Sunday, July 17, 2011

So Much For Keeping Up

Just an update with mostly pictures here.  We will go to our last night of obedience class this coming Wednesday, have 2 weeks off and then do another 8 week course.

Davy has started alert barking when someone drives in or comes to the door.  He has a very deep bark.  My daughter (16 yo)  always use to want the door locked if she was home alone.  The other day when I was leaving I asked her if she wanted me to lock the door on the way out.  She looked pointedly at Davy and said, "not necessary anymore with alarm dog here."

Davy would really love to herd our chickens.  The chickens mostly free range and sometimes wander up by the yard fence.  You can most definitely see the difference in style between Davy and our Boston Terrier.  The Boston hits the fence full force...plainly thinking chicken dinner!  Davy approaches slowly, head somewhat lowered.  He goes to the end of the fence and tries to get them to move to the backyard.  Most of them go and then he goes back to the stragglers.  Too cool to watch.

Davy is very difficult for me to photograph by myself.  Every time he hears/sees the camera, he comes running.  I can't get him away from me far enough to take good pictures!


5/16/11  6 months old


6/13/11    7 months old


6/15/11  7 months old


7/15/11  8 months old.



Monday, April 25, 2011

We Have Just Been Hanging Out

....at least that is my excuse for not blogging....and I have the pictures to prove it.

3/24/11

4/3/11

4/10/11




Finally up and ready for action.  4/21/11.


Davy and I hung out at the local AKC all breed show and obedience trial this weekend.  My friend came in from Chicago to show her Aussie and we went to watch.  Davy did very well.  He was quite curious outside.  He was choosy about who he went up to and who he stood behind me and studied.  Some people he went right up to.  Some people he hesitated and then would approach.  I wasn't sure about taking him inside....noisy and a lot of people.  Davy was interested and curious as soon as we went in the door.  He couldn't get enough of standing and staring and just taking it all in.  All in all, I was quite pleased with how this outing went.

We start obedience classes on May 4th and conformation classes later in May.  

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Mostly Just Pictures

I am so far behind in updating this blog that I decided to just post a few pictures from the past few weeks so that you can see how Davy is growing and changing.

15 weeks.  Davy still prefers to sleep on the floor. 

3/13/11  17 weeks.  Practicing baiting and free stacking.

 
3/14/11 17 weeks.  Sitting in the yard watching the world go by.

3/15/11  17 1/2 weeks.  Trying to entice Kooper to play.

3/15/11  17 1/2 weeks.

3/17/11  Davy, almost 18 weeks.  And Kooper.
 
3/19/11  18 weeks.  On a hike on my sister Toni's birthday.  Tone wanted to do something healthy for her birthday so Toni and Davy and I went and walked around a local lake.  Davy really did well and loved getting out for a new adventure.
3/19/11  Davy 18 weeks.  Looking out over the lake during our hike. 

Sunday, February 20, 2011

12 to 14 Weeks

I really am not very good at keeping up with this blog.  Started out I was going to update daily, then it went to weekly, now 2 weeks.  What can I say....I am busy!

Davy is growing like a weed.  He was 25# at his puppy shot update vet visit almost 2 weeks ago.  He did really well at the vet.  Walked right in and said hi to all the staff.  There were 2 other dogs in the waiting room and a cat in a carrier.  Davy did not approach any of them, just stood or sat and pondered the whole thing.  He did not seem scared or upset, just quietly thinking about it all.  The exam and shot went well, I don't think Davy even really felt the shot.  Then it was back up front to tell the staff goodbye and get a treat.  Great first vet visit here.

I have been working on the grooming.  Have found at least for now that sitting on the floor is the best way.  I don't have anyplace to leave the grooming table set up and it is heavy to move and set up.  We have practiced on it a couple of times, but I find I groom Davy more often if I just sit on the floor (plus I am used to doing the Papillons that way).  At first Davy did not tolerate it well and kept leaving.  I put a lead on him and it totally turned it around.  He didn't pull at the lead like he was trying to get away, it was as if just having it on meant he was supposed to stay put.  Scarey how he catches on to things so quickly.  Mostly now I don't use the lead when grooming as he is content to lie on the floor and let me brush away. 

We are working on baiting and walking on lead.  He is distractable, but learning.  I am really just nuts for this dog.  He was oh so well worth the wait!


                                                  2/12/11   13 Weeks old.  Pretty puppy.

                         

                                           2/13/11   13 weeks old and King of the Hill!


