Bored at work so I will talk about my baby instead

ARGH! Nothing to do at work today but wait so since I didn't blog this morning, I guess I can now. I had PT this morning so didn't get to walk everyone so no telling what destruction awaits me when I get home. Tried to get harley and deuce to play as much as possible so that they could wear each other out. Poor miller, he gets so excited when I put on my running pants thinking we are going to a show and then gets so down when I leave him to go to PT. I am hoping this will be the last three day a week session that I have to have. I think we are going to drop back to two a days next week and then go from there. I think my insurance only pays for 30 visits a year and I am at 13 right now so getting close to using them up.

I am so excited for this weekend! I did find out that they don't have a puppy match as I had hoped but they do have a microchip clinic that I can take him too and get him chipped. I did register him for the AKC program as well and he got his little tag yesterday. Am hoping the vending will be good so I can get him something if he is a good boy. Right now I need another crate pad for his crate in the car. He has furniture grade foam but it is 5 inches thick instead of 3 inches which takes up alot of the height of the crate. Not a problem now but will be when he grows more. I have started looking for crates on craigslist as well. I am wanting a smaller day time crate for the downstairs, once I feel like he is able to hold his bladder all day. So far the crate in the downstairs with the litter box in it is working out good. He did shred the newspaper that i put under his water bowl and I do think he may have had an accident or two on his crate pad but it is all washable.

Yesterday we worked on stand some more and we worked on toes on the travel plank. He is getting more solid but I find that I am still having to lure him a little bit with my body to get into position, which i SHOULD NOT DO. I video taped myself yesterday and sure enough, he was getting on the board and stopping at the end with all four feet. I would move slightly and he would come down into his toes position, but off of my body cue. I want a dog with independent contacts so have to stop doing this! I think we just need to work it more and have me be more aware of any cues that my body may be giving off. I will probably pack his wobble board and the plank as well so we can practice at the hotel. We are also working on the release to a tug instead of the release always being for food. He is doing really well, but isn't always in the mood for tugging so have to vary the reward.

Don't know how much I will get done training wise tonight. Will have to take everyone for a walk for sure since no one went this morning. Need to do laundry and start packing for the show so will probably try and sneak in a short session here and there. He is getting so big that I can barely pick him up anymore. I will miss being able to pick him up and hold him like a baby. They grow up way too quick!

Waiting on the Sun to make an appearence

We are waiting on the sun to come up so we can go for a walk. I tried putting deuce back in his crate this morning with his chewie and it didn't work. BUMMER! I was ready to go to bed last night at 8:00! I forced myself to stay up till 10 but sure wanted more sleep this morning. Deuce slept good last night, didn't need to get up at all so hopefully this stomach ailment is done with. He is still having gas but not as frequently. He will be 100% on wellness after today so no more changes.

I have PT this morning at 9:30 and am hoping this will be my last three day week for PT. I hate to say it, but I really enjoy going and past the painful deep tissue massages, really think the info they have given me will make me a better athlete. I have shown them a bunch of moves we do in agility and discussed how many women have knee surgeries and how many people have injuries and they have given me lots of exercises to do to combat that. They are also really working on my hips and trying to help me walk and run with my feet straighter and not so much like a duck. Of course 31 years of walking and running that way is hard to change but they have gotten me a little straighter. We are talking about me taking on a personal trainer to help me stay agile but I am not sure my pocket book can handle it. Maybe after I get done paying for all of this PT. Two weeks of going, with insurance was 180 bucks and I have been two weeks past that so it adds up. While I am glad I went and got this issue resolved, I wonder if time would have just healed it too? Oh well, I sure as heck wouldn't have done deep tissue massage on myself and those pain patches sure are nice.

