Saturday, July 03, 2004

A NEW WAY OF BEING AT WORK

Our office remodel is complete and we're all moved back in. The floor is now brand-new carpet and I dare not have any puppy accidents on the carpet. So I had to take a crate to work for Joey today. I chose the black wire crate that is a medium size. Good for Joey's age when measured in months, not going to work for him as an adult.

Added to all the other sudden financial crises, my truck is now grating metal-on-metal when I come to a stop which means it stays home until I am able to have the brakes repaired. We took the RV to work this morning and Joey rode in BJ's crate in the front seat and he upchucked a little bit during the ride, just fluid since he had not had any breakfast yet.

I meant to bring a rug for him to use in the office but forgot so he'll have to spend the day in the crate with the only outs being for potty breaks and building check. Joey was wonderful, just plain wonderful, about relaxing in the crate for the whole day. I started off in the morning by feeding him breakfast dropped in little bits down through the crate. Joey enjoyed finding these and eating them.

The crate is under the new workstation countertop, right next to me, so it's a matter of grab treats, drop in crate, with hardly any effort at all. Joey did no demanding to be let out, no scrabbling at the crate door, nothing, just nice calm, relaxing. Each time I took him out, he went back in on his own and we've only done little bits of crate training!

Since we are involved in the Fourth of July weekend, I'm really keeping a low profile with the dogs. We aren't going anywhere, we aren't going out in the backyard much, we're just staying inside running all four fans and the TV. So far, noBeardie has had any problems with the neighbor's whistlers or driveway fireworks. ME on the other hand, yikes! I can't stand to see what they do. They have a huge motor home parked in their driveway and they set off these things that shoot sparks all over and jitter around on the ground. They jitter and dance under the motor home. Is that moronic or what? Makes me crazy.

We napped for most of the afternoon. Then we had some dog play time in the backyard, limited by Marcus not wanting to play with Joey so I had to keep blocking Marcus from Joey. I put the dogs inside, did a little weed-eating, then we have a short session in the backyard. Marcus actually ran around with Joey and engaged in some wrestling which is not that easy with a clear plastic one on one's head! He must be feeling better which is a relief.

We then had a nice, calm, cuddle on the couch with Joey's head in my lap and no FRAPs from BJ. Just nice massaging session, got him all sleepy, then off to bed. Joey is turning out to be such a wonderful fit with our family. The Havanese both seem to really enjoy him. They've done an excellent job raising him. Joey's very lucky to have such good small dog buds.

Nothing new today which, for the 3rd of July, is a Very Good Thing. Let's keep it that way through tomorrow night too.

Friday, July 02, 2004

JOEY KNOWS WHERE THE ACTION IS!

Oh my!! What a morning!! As I was trying to get dressed, get the dogs fed and do all those little morning things, Joey kept escaping from the Xpen!! I had the back door open to the sideyard. I'd hear barking and lo and behold, Joey was out in the sideyard. I was very frazzled because I was trying to get a vet appointment for Marcus and then get ready to get him to the vet.

Clipping the Xpen to the cabinet door turned out to fail. Joey would push on the Xpen which opened the cabinet door, then he would just squeeze out between the Xpen and cabinet door and under the cabinet door. Over and over until I figured it out. I finally had to give up and take him with us to the vet's office. Joey upchucked in the crate on the way home from the vets. *sigh*

When Joey had his last set of shots, the vet said he might be lethargic for the evening and into the next day. That didn't happen. Just the opposite, he was more lively. Well, apparently, that's true this time. He's a little wild one this morning, galloping down the ramp and outside to the side yard.

During one of his escapes to the sideyard, I went out the gate to the driveway area and he squeezed out behind me (first time for this). The driveway area is outside of any fenced area. We have to cross the unfenced driveway area to get to the backyard. When Joey squeezed out unexpectedly, he went right to the gate to the backyard, all happy and excited!! He wanted to get to the fun place. Very smart dog. I was particularly pleased and impressed with his desire to get to the backyard rather than take off to check out the neighbor's or worse. I remember when Marcus used to do that. Before Marcus was "certified" to cross that area off-leash, he used to dash out and head right to that gate.

I re-arranged the Puppy Palace putting the Furrari 450 in there as the crate and to hold the Xpen against the cabinets. The other end of the Xpen is now clipped to a cabinet drawer handle and that can't be opened and squeezed out underneath. So we're secure for a while anyway.

Marcus is very suppressed. He just wants to stay in one spot. He does run when I call him to go out, but once out, he just lies down and won't budge from that spot. He has a skin infection (hot spot that is infected plus some other little scabby spots) and diarrhea so is on Baytril with Cort-aid on the spot. He doesn't want to play with Joey at all and, of course, Joey is dying to play with Marcus. He doesn't understand Marcus is off limits.

