New Friends and New Habits

We have a new friend!

Well, The Dog hates him, but he’s family so she is stuck with him whether she likes it or not, but at least The Pup loves him! Er, well, sometimes. Just as long as there are no crates, toys, laps, or bully sticks around…

 

“Him” is The Dog’s bitty baby nephew. For our purposes he will be known as Chunk.  Because he was never really a bitty baby.  Kind of have to feel bad for his mom…

 

Anyways, he was super fat. Very substantial. You can see the size difference between him and The Pup.  She looks quite a bit twiggier than normal compared to his elephant stumps.

 

I did put these pictures on Facebook but not with any explanation. He isn’t mine! One Pup is enough and Chunk is enough for two more!

 

But due to sad circumstances, his planned home fell through and he will most likely stay with our friend, the breeder. She has her own puppy to worry about so I wanted to help out and be his friend. For now we are working on social skillz and turning on the brain. You know, because that’s what friends do? If it works out I will for sure do some obstacle work and possibly run him someday. He may end up really being a Big Boy (though after just a few weeks have already grown into his girth considerably) so that will be a fun challenge. 

 

He’s very cute. And even clever…for a boy… heheheh. I jest! He is very interesting to me in that he isn’t super food motivated but is into toys and tugging (super loud squealy tugging!).  Not the first dog like this, I know, but I’ve been using clickers so long that it’s fun to work out how to shape behaviors with toys again. Luckily he IS clever and has picked up on a few things very quickly. I’m already looking forward to trying Silvia’s method with him…

 

***

So I realize the timing of this is weird. Here I was just losing my grip because I had too much going on and now a new friend? Well, you can never have too many friends…right?

Really, I’m in a good groove now.  I settled on my path for the year and now everything has slotted into place. Suddenly I feel as though I have endless time again. A weekend off (and more to come) really helps too.  Once you realize you can watch 24 hours of sci-fy (and then do it…) you feel a lot of control again.  

We are in a really nice training groove going now too.  The girls each get two agility sessions a week. The Pup’s time is mostly dedicated to focusing throughout a whole course now, making sure that obstacle proficiency remains high. Why course work? BECAUSE SHE IS OFFICIALLY RUNNING IN A SHOW… IN 4 WEEKS!!! WOO! So excited. AKC debut, 3/31/12. Be there or you will miss a guaranteed spectacle. No, really, I entered her because I think she can do it. The last things she needs to learn all come from exposure to that environment so might as well dive in. So whether she will do it remains to be seen, but I don’t feel like I’m setting her up to fail.  She wants to play, she gets to play. Fun!

The Dog will be spending one night on coursework (in a class, a real class!) and one night on all the location cue/jumping homework we received from our private. On other nights we do a bit of collection work at home (and both girls work on tricks and conditioning most other days). 

The Pup proves that we do our tricks homework too!

One week alone has made a HUGE difference in her focus on course. I doubt it looks much different, but truly, I can feel it. There is a level of control and connection that I rarely have that is starting to come in.  I mean, she pulled off a jump last night! And it was totally what I cued! WOW!!! I can’t recall the last time I ran her a whole night and she did everything I cued. The bars were good too. I did run her at 26” and the bars that came down were before the tunnel. I think I’m doing something in those situations like anticipating the bar. Need to remember to drive through.  She will be running 26" starting the next show, which I am feeling pretty good about now!

We are also working on forbidden things like correcting mistakes and startlines. And not letting her circle at those times. She got circles in, but came back quickly (uh, for her) and was happy to go again. I even managed to squelch the circles a few times and she was still more than happy to go. She and I have some new habits to learn and it may take awhile to erase the old but at last I feel that this is the right direction!



Turning Tricks At Just 6 Months-Where Did The Time Go??

I just figured out the puppies are 6 months old now! 

In some ways I can hardly believe it, but yeah, I guess they ARE growing up. The Pup has ceased with destroying the bathroom every time I take a shower. 

She fights bravely for the toy in tug of war with The Dog now.

She is the loudest thing ever in her crate (she's figured out what she's missing out on when she's in there!).