What is on the training agenda today? Well, more work on stand, which is getting way better. Maybe some more tunnel work but really need to get on some different color/sized tunnels. I am starting to work toes on his little traveling plank and he is slow to generalize so need to work that more. Bang game is coming along nicely so more of that. I need to start working on some more flat work too. Turn is staring to come along but needs more work. Need to start working some outs too as I haven't started that at all. I also need to drag my NADAC hoop out and start working with it too since no jumping is involved. Can I just quit my job and work with my doggies all day?

Stomach problems all night

I am not sure what was going on but Deuce had stomach problems all night. He didn't have gas like usual but needed to out out multiple times last night. Every time he would immediately go and do his business. I don't mind being woken up if he is serious but 5:45 came way to early!!! I was also kind of worried about him because he was panting alot and very restless. I kept on checking his cap refill time to make sure he wasn't in some sort of shock. Our upstairs did get pretty hot yesterday as it got up to the 80s and we just had the window open so it did take a while before the air really cooled the room, but it wasn't that bad! I took my fan that I usually have on me and put it down in the floor where it blew on him all night. He would stretch out and pant, but be under the fan. He finally stopped about 3 am and went into a good solid sleep. Not sure why his tummy is so messed up right now. We are in the final "leg" of changing over his diet, so he is on 3/4 wellness and only 1/4 chicken soup. He is getting exclusively only chicken wellness treats and he still gets his one chewie in the morning. He isn't getting anything else so not sure what is hurting his stomach so much.

We worked on tunnel yesterday, late afternoon. Even though this picture has a weird hue to it, I love it because it shows his drive for the tunnel. We have been working lots of restrained recalls with it and decided to really try running with him now for the next step. If he didn't drive to the tunnel, we would go back to restrained recall, but he is really starting to drive to the tunnel every time. We also started curving the tunnel as well. We have a very short tunnel so can't do much but look forward to class this week when I can get him into lori's different tunnels. We also have been working alot on stand and he is doing really well with that. I hope to start working the moving sits and downs too, as I really like the DVD i bought as far as the info I have gotten off of it so far.

Last night when it cooled off a bit, Miller and I went for a nice long walk together. He has really been pouting alot lately so I need to do more just him and I. Well, I see daylight so time for us to head out for our morning walk! I am starting to increase how much we walk as Deuce wants to go more and my leg/knee lets me go more. I supposedly only have two more weeks of PT but we shall see. We started high impact work on friday and I could barely walk on saturday!

What to do today? Lazy sunday maybe?

I caught all the boys sleeping together. They were actually all almost touching which is a miracle. Usually miller or harley gets grumpy when he touches them. I think for the most part, Harley has totally accepted Deuce but Miller seems to be the one that still has issues. I think it is more jealously that i work with Deuce so much. Am planning on going to the park and setting some sequences up today and just working Miller. Deuce can come and watch, maybe. Everyone got rawhides yesterday so that was a big hit that everyone got something and not just Deuce.

Last night I continued to watch my new DVD. This is going to be a very slow process for me as I like to take notes, pause it and try stuff out. So far I have only gotten through three sections. I think I still have over an hours worth of video to watch. I really like her ideas so hope to incorporate them into my training. She is really big on training the release and so am I, and she is really big on using verbal cues for the sit, down, ok, and stay with no physical cues at all, and I am trying really hard to keep this philosophy going. I am working on the stand cue right now and am having problems with it. Of course in the video, her dog does it no problem. She puts pressure on their nose at the sit and the dog's butt just pops up. Well deuce just folds down so we are trying to just push on his chest to pop up his butt. It is great hind end awareness because his little butt has to be independent and I think that his why he is having some issues. She also does alot of moving sit and downs so looking forward to working on those as well. Deuce still wants to down as he is default behavior so working lots of sits!

