Running With the Big Dogs

Today was my second day running with the big dogs at my doggie day care.  That's the place Tracy takes me when she has to work or run a lot of errands, so that I can play all day instead of staying in my crate the whole time.  Until recently, I was placed in the small dog side, but let me tell you, those "little" dogs kind of suck.  They don't seem to understand that I am just trying to play and have a good time...instead of hanging with me, they yelp in protest and get me into trouble every time I try to mix it up a little!  Then I end up in a "time out" in a pen outside the play area, which is just torture because I can see everyone else having a good time but I have to sit there by myself.  Anyway like I said, yesterday they put me in with the "big" dogs, and it's a different world over there for me!  No one complains that I play too rough, and lots of the dogs want to wrestle and have fun (instead of just standing around yipping).  Today I noticed Tracy stayed at the window for a while after she dropped me off...she worries about me a lot and so she probably just wanted to make sure that I was happy and comfortable with the new situation.  I gave her a great show...first, I tangled with Durango, my lady pit bull friend, and then I made friends with a boxer that doesn't usually even like to play.  When Tracy left, I was wrestling with a golden retriever so I didn't see her go...she must have seen that I was having a great time and hopefully she didn't worry about me as much after that.  Tonight after Tracy and Miguel picked me up from the day care, I was so tired that I fell asleep in her arms, and when I woke up again, we were at Jay and Judy's house.  That was great!  I got to see my min pin pal Sissy, and I confess that I went a little crazy on a sprinkler head while it was going off.  Luckily the parts I messed up weren't actually damaged...

Lollipup = Snake Hunter

Today, I, Lolli, have discovered that another creature inhabits this den with us...until now, all I have noticed is a large clear glass tank resting atop a low table upon which I am not allowed to put my feet.  However, as I grow taller, more things come to my attention, and today inside the tank (without putting my feet up, I swear!) I noticed a long, slithery animal weaving and undulating along the glass.  It has a tiny red tongue that it flicks in and out as if it were tasting the very air, and its eyes do not blink.  It weaves its way up and down the sides of the glass, taunting me...it delights in my desire to grab it and shake it because it knows I cannot reach it through the glass (yet...I am still growing).  I sat next to the tank watching it for a few minutes today, a bit mesmerized by all of the hypnotic swaying.  My strong terrier prey drive is urging me forward, encouraging me to play with, and perhaps even kill this arrogant, glass enclosed bobber and weaver.  Time will tell if I will grow tall enough to reach it through the top of the tank.  There appears to be a cover that somehow keeps the animal within its enclosure, but if only I can find a way up there, it may prove too weak to keep me out.  Tracy laughed when she saw me watching the tank, and assures me that I do not want to mess with this thing called "snake"...she says it can bite and even squeeze small animals to death.  However, at about 23 pounds right now AND with my new mouth full of lovely shiny adult teeth, she and I both know who would probably win should it come to an actual contest.  

The Face of Worms

About ten days ago, I woke from a pleasant nap to Miguel yelling something along the lines of "AAAAGH, what is THAT?  Tracy, come look at Lolli's poop - it doesn't look right!"  Imagine my delight as I hauled myself off of the sofa and out into the steamy afternoon to examine the equally steamy weird yellow mess that Lolli had just deposited onto the patio.  One quick look and the situation was immediately clear...my gorgeous, sweet, goofy, naughty, lovely puppy had...WORMS.  

Ugh.  Damn, worms in a puppy are just gross.  We immediately made an appointment at the vet for the following morning, and as I had to work, the delightful job of collecting a poop sample and taking Lolli to the vet fell to Miguel.  We were given three packets of de-worming powder with instructions to mix one packet in her dinner for three consecutive days.  The results were immediate and dramatic, perhaps best described as "pooping spaghetti".  I can't help but wonder if Lolli's constantly voracious appetite could be at least partly blamed by these disgusting hitchhikers.  

The medicine made her sleepy and somewhat incontinent.  The day following her first dose, she fell asleep on my lap while I was sitting on the couch.  I savor these sweet moments with Lolli - she is an absolute doll, but an energetic one, and she rarely has the patience for cuddling yet.  As I blissed out, petting her little egg-head and listening to her snore, I gradually noticed a warm wetness soaking through my jeans, right where her butt was resting.  My lovely little puppy's pooper was leaking, all over me.  Worms suck.

