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.