With that taken care of, the next order of business was more paperwork! I completed the various entry forms necessary to enter the "big dogs" in some upcoming shows and trials. I filled out the entry forms today for a CPE agility trial in Ridgefield, WA in April for Chili and Stoker. In mid-March Chili, Decker and Stoker will all be entered at an AKC show in Albany, OR. Decker will be doing agility and obedience, Chili will do agility and Stoker will do conformation.
Ecko, Reef, Cooper and Subi-Blue updates
Ecko went on an overnight trip on Friday night with my friend Jessi (not to be confused with my other friend Jessie) to a high school theatre group's overnight Shakespeare rehearsal. In addition to meeting several zillion high school kids (some of whom had the nerve to ask if she was a poodle or a "doodle"!), Ecko also got to meet Jessi's two Bassett Hounds and her cat and my friend Sarah's Mini Schnauzer Bizzie.
I feel like I did not take enough time in socializing Stoker when she was a pup, relying on the fact that she was surrounded by strangers and lots of dogs when she went to work with me each day as a puppy. As a trainer, I should have remembered that not only do dogs learn in context (so Stoker was really only learning to be social at Pup-A-Razzi) but they need lots of exposure to new situations as well as new people (habituation as well as socialization). I am determined to remedy having failed Stoker in this area and have ongoing plans for outings for Ecko. Next Wednesday my friend CJ is borrowing Decker for an agility demo at an elementary school and Ecko will be going along for more exposure to kids, a new environment and a ride in a strange car.
Reef came up from Florence for a visit this weekend and to take part in a Puppy class. He was one of the smallest pups in the class and, as were the other small pups, was a bit "thoughtful" in his approach to meeting the new pups. He thought "pass the puppy" was more his cup of tea and had a glorious time kissing up to all the strange people who handled him. He and Ecko had agreat time playing with each other and Granny Chili and Mama Stoker spent a bit of time deflating his ego and reminding him on his place in the pecking order. Reef ate a raw chicken wing for the first time Saturday night and did a good job removing all the meat from the bones, but thought crunching the bones up was a bit too much work. The little dude has a little scaly itchy spot on his belly which looks like it might be a staph infection or some other minor skin irritation. We clipped the hair from around it (very traumatic!) and Dick and Ginny will put a topical anti-microbial on it to see if it clears up in the next few days without antibiotics.
Being a true water dog, Reef enjoys playing in and spilling his water bowl.
Cooper is at the house playing with Ecko as I type. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the big dogs when he first came in the door. After some bossing about by Chili and Stoker, he soon settled in to play with Reef and Ecko. Julie reports that he is settling in nicely. Tsuzi has gradually warmed up to the idea of having another dog in the household and is enjoying some time away from the puppy with the rest of the family at the coast today. Cooper starts puppy class this coming week.
Joe and Nichole report that Subi broke out of her Fort Knox puppy pen in the house and say "we have since upgraded to Alcatraz and she has not gotten out since. Surprisingly, we found her sitting on her doggy bed and she had not harmed anything. Then as we let her nap too much she refused to go to sleep and cried for 3 hrs while we were patient and did not rescue her--this was quite hard. She slept or was quiet for about 4 hours before waking up and crying again.
On Sunday Subi went with Nichole and Joe to George Rodgers park in Lake Oswego to go watch the Big dogs swim in the water. Subi got up to her ankles and that was about it. Monday through Thursday saw Subi spending more time on her own, as Joe and Nichole were back to work. They are managing her alone time by making sure she is tired and ready to sleep before they leave, and leaving her with treats in a paper bag to entertain herself with while they are gone.
In Joe's words:
Tuesday: This is the first day of the Shark -- Subi started snapping. It began in the morning (Nichole suspects that she was snapping at her hair, since it was the first day she had worn it completely down). We also started playing fetch and she seems to really like that. Seems like a good tool to teach come.
Joe and Nichole had some concerns and questions which I think you would all enjoy hearing about, so I'll post them later today in a separate blog entry.
For now, I'll end this entry with some photos and the hope that I have updates for everyone from Mako and Tiger in the next day or two.
