Puppies don't teach puppies (all good things)

We have Shane and Lexie in the house for a few more days. They are good playmates with active supervision. They do puppy things like trying out scruff shaking, pinning, leg grabbing, tail grabbing, ear pulling, collar grabbing, etc, etc and have to be redirected LOTS, sometimes time-outted, sometimes broken up for periods of time. So young, these behaviours are nothing more than that however if they have the chance to keep practicing these behaviours, you can have a monster on your hands. This is why puppies aren't good at actively teaching each other which behaviours are acceptable. They are great for wearing each other out, learning bite inhibition and practicing good behaviours but it ALWAYS bugs me the amount of times owners ask if their puppy is going to play with other puppies.

Yes, they will. But really, you are looking for teenage/adult dogs with good manners to play with your puppy. They will be the ones that teach him the good behaviours.

So today, because I'm feeling under the weather and not up to active puppy supervision I'm rotating puppies. Shane gets an hour out, Lexie gets an hour out, we get half an hour outside together with active supervision, rinse and repeat until daycare this afternoon -Lexie is too young to be in the group yet, so is set up with a butt-load of toys.

Yes, the pups will spend a little more time in their crate, but they will spend 0 time participating in behaviours that might have to be dealt with later down the road. They will also get to spend time with me individually instead of always being distracted by each other. They will learn from the older dogs that play does not include tons of roughness. They will learn to settle for periods of time in the house.
In rotating them I can teach them what I need to faster, minimize distraction and create time for rest.

I also create two tired adult dogs from rounds and rounds of babysitting.

Jinks and Beckett takes the brunt of babies. Jinks is a thing of beauty with two puppies to keep care of. Her 3 hours of exercise a day turns into a short half hour walk and a ball session in the yard. Since we've had Shane her needs are MUCH more easily managed. Plus, she is turning into a couch potato when pups are on nap time.

About a week after Lexie goes to her new home, we'll be having a new puppy foster.

Coli is a male, 14 week old Formosan Mountain dog x Border Collie (possibly). He will be roughly 25-40 pounds, very outgoing so I hear. He has some general interest but nothing concrete, so if you know of anyone looking for a medium-sized pup with a fair amount of energy he might be a good candidate :) He has been raised in a vets' office with many people, dogs and cats coming and going. Three of his siblings (litter of 7) are off to new homes straight from Taiwan :)

It sure is puppy time around here and rescue lately. Fall rush with mums I guess. Puppies never seem to come in spades over summer when the most people are looking! This is probably a good thing though.

We're thinking about taking a brief fostering/boarding break for a few weeks after Coli is adopted -so mid/late November most likely. Nothing huge, just a week or two to catch up on things that have been piling up.

Will try for some more puppy pictures tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it. I have a feeling this cold/flu might be one that stays for more than a day or so :(.... it was bound to catch me eventually I suppose.

Emily Out

Lexie and Lacy

Two new brief fosters came over the weekend. Both had really good apps being young, pretty puppies, and as of tonight both will be officially adopted. Lacy went home late on Sunday, and Lexie will be staying with us for a week for her family to get ready for her -they have a vaccination out of country planned this week!-.

Lacy was the diva of the sisters. She was very vocal about being handled in any way that she didn't feel she had condoned. Collar touching, being restrained at all by the leash or picking her up when she didn't ask were all cause for throwing a rather large tantrum fit for a princess. So I hitched a leash to her pretty quick that she had to drag around all day. Though it took her almost 20 minutes to move after I put it on, she gave up the guff and decided "Well, IF I HAVE to."

She's a good pup, she's just going to be a drama queen until she gets desensitized to routine handling and expectations. She was also an extraordinarily bright pup, but in an independent, on my own terms kind of way. Same thing with the affection. So it's a good thing a single woman has adopted her and children won't be in the picture anytime soon. She is not the type of pup I would be happy to place into a home with young children.

Some pictures of Lexi of the strange eyebrows.

Princess is not happy about dragging the big thick leash! OH Princess cry me a river.

Her eyebrows remind me of clown make up.

The look of "seriously, rules?"