In Which Lolli Sticks Her Head Into the Lion's Mouth...

Meet Lolli's newest pal Athena!  Athena is a five month old great dane puppy, and she currently outweighs Lolli by roughly forty five pounds!  Despite the incredible difference in size, these two seem absolutely made to play together.  Athena is gentle, easygoing, patient and a bit clutzy, while Lolli is rough, frenetic, and somewhat crazy.  They balance each other perfectly.   Athena is so thick skinned (literally AND figuratively) that she seems able to take all sorts of nonsense from Lolli without fear or care.  Lolli reaps the benefit of the rough play that she loves without having a human bark "NO BITE" into her face every few seconds.  And Lolli's humans are just happy not to have those shark teeth clamping onto their exposed skin, for a little while at least!

Today Lolli is thirteen weeks old, and she sure has grown in the  four short weeks that we have had her!  She will have her third and final round of shots next week, at which point we should find out how much she weighs now, but I will venture to guess that she has gained at least three pounds, maybe more, since we got her.  She weighed a bit over eight pounds at that point, so I'm thinking she's probably in the twelve pound range today.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't turn into a "maxi" mini...time will tell!

Not only is Lolli growing physically, she is growing mentally as well.  She is inordinately clever and a great little problem solver...sometimes to my detriment, of course!  Thankfully she hasn't worked out the timing needed for jumping up onto the couch yet, although she has made it a few times by accident, and a few times by literally doing a "puppy pullup" (amazingly funny to watch!).  Mostly she just careens headlong toward the couch and throws herself at it with no real attempt at calculating a speed/height/jump ratio, and ends up bouncing off the seat cushions and flipping back onto her ass, bouncing off that, and starting the whole process over again.  This is most entertaining to watch.  

Lolli continues to work on her basic obedience skills and has a very solid mastery of sit, down, and paw (shaking hands), and is getting pretty good at "beg" and the take it/leave it game.  I am starting to teach her to roll over, since right now she doesn't mind being rolled onto her back.  However so far she seems to view this trick as more of me just messing with her than something I want her to on command, so often once the "roll" is complete, she leaps up and starts biting me like she will do to another dog that has just rolled her over.  At that point it gets very hard to recapture any kind of focus!  Our big upcoming project is "leash training 101", and I confess that I am nervous.   I think leash training is one of the toughest things to teach because it's not a natural thing for a dog to walk calmly by your left side, and despite reading  up on several methods of teaching, I think it's going to be a real challenge.  Still, she is super smart, and I think that together we can find a way to make it work!

$100 Worth of Toys, but I Prefer Junk...

You probably can't see this photo very well on the blog, so I will tell you why it's great...it's a panned motion shot, but Lolli's eye is in focus.  While I know how to produce this shot in theory, the reality is that it rarely works out this well for me.  So go ahead and admire...

Allow me to point out the irony of purchasing roughly $100 in puppy toys, only to find that the stick on the lawn is way more appealing to the puppy!  Incidentally, if any of you ever allow your dog to play with a stick, ALWAYS make them hold it in the middle.  Dogs can and do get injured by running with the end in their mouths. 

Lolli, Miguel and I just got back from a little shopping expedition, and she is currently passed out in her crate.  Here's what I'm struggling with this week...Lolli is only on her second round of shots, and a puppy's immunity isn't considered reliable until around two weeks after her third round, which she will have in about two weeks.  This causes a dilemma for me...obviously my first priority is keeping her healthy and safe, and this means keeping her relatively isolated from the outside world until her shots give her some decent immunity.  However, in these weeks of her life, a puppy is particularly impressionable and it's a fairly essential time to introduce her to new situations and new people.  A puppy needs socialization to make her well rounded and to help her learn to accept new situations with ease.  So the question is, how do you take advantage of this impressionable period and get her as socialized as possible, while protecting her from all the yucky germs out there?  

After much thought, discussions with my friend K, advice from Lolli's veterinarian, and a lot of reading, I've decided upon a very cautious compromise.  Lolli gets to accompany me to places where there are likely to be people, but she is allowed no contact with strange dogs.  She is allowed to hang out and play with dogs that I know for a fact are fully vaccinated...for example, Toby and Yoggie (Dana's dog).  Until she gets that third round of shots, there is no dog park, no doggie day care, and no walking around in dog-intensive stores such as Petsmart (we went in once but I carried her the whole time - won't even put her in a cart).  My reasoning, although possibly flawed, runs like this - we could keep her completely isolated at home, but Miguel, Toby and I all go out into the world, and we bring it home with us on our feet and clothing.  So to offer her total isolation, we'd have to stop going out as well, and stop allowing Toby out, which just isn't realistic.  So we allow her in places least likely to cause problems, carefully monitor anywhere we allow her to walk (keeping her well away from poop and any other debris), and I wash her feet and legs down with antibacterial wipes when we get home.  I'm trying to optimize socialization while minimizing germy dangers.

