Walking the "herd" on 6/13

I'm a little behind on updating, even though I have tons I want to say!!! On Friday the 13th after I got home and relaxed a little while, we decided to take the 'herd' out for a walk. :) Well, Jill has never been on a walk with us, and Misty told us that when she tried walking her she would just sit there and wouldn't go anywhere. We decided that we would bypass this fun trait, and carry her. Yes, I know, carry her. Well, I didn't carry her in my arms, I have the equivalent of a dog/puppy snugli. I got this when Jack was really small and we would ride our bikes around Boise. It goes on just like a snugli, but instead of having the legs go through, it's basically just a bag that cinches tighter at the top. It's really handy to have if you have a really small dog you want to take biking. Anyhoo, we loaded everyone up in their harnesses and leashes. (We use harnesses that go around the chest instead of hooking the leash to their collars because we don't want the kids to choke themselves if they decide to pull to go look at something.) So, we grabbed Eddie and put him inside (because he WILL follow us...he followed Jordan and Miller about a mile on one of their walks before Jordan looked back and noticed him) and set off.

Jill was very nervous about the whole thing, especially when the cars would go by, or when we would pass by other dogs in their yards barking their heads off. In case you don't know, Chihuahuas have a tendency to shake, almost like their shivering from cold when they are scared or nervous. Jill was shaking at least half of the way. She sat in her little snugli and intently watched the other dogs walking with us, and observing as much as she could. Well, about 3/4 of the way into the walk, we decided to take her out and test the waters so to speak. And, guess what happened? She happily bounced along with Jack and Miller. Molly's kinda crazy on walks looking and smelling EVERYTHING. Not that the other dogs don't do that, but not to the extent that Molly does. We're pretty sure this is because she's still very much a puppy. We did have one incident where she was a little unsure of the surroundings and tried to go the other way, but other than that, she mostly happily bounced along with us, and if she got distracted with something while we all walked on, all I would have to do was call her and she came happily running. We were very excited about this. We were talking about it and we thought that perhaps she was scared walking with Misty because Misty has a toddler who I'm sure was being pushed in a stroller. Jill is just at 5 pounds, so EVERYTHING is bigger than her, and I'm sure she was just afraid of getting squished. Jack is almost 9 pounds and he's still like that, but not at her level. -He used to be though.

Anyways, we were very happy that Jill felt comfortable and safe enough with us to go walking on her own, and she's warming up more and more every day. While she's taken to Jack and tries to play with him a lot, she's also taken to Miller as well. Miller, being the oldest, has kinda settled into a leader-of-the-pack mode (after dad and mom) and kinda watches out for her and is very gentle with her, and is very good about not invading her personal space. -Molly hasn't learned this. With anyone or anything. BUT, Miller is doing very well leading the group. Jill has also gotten comfortable going in and out of the dog door into the garage to get outside/inside. She has to jump up about 5-6 inches to get out the dog door, then into the garage is an immediate step down. She's leared to judge this correctly, even though she still has trouble judging other distances (and sometimes has to make 2 attempts to get up on the couch). We're very happy with all of the progress she's made. Here's a pic of her relaxing in Jordan's lazyboy.