Our Puppyraising Journey

Well...

2011-12-09T05:22:00.001-08:00

I had good plans. But, alas, they are not working. I blame it on finals. Maybe next Thursday we will get something up! Of one sort or another...

Obie and Keesa :)

2011-11-27T07:31:00.001-08:00

A month or two after we brought Obie home, we got a new kitten since our old cat had developed kidney failure and had to be put to sleep. This, then, is Mr. Keesa ("kitten" in Russian):

He and Obie have a lot of fun.

Yes, he's not supposed to be standing on the chair...but the picture was too cute to resist!

They're so cute--they wrestle all the time just like two brothers, and neither will back down. It sometimes looks like an elephant playing with a mouse, but really they are both quite gentle, all things considered; nobody has gotten even close to hurt so far.

Thursday: Training Berners (NILIF)

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

And we are back on Thursdays! Sorry for the delay; Obie's neutering caused a few problems with actually getting things done. :)

This Thursday we'd like to talk about something that really works well with dogs that are demanding and tend to override your decisions. It's called "Nothing In Life Is Free" (NILIF) and though we had heard of the concept before, we had trainers with Obie that really encouraged us to use it extensively. Sometimes Bernese Mountain Dogs--and other dogs too!--can become somewhat demanding of what they want or don't want. At the least, this is annoying. At most, it can be dangerous, especially if you have a large, powerful dog.

The idea of Nothing in Life Is Free is just that--the dog needs to "work" for what he gets. If he wants petted, he has to sit and stay first. If he wants a drink, he needs to sit or stand and wait politely until you get the water on the floor and release him. If he wants outside, he needs to sit at the door. If he wants out of the crate, he has to wait quietly while you put on the leash--no mouthing or prancing wildly around. It also may include hand-feeding the dog at mealtimes (though we didn't involve that with Obie). Not all dogs need the NILIF protocol, but if you have a dog that tends to "run the show," ignore commands, or generally behave as if you don't exist, it might be helpful. It also helped Obie learn to be calmer and less demanding when he wanted something.

Obviously, your dog needs to know a few commands before you start practicing NILIF. You can teach these with lures or clicker training; a beginner obedience class at your local AKC club is a great place to start.

What are your thoughts on Nothing in Life Is Free? Have you ever used its principles with a dog? What happened?

Much Better :)

2011-11-19T18:08:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the complete lack of posts. . . Obie is doing much better now! :) We discovered a new type of pain medicine he should not take again, though; I don't remember the name of it but a side effect is personality changes and it made him far more aggressive/feisty than he usually is. Which, of course, didn't help us keep him calm while his incision was healing! Now he is off the pain meds, though, and we are all feeling much better. Hopefully a longer post coming soon! :)

Not Happy Puppy

2011-11-15T05:38:00.001-08:00

Obie got neutered yesterday. Ahh what a night...he apparently can't stand any kind of discomfort and keeps whining, biting at his stitches about every three minutes, and running around nervously, even though he's on pain pills so it can't hurt that bad. We couldn't put an Elizabethan collar on him even if we wanted to, because physical restraint like that typically sends him right through the roof. Fortunately the meds do make him a bit more relaxed; he and we need it! Hopefully he heals very quickly and never needs any other kind of surgery!

Thursday: Training Berners (Positive Reinforcement)

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Positive reinforcement--training with rewards--seems quite common, but we've been reminded of its importance while raising Obie. After all, how else are you supposed to train a dog that, at four months old, is already big enough to take your hand off if he doesn't like what you're doing?

The basic tenet of positive reinforcement is simple: Dogs like food (or toys, or petting or praise, but food is easiest). Therefore, when the dog does something you like, either by accident or because you "lured" him into it, you can give him a treat to tell him "thank you." When he's reliably doing the action (usually with a lure), you can add a voice or hand signal and train him to respond to that signal before he gets the treat. Some people use clicker training; I must admit I've never tried this method, but it sounds very interesting. I would use it particularly for tricks and other unusual behaviors since luring works well for simple actions such as "sit," "down," "come," etc. (If you want more info on luring please comment and I'll do a follow-up post!)

Obie's top favorite treat is string cheese! We have used regular kibble with our other dogs, but he needs a bit more high-value treat. So we use cheese for times like puppy class and outings, when we need a really good treat, and Cheerios (the WalMart brand) for everyday.

When do you find that positive reinforcement works best for your dogs? What treats do you like to use?

Thursday: Training Berners (Socialization #2)

2011-11-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

There are so many places you can take a puppy for socialization--it just takes a bit of time on your part. But the results are well worth it! Here are some places we have taken Obie:

Puppy class: a kindergarten class is a great place to start a young pup!
Walks in the woods
The back and front yards
University sidewalks
Car rides--long and short
Walks with friends
Parking lots
Sitting outside a small grocery store
Sitting outside the post office
A playground (starting some distance away and slowly moving closer)
Walks on a road near the local airport (a very small airport)
Walks through campgrounds
Picnic areas
Tractor Supply Company (please wait till your dog is fully vaccinated for this)

Any other places you like to take your pups? :)

Thursday: Training Berners (Socialization #1)

2011-10-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Socialization is vitally important for any dog, but it's especially important when you're raising a dog that's going to be as large or larger than you are. Bernese Mountain Dogs--and other dogs as well--can quickly become either shy or aggressive if they're not socialized properly as puppies and young adults. And an overly shy or aggressive dog can quickly become dangerous.

There are two main schools of thought in puppy socialization:
(1)--Wait until the pup is about four months old and has all his shots before taking him into public.
(2)--Expose the puppy to appropriate (not too scary) things from the time you bring her home, but try to keep her from high-dog areas so she won't pick up diseases from other dogs.

With our CCI puppies, we followed school #1. With Obie, we've been very much on the #2 side. They both have their pros and cons, and perhaps it depends also on how many unvaccinated dogs you have running around your area.

One important thing in socialization, especially when the pup is young, is to be careful not to overwhelm him with loud, smelly, very active, or otherwise potentially frightening experiences. You're the best one to determine what constitutes "potentially frightening" for your own dog. Some puppies are frightened by almost nothing; others are frightened by almost everything. The only thing Penelope ran from was draft horses thundering her way (literally); Brianna couldn't walk across wet grass without having a nervous breakdown. Obie is somewhere in the middle--he will be nervous of something the first time, but the second time he is better and by the third time he meets it, he usually ignores it.

Next week we'll list some of our favorite places to go with our puppies. Where do you like to take your pups for socialization?

Thursday: Training Berners (Intro)

2011-10-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

(photo from Google)

We have been learning so very much with Obie, I thought I would share some of it with you all! He is a wonderful dog, but we have been learning that training a Bernese Mountain Dog is very different from training a retriever/service dog! Fortunately we have a bevy of wonderful trainers at our local AKC obedience club who are always willing to give us help or direct us to someone who knows what they're doing. So I'm thinking about doing a weekly series on what we have learned/are learning with Obie. Some of it will be old stuff to most of you, but we all need reminders every now and then, right? ;) And I think some of it may be new to most of you as well. As always, we appreciate comments and learning about how you work with your dogs--Berners or not! Next week we will start with the topic of socialization! (that should be fun with all our service-dog-in-training friends.)

Afternoon Out

2011-10-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we went and walked around my college campus with some friends. Obie went too and though he was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, he really did great. He met a lot of people and made a lot of friends! He's so fuzzy, people just can't keep their hands off him!

Here are some pictures from the day. :)

He loves sticks!

He also loves burrowing in and running through grass!

But he did get tired eventually...

Such a sweet boy--we love him! Today we went and got a kitten also, so I will try to put up pictures of "Keesa" as soon as we get some.

Here They Are!

2011-09-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

So it only took me an extra day... :)

A Promise

2011-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

One funny thing: Since Obie came home, all of a sudden people find our blog by very different ways. Keywords range from "bernese mountain dog puppy" to "cute bernese mountain dog puppy" to "bernese+mountain+dog+puppy." Funny thing, people want to know what these critters look like!

I admit he is quite adorable. :) And on that note I shall be posting pictures as soon as I get off my laptop, which has no pictures of him. In the meantime, he is really doing quite well. We are having some dominance issues--that came as a bit of a surprise since he's just over three months old--but dealing with those. He has weekly socialization outings to my college campus and my dad's office (don't worry, my mom takes him and they just walk around outside) and is meeting many people and making lots of new friends! Also he is walking farther and farther on a nice loose leash and doing well in his first puppy class.

With that being said, I will take a break and go get pictures!

Horrible Terrible Blogger (& Pictures)

2011-09-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

I know, I know! Here I posted all these "he's coming-he's coming" posts and then NO PICTURES! Not even any posts! I'm sorry! So without further ado, here is Mr. Obie!

He's learned a lot in the last week-plus. So far he's sleeping almost all the way through the night and is being a lot quieter in his crate than when he first arrived. He's also figured out that we're his family now and adeptly ignores everybody else who comes to the house. It's so easy compared to Labs and Goldens, it's almost scary. He just lays on the tile floor (or the airconditioning duct, his favorite spots) and everybody walks over him and he hardly lifts his head. However, when we come home (or come into the room) he's very excited and comes running over to say hi!
This last week he's been to my dad's office, to another office on the school campus, and just wandering around on campus with my mom. Plus we took him to the apple orchard on Friday when we went to get apples, and he sat out front with me and watched the people go by. He's great in "public" so far, not nervous of anything and friendly with people (he only ignores strangers when they come to his house).

The one thing he absolutely HATES is heat. And since it's 90-100 degrees here some days, I can't blame him. He whines and grumbles and complains even when he has to go outside to go potty. Haha.

More updates when I get time! So far he's a great pup and we love him! :)

Almost Here!

2011-08-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Barring some unforseen problem, Obie's coming home tomorrow! I start college classes and get to meet our next puppy on the same day. So excited! :)

Countdown Begins...

2011-08-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

Four days! Sorry no more pictures, we got a video but I don't have time to upload it so you will have to wait...

And the Winner Is...

2011-08-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

OBIE!

And this is one of the puppies we might be getting! :) Cute, no?

Name Search Begins!

2011-07-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

So. We have found ourselves a kitten. :) His name is Lenya (Russian for "lion") and he's absolutely adorable. I'll try to get a picture of him. He'll be coming home sometime early- to mid-August.

The puppy we're not quite sure on yet, though we are fairly set on a litter of Bernese Mountain Dogs with a breeder in Indiana. They're only three weeks old right now, so it will be the end of August at least before one of them comes home. There are three males and one female; the female is already "somewhat" spoken for, but we want a male pup anyways, so that's not a problem.

