I picked up Justice from my dads place last night. And I am really, really happy that not only does Justice like going out to my dads place (a backyard? a backyard for ME? grass that doesn’t smell like other dogs? WOW! ZOOM!) but my dad actually likes her.
I get that I have a sometimes difficult dog. I get that not everybody likes her, and not everybody should. Her leash reactivity may have improved drastically, but it’s still an issue, and still a pain in the ass. She gets a bit ornery at times, she’s got the attention span of a mayfly, and she often requires management.
But. But!
She is, otherwise, an absolutely amazing dog. She is low energy when you need her to be, and high energy when you’re ready for her to be high energy. She can ramp up super fast — she’s ALWAYS ready to play — but she will ramp right back down again when you’re done playing, be it in 2 minutes or 2 hours. She plays rough, but has amazing bite inhibition — she definitely uses her teeth & her mouth in play, but never, ever bites down. She does occasionally hit you with her teeth by accident which can cause the occasional scrape or scratch, but for a dog who plays so rough, she is wonderfully gentle. You can go out of the house all day, and she just sleeps quietly. She’s non-destructive, kind of lazy, and remarkably undemanding.
She was, by all accounts, a pleasure to have around. She didn’t bark much, unless a dog was walking by. Dad lives in a cul-de-sac though, so it’s pretty quiet in there. She spent a lot of time hanging out on their patio, with the stairs blocked off (she can jump the fence without thinking twice — go agility training! — so she needs to be supervised in the back yard.) and enjoyed watching Dad working in the front yard from up there. He said it was funny that he could hear her walking back and forth every time he went from one side of the yard to the other — she followed him around, just 10 feet above him.
When I picked her up, I stayed and chatted for a bit, and Justice laid down & snoozed under Dad’s feet. I am so, so bloody pleased. She was definitely happy to see me, but I think she’d have been just as happy to hang out with Dad & Alex (my brother) a little longer.
This is the second time they’ve looked after Justice for me, and I’m told that any time I go out of town, they’d be happy to look after her if they’re around. It’s great for them, because they get to have a nice dog to hang around without the full time trouble of having to care for a dog, and so, so awesome that I’ve got somewhere she can go where they actually like having her around. Woo!
Everyone’s willing to look after Newton now, but I certainly don’t expect the willingness to continue much past the 6 month mark.