Then of course there is the genius factor. 

Inside her sizable baseball head, there is a baseball brain too, filled with many tricks.

Yep, just 6 months old and already turning tricks. And letting people take pictures! Scandalous. I warned her that they'd probably end up on the internet...

***

Voila, the "Monster" series...

Original Monster

COOKIE Monster.

Zombie Monster wants more braaaiiinns

Godzilla Monster

And the "Where's Yer Butt Go" Series:

Does it go on a wall??

No? Hmm....

Does it go on the Leader??

No? Not there either?

Does it go on the truck???

No, definitely not on the truck. Maybe...

It goes in the air!! 

You got it! Genius, I tell ya!

***

Also, I've shameless stolen the following images without consent, because I have to show off The Pup's equally adorable siblings.  I'm so lucky to be in touch with their Leaders and to get so many updates. (Hearing that it's not just MY puppy that is naughty is so comforting!) I saw these fresh 6 month shots the other day and couldn't resist stealing...er, sharing-

Mr. Crime aka Beefcake

Ms. Triton, looking quite svelte after all the coffee and cigarettes!  

***

So I suppose I should update on The Pup's training status too, seems appropriate. 

Besides tricks, we're still making our way through agility basics.  She is being an ace at weave channels (moved 'em in ONE NOTCH! woo!) and I know she "gets" it because she's turned up MPH through them. Happy to report that the 'weave channels, no guides' approach still hasn't bit me on the butt. 

No changes or unexpected complications for the DW board work. She gets on, runs off straight every time. A bit boring really, heheh.This weekend I hope to get my DW assembled so I can start back chaining across the full but low obstacle. 

Tunnel is pretty fun now, she will send to it independently but still comes out as quick as she can to find me again. 

We introduced the tire, no problems there. It hasn't (yet) occurred to her to go anywhere but through the middle. Give it time...

Teeter is looking super- I'm extremely happy with her performance. We've made our way to a foot tall at the apex, she's running (FAST!) through the tip and applying breaks nicely to hold the four on end position. Probably will end up sliding based on how it's going now, she seems comfortable with that feeling. She loves the dang thing!

Table is lovely. I'm a terrible owner, we practice on the 16" table- 12" wasn't cutting it for getting her to jump up in a down position and was starting to go against what we'd worked on.  But she loves table. LOVES it. She has an adorable way of jumping on while at the same time turning in air to make sure she lands, in the down position, so she is facing me.  Good multitasking? We just started working on me walking away and no elbows popping up. One of the downsides of short-haired dogs! 

"Jumps" (don't worry, still essentially no height there!) are looking better every time. She was a bit Velcro-y (which I suppose is natural the way I teach them) but now is seeking them out. We can race a line without her running around- for the most part she does what is in the line I've set- which was totally the goal.  It's only been the last few sessions where she's seemed to think these exercises were really fun. I think before she was thinking about what she was doing and what I was doing.  Now she's got a handle on it though and is having a blast. I like that she is largely very respectful of my handling and has picked up on the various signals. Fronts, blinds and post turns are really nice. We just started rears which were harder due to Velcro-iness but she's catching on. 

And in my quest for being for amazing to her, I've started just doing super short sessions, alternating her with The Dog. And she always goes second. Rather than try 'leave 'em wanting more' I'm sort of trying to cut it off when attention wanes. No attention? You're done.  She REALLY wants to be the one 'out' so going away for not focusing should get through to her quickly.  She definitely came out stronger each time last night trying this tactic. 

And (proud Leader moment of boasting!!) she even managed to work in the same ring as another dog last night! Without chasing the other dog!! The other dog was a super exciting barking Sheltie too, her favorite kind of dog to chase. I was really happy with that- it's her absolute weakness- and the fact that she maintained attention and upheld excellent obstacle performance showed me that she knew it was 'her' time so she better not waste it!  

So yeah, that's where we are at. Sitting pretty good on my goals for her for the summer. Here's to another productive 6 months of fun! 

