but I have not met him. I have a feeling he is probably bigger than Lexi too. I don't think Lexi has gained weight in over a year. I know she will start to fill out, but with all her running around and walks we have been taking her on she is going to have to eat a lot more than she does now.