Our problem is NAMES. This pup doesn't come named. What are we to do? What should we call him? We have come up with some ideas of German names (German because that's the #1 Swiss national language, according to the all-knowing site of Wikipedia), and I'm going to make a poll in the sidebar so you all can vote if you want. :) Here they are:

--Berg (Bairg; meaning "mountain")
--Etzel (Et-sel; meaning "noble one" if I remember right)
--Oberon/Obie (Oh-bair-on; meaning "noble bear")

Honestly, we are leaning toward Etzel right now but we'd love to have your input anyways! Please vote! :)

2011-07-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

It's done. Beto is back at CCI. He warmed up to Jeff reasonably quickly and headed off into the kennel without a problem. It's always good to see that--sad, for sure, but good.

Now we are looking at getting a pet dog. And a pet cat, since our beloved "Kiryl" died of kidney disease a few weeks ago. We think we have found ourselves a good cat breeder and a kitten, but the dog is not such a sure thing. So far we have found a male Bernese Mountain Dog puppy in Indiana, and a four-year-old female Rough Collie in Tennessee. Haven't decided on anything yet, and there are probably other options we haven't seen yet. We do want to get either a Bernese or a Collie, though. Stay tuned--things have been moving quickly so far and if we decide on the older Collie we could be picking her up in just a few weeks!

Road Trip

2011-07-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave "bright" and early at 4:00 A.M. to get Beto down to CCI's Florida campus. After his evaluation last week, we called CCI and asked what we should do. They agreed that the best thing would probably be to take him down there so they could evaluate him and decide if he needs to be released or not. We'll have him in a sheet-covered crate so he can't hurt himself in the car, and hopefully he'll calm down somewhat since he won't be able to see the traffic outside.

It's bittersweet. On a recommendation from his puppy class trainer, we've been reading some dog behavior books--one in particular by a Jan Fennel from England--and have realized that we unintentionally let Beto do some substantive "alpha" status pushing on us. Trying some of Fennel's methods on him today made a huge difference in his energy level in the house, so it's tempting to call CCI back and tell them we want to keep him till February. However, we and his trainer are still quite doubtful that he'll ever be able to do service work--and it's not fair to him or to CCI to keep him "in training," knowing that we're only trying to prepare him for a pet dog career. Yet CCI can't release him without having him down there to evaluate themselves.

We won't be taking him back if he's released. His prey drive is too strong and we would really like to have a cat in the house. But we're sure CCI will find him a wonderful home. Next puppy? Our next dog will be a pet dog, probably a Rough Collie, and we're looking forward to taking it to training classes and seeing where its talents lie. Stay tuned--I'm planning on following its progress on this blog as well! :)

Post by Beto (something happy for the day)

2011-07-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hi. This is me, Beto. Puppy, dog, whatever. Me.

Today Big Sister is home, and she says, "Write, Beto, write! Write article for blog! Write like Trixie!"

Who is Trixie, I wonder? She says Trixie is dog. Was dog. Now is not dog. Now is dead. Now if Trixie not dog now, what is she? Person, maybe? Must be like other dogs I hear--Ariele, Penelope, Alpin. All were dogs, good dogs, and now are not. Are not here, anyway. Sad.

But I am. I am here. And I play, and am good. At least, try to be good. Sometimes good works. Sometimes doesn't. But I try. Today Big Sister makes bread. Is fun. I lay on floor, and play games. She complains she is too short to reach counter and knead bread. How can she complain? She is tall, very tall. Much taller than me, and I reach counter. I lick flour off floor. Dusty. Not good. Eat bread dough off floor. Very good. Look for more bread dough. Bread is good. Is good Big Sister is home, and making bread. I say this: Make bread. Make lots of bread. Feed me bread.

Hm. Cannot think more to say. Big Sister says must finish article. The End.

How Beto's Doing Now...

2011-07-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well, in short, not too well.

We discovered that he was being mellow when he came back from the kennels mostly because he was partly sick. Because he'd eaten the red towel they gave him.

Haha, I have to laugh. :) Once he threw that up, he felt much better!

But he was still being quite good in the house. So we decided to take him on a little walk down to our very quiet--and I mean VERY quiet, as in, maybe four cars a day--road.

He did fine till we got to the end of the driveway. But step onto the asphalt, and he was all nerves again, tail down, distracted, nervous, unable to focus, jumping back onto the driveway as soon as we let him. Poor pup.

Jeff (the trainer we've been working with at CCI's Florida campus) asked if we could have another trainer evaluate Beto, since Jeff isn't able to see him in person. So today Beto went for a trip to his old obedience club to visit one of his old trainers. On the way, I am told, he nearly choked himself freaking out over a motorcycle that passed, terrifying my mom but fortunately not physically damaging himself. The trainer says he'll probably never make the service dog cut (really??) and is recommending doing some extensive, very basic work with him to try to get him to be a semi-well-adjusted pet dog.

That was this evening, so we've yet to tell Jeff...and have yet to figure out what this might mean for us. Since I'm entering college and won't have much time to give to intensive work with a highly fearful dog, we aren't sure that we as a family have what he needs to be given. But we'll talk with Jeff tomorrow (hopefully) and see. It may be that CCI decides to release him early--he is, after all, nearly 11 months old now. In the meantime, we're definitely keeping him here at home!

Back Home

2011-06-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Beto is home from the kennel, and saying he's happy would be the understatement of his year! He got a good "report card" from the kennel, too; apparently he did great and made lots of friends. The only "bad" thing is that he chewed up his fleecy blanket. Well...what do you expect from a Lab/Golden pup?? ;)

We are happy because we have our Teddy Bear back! Beto had been going through a really difficult adolescent/fear period before we left on vacation--chasing the cat, freaked out of traffic, scared of parking lots, open spaces, bicycles, being hyper and unmanageable in the house unless we tethered him to us--just a rather tough time. But since he's come back, he's been super sweet, mellow, and cuddly, just like when he was a pup! Besides, he didn't seem at all frightened of the busy road or the parking lot at the vet's office. Fingers crossed that he'll stay this way, and isn't just tired from all his playing...but if he's really turned a corner, maybe we should kennel him more often! ;)

At Doggy Camp

2011-06-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well, since we are currently on a two-week trip to Colorado and Wyoming, and Beto is having major problems being out and about (more on that later; whether it's a fear period or something more in-depth we don't know), we can't take him. So we left him at our vet's kennels. He didn't exactly bounce happily off--thought it was a much better idea to stay with his people!--but we called the vet's today, four and a half days after dropping him off, and they said he was doing fine! That takes a load off a puppyraiser's mind! :)

Probably there will be a break now for a while, but expect more when we get home around the 26th of June.

Project Cat, Part Three

2011-05-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

So we decided we can only live so long with a 10-month-old dog perpetually tethered to our side. Besides, Beto was getting very unhappy with always being on the Gentle Leader when he was out of his crate--and I can't blame him for that. So we called CCI again, with some more detail on how he was acting both around the kitty and otherwise. Diagnosis #2: We have a hyper dog.

It's believable. He's a good dog, for sure--he tries hard to please and usually succeeds--but he almost never settles down. Even in his crate, he's up and down, dozing for a while, then waking up, chewing on himself, licking his paws, nibbling his nails. CCI decided we could wait on serious cat training while we dealt with the hyperactive issue. (Thank you!) So now he's just dragging a leash attached to his flat collar all the time. It's much easier on him and us, and while we're still working with him on leaving the cat alone, we're not being quite as insistent that he not look at the cat at all. And it's working well. He's much calmer after being on the tether for a few weeks, and the consistent "leave it" and treat every time the cat comes out is starting to pay off. Tomorrow we're supposed to call CCI and get more information on the next steps in the process.

One of these days I'm going to try to get some good pictures of him. He's really a handsome dog and I need some up-to-date, unused photos for my web stash! :) Excuse enough, right?? Have a wonderful holiday with your pups!

10 Things I Love About Puppyraising :)

2011-05-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

(Warning: This is a rather long post!)
These are a few of my favorite things...

1. "Frito feet" and teeny-tiny teeth of 8-week-old pups
(Brianna's last picture with her Breeder-Caretaker)

2. Already knowing all the commands at obedience class (show-offs!)
(Beto at obedience class)

3. First trips out into public
(Penelope getting ready to go in public for the first time)

4. Introducing new things and watching puppies overcome fears (or distractions)
(Beto in the snow)

5. Feeling lost without a leash in my hand
(Brianna waiting while I eat a picnic lunch)

6. Getting elevator rides and priority seating at the IMAX theater because people think I'm blind!
(Penelope at the IMAX theater)

7. Talking with random people about CCI and dogs
(Beto as a puppy)

8. Hiking with a well-behaved dog
(Penelope on a windy mountaintop. She loved to hike.)

9. Meeting amazing puppyraisers from so many different organizations!
(Brianna and her CCI friend Jala meeting)

10. Knowing my dog has changed at least one life...mine
(Last portrait of Penelope before we had to return her to CCI)

Sorry to all my non-dog-people friends; these critters are an imbedded part of who I am. And thanks a million times to those of you who can appreciate my puppies! God truly made dogs to be people's best friends, in my humble opinion!

Let's Take a Hike!

2011-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a long car trip to go on an all-day hiking expedition with some friends. Since it didn't look like it was really going to open up and pour, we took Beto with us. He really did amazingly, all things considered. As I mentioned in the last post, ever thought about just how much there is to a dog, outside on a steep, rocky, slippery, leaf-covered woods trail? And this is Beto we're talking about, who's always gotten easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. But he only tried to "spaz" once, and quickly got himself under control again for a kibble treat. What a good boy! Here are some pictures from the day! This tree was cool, and it's even more amazing framing a handsome dog!

Beto on the edge of a cliff overlooking the state natural area we were going to hike into.

Then we went through this 10-foot-wide slot in the cliff wall called the "Stone Door." This is literally what it looked like going down. The light spot is the ground below. I wasn't crouching down at all to get this shot. But Beto made all 100 practically-vertical feet without a slip or a spaz! So proud of my boy! :)

Beto in the Stone Door.

At the bottom of the Stone Door..."Whew, I made it!"

It was a great day, all in all--although he was very excited at first, Beto thoroughly proved his ability outdoors and we were all very proud of him! Today it's time for a bath and some rest!

Cat, Part Two

2011-05-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Part Two of Project Cat Avoidance: Gentle Leader tethering all the time, and treats when the kitty's around. And guess what? It's working! YAY for trainers' input! Beto's also a lot calmer now that he's on the Gentle Leader all the time when he's out of his crate. We took him on a long afternoon of shopping last Thursday, and an even longer day of car rides, hiking, and interactions yesterday (pictures to come!). He did great both times, although the environments (particularly yesterday) were quite challenging and stressful at times. Have you ever thought about just how much sensory input a dog's getting when he's out hiking on a rocky, wet, steep, leaf-covered trail? We were thinking about it yesterday! :)

Growing Up...Not So Much Fun

2011-05-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

That's Beto's thought processes right now, anyway! He has hit adolescence big-time and with his mouthiness, chasing the cat, and wild sprees of energy, we called CCI to see if they had any ideas on how to tame our teddy-bear-turned-monster. ;) Turns out, they did. Our new Puppy Program Manager is a wonderful lady who took time to get one of the trainers to call us and we had a good talk with him. Rule #1 for Beto right now: Gentle Leader whenever the kitty is around. That has made a huge difference right there! Also we are working on more training (or more, "review" of already-learned commands) without his kibble treats, so we can use the treats as an extra-big reward for when he does something like leaving the cat. So far the new protocol is working quite well and he is also much calmer in the house since he doesn't get nearly the same number of opportunities to run wild, uncontrolled crazy loops.

