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And here are some photos from the rescue organization:

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Aww! Sky is so cute! Congrats, taz! I know you have been waiting for this day.

You won't rename her Flokati? ;-)

Heehee... brujita, she looks so much like the flokati beside my bed, I might mistake the two. :)

YAY! Howdy Sky! Cool eyes.

She looks SO much like the dog my parents have-yes, she will look like a whole different doggie when she gets the summer haircut but she'll be cute regardless-and the hair does grow back pretty quickly.

Oh, she's awesome. And such a sweetie... congrats, taz. :)

Oh... the moon is up and shining in my kitchen window; full moon. I did not know that. So, her American Indian name must surely be FullMoon Sky. :)

She looks like a sweetie. . yes, short hair for summer will be welcome for her, I think.

Good luck!

*sneaks sky a biscuit*

So cute! I want to bury my face in her neck.

awww. she's sleeping. aw.

Oh wow. We had a dog just like that growing up, except he was all black. Same hair problems too. We cut his hair every summer.

Congrats! She's beautiful!

Awww, she's so fluffy! Yeah, definitely cut the hair - she will be much happier without the mats.

::skritches::

Finally. Just make her feel safe and loved.
The grooming will be good for her.

Oh so cute and, yes, awesome eyes! Yay new doggie!

Congratulations to your family. She's gorgeous. Those eyes are particularly beautiful -- kind of wise, and yet a touch smart-ass too. I can tell you're in for a lot of fun together.

Oh, she's a beauty! I had a small dog once who had to get a hair cut; I almost didn't recognize him when I picked him up! He seemed much happier without the mats and all, I'm sure Sky will too. Congrats!

Dogz rule.

Congradulamations! Can't wait to see her all spiffy!

And good on you, taz, for sticking with it and getting a rescue.

YAY SKY! Smile Sky 'cause you're in a wonderful home now with the super taz! Also, your dogfather is sending you a surprise! YAY, and congratulations taz.

Awesome, I'm so glad to hear she made it to you, taz! Definitely put up more pictures once she has adjusted a bit. She looks lovely and like a dog you'd want to be friends with. I can see why you waited for her!

YAY! She'll adjust just fine, I'm sure. She's got so much hair! I love shaggy dogs so much. (Who am I kidding? I love most of the doggies of the world.)

I'm sorry it was such a long drawn out ordeal but you finally have her!

You gots dog ? Dog gots you !

It's all good.

Chances are you'll both learn as much from the other.

;-)

Well, it's morning! What we have here is the amazing hardly-peeing-never-pooping wonder dog!

She had one peepee incident in the bedroom, while I wasn't watching, soon after she got here, but because I wasn't there at that moment, I couldn't show her that the terrace is the spot for emergency "do". Cleaned that up, and then moved her food and water in there, beside the bed, and beside the pillow I fixed up for her, which she took to right away. Since that's her food and sleep place at the moment, I don't think she'll go in the bedroom again, but we'll see. We slept in there with the door closed last night (but with the door from the bedroom to the terrace open), and all was well. She was peaceful, and stayed right by the bed on her pillow, or sometimes just under the bed.

For now, I have the front of the house closed off, so we are dealing with only kitchen, bedroom, hall, and terrace. I also have food and water in the kitchen. I don't have carpeting anywhere, but the two front rooms have wood floors, so I'll keep her to the tile and terrazzo areas, 'til we have navigated the potty seas.

I took her out for a walk this morning at the crack of dawn, and while she was extremely interested in checking out the "works" of other dogs, she didn't do anything herself. We'll give it another shot in an hour or two. She is used to going outside in a yard, so we'll see how this works.

What I've learned: she is definitely no barker (thank goodness). She snuffles occasionally, and sometimes does something between a sigh and snore, but not a peep otherwise. She doesn't seem to be a shoe-or-other-random-articles-of-clothing chewer either, but I haven't left that much around to tempt fate. I left my slippers on the floor this morning to see if they would generate any fetish behavior :) - but it seems okay.

Yay taz, and yay Sky! Just a word of... well, not warning, but maybe a head's up from someone who's been there - as she relaxes a bit in her new environment, you'll probably see some behavioral changes in Miss Sky. She's probably still figuring out the hierarchy, so this is a good time to secure you dominance. When the moment presents itself, it's a good idea to pin her by the throat (very lightly, of course, but enough so that she can't get away) and look her straight in the eye. I know that sounds horrible, but it will fix you as the dominant being in the pack. Do it a couple of times, and encourage your husband to do the same as soon as he's back in town. The last thing you want is your dog thinking she is the alpha in your pack.

That aside, I'm really happy for all three of you - you're off on a great adventure.

