She pulls on a leash pretty badly

Argh. She's pretty much a classic case of a dog who is failed by well-meaning owners. If she can't walk properly on a leash, she can't be taken out into society. And if she can't be taken out, she will over-react to things, and that never ends well.

If you have time, perhaps you & Mac could set aside ten minutes a day to work with her on things like walking on a leash, sitting for treats, and so forth.

... which, on edit, is probably not what you want to hear. Sorry if I come across too strong there.

Fun kickstarter project - kind of a build your own monster toy.

Ha, posting made it happen. Got the call, got the booth space scheduled. Now comes the hour of second-guessing which one I chose. But I think I did the best I could under the circumstances. I should have booked earlier, but I still got an endcap, facing a food court. Not along the main entrance, but I think it'll be pretty good.

Actually it is what I want to hear. I want mac to take on some stuff with the dog. While we will not get a puppy when we do get a dog, he will need to do training with it. so walking on leash in the yard will be good. Yeah, she is just over excited a lot right now and has had no training.

Obedience school! I cannot stress enough how good a solid dog obedience teacher can be for both your family and for the dog.

So groovy for you msbelle to have a dog. She does sound a bit of a handful, but also fun.

Obedience school!

Exactly. Dogs are great with rules as long as they are always the same. It's the humans who have to learn to be consistent.

I have left her in the backyard alone for over an hour now, but with windows open so she can hear me and she is not whining at all.

Leise, we will absolutely do classes when we get our own dog. If Maya ends up needing a permanent home we will probably end up keeping her, but that decision will not be made for at least a month.

I don't know if mac is old enough to have any responsibility for stuff with the dog, but he's definitely old enough to do stuff with it. I don't know, fostering sounds like the perfect thing -- a trial run on purpose, and not with what sounds like an easy dog.

Mr Peabody was 2 when I got him, and for about nine months, nothing pillow-like was safe. After that, he calmed down and has only occasionally chewed holes in his bed, usually in times of boredom. It does help to give him a rawhide chew toy when, for example, it's been raining all day.