Mr. Beto, on the other hand, does not think this is so much fun. He's being a good sport about it, but especially the fewer-treats idea is not his idea of a good training session. ;) However, we are still giving lots of treats in public until we talk with CCI about that in particular, so I suppose that should help him enjoy his public outings even more. :) We are glad for CCI to give us ideas on how to handle adolescence! Hehe.

Hope you all are having a wonderful spring with your dogs. In another week or two I should have some opportunities to take more Beto pictures for you all. :)

More Puppy Days :)

2011-04-08T15:58:00.001-07:00

Beto continues to grow up! He's started going shopping and going to church with us every week now. Wal-Mart was rather an exciting environment at first, but he's getting used to it and though he still takes a lot of attention, treats, and positive reinforcement, he's getting more and more comfortable in new situations. Also last Sunday we did my senior graduation pictures with him. :) He had to learn the "Lap" command in one week for that, but fortunately he loved it and learned it very quickly!

Earlier this week a friend in a college photography class contacted us and asked if she could use Beto as a "model" for her final project, which she wanted to do on raising a CCI puppy. So this afternoon she and her sister came over and we spent an hour or so posing Beto and taking pictures of him. :) He is rather a photogenic dog, if I say so myself. ;) We're still in the middle of adolescence, so he can be very hyper and a bit stubborn at times, but hopefully he'll grow out of it before we have to turn him in! All in all, he's a great pup and still has a lot of potential!

Growing and Growing

2011-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I have been terribly remiss at updating the blog. Beto continues to grow like the proverbial weed; we moved him into the enormous "big crate" last week and he fits it with not too much room to spare! After our tiny Penelope, it's rather a shock.

He's also picking up the pace when it comes to going places with us. After proving himself at church and Wal-Mart, he's now officially allowed to go any "normal" place with us (at least, by our standards--CCI's been saying he can do that for almost two months now). :) We'll try out his stamina this Sunday as we have my senior graduation pictures--and since everyone has been asking me if I'm going to have a dog in my picture like I did for eighth-grade graduation, I have to at least try--and then we'll go shopping at two or three stores. He went to Tractor Supply Co. last week and, from what I heard, did quite well even though my mom was the only one handling him (usually we work in pairs to make it a bit easier to do things besides look at the dog!).

In the house he's being a bit of a pain; he's hit adolescence and is being mouthy again and trying to chase the cat and jump on the furniture. Lol. Fortunately it's not too much of a "cemented" attitude problem, and I'm quite sure he'll grow out of it. He's quite the sweet pup! I'll try to get some pictures sometime soon. :)

Beto's Spring Break

2011-03-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

I went to Arizona during spring break, on a mission trip to help rebuild an education center at a Native American school. Beto stayed here with my parents and had a good time learning to walk in the woods.

He got permission to skip a training class and go straight to the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) class from Basic Puppy Obedience, so he and my mom are now working on their CGC title! It's good for him as it's teaching him to wean off a lot of the treats. He's doing well, from what I hear. Unfortunately I can't go as I have other responsibilities on the only night the CGC class is offered.

Isn't he becoming such a handsome boy though? He's seven months old today! :)

He's Practicing... :)

2011-02-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

This is what I see when I look down at my feet as I'm sitting here working on college applications. The boy has just been laying here for the last half-hour at least. He brought his Kong over by himself to chew on under the desk at my feet. I think he's practicing to be an official assistance dog. ;)

Beto Update

2011-02-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well it has been forever since we updated on the big boy! Beto is continuing to do very well; tomorrow he turns six months and yesterday he got neutered. He's doing really well post-surgery...or at least, he did well after we were able to let him out to Hurry after we picked him up! Poor pup acted as if he hadn't been able to go outside all day! He has had a little bit of diarrhea, but it hasn't been bad and is clearing up, so we are delighted as it seems that stress doesn't make him sick any more! :)

He has been to a small grocery store near here and did extremely well; this weekend we are going to try taking him to church for the first time and see how he does. We got him some CET chews for the long "Down," but they stink horribly, so guess we won't be using those in church! We'll just have to do kibble treats instead. He won't mind. ;) He continues to get better and better in public places, and he loves seeing his cape come out! All good signs! :)

Good Dog! (3rd Set of Outings)

2011-01-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

And I finally have pictures!
Beto at the library

And at Ace Hardware...

Today we took Beto to the university library and to Ace Hardware Store. He was so good! He is getting more comfortable "out and about," and because of that he pulls a bit more than he used to; but his nervousness is decreasing by leaps and bounds. Ace was quite busy today, and it smells different than any place he's ever been before; but after I let him sniff a little bit, and listen to all the sounds, he walked around like a trooper and even did a lovely "Leave It" for the popcorn scattered on the floor! In addition, he is no longer nervous of parking lots much at all, and they were the areas that made him most skittish two weeks ago. What a good boy! This coming week we will take him to "meet" church when there's hardly anyone there so he can get comfortable with it and hopefully start coming with us. We couldn't be more proud of him right now! :)

More Outings

2011-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon we took Beto back to the bookstore, post office, and plaza/parking lot area. He did really well--walked on a nice loose leash, sat and lay down when we asked him to, didn't blink an eye at surface changes or people walking by, and was a lot more relaxed in the parking lot with all its noises and distractions! We are extremely pleased! :)

Today he is being a bit of a brat though; I had a tutoring session with a friend and Beto had to be down in the family room with my mom while we worked in the kitchen. According to Mom, he seemed to throw a bit of a fit (not that he can really throw a fit!) when we weren't paying attention to him, and wasn't as good on his walk down the road this afternoon. Well, we'll see; he is five months after all and so may be playing with some "teenage-ness." We take him to the first class of his second set of puppy classes tonight. Hoping it goes well!

Snow and First Outings

2011-01-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

(Beto in the snow. Sorry for the bad quality)

The past few days have had so many new things for Beto! First, he turned 5 months old on Monday (the tenth) so we took him to a bookstore and the front of a little plaza here in our town. He did really well, all things considered--was rather "overloaded" when we first got him out of the car, but I had him do a Sit-Down-Sit sequence and he calmed down well. In the store he did great, walking around, sitting, and lying down when I asked him.

Monday night we got a tremendous snowstorm! 7 1/2 inches here at our house...the most snow our corner of TN has had since 1993! It still hasn't all melted, either! So we thought we would take Beto out in it. He still doesn't like it, but did okay with it after a while...until he ran over to me and just stood there shivering until I took him inside! Hehe.

Walking in the woods and snow is being too over-stimulating for him right now though; we took him on a short walk yesterday and ended up with diarrhea all last night and some of this morning. We will have to be careful with how much we expose him to at a time, it looks like.

It's Awful Quiet Now...

2011-01-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my parents made a marathon 16-hour drive to Ohio to drop off Penelope at North Central. Though I had to stay here to work and take care of Beto, I hear that she was absolutely thrilled to be there and never looked back. That's my girl, all right! :) We miss her, though...it's very quiet around the house, even with Beto here.

Happy 2011!

2010-12-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year (early), everyone! It will be sure to bring a lot of changes for us and our dogs, but we know it'll all be for the best in the long run. Beto is doing great and in 10 days we start taking him out. I'm finishing Penelope's album ("pre-New Year's" resolution #1) and I'll try to put up some pictures of what the final pages look like in a few days. Have a wonderful New Year's!

Long-Overdue Update...

2010-12-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well. I know it has been forever, but we have been trying and trying to fix Penelope's vomiting and things have been rather crazy.

We are pretty sure it is indeed a food allergy. Gastrointestinal problems with food allergies are rare, but they do happen; and since the ultra hypo-allergenic food (all hydrolized proteins) settles her stomach, we are pretty sure that that is what it is. However.

We still can't afford the ultra hypo-allergenic food. We have tried less-expensive unusual proteins to see if they help. So far, they haven't. We contacted Suzanne, the Puppy Program Manager for North Central Region (where we raised Penelope), and she is pretty sure they can re-home Penelope without a problem. My mom is currently having a consultation with our vet to see if there's anything else we might be able to do; if not, we will probably drive Penelope up to North Central after January 1 and turn her over to the great people at NC for them to find another home for her that can afford the expensive foods and/or tests she may need.

Beto is doing fantastic, and if we do have to re-home Penelope, we will hold off on looking for a pet dog until at least August, when he will be a year old. Then we may begin looking for a long-haired German Shepherd pup as a pet dog(history on the breed here). We know a breeder in the area--actually, she is Beto's puppy class trainer--and so far like what we see in her dogs. If the Shepherds don't look like they'd work for our family, we will probably look for a Rough Collie puppy. We would miss Penelope, but would feel much better knowing that NC will find her a good home.

I'll tell you all more when more happens! Have a great Christmas; try to keep your pups out of trouble! :)

General Update on Everyone

2010-12-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

On Penelope: Please keep up your prayers for the Big Dog! She vomited after breakfast this morning, even though she's on the antacid and the ultra hypoallergenic food. The vet is talking expensive tests and medications/foods that we may not be able to afford. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) her energy level is great and she's happy and perky when she's not actually throwing up. We're thinking of ways we may be able to deal with this, but it's a strain not knowing.

On Brianna: We just got word from SE last week that Brianna was released December eighth. Her second puppyraiser is taking her back as a pet dog. We're happy--she never would have been happy working and we always thought that she would make a good pet for someone who just wanted an "inside" dog.

On Beto: Besides being disgusted that it's snowing and cold outside (and therefore not liking to Hurry!), Beto is doing great! We have been weaning him back to his old food over the last few days and right now he's up to half Eukanuba Puppy and half Science Diet I/D. No diarrhea and he has plenty of energy! We're very happy for that!

Big Dog Is Sick Now...

2010-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: Sorry that most of my posts are recounting all the less-than-neat-tidy-and-happy stages of "doghood" lately...sometimes it just goes that way!

Last week Penelope started vomiting about an hour after she ate. We took her to the vets', and they put her on the same sensitive-stomach food that Beto has been on, as well as giving her an anti-nausea medicine. That was on Thursday or Friday. Over the weekend, she managed to keep down Saturday and Sunday's meals, but as soon as the medication began to wear off today, she started vomiting again. We took her back in today and found that she had lost two pounds over the weekend...and that in our Lab is significant! The vet ran a preliminary test to check her liver, and that came back negative...now we're trying medicine for ulcers or excess stomach acid, and she's having some nausea but no vomiting so far. It may also be a food allergy, pancreas issues, or it might still be the liver--the test they did today doesn't catch everything. We'd appreciate thoughts and prayers for the Big Dog though...she has never been sick before and is not appreciating it now!

