A great friend drove me to Lawrenceville this past Friday afternoon to pick up Mavis. Folks in the waiting room had come for one of Mavis’s siblings. Apparently, the adopted pup was their second choice–behind Mavis.

Mavis was the last pup they brought out. Like her sisters, she was in a cone. I’m glad. Without it, she’d definitely be messing with her incision. Recent experience with Tootsie in a cone helped. We’ll see about taking it off when she sees our vet on the 30th.

Mavis has gorgeous green eyes and a super soft, dilute brindle coat. At seven pounds, she’s already bigger than Toodles and better than twice the size Tootsie was when I got her. I’ll be surprised if she stays below 25 pounds.

Mavis is more independent and much less anxious than Tootsie. She has her moments (more all the time) but is less cuddly too, preferring to lay next to me, a foot or two away, or even at my feet rather than on my lap or chest. Given her expected size (I’m thinking 35 pounds), not laying on me is likely for the best.

Other than one major mistake, training is going well. Instead of letting her cry from her kennel Saturday night (she didn’t cry Friday night), I brought her to bed with me. She learned that crying works. Sigh.

The next day, I kenneled her to go for a walk. She was crying when I left and still crying when I got home. The next day, she was crying when I left but quiet when I got back. Progress.

Housebreaking is a work in progress. I take her out often, and nine times out of ten, she’ll tinkle right away and maybe once or twice more before we go in. She goes to the door when she wants out, but sometimes I’m not fast enough to prevent an accident.

Leash training is going fairly well. She tolerates the harness well enough, but the first time I attached the leash, she rolled onto her back and wouldn’t move. The next day, we walked halfway to the corner and, this morning, all the way to the corner.

We started going for daily car rides Sunday afternoon. The first two trips were around the subdivision. Today we went to the vet to drop some things off. She tolerates car rides for now. I’m hoping she gets excited about going later.

We haven’t played much. The pain medication she got the first three mornings is partially to blame. The cone doesn’t help, along with the admonition to keep her from running, jumping, or rough-housing for two weeks.

Biting is not allowed. Getting Tootsie to stop biting took a long time. I’m hoping Mavis never starts. I yelp anytime she tries.

We work on commands for maybe five minutes at a time throughout the day. She knows her name, but sometimes is too busy to respond. The going is slow, but we’re making progress.

Today we had company for the first time. Mavis made up to both guys right away. Despite meeting them numerous times, Tootsie never let them (or anyone else, for that matter) close to her and didn’t stop barking. Mavis has also been happy to meet neighbors we run into.

Things could change, but so far, living with laid-back Mavis is a lot easier than living with high strung and anxious Tootsie. They’re almost polar opposites. I adored Tootsie, but Mavis is a much better fit.

I have yet to raise my voice at Mavis. Nor have I been exasperated by anything she’s done. So far, so good. I’ll keep you posted. As always, thanks for stopping by.