No, it's not PWD related. This is a photo of Wednesday night's lunar eclipse.
No, Cooper isn't dead just VERRRRYYYY relaxed following a long play session with sister Ecko. Perhaps Ecko is a bit of a bed-hog and pushed him out?
If you say you don't care for PWDs with lots of white markings, but you end up with one yourself, you might as well go all out and embrace the prospect. What better way to do that than to buy your white and back puppy a white and black zebra toy?
I feel like I did not take enough time in socializing Stoker when she was a pup, relying on the fact that she was surrounded by strangers and lots of dogs when she went to work with me each day as a puppy. As a trainer, I should have remembered that not only do dogs learn in context (so Stoker was really only learning to be social at Pup-A-Razzi) but they need lots of exposure to new situations as well as new people (habituation as well as socialization). I am determined to remedy having failed Stoker in this area and have ongoing plans for outings for Ecko. Next Wednesday my friend CJ is borrowing Decker for an agility demo at an elementary school and Ecko will be going along for more exposure to kids, a new environment and a ride in a strange car.
Reef came up from Florence for a visit this weekend and to take part in a Puppy class. He was one of the smallest pups in the class and, as were the other small pups, was a bit "thoughtful" in his approach to meeting the new pups. He thought "pass the puppy" was more his cup of tea and had a glorious time kissing up to all the strange people who handled him. He and Ecko had agreat time playing with each other and Granny Chili and Mama Stoker spent a bit of time deflating his ego and reminding him on his place in the pecking order. Reef ate a raw chicken wing for the first time Saturday night and did a good job removing all the meat from the bones, but thought crunching the bones up was a bit too much work. The little dude has a little scaly itchy spot on his belly which looks like it might be a staph infection or some other minor skin irritation. We clipped the hair from around it (very traumatic!) and Dick and Ginny will put a topical anti-microbial on it to see if it clears up in the next few days without antibiotics.
Being a true water dog, Reef enjoys playing in and spilling his water bowl.
Cooper is at the house playing with Ecko as I type. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the big dogs when he first came in the door. After some bossing about by Chili and Stoker, he soon settled in to play with Reef and Ecko. Julie reports that he is settling in nicely. Tsuzi has gradually warmed up to the idea of having another dog in the household and is enjoying some time away from the puppy with the rest of the family at the coast today. Cooper starts puppy class this coming week.
Joe and Nichole report that Subi broke out of her Fort Knox puppy pen in the house and say "we have since upgraded to Alcatraz and she has not gotten out since. Surprisingly, we found her sitting on her doggy bed and she had not harmed anything. Then as we let her nap too much she refused to go to sleep and cried for 3 hrs while we were patient and did not rescue her--this was quite hard. She slept or was quiet for about 4 hours before waking up and crying again.
On Sunday Subi went with Nichole and Joe to George Rodgers park in Lake Oswego to go watch the Big dogs swim in the water. Subi got up to her ankles and that was about it. Monday through Thursday saw Subi spending more time on her own, as Joe and Nichole were back to work. They are managing her alone time by making sure she is tired and ready to sleep before they leave, and leaving her with treats in a paper bag to entertain herself with while they are gone.
In Joe's words:
Tuesday: This is the first day of the Shark -- Subi started snapping. It began in the morning (Nichole suspects that she was snapping at her hair, since it was the first day she had worn it completely down). We also started playing fetch and she seems to really like that. Seems like a good tool to teach come.
Joe and Nichole had some concerns and questions which I think you would all enjoy hearing about, so I'll post them later today in a separate blog entry.
For now, I'll end this entry with some photos and the hope that I have updates for everyone from Mako and Tiger in the next day or two.
No, it's not PWD related. This is a photo of Wednesday night's lunar eclipse.
Ecko has her shark by the tail. Grrr!
No, Cooper isn't dead just VERRRRYYYY relaxed following a long play session with sister Ecko. Perhaps Ecko is a bit of a bed-hog and pushed him out?
If you say you don't care for PWDs with lots of white markings, but you end up with one yourself, you might as well go all out and embrace the prospect. What better way to do that than to buy your white and back puppy a white and black zebra toy?
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