18.4 and counting...

We took Grace to Petsmart today to find more chew toys in an attempt to keep her from chewing on us. While there, we weighed her and she is now 18.4 pounds! We usually weigh on Fridays so this was a couple of days later, but still, that was a 4 pound gain in 9 days. Incredible, or rather...Amazing!
Grace is doing really well. She is more comfortable getting around our house with every day and does not seem timid about exploring at all. We have made our bathroom her area when we are out and she seems to do well in there. She doesn't whine or scratch when we leave her in there. She will just lay on her bed. She's also extremely comfortable with our backyard. She has been running (yes, you read right) around our backyard! I would not have guessed we'd be seeing that so soon. We have also started to 'scent' things in the house. We are using a specific scent for doors leading outside, starting with the back door. She will hopefully associate this with going outside to potty and finding her way to the door. I've also added a bell on a ribbon to the doorknob so that she will learn to hit the bell with her nose when she wants to go out. She's only had a couple of accidents in the house and both have been in the kitchen close to the back door. She is a smart little girl and is picking up things quickly. It's just up to us to present things to her in a way she can process.
I tried her on the leash today in Petsmart and she did okay. She is fine until she doesn't want to go where you are going or gets distracted. Then she will plant herself firmly and refuse to go any further. She can be quite hard-headed! She was pulling bags of dog treats off of the shelves today. Once again, she drew alot of attention. Only, today it was because of how cute she is instead of how skinny and frail she looked. That was an awesome thing! We will be working on her acceptance of the leash and trusting us to lead her when she is on leash. This will make walks much easier. We haven't been exercising her so that she can conserve all of her calories but I think she's at a point where we can begin. I thought that she might have an issue with something pulling on her neck but she did fine. We have a harness and might try this to just see if she does better on that.
We had some loud thunder this morning and Gracie did fine. She woke up from her napping on my lap but was easily calmed and went right back to sleep. She doesn't seem skittish with loud noises and seems to take everything in stride.
She is quite the princess in our house, too. She still has 'her' pillows that are on the couch for her to nap with 'her' blankies. It's crazy, I know! She is just too irresistible when it comes to babying her. We aren't carrying her around, though. She is having to navigate on her own and seems to prefer it that way. She did not care for the wet grass or the rain when she went out to potty today. Maybe part of it was that she didn't realize what the rain was. I mean, it hasn't rained for awhile and with her being blind, it may have been a little weird for her. So, I sent Addie out with an umbrella to walk with her so she wouldn't get the worst of the rain. Otherwise, she might have been out there for awhile just circling. I know, more pampering...
Anyway, keep her in your prayers, they are working!!!
Next step is to get her spayed and to an opthamologist and neurologist to get a good assessment of her sight and any neurological damage. I can't believe it's already been a little over 3 weeks since we brought home that skinny, gray puppy...