In order to work on some weed-eater work in the backyard, I put Joey and BJ in the sideyard. I did the whole driveway area and the noise never fazed Joey at all. As I was working in the backyard, I looked up and there's Joey at the gate dying to come in and see me. I praised him and praised him for being such a smart, brilliant boy to figure out where to come find me. I had him come in, get a drink from the kiddie pool, then I took him back in the house. I'm very pleased that he heads right for me or the backyard, doesn't matter which.

I'm not sure how he's getting out of the sideyard. Marcus, small dog, 10#, almost 10" at the shoulders, cannot get out. The only thing I can think of is that Joey is taller. I've seen him stick his head through one of the openings in the stock panel. I'm wondering if he works one shoulder out the hole, then the other, literally like a human baby being born. His Grand-Aunt, Brady, could really squeeze through some small openings.

We had a nice cuddle time on the couch with entertainment provided by BJ. Marcus was just crashed out on a pillow on the couch. Joey wanted to bug him but I kept him with me at my end of the couch. You have to wonder what BJ thinks sometimes, why does he do what he does? He saw Joey bugging Marcus and he started getting a really good FRAP going. BJ did all the stuff he does when he plays indoors with Marcus. He ran up onto the couch, swimmers turn off the back of the couch, onto the floor, quick turn, back up on the couch. Over and over. Usually BJ and Marcus do this together and they have *never* done it while I'm sitting on the couch.

Joey was lying there, head in my lap, and BJ was running circles up onto the couch. Joey was fascintated and excited. He's never seen BJ be so mischievious and playful. BJ was just throwing himself into this game. I let Joey go thinking he might join BJ in some way but no, he didn't have a clue what to do, he just watched. Very entertaining.

I like the evenings after our nightly cuddle. Just like with kids, I put the young one to bed and the elders and I stay up and watch TV together while the kid goes right to sleep.

No new people, dogs or events today, not even much training. It was a day to focus on Marcus and getting him squared away.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

JOEY DOES ZYDECO!

Joey has outgrown BJ's Kennel Cab II crate for travel in the truck. While he can lie comfortably in it, it's tough getting him out of it. So today I shuffled a bunch of crates around. The Furrari 350 is now in the back of the truck as Joey's travel crate. We took a test drive to the store this morning. I must say I'm going to miss his being in the seat next to me for a while. Once he is better acclimated to the seatbelt harness, he can be back as my upfront buddy. He upchucked in the crate in the back - possibly from riding backwards.

This morning we worked on Choose to Heel with Joey on his 10 foot long line. He sure does a nice job of catching up to me as soon as I try to get away. We work both right and left sides of course as any future agility dog should do. We did small sessions of tugging with the small dog tennis ball on a strap. And we played on the Buja Board. He did a lot of stepping around on it, played a little tuggie on it. I rolled the ball down the board and Joey dashed after making a big tip, picked it up and took off to the corner of the yard. This is an indication of a broader horizon for young Joey.

During one tuggie, I let go when he pulled on the toy nicely and he landed plop on his butt as the board tipped. He didn't care - we were having a good time on the board.

And yay! I found my longe whip today! I've been wondering and wondering where that is. Now we can have some good fun. The whip had a white plastic bag tied to it plus a length of fleecy tug toy. Joey had a really great time chasing that in circles - Sheltie fishing. I "caught" him several times and played tug with the toy before sending him on a new chase.

Joey is looking more and more Beardie-like now. His face is graying up so much. There's gray at the base of his tail both underneath and on top and gray on his hocks. It's really easy to see why the average pet owner expects way more of their large breed puppies than they are capable of. Joey looks like a small dog yet he is only a baby (12 weeks old), so much a baby.

Joey had his vet visit today. Dr. Long raved about him as a model patient. Joey watched everything the doc did very intently and just laid quietly for all exams and events. He now weighs 18.3 lbs which has him on the same growth curve as previously, topping out at 55 lbs. He had his shots and another worming. His lower pre-molars came in but his upper pre-molars have not yet come in. I wonder if he is going to go through another teething event when those come in. At least I'm prepapred. I still do lots of finger-gumming at the back of his mouth though I have to be careful of those tiny little pokers on the bottom now.

Joey wrote to the vet's office in the crate in the back of the truck and upchucked when we got home. *sigh* I'm going to try covering the crate to see if that helps.

Tonight was the first night of the River Rhythms concert series featuring a Zydeco band. This is particularly poignant for me because two of the names considered for Joey were Zydeco and Beausoleil. I absolutely LOVE Zydeco and so Joey and I went to the concert for a bit. This is a small down and the open air free concert is held on the grass under the trees in the park along the Willamette River. Despite it being a small town, they bring in name bands to this series. I didn't catch the Zydeco band's name though.

