Where do you Poo In The Snow ?

Well it is 8 PM and Heddy is on a POO strike. I can not say I blame her she gets lost in the snow when ever she goes out. Jumping and FLYING thru the WHITE STUFF is so much fun but OH she just can not seem to figure out where to squat. We have made 5 trips outside and I HATE the cold. Last time I measured it was 8 inches up near the house and much deeper out in the yard where it is blowing around.

But we have had a fun day of kitchen games. Heddy is the smartest puppy I have worked with in a very long time she really seems to enjoy our time playing. Thanks to all of the wonderful hints and ideas I have gotten from everyone online we are having so much fun. I never looked at training as games before it was always commands to to be obeyed or else negative reinforcement was applied. This is just so much more FUN. Today we have been working on going in and out of her crate on command. And sitting and down in the crate as well as waiting before coming out. As well as all of the wonderful things she already does. I know I sound like a proud MOM. But you know what that is just what I AM!

Well guess we will give it another go. The snow is so deep now that we will have to shovel a path and a spot for her. hope this helps. I am amazed that she has not had an accident in the house.

Finding My Voice

Suddenly Heddy MUST announce herself before she does anything. I have never had a barky dog before so this is another new issue for me. Last night before bed we made on more Potty trip and as soon as we left the hose she froze and did the most ear splitting barking yodel bay kind of thing almost like a hound singing I could not get her to stop she barked at EVERYTHING and nothing was new or different from the last trip out just two hours before.Bet you can guess that this was one quick potty break. Not only was it FREEZING but I was afraid the neighbors would call the cops on us. I guess my Jack Russell did not learn to bark because she was raised by my Rottie who never barked with out a reason. AH well maybe this phase will pass soon.

4 MONTHS

And now she is 4 months. How did that happen. It amazes me how fast she is changing.

We checked in this morning on the Wii fit (yes I know crazy but she has her own little Wii fit puppy) and Heddy is 9 lbs. I knew she was in a growth spurt but I really did not expect that big of a jump.

Her big excitement for today was going out into my garden and grabbing a piece of bark Mulch. She managed to get it wedged into her upper pallet between her jaw and was unable to get it free. Of course she panicked and took off running around the yard yelping and digging at her face. We have and acre of back yard! Can you imagine how hard it is to grab a scared puppy running as fast as she can. I finally cornered her and managed to get my fingers into her mouth popped the wood out and got a small nip in the process. I know she did not mean to do it an no harm was done. As soon as I put her back down she was her old self and back to playing.

4:30 AM

I am not sure why but Friday January 21 she decided 4:30 AM was a great time to get up. OK I can handle that we get up go to the puppy thing. She does her poopy dance and back inside we go. Both of us lay down on the couch and get another hour of sleep before time to start MY day. Then it is Saturday Morning I do not HAVE to go to work and AGAIN she is up at 4:30 AM so again we are outside in the cold doing the Puppy thing. When on Sunday she gets up at 4:15 I know something is going to change in her life. So Sunday night after watching a great football game together. Her crate has suddenly appeared in the kitchen instead of beside our bed and she now sleeps in the kitchen. Amazing what a difference that extra hour makes.

FEAR

How do we deal with FEAR! lately she seems afraid of EVERYTHING. any surface that is different than the one she is walking on, going from the grass to the road, the ramp up to the office, the stairs up to the House, the car, strange dogs, almost anything NEW!
I really was at my wits end as to how to deal with any of this as none of these fears made sense to me and even food did not seem to help her resolve the problem. So we faced them head on shall we say. I borrowed our daughters 13 year old Jack Russell for the week-end. We got them together for the first time down on the beach ( neutral territory) then after a nice LONG run to tire Heddy out we started for home taking Abby with us. While Abby was with us we worked on all of Heddys problems. walking up and down steps and ramps and all sorts of surfaces that I could find. It was hard for her to refuse to go when she was coupled together with Abby. So off she went no fear, By the time Abby went home ( I am sure she was happy to leave) Heddy had forgotten she was afraid.
I wondered what would happen when we went back to class on Tuesday. I needn't have worried. The instructor new what she was talking about Heddy was out from under the chair and rough housing with the other puppy's during the socialization time. Doing pretty good on her class work of sit and Down too if a Proud Momma is allowed a small brag.

Off To School

I am so lucky Salisbury Kennel Club is not that far away and they have a Puppy Kindergarten Class that just started and we can join. Heddy is 15 weeks now and is up to date on Vaccines.

After a long day at the office. She works so hard sleeping playing then sleeping some more I just do not know how the poor thing survives.

It is finally 5:00 PM and time to head out the door and off to class. We have a fish pond in the back yard and i guess Heddy has never seen water before . It must have look just like any other surface to her so she proceeds to just walk across to the other side. OPPS guess what contrary to what I may believe she is not perfect and can not walk on water! BUT BOY CAN SHE SWIM! By the time I thew my purse on the ground and got ready to jump in after her she was already across the pond and climbing out shaking off as if nothing had happened. What a way to start the evening.

After that I thought Puppy class would not bother her. Boy was I wrong! When we got to the Kennel Clubs Building she FROZE would not walk or move at all I had to carry her into the building. After we got into the class she spent the rest of the evening under my chair snapping at any other puppy that dared to come near her cave. Instructor soothed my nerves said not to worry many puppies act this way the first time. So after extracting her from under my chair we make the 30 min. drive home . OH WHAT A NIGHT!

OUR FIRST WEEK

What have we done? And to think I thought this would all be SO easy. After all I have been involved in animals my WHOLE life. Dad had GSPs and I have almost always had at least one dog around. Raised and Shown GOD only knows how many Maine Coon Cats in my life time. And we will not count the farm animals with the Horses sheep and Goats while the kids were growing up. SO how can this little ball of fur turn our house inside out?

She is doing great at sleeping in her crate. sleeps MOST of the night then we get up and head out the door, OH GOD WHY DID I GET A PUPPY IN WINTER! Snow on the ground freezing and she thinks it is a winter wonderland! ALL I want is to get back inside and have a warm cup of anything. She loves everybody still a little shy at first meeting but warms up quick. Still afraid of dogs.We will start Puppy class to help with that. First visit to the Vet. Jan 7th she is 14 weeks and 6 lbs. got her Rabies shot. We will be looking for a new vet. We did not see eye to eye on anything. and I HATE being talked down to. The Vet treated me as if I were an idiot. wanted to change EVERYTHING the breeder recommended why fix what ain't broke? then charged me $90.00 for the visit. Guess I would not have been upset but she KNEW I was a Nurse and my Husband is a Physician AND I have been involved with dogs and cats for YEARS this is NOT my first puppy. Heck she did not even know what a Border Terrier was.

Oh well Heddy is doing GREAT and that is what Counts!