Late yesterday afternoon, I decided to drag my tunnel outside the fence and wash it off really good. My tunnel has lived outside for probably about 7 or so years so it gets pretty yucky. I had tried to drag it outside the fence and many a wolf spider jumped out at me so I decided they had to die by drowning. Got it set up on saw horses and gave it a good bath and then let it dry before we worked deuce on it. We have previously been letting him run behind harley but decided that he really needed to understand more what he was doing. Barb and I had done some restrained recalls after class so Tony and I worked on doing restrained recalls into the tunnel and throwing the food tube. We tried to each run and get him to drive into the tunnel and he did a couple of times but also ran around the entrance a few times which to me means he really doesn't understand tunnel yet. I want him driving to it so we went back to restrained recalls.

I will have to say, Tony and I are really coming together with the training of Deuce, even though he will be my agility dog. He has been very helpful with suggestions and has been very eager to help me try out whatever. It just seems like with Harley, we constantly fought about what to do when and how to do it and this time it is completely different. Maybe it is because Harley is now his dog for sure? Don't know but I am liking it!

Well, off to find out what the plan is for the day. The weather is very nice but have no exact plans. I am sure there will be some football watching as tony did not watch at all yesterday as we were so busy. I would like to get the second part of our allstar seminar done today so I can have both parts to the other trainers for review so we can talk about it in Lincoln. Lincoln has always been my favorite show for some reason, even though we have had the weirdest stuff happen there. Have had to deal with tiger piss, crappy equipment, a grouch course builder that got on the mic and called us all bitches, no electricity, and camping in the sub freezing weather!

Saturday afternoon crash

So while the doggies are crashed out, thought I would update all the fun stuff we did today. Firs I re-thought the crate situation and decided to go with this idea instead of what I had earlier this morning.

Decided to go and re-weigh deuce, as I thought he had gained some weight, and boy, he did! In less than a week he has put on almost 4 lbs! I am so happy that he is putting on some weight and is considered normal! We also got to perform our behaviors we have been working on for the ladies that were waiting to see Dr. J, my vet. Deuce is such a ham and gets lots of laughs from everyone he performs for! I guess I should go ahead and teach him some tricks so he can be even funnier! We decided to take our show on the road and headed out to Petco to work some behaviors. He did great, especially with the distractions of the other dogs that frequent Petco. After that we headed over to the local dog wash and had our very first dog wash bath. While I think he was a little scared, he took it like a champ and continued to take food from me even though he was not happy about being bathed. I used the forced air dryer on him and gave him lots of cookies for tolerating being blown dry. I only blew him partially dry as he was shaking but again, he was taking cookies and doing his nose touch to my hand. He again had to perform for the lady that works at Claire and Harley's and got a cookie from her and a star cookie with white frosting from me. When we got home, he was worn out and crashed for a while.

Tony and I did our usual saturday in wamego routine, lunch at the friendship house, antique shopping, and a visit to the winery. I really love living in such a small cute town and hope that all the little businesses that thrive here continue to thrive. When we got back he was ready to get out and play. He had taken a very large poop in his litter box and for that reason the litter box is staying for now. I don't think it is affecting his potty training and now keep it the crate closed so that he has to tell me when he needs out or I have to be very proactive to avoid accidents!

We are going to go out and work tunnel tonight. I drug it outside of our fence and cleaned it out really well with the hose. It lives outside all the time and tends to get yucky and spidery so I wanted it to be clean for us to practice. Will try and get some good pics tonight of Deuce and the tunnel!

It's too early to be up and going!

This is Deuce's new digs. I am not sure I like this and will probably change it quickly. It seems that the litter dust is still everywhere, even though the litter box is in the back of the kennel. I am also afraid he is going to pee all over the pad too so may take that out. I am thinking that he is going to make a huge mess all over the carpet too! Maybe I just talked myself into putting the ex-pen back up! I was just getting tired of having to clean the living room everyday as there would be litter dust and litter everywhere. The other day when I came home, he had taken the tarp and gotten it all balled up in the center of the ex-pen and in the process had pulled all the sides in so he just had a very small area to be in. He had also started peeing on the tarp instead of entering the ex-pen and going in his litter box and I don't want that to become a habit either. I am sure he was having an accident or two in the ex-pen on the tarp everyday and it was probably drying up before I got home. I am still debating about just getting rid of the litter box altogether, but not sure. There is occasionally poop in the box and I would hate for him to do that in the kennel and then smear it everywhere. I think we will transition to this for now and then a smaller kennel without the litter box at all will be next. Tony is going to kill me but that will mean yet another wire crate to buy! We just got one for the upstairs for his bedroom crate as we had moved that crate to the car so at least three dogs were crated when we drove. I don't want to leave him in the bedroom during the day as I don't think the dogs spend very much time up there when we are gone. Would much rather him be downstairs but don't want to drag that crate up and down the stairs everyday. Oh well, one can never have too many wire crates, right?

