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!

Adventures in Potty Training

If you have a smart puppy like I have, potty training starts on day one.  Here's what we do...every time she comes out of the crate, has a meal, stops playing, wanders off in the middle of play, or if it's been a little while since the last "event", we take Lolli outside to go potty.  Then we become the most boring people in the world...we don't really talk, pet, play or do anything...we just hang out and wait.  Usually within a few minutes, she will go to the bathroom.  If she pees, we stand there chanting "potty potty potty, good potty potty"...it looks every bit as silly as it sounds, I'm sure!  And if she poops?  You got it - "poopy, poopy, poopy, goooood poopy"!  And then a treat.  Who cares what the neighbors think when they hear us?  The idea is for Lolli to associate the words with the action...we don't say anything until she is actually doing the deed.  If you start saying "potty" while she is sniffing around, at best she will think that sniffing around is "potty".  So as she does her business, we chant the words, knowing that eventually she will associate the words with the act.  At that point, we can communicate!  We will be able to take her outside, say "potty" or "poopy", and she will know what we want.  And until then, we entertain the neighbors!

By the way, I think I noted in my last post that Lolli is now using the doggie door independantly to go outside to potty.  Certainly not all the time, but enough both yesterday and today that it's apparent she is starting to catch on as to where we like it done!  

On a last note...funny potty story.   The other day, Lolli woke up at six a.m., so I got up to take her out to the bathroom.  She peed but didn't poop right away, so I let her walk back into the house for a minute.  Shortly afterward she started circling and I ran to her just as she started to squat...I scooped her up and ran for the back door.  As I did, the poop dropped out of her butt onto the kitchen floor, and I squashed it with my bare heel with my next step.  She must think I'm out of my mind.  That was Miguel's morning entertainment :) .

Quick Break

Just a quick hello while Lolli is lounging in her crate...I think the time change/excitement/travel is finally catching up with her...she's been a bit on the sleepy side yesterday and today.  She's still a rowdy little land shark when she's awake, but has seemed to need a bit more nap time, which is fine with me!  I'm going to catch up on the computer, shower and so forth, and then when Miguel gets home from work I'll go to the store.  I don't feel like trying to head out into rush hour traffic!  

Lolli has started to figure out that we LOVE it when she potties outside, and has used the doggie door on her own several times to make it happen, beginning just yesterday.  Smart girl!  Of course earlier today I accidentally left the doggie door shut, didn't get her outside immediately after she woke up (we were cuddling) and as a result she had a poop on the carpet.  Mia Culpa, all the way!  Poor girl...I felt bad that I didn't set her up for success that time.  Luckily there will be plenty more opportunities for me to get it right!

Finally gave her a bath this morning...I think I was getting used to how she smelled and didn't realize til after the bath how much nice it is to have a fresh washed dog!  She didn't seem to mind the bath...endured patiently and even let me put her under the faucet to speed up the rinse cycle :) .  She is now learning to sit in front of her crate while I put her food dish inside...she wants to dance and cavort to celebrate the coming meal, which is fine, but I don't place it in there until she gives me a sit.  She's doing it faster every time!  Also she's definitely feeling better about her collar...forgets about it most of the time, which is a relief!  For a few days she looked like a little drunk, trying to walk/play/scratch all at the same time!  She tipped over once or twice :) .

She continues to try to make friends with Toby...he is more inclined to let her hang around near him (as opposed to vacating the area when she comes around), but still doesn't care to have a nice romp with her.  I think when little kids are like this they call it "parallel play", where they will play side by side, but not with each other.  I have to give her credit...she keeps trying but isn't super pushy about it.  If Toby expresses any displeasure, she backs right off and finds something else to do.  Like bite my arms.  Or feet.  Or boob, if she can reach it.  Naughty!!

I'd forgotten how many times a day that a puppy goes poop! 

Training Begins!!

