Ginger came to stay with us. It didn't take her long to know just how to work us. If she wanted hear head rubbed and no one would do it, she would put her nose under our hands and make us do it. She loved to catch balls. We started out buying tennis balls for her to play with. I would throw them and she would leap through the air and catch them before they hit the ground.
Every day I would go out and throw the ball for her to catch. We had to learn a few things. We learned right away that she could pop and skin a tennis ball in no time at all. I finaly found a ball that she liked and wouldn't destroy. I had to get two of them. At first she didn't get that to play catch, she would have to return the ball to me. As long as I had to balls, she would bring back the first one to go after the second one. This was a game we both loved. She would only do it with me, for some reason, she wouldn't return the ball to other family members.
She wasn't very obedient, so we decided to go to training classes with her. She learned to do all of the tricks very quickly...as long as a treat was the reward. The important ones she learned right away. She learned her new name quickly and would come as soon as she was called. She would sit and stay with no problem, but expected a treat if she did so. The one thing she couldn't quite master was heeling and walking slowly with you. She would run ahead and choke herself in the process. She loved to go to Petsmart because she could meet all kinds of friends. She loves to sniff the butts of all dogs, big and small.
We decided it would be good to have her trained to ring a bell when she wanted outside. That took only 2 days. We put up a small wind chime at her nose level and rang it everytime the door opened, whether she was going out or not. We started holing a treat on one side of the wind chime she she would have to ring it to get the treat. When the bell rang, the door opened. It only took two days to get her to hit the chimes when she wanted out. It had it's draw backs. Some times she would ring the bell when we didn't want her too. We often have deer in our back yard. Every time she would hear one, she would ring the bell with vigar. Some nights we would just take the wind chimes down.
After we had her for about 9 months, her eye started hurting her. She didn't want to play anymore and the eye was all swollen looking. I took her to the vet and was given some drops. That didn't help. I kept calling the vet, and after a week I said she had to be seen again. A different vet saw us. He checked the pressure in her eye. It was very high. He said it was glaucoma. By this time, there was a green film over her eye. She had completely lost sight in it, and was in a lot of pain. The Vetranarian recommended removing the eye. Of course I cryed again. What would she look like with one eye missing? I am picturing a piriate dog. I was assured that it would look like she had an eye, only it would be sewed closed. I agreed it was for the best. I left her so she could have the surgery. It was going to cost about $800. We never thought we would pay that much for an animal doctor bill, but the alternative was to have her put down. We didn't think that was an option we could live with.
When we brought her home she was a little groggy, and had stiches where here eye used to be. She had to wear one of those cones so she wouldn't scratch her eye. She kept running into things. The first couple of days were rough. She would whine all night. None of us slepted well, but she made it through, and returned to her old self. She could still catch a ball, and loved doing it over and over. She discovered she also liked rawhide bones. She was a happy dog.
Check back for part 3
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