I will have to respectfully disagree with bmarkey. I do like the idea of NILIF - Nothing In Life Is Free - for dogs, especially when they are just starting out. This basically means keeping them off the couch/beds; making them sit or otherwise do something for you before they get their dinner, toys, walks, anything they like; making her wait for you go first through the door, keeping her at a heel while you're walking. But taking a dog in a brand new environment that is probably scared and unsure of herself and pinning her by the throat is a terrible idea. All that teaches her is that her new human is unpredictable and possibly scary.

Taz, for the potty training you may find keeping her leash on and tying it to your belt loop is an easy way to keep an eye on her. Sounds like you're on the right track with taking her out every hour or so. Congrats!!!

Yippee!

We'll see how things develop, but really at the moment, she's too submissive - she lays down and/or rolls over at the drop of a hat. I don't know whether this is new-in-the-pack behavior, or whether she has had experience of being (seemingly) randomly punished... like if people in the past punished her for something after the fact, and she's just trying to hedge her bets against any possible wrongdoing, whatever it might be.

But, so far, I've just told "NO!" a couple of times, once for trying to get on the bed, and once for getting up on the flower bed portion of our terrace - mostly because from there it's a drop down to the courtyard (not a great distance, certainly not life-threatening, but it could hurt, or possibly break a bone). Both times she stopped immediately, and I haven't seen her repeat those actions.

BUT SHE STILL HASN'T GONE POTTY. How is this even possible? We've had four walks - and nothing. She may have gone a tiny bit under the bed last night, but I'm not even sure about that. It was the only place that I couldn't see exactly what she was doing (and of course there was the time while I was sleeping), and she was liking to sort of burrow in there, so this morning I cleared out the couple of boxes, and bag of clothes that was under there. And there was a small spot where something had been wet once... could have been her (but I wouldn't have expected it to be totally dry), or could have been from something else, months ago. But that's it. And there's hardly a second when she isn't right with me. If I'm on the computer, she's at my feet, if I'm on the bed, she's laying by the bed. And we're talking about basically two smallish rooms, since I have the front of the house closed off - I've looked and looked and found nada.

If she ever looks restless, I take her out to the terrace - the designated emergency peepee area, and I look at her expectantly, and she looks at me exptectantly, and I sigh, and she sighs, and we go back in.

Tres bizarre. Puppy, you have to go sometime!

Re: the throat pin - very brief, no more than five seconds at a time, while playing. I could have explained that better. :( Also, yeah, waiting until she's a little more established is probably a good idea. But you should do it.

As for the not-going thing, is she eating and drinking normally? She might be holding back because she's not sure where the right place to go is. If she still doesn't poop today, you migh try feeding her some canned pumpkin mixed with her dry food.

If she was used to going in a yard and not on leash, she's probably just having some performance anxiety/being shy. Don't worry, she will eventually go and you will praise her and praise her and she'll figure it out.

My dog can hold it upwards of 20 hours when it's raining because she hates the rain. Seriously.

Good luck! It'll be fine!

Yep! She's used to a yard, and that was the problem... but on the fifth walk... We achieved poop!! Yay! Poop!

it's probably a good thing that I never had kids, right?

Hooray taz and Sky! She's a beautiful dog. I loved your description of the snuffling and snoring she does. (Crosbie has an entire vocabulary of sniffs, sighs, and a snorty sneezy thing that's like the polite version of a bark.)

And I think Yay! Poop! is an entirely reasonable sentiment, considering.

For anyone following The Potty Chronicles with breathless anticipation, it's now morning of day two, and yippee! We have the pooping sorted. First walk of the day, and boom! Perfect poop.

Peeing, not so much. Despite me tracking almost her every move, she did wee in the bedroom again. It was like the one second I didn't have my eye on her, and I suppose that's why it happened at that moment and not any other. It's a bit frustrating, because I know if I see her start to go, and take her out to the terrace, she'll get it right away. But she won't start to go if I'm around. So, a teeny hiccup, but we'll get it figured out.

I wish I would have thought of this then, but my just-hatched plan is that if she goes again, I'll mop it up first with some newspaper before cleaning and sanitizing, then put the urine-y newspaper on the terrace where I want her to go. Also, of course, hoping that she will catch on to the novel idea of peeing as well as pooping on these wondrous walks of ours.

Cool taz! You certainly have things under control. As far as establishing dominance, it certainly depends on the dog. The throat pinning thing is something I'd never do with Saffron since she's so submissive already. Silver is pretty obstinate, but he knows he's below me on the food chain. A stern voice and look is plenty with my two. Dogs are smart and adaptable. She'll certainly figure everything out soon enough.

YAY!

And now we've added peeing to our walk repertoire... so little successes every day! :)

And... I got my own fucking Dog Blog.