Geyser!

[icvanstra]

Leih,

Cino was a NIGHTMARE as a puppy to dry off. That towel was the worlds greatest toy!!

Keep at it. Do it even when it's not raining.

Took awhile but Cino will see the towel when he comes in the back door, sit and raise his right paw on his own. Even after all this time he still is not as good at it as Abby though...she has the whole routing down-pat. Sit, right paw, left paw, stand, rear paws, rest of the body....then shake. The shake I didn't teach.

[Marjolein]

mine insist on being dried off, or at leatst their heads! When I'm not quick enough with the towel they start rubbing their head off on my pants

The "shake" thing can be thougt tho, if you have a smart dog. I have one that can do it on command, but only when wet (he has a point there... ) I thougt him with "reversed learning", not sur if you guys call it like that, but you give teh dog a command as he is doing something, like when a puppy sits down you're quick to say "sit" and reward him. After a while you can say "sit" and he wills it down. This I used for shaking, after every swim, or rain-soaked (yup Holland is lovely, and wet) walk I waited for him to shake, and say "schud" (shake in Dutch, try and pronounce that! ) After a while I gave him the command after another rainy walk, and not open the door to go in untill he had shaken. Now I can give him the command before we are at the door and he shakes

But, like a proper HH he refuses it when he is dry, just shakin' his head, probable shaking "NO way"
And Ivil, well, she's just not that bright I guess Still doesn't get it, or she is really smart and waits on purpose and shake inside just to anoy me

[leih merigian]

My brindles melt when it rains. Or so they say.

OK then, I'll keep the stories coming .

Here's a success story...

Of course, I'm working on trading her for things she gets that I want (or don't want her to have ). It's going pretty well.

So yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to make my morning ginger tea, I dropped the metal lid for the kettle on the floor. It was about 5 feet from me, and did I say it was metal? So I said, "Geyser, get it!" and she marched right over there and picked it up, and brought it back to me and gave it right up. Good girl! (Of course she got a treat :fluffy: ).

And you're right, Eric...just gotta keep up with the stuff that really sucks now, like the drying off.

It's really funny...she loves when I get the grooming stuff set up (I groom her on the kitchen table right now). She doesn't exactly like the actualy process, tho. She's getting good about checking ears and eyes. Not quite as good about cleaning the ears, but getting better. She loves the toothpaste I got, and I can now actually "brush" her canines. Brushing is always a challenge...I got a kitty brush (very soft bristles) to make it less uncomfortable for her (I assume, that is), and we have good moments, but all of this stuff is a major hassle. So, it crackes me up that she likes it so much when I get the stuff out and set it all up . No mystery, of course, since she gets lots of treats and attention.

OK, you'll probably love this story...I am being treated for a blood clot in my leg right now, and since I'm on coumadin, I bleed more than a regular person (good timing for getting a DS puppy, eh?). I also have to go in for regular blood tests to check the levels. I had one of those appts yesterday. Managing the times she's out, my shower while she's in her Xpen, and then putting her up for a longish crating is always a challenge.

I decided to put on my good Tshirt (not one of the puppy torn stained ones), but keep the crummy shorts on until I put her up, then I'd change my shorts to the good ones and be off. I knew she'd trash clean shorts, but this seemed a good plan. Well, by the time it was time to put her up, the front of my shirt was all bloody, and so were my beige shorts . So, put her up, put the clothes in a bucked of cold water to soak, changed and headed off to my appt.

My poor hands! I remember all this stuff, but it's been so long, the memory sort of faded . Right now, this very minute, I have 5 bandaids on my hands, and an infection on the pad of my thumb from one of her little dental gifts .

I keep focusing on the stuff that's going really well and promising myself that this biting stage will be over sooner or later (I don't remember just how long it lasts...).

Here's a current pic of the little scamp...(10.5 weeks already, and as of today, here three weeks...sure flys by )

[leih merigian]

I just discovered that you are limited to 10 smilies per post

[vneerland]

Sounds like a cool trick, Marjolein! I never intentionally attached a command to my dogs shaking off the excess water, but I know from my dog bathing experience (commercial kennel: lots of dogs that had to be given baths at the owners request) that there is one way to get ALL of them to shake. When you rinse them, you will be fine and the dog will most likely not shake until you get to the neck. Run water over the neck and I can guarantee you that the dog will shake. So I started to rinse the necks last. No real clue what it is that triggers them, but go ahead and try......you'll see.

@ Leih. Brushing teeth? You're brushing her teeth? Oh my! Pampered pooch! I have never ever done it, or considered doing it either. My dogs toothbrush is a rawhide stick, a cow hoof, or a nice knuckle bone. Maybe their pearly whites are not quite as white as Geysers will be. But I cannot imagine the struggles, on any and all of them. You are a brave woman.

[leih merigian]

Leih. Brushing teeth? You're brushing her teeth? Oh my!