We didn't go all the way in but stayed out near the entrance to the park on a street corner. We could hear the music just fine. Joey was ever so interested in everything that was going on. People passed by on their way in or out - people with strollers, people carrying ice chests and lawn chairs, people with kids, people with a kid in a wagon, people on bicycles passing right next to us on the sidewalk, people on skateboards passing right next to us too. Joey watched it all. He was a bit startled by some of the kids on bikes or the skateboards as was I since some of them chose to zoom right up on us with little consideration. We handled it quite well though.

We didn't do a lot of training more just observing. Periodically when I thought I had a good shot, I'd call his name and reward him for a head turn with a lick from the liverwurst baby food jar. We managed to get several name/head turns done very nicely. We played a little tuggie with the fleece rope during a lull in the music. Several people stopped to greet and pet him, asking what breed and so on. Probably the hardest thing for Joey was that he couldn't greet everyone that went by. He's used to greeting and being greeted by everyone he meets and here were people who just walked on by him without checking him out. That was tough for him, he's so social.

We stayed for about 15 minutes, then took a walk down one downtown block and back down the other side of the street. It's nice that Joey can walk so well on leash. I's quite pleasant to walk with him. We even broke into a little run at one point. As we were walking back to the truck, a group of 3 Harleys started up down near the water front park and then roared up the street that crossed the one we were on. This is the first time I have seen Joey flatten his ears, tuck tail and want to run. The Harley noise was loud even though it was a half a block away. So I ran with him and we made a big party of it. He recovered quite quickly. It will be interesting to see his next response to motorcycle noise.

Joey's having a bit of a hard time at home. His best bud, Marcus, isn't feeling well and so won't play with him. Joey doesn't understand and keeps looking to Marcus for fun. Sorry, bud, we have to let Marcus get better first.

New people met today: couldn't count them
New dogs met today: none
New experiences today: outdoor concert, bicycles, skateboards, Harleys, strollers, wagon

Joey had a very busy day and crashed right out to sleep!

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

A FUN DAY WITH EDDIE SPAGHETTI

Wednesday is the day our friend Eddie Spaghetti comes to spend the day. Eddie is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and he is on the top of the list of non-hairy dogs I would adopt if the need arose (the others are Sweetie (Akita) and a Bulldog whose name has gone right out of my mind).

We got up early so we could get in a bit of a training session before Eddie arrived. We worked indoors today and did lots of reps of into the crate as an offered behavior. I added the cue ("kennel") and we did several cued reps quite quickly. We did a few reps of eye contact and a few of fold-back down, still luring. Joey doesn't quite know enough about what he's doing, close but not quite.

We then worked on going into the Puppy Palace (Xpenned off area in the kitchen) as an offered behavior and Joey added his own frill to this. He would go through the open and then dash straight into the open crate!!! Very cute.

Joey is so responsive to training now. I just love it. I have to comment on his sits for getting his leash put on. I did not train that, at least not consciously. He just started doing that on his own. Occasionally I would open the Puppy Palace and want to take him outside yet he would just plunk his butt down and not move. I finally realized that I had to put his leash on, *then* he would move! I suspect that I have a certain habitual way of holding the leash and approaching a dog to put it on. This probably caused Joey to sit as a reflex. After enough reps, he was "trained" to sit to have his leash put on.

I can really see how much I underestimate the power of classical conditioning! Now there are times I want to get him out of a crate and he sits without budging, waiting to have his leash put on. How nice for him to have trained himself to do such a nice foundation behavior!!

I found our Busy Ball (like a Buster Cube only round) and put puppy kibble in that and in the Puppy Palace with him. He loves eating the food but doesn't get it how to make food happen. I'm going to have to spend some time shaping him to swat it.

Eddie arrived and I got everyone settled in their places so that I could work on the computer for a while. After I got a decent bit of work done, we all went out into the big backyard for some dog play. This is new for us to go to the big yard. In order to get from the sideyard to the backyard, we have to go across the driveway area (unfenced) so that means Eddie and Joey both on leash. But Eddie and Joey anywhere near each other turns into a wrestling fest. It was very comical trying to get those two across that area with Marcus and BJ off leash, BJ wanting to hang back and stay in the sideyard, Marcus busting on ahead to get into the backyard and the two black-n-white young'uns a tangled web of leashes and a blur of black and white!

They had a great time in this play session. Things have changed in the last week so dramatically for Joey. He can RUN!! Boy, can he run! He and Eddie ran, chased and wrestled all over the place with Marcus mixed in occasionally. They ran into and out of the swimming pool. At various points I would call a dog out of play, calling Marcus is a sure bet. But I got to a point where I actually called Joey out of play!! Wow!!! And Eddie too. Each of the young ones had 2 or 3 good name responses when in the middle of play. Pretty impressive.