Lolli's training began almost the moment she arrived home, and if anyone doesn't think that a nine week old puppy is too young to learn, you should see this puppy!  We started immediately with leading her into a sit with a piece of kibble, and she caught on almost right away.  Within 18 hours of living here with us, she began presenting a sit regularly to see if she might get a treat for  it!  We already make her sit for everything...before getting a treat, a toy, getting let out of her crate, before going outside to play...she's even learning to sit in front of me when I call her over to me...my smart puppy!  She is also learning "down", again with a kibble lure...but she downs VERY enthusiastically for the treat!   To get ready for her arrival, I've been reading a book called "My Smart Puppy", written by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson.  Their previous book, "Good Owners, Great Dogs" was my training bible with my last three dogs, and "My Smart Puppy" is even better.  I highly recommend both for anyone wanting a common sense, fun, reward based system for training their dogs...it's all about having fun with your dog.  Lolli doesn't even realize she is being "trained"...she just thinks it's great fun to figure out what to do for that treat.

I'm also working on "come" with Lolli, and she is already making great progress.  My premise here is that coming to me (or anyone) should always be a good thing, and always result in praise (and right now, treats).  I never call my pup for something she doesn't like, or for scolding...I always want her to think that coming to me means something great is going to happen.  So far, so good!  She is starting to turn and run to me when I call her, sometimes leaping straight into my chest in her enthusiasm!  I'm working on that "sit" after recall, since in a few short months she will be a 25 pound ball of muscle slamming into me if I don't curb that enthusiasm just a degree or two.  

I'm going to be introducing the clicker into her training shortly...I've read two books and it seems like a great way to communicate with your dog.  As soon as Lolli gets more comfortable with her collar, we will start leash work.  It seems unfair to expect her to respond on a lead when the collar is giving her so much grief right now!  I'm pretty sure she will be used to it in a few more days.

Arrival!!

I'm going to fast forward here a bit, and continue the backstory later...Lolli arrived a few days ago, on Wednesday May 20, 2009.  We (Miguel...my boyfriend and I) drove to LAX with Lula's breeder K, to pick up two puppies from Quantas Freight.  When I started searching for an MBT a few months ago, K and I started talking about bloodlines, and how difficult it can be to find suitable pairings for breedings when the gene pool is so small here in the U.S.  I was very interested in M's Australian bloodline, and I was so excited to find out that she and K are actually friends.  Largely because of K's recommendation, M agreed to sell me a female puppy, and K decided to import a male.  They are from different litters, allowing us more flexibility later with breedings.

Anyway...LAX.  We arrived at around 11 a.m., and although the puppies had landed over an hour before, they were just arriving at the freight terminal when we got there.  After showing the Quantas folks our freight receipt, we then had to wait while they faxed and received faxes from God only knows who.  In the meantime, the kind lady at the counter let us go in back and say hello to the puppies, and although we couldn't yet take them out of  their crates, we did get to pet them through the crate bars.  To my complete amazement, they were calm and relaxed...happy to see us, but in no way unduly stressed or nervous after probably 18 hours crated and a 15 hour flight.  Of course my camera chose this moment to run out of battery power.  It was so hard to walk away from them, but after a few minutes we went back to the counter, where our faxes had arrived.  We then had a five minute drive to U.S. customs, where more mysterious paperwork occurred, fortunately taking only maybe ten minutes or so.  Then back to Quantus, where after paying them $30...again, not sure what for, they released the puppies to us!

When we got to the van, we sat the crates inside and let the pups out!  Lolli was a little goofball right from the start...we knew she'd need to pee so we put a collar and leash on her and tried to find her a spot to go.  Lolli, however, had other more important things on her mind, and she started rolling, jumping, bowing and playing...obviously thrilled to be out of her crate.  I expected both pups to be covered with pee and poop, and although both had peed their blankets, each had only made a small poop, and both managed to shove their blankets to cover it up.  Consequently, they were a bit stinky, but not too dirty.  Lolli was too busy celebrating her release to be bothered with trying to go again.  I felt terrible putting her back into the crate for the drive back to Lorie's, but to her credit she just relaxed and fell asleep until we got there.

At K's, we took the two pups out back to let them run around and stretch their legs...then I held them one at a time so that K could trim and file their nails.  Lolli accepted this stoically, as did Leroy, although with a bit more protest.  Shortly thereafter, Miguel and I decided to start heading back to Las Vegas, as it was three hours more of driving and we wanted Lolli to have time to get settled when we arrived.  

