Pupdates For May 15th

“Please, just one more!”

Bonnie Puppy hugs

The pups are finished with their Continuing classes. It’s going to seem strange to not head to class come this Thursday night but just because we aren’t going to class doesn’t mean we are done working with them. The next step is to get them ready to take the Canine Good Citizen test.

During our last class the pups worked with several types of obstacles. A tunnel, an exercise trampoline, a small swimming pool, a hurdle and a couple of tents among other things. Bonnie after the initial “what is this” response had a lot of fun with the obstacles. Belle was a little more cautious and didn’t make it through all of them but she gave it a good try.

We took the pups to the park on Saturday and pretty much had the place to ourselves. We walked the walking path and Belle clearly was not happy until she was able to catch up and walk next to her Greg. There were quite a few new sights and sounds. It was a windy day so the flag was whipping around pretty good which caught their attention. They also heard a train for the first time. We discovered at least for that day while Greg was the pups security when walking across the wide open spaces, I was their security when the train whistle blew.

We took the pups up the jungle gym and across the swinging bridge. Bonnie even went down the slide with Greg. Belle liked the bridge but neither one of us was up for the slide. We did however go through the open spaces in the climbing wall. Bonnie has been wary of the squeaky swings so Greg and I sat for quite awhile on the swings so she could get used to the movement and sounds. We’ll see on our next trip if she feels any better about them.

The pups continue to be loveable mischievous little stinkers but the older they get it’s obvious that they are starting to “get it” and are doing a much better job listening to us. We’ve got quite a ways to go but they’ll get there and in the meantime we’ll just keep on loving them.

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Patience, Patience, Patience

I apologise to those that receive this blog by email.  I was just starting to write this morning when Lucy kitty decided to walk across the keyboard and before I knew it she had added to the title and posted the first sentence.  She wasn’t happy with me when I deleted her post.  Maybe next time Luce.

We started our third set of classes last night.  The pups were introduced to a whole new set of dogs and their people.  Because this is a continuing class all the dogs are at a different level so we were cautioned several times to not compare the dogs with each other.  I really needed to hear and listen to that.  We have such a long way to go, I know we will get there but. 

 The writing of this blog is interrupted to answer the gotta go out chime rung by Bonnie and a quiet but heartfelt “please throw the tennis ball for me” from Belle.  But of course when I tossed the ball for Belle, Bonnie forgot that she wanted to go out and stole Belle’s ball. Oh Puppies!

Ok back to business, the short of it is we have a long way to go and will need to continue finding the patience buried deep inside.   We worked on sit, down and stay.  Bonnie had her stubborn on and looked at me as if she had no idea what I was talking about.  A few minutes later in her timing, (I think she has been taking lessons from Lucy Kitty)  she did what she was supposed to do.  For something fun  we worked on tricks,  spinning around only one revolution so the dogs wouldn’t get dizzy and rolling over into a stand.

The hardest task of the night was doing the sit ect while there were distractions. Ok so this was a no win from the get go.  The girls get distracted very very easily.  So when a squeaker was squeaked Bonnie was like “where is  it where is it!”   When the toy push cart was pushed by her she was “What’s that? let me see, let me see!”   The pups both liked the bubbles although they weren’t sure exactly what they were the looks on their faces were priceless when the bubble popped. True to their personalities, Bonnie rammed into the bubble, and Belle gently nudged it with her nose.  It was so funny.  One of the challenges for Bonnie was when an umbrella was opened and closed she was totally afraid of it and first wanted to go the cool dog in the next space over for protection  then when I wouldn’t let her do that she got behind me and leaned in to my leg to save her from the umbrella, I assured her that it wasn’t going to hurt her but she didn’t believe me. Greg said Belle did fine with the umbrella, loved the bubbles and wanted to go find the squeaker.

So class showed us what we need to work on. We have been taking them to Rural King for outings but now that the weather is getting better  we will have a lot more options open to us that will help the pups become more comfortable with new experiences.

I see trips to towns, parks, and riverbanks in our future.

Hide and Seek, Bathtime and Tattletails

Bathtime for Belle

A clean Belle Pup

Bonnie’s Turn

A clean Bonnie Pup

The other evening while working on the recall command we played hide and seek in the house with the pups. One of us holds the pups and the other goes, hides then calls them. When it was Greg’s turn to hide I entertained Bonnie in the kitchen so she wouldn’t follow him. When he called her, she looked at me as if to say “Oh,that’s me! Gotta go!” and took off at a mad dash to find her Greg.
When it was my turn to hide and Belle’s turn to seek, she was so excited to find me that she took off looking for me before I called her. She was more patient but just as excited to find me the next 2 times 🙂 It was satisfying to note that both Bonnie and Belle came running as fast as they could to find us when we called. Although we hid in various places the trickyiest was when I hid behind the chair, the challenge wasn’t where I was but how to get to me. Both pups figured it out in their own way and gave me lots and lots of kisses to show me how happy they were to get to me!

Later that night the pups had their first bath, they previously have had showers. Belle went first and wasn’t too sure she like it. Bonnie kept getting in the way and was all about telling Belle there was nothing to it until it was her turn when she didn’t think she liked it either. Belle the loving sister that she is nosed her as if to say ” nothing to it huh!” The pups, floor and Greg were all very very wet by the time bath time was over but we had two clean puppies.

Yesterday morning Bonnie snatched a magazine, an envelope and a pen I dutifully told her to “give” each time and she did. A little while later while drying my hair I looked down at my feet and discovered Bonnie sitting as close to me as she could get. Considering that the girls don’t like the sound of the hairdryer I found this strange. I looked to see what she was looking at and discovered Belle on the couch happily playing with a dish towel that she had snatched! Clearly Bonnie was tattling on her sister!

Last night when Greg told the pups it was bedtime, Belle the good girl that she is ran to her crate and laid down. Bonnie on the other hand jumped up on the couch and pressed herself as close to the cushions as she could in an effort to become invisible. When she realized that Greg could still see her she closed her eyes. Guess she figured if she couldn’t see him he couldn’t see her. Silly pup!

Belle and Bonnie’s Different Approaches to the One Minute Sit

This morning while working with the pups on a 1 minute sit their different personalities were very apparent. I was working with both of them at the same time, they were right in front of me. and both were as different as night and day.

Belle was like “Sit? you want me to sit, ok I’m sitting, do I get a treat? Where is my treat?Can’t you see I am sitting, Hey wait, maybe I won’t get a treat this time.  Oh! what is that on the floor? Oh that’s right I am supposed to be sitting. Did you say I was going to get a  ah there it is a treat! Finally a treat. Oh yeah I am still sitting but….don’t I get another… wait what’s over there? Oh that’s right…ah another treat. Isn’t it almost time to get up?Please, please, PLEASE can’t I get up? Ah there’s the all done!

Bonnie on the other hand: ” Sit you want me to sit, hm, well I don’t know am I going to get a treat if I sit? Well maybe I could if it’s for a treat that is. Ok I am sitting, so where is my treat, like come on, I am doing what you want me to. You said I was going to get a treat, oh there it is. ok sooooo do I get another one I’m still sitting you know even though it’s really boring to just sit. By the way are you ever going to say “all done?”