I put out the Buja Board with a tennis ball under it, a very slight tip. They just ran over it as part of their running path. BJ, of course, wanted to be on it and offer behaviors. He would soooo much rather do training games than anything with the other dogs. At one point all four of them were on the Buja Board!

I did some sprinkling with the hose of the area the dogs were playing in. Just a fine mist. Joey really loves the pool and he digs and digs and digs at the water. AT one point Joey was near the pool and trying to decide whether to go in or not. Eddie came up behind him and thumped Joey with his butt knocking him straight into the pool. It was pretty darned funny!

Although Joey is now much bigger than Eddie, Eddie still takes him right to the ground. It's nice to see Joey play with small dogs even as he gets bigger than they are. I could watch these guys play all day long!

I went back to work inside and the dogs all had a long nap. We had a second play session with the three young ones having a ball while BJ and I worked on "back up". I've gotten him up to about 12 feet now.

Joey participated in the first of Eddie's lesson - his first time as a demo dog! Nice to see him stepping into his place on the staff here. Joey demoed the first step of the "leave it" training and did a very nice job of it too.

Later in the evening we had a long brushing session on the couch before bed time. Joey was nice and relaxed lying on his side while I brushed him. He did take bites at the slicker brush but only 4 or 5 times in this session. Bites at the slicker brush are decreasing nicely.

No new people, dogs or novel experiences today, just a really nice day of fun with a buddy.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

JOEY ESCAPES FROM THE PUPPY PALACE

We had a lovely training session in the backyard today. Joey sits at the back door, sits at the gate to go in the yard. I kicked the soccer ball and he would run to it. Sometimes he would turn back to me before getting to the ball, click/treat. He turns back to check in a lot now. A couple of times he ran off to somewhere but turned back to me, click/treat.

We worked on several sets of walking recalls. He's getting very good at recognizing his name. We played tuggie with the braided tights, nice and stretch. He's grabbing the thing much better than he used to. I sat in a chair to take a break and Joey immediately sat and gave me eye contact. He's really getting into that! It was hard to get him to go be interested in something else so I could call his name and have him turn his head. I tried tossing the stuffed moose but he wasn't interested in that.

I kicked the soccer ball around for him and click/treated when he ran into it with his front end or paws. We did 10 or 12 reps of that; he was really getting into that. I've been using cheese and non-fat hot dogs as treats mixed with a little puppy kibble.

Later the dogs had play time in the living room. They were getting quite wired. Marcus and Joey ran around chasing in a big loop, behind the chair, into the office, turn around and come out.

Joey broke out of the Xpen today. The Xpen isn't in a square; it's being used as a barrier across the kitchen. He's now big enough to push at it and move it away from the cupboards and then dash out. Suddenly there's Joey in the living room! I hooked it to the cabinet door with a carabiner. Let's hope that works.

Joey has suddenly become quite frisky and inventive. He is starting to notice the bigger world around him. And he definitely wants to be where the rest of us are.

Monday, June 28, 2004

AND THE TRIP HOME

Sunday, June 27, second day of the trial
I didn't have time to keep a lot of notes today. The trial was just too busy. Joey spent Saturday night in the new soft crate on the overhead bunk. I realized that BJ's Kennel Cab II was getting a little cramped for him and so I moved him up to the soft crate. This worked really well for him. Again, he just crashed as soon as he hit the crate. You gotta love that!

I managed potty breaks much better today. Joey had some rounds of running across the arena. He's really catching on to that running thing! Our trip home was very long and hot with the west sun beating right into the front of the truck. Joey really fought being hooked up to the seat belt so this is something we're going to have to work on to make into a much smoother hookup. Now that he's outgrown the Havanese-sized crates, there isn't any other option in the RV - he's on a seatbelt harness period.

We got home very late, the dogs ate dinner very late and got to bed late. Some people recommend varying feeding times so that your puppy is ready for the variety of real life. Well, no problem there! We seem to be all over the map with meals and bedtimes.

Monday, June 28
A very laidback day recovering from the trial, unpacking, trying to get the blog caught up and the week's schedule worked out We did walking in the backyard and a lot of cuddling on the couch.

I worked swing shift tonight and it was busier than usual and Joey was more active than usual. I'm going to have to remember to not let him nap so much in the afternoon on the swing shift days. It was a little bit tough keeping him busy while I was busy at the same time. Our office is being remodeled and carpet squares have been glued to the floor. He can't stretch out on his tether and lay on the cool tile any more. Again, I do not have good notes for today.