Lexie on the other hand, is a very stable pup, solid, full of beans but also very snuggly and attached to people. Not quite an underfoot clingy pup but a pleaser. She had a hard time being away from her sister and bonds quickly. She has a love of being handled, touched, kissed all over. She is friendly to a fault, throwing herself down for bellyrubs at any opportunity. She wasn't fond of the leash, but wasn't a prissy pants about it, and after dragging it around for half an hour was good to rock. Being the more bonding type, she also has a bit more initial separation anxiety which is typical of pups just leaving the litter. She will learn very quickly that leaving triggers good things, that crate time alone isn't scary and that a little bit of independence goes a long way.

Some pictures of Lexie.

This one will actually sit still for a bit!!

Kind of looking like a weiner dog here! It's the stubby legs.

Contemplating a new home.

Oh, and another puppy make picture taking of foster puppies quite difficult. Never bring Shane out if you're trying to get adoption pictures...

He's always distracting the ladies...

Or taking up the spotlight (notice Lacy's nose)

Or sticking his head right in front of the camera...

Or distracting me so much with his newfound fetching abilities.

But I'm totally biased. He is the best puppy ever :) No little golden pup mixes can touch my beautiful boy. I have Lexie until this time next week, so I'll try to get some more pictures of her while she's here. Luckily she has moments of staying nice and still so is a good model.

Emily Out

Katrinka Goes Home

What a great Thanksgiving. Katrinka found her home when she went to be a helper in a program for training dog trainers. Although I think she's going to give her mum a wild ride for a few weeks I know that the consistency taught in class will eventually get her on course. She is a funny, wild, hilarious, INDEPENDENT, fast dog. She learns things like lightning but is always out for her own personal amusement, likes people but likes to plot her our course. Being most likely a KBD mixed with some sort of terrier you'd kind of expect that type of temperament. She's a going concern but in a good way.

Here she is camping out on the couch after a good romp around with Jinks and Shane.

So it's fosterless time for a few weeks, and high time we do some more training with Shane. He's coming along really well but the last week and a bit I've gone a little lax. He is learning much more than commands though, how to interact around other dogs playfully and peacefully, how to potty outside, how to be calm (for small periods) inside the house.

I'll try to get some pictures of that little monkey soon.

For now, Emily Out

One of Many Reasons I Have Dogs and not Kids

Today's reason.

Happy BELATED one-month anniversary Shane.
I missed it by two days.

Good thing dogs don't understand the premise of birthdays.

This is what happens when you are not child number one...

Oh yeah, and at some point last month Lemon would have been here two years. The anniversary quite possibly coincided with her departure as a therapy dog by a day or so. I'm not sure.

Jinks' first year anniversary is sometime late this month or early next month. Or something like that. I totally thought I got her in September, but having her vet docs I'm pretty sure she couldn't be here and have Alberta vet records from mid-late October. So yeah, early on that birthday.

And Beckett. Beckett we adopted May 24th/2008 when he was approx. 3-5 years old (three to TG,  older to the vet). We are just a little over 7 months away to our next rescue-sary.

New Foster: Katrinka

Alright, so I was going to find her a new name, but she's popular already. Katrinka arrived Sunday and has been pretty jet-lagged. With a trip from up north, an adoption event and the reunion she was a zonked little monkey upon arrival.

Today we kept her busy. Kelsey mentioned she was a little nervous about car rides, so we desensitized that some -a lot of just sitting in the car without it moving-, she was up working with trainers-in-training in the program I took a year and some ago now. She was particularly helpful in showing just how great a little rescue dog can be. AND... she found someone that will probably be putting in an application for her.

An experienced, smart owner for a bundle of energy dog. We'll see if there's an incoming app!

For now, some pictures that Piper took. I've been lazy with the camera.

She is about 20 pounds or so, and 9 months so she isn't going to grow much more. What she looks like is if Lemon and Jinks had a baby! I like her very much. :)

And so do a couple of friends of mine who are dog hunting and would like to meet her. GUH. I might have three really good experienced apps for one dog very quickly.

Regardless, she will be here minimum a week to have a thorough assessment. It'll take that long to get together a homecheck and such anyway.

But it looks like miss popular won't be here a very long time.

Angel update incoming. She is doing very well in her new home!

In other news, it's a mini TG reunion around here this week. Suhki and Veda (Dayo and Falala) and Zora the KBD are hanging out for the week. So except for my collies, everyone is TG. It's one of those moments where it doesn't feel like we have so many dogs. They are all so good (minus the collies ;) ).

Pictures as we can. It's going to be a busy week.

Emily Out