April Update

Long Time No See

I've ignored this blog for quite awhile. It was too much work to update my LJ blog and this one.  However,  LJ has come under attack from DoDOS which means the site is either very s-l-o-w or inaccessible. I never realized that LJ was a very popular Russian blog site until I Googled "LJ Problems" and found the slow down was initiated for political reasons. Who knew?!?

So here I am. ;-)

I started the 5 Minute Recall program by SG.  There is a journal sheet included with the program, but I'll keep track of our general progress here.  I hate marketing "fluff" for high dollars and I was turned off by the high price of the Recaller program. Then, I saw Ann Braue's endorsement of it. She  had questioned the high price of it, but found it worth the money. Her endorsement plus the honest opinion of LOH was enough to sway me.

I have a lot of catching up to do in the program because I was away at AKC Nationals. Today, I started with the Collar Game. It was not a novelty for them. They have all played my variation of the collar game. Spent some time playing by 5MR rules. One session in this morning.  It was good to be reminded to play this game since Switch has started this awkward cringe lie down behavior when I go to reach for his muzzle. Goofy!  As the day progresses, I'll add in some value for my side. All of my older dogs have been rewarded so much at my side that they really are comfortable there although they might not automatically go there for reward. I'll test that to see because I am curious. Certainly, they do NOT walk nicely beside me when we walk the Greenway. Walking multiple dogs means that at least one dog is not going to be at my side.  The younger dogs were just in the process of learning value for my side and I think this is a great time for them to be working through the program.

Call Once- Oh My. Lots of work to do on this one. ;-)

Beautiful day. Lots of time to train today. Only have afternoon students because of an early medical appointment.  More later.

Nearly 5 Months in Photos

Almost 5 Months

Been awhile since I found time to blog. Things have been chirping right along with me busy judging and showing and the never ending fall yard work.

Switch continues to grow and his personality become stronger daily. One thing that worries me is his extreme independence. More and more often, we head inside (the other dogs and me) and Switch is no where to be seen. I confess to becoming a little freaked at night when this happens. He is obsessed with rabbit poo and his obsession takes him to the far edges of the yard where the rabbits congregate and feed. This morning, I found him down near the gate happily munching away. More  recall work is obviously necessary. Strange that my last two puppies, Boost and Switch, would be so independent and confident that they don't hang on my every word or coat tail. 

Today, I began a more formal "agility" type of training with Boost and Switch. The fall has finally brought cooler temperatures so that we can train without wilting. After the motivational struggles with Stuff, I did not want to start the youngsters in extreme heat.  Switch played on the inclined ramp board. Just marking 4 feet on. Right now, just keeping all 4 feet in line is awkward for him as he is in the gawky stage. Before I can start the running, he needs to know that all 4 feet should be in contact with the board. I could place two ramps side by side and make it wider, but I think he will be okay if I spend a day or so on 4 feet. I also jumped him at 12 and 16 inches. Five minutes of jumping the one jump with a clicker. I'll video that the next time we do jumping. He also jumped through the tire 3 or 4 times. His biggest issue is noise so I saved morning kibble for working on the bang of the teeter. He wanted to run when the board bounced back. Darted with his eyes. Then, some puppy training kicked in and he attacked the end of the teeter. I moved down and started banging it and pushing it up and down. He went nuts and killed it for a few minutes. Then, a good game of tug. That was enough for today.Tomorrow, I will work the flat board and the teeter again. Going to add a tunnel and turns around the jump standard too.  Need to work on food to toy to food transition.

Photos tomorrow of almost 5 month old Switch.

Switch and Tug are 16 Weeks

Leggy and Spooky

Switch is 16 weeks old. Oh my gosh, his legs just keep growing. The body, not so much. His muzzle took a definite growth spurt this week too. His ears are coming up and I can see "prick" ears on occasion. I will probably put Tear Mender on them in the next week or so. I hate having to fool with his ears, but I don't want prick ears.  He still has relatively sparse coat.

I spent the weekend judging in Hamilton, OH or somewhere near there. Switch was with me but he had to keep a low profile. He spent every day crated during the show hours. I felt somewhat guilty, but a lot of people work 8 or 9 hour days and "puppy" is crated. At least he was able to be with me on the trip instead of farmed out. Three of his litter mates were at the show. I did not get to visit with them since my judging duties kept me busy.   I got only a quick peek at them. Revel and CoMotion are similar in size and both have more coat than Switch. Lux is much larger than the others and has a LOT of coat. Too early to tell anything about final size, but I am happy that I have a smaller pup right now. I am still taking Switch out ever 15-20 minutes. I was on the third floor of the hotel and carrying a larger puppy up and down the steps to potty would have been very difficult. He is very good about asking to go potty at home but I don't know that he would do so at the hotel.

On the way home from Ohio, I stopped at the Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell, KY. I wanted to let the dogs run a bit and I know that site from numerous Nationals. It is treed with a lot of grass. We ended up down on what used to be tennis courts. It is now seeded and grassed and made for a nice place for the dogs to romp. It actually feels like you are in a bowl which is why I took the dogs down there. I knew that Switch and Boost could run without any danger. The trees were losing leaves and it was windy.   The wind blowing through the trees made a weird sound like hissing. Plus, there was an old basketball court down there and the nets were blowing in the wind. Switch was fine in the open field, but when we reached the old basketball court he hated it. He was freaked by the nets waving above him. Acted like the goals were monsters looming over him. I guess he is getting ready to enter the fear period.  In fact,  I am sure of it. Last night on his final potty trip, he got spooked by the Screech owl hooting. I have to admit that the owl does sound spooky.

I did NO training during the weekend. I was too exhausted after judging all day. The dogs and I just rolled around on the bed and watched TV.

Switch at 14 weeks