Fortunately Beto is still doing quite fine, and he got his last set of shots today!! :)

Christmas Photo Shoot :)

2010-12-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

One redeeming factor on any given day is that no matter what happens, I have one of the most adorable and photogenic puppies in the world. :) Yes I know I'm prejudiced!

Food Change

2010-12-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well Beto went in to the vets' yet again. They had tried to take him off the meds and see if that fixed the problem, but no, he was up every hour that night and even threw up once. So on to the food change! He's now on prescription-strength Science Diet I/D, off all medications, and feeling very healthy! YAY!!! Our vet is going to try to wean him back to his old food after a week or two, but if that doesn't work we'll find something that does work and keep him on it. Our Puppy Program Manager says that this is not an unusual problem and most dogs outgrow it in a while...we're asking what a "while" is but haven't heard back yet. Right now we're just happy for a puppy that's happy and healthy! :)

Thankful For...

2010-11-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Beto is thankful for...
-Food!
-Toys
-Food!!
-Petting
-Friends
-Friendly dogs
-Did we say FOOD?

:) We are going to the vets' again on Monday to see if they can take care of his diarrhea...we are beginning to think it's some kind of a food allergy, possibly to wheat or gluten. Hopefully the food isn't too expensive and takes care of it; he's such a sweet dog that he definitely deserves every chance he can get to graduate!

Beto Update

2010-11-23T16:21:00.000-08:00

Beto is doing great still! He is such a sweet pup! But he is still having problems with diarrhea and we can't trace it to anything. Aside from that, he's doing great at puppy class--we found a great class and teacher half an hour away--and learning lots here at home. He does very well with his Sit, Down, Let's Go, Kennel, Hurry, and Leave It. He spent a weekend at a puppy-sitters and they loved him. He's a really sweet pup! :)

Dear Beto:

2010-11-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

Because it appears that you get diarrhea every time you eat anything besides what is supposed to be dog food (and that doesn't include grass, sticks, bark, leaves, nutshells, etc.), we are going to have to be more careful when you go outside. That means no outside playtime until you get over this stage of eating everything. It also means that since you decided that the 13-week "cutting teeth and apron strings" stage should start today, and therefore you should pay less attention to treats and more attention to those non-dog-food items, we are going to have to put the Gentle Leader on you when you go outside to Hurry. The Gentle Leader isn't a torture device; it doesn't hurt and you get extra treats when you wear it. So you don't need to sulk and refuse to Hurry or go up the stairs because you need to wear it. Thank you very much for waiting to go outside until 4:45 this morning, for leaving the kitty alone, and for doing so very well on your commands. We still love you very much--we like stubborn dogs much better than panicked dogs, and your stubbornness really seems quite mild compared to the Big Dog's.

Love, your family. :)

Some More Photos :)

2010-11-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Beto has been having fun outside! When we can keep him from eating all the grass, that is. ;) It helps when you have more than one person and can work on fetching toys and doing recalls.
I'm tired of playing now, Mommy...

Here I come!

His ears fly around when he runs, it's hilarious!

Chewing on his beloved blue plastic "jack" toy

We are having a lot of fun with him. He's over the diarrea he had when we first got him, and is doing very well! I'll post more actual information later... ;)

This Puppy Is Amazing...

2010-11-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

What IS that thing you're pointing at me, anyway?!

Haha okay, so I admit to being biased. But compared to our high-energy, high-nerves, high-distraction previous two girls (Brianna and Penelope), Beto is a dream so far! He's met around a dozen new people so far, not including our family, and is quickly amassing himself a huge fan club. Here's some initial impressions from our first two "real" days with the Beto-Shmato:

1. Beto is VERY quiet in his crate. He complains when he's very frustrated (i.e., when Penelope is running laps in the house because she's so thrilled to be home), but otherwise, if he whines for more than about five minutes, he probably needs to go outside.

2. Beto loves to eat things. Especially outside! But he also loves to carry things around in his mouth--he trots around so proudly!

3. Beto loves his food! Loves, loves, loves it! And gets very frustrated if Penelope gets fed when he doesn't. But he has already caught on to "Sit" and "Drop," so I think he'll be pretty easy to train.

4. Beto loves people and is very gentle with them. He can meet pretty much anyone as long as he has something in his mouth to keep him from trying to chew on them. He loves to bury his head in your lap and have you rub his ears/back/body. He loves to be carried. He loves the vets.

He's so very sweet, and everyone who's met him so far loves him. He gets along great with Penelope and they can already settle for periods of time, interspersed with play sessions. So far at least, he's a very fun pup!

HOME!

2010-10-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

We are home and so is Beto! He did SO SO well on the 10-hour drive up here, whined for a few minutes whenever we had to put him back in his crate after a potty break, but otherwise was very quiet and just slept. He's a very friendly and snuggly pup who LOVES to be petted, loves his food, loves his toys, loves everything, leaves the cat alone some of the time (a minor miracle actually since he's only met the cat a couple of times), can meet strangers without any problems, and is generally a sweetheart to be around! No accidents so far and we just have to curb his tendency to put everything (especially outside) in his mouth! It looks like we'll have fun with him...of course!

Okay, here's the pictures!

And Again...

2010-10-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Another delay! Fortune is still not doing well, losing weight and not eating well, so CCI's Northwest Region has decided to keep him there for a while so they can keep an eye on him. Our Puppy Program Manager is asking them to just place Fortune out there so we won't have to deal with sick puppies. One way or another, we're driving to Orlando this weekend to pick up an 11-week-old Golden-Lab cross male named Beto! According to the trainer who's fostering him, he's already sleeping through the night, doing well with his "Hurry," and hasn't had any problems with his several transitions from the plane ride to the kennel and from there to a home. Besides that....he's pretty cute.....

So this is our 99th post. I PROMISE I will try my BEST to make our 100th post full of puppy pictures!

Delay... :( :(

2010-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

So this post should be full of pictures of Mr. Fortune, right? Well...no. Unfortunately we heard last night that one of the F litter pups came down with coccidia, so Northwest Region (the region where CCI's breeding program is located) decided to keep the litter for a week to treat them and make sure they're all healthy before they ship them out (the illness is HIGHLY contagious so they can't really tell if only the one pup will come down with it). So our puppy pick-up day has been rescheduled for the 29th (next Friday). Sigh...another week! :( We understand the idea and are grateful for CCI's willingness to take care of the pups, but it's hard to wait!

A Couple Pictures :)

2010-10-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

I've gotten in touch with Fortune's breeder-caretaker and she sent some PICTURES!! So here goes...this is his mom, Dara II. Isn't she gorgeous?

And this is the "F" litter! Fortune is in the middle, in the turquoise collar. :) :)

Sorry for small pictures but that's all I've got for now and besides our internet is too slow for much more. According to the paperwork we just got in the mail TODAY (along with our puppy capes and Gentle Leaders and all those exciting things), Fortune's dad is Gulliver II, but I can't find a picture of him. We went "puppy shopping" this afternoon to get things like food and extra toys and a collar...fun fun! :) Unfortunately we will have to drive down to Atlanta to pick him up, but he's coming in the early afternoon, so it shouldn't be too bad. There shouldn't be much more excitement until he gets here, but I'll make sure and post pictures soon after that!

Fame and Fortune Shall Be Ours...

2010-10-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

...well, the "Fortune" part will be, anyway! I talked to Ed this afternoon and the process has been begun! Fortune should arrive here (we hope he can come into our local city) a week from tomorrow. WOW that is a short time to get shopping done! Fortunately we don't have much to buy, just things like food, a puppy collar, and a couple extra toys. I'm trying to find out more about our new boy's family, but so far nothing definite except that his mom is Dara II, a purebred Golden. Can't wait!! I'll post lots of pictures when he arrives! :)

Secret's Out :)

2010-10-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

That wasn't so long was it?? ;) We are puppyraising again!!! From the list Ed (our puppy program manager here in SE Region) gave us, we asked for a male yellow Lab/Golden cross named Fortune...but Ed hasn't gotten back with us on that, so we don't know for sure that that's who we're getting yet. However, there are other pups we could ask for if Fortune is already "spoken for," so it's not like we'd have to wait a long time! We'd be picking him up (hopefully here at our local airport) on the 22nd of this month...just about a week! I'm so EXCITED! This will be our first male puppy and our second LxG pup. Can't wait to meet him! :) :)

Wellll.... :)

2010-10-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

No guarantees. In fact, I'm not really going to even say anything, except that...I've decided not to delete this blog after all. Not for a while anyway. And then I'll just leave you with this picture to tease your imaginations (and no, the Brianna isn't going to come back to us)... :)

Summer Visits

2010-08-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

We've been terrible when it comes to posting! Our apologies! We've been down at the children’s' hospital three or four times since our first appointment, and our visits keep getting better. Penelope is becoming more and more "in-tune" with what to do and what not to do while she's walking the aisles, visiting rooms, and waiting in the lobby; and of course we're learning too. Unfortunately, due to privacy considerations, although people can and do take lots of pictures of Penelope (and us if we get in the way, haha), we can't take any pictures while visiting. So you're going to have to put up with boring text posts. ;) So far, Penelope has had ample opportunity to practice her interactive commands, including Jump (getting up on beds with less-fragile kids) and Lap (with a boy in a wheelchair). The latter I admit to being a little worried about since it's a pretty "up-close-and-personal" command and I didn't know whether she'd get too wiggly, but she did fantastic. We also do a lot of Up (front paws up) and Visit (resting head on bed/lap/chair) to get her closer to kids in beds.

This last Monday was probably our best round of visits so far. Penelope did a great job of knowing when and what to do to make everyone happy, whether it was giving "kisses" to a little girl who had just been admitted and was nearly comatose from morphine (she almost never licks people but this time she wanted to and it was a big hit), snuggling on the cold floor keeping a young boy focused on hugging and cuddling her instead of on his disorientation and pain, or convincing two nervous four- or five-year-old boys in the oncology ward that "some dogs are good dogs!" She was able to greet a lot of parents and staff too; but somehow she seems to be recognizing who the patients are, and she won't do more than say a cursory "hello" to anyone else in the rooms before she heads to the bed to see who's there. Every time we go I'm amazed at how blessed we are to have this amazing working girl in our home, and to be able to see her with these kids.

We stopped at Petco on the way home and got her a new squeaky. Good work deserves good pay! :)

My Summer (by Penelope)

2010-08-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well I was having a great summer until everything started getting hot. We went to state parks and other places where I could actually run around on my Flexi-lead instead of having to be good! We hiked a lot and went for a lot of trips. I'm getting more comfortable in the car now. The people got a new car a while ago and I didn't like it at all, but now that I'm riding in it more often I think I'm getting to like it better. The people went on "vacation" and I got to go to camp at the vets' office for two whole weeks! Also I LOVE my new job of visiting people in the hospital and I think I'm getting a bit better at it! Mum will post more on that later. It's been a great summer!

