So, we expect that Bailey is still in her adjustment phase, given that we only got her a couple of days ago. Considering that, she's been angelically good. A friend and I took her jogging last night, and for the last half mile, we let her off the leash (after she started chewing on it and I was afraid she was exhausted and was only being dragged along). She was not exhausted - she has much more energy than I do - but she cooperated fine; she sniffed more things, but she came when we called her, and marched right into our yard when we came up to the house.
Sunday night, we had our parish priest and another friend over for dinner. She was banished to the back porch (it's a glassed-in area about 7 feet by 15 or so, and her water and her crate are out there, and the temperature was very mild - we're not trying to torture the dog), because I was convinced she would beg during dinner. (She was allowed to socialize until we sat down to eat.) At some point my DH decided to let her in, and she didn't beg for food at all. She did bump everyone's knees to get them to pet her, but then settled down quietly on the rug next to the table to rest while we talked. She just wants to be near the people.
Which leads to the problem. She doesn't necessarily need us to pet her or throw things for her or keep her entertained every minute. But she wants to be around us. (Which is really endearing.) We just learned her prior owners let her sleep in their room at night. That was definitely not part of our plan. We put her on the above-described porch (with the light on, and a nice blanket and pillow - circumstances we thought would be in no way cruel) for the night the second night we had her, and she really did a number on the door (and doorjamb) with her claws. I later realized she had also put big tooth-marks in a steel doorknob. She does not like the porch. (Even though she inhales her food, the next day she would only eat a mouthful of it at a time and then run back inside - her food bowl is on the porch - apparently for fear I was deviously planning to shut her out there again. Good grief!)
We also both work during the day. We feed her in the morning before we leave, and take her on a brief walk to go to the bathroom, and then she gets more exercise in the evening when we're home. She was fed twice a day in her previous home, too. She doesn't chew shoes or pee on the floor, so in that sense she's fine to leave home alone during the day (unfortunately, today is the second day she's shut in our bedroom, because the plumbers are supposedly finishing the bathroom TODAY and I don't want her to bother them; from here on out, she'll have the run of the house). But from her subjective doggy point of view, she is being abandoned at night (rather than being allowed to sleep in the room where the people are sleeping), and then abandoned all day (that part is more literally true).
I didn't realize she would care that much where she slept, as long as she had someplace comfortable. (Last night we tried blocking the stairs and giving her the run of the downstairs, so she was not imprisoned on the hated porch, just prevented from sleeping in our room. She whined piteously and periodically barked, so my DH couldn't sleep, so back on the porch she went. But I'm not interested in waiting until she claws through the door, so if she can't adjust tonight, she is going in her crate - which she really can't stand, but the clawing has got to stop.) I have no desire to torture the poor dog, and I hate to see her so sad. But we can't have her clawing the door to death, and we don't want her sleeping every night in our room. Is this just one of those "can't teach an old dog new tricks" things? Is she ruined for life now that she got to sleep in her owners' room for years?
I guess it's a good thing we don't have any kids to ruin.
