Elsa was just being super adorably playful for only the second time since we’ve had her. I was rubbing her and kissing her and she just started acting like a puppy - throwing her head back, rolling in her chair, being silly. Mercury came running up and she was grabbing his body with her mouth with those long, long fangs, but she was being very gentle. I encouraged her to grab my hand to test and she was very gentle with me too and nibbled me. Then she grabbed for Mercury again and got his face (he sticks it everywhere with no sense) and I was like, “No, honey, you don’t want those huge teeth so close to his eyeball!”
She’s very awkward and still sometimes doesn’t realize what’s okay and what’s not when trying to play. She used to make the other greyhounds very uncomfortable when she first tried to make any playful overtures. It was painful to see! I really wonder what she was like as a puppy. I then played with her some more and praised her for being playful so she wouldn’t think she was in trouble or had been a bad girl by playing with Mercury (she’s super sensitive about being told “no”, and definitely about thinking she’s in trouble). Earlier on, I used a very stern tone and called her a bad girl a couple times and she emotionally shut down for a week. VERY sensitive girl. I learned pretty quickly that I couldn’t use the same approach with her that I had to with the confident
sassy boys.
In the beginning, before I was close to JJ and when he was still “disengaged”, I’d scold him and he’d just give me this cold, irritated, moody look - almost like an alienated, angry teenager saying, “Whatever, lady, I don’t have to listen to you, and you’re not my mother.” SO much attitude. He has changed so much, though. Now he gives me this wide-eyed look like, “Don’t be upset at me, Mom!” He’s still a moody, sassy boy, but is totally different with how he responds to me and even with the way he looks at me.