So, now it's Sunday afternoon, and Lolli has been here since Wednesday night.  She is adjusting beautifully!  She accepts her crate with very little trouble, has had very few "accidents" (and we know who is to blame for the ones she has had - her two legged keepers!), she's trying to make friends with Toby (Miguel's 9 year old beagle - he's warming up slowly, but surely), she is well on her way with her "sit" and "down" commands, she has figured out the doggie door (although not its primary purpose, of course), and has shown a penchant for cuddling when tired.  Everything we hoped, and more.  Her nickname right now is "Land Shark", due to those unbearably sharp puppy teeth that she takes great enjoyment in using on any exposed flesh.  I would despair at her reluctance to be corrected for this if I didn't remember that Lula was exactly the same...almost fiendish in her delight in leaving holes in my hands, arms, and ankles.  Lula slowly outgrew it and I have faith that Lolli will too.  Lolli also despises her collar at the moment and it's at once comical and sad to watch her walk sideways as she tries to simultaneously scratch it off, run and play.  She ends up tipped over on her side as often as not!  I have however noticed significant improvement today...she seems to notice it less and less.  Again, Lula went through the same thing, so I know that within the week, Lolli will forget about it entirely.  

More Backstory...

Shortly after Lula died, I sent an e-mail to a breeder in Australia whose line of MBTs can be found somewhere in almost every pedigree around the world.  She's been in the breed for over thirty years, has bred countless champions, and it's not exaggerating to say that she can be credited with helping to actually bring the breed to her country.  I wrote and told her what had happened with Lula and how heartbroken I was, and told her how much I admired her work in the breed.  I even included several photos of Lula and I, to break the ice a little.   I asked her if she would ever consider sending me a puppy, and under what circumstances she might do so.  Honestly, I didn't expect to hear back from her...and when several weeks went by without a response, I figured she either read what I wrote and then just deleted it, or didn't recognize the sender and didn't read it at all.  So I put it out of my mind, knowing that K would likely have a litter or two later this year, and I resigned myself to a long wait.

Then, about a month after I wrote to her, an e-mail from the Australia breeder (call her M) arrived, and to my surprise, it was incredibly warm and deeply sympathetic.  I wish I had saved it, because it made me cry a little, but I do remember the the most important part, which said "of COURSE I will send you a puppy; I would love for you to have one".  She said that she had two females available and that she would send photos shortly.  

This news was incredibly exciting, but I was also really nervous...buying a puppy based on photos alone is tricky enough when you know what you are doing, but all I see when I look at a photo of any MBT is an adorable dog.  I didn't (I'm getting better fast!) have an eye for the "confirmation" of a bullie...and since I was hoping to show my next dog, I needed some help.  But now it gets tricky...how do I approach K and ask her to help me buy a puppy from someone else?  K had already told me that it wouldn't hurt her feelings if I looked at another breeder...she knew how much I missed Lula and wanted me to be happy.  But still, after all the help she has given me and since I really treasure our friendship, I wasn't sure if I could ask her.  

I debated about it for a while, and then one day when we were talking, I started skirting around the issue...I mentioned that I had been looking at pedigrees and noticed M's kennel name all over the place in US lines, and asked what she thought about it.  To my utter shock, K said, "M is a friend of mine, she's a really great lady and breeds gorgeous dogs.  I'll help you talk to her if you want."  It was then that I confessed that I had actually written M a letter several weeks back and had just received a response, so that night, K wrote to M, told her all about me and Lula, and told M that I could absolutely be trusted with one of her puppies.  K also told M that I was interested in showing, and asked her to keep that in mind when she recommended one of her pups to me.  

Shortly afterward, M sent photos of the two females that she had available...an all white girl and a little brindle girl.  However, she then decided that the white girl was more of a pet quality puppy and let her go to a nice home.  And then because the brindle girl was nearly 12 weeks old, she decided that she really needed to be place as well, and let her go to a nice couple near her home.  I wasn't really disappointed though, because neither K nor I were completely sold on that brindle girl, and we decided to wait for the next litters.  Around this time, K also decided that importing a puppy for herself would help her improve her bloodlines, so now we were both looking at M's next litters.  K and I decided that we didn't want pups from the same litter, so that we could possibly cross breed between us in a few years if we wanted to.  