Yeah...mostly for the ability to mess with her mouth when needed. I can actually brush her upper canines now . Once it's no big deal, I won't be doing it that often, as she's going to be raw fed and her teeth will be fine from the occasional RMBs.

I just switched her to raw this week...she was begging for it. She inadvertently got to the cats' food a time or two (my bad), and was just so happy to find it! (They're on raw, too, of course.)

And, funny thing, when she was still on her kibble, she'd get 15 minutes to eat, and would eat a bit, mess around and play, eat a bit more, etc, the whole time. None of that with her raw. I'm using a premade, ground product, which will be her main food source, and I dole it out in portions. For each portion, she has to sit before I put the food down and wait until she's released to eat. Talk about focus!

Another funny thing...we do a hand touch, where she's supposed to touch either of my hands with her nose, when the hand is offered. When we're training, she often does well with this, but other times, she'll decide to open her mouth and bite my hand, rather than just give me a nice nose touch. Little scamp. However, when it's meal time, and I'm doling out the wonderful food, and put my hand down for a touch, I get the nicest, gentlest little nose touch you could ever want . At least I know she understands what I'm asking for . When she gives me an open mouth, she's just messing with me...

On the shaking thing...I read somewhere that when you're bathing a dog, if you don't want it to shake, you can hold one of it's ears.

My GSD had a ton of things on cue, but she just refused to comply with a shake cue. For some reason, she just didn't want to do it, and she was so good about so many things, I said fine. No big deal. But I'll be eager to see if the holding the ear thing can control the shaking.

[Marjolein]

On the shaking thing...I read somewhere that when you're bathing a dog, if you don't want it to shake, you can hold one of it's ears.

The person who wrote that did NOT have a DS, or was suicidal

[vneerland]

On the shaking thing...I read somewhere that when you're bathing a dog, if you don't want it to shake, you can hold one of it's ears.

The person who wrote that did NOT have a DS, or was suicidal

My thoughts exactly. "Don't try this at home, folks". I can just see Nico's famous glare.

When bathing customers dogs, though, a good neck grab will indeed do. But I usually need more than one hand when bathing. So strike that.

[leih merigian]

On the shaking thing...I read somewhere that when you're bathing a dog, if you don't want it to shake, you can hold one of it's ears.

The person who wrote that did NOT have a DS, or was suicidal

My thoughts exactly. "Don't try this at home, folks". I can just see Nico's famous glare.

OK, guys...I'll definitely take your input under advisement! So many things you read are not right for some dogs, but I tend to store up this kind of info when I run across it, for future reference.

[vneerland]

It would be a stay of execution Leih. Once your arm has stretched to its full lenght and you are leaning as far out as possible, you will still, at some point in time, have to let go of it. And expect a good shake then.
I truly recommend that you do not rinse the neck until you are ready for a shake. That leaves your hands free for the bath and you can trigger the shake when it is least inconvenient for you (as in: when you know it is coming) Other than that, it is just one of those things. Wet dogs shake. Preferably in front of that clean window, that antique piece of furniture, that fresh bed, and the going to town clothes. Didn't you know that?

[Christie M]

The person who wrote that did NOT have a DS, or was suicidal

My thoughts exactly. "Don't try this at home, folks". I can just see Nico's famous glare.

OK, guys...I'll definitely take your input under advisement! So many things you read are not right for some dogs, but I tend to store up this kind of info when I run across it, for future reference.

In my opinion, if you're raising a puppy with guidance and structure, you may never have to worry about the dog turning to bite you because you did something wrong. I'm not saying this is true for all dogs...but many working dogs are allowed to be complete jerks for the first year of their life. They are allowed to jump on, bite, or carry anything that they want. The only thing that they truly learn is uninhibited hunt drive and bite foundation.

If you try to manhandle one of those kids at 1 year old...... you are in for a fight. But for the most part (not all), if you raise your puppy trusting you and tolerating some form of structure and correction then you don't have the same issues to deal with because you have always been someone to respect.

With the pet dogs that I bath (and all of my personal dogs), if they go to shake too early I do grab a scruff, ear...anything I can to stay as dry as possible. When I want them to shake, I blow in their ear to stimulate the response and then try to pair it with the cue. However, Rowdy does over react a bit to being blown at. I just use the dryer on him. With the police dogs that I don't quite know.....well, they are tied to the wall.

[leih merigian]

Judith...yeah, dogs shake. I'm not the least bit concerned about it. I generally just get prepared for it, with enough towels and whatever to clean up after the event. I just thought it was intersting that someone had mentioned the ear holding as a method to hold off the shaking. I'll try to remember the getting the neck wet part...that's interesting, too .