Implementing A Safety Awareness Program

If you don’t know, my real life job is in Human Resources.  (I’m so curious as to people’s reactions- does it ‘fit’? Did you see that coming?)  While I really try to avoid cross contamination of real life and dog life, I think for once my real life could be of some assistance.

You see, dog life has seen a recent significant rise in injuries and incidents.  What better way to tamp down and cut injury-related costs than to implement a new procedure? After all, Professional Me is a procedure making and enforcing MACHINE.

One of the things that we HR people love to do in a new procedure campaign is to make signs. It’s second only to sending out memos.  So I’ve made this sign to create awareness of our little problem, and to acknowledge the success…if there is any:

Anyways, the procedure is pretty simple. If I sent a memo, it would consist of “Attention all Dogs and Pups. Stop getting hurt. Hurting each other and hurting yourselves is no longer permitted. Thank you for your compliance.”

***

The most recent issue was The Pup. I found a bump on her leg last Monday.  By Wednesday the bump became The Bump (very large and angry looking). Though it didn’t seem to bother her it bothered me. I made an appointment for Thursday.  Not fast enough for her I guess- while I was at work that day she attempted to self-amputate The Bump. 

The Bump (or what is left of him), it turns out, is a histiocytoma. Basically, puppies are growing so much that the cells just start manifesting into an odd little mass for lack of anything else to do. This mass would go away in a month or two, if she leaves him alone. Hence:

I am sure some of you are wondering what The Bump looks like- pretty gross actually. So to spare you, a dramatic interpretation:

Before: 

After:

Don’t worry about The Pup though. She loves her cone.

***

The Dog, as we know, has also had her share of contributing injuries.  She has seemed just a stitch ‘off’ since the appearance of the ‘coffee table ding’ and the Great Broad Jump Crash of 2011.  (Occasionally coming up lame after a rough play with the ball and knocking more bars than is typical for her in practice.)  I’ve always been wary of the canine chiro/massage New Age Mumbo Jumbo (what if some unqualified voodoo doctor hurts my dog???), but decided that since the trial we went to was bringing in a real life vet from TOPS rehab to do chiro we would give it a whirl.  

Sold. Give us Mumbo Jumbo any day. Apparently The Dog was ‘out’ in ways to suggest the coffee table ding DID have something to do with it.  The vet was also able to tell how she tugs and the fact that she’s been tugging lopsided with The Pup based on the way her neck and jaw had shifted.  So she popped everything back into place and off we went on our merry, well-adjusted way.

Reasons I am sold: besides the vet being able to tell what happened without ME telling her first (not fishing for hints a la John Williams on the ghost psychic show), The Dog sat through it and let a STRANGER touch her (WOW.), which tells me it felt good at least, and the biggest reason? The magically good way The Dog ran all weekend.  She was…light? I hadn’t realized how awkward she had been looking until I saw ‘normal’ again. Back to feather jumping and showing good confidence on weave entries, Aframe and teeter.  Now the question is… where can I get good, reliable (licensed!) Mumbo Jumbo in MN?

So yeah. It goes without saying at this point (but I will say it anyways) that we had a REALLY good weekend.  I was thrilled to the point of giddy at how well The Dog ran. This was a pretty big show with a good size, FAST 22” class and The Dog was sitting well in placements all weekend. (Many Top Ten points! Hooray!) Saturday was probably her Best Day Ever. It honestly might make me a bit teary to dwell on it so I’ll just say she ran as FAST as anyone and the ever sought after TEAM component was there in spades.  She is finally having fun I think, and I’m finally trusting her.  Sunday she was wired all day (not complaining) and things weren’t quite on the same page (still not complaining), but it was still nice to see her running her butt off to the very end (of what was a looooonnngggg day of running).

Looking at her records, she finished her Silver Snookers title thing, and overall she knocked out 8 more Qs for her Bronze LAA- down to just 15 left of anything. And TWO of those Qs were second place Standard runs…could my dream of being able to run Standard (well, and not like a runaway train…with a bomb on it…heading for a metropolis) finally be coming true???

***

To close, Puppy Fun Time (picture compliments of Katie H. Thanks for some pictures of the Velociraptor that aren’t blurry!!!), because who doesn’t love Puppy Fun Time? 