New Address

2010-07-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

We are importing all our posts into a new account. The address is careerchangeadventures@blogspot.com but everything else is the same :) Hop on and follow us again! We'll be leaving this blog up for a while to let everybody know.

First Appointments!

2010-05-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

And she did FANTASTIC! :D We had our first therapy visits at the children's hospital yesterday afternoon. Took a long drive downtown to the huge hospital, finally found our way around the parking garage, and managed to park just a couple rows over from the entrance. Then we dressed Penelope up in her Gentle Leader and cute new bandanna and headed in the door.

We started out in the lobby, hanging out and saying hi to a little boy who came over while we waited for "our" staff person to show up. Finally the senior Child Life Specialist came out and introduced herself; it turned out she'd be the one we were visiting with. After saying hi to us and Penelope, she led us back into the depths of the hospital. We took an elevator or two up to one of the floors and started with a visit to the playroom. Here we found four or five toddlers and their parents hanging out. I put Penelope in a Down so she wouldn't be too overwhelming, and she plastered her head to the floor, wagged her tail, and begged pets while the kids crowded around and scratched her, tickled her paws, and called their parents over to "see the doggy!" She did so good!

Then we went room-to-room. The CLS told us that today was an unusually light day with few patients, so we "only" saw about a dozen kids on two floors, along with several nurses, three doctors, a couple social workers, and some parents. But Penelope did SO WELL! I was amazed and everyone else was delighted with how good she was! She did whatever I asked her to, was very willing to position herself however she needed to so the kids could reach her (hospital beds are tough to reach for a short little Lab), and rock-solid. I'm impressed again with how much training pays off--especially that "Stay" and the interactive commands--Shake, Visit, Lap, Up. It means so much to the kids to have a dog that will stand there for as long as they need her to, doing nothing exciting, just stretching to put her nose up on the bed so they can reach her and scratch her ear or stroke her head. She was amazing, impressed everyone, and definitely earned the Milkbone they offered her at the end! :) What's more, I loved it too! There's nothing like taking an amazingly-behaved, sweet, friendly dog into a hospital and seeing her bring just a little bit more peace, a bit more relief, a few more smiles, to the faces of these kids.

So we're signed up again--early June, for a morning trip this time. I think Penelope's finally found herself another job! :)

An Appointment

2010-04-15T15:45:00.001-07:00

Our first "appointment" for therapy work is at the childrens' hospital on the third of May! We'll be there about an hour (we think), going room-to-room with a staff member. We'll tell you how it goes! :)

Return to the Blogging World

2010-04-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well after an incredibly long absence we are back...with NEWS! The therapy screening is over and Penelope passed with flying colors! My mom took her because unfortunately I had to work two shifts, but I have permission to come along/handle Penelope on visits.

So, as to what happened! They got there just about on time but had to stand around and wait quite a while before the first group of dogs got out of testing, so everyone talked and the dogs waiting in Penelope's group got to meet each other (our puppy's favorite part of course!). Afterwards everybody went into the office, and Penelope was wiggly but under control as usual. They had a group test first, checking the dogs' reactions to kids and petting, dropping a big metal pan on the tile floor, other noises, being crowded by medical equipment and people with medical equipment. All of this Penelope did fine with. Then they pulled the best dogs out first to have individiual testing done...Penelope got pulled out first. Mom expressed her concern about Penelope's "wiggly-ness" on a release and actually "demonstrated" a release for the testers, but they were fine with it since she doesn't bump into people or jump on them and could be controlled easily and quickly. They said she really deserves a chance and...said she passed! Wow!

Now we just have to call the childrens' hospital and have an orientation for the rehab hospital. We'll begin calling the childrens' hospital on Monday to see what we can get set up. We'll keep you posted! :)

WE GOT THE CALL!!!

2010-03-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

From the hospital therapy dog program! They haven't had a screening in two years, but the next therapy dog test is scheduled for a month from today! Unfortunately I have to work that day, so we're hoping it'll work out; if not my mom will just test out with Penelope. The test sounds reasonably easy and we're allowed to have Penelope in a Gentle Leader (hooray!) during it. The only snag is...it's in a vet's office. And Penelope LOVES the vet's office. Loves it, loves it, loves it. Gets extremely hyper in it. Well, I guess if she can test out all right in the vet's office, she can do it anywhere! I'll keep you all updated. And we have another presentation this weekend. Yay, I love our little presentations! :)

Birthday

2010-02-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow...is the birthday...

...of a very special little girl.

I think I'll always miss her.

Snow!

2010-02-15T14:59:00.000-08:00

So I apologize, we have been horrible bloggers, and this will likely be our last post till March because I (main blog writer, lol) am going away until March 8 for spring break! But! We have gotten lots of snow this year, and Penelope enjoys it a lot! She loves it when we turn her out in the backyard and she can run huge loops in the snow, biting it and eating big mouthfuls, before we go out in the woods for a long snowy walk. We have a lot of fun! :)

We're still waiting on the therapy dog stuff, but we have another demo coming up in March after I get back. Look for more pictures about that! :)

Four Years Old! (long post :)

2009-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

Today is Penelope’s birthday and she’s four years old! A little over three of those years she’s spent with us, in between and around spending her first two months at her breeder-caretaker’s house and another six months in Advanced and Team Training before being released. She is a wonderful, wonderful dog, probably the best we could ask for at this point in our lives. Yes, she is a “lot of dog,” and most of our friends who have met her in a “Release” probably wonder why on earth we kept her! Well, number one, of course she’s not as hyper around us as she is around new people. But even when she does get excited and “pogo-sticks” off the floor—all four feet off the floor at once, springing straight up with her shoulders chest-high—she’s just funny! She makes us laugh and that’s important right now. But she’ll still come for her “snuggles,” and curl up in a tight little ball between our legs when we sit on the floor. She’s great with the cat, she can go anywhere a dog’s allowed to go…she’s just a great dog. She’s taken me (her primary puppyraiser) through some really rough times and is truly my “heart dog.” She’s literally taught me how to talk with people and handle social situations. I’ve read before that every one of these dogs ends up with exactly the person they need, and that’s certainly true for Penelope!

Some baby- and "in training"-pictures:

Penelope as a baby, just finished with her Kindergarten Puppy Class

Penelope's first trip to the mall, just a week or so after turning 5 months old. She always loved to go places and do things--sometimes a little too much, since she pulled on the Gentle Leader like crazy!

As she got older we could take her more and more places...and do more crazy things to her. ;) She always took it in stride, though, going to sleep during the "down times," but always ready to jump up and go when it was time to head on to the next adventure!

Before we knew it, turn-in had come around. Then six months of waiting and waiting while we saw "no major concerns" on every report...we started thinking she might actually make it!

But Team Training showed her real colors...she needs an assertive handler, and that was one thing CCI just couldn't find for her. So she came home, and is now the best pet dog we could ever ask for!

Three wonderful years with a wonderful dog...that's what we're celebrating today!

Life :)

2009-12-14T16:36:00.001-08:00

We apologize for not posting more often, but since the therapy dog screening won't be until after the holidays, nothing much has been going on here in Penelope's world! We attended the outdoor Christmas program and she was absolutely fantastic! Crowds like she hasn't seen in years, lots of sitting patiently on cold cement, unusual sounds, other dogs, kids crowding around to pet her--and she was great. Tugged a little bit on the leash going home, but responded very well to a correction on the Gentle Leader. If CCI could find her an assertive handler, we're sure she would make an absolutely fantastic assistance dog even now, having been off practice for over two years. What a girl!

She turns four years old on the 17th; we'll try to post something about that on Thursday. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays! We will be in Arizona visiting family, so Penelope will be enjoying a vacation at the kennels--which, yes, she absolutely loves!

"Training"

2009-11-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

Since Penelope went all the way through one session of Team Training before being released for "assertiveness and distractibility," she knows most (if not all) of the advanced commands CCI teaches. When we picked her up, her trainer showed her skills to us, and we've kept her up on most of them. Penelope LOVES her "training" sessions and I usually try to throw in something new so she doesn't get too bored! Here are some pictures of her "working"--sorry for the bad photo quality, but it's rather hard to take pictures of a dog when you're handling it!

We usually warm up with some basic things--Sit, Down, Heel, Side...

Then work on her tough spots--one of these has been Tug, but I started teaching her to Tug on a big knot I tie in the end of her leash, and she's doing great now!

Afterwards we play the "kibble game" as a reward--I toss pieces of kibble and she chases them, grabs them, and has to come back to me for more--it's actually a way of teaching "Come," but she loves it so much I use it as a reward!

"Get" is another challenge for her; I have to keep polishing her skills on different things or she "forgets." Right now I'm teaching her to Get her leash.

And her latest accomplishment..."Push" to close the dryer door! It's a challenge because she has to bump it up instead of just nudging it straight ahead, but she's got it down now and loves it!

So that's what we do to keep ourselves from getting bored lately, in addition to walks and running in the woods behind our house. Tomorrow night we're hoping to go to a big outdoor Christmas program at the college nearby...there will be lots of crowds and it will be good practice for Penelope...besides, I'm looking forward to it!! :)

Moving Forward

2009-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

Last week we did some calling around and found out that a children's hospital near us already has a well-established therapy dog program in both their hospital and a nearby rehab hospital. They are also hoping to expand the program to include another hospital with people who have depression and other psychiatric conditions. We talked to the leader and she said they are very open to new dogs and are planning to have a screening sometime after the holidays. So in the meantime we are working with Penelope to improve her chance of passing the screening.

She really hates having her ears fondled much at all and since her ears are silky-soft and very "pettable" we think it's probably important that she stop yipping every time someone puts a little bit of pressure on them! So we have been working on desensitizing her ears, with lots of treats. She loves the goodies of course and has been getting better even in the short time we have been working with her on her ears.

Also I am training her to some hand signals and trying to get her as bomb-proofed as possible on her commands so that she will not do anything unless specifically commanded to do so. Since she'll be working with a wide variety of people, some of whom she could injure fairly easily, I feel this is important for their safety and ours, even though we will be covered by hospital insurance in case of an accident.

More later! It is exciting! We still haven't heard anything about Brianna. I hope her puppyraiser chooses to contact us at least for her puppy album, but I guess it's their choice.

LEAVES!! [by: Penelope]

2009-11-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, I thought this time would never come around again, but the leaf-things turned brown and fell off the big big sticks in the backyard and the people are starting to rake up the leaves again! Today they did quite a bit. I supervised because I had heard them say I'd get to come out later...
Mum said I could have gone out and helped if I'd stay around the house--but I just never can manage to do that--too many exciting things to see and smell!

Finally I went out on my flexi-lead though!
And I went tearing through the leaves!!

It was a lot of fun, I had to take a break after a while...all that running wears you out!

I tried to eat some but got in trouble again. People. They never let you have any fun.

