At School And At Play

She is getting so big!

At my parent's house on the 16th, our play-date with Max did not go too well. He wanted nothing to do with her.


When we got there, we went for a walk so that they met on neutral ground. Max was afraid of her because she was so bouncy and playful. He is a much more laid back dog. He is older, too. He was 2 or so when my family adopted him for my youngest brother's 16th birthday. He is now a 21-year-old marine currently serving in Iraq, so that would make Max about 7 or so.

By the time we left, Max was tolerating her just enough for her to walk past him without Max running away but not enough to let her touch him...

At the vet on the 18th, she weighed 28 lbs. We went to my MIL's after to play with Taz and Bandit:

Bandit wanted nothing to do with the tomfooleries.


Taz was as playful as ever.


I think Bailey knows who is playful and who isn't, though. She will walk up to Bandit and lick his face, then turn around and pounce on Taz. It is really very sweet how she shows Bandit such respect.

Puppy class was canceled on the 17th due to weather. When we got to class on the 24th, all our classmates were there:

Bella the Shih Tzu:


Garcia the Sheltie:


Gracie the Australian Shepard:


And Brutus the Neapolitan Mastiff:

At class, Bailey weighed in at 30.5 lbs. That's 2 1/2 lbs in 7 days!!! She is growing so fast!

She is learning fast, too. She already knows how to sit both with the verbal command and the hand signal. At class this week she learned "down" which is to lay down, and "settle" which is to shift her weight to the side from the "down" position. It is the first step toward rolling over. We also worked on "leave it" and, although she did better than I expected, it still needs a lot of work.

My in-laws have adopted another boxer. His name is Geronimo. I will try to have pics of the play-dates with Taz, Geronimo, Bandit, and Bailey for my next post.

Catch-Up

So the potty training is coming along. We still have a few accidents but we are getting there.

At our class last Sunday, Bailey weighed in at a wopping 25.3 lbs. She'll be checked again on Monday at the vet so I will be interested to see what she'd gained this week.

I think I've strained my back lifting her on to and off of the bed. I still take her out whenever I wake during the night to prevent accidents on the bed. She is not always thrilled about being woken up so I just grab her and carry her to the back door which is kinda far from our bedroom.

Last Saturday, Bailey and I spent the evening at my in-law's. My FIL and my husband went to a truck show while my MIL and I vegged out and watched a movie while the dogs played. Taz was pretty rough but Bailey gave back everything Taz brought on her... and if Taz stopped, Bailey instigated a new battle. She slept really well that night!

She will have her first visit to my parent's house on Saturday. They have Max, a 7-year-old beagle mix who was adopted from the Humane Society for my baby brother's 16th birthday. He is not the most dog-friendly, partly due to some horrible neighbors who had big, mean dogs who barked at him and partly because he pushed Gizmo a bit too far once and she snapped at him and got his tail. It was funny to see how scared he was of her considering he is easily at least 10 times her size.

Anyway, I hate that Max gets left behind when we have holiday functions which involve the in-laws and their dogs and such so I am determined to introduce him to Bailey while she is still about his size to get them socialized to one another.

I'll let you know how that goes... hopefully, I'll have picks of Taz, Max, and her classmates from puppy kindergarten for the next post.

Socializing

Bailey had her first play date on Saturday 2/2.

We visited Bella, a cocker-maltese-poodle mix who is about 1 1/2 years old. They are about the same size for now so it worked out well. They played a lot in the back yard and when they were inside, Bailey was very well behaved. She didn't have any accidents and didn't try to chew on anything. And she slept like a log that night.



At Bella's house, the step up to the deck from the yard is kinda big. If Bailey could get a running start, she could make it. But most of the time, Bella blocked her way. Not on purpose, though. She was just excited to have a puppy friend to play with.

So without even knowing she was doing it, Bella was the alpha dog for the day. Which is good considering Bailey was the alpha of her litter at the time we brought her home and she needed to learn that she would not always be the alpha in her canine relationships.

On Sunday 2/3, we had our first puppy class. She did very well considering she hadn't really been on a leash before. Some things were new, like making eye contact on command and the introduction/loading of the clicker. But there were a few things she could already do, like sit on command.

The other puppies in the class were playful and social with her. There was Garcia the Sheltie, Gracie the Austrailian Shepard, another Bella (a shih tzu), and Brutis, a 5-month-old, 60 lb Neopolitain Mastif, who had no idea how big he actually was.

The potty training is coming along. As long as we watch her close and take her out often, she does well. It's when we slack off or get distracted with house hold chores that she has accidents. At present, I am just happy when she goes outside or on her puppy pad. Hopefully as she grows, she will gain more bladder and bowel control so she can do both in one outing so we can reduce the amount of times we go out.

The Learning Curve

She is learning. I know that everything is new to her. I also know it is my job to teach her the things she needs to know in order to be an acceptable part of our family and society.

She used to whine and scratch at the doors to be let in after potty times. My husband put and end to that pretty fast. Now she sits and looks from us to the door and waits pretty patiently to be let in.

She used to jump on me or the piece of furniture I was sitting on if she wanted my attention. That's fine for a 15 lb puppy... but not so much so for a 90 lb dog. So I say "NO" and move away from her. A few times I stepped on her back paws (lightly of course). Now she comes and sits in front of me if she wants my attention. She learned this so well, in fact, that when we were at my in-law's and she had had enough of being chased around by their 20 month old boxer Taz, she came and sat at my feet and dodged Taz's licks and nudges until I picked her up.