My favorite, illustrating the Velociraptor:

On Target Family Reunion! 

Gator: Gone but Not Forgotten.

Hmmm, actually not really GONE gone either. More like, gone to a better place where he can no longer be savaged by the dogs.  

When I say ‘dogs’ I of course refer only to The Pup. She is wholly responsible for the mauling and maiming of the long-lived (by dog toy standards) Alligator Toy.   Her story was that his eye and stuffing brains just happened to fall out of him into her mouth which was open because she was giving him Nice Kisses.  Uh huh. If that is true, why are there puppy tooth sized scratches all over what is left of his eyes???  (The Pup was unavailable for further comment as she is currently serving hard time...and her mouth is full of stuffing brains...)

As for Alligator Toy…He gets to live in protective custody now with Wiggle Puppy.  Once I make him an eye patch that is… Here is a picture of the extensive injuries caused to his person by The Pup (Warning: Graphic Material- may not be suitable for small children or people who love stuffed Gator Toys.):

OH THE HUMANITY!!!

The Dog is inconsolable.  While stuffies aren’t usually her “thing” she had grown to love The Gator.  I found her with him after the incident in the pen. She had him gently between her front paws and was giving his bad eye licks- I think she was trying to put the eye back in place.  Sorry, Dog. Some things just can’t be fixed.  Especially by me as I am not crafty in that way.

 In Memory of The Gator (2006-2011)

***

With the exception of The Gator’s demise (oh, and one DVD case turned into Swiss Cheese by puppy teeth…and one toilet paper roll…), The Pup really IS starting to be more normal and less destructive around the house.  Maybe we have just gotten better about keeping stuff out of reach, but I’d like to think that she’s growing a brain inside that REALLY THICK skull of hers (seriously, is that normal? It’s like a helmet she wears on the inside?!?!).  This week we’ve added a few things to the training regime (not to be confused with THE REGIME- less than two weeks left on that!!!):

Heeling (no stops yet but both sides)

Post turns

Call to either hand while front-facing or facing away

Cross in Front groundwork

Sends to the Table

Stays on the Table

One Jump Work!  She is only ‘jumping’ the bar on the ground but I wanted to start the LM Jump/Click/Treat stuff to get her seeking/loving the jump. This way we can at least do some handling sequences! Eventually.

My version of Crate Games. So I have the DVD, just haven’t watched it.  But we are working on games in a crate; currently we are upping the difficulty level. She’s solid on getting in on command, laying down and making eye contact before her treat comes. We worked next on stay with tempting treats around the outside the crate. Also very solid. So last night we added her having to wait while I played mini games with The Dog and apparently its pure torture! She is pretty good, but when I give multiple treats The Dog she can’t stop herself from popping her head out. And sometimes her whole body.  It’s kind of imperative that she learns to wait her turn and watch QUIETLY (she found a new decibel range this week and likes to try it out whenever I work The Dog away from her…) so we are going to spend a LOT of time on this!

Sitting (NOT boinging) for Dinner

Toy/Treat exchange. I bought an unstuffed frog that you could put food in and we’ve been learning how to go between chasing toys and tugging and getting cookies. The hard part for her is going back to the tugging, but managed to refocus for some good play after a few attempts.

I still find her very biddable in her working temperament. She is a bit like The Dog in that she is very measured when she is first learning a process, but once it clicks for her she shows a TON of enthusiasm and drive (“OOO, can we do it again? And again and again and again???”). UNlike The Dog, I’ve never had her get frustrated and give up or shut down.  She works until she finds the right behavior. While she does have a patience/attention limit when I try to train with toys (I get 5 reps max of excellent board runs with a toy before she lies down and chews my plank), I have yet to find one with food.

So I suppose I’ll hang onto her for awhile more. Even though she is technically an attempted murderer at this point.