M began sending us photos of two different litters...and of  the three females in the litter I was looking at, I was very drawn to one of  the brindle girls (there were two brindle and one white).  However M said that she was going to keep one of them (even at one week old, their heads looked incredible), so I refused to get attached until she told me which one I couldn't have.  When they were about six weeks old, M sent more photos, along with the happy news that she was keeping the white girl and hoped that I would take the brindle (the one that I wanted!).  She also told me that even though she chose to keep the white girl, she felt that the brindle girl had the edge over her and was the pick puppy in the litter.  I wrote her immediately and told her that the brindle was the girl I'd had my eye on the entire time, and I would certainly take her!

A New Beginning...

Yesterday I did one of the scariest things I have ever done...I sent a fairly enormous (to me) wire transfer to Australia to secure the purchase of a Miniature Bull Terrier Puppy (MBT) from a very well known, well respected breeder there.  Let me explain...I lost my first MBT in February this year -  Lula was only three years old, and she died fairly suddenly from a rare problem in her digestive system.  Before I go any further, you should know that I was crazy about this dog...any person who loves an MBT will tell you how comical they are, how funny, how loving, how persistent, how clever, how athletic, how addicting they are.  She made me laugh, without fail, every single day of her life.  I should have had ten more years with her, but the three that I did have made me love her in a way that guarantees I will never be without a bullie in my life! 

Lula's death left a void that can't simply be filled...anyone who has loved a dog knows that one can't be simply replaced by another - they aren't interchangeable.  There haven't been many days since she died that I haven't shed tears over her.  I think though that one of Lula's great legacies to me is that loving her has made me love her breed, and I know that if she could tell me so, she would want me to welcome another bullie into my life.  So I started searching.  

If you know anything about MBTs, you know that they are pretty rare...I think that the AKC only registers about 150-200 new puppies each year, total, in the United States.  Getting your hands onto one of those pups isn't easy...once you find a breeder who will actually speak to you (and some won't), you will start by filling out a long application.  The breeder will want to know everything about you...and rightly so.  They will ask about everything from your family structure, whether or not you have kids, how many, what ages, what type of home you live in, whether you have a fenced yard, a pool, other pets, whether or not said pets are spayed/neutered, your feelings on crate training, your attitude toward obedience training, who will feed/train/exercise the dog, will you allow a home inspection, what would you do if you couldn't keep the dog...and that's just scratching the surface.  If your application is approved, you will very likely be placed on the breeder's waiting list, because the scarcity of pups makes it unusual for the breeder to have a puppies available all the time.  And then you wait.  

Now, don't think that your place on the waiting list is a first come/first served situation...not in the least.  Your placement on the list will be determined by how much your application coincides with the breeders idea of the ideal MBT owner.  Again, rightly so.  It will also be determined by whether you are looking for a bullie of "pet" quality or "show" quality.  More on that later.  MBT breeders can afford to be selective on where they place their puppies because there aren't that many pups to go around...the advantage here is that the pups typically get placed in quality homes with people that are determined to care for them properly.  Don't think for a minute that a good breeder will let a puppy go to just anyone who can come up with the sizable cost of the pup...in fact, for a good breeder (meaning dedicated to the breed and trying to improve MBT bloodlines), whether or not you can produce the cash is the last consideration they look at when deciding if they will trust you with a puppy.  

Knowing all of this, I began my search for another MBT not long after Lula died.  Over the three years that I had Lula, I have become very close friends with her breeder (we'll call her K), and since we are in frequent contact, I knew that she did not have any pups currently available.  A quick survey of the stateside breeders she trusts (there are some really bad ones out there) showed that none had a puppy for me at the time.  There were some pups available, but I had already decided that I wanted a female.  Also after talking extensively with K, I'd decided that I'd like to get more involved with the breed, first by showing and then even possibly venturing into breeding someday.  So with K's help I started looking overseas, to see if I could find a puppy to fit the bill.