Lessons from Duchess

This is my first time to be fully responsible for a dog and I am finding out how stressful it can be.  She is absolutely adorable but she is also so much a puppy.  Puppies love to play, and she loves to be around us, and yet it is impossible to be around her 24 hours of the day.  We're busy, we have farm stuff to do.  The past few days we have been spending as much time with her as possible, playing and petting her, trying to help her adjust to the move.

And we have to teach her all this stuff, like not to jump up on us, not to dig in the yard, not to chase cats (although I think we will probably be unsuccessful on this one), how to sit down, avoiding cars and tractors.  All these things that George was so good at.  George was very good at being independent but still loved being around us. 

Right now Duchess is out on the porch, she hasn't been barking or whimpering, but I can tell that she is looking for someone to be around.  She keeps getting up and pacing back and forth looking in the door and the window, she won't go down the steps into the grass where all her toys are, she just goes back to the corner and lays down again.  I want her to be independent like George, but I know she will always need attention, that's just the way dogs are.

And when I'm in the house and we don't have her on her leash, I worry that she is going to wander off and get lost or get hurt.  And then I go check on her again and all she's doing is laying in the corner or pacing.

I imagine this is something like what you feel when you have kids.  You want them to learn to be independent at some point and learn to be their own person, but you still want them to desire attention and love from you. 

Duchess and I have so much to learn from each other.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;  do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."

  ~Proverbs 3:5-6