Today we went to Baja Fresh for lunch, where they have an outdoor patio and Lolli could hang out with us while we ate.  I kept her on a very short leash by my chair, and to my delight, she behaved beautifully.  After scouting the immediate area allowed to her by the leash (roughly four square feet), she quickly learned that random treats would come her way if she were sitting or lying down.  Soon she was presenting both of these behaviors, and like a slot machine, sometimes it resulted in a pay out for her.  We were able to relax and enjoy our lunch, and she is on her way to learning that allowing us to relax and enjoy  our lunch can result in some tasty bits of love sent her way.  Win/win, all the way!

We are continuing to reinforce her efforts at the sit and down commands...she is really figuring out that offering a sit is like saying "please", and when in doubt, she often turns to it as a means of getting something she wants.  Smart girl!  She does a good "down", but pops right up if a treat isn't immediately forthcoming, so this week we will be working on getting her to focus on maintaining the position a little longer.  She is also getting a nice reliable "paw" going, which is the word we decided on for having her shake hands (paws).  She was a bit confused at first, since usually every time I put my hand in front of her, it has a treat in it.  Now she is starting to understand that if the hand comes without a treat, putting her paw on that hand will result in the magical appearance of said treat.  It's funny to watch her think it over...she looks at the hand, sniffs a little to see if there's a treat she doesn't see, and then you can almost see the pieces fit into place as she shifts her weight back so she can offer up a paw.  She's eleven weeks old tomorrow...not too bad for a creature who's been on this planet a total of seventy-seven days!

We have also started the home education class that I like to call "Leash Training 101".  We are working on only the most basic step right now.  I take her to a room or somewhere outside where there are few distractions, and I put the leash on her.  Then I step back a bit, and put slight pressure on her collar with the lead.  The instant she looks at me or moves closer to me in a way that eases the pressure on her collar, it's "goooood  girl" and treat.  The idea here is to teach her that any time she feels pressure on her collar, the correct thing to do is to move towards me, rather than away.  Hopefully this will help us to forever avoid the "sled dog" move, in which the dog feels pressure, and so tries to pull away from the pressure.  We always say "if only they would stop pulling, there would be no pressure" while the dog is thinking "something is pulling on my neck...I must pull away to get rid of it."  I think avoiding this is the first step to some really good leash work!  I'll keep you posted, of course!

I Eat Poop

This is the face of an innocent puppy...or is it?

Today we experienced something new...we discovered that this  lovely, innocent, sweet, funny face has a dark secret.  She eats POOP!  I was on the phone with my Dad tonight while trying to keep track of Lolli at the same time, when I noticed her starting to squat.  On the rug.  Now, I don't hold this against her at all - she is only ten weeks old and it's my job to get her outside to go potty.  Despite the fact that she has already started to use the doggie door to go out, she cannot hold her potty and I blame myself (or Miguel, when appropriate!) for any and all "accidents".  Lolli does not get in trouble.  But since the carpet isn't an ideal spot for a turd, I rushed over to see if I could enact a "poopus interruptus" and get her out the back door.  To my dismay, not only did I not get her in time, but upon completion of  the deed, she spun around and happily consumed a decent sized portion of her "emission" before I could prevent it.  I grabbed her before she could go back for seconds and kept her out of the way while I cleaned up the remainder.  Suitably grossed out, she was not allowed to give me any puppy kisses until I could determine that no residue remained on mouth or teeth (a couple of hours).  

Now I know that I give her some seriously great dog food - all organic, human grade stuff (not including the raw part, but still...), but I have to ask myself, is her food so great that it's worth consuming a second time?  And so enthusiastically?  I am right now reassuring myself that she will outgrow this little passtime, but until then I will clearly have to be hyper-vigilant about watching her do her duty.  Of course, the thought crossed my mind that if I actually allowed her to go ahead and indulge, it would save me the trouble of cleaning up after her, and might even save me some money on dog food...but then again, poopy breath is a far cry from puppy breath, and only one of those choices works for me.