And the other day, she sat on command. We haven't really even worked on that... only when she gets a treat for going potty outside will my husband make her sit for her treat. I am not as consistent... I usually just give her the treat if she goes where she is supposed to.

The chewing is another thing all together. I don't know how much of it is just her being a puppy and how much is a habit I need to discourage. She is better than I thought, though. She takes re-direction to appropriate objects pretty well and hasn't really been interested in chewing on the furniture (God said okay to that particular prayer).

With us, however, it is a different story. She will mouth our hands or arms or feet. I think that is ok. That is how babies learn about their environment. But when she bites, that is not ok. We redirect her to a toy but she just goes for the hand that is holding it. She will even wrinkle her muzzle and lash out to bite us when she is repremanded. My husband or I will grab her muzzle and say a firm "NO BITE!" but it doesn't do anything. We remove ourselves from the situation when it's possible but it is not always possible (like when driving in the car, etc.) Most of the time this happens, she is in that snippy time I mentioned in a previous post, right before she falls asleep. I'll be so glad when she is done teething...

We start puppy kindergarten on February 3rd. I am looking forward to getting the foundations of obedience training started.

Getting To Know One Another

One of the fun things about Bailey is learning who she is. Her personality is starting to emerge and it can be quite entertaining and heartwarming.


She likes to cuddle. She will curl up in my lap and sleep so sound she snores. When my husband or I pick her up, she will put a paw on each shoulder (like a baby would wrap his arms around a parent) and lick our face a few times before she lays her head on one shoulder or the other. Very sweet.

She gets the hic-ups. I didn't know dogs could get the hick-ups. And when they come about varies. Sometimes it's after she eats, sometimes it's when we are playing, and sometimes when she's just laying there.

She taps us if she wants our attention. She lifts a paw and taps us with it until we attend to her. It's cute when it's my leg or arm. Not so much when I am asleep and it is my face or chest.

She also likes to bury her muzzle. She will lay in my lap and bury her face in the crook of my arm or knee if I am sitting cross-legged. Or between my neck and the pillow if I am laying down. It's really very cute.

She dreams... like the dog from Cinderella... legs flailing about and dream-barking and all.

She gets snippy when she is tired. She wants to cuddle with her human but wiggles and bites and fights it until she is too exhausted to do so any longer and passes out cold.

Then she sleeps so sound that I can do all kinds of things to her without objection... like bury her under the dryer-warm towels we use for her kennel.

She is fairly social. She allows almost anyone to pet her, which is good. She will be intimidating enough without needing to be guarded or suspicious. And I want her socialized with kiddos, too. God willing, someday we will have children and I want their friends to be able to come over without fear of our dog attacking if they are playing too rough with each other.

She did something the other day that brought tears to my eyes. In a previous post (Grief 12/2007), I mentioned that Gizmo used to wait for us to step out of the shower so she could lick the water off of our ankles. The other day, I got out of the shower and I heard Bailey whining (probably because I was the only one home and she could hear me but not find me). So I called her name and she found her way to the bathroom. And she proceded to lick the water off my knees (she's quite a bit taller that Giz was). I don't know if all dogs do this or what but Gizmo was the only dog I had that ever did that. I still miss her and my heart still aches. Bailey is helping to ease that ache but I know it will be there for a long time to come.

Quote of the Day

Seen on a bumper sticker:

"A parking lot is not the place to think outside the box"

Pics and Potty Training

I know... you want more pics...

So here they are:



We got Bailey's ears cropped. I didn't really have an opinion about it but my husband insisted. And all the adult dobes I saw that had natural ears just looked like labs with long noses so I was okay with it.

She has done pretty well so far... not really messing with the block or anything. And when she does, she takes our re-direction fairly well. When she is left in her kennel when we leave, we put the dough-nut on so she doesn't rip out a stitch in our absence. We went with the dough-nut instead of the lamp-shade because the lamp-shade whould have pushed her ears forward.

She likes her kennel. She will go there to lay down if she is tired and we are up doing stuff around the house. We try not to put her in there too much. Only when we leave the house or at night if she wants to play while we are trying to sleep. And it seems to be working because she goes there on her own and that is what we want.

The potty training is coming along. She still has accidents but those are more our fault than her's. It's just hard to stay outside with her to make sure she goes when it is 3 degrees (and that is the actual temp, not the wind chill). She usually goes potty pretty fast when we get out there. Then she runs around for a while. Then she goes and sits in front of the door and waits for us to let her in, which is an improvement because she used to whine and scratch at the door. Once we get back in, she plays for a few minutes and then I find a pile on the floor. We increased our time outside and tried going out more often but it didn't work... But I am not too worried. Last night, she went into her kennel where her puppy pad was and went potty right on it... She is 10 weeks and 4 days old and the experts say not to expect too much until they are 12 weeks old so I am pleased with what we have accomplished so far.

She is growing fast. She was 12 lbs when we brought her home on the 5th and weighed 16 lbs on the 21st. I am trying to take lots of pics. We even did a footprint with a kit bought at a local pet store. But I have had to adjust her collar and harness about once a week... I hope I am doing enough to preserve these puppy days... they are going to be gone before I know it!