That was my day! I like having my house back! The blonde dog was fun but the people never really let us play, and I had to be good ALL the time while she was around. It kind of wears you out after a while! So today I was all wiggly and happy because the whole house and all the people are mine again! I even got to do some training! It was fun, I'm learning some hand signals now. At first those were a bit confusing but I think I'm catching on finally. Life is good!

Florida

2009-11-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

WARNING: Long sad post about early turn-in! I'll try to put something happier on as soon as Penelope gets home tomorrow!

We left here at 4 a.m. to get to Florida in time to drop Brianna off before four in the afternoon. Brianna was extremely stressed for the first while, but about six or seven o'clock she got sleepy enough to start dozing off now and then. She still couldn't sleep for more than 5 minutes at the most though--every little bump or noise woke her up. So she was utterly exhausted when we got down to the SE campus in Orlando somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30, unloaded her stuff, tried to get her to Hurry (which she refused to do because she'd hardly drunk at all during the drive and besides there were all these SMELLS!!), and headed in to find Ed.

We found him and talked for a while, and Brianna wandered around the office, warmed up to him slowly but surely, and finally found a chair to crash underneath. I think she was just so relieved to be out of the car! Then we put her in a crate in the office and Ed took us out on a tour of campus.

SE is beautiful. I have seen NW campus but it was a long time ago and the only one I really remember is NC--which is pretty much just one building with some yard around it! So this campus with separate training, kennel, dorm, and administration buildings was pretty impressive to me! They were in the middle of Team Training, but everyone was out on their first field trip, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

After that we went back into the Ad. building and Ed asked us if we wanted to go back in and see Brianna one last time. Really didn't think I should, but my mom and I went back anyway. We peeked in the window and she was just lying there in the crate with her ears pricked up, looking at the door with her "what's going on??" look on her face. Then she heard us outside and she got up, so we went in and said goodbye. I was just barely holding myself together during this, and when we tossed in some extra kibble and ran out and she didn't even touch her food and started crying, I broke down! She stopped pretty soon, fortunately, which allowed me to get myself back into one piece. I know she wasn't crying so much for us--she just didn't want to be by herself! And Ed wasn't going to have her in the kennels; she's going to a foster home and then to her next puppyraiser. By now she's most likely in her new home. The lady who will be her primary raiser loves Goldens and has raised two before, so she will hopefully know all the best things to do to help Brianna succeed. I hope she chooses to stay in touch with us so we can send her Brianna's album and maybe get some updates...guess now I can sympathize more with the Breeder-Caretakers who raise these pups and send them off!

Well that's the end of our sad post. I'm thinking of different things to do with Penelope, and maybe I'll post some of them soon. She comes back from the kennel tomorrow morning and I can hardly wait!

Goodbye

2009-11-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well tomorrow bright and early (around 4 a.m.) we will leave for Florida to drop off Brianna. I'm going to miss the goofy little blonde! Here are three of the biggest things I'm going to miss about her...and as you can see she's been doing them since she was a fuzzy little baby...

Her sad serious look

Her annoyingly sweet habit of bringing you ALL her toys when you're not paying attention to her, and insisting that you hold her bones while she chews on them

The silly way she always tries to lay on our ugly old step...because it's the only "soft" spot in the family room

If I don't cry tomorrow afternoon it will be a miracle...she is a major handful, yes, and definitely seems to have some serious mental issues, but she is sooo incredibly sweet too! I still hope against hope she will make it. If not as a graduate, then that she will find a pet home that will love her to pieces.

Rehome

2009-10-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

So. Last week we made the call.

Brianna is going to a new puppyraiser.

I think we expressed a few doubts earlier about whether we would be able to keep her all the way through or not. She is an incredibly high-strung dog and with our schedule we simply don't have the time to give her the training she needs. She needs a LOT of very short, quick outings into very low-stress areas if she is ever going to have a chance of graduation, and though we have tried and tried to find time for these, we just can't. Both Penelope and Ariele could go pretty much anywhere by a little over eight months, but Brianna still can't walk into the post office or the bank without extreme nervousness.

So we called Southeast and told them she'd have to be rehomed. Ed (our Puppy Program Manager) was very understanding and has found a new home for her with an older couple. They have no dogs or children, so hopefully they will have the time to work through Brianna's issues. However, they can't do the late-night house-training time with a baby puppy, so they have to have an older dog. Since Brianna is wonderful in the house, we hope she will work out great with this family.

We aren't getting another puppy right away, but instead we are going to work with Penelope. Next Friday we drop Brianna off in Florida and then we will see if there are any facilities around that would be interested in having Penelope visit as a therapy dog.

It's hard. I'm sure all you puppyraisers can relate. I feel a bit like a failure, but at the same time I know we're doing what's best for her and us, and that's all I can do for now. Maybe later there will be time for another puppy...for now...I'm glad we have Penelope! But it's still...well...hard.

Sick Peoples [by: Penelope]

2009-10-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm writing now because all the peoples got sick with something called "flu," I don't know exactly what that is, but it's made them not do much all day long. Sooo of course that means I have to take over the blog and the other things I as a Good Dog can do. The Little Dog--uh, I mean the blond dog, she's actually bigger than me now--can't help take care of the peoples because she is not a Good Dog, so that leaves most of the work of caring for the sick peoples on me! (Oops, I need to put in an edit, Mum just told me the little--I mean Blonde--Dog can't really help the fact that she's not a Good Dog and I shouldn't rub it in. Edit added.) Anyway, I have been practicing my Therapy Dog skills. Mostly this means I wander around and sit by the peoples when they're feeling sick and ask to get up on the chair with them. So far I haven't gotten invited up on any chairs, which is really sad. I got invited up on the couch once and that was lovely while it lasted! Also I have been going outside with the peoples and sitting in the sun with them. Well sometimes I try to eat leaves and get scolded for it. Leaves are really good though and I think it would help the peoples get better if they would eat some. I guess they're getting better anyway, though. Although they are not energetic enough to do another demo this weekend, I am sad about that. Demos are the best!

Well I suppose I will sign off for now. No pictures because the peoples have been too sick for much training, although I have heard Mum talking about some other things she wants to teach me to do...I hope they involve treats...

Very Good Training

2009-10-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

...with my black baby! Today we took Penelope to Petsmart to start her training class. And she was flawless. =D Just like I expected her to be, really. She got a bit excited right before we went into the ring, but as soon as I pulled out a treat she was 100% with me! And stayed that way for the rest of the class. Our trainer L tried everything she could think of to get Penelope to break, but she didn't break even once. What a girl! L said that she could probably pass the CGC/TDI test right now; I would like to work with her a bit more on the flat collar though. Today we had her on the Gentle Leader and she is very good on that, hardly requires any corrections. I think she will probably be able to take and pass the test on a flat collar, it will just take a bit of work on my part to teach her that she has to behave even off the Gentle Leader! ;) L is very excited about Penelope's potential as a therapy dog and told us multiple times that "she'll be great" at whatever we want to do with her. Oh I am so excited! She is such an amazing dog!!

So a very good day today. =) Brianna is doing fine too, we got her and Penelope two new chicken Nylabones, so she is happily chewing on hers. Hahaha.

Second Service Presentation

2009-10-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm a bit late in posting, but this last weekend we did another presentation on service with Penelope, this one at one of the kids' classes at church! Penelope had a great time and afterwards lay out in the VERY crowded hall (with her cape off, of course) with my mom like she was a graduate SD! We did about the same thing for this demo as for the previous one we did a couple weeks ago at school.

Anyways, here are a couple pictures of Penelope and me during the presentation...I should add that she's only wearing the cape for "modeling" purposes, and didn't wear it before or after the presentation; we also made sure to explain to everyone that she's a COC!

Waiting while my mom talks ;)

Lap!! (I love this command! haha)

Intermediate Class Graduation

2009-10-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday) Brianna graduated from her Intermediate Puppy Class! Yay Brianna! =) She's learned a lot and we have learned many strategies for helping her through her hyper/fearful issues. We're going to wait for her third set of classes until sometime in the coming late winter or early spring. However, in two weeks Penelope will begin her Intermediate classes with hopes of becoming a therapy dog soon!

Fall Photo Shoot!

2009-09-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today it finally stopped raining and the sun came out!!! So I grabbed a few pumpkins from the garden, put them by the dried-up corn stalks, and took the dogs out for a photo shoot! Penelope was great aside from not wanting to Sit/Down when I told her to (don't ask me why); and I ran Brianna until she dropped so she'd behave--which is why her tongue is hanging out about a mile! Anyway, enjoy!
Penelope by the corn

Penelope by some little mum plants around one of our trees

Brianna with the pumpkins and corn

Enjoying dry grass and a beautiful day to get outside and run off some energy!

School Presentation!

2009-09-18T14:37:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday a teacher from a small local school asked us to come and do a presentation on service for them today. At first we almost said no because of our hectic Thursday/Friday schedules, but we ended up saying yes and brought Penelope as our demo dog since even a small school would NOT be a good place for Brianna just now.

So this morning bright and early at 8:00 we headed over there. We walked in just as the kids were arriving and got to the room we were going to be in. My mom talked to the teacher who had invited us while I held Penelope up near the front and talked to the kids as they came in. =D Penelope was absolutely flawlessly behaved, even when about a dozen kids came running up to us, knelt all around her on the floor, and proceeded to rub and scratch and rough up practically every accessible spot of fur on her body! All she did was try to rub her Gentle Leader a little bit. Hahaha. Eventually the teachers and principal herded the kids to their seats and my mom gave her talk. Penelope demonstrated her Sit, Down, Lap, Up, and Get (to the kids' great delight; they asked if she could demonstrate opening a door but we hadn't brought a tug rope) and modeled the cape for a few minutes. In between times she lay on the floor and gave me attention rivaling anything I have seen in the past six months. =) She was fantastic! Such a great CCI representative even as a release dog!

Anyway that's our happy news for today. Sorry no pictures, we left the camera at home and anyway there wasn't anyone there to take pictures for us. =(

Calendar & Other Thoughts

2009-09-17T16:33:00.003-07:00

Well the 2010 calendar is officially for sale now, if you go to the CCI store you can see the front cover and Miss Very Sleepy Brianna is lying on the bottom row, far left. All together now, awww...! =)

Other thoughts. We have discovered in the past few weeks that Brianna is a very easily stressed puppy. Even here at home, if we let her go outside to play with Penelope for ten or fifteen minutes, she comes down with diarrea afterwards. When we took her to church Bible study last week and insisted that she maintain a 20-minute Down without constantly feeding her kibble, she ended up with diarrea too. The pinch collar maintains a perfect Let's Go and keeps her very focused on her handler, but it stresses her out enormously, so we're not using it any more. At puppy class last Sunday she was doing quite well until someone dropped a HUGE doghouse on the floor, which of course scared her (and we would expect that!); but then it took her probably close to 20 minutes to calm down afterwards. She just can't deal with new things outside of her home environment--and even there, very exciting things (like playing with Penelope) can stress her out.