Deuce did not have a good night last night. I had moved the pad from his crate that he sleeps in at night down to his daytime crate. I had just put a very small fleece pad in there and it was slightly smaller than his crate so every time he moved around, I heard his little toe nails clicking. He seemed to be very restless all night and one time, even though he wasn't crying, I got up and took him out and he did poop. He also has had really bad gas this whole week. I am wondering if he can take half a pepto tablet. Will call the vet this morning and ask because it is really stinky! He is almost transitioned over to wellness chicken and is on wellness chicken treats for training. Anyway, I feel like I did not get very restful sleep, so hoping when he crashes this morning that I can crash too. He and harley are currently playing hard! I have the door open to the backyard so they are making the rounds, running through the living room, out the dining room, through the kitchen, out to the deck, out in the yard and back. I hope they wear each other out!

Plans for the day include watching my new dvd I finally got. Watched some last night and took lots of notes. Only got through the very first part of the hands on section. I like to pause it and try out what she is talking about and then start it again. I am a stickler for details so it may take me a week or more to watch this video!!! I also want to go to the park and work some behaviors if the weather is nice. Tony is stuck in Topeka all day taking a continuing education class so we will have most of the day to ourselves. I would also like to take Deuce to Claire and Harley's, our local dog wash place and give him a bath. He stinks! I think it would be much easier to do it there than try and hold him in my sink. I want to get a current weight on him too so maybe a trip to his favorite vet. I swear he has put on a little chunk this week and should as much as he is getting now. He is getting two cups of food and then probably another half a cup in his buster cube, plus treats for training. Well, he is crashed so maybe I should crash too!!!! Will probably post more later as the day progresses.

TGIF

Thank God it is Friday! I am so ready for the weekend even though we have nothing planned. Finally got my dvd in the mail and of course I had class last night so didn't get to watch any of it. Will probably watch it and drink some good Harvest Moon and Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale tonight. Deuce got to go out to class last night and got to do some stuff while the classes were going on. I didn't work as many behaviors as I normally do as I really wanted to listen more to what Lori and Joc were teaching. I am teaching the pre-comp class next week so I wanted to really watch them and see where they were and what they were having problems with. So, he just got to be out and be with me and get drug around! I did some short work on toes on Lori's balance disc as it is different than mine and he was doing alright with it. We still need a ton of practice on different surfaces for sure. Deuce had to sit in his crate while we worked in our class and he was not a very happy boy. In fact, he screamed pretty much the entire hour and a half we had class. He also knocked over his water bowl as he just has a free standing bowl in his crate and pretty much soaked himself and his crate pad. When I got done and got him out to play with the other dogs before we left, he was sitting in a pool of water, looking very put out. Oh well, he is going to have to understand that he can't always be out with me.

I am still trying to up Deuce's food. He is up to 2 cups now and he constantly has gas and sometimes a little diarrhea. I am really having to watch his little tummy as we are trying to switch him over to wellness and of course he is getting wellness treats now exclusively so lots of changes to his little tummy. He was solid this morning so I am not too concerned but the farts last night in his kennel were diabolical! We didn't get into bed till almost 11 and he slept till 6:30 and was still asleep when I got up so he probably would have made it till at least 7.

Well, since I am on here so late this morning, I am going to end with that but will blog more later!