***

Lastly, I am still working on the cik/cap style turns with The Dog. She LOVES them. I would recommend this absolutely for any dog that has issue either jumping with collection or driving full tilt out of turns. Just the act of teaching them has tightened her up on course already, and we haven’t even implemented them “for real.”  We’ve worked up to 18”. She is maintaining excellent collection and doing pretty darn well on understanding the directional. This will likely never be a truly independent obstacle - she does rely on my position to discern which way to turn. I can be at a distance, but typically have to be on the side of her that I need her to turn (on her right to go to the right).  Basically, I would never be able to be tricky and rear cross which is fine by me.

I’m aiming to have these turns ready for a test run at MAC since we get to try the International courses. FUN! 

In close: Cute Dogs. Well, one cute, sad dog and one cute, mean, taunting dog. Guess which is which?

"Nah, nah, NAH MY Crack Ducky!!! Iz make U sad ! Ha!"

Guess who has Crack Ducky NOW????

“So… what IS it?”

I will really need to get used to this question for the time being.  Having a Fraken-Puppy Monster does lend to some queries when people meet her, and boy, did she meet a lot of people over the last week.

This past weekend Crack Puppy laid siege to the world of AKC agility. All who met her trembled in fear and recoiled in horror.  Pitchforks and fire-y torches ensued.

Nah!  But that would make a good story!

Reality was much less interesting but probably better for building those socialization skills than being run out of the building would have been.  The club hosting the show was awesome and made room for all the ‘six month old puppies’ coming in for exposure, among them my Franken-Pup.  Puppy made lots of friends and enrolled most of them into the Bite of the Week Club- five puncture wounds and the last one is on the house.  (We DID get lots of helpful advice on that little issue, now that people believe me about the Velociraptor-like nature. THANKS! She’s getting better already actually.)  She got to play with tons of nice dogs too, work on some foundation in a new place with LOTS of distraction and just hang out in the show environment. I was blown away by how settled she was; clearly she is made for the agility world. She chilled in her crate without a single hint of a complaint and I couldn’t faze her if I tried. To her joy, she got a bunch of new toys too. She even stole... er, I mean, picked out a teeny ducky squeaky all on her own from the vendor.  

Even the most die-hard breed enthusiasts gave her a warm welcome.  There were quite a few surprised blinks and “Ohs!” when they heard what she is (it was really funny, clearly they expected a Jack or something)- I’m not sure the term “sport mix” has infiltrated every circle yet and the idea of such a blend hasn’t even occurred yet in the imaginations of some.  But they know now! There was a general assent that it could be awesome. MN is so nice and progressive. Like San Francisco with better cheese.

***

Of course, the actual point in my being there was to run The Dog (who is feeling remarkably crabby about this second billing here).  As you may recall, I was completely unsure as to what version of Dog I would have.  Turned out to be a bit of everything!

On Saturday, she had probably one of her nicest Standard runs ever- pity about the weave pole entry though! (Once again, hate winter. Cannot train entries and she is starting to miss with regularity now! GA!!) Even with a refusal/restart she had a fantastic time. I can only predict what could have been without that refusal, but since it was already one of the fastest in the class… Oh well!  I will take the good feeling over the Q any day. She had so much fun and worked so well with me it almost made me a bit teary.  Then she ran JWW just as happily (though perhaps without quite the control) and qualified in 4^th even with a trip to China (or three), so a nice day.

Sunday we started with JWW and I expected her to be a bit calmer (not a morning dog, especially when it comes to JWW). HA! HAHAHAHAHAHH! She took some of the puppies’ crack I guess. A spectacular off course over a jump instead of going in the tunnel.  I had to laugh as she trotted around the backside of the tunnel- all I saw was her ears twitching in annoyance that I didn’t appreciate her unique course design. She begrudgingly got in the tunnel and on we went.  Fine after that and good spirits, until she crashed the last jump. I was surprised and made a small gasp. Big Mistake, Leader.  That plus the break in the run earlier turned The Dog into Atlas, with the weight of the run on her shoulders.  We played after and had some rewarding fun on the practice jump, but it was not enough for the self-flagellating dog. Sigh. She ran in Standard with 100% care but about 1% zest. That is about as zesty as white bread.  Which means of course her contacts were ALL sticky (even the Aframe), she did an abused dog auto-drop on the table, and she ran like Velcro through most of it.  She qualified- she made DARN sure that she would be perfect- but I don’t like the trade off.