And Christie, I totally agree with you. I do not abide by the (mostly protection) folks who think one should let a puppy do anything they want for the first year, and they also seem to think that teaching manners and such is just too much for the little buggers. Even if I did protection sports, I'd feel this way. If a dog doesn't have enough drive to do the work in spite of learning manners around the house and etc., then perhaps it's just not the right dog. (I also raise my pup in the house, so it has to learn some manners; perhaps if your dog lives in an outside kennel, it's not as relevant.)

[Marjolein]

I learn my dogs lots of thing as they are puppies... and I would have felt fine holding Dingo's ear as a puppy, but at a certain age, he had his own rules too, he respects me allright, but he has his limits as to what is excepted, and holding his ear is not one of them He won't bite me tho, just warn me...
Ivil's ear I would dare to grab, she's a sissy
If I don't want them to shake I use the "no command as a "stop anything you're doing" which actually works, but the initial shake will have allready succeeded in ruining that clean window etc.

[leih merigian]

Today Geyser, Letty and Hector are 12 weeks old!



(She's actually 11 weeks in this pic, but she just turned 12 weeks today .)

She weighs 21.5 lbs. She's grown so much in the month she's been here (as they are wont to do, I know). Still, it's kind of amzaing to watch the process...feed them, and watch them grow.

We've had a lot of successes this week, some minor, some major. Every day, she makes progress in one way or another.

I almost can't wait for Monday morning's meal, which will be nail trimming day. For at least one meal a day, I pretend to clip her nails, using her food as the reward, and it's going so well it's just amazing. Likewise, "I'm going to check your...ears/eyes/mouth" are going swell. My vet will be appropriately amazed when she goes in Tuesday for a booster :fluffy: .

She's offering nose touches without biting my hands, with rare exception. We're doing great on "leave it," depending on the distraction level, of course. Boozoo the Cat has been helpful in this regard ; yesterday, after I got her out of her crate in the bedroom, Boozoo insisted on lying on the floor immediately outside of the bedroom, directly in our path to exit the room. Great training opportunity, of course, and boy did I get some great "leave it's" (the criterion is to look away and focus on me). Doesn't work quite as well when we're outdoors, but we'll get there.

"That's enough!" is going great. I encourage her to "check it out," then after an appropriate amount of time, "that's enough," and she's very good about turning away from whatever (the fridge, something she's investigating, etc.) and focusing on me. Yay.

We're working on "off" quite a lot. As I'm preparing her food, when she jumps up to lean on the cupboards or me, I just stop and wait until she's off again...procede. Gotta love the Premack Principle .

She's doing well on our outings, which we take regularly. She's able to work in new envorinments. The initially shy puppy is long gone; she wants to meet everyone we encounter, so now I'm using people as a training distraction. She's still unsure in some settings (took her downtown this week...didn't go too great...will wait a bit and try that again).

Her tugging is a thing to behold, and we do that a lot. She's fetching well, too.

Having become sick and tired of the acquisition of new and improved gashes in my hands every day, I instituted a Zero Tolerance for Biting policy this week. Premack strikes again! Any mouthing, and I'm just done with whatever and withdraw. We can now have a wonderful greeting when she comes out of her crate, and it works well in many situations. Not so much for grooming, but we're working on that.

She loves "go to rug!" She totally loves doing Crate Games. She's doing well on "find it!" She's great at trading me for things she finds/picks up.

Oh, and this is pretty major...she's getting very consistent about telling me when she needs to go outside. The false alarm rate is so small as to be irrelevant. She'll sit and make tiny little whines. When I ask her if she needs to go out, she says "YES!" Take her out, and damn, she does her business. She also has not had one accident while in her crate; not one! I love that . We're still having the "too excited" dribbles when she meets certain people (alas, my husband for one), and I am eager for her body to mature past this, but I'm expecting we'll get there in good time.

I won't lie; I am very glad to have our first month in the rear view mirror .

[asheleylane]

WOW what you have already accomplished!

[leih merigian]

Thanks, Ash! It's funny...I often don't think I'm doing enough, teaching enough...then if I sit and list the stuff she is learning and does well, I think I'm kind of nuts . She's really doing great.

Finally, a decent shot...



And one with her father yesterday...



In the past three meals, I've clipped three feet's worth of nails! Major for me. Very jazzed. Last foot tonite at dinner.

For two days in a row now, she's not grabbed the comforter on the way out of the bedroom .

I've moved grooming outside on my pause table (the kitchen table wasn't working so swell). Went much better yesterday, AND (talk about major), Boozoo the Cat came around of cousre, while she's on the table and nekkid. Leave its went great! She stayed on the table and looked at me every time I gave the cue. Good girl!

[Marjolein]

her father is human???

[leih merigian]

her father is human???

Guess I should've said Daddy

[vneerland]

Hey Leih! Next time I have a pup to raise, can I FedEx it to you please?

[Marjolein]

Hey Leih! Next time I have a pup to raise, can I FedEx it to you please?

No no! Send it to me!! (only the blue ones tho...)