Quinn The Miracle Dog

I forgot to post these photos. Last weekend Parker, Quinn and I explored some of the areas dog parks. Here's what we learned: There is only one that is fenced in, and two is way too many for Parker and Quinn in one day. They both fell asleep as soon as we got in the door and they plopped themselves down in their spots.

When Parker woke up and went to get a shower, Quinn snuck into his chair to finish her nap. The bottom photo shows her when Parker came back in the room and she jumped off and ran back to her own bed. Don't ya think she looks a little guilty?

Quinn continues to amaze us. I wish we knew more about her background. She definitely has a lot of really good training. We found out when you say, "Back," she backs up a few steps and sits. As long as we keep saying it, she will go as far as the wall, then she'll turn backwards and keep backing up until we stop telling her to do it.

She knows when Parker is getting ready to go to work (and can distinguish from when he is just going for the mail or to run to the store because she doesn't behave the same way) and whenever she realizes he is leaving for work she brings him a ball or her rope toy or anything she can find to engage him in play. Almost like she thinks maybe she can distract him and he won't go. Then she watches his car drive away from the patio and whimpers once. Not twice, just once. About 2:15, which is when he gets home, she starts watching the cars go by in the parking lot. As soon as she sees his car, she barks once, gets up stretches like she hasn't a care in the world, and meets him at the front door.

What a great thing to come home to every day. :-)

She also does something we can't figure out. Whenever one of us calls out with a loud voice (like from one room to the next), or if we clap our hands, or jump and yell during a football game or tennis match, first she barks, then she jumps up and runs around the house frantically looking for her rope toy. She brings the rope toy to Parker and won't calm down until he has thrown it for her a few times. It is very consistent. We figured that if she were an competition agility dog at some time, maybe the clapping and loud voices remind her of the competition ring, which is very noisy.

What we still can't figure out is, with all her training, as perfect a dog and well mannered as she is, and if she was a competition dog..... why did she end up at the pound on the kill list?