Mochi Settles In

I've been down with food poisoning for a few days so haven't been up to much beyond taking care of the dogs and sleeping. So here's a post catching you up on what we have learned about Mochi so far.

Mochi is a mix of Rat Terrier and Cattle Dog and she has the energy and smarts of both of those breeds. At the vet she weighed in at 39 pounds but at a healthy weight will be around 35 pounds. She has that cool Cattle Dog feature of mixed colored eyes - they are a pretty hazel but her right eye has a section of it where the iris is icy white-blue.

Here you can see the coloration in her right eye

She is one of those dogs who is always joyful and actually has that look like she is grinning sometimes. She loves to play with humans or dogs - whoever has time for her - and doesn't understand why the other dogs aren't as interested in wrestling as she is. Mochi is full of energy and tends to think if she just holds her head next to a dog long enough and licks them they will understand that they really want to play with her. Frodo is not amused by this.

Yesterday she tumbled around with a ball in front of Chima for about 10 seconds finally landing in  a play position in front of her. Chima watched all of this with studied indifference and after a second of taking in the final play pose turned and walked to the couch. It was so funny! But poor Mochi, she doesn't get why all the dogs are such fuddy-duddies.

At first Mochi didn't seem to ever slow down but we have been practicing "capturing calm" - basically giving her reinforcements for calm behavior. She's a quick study and now that she's relaxed a bit and also knows that kicking back on the couch pays big time, she has started to show signs that she does have an "off button".

Mochi has learned a side benefit to being calm is that the other dogs let her be near them

Mochi is such a loving and joyful girl but anyone adopting her is going to have to love a high energy dog, not just tolerate one. She would actually be a spectacular sporting dog since she is a quick learner and loves working with her humans. Combine that with her energy, speed, and love of toys and she could make a great sport partner for someone. Or even just a running or trail partner - anything that gets her moving and keeps her big brain engaged.

At 39# Mochi even dwarfs Chima - here she is with Frodo and Chima, getting ready to head out to the back yard.