Oh well. What can you do? She’s sensitive, but she will get over it, more quickly than me, I suspect. Cheese bites and getting to play with coveted widdle baby toys go a long way to restoring confidence, so we went home and played on a jump, rewarding tight turns and did some happy fun tables too.  

Puppy got to do some training too and made a movie. MOST people have already seen it, but the FB protesters (ahem, MOM) can watch it here.

We also took some great pictures of her at her first show.  Since I can’t get anything of her that isn’t blurry (unless she is sleeping) it was necessary to get someone with a good, non-cell phone camera to document the day. I will share those as soon as I can get them edited.  Enjoy the somewhat fuzzy fun for now.  

"Come out of here? But I WANT to sleep in the dog toy bag!"

She was dreaming of nursing or chomping. Wonder which??

Super Head Tilt Pose with new JOLLY BALL!

Isolated moment of sweetness. 

Crack Cocaine is Bad for Puppies.

Consider this a Public Service Announcement: 

Puppies and crack do not mix. If you feel your puppy may be on crack, seek medical attention- for yourself, because you most likely have puncture holes and other signs of abuse which require treatment. You also may need to find a qualified handyman to fix the damage no doubt caused to your home and other worldly goods by your crack-infused puppy.  Don't bother trying to learn where the crack came from as addicts are very evasive; it is unlikely you will ever get a straight answer. And the puppy probably ate the evidence anyways. Besides, once the crack reaches their brain it is too late. 

You've got a crack puppy. All you can do is pray.

So yeah, puppy came out of her shell. And with that brought quite the onslaught of terror. 

I mean that in a good way. 

She started out not too interested in toys. Now everything is a toy. The Dog's tail is a spectacular toy.  So is my hair. And socks. Who cares if they still have feet in them? 

Observe- Crack Baby:

We gave up trying to stop her and made her a sock toy (Leader = enabler?). Which she loves. Along with all the other toys. I have a video of her manically bounding from toy to toy squealing like a stuck pig but thought that was overkill. We already know she is on crack, I don't suppose I have to impress upon you that point any further. 

MY TOYS. Preparing to procure another in 3, 2, 1...

Crack puppies can appear innocent at times. However, this typically just means they are carefully plotting their next big score. 

Yup... just hanging out being cute...

Fooled you! My toy now too! 

Luckily, crack puppies are similar to meth puppies in that they crash pretty hard when the juice burns off. 

Dreaming of her next fix, I am sure.

The Dog is a fine outstanding citizen who would never do drugs. She would however facilitate the sale of one particular crack puppy on the black market. 

IDEA! What's the number for the sex traffickers in Sweden? 

I'm certainly glad she has made herself at home. 

But did she have to make our home a crack den? 

Cuz I'm T.N.T.

"I'm Dynamite!"

Making herself at home within milliseconds. 

Haha, I've been waiting awhile for that intro to prove useful. If you don't get it...AC/DC. Also, please get out from under that rock you must have been under since the 70's.

Anyways, yes, her name is definitely Dynamite (On Target's T.N.T.). I FINALLY decided after I FINALLY got to meet her yesterday. Big name for a tiny girl, but she should grow into it. (But not too much so, I hope!)

With all my worries over the day, it went pretty well.  Minor plane issues, just enough to make me extremely uncomfortable about whether we would survive and/or arrive at our destination.  I did NOT however have any puppy issues. We managed to tire her out before we went back to the airport and she pretty much slept for the three hour wait and two hour plane ride. She did get to meet several friendly DFW staffers and also several restroom patrons (as she horked in her kennel a little and needed a quick clean up. I guess my walking pace made her a bit nauseous? And I was trying so hard not to have that happen! I even practiced...).

Sleeping angel despite my attempts to keep her up before the flight.

