Life with Sally

My family had a pre-Christmas gathering Friday evening.
In addition to seven adults/parents there were eleven children, of which seven were genetic grand-babies.
That is a lot of people in my widdle house.
In addition, Sally's sister and brother came along for a visit.
There was much friendly biting and rolling and tumbling.
And the dogs did some, too.

Friday was Sally's big socialization day, what with meeting a couple of the neighbor ladies, and sniffing several neighborhood dogs from a distance, plus all the residual sniffage in the leaves and yards, while on her morning leash walk.
And then a whole houseful of people that evening, and the kin-folks.
Sally had a day of it.

So today (Saturday) was sort of a day off.
We did not walk in the morning, as has been our practice.
We walked in the evening after I got home from my all day 400+ mile trip. (a WHOLE nother story...)

But Sally behaved herself nearly perfectly on the leash for our 10-15 minute walk.
She did have a blue bag event, which I was equipped to adjust (as best I could).
Then we had dinner.

Sally, in the last week has developed a ravenous appetite.
My previous 3/4 of a cup of food pellets are gone before I turn around and I am given a look that says, "Is that all?"
In response, I have increased her ration to a full cup each morning and evening meal.
This takes her a little longer to consume, but I still get that confused, deprived, questioning, look afterward.

I don't want to over-feed her and make her fat, but she is a growing dog.
And the 10-30 minute leash sessions leave her tired.
She comes home from them and, after she settles down, she sleeps for two or three hours.
And she is growing into a LARGE dog, who will have a big-dog appetite.
So I am working my way through this, another challenge.

On the house training front, more failures.
I cannot catch her at the correct moment.
Even though I took her out once each hour, this evening, she STILL managed to wet on a previously anointed spot.
Fortunately, this was on a plastic carpet runner rather than the carpet.
But I am frustrated.
Taking her out and having her squat out there does not teach her that doing the same thing in the house is unacceptable.
And she is sneaky.
If I do not follow her around the house as she sniffs and wanders, she will surprise me.
And sending her out after she has transgressed, may end up teaching her that the best way to make me open the door to let her out is to piddle on the floor.
That is exactly backwards.
So who is training who?
And to do what?