sunday morning

I was so tired last night! I don't know if it was a combination of getting up so early and working outside or what. I think I went to bed at 8:30 last night! My body just isn't adjusting to the whole getting up early thing. And to think we were going to go out and watch bands till 2 or so in the am! Tony gets up early everyday and goes to be around 10:30 or 11 but for some reason I can't do that! I managed to sleep till 6:30 this morning but I cheated. The dogs woke me up around 5 am and I took them all out to potty and then got a chewie and took it upstairs and put it in deuce's crate so he could chew for a while and I could sleep! I guess it worked because I didn't get woken back up till 6:30. I think I could still go back to bed right now but am kind of liking getting up early. I got the whole house cleaned from top to bottom yesterday and got a ton of yard work done too when Tony got home from work. I get so much more done and feel better about not sleeping till 11 although i do miss it :(

Now on to training. Am having some frustrations. Seems like our potty training is taking a nose dive. Deuce is starting to pee in the house more frequently and does not seek out his litter box when he needs to go. I am not sure if I was lulled into a false sense of security or what. We have caught him in the act twice so am now scolding him for going in the house. I think I am going to have to put more value on him going outside. He pretty much goes outside on command either loose or on a leash, which will make me feel good when we are showing but still having some accidents. I am still trying to anticipate when he will need to go out but not catching it. It is really bad when we go upstairs. I usually block him into whatever room I am in so he doesn't go exploring and secretly potty. This is what Harley did as a baby because we left doors open and he would just sneak into the front bedroom and squat. I have to pretty much take him out before I go upstairs now, even if he was just out. We have carpet up there and the foster dogs have marked it, I am sure so I guess we need to rent a steam cleaner and really clean the carpets to get rid of any scents that might be left.

One of the other snags we have hit is that Deuce has decided his default is a down not a sit, so every time I am working positions, he goes into a down, even if I asked for a sit. He gets very mouthy too which was cute for a day but is now getting annoying, so I am going back to working sits more to try and balance him back out. He also has to either sit or down for his food and if he isn't right and I am waiting for him to correct him self, he goes into a frenzy of barking and starts turbo offering behaviors. Again the default has become a down so he just downs and then barks his head off at me. I am having to almost put him back in a sit so he gets it right. We have been working on wait at the door which is getting better but I have not been able to work wait for his food. For our fosters, they have to go into position and then wait for release to get their food. Tony says we need to let him mature a little more before asking for this and I agree. I am also trying to work sit and down in different positions i.e., next to me, in front of me, behind me, between my legs etc. It is going okay but could be better. He hates sitting or downing between my legs so we are just working on that to try and get him past that. He wants to touch my hand to get into position and then he just swings out and sits facing me. Ah the joys of training a puppy! If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

On to the good stuff now! Deuce had a good time yesterday following his big brother through the tunnel and got to do a long straight tunnel and a L shaped tunnel and a curved tunnel following Harley. I am not sending him to the tunnel as we need to work on restrained recalls first and then do some restrained recalls to the tunnel to get drive to the tunnel. I also would like to start working on turn soon. We also did ears and toe nails yesterday when he was tired and he did great. He is such a chow hound so again I really need to vary what he gets as a reward. Sometimes it is food but sometimes it is just play or praise. He did offer "toes" yesterday for the first time and we had a very big party for that! His balance disc is hard for him to do toes on so it takes alot of focus on his part to get it. Tony and Deuce are now playing so I guess I will get off of here and join in!