We've talked with our Puppy Program Manager about similar things to these and he keeps telling us it's a fear period and she'll grow out of it. But if so, she's been in this "fear period" since she was about three months old, with no breaks! Our current trainer agrees that she is a very sensitive and easily stressed dog, and has advised us not to take her many places, and we're currently following that advice. I just wish there was something we could do to help her get over this fear/stress/sensitivity--whatever you want to call it. Maybe she will grow out of it...she was quite a confident puppy at 8-10 weeks. In the meantime it's being quite difficult for all of us. Especially Penelope, who has to be "isolated" in the living room whenever Brianna is out in the kitchen because of Brianna's stress issues with her. I hope we can keep Brianna until turn-in, but we'll see what ends up happening.

Well I didn't mean to go on and on! I'll go and post another post about our great school presentation with Penelope today (Friday)!

Calendar Star!

2009-09-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well we just received news that Brianna and her siblings are going to be on the front of the 2010 CCI calendar! The 2010 calendars aren't for sale yet, but soon they will be on the CCI online store. I'm not posting the photo here because I don't have permission from the wonderful people who took it, but if you get the calendar, 7-week-old Brianna is the far left puppy on the bottom stair.

Anyway, just had to share that exciting news! More coming soon, I hope.

Time Out for Fun =)

2009-09-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

All work and no play...is not good for puppies!! So a couple days ago I took the girls outside to run a bit before yet another afternoon thunderstorm!

First they warm up with a bit of wrestling and biting...and yes, Penelope can cross her front legs like that and run sideways without falling over even once

Then Penelope makes a wild getaway around the garden and it's time to run all-out for several minutes straight (that Big Dog can run faster than any other Lab or Golden we've ever seen!)

When Brianna catches up she's promptly killed (no canines injured in the making of this photo)

Finally there are a few moments of peace, so I grab both of them and take them inside because the storm is brewing!

This is what happened to Brianna afterwards. =D Happy puppyraiser!!

One Small Step...

2009-09-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

Today we took this girl... to Petsmart! We just wanted to take her to a semi-public and very distracting place to see how she'd do on the headcollar. If she was going to pull our arms off, obviously therapy work wouldn't be an option!

She did FANTASTIC though, very calm even while passing little kids, small dogs, big dogs, and lots of people! We met our trainer (by a happy accident) and talked with her about therapy dogs for quite a while. She seems to like what she sees in Penelope and after Brianna is done with this session of obedience we will sign Penelope up for an Intermediate class to start working on her CGC (Canine Good Citizen) training.

Another small step toward our goal of therapy work with the big dog! I am so excited about this! =D

Craft Fair & Big Dog Update

2009-09-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Saturday) we decided to go to a little state park near here and take a quiet walk with the dogs. But when we got there, we discovered a craft fair going on, with lots of people, generators, a big blow-up kids' play area, everything. Given Brianna's tendency to spazzing out, we debated whether to just drive home, but ended up trying it out. However, we did switch collars since Brianna was pulling like crazy before we even came in sight of the fair itself; Penelope got the Gentle Leader and Brianna took Penelope's pinch collar! After that, both dogs were very well-behaved as we wandered through the craft fair, took some pictures, and meandered back to the car! Needless to say, we were thrilled! We're not planning to keep Brianna on the pinch collar all the time, but I do think when used appropriately the pinch collar can be a great help in managing an excitable-but-not-too-correction-sensitive dog. It worked fantastically yesterday, anyway.

^Brianna and Penelope all ready to go!

^Me and Brianna outside a little log building next to the craft fair area

^Penelope and Brianna (and handlers, haha) on the porch of a log cabin just outside the craft fair

"Can we be done NOW, Mom?!?! I'm soooo BORED!!!"

And an update on our beloved Big Dog/Auntie Penelope! Some things have changed and we have decided to start working with Penelope on her Therapy Dog certification. Our current trainer has worked extensively with therapy dogs, and this afternoon at class we asked about what we'd need to do to get Penelope certified. Hopefully soon we'll be able to take her to another obedience class or two and get her ready to take the tests she needs to go visiting. It's very exciting, I'll keep you updated!

Learning "Down"

2009-08-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

As we mentioned in a previous post, Brianna is not the best at staying in a Down for very long. She (usually) goes down, but does not like to stay there if anything's going on! And since most semi-quiet public places require at least some degree of Sit or Down, we decided we had to work on this problem.

After talking to as many dog people as possible, we decided to try a strategy we'd learned while taking Penelope to puppy classes--putting your foot on the dog's leash close to their Gentle Leader and holding their head down to enforce the long Down. This method never worked with Penelope because she's stubborn enough (and strong enough!) to pull her head and your foot right off the floor! But we hoped that it might work with Brianna since she is much "floppier" than Penelope.

And wonder of wonders it did work! We started it at home, and added some extra-good treats too, and yesterday Brianna held her Down for about an hour during church Bible study, only getting up maybe half a dozen times. Progress!!!--she used to only be able to stay down about 3 minutes! She's also getting more "desensitized" to noises, which definitely helps. Now we'll try church again this weekend...and then puppy class...which is going okay, Brianna is certainly not the star of the class, but she's trying hard and doing well, considered that Petsmart on a Sunday afternoon is extremely distracting! Every little bit counts!

First "Real" Outing =)

2009-08-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well today we took Brianna on her first "real" outing, meaning taking 45 minutes to an hour of our afternoon to go out and about! We weren't really sure what to expect, but were a little more hopeful because our first Intermediate Puppy Class on Sunday afternoon went quite well.

Brianna really did great though! She reminds me a lot of Penelope when she was about this age. Meaning, she pulls like crazy (although not quite so bad as Penelope), wants to go see everybody and everything, and is obsessed with sniffing things! LOL! Okay now that I read that it really sounds quite bad, compared to most other people's pups...maybe we're just warped...but Penelope really turned out good in the long run, so we're hoping the same for Brianna. The best thing is, she is very excited about going places, even though we have to make her be good. ;)

We went to the bank, the library, and the insurance office (had to get our new car set up with insurance!). Aside from a large round decorative platter in the bank (for some reason she's afraid of large round things), she wasn't nervous around anything, and she sat, lay down, and took treats whenever I asked her to. Also--the absolute BEST part of the day!--she laid down or sat the entire time we were in the insurance office; only got up once or twice!!! Good girl Brianna! =D

Okay, here the pictures! She turns six months on Thursday...can't believe it!

^In the bank lobby

^In the library

^ A nicer picture in the library

Crazy Life (short update)

2009-08-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

So life has been pretty crazy lately; first I (Mum) came down sick with something that nobody's been able to figure out, but that has now faded away (thank goodness!) but that kept me from doing much at all for over a week. Then last Sunday we were driving home and someone rear-ended us! Fortunately we didn't have any dogs in the back of the station wagon!! But the insurance company totaled the car, so now we're having to buy another one. ANYWAY, but that means Brianna hasn't been getting much out-and-about time, because she's not ready yet to go everywhere with us; because of her high-strung, sensitive nature, she still needs "special," short, in-and-out trips into very quiet places, and well, we just haven't had the time to arrange those! So I guess you could say we've just been working on house manners!

We're starting her Intermediate puppy class this Sunday, though, and maybe taking her to church this weekend. Here's some pictures from the summer!

^ "The girls" curled up under the table...Brianna looks so big in this picture!

Penelope on a hike we took a while ago

Brianna waiting for us to finish our picnic lunch =)

Checking out the world ;)

Hopefully soon we'll have some "out in public" pictures to share!

First Award! =)

2009-07-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Ellie and her mom for sending us our first award! So now...ten things about Brianna...

1. She loves having her ears rubbed and will stand stock-still while you rub both ears as long as you can.

2. Ever since she was a puppy, she's refused to come out of her crate until you reach in and pet her for a few minutes. (She's getting better at coming out when told now, but it's still cute!)

3. When she's relaxed and confident, she has the most beautiful Let's Go you could ever ask for!

4. If you're having trouble getting her cape off, she will shake her head and back out of it until it's off. She never does that when you're putting the cape on, though.

5. When it comes to bones, bigger is ALWAYS better for Brianna!

6. She and Penelope will "trade" toys when they're playing together, whenever one decides she wants the other's bone/stick/Kong/whatever.

7. Brianna loves sticking her head next to an open car window (don't worry, never outside the window) and biting at the wind as it comes in!

8. She also loves getting into spiderwebs, because she can't see them--but she can feel them--and bite at them!

9. When she finally goes to sleep outside of her crate, it's usually behind someone's chair or under the kitchen table.

10. She almost always sits very tall and straight--unlike Penelope, who "slouches" worse than almost any human I've seen! (haha)

So there is Brianna's better idiosyncrasies in a nutshell! =) We are supposed to pass this on to 10 other favorite blogs, but to be honest we can't choose ten. You're all our favorites! So we will have to skip that part. But you're all great!! =)

Big Cape and 5 Month"ish" Pictures!

2009-07-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

My little girl is growing up so fast! We got her big cape last week and tried it on. She doesn't really like it going over her head, but puts up with it okay. Good thing we got her used to the little cape (she didn't like it at all when we first started putting it on her). Here are some "just-after-five-months" pictures of her! She's a sweet dog, has her issues, but we're learning to deal with them. She will make someone an amazing companion, either as a pet or an assistance dog!

Going and Doing! [by: Brianna]

2009-07-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Wow this life is busy! I still have my little cape and I'm going places already! Yesterday we went somewhere where there were more cars and people than I've ever seen before ever except in the airport when I first came here. Mum called it a little grocery store. Anyway, we didn't go inside the...the whatever it was, Mum and I just sat outside on a chair they'd put there for us! Well Mum sat on the chair, I couldn't. But there were SO MANY PEOPLE! I was so surprised I really couldn't do anything, and besides I remembered I have to "settle" when we're out and about because I can't go say hi to people. I don't know why I can't say hi to people, it would be the friendly thing to do, and I know they want to say hi to me because they always come up and talk to Mum about me, and I really want to be a good dog and let people know CCI dogs are friendly, but Mum always says I can't say hi.

Anyway...so I did my "settle" thing and didn't say hi to people. Well, I tried not to--but when one girl with flip-flops came up and nudged her toe in between my paws I just HAD to lick it a little bit...but I tried to be good. And Mum said I was very good. After that we just walked back to the car and went home. But it was fun! I think I'm going to like this "going places" thing!

Then today the people went somewhere that me and Big Dog couldn't go. [Editor's note: we went to Smoky Mountain National Park and no dogs are allowed there because of the bears. Even service dogs are not encouraged to come.] So guess what! They took us to the Vet's Office (I LOOOOVE the Vet's Office!!) and left us there all day! The Vet's Office people put both me and Big Dog in a big kennel and let us play there all day! It was so much fun!! I love the Vet's Office Kennel too!

Anyway, so that's my exciting life! I will leave you with a couple pictures of cute little me from the past month or so!