First Social Occasion

Yesterday, Lolli made her first official "social" visit...Miguel and I took her to my best friend Dana's house for a barbeque.  As Lolli is still deep in the throes of her "land shark" persona, I was a bit apprehensive.  Dana has a four year old little girl, the lovely and precocious Jenna, and while Jenna is an incredibly bright and bold child (actually, Lolli is a lot like her), I was concerned that Lolli might get the better of her if she decided to start chasing ankles.  Typically, when a child is presented with unwanted canine behavior, the child's usual first instinct is to run.  Running from Lolli when she is in shark mode is  a screaming invitation for her to apply sharp puppy teeth to any bare skin or flapping fabric that she can see.  Hence my nervousness.

However, I was very excited for Lolli to meet Yoggie (yes, that's how it's spelled, don't look at me), Dana's eight year old chocolate lab.  Yoggie is the most calm, stable, sweet and friendly labrador  I've ever met, barring of course my own black labrador Sterling, who passed away recently at nearly fourteen years old.  I had a feeling that Yoggie would be a great playmate for Lolli...too big to be pushed around by a smart-ass puppy, but too sweet to do her any damage.  To my utter delight, the moment we walked through Dana's door, Lolli and Yoggie made instant friends and soon entirely forgot about their humans as they romped in the back yard.  This was especially great for Lolli, as her housemate Toby (my boyfriend's nine year old beagle) had to that point showed no interest in playing with her, depite her repeated overtures.  Although Toby tried his best to remain stand-offish, even he was eventually sucked into the fun, and he ran  with Toby and Lolli as if he was beginning to remember the delights of puppyhood himself.  

A few of Lolli's adventures at Dana's included:

-Being rolled over "about 15 times" by Yoggie, and then begging for more (those of you who know my Grandma Lux will appreciate this reference).

-Eating a pill bug (aka a "roly poly").  Liking it.

-Making one quick attempt at biting Jenna's skirt, and receiving a swift squirt of water on her butt.  The best part of this is watching her unclamp her vise grip and spin around to look at her butt, as if her butt will somehow explain where the insolent water came from.  Incidentally, her own farts seem to elicit exactly the same reaction. 

-Performing some pretty admirable "sits" and "downs" at the instruction of a four year old.

-Trying to bite Jenna's skirt while she was swinging on the swingset.  Fortunately, Jenna's immediate reaction was lifting her feet very high so as not to kick Lolli until I could run over and scoop her out of the way.  Lolli clearly has no sense of self preservation yet, and relies on me to cover her ass at all times.  

-Falling into an exhausted sleep on my lap near the evening's end.  Dana came over and picked her up, and Lolli allowed herself to be cuddled like a baby, much to Dana's delight.  At this point, Dana wondered if a sleep over (for Lolli!) might be in order, and she also texted me today to inquire as to whether she could puppysit while Miguel and I went to a concert tonight. Clearly, Lolli is rapidly building her core fan base!

As a result of yesterday's activities, Lolli woke up quite late today, and spent a large portion of the day snoozing....

Tonight after coming home from the concert (Pepper and Pennywise - good stuff), I started working with Lolli on "take it" and "leave it".  I put one treat in each hand, and then show one to Lolli.  As soon as she shows interest, I close my hand and say "leave it".  She sniffs and paws at the hand, of course, and I just wait.  The second she turns away, even a bit, or moves her nose from the closed hand, I say "good girl" and then offer her the treat in the other hand, telling her to "take it".  In this way she is learning that when she is interested in something, when I tell her to "leave it" and she leaves it alone, something better is coming her way.  One key element here is that I never allow her to take the item I told her to leave, even though right now it's a treat.  The reasoning here is that at some point, the "leave it" item won't be a treat...it will be a pill that someone has dropped, or something disgusting on the sidewalk, and I never want her to think that she can go back to it after earning her treat.  She needs to know that leave it means don't touch that, at all, ever.  Tonight it was fun to watch her puzzle it out a few times, and then gradually move away from the "leave it" hand faster and faster each time.  Once she is really good at it this way, I'll start dropping a treat on the floor, covering it with my foot if necessary, and teaching her to leave that alone (eventually without the foot!).  I'm guessing that inside of a week, she will be getting a really good handle on this...I'll keep you posted!