Bottles and Dogs.

Work has been busy this week  with everyone leaving going out of town for  spring break Combined with the fact that because we are so busy we are not allowed to bring our dogs to work. So what the means is I come home exhausted to two bored and under stimulated dogs. Sadie for the most part is a piece of cake and will adjust her energy level to whatever the people are doing. Feel sick and want to sleep for three days? Sadie will snuggle with you as long as you let her out for bathroom breaks and feed her. Want to go on a hike for a few hours? Sadie will race around and play like there is no tomorrow like I said she is amazing.

As for Simon.

Well Simon is a 1 year old husky who is used to getting a lot of exercise and mental stimulation. He is also prone to being very vocal when bored. Now that being said he is pretty good doesn't destroy the house. But he will chirp and whine and try to get anyone to play with him or take him somewhere.

I was way too tired to entertain him so I decided to make dinner enriching and fun. I stuck the food into some empty gatorade bottles and let them bat those around. I figured that would make dinner a lot more . I watched them push them around for about 15 minutes and both dogs seamed to really enjoy playing with them. I went to go get something to eat and when I came back I noticed Sadie had chewed the top off her bottle. There were still about three pieces stuck in the bottom so I took it away from her and helped her get the last pieces of food out for her. Simon had managed to get all of the food out of his without destroying the bottle. It struck me as a good example of how different my two dogs are.  Sadie couldn't get something so she ripped it open. If  Simon had had an issue he would have either given up brought it to me or let Sadie open it for him or found something more fun to do.

Over all the idea worked up pretty good and it was a free puzzle toy that both dogs enjoyed. I plan to do it again but I will only do this when I can keep an eye on them to make sure Sadie doesn't accidentally eat any of the bottle.

Week two obedience class.

Week two update.

Sadie really impressed me this week. During the winter Sadie is pretty much a slug; staying inside and napping.  Over the last year most of the focus was on raising Simon and exposing him to as much as we could to help him grow into a well rounded adult. Because of this, Sadie spent a lot of time hanging out with Nik while Simon and I went out and experienced as much as we could. 

With us slacking on her training I expected it to take a little work to get her back into step with training. She has gotten back into so fast and is doing a great job staying focused on Nik while other dogs misbehave around her. The chicken we are using for treats really help her. She is also doing really well socializing with other dogs at daycare and at the dog park her reactions have been spot on and I am so happy with her. The downside for the week and why I don't have any pictures of her is that Nik has been really sick and he wasn't able to make it to class on Wednesday. But they have been working together at home and she is doing great and she seems to be having a lot of fun.

On to the Simon monster. On Wednesday my day really went to the dogs. I took them to the dog park and then took Simon on a super long walk. After the walk we took a quick nap and then headed out to dog class. At class we worked on 'fronts' and heeling. Simon is doing really well with heeling but his fronts are a little crocked so that is something we need to work on.  He is also getting better at not jumping on people at class.  I intentionally stayed near the dogs that were barking and misbehaving to make it harder for him and he did really well. We hung out for the next basic class and worked on relaxing while other dogs were excited close by. 

Over all it has been a good week for training and the dogs I am so happy I have two wonderful amazing dogs in my life and I wouldn't trade them for the world. 

Puppy how to's.

Lets face it puppies are a lot of work. Sure they are cute and playful and fun, but have one for a few days or sometimes a few hours and it really hits you. They are exhausting; they get into everything, they love to steal something and run away with it, and the moment of quiet? Yes he just went the bathroom somewhere you don't want him to.

So how do you handle the crazy baby that you decide to share you life, love, and home with? You work. You puppy proof to try and negate damage. You use crates for potty training and safe separation. You use an assortment of toys so that the puppy does not find/make his own. You invest in (or borrow) baby gates to keep your puppy and your stuff safe. And even with all all that work he  will still find a way to sneak away when you looked away and get into something.

 

Anyone who tells you puppies are just small adult dogs or that they are easy is clearly suppressing memories of all the work there puppy was or they have never had one.

That's not even getting into the vet appointments and how you have to be careful of parvo and them trying to eat all the things they shouldn't. 

Over the next few weeks I am going to go over some common puppy issues and how we have been addressing them with Simon.

Things like;

How to Potty train a puppy.

How to deal with chewing and destroying items.

How To stop puppy biting.

And dealing with the crazy puppy energy.