Efter en lidt kaos agtig weekend, hvor alting var nyt for Nova – er roen begyndt at indfinde sig. Nova føler sig meget mere hjemme nu og det kan mærkes. Vi er 3 hjemme hos hende – da manden i huset holder efterårs ferie. Så der er mandsopdækning på Nova. Fra næste uge vender manden tilbage på arbejde – men så er vi to herhjemme hos hende.
Nova er allerede begyndt at vænne sig til den rutine, som vi langsomt indarbejder på hende. Samme metode er brugt til alle vores beagler gennem tiden. Hverdagen fungerer nu engang bedst på denne måde – i hver fald for os.
Et eksempel: Nova skal ud – vi går til døren og kalder på hende. Lige i øjeblikket bliver hun båret ud og sat ned samme sted hver gang. Hun har forstået at hun skal tisse på det sted. Nogle gange drøner hun lige lidt rundt – hun er i sær vild med “Charlies busk” (den ældste af vores tidligere beagler) – så får den lige en på goddagen af Nova. Andre gange render hun op til havedøren og forlanger at komme ind. Om natten – eller de tidlige morgentimer – er det mørkt – så der vil hun bare ind igen med det samme. Nogle gange viser hun tegn på at hun skal igen – så bliver hun båret ud igen. Til morgen f.eks. var hun vågen ved 04:30 tiden, hvor jeg bar hende ned – og her lavede hun både nr 1 og 2 – så gik vi i seng igen og Nova lagede sig til at sove.
Vedr. hendes foder – så er hun nu kørt ind på Arion growth medium puppy med salmon. Hun har smagt bitte små stykker jr. pure kylling pølse (dem elskede Darwin) og det var et hit. Hun får sin mad med lidt ben suppe på beregnet til hunde – det er mums – og hun har også fået noget af rationen i en rulle bold.
Hun har prøvet at blive børstet – børsten var jo sjov – så det var kun en kort periode – og hun har prøvet sin sele igen – for vi skal jo prøve snart at komme udenfor lågen. Næste mål er at prøve at have halsbånd på med hundetegnet i.
En anden meget mærkbar ting er at Nova sover rigtigt, i sin kurv hernede i stuen. I starten “sov” hun ikke rigtig, fordi hun blev forstyrret at forskellige lyde. Hun sover rigtig godt igennem nu. Det passer meget med at hun er aktiv max et par timer – så skal hun sove. Nogle gange skal hun hjælpes til ro – men så sover hun også nogle timer om dagen, med mellemrum. Om natten trækker hun det længere – faktisk har vi kun været nede med hende 1 gang i løbet af natten – ellers har hun sovet.
After a somewhat chaotic weekend, where everything was new to Nova, a sense of calm has begun to settle in. Nova feels much more at home now, and it really shows. There are three of us here with her, as the man of the house is on his autumn break—so Nova is getting one-on-one attention. Next week, he’ll return to work, but there will still be two of us here with her.
Nova has already started getting used to the routine we are gradually establishing for her. We’ve used this same method with all our Beagles over the years; daily life simply works best this way—at least for us.
For example, when Nova needs to go out, we walk to the door and call her. Right now, we carry her out and set her down in the exact same spot every time. She has learned that this is where she needs to pee. Sometimes she zips around a bit—she’s particularly fond of “Charlie’s bush” (named after the oldest of our previous Beagles), which gets a little greeting from Nova. Other times, she runs up to the garden door and demands to come back inside. At night—or in the early morning hours—it’s dark, so she just wants to go straight back in. Occasionally, she shows signs that she needs to go again, so we carry her back out. This morning, for instance, she was awake around 4:30 AM; I carried her down, and she did both “number one” and “number two.” Afterward, we went back to bed, and Nova settled down to sleep.
As for her diet, she has now been transitioned to *Arion Growth Medium Puppy* with salmon. She has also tasted tiny bits of the junior formula. …pure chicken sausage (Darwin loved those), and it was a hit. She gets her food with a bit of bone broth—made for dogs—which is delicious! She has also had part of her meal served in a treat-dispensing ball.
She has tried being brushed—she found the brush quite fun, so it was only for a short while—and she has tried on her harness again, as we’ll soon be attempting to venture outside the gate. The next goal is to get her used to wearing a collar with her ID tag.
Another very noticeable change is that Nova is now sleeping properly in her bed down here in the living room. At first, she didn’t really “sleep” well because various sounds kept disturbing her. Now, she sleeps very soundly. Generally, she stays active for a maximum of a couple of hours before she needs to sleep. Sometimes she needs a little help settling down, but she manages to get in several hours of sleep throughout the day. At night, she goes for longer stretches—in fact, we’ve only had to go down to her once during the night; otherwise, she has slept right through.
