When we first brought Hadley home we put on the pretty little pink collar we'd bought for her and promptly watched her scratch like hell to try and get rid of it. She fussed for a long time and we relented several times over the weeks. But she's been wearing it full time for a few months now and it just occurred to me that I can't remember the last time I saw her scratch at it. It comes off every week at bath time, of course, and she doesn't even resist when I put it back on. Ahh.
Over the months, several tags went on that collar (rabies, city license, tracking chip, etc.) as well as a couple of attempts at pretty charms. All were promptly chewed - she was absolutely relentless about that. I finally got her one tag that incorporated all the information as well as her name and bought yet another glittering charm. But I also finally wised up and bought a bottle of bitter apple. A few applications of the spray put an end to the tag destruction and now she doesn't even try. Ahh.
The first time we tried to walk Hadley she flattened herself on the ground and refused to budge. Splat! Tugging on her collar just left her coughing and gagging so we promptly bought a harness. That made it possible to pull her without hurting her little neck but it presented a new problem. She started pulling and made walking her quite unpleasant. Another harness, recommended by her trainer, was a different style and was designed to retard her pulling. It actually worked decently well but was a bit of a pain to put on. I'd always wanted to just be able to walk my dog with her leash clipped to her collar like other dogs. The trainer said that could happen in the future and it seems the time has come. Today, for the first time, I walked Hadley with just her collar. I brought the harness with me just in case but there was no need. She walked as well on the collar as she did on the new harness. Ahh.
My little girl is 9 months old and is, apparently, growing up.
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