There was a parade of people in and out of our house.
It started with Dean, the handyman that works for our landlords. Echo met him a couple of days ago. He was here to fix the floor and the toilet in the front bathroom.
Later, as Dean began finishing up his work, Mika (who was here the first day that Echo came to live with us) showed up, with her brother, Kaishu, whom Echo had never met. Almost immediately after that, Jen and Justin showed up. (I, at this point, was not expecting ANY of them. Jesus, and Andrew were, both, gone.) ... So, Echo was met more of the "Teen Hoard" this afternoon.
THEN, I received a text from Jeannie, Brandon's mother-in-law, that her and Steph (Brandon's wife, and another member of the "Teen Hoard") needed to come over and scan some Army paperwork, to enable Steph, her and Brandon's stuff, and their cats to join Brandon in Germany.
So, they, and a pile of computer hardware, showed up at the house.
Everyone gushed over Echo, and treated her like a "pet". (It's probably going to take a while to fix that.)
I was running in 10 different directions, and not able to prevent the encouragement of bad habits in Echo.
About 4:30, after Kaishu and Mika take Gimli for a second walk, Gimli and Echo, both, collapse. They are just worn out, from all the excitement/attention.
FINALLY, everyone leaves, and I start prepping for the American Legion Band rehearsal that I have to conduct tonight.
I leave shortly after 6 PM, and get home shortly before 10 PM, and there are THREE MORE members of the "Teen Hoard" in my living room, that I have not seen in a while: Anna, Alyssa, and Jon.
Jon and Alyssa (cousins) leave, together, about 10:30. Anna doesn't leave until around 11.
By this point, Echo is "overstimulated"/"wired". It's after midnight before she begins to calm down.
A couple of times, while dealing with her "wildness", I put her in our "X Pen", not because she needs a "time-out", but, because I needed one. ... I didn't want to raise my voice to her, or give incorrect commands. So, I took myself out of the situation.
Overall, I think the experience was good for her. ... But, it was a tough day for myself, Echo, Gimli, and Amy.
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Okay, I am giving in to the "crate is too small" idea.
I'm not sure if that is the whole idea, as far as Echo is concerned, but, I will grant that it is time to change her crate.
Starting last night, she wouldn't go into her crate. It's never been a problem before.
The problem persisted after I cleaned her towel of the vomitus from the truck trip, earlier in the day. (No, I didn't use detergent when I ran it through the washing machine, per our previous instructions.)
I think there are three possible reasons for her not wanting to get into the crate that she was brought to our house:
a) It is now too small;
b) To her, it, still, smells of her vomit;
c) Over the last few days, she has had to spend more time in the crate than any other time since she has come to live here.
Luckily, we still have the shell of the crate that we used to ship Gimli from Germany to the US. It's about 8 inches longer, 6-8 inches wider, and about 6 inches taller than the crate Echo has been using. It's, also, smaller than the wire crate we were provided with. So, it's a nice intermediary step.
Here is a picture of the two crates, together, with Echo in the larger one:
The odd stroke of luck is that I don't know where the hardware is to hold the two halves of this crate together.
This works out well because ... well, in the right foreground of the picture is the door to the green crate.
I can remove the door in just a few seconds, and she doesn't feel "imprisoned" in this crate. Yet, if I have to get up and do something, I can put the door in place in just a few seconds. ... So, I have addressed the possible feelings of "imprisonment".
It's significantly larger than the tan crate, and she can, easily stand up, and hold her head up in it. .... So, "size" of the crate is addressed.
Finally, before a few hours ago, the only other dog that has been in this crate is Gimli, and he didn't vomit in it. So, that possible issue is addressed.
I put her towel in it, put it next to me near the couch, and she was fine to "crash" in that crate.
Problem solved, for the moment, ... hopefully.
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