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

13 Weeks and Counting

I was in Alpharetta for an AKC trial with Rip and Stuff. Took Switch and Boost to the arena numerous times to socialize. Switch is going through a very leggy stage. All legs and short back. And that tail! It drags the ground all the time. This weekend, his ears took on a life of their own. Sometimes up. Sometimes down. Sometimes out. Sometimes inside out. I am amazed at all the configurations they can manage in a short time.  Still not planning to do much to his ears. But if he starts to look like a donkey, I might have to change my mind.

This trip, we had an upstairs room and the arena was also up a flight of stairs. Switch is a fast little stair stepper. Much faster than me going up. And going down, he ends with a nice leaping flourish.Yikes, I hope his contacts don't end up with that flourish leap. He met and played with a red BC pup that was the same age. The pup was from Hidden Valley kennels in Utah. She was shy and overwhelmed by the arena and people so their play was kind of subdued.  Funny, but that owner is also a long-time Dobe person.  I also saw another Dobe person with a young BC. I figure that pup to be 4 or 5 months old, but did not get a chance to talk to her about it. One afternoon, we went to the potty area at the hotel and met another 5 month old BC from Ignited kennel. They played a little, but the older dog in that pack was not too nice. I aborted that play session because of the adult bitch that kept acting ugly. 

It rained on Saturday night. Little Mr. Switch does not want to go out in the rain. I finally had to crate him for the night because he opted not to pee in the rain. Today, he found a nice GSD bitch to play with. Well, he played and she sniffed him. She allowed him to play with her ball and when she nudged to get it back, Switch was a little possessive. I have seen that possessive streak a few times. I am going to keep a close eye on it. For a puppy to challenge an adult, there is a lot of presence and it could lead to problems down the road. Better to recognize it and be proactive.

Had fun with him this week. I will be very happy when he is 100% potty trained. Accidents are fewer but still occur when he gets distracted by Boost.  Our training sessions are still dotted with multiple potty breaks. And oh my gosh! He is so handsome. :)

A Second Play Date

A Second Play Date

Here is the lazy way to blog in two places.  Click the link to see the blog about Switch and Tug. They had a great time on their play date.

Play Date

Took Switch to a friend's house to play with her 11 week old lab puppy. Tug is the most adorable and cute puppy I have ever seen. He should be making commercials right now because *I* would buy any product he was hawking.  Switch and Tug started off pretty lukewarm. Well, Switch was lukewarm. Tug was "Hey dude! Welcome to my place and please roll over so I can sniff your butt." Switch had his ears pinned way back and was shrinking and slinking. Within minutes the introductions were over and they settled into chasing, rolling, rahh rahh- ing and general puppy mischief. Neither of the puppies comes to their name. Sad to say that I have been lax about working on Switch's name. Been so busy teaching students and working on courses plus the rental house and my yard that keeps growing my the minute. I know that is not a good excuse, but there you have it. I have been in survival mode. No way around it, eight dogs is a lot of work and an untrained pottier only makes the work more. J and I made a deal to work on our recalls and name recognition. Next week when we get together, we are going to trade off and do puppy recalls. I am overjoyed to find a friend for Switch that is his own age and size. He is a bit over zealous with Boost's ears and body. She tolerates it, but really... there is no need to body slam her or drag her about by her ears.  Plus, it is nice to share all of the puppy adventures with someone who understands how wonderful it is to sleep through the night or to have a day with no piddle accidents.

Since I got home from J's, I have made a point to keep cereal in my pocket at all times so that I can work on name recognition.  I am still not a winner when the choice is me or rabbit poop, but otherwise there is an improvement. I must say that I don't know how I came to have TWO- not ONE but TWO - very independent puppies. Boost and Switch are  likely to wander right on down to the far edge of the property without a backward glance at me. The other dogs are tripping over themselves to be under my feet. I hope the independent streak translates into a dog that has the confidence to attack the agility course without me running my legs off. I love running, but I don't want my ability to run to be the motivation for the dog to GO. The directional aid is fine, but the motivation to go and do without me running top speed would be nice.

Speaking of puppies, it is time to exercise a few pups. The weather is cooling and it is nice to spend longer periods outside each day. If only the mosquitoes would get lost.

 

Addictions

A border collie can be quite addicting. Switch is still very young and most of his energy is spent peeing. That boy can pee more than me and that says a lot. But, he is learning. He tried to make it to the door every time today. Only two accidents. That last one mortified him. He knew he should be outside. :(  I took some time while my dinner was microwaving to train him in the kitchen. He has a default behavior of sit in front of me. That is okay, but I would prefer sit in heel. So tonight, I lured him around to heel and fed. Back to front he went. I lured him again to heel and fed. He went back to front. On the 5th one, he rotated to heel on his own. No luring. He just did it. I stood with my mouth open. I could do this same thing 40 times with the Shelties and they would still need the lure. The Dobes would never repeat it 40 time to begin with. I could easily get addicted to the BC brain.

I would like to brag on the other dogs. They stood on the other side of the gate QUIETLY while I trained Switch. Making progress.

The Little Things

I had to work today. The owners of the rental house I am working on were nice enough to invite Switch to come and hang out. They are dog people and suggested that I set up an x-pen in the living room for him. How cool is that? :)  

The rental house painting is nearly done. Now, I am working as general handy "man". I knew those skills would come in handy some day. Today, I installed a garbage disposal and a new kitchen faucet. The rental home owner read directions and handed me tools, but I did the actual work with my own two hands. He (home owner) can't crawl under a sink because of an inner ear problem that affects his balance.  I was happy to do the installs because it is another set of skills to file away.  

I am really pushing to finish up this job because I have a ton of courses due. I lost my laptop two days ago to a mother board failure. My new one will not arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday and I cannot design on this netbook. The small screen drives me nuts.   I am hoping to finish the master bathroom (the last room) tomorrow. Then, there will only be touch ups. That will free me up to work on courses for the next week plus. The only problem with working long hours is that the dogs are neglected during the day. :(  When I get home, I let everyone have 4 hours to romp around before I fall into bed. The youngsters, Boost and Switch, would gladly take more run around time.  No real training this week. I keep telling myself that it is okay to miss a week of training. 

The biggest news today is just a little thing. Switch aka Zeus started bouncing on the door to go outside. I thought he was bouncing to reach Flirt's muzzle which hangs on the knob, but I took hime out anyway. He peed. About 20 minutes later, there was a repeat. By his fourth trip to the door and a quick run to his potty place, I was convinced that he was actually *asking* to go outside.Wow! never had a dog do that before. Especially one that was only 9 weeks old.  The little things really do make you jump for joy some days.  
 

Opening

I have been blogging for over two years at http://ripnpaws.livejournal.com/ . I started blogging to deal with my emotions as I watched my mother and sister-in-law battle terminal cancer. It  transitioned to a training journal, life steam, diary, and commentary after their deaths. Whatever was going on in my life, found its way to the blog.  Recently, I added two new puppies to my household.  I have begun to feel that the old blog has served it's purpose. It is tired and worn out- dragging.  Hence, the birth of my new blog here on Blogger. My youngsters are totally awesome and it seems fitting that they have a fresh new blog to journal their adventures  as they mature and learn.