                                         2/13/11 Sometimes I pretend I like the beds, but I am getting a little big for them.                      
               
                                         2/20/11 14 weeks old.
                                          I still prefer the cold, hard floor.



                                           2/20/11  Working on self stacking and baiting.


                                          2/2011  Working on stacking and baiting.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

A Couple Weeks

I was without a camera there for awhile.  My old one had a short in the battery compartment and would not work.  An online friend who is getting great pictures of her puppy said she was using a Coolpix.  I looked it up and decided it was affordable enough so we are back in puppy picture taking mode.  (Thanks Robin!)

Davy is learning lots of little life lessons.  No serious training yet (he just turned 12 weeks yesterday).  Davy rides my route with me every day.  I have already had to move him up a size in crates.  He greets people at work nicely and they all just love him.  He rides well in the van and doesn't fuss unless he really needs to go.  He does his business quickly no matter where I have to stop to get him out...busy downtown area, quiet end of a campus parking lot, off the highway along a gravel road.  I am only on the road about 4-5 hours/day and most days now he doesn't ask to get out.  Davy is pretty reliably housebroken.  He lets me know when he needs out by going to the kitchen gate or living room door.  I do not leave him unsupervised too long un-crated as I do think he would just go by the door if he asked and no one was there to let him out.

Davy has not been allowed to play with dogs outside my household yet.  He has only had his first shots (will get his next one tomorrow).  Davy has learned to watch and avoid stepping on Skylar and Maggie, the 7 and 16 year old Papillons.  They only had to tell him off a few times and he is very careful around them.  Chrissy, the 9 y.o. Rat Terrier wants nothing to do with him so she shows her pretty teeth and growls.  I think Davy sometimes sidles up very close just to get a rise out of her.  You can almost see him laughing as he dances away.    Dingo, 10 y/o labx. is very appropriate in teaching Davy some restraint in play and though Dingo doesn't play often, he will play with Davy.  Then there is Kooper, 1 y/o Boston.  Davy and Kooper are great playmates.  Tug, tear up the toy, chase each other, peek-a-boo through the outside steps.  I think that they will have even more fun when it is warm enough and less snow so that they can play and really run in the yard together. Davy would love to play outside for long periods of time, but Kooper does not like the cold at all.  Davy definitely inherited that refrigerator gene...he loves to play out in the snow even if no one else wants to be out.  I sometimes have to insist that he come in as some days are just too cold for much outside play. It has been interesting to watch the difference in play styles.  Dingo and Davy play a lot of quiet mouthing each others faces games, very quiet play.  Davy and Kooper play much rougher, noisier, teethier games. 

Davy has mastered the 13 steps up/down from the 2nd floor bedroom...good thing as my back was beginning to protest from carrying him up and down.  He is very good about play awhile, chill awhile.  His favorite place to chill is anywhere I am. He lays under my chair at the table where I have my laptop though he is about to outgrow that spot.  He loves it when I sit on the floor and he can come and sprawl on his side across my lap for me to rub his tummy. Davy settles well in a crate, on my lap, on the floor by my chair.  The only place we had trouble is the ex-pen I brought into the living room to contain him when no one can watch him.  I didn't want to just use the crate as I wanted him to have more room.  Davy had other ideas.  He doesn't mind the crate at all, but oh does he fuss and carry on about being in the ex-pen.  The ex-pen is now folded up and put away...we watch him or use the crate.  Oh well, I tried and we have our living room space back again.
Davy is also learning manners.  He sits to get his collar/lead on.  He sits at the gate between the kitchen and the living room until I open it.  He runs into his kitchen crate and sits until the food bowl is hung on the crate side.  All of these I have taught by saying/doing nothing but waiting.  I wait, he sits, magic things happen.  The sits have become automatic now without me having to wait.  Amazing how much a puppy can learn when a human just keeps their mouth shut!

I like the fuzzy puppy look so have not done a lot of grooming yet. I have cut Davy's nails twice now with very little fuss from him.  We work in short minute or two spurts with getting him use to the pin brush.  Eventually I will add more time and get more serious about the grooming, but for now the fuzzy puppy look is so in!

This puppy is amazing.  He housebroke with no problem.  He has on/off switches which I can for the most part signal to him...he can all out play, or he can quietly chill with the dogs/humans.  He is good in a crate and picks up manners quickly.  He plays appropriately or doesn't play depending on which of the other household dogs he is with.  He is a thinker and a sweet and gentle dog.  I sometimes think he has an old soul.  I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall and him to become a little terror...but then again, I have waited for 16 years for the other shoe to fall with my daughter and she is still a darn near perfect kid....near perfect kid, near perfect dog...who could ask for anything more?