At any rate, we got her home in one piece and proceeded to plop her in the snow to finally get a chance to go to the bathroom. However, she wasn't having that. Snow is Evil.  She preferred to hold it. Until one in the morning. And then three. And five. But hey, at least she was as against going inside as outside! I just felt bad for her. Moderately. Less so at three in the morning. 

This morning I tried all manor of things to make it easier- I put booties on her and fashioned a 'coat' for the time being:

Washcloth? Or super high fashion dog coat??

Limited success. But on the plus side, she certainly doesn't try to linger outside. 

As for the Boyfriend and The Dog, well, reviews are mixed. I think Boyfriend was sufficiently charmed.  I do not think The Dog was. But she was a bit kinder today. I would put her on the scale as 'tolerant' today. And she did finally look at me again (last night I felt the icy cold sting of The Dog's disdain. Brrrr...) 

Here is a small snippet of the two girls playing together. (And when I say together, I of course mean, the pup is playing and The Dog is in the vicinity playing simultaneously but absolutely not "with" as how can you play with that which does not exist.)

Overall, I too feel very charmed. She is quite a sweet little thing.  She is absolutely undiscriminating in her like for people. I've been calling her a narcissist's dream; she has this thing where she targets you and gives you a direct assault of infatuated love and amazement at your awesomeness. I am also amazed at how much sense she seems to have for such a baby. Not overly 'death wish' bold, but seems to asses things and makes a clever decision about how to act. She was a bit scared of the shadows and of going downstairs, but other than that confident and has been great with the transition. Proper social skills with The Dog too (not that it helped). I'm not sure I would call her agreeable as she has her opinions (on the snow and about going  down stairs) from which she is not easily swayed but she is certainly amicable and will no doubt be easy to live with.

As long as all food is hidden. Holy cow is she a chow hound. This is the one area she lost her little baby head. She could moonlight as the Cookie Monster. But we were able to start with clicker work right away so works for me!


So glad she is here.  Now the fun begins. Hope the snow melts soon for both our sakes.

It's the Final Countdown!

Just three days! 

THREEEEEE DAAAAAYS!

For those of you who suck at math...That is way less than 10!

But, exponentially more difficult to wait through. Ugh. 

I must say that it has been torturous the past few days as three of the new puppy moms have already brought home their little bundles of joy. Very happy for them... but torture for me!  

Pretty much the only thing getting me through this difficult wait is the preparations. Thank goodness that Saturday is going to be full of cleaning, dog bathing and hiding of precious items (or at least moving them up  to the highest shelves) because without the distraction I would probably run to the airport and steal a plane. But even MORE therapeutic than the cleaning...shopping! With all my worry about how this would work out, I nearly forgot that there is no better excuse for uninhibited expenditures than a new puppy. 

So I bought a new special dinner bowl...

Dog is very excited- second bowl means second dinner...right?

And I found some animal sacrifices...

Can we please file for a stay of execution? Puppy teeth are scary!

And since she looks like a tugger I bought several tuggies to accommodate all stages of hostility... 

My guess is-we will need to upgrade to the super tuff tuggy pretty fast.

In case she actually acts like a puppy and not a Decepticon I bought some baby toys too. Cute widdle baby Kong and soft widdle bone. And adorable mini tennis balls. Though I think her mouth looks pretty giant already...

Ball Inspector would like to test the balls now please.

And last, what is better that a Wubba with a face? Nothing! Except a Wubba with a face who is also pink and is modeling the cute widdle baby collar I bought. 

And this was the last time the Wubba was seen alive... 

Perhaps I should skip the baby collar and go right to the full Hannible Lecter containment unit. Here I thought I was getting a sweet little baby but all signs are pointing to the opposite right now. Squawky little hellions seems to be the descriptive phrase of choice. Don't tell the Boyfriend that though- I told him they came practically trained and probably didn't even know HOW to bark.  Wonder if I should have aimed a little lower with that statement? 

Gee, I almost forgot! I ordered a custom agility leash too at the show last weekend. (Bad sign when you buy SO MUCH you can't keep track of it.) Now only... 16 months until I can use it. That will be great motivation for getting her trained and ready to run. What? It's a really cute leash! 

Hurry up Sunday!