Of course, they didn't warn me about the personality changes. Some are subtle, like her increasingly affectionate manner (she now LOVES to sit between my legs when I lay down on the couch to watch TV - her first year she wouldn't be caught dead laying down anywhere near "dad"). Some are more pronounced, like our ongoing battle with leash aggression (she has a thing about warning the dobermans, and the motorcycles, to mind their distance).
But at least she's truly (knock on wood) 100% potty trained. My sister litter box trained her at about six months, and it worked. But she goes outside too, if we're there at the right time. The thing is, most of my friends aren't into using the litter box if they're caring for her when I'm away. And I was afraid she wouldn't quite know what to do. But she's been great. At mom's she's nearly great (but mom's dog, also half-bichon (and half maltese), has a few remaining housebreaking issues, so I think some of the lingering smells confuse Sasha). At Joe's, however, sans litter, she's was 100% great during my recent business trip to San Francisco.
She's quite intelligent, but I haven't really figured out any tricks to teach her other than sit, shake and lay down (okay, she knows "stay", "come here" and a few others). But the cool tricks, I'm at a loss. The pet tricks books aren't terribly obvious. I may try YouTube. She's a fast learner. Picked up each of the other tricks in a day - though she needed more time to really nail them down cleanly. I'm open to suggestions for further tricks.
Finally, that's the ubiquitous ball that haunts me all day long. If I heard a soft thud-thud-thud, I know that Sasha has just dropped "ball" by my feet for another of our never-ending play sessions. The joys of working at home.
