The drive back to Ann Arbor went smoothly, especially considering I had my cat in his carrier on the passenger seat and a puppy in his carrier in the backseat! Both rode calmly and quietly the entire 11 hours. The trip took longer than usual as we stopped in to see Grandma on our way out. Mary and Elli drove up to Grandma’s for lunch and said hello to Chai and Buzz.
During weeks 13 through 16, Buzz proved himself to be a smarty—learning sit and down quickly and reliably coming when called within a few days. He made great progress on housetraining, peeing in the house perhaps once every 10 days. Buzz started sleeping up to 9 hours a night…wonderful.
Early on Buzz was a bit shy of going for walks, but as he got a little bit older his hesitancy dissipated, and we started being able to burn his energy in more appropriate ways than attacking the futon. Walking though the neighborhood earned Buzz quite a fan base among the young kids. It isn’t unusual to be walking along with him and have little kids come streaming out of their houses saying, “Buzz! Buzz!” Maybe Buzz is the pied piper, reincarnated; it feels that way at times. Buzz is very good with kids…seems to understand what they are and how much fun they can be.
Chai/Buzz relations were fairly uneventful at this time. Buzz stayed mostly in the living room and kitchen, which were gated off. Chai stayed mostly in the bedroom. The two could see each other and sometimes Chai would jump the gate to visit the dog. Biggest hurdle to them getting along peacefully was Buzz’s eagerness to play with Chai—which was of course signaled by bouncing around and barking at the cat…ugh.
Once he had enough vaccinations, I started taking Buzz hiking in the woods. Boy, did he love it! I quickly discovered that he could be trusted off leash, so once we’re in the park, Buzz is let loose to chase squirrels and greet other dogs. He always stays within 100 yards or so, comes when called, and “checks in” with me as we hike along, What a good boy!