               Taken 1/29/11.   Davy (11 wks. old) and Dingo.  Wonder what they lost in there? 


Taken 1/29/11.  Davy-11 weeks old.  Davy stands or sits on this top deck step a lot.  He gazes off into the distance looking like he is lost in thought most of the time.  Probably plotting world domination.


Taken 1/29/11.  Davy and Kooper playing tug.  For the first couple weeks Davy would lay down and Kooper would pull Davy across the floor...not anymore!


                                 Taken 2/5/11.  Big snow mountains are too much fun!
Taken 2/5/11.  Davy-12 weeks old.  This was taken as Davy got his first look at the chickens.  He didn't quite know what to think about them, so stood and pondered for awhile.  He did eventually go up to
the gate, but quickly got bored with that and headed back out to the snow mountains.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Smart little pup

I swear this puppy is scary smart. 

Davy learned the trick to "the med line" very early on.  My older Papillon, Maggie, has to have medication twice/day.  I give it to her off the end of a butter knife with peanut butter on it.  The other dogs all line up and wait their turn for peanut butter off the knife.  Davy watched this for a few days then just calmly came up, sat down and patiently waited for his turn.  No pushing in, no romping on anyone.  He just calmly waited his turn.  Too smart!

The other lesson Davy learned was not to bark at the cats.  Not because it ticks the cats off so much as it ticks the mom off!  A quirk of mine. I cannot stand barky dogs.  I teach my dogs early on that it is okay to bark, but when mom says enough, I have the situation under control, they are to stop.  One day last week Max the fat cat was laying on a rug in the kitchen.  Enter Davy.  Bark, bark, bark.  I get up, get a chew bone and distract Davy to quieter play.  That lasted maybe a minute and then back to bark, bark, bark.  I got up, did not say a word, went and got Davy, put him is his crate and held the crate door shut with my foot for about 15 seconds.  I let Davy out and went back to my computer.  I barely sat down and bark, bark, bark.  Got up, not a word, put Davy in crate.  Held crate door for about 15 seconds.  Let Davy out.  Went back to computer.  I barely sat down and bark, bark, bark.  I got up...that's all I had to do...Davy ran over to his crate, went in and sat down.  It was WAY hard not to laugh.  The barking at the cat has ceased for the most part.  Davy barks occasionally at the cat, but now a simple no is enough to make him stop.  Smart puppy!

I have been trying to get a picture of my little thinker sitting and thinking, but Davy moves when I try to get in position to get a good shot.  Davy will sit in the middle of the floor or on the top step of the deck and just look straight ahead.  His ears are up, his body is quiet...like he is just sitting there lost in thought.  Maybe that is how he is learning all these things.  I do know that he is one smart little guy and I adore him!

Terri

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Catching Up

It has been a busy couple of weeks since Davy came home with me.  It has been so long since I had a puppy that I had forgotten that puppies require as much supervision as toddlers!

Since I have not been good about keeping up day to day, I thought I would post a few pictures from the past couple weeks.



This picture was taken 1/12/11, three days after Davy came home with me.  He probably wanted to go back to Mary Alice's at that point...mean dog mom that I am....no beds, no blankets....just cold, hard floor.  When I sent this picture to Mary Alice, she assured me that the whole litter had inherited the refrigerator gene.

 "Hey Mom, what you got there?"   And that ear, I didn't think it would ever come up (yes, I worry about silly things).  Picture taken 1/15/11.  9 weeks old.



This picture was taken 1/15/11.  9 weeks old.  Non-show side, partly cause this was the least blurred picture, partly because the up ear is on this side.  (I'll get better, I promise)

Ears!  This picture was taken 1/19/11.

 Picture taken 1/22/11.  10 weeks old.  The Boston is Kooper, Davy's 1 year old playmate.  They get along great.

 1/22/11   10 weeks old.  Rowdy boys!  You can see the little Papillon face through the gate.  When Davy and Kooper play my two little Paps prefer the safety of the kitchen!
 1/22/11  10 weeks old.   Davy loves to play outside.  We have had such terribly cold tempetures that I have to make him come in after a few minutes.  He comes in with snow from nose to ears.  I am believing the refrigerator gene part!
1/22/11  10 weeks old.  Pretty, pretty puppy.