Starting Out

2009-07-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Because of her spazzy episodes (thanks to Cabana's Raiser for the "episode" description, it fits perfectly!), we're starting Brianna very gently into the world of "out in public." Today we did a "dry run" of church when nobody was there except a few office people and the janitor (who's one of Brianna's #1 favorite people!). We took her to Hurry, walked around in the parking lot a bit, and went into the church through the side door. Then we walked around in the church and practiced some Settle in the pews. She did really well in the parking lot and okay in the church building. I don't think we'll be doing public interactions; she wants to run over to everyone and wiggle all around them. Just like Penelope, haha. She pulls on the leash some too, but that's okay, the only thing we really don't want right now is spazzyness! She also did all right in the pews. Lying down for long periods of time is hard for her. She's high-strung and tends to jump up at every little noise. Hopefully she'll grow out of that as she's surrounded by noises and strange things in public and gets used to them.

I think we will start taking her "officially" out in public next week when we get her new "big dog cape." Sorry I have no pictures so far, but we'll get them when we head out, I promise!

Breakthrough! (we hope...)

2009-07-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

So I haven't really mentioned it, but Brianna's #1 problem (besides her short attention span, which we hope she'll grow out of) is getting "spazzy" at very unexpected times. She may be walking along in a beautiful Let's Go and then all of a sudden she starts twisting and wiggling and jumping at the end of the leash like a bronco! So this had us a little worried (okay, so a lot worried!) about taking her out in public with a CCI cape on! Some things we knew made it worse, like walking on wet grass or mud or dry leaves, but we really hadn't been able to track it down to any one thing in particular. Today though I think we made a breakthrough! For about a month we've been taking her on walks up and down our quiet dead-end road, and since I came back from camp I've been trying on these walks to find every unusual and "spazz-inducing" thing that I could to show Brianna. Trying to find the one thing that makes her lose her mind. Haha but that's seriously what it looks like! Anyway, I hadn't discovered anything in particular. Today though I noticed that she only does it when she sticks her nose out and actually touches something with it. So...! Now I am wondering how on earth I'm supposed to keep her from touching anything with her nose while we're out in public?! I guess we'll find out. On Monday she turns 5 months and soon we will ask for her "big dog cape" to take her out in public next week. Has anybody else had a pup like this? Do they grow out of it?? (please say they do...hehee) Any ideas for working with this in public?

Things are going relatively well though. Today I took Brianna out and started teaching her that on no account can she go into the garden. I think she started getting it. She knows all her up-to-six-months commands plus a few. She's a smart little pup, if she can get over this spazzy thing and the short attention span, she really has potential. We'll keep hoping! =)

Quick Update...

2009-07-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

...since nothing exciting has really happened! I (Mum) have been gone at camp and upon coming back have discovered that a whole bunch of things have put off the road trip to Colorado that we were going to take with Brianna. So...we may take it next week, but most likely not. Brianna has hit the four-month "flight stage" full-force and at times appears to think she has no need of anyone or anything else. Teenage puppy months =(. Next Monday we can officially take her "out in public" although we still need to ask for her "big dog cape" from Ed (our Puppy Program Manager). We are working on getting her to settle. That's her biggest problem right now; she gets very spazzy and distracted over all sorts of things. Sorry I have no pictures, but that's just the way things have been around here! I will update more when more happens! Enjoy your puppies! =)

Training [by: Brianna]

2009-06-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well recently those people have been being so hard on me! I was doing good with all my commands and learning new ones (I love learning new commands!!) until they started putting all these twists into what I thought I knew! You see, every morning we take a walk up and down the road. And we had been just walking up to the end of the road and turning around and walking back down a ways, and then walking back to the house. But the past few days it hasn't been that way! We walk, and then we stop, and Mum tells me Settle, or Sit, or Down, and gives me a kibble, and then she just stands there awhile! And then she says Let's Go! and keeps on walking. And sometimes she walks fast, and sometimes slow, and sometimes in between fast and slow, and sometimes she goes in circles or goes to the other side of the road [edit by Mum: we have a very quiet dead-end road with practically no traffic], but she does it when I don't expect her to! And during all this I have to keep a loose leash and not get spazzy and not eat things off the road. It's very very very hard! Did I say it's hard?! But I am trying and doing pretty good I think. I am doing better at puppy class too, even though I have to Settle for a long long long time! [edit by Mum: our class is at Petsmart and we really don't work the dogs all that much; it's frustrating for all of us!]

Anyways but that's all for today I think. This training stuff gets confusing! Mum says it will get more confusing in a month or so. That's when I get my big-dog-cape and start going out in "public." Whatever that is...

Four-Month Photos!

2009-06-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

We took some pictures of Brianna today and last weekend to celebrate her four "month-day." She's getting so big--and gangly! Penelope never got gangly; she was always a pretty "stocky" pup, so this is a first for us! Brianna is really sweet though, even at puppy class last night she was good.

She loves her walks!

Puppy Math

2009-06-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

One little fuzzy Golden Retriever puppy plus one car seat...
equals a back car seat covered in Golden Retriever hair...

and one very gangly and not-nearly-so-fuzzy Golden Retriever puppy!

Look for another post coming soon about our adventures this last weekend! =)

Vets & Bee Stings

2009-06-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well today we took Miss Brianna to the vet's office for her LAST set of puppy shots! No more vet visits (hopefully) until she's a year old! Well we take that back, she will be kenneled at the vets' office at least twice before turn-in. She did fantastically as usual, sat on the scale when the assistant asked her to, sat for the vet for her shots, used her puppy-dog eyes to get lots and lots and LOTS of chewy treats from both the vet and his assistant...need we say she loves the vets' office? lol.

Then we came home and while I had her out to Hurry, she stepped off the mulched "potty pad" into the grass and promptly set her paw down on a bee/wasp/other small stinging creature! I know that Penelope has gotten stung several times but never paid a second glance after the initial "owie"; however, Miss Drama Queen proceeded to get herself all flustered and anxious because of her hurting paw. We cradled her to get her calmed down and since then she has been fine. haha. She turns four months old this Saturday! We will be out hiking and will try to take some pictures.

Puppy Playtime! [by: Brianna]

2009-06-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Brianna here. I'm soo excited to be writing on the blog finally, I've never ever done it before because Auntie Penelope said I was too little and she or my puppyraisers had to do it. But now I'm three and a half months old and so I can write on the blog!! well actually kinda dictate, it's my puppyraiser who actually writes it...my paws are kinda hard to type with... ANYWAY! Guess what happened today?!! I HAD A VISITOR!! Like somebody who really came to see me!! Her name is Jala and she is also a CCI puppy in training. She is a Lab/Golden cross a few weeks younger than me and she lives in my city! She was a bunches of fun and we had sooo much fun playing together! My puppyraiser's brother took some pictures, I will tell you what happened!

^This is Jala, she is really cute and fuzzy like me except she's black!

^This of course is me!! Waiting to go play! We had to sit and be nice before playing and it would've been really really hard except my puppyraisers got some Cheerios and I loooove Cheerios especially now that I don't get them all the time!

^This is us snuggling and chewing on each other!

^We like to give each other big big BIG hugs!!

^The only problem was after a while Jala stole the place on the floor where the cold air comes up! Here she is laying on it and I am trying to ask her to share!

^It didn't work, so I tried again...

^Then we ended up sharing for a while, and chewing on each other a bit, which of course is always the best way to do anything.

It was really really fun cause most of the dogs I meet outside my house are kinda unfriendly and I can't play with Auntie Penelope much cause she's too big and rough. But Jala is like exactly my size and she likes to play with me! I hope we can play some more!

Picnic

2009-06-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday my younger brother's early-teen group went on a picnic and hike at a nearby land trust. Since dogs are allowed, we brought both "the girls" and they were absolute sweethearts all afternoon long! This was by far the longest outing Brianna has been on but she did really well with all her interactions and didn't even try to eat too much off the ground (until people stopped paying attention to her and started eating lol). Penelope also did great, even though she has always had excitable greetings, she lay happily on her blanket while kids crowded all around her and petted her and hugged her. We explained to a lot of people about CCI and the girls were great ambassadors! =) Brianna was exhausted afterwards and slept all the way home and for two and a half hours afterwards--which, since she is a very light sleeper, has to be a record for her!

^ Waiting for her kibble treats--that she actually likes now!

"If I sit, will you please come pet me?!"

YAY for Fear Periods!!

2009-06-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

...or getting over them, that is! After talking to Ed (Southeast Region Puppy Program Manager) we decided that Brianna's reactions to new things were probably just due to her going through a "fear period" that many puppies go through, where they're just afraid of almost everything. She is doing much better now! Occasionally she still has fear reactions to unusual things, but if we just stand there and wait till the scary thing goes by, she is back to herself again. She pulls on the leash when she's not comfortable, but usually in only one direction (before it felt like she was pulling in at least a dozen different directions at once!) and comes back with a correction with the Gentle Leader. So we are HAPPY!!! :) Right now she is crashed in her crate until we have to leave for puppy class! It will be interesting, we should be practicing out in the store aisles and open areas of Petsmart for the first time. She is being a really good girl, we went for a walk Saturday afternoon and she saw all sorts of people and new things--skateboarders, golf carts, little kids, even one person on a unicycle--and did really great. And I will update later about puppy class!

Progress, Walk, and Some New Problems

2009-05-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

So first I must say a big THANKS to everyone who commented and/or emailed me about the last post!! It is REALLY REALLY nice to know that Brianna isn't the only one out there with this lack-of-motivation problem!!!! :D AND to get some ideas for helping her get over it! She is doing much much better since we switched her onto kibble treats, cut her breakfast rations a bit, and started training before meals when she's hungry.

Last Saturday we went for a short walk at a really quiet little state park near us. Brianna did okay for most of it, then she totally "lost it" and got really frightened of something or another, raising her hackles and getting all upset and hyperactive and flustered. We stopped and took a long break, let her calm down by playing with us and then doing some Sits and Downs, then we kept going and she did better. Her Let's Go around the house hasn't been so nice since then, unfortunately, but we have been working on it and she is doing much better. She has had a couple other fear reactions to unusual things, though. We want to call Ed (SE Puppy Program Manager) and ask him whether he thinks we should keep trying to expose her to "quiet" new things or just try and keep the environment as "normal" as possible while we work on building her confidence. We'll see on that count. When she isn't frightened and upset, she is really doing well, she knows her name, Down, and Sit, has a beautiful loose-leash Let's Go, and isn't too distracted by strange people or animals. AND---she goes in her crate when we ask her to!!!!! YAY she had a HUGE problem with that for quite a while, but just recently she has gotten over it! Which is good because she's getting big!

And finally I have pictures! Enjoy! :)

Penelope on the porch of the state park visitors' center. She loved the walk, of course. :)

We carried Brianna through a real tangle of people and dogs; it was after that she decided something was scary. But here she looks cute!

Pretty sit...and look at those "thinking ears" ;)