Pet Rock

It never fails, as soon as I think that Cinder was perfectly housebroken, she proves me wrong. This afternoon, she confused the green carpet in the basement with our lawn. It's so strange because she always sits by the door when she has to go out. Oh Well, back to the start, constant supervision is re instituted.

On our walk, we stopped at the playground for more confidence building; up and down the steps, over hole-y platforms, and across the wobbly bridge. On the way home, she met a large scary rock and we had to make friends with it.

Her appetite is improving, Cinder ate three cups of food for dinner. For dessert, we started her cranberry treatments. Then she needed her ears cleaned which she didn't mind too much. We wrapped up the day with some cradling to calm her and teach her that we are dominant.

First Trip

We finally felt comfortable and confident enough to take Cinder shopping. A quick trip to Wal-Mart where she met a nice lady. Then over to the grocery store where we met two small children. She kept four paws on the ground during both encounters. Much better than the other day when she jumped on a child in a stroller. Thankfully she and her parent were dog friendly.

The adventure through the grocery store was probably too long and too soon. She was quite impatient. She was either tugging when I was stopped or stretched out on the cool floor when I wanted to move. She attacked every spot on the floor. I must have told her to LEAVE IT a hundred times. The grocery store has to be the ultimate training ground for LEAVE IT and HEEL. It will be a while before we make a return visit.

Good news today is that she handled the noise from the band better. Not fleeing in terror and her tail remained up. Our goal is to get her ready for the Canine Good Citizen test before we pass her to the next raiser in July. Not that she will take the test, just be ready to; we'll let Jan take her through after she gets Marley to pass.

WANTED: Puppy Raisers

We are expecting a litter of OccuPaws puppies very soon. Actually any day now, which means that right after the 4th of July, we will have six to twelve puppies that need a temporary home and a loving foster family. If interested please check out the puppy raiser page, fill out an application, or contact the puppy coordinator.

PUPPY UPDATE:
At 7:30 pm, Reese gave birth to a "huge" black male , breech. He is nursing fine.

It's now 8:34 pm, we have 2large black boys and 1 black female, all breech.

It is now 12:39 am, Reese is sleeping comfortably with her new family of 4 black males and 3 black females. All are doing fine.



If you enjoy reading the blog, maybe it's time to join our family. If you can't commit to raising a puppy, please send a blog link to all your puppy loving friends. I guess that means all your friends because who doesn't like puppies. It will bring you good karma and who knows they may add a cute cuddly puppy to their household that you can stop by to visit anytime you want.

Sending the link is easy, just click the envelope at the bottom of this post and enter your friends' email addresses. Thank You so much for spreading the word about this rewarding experience.

Best In Class

Last night at puppy socialization class, our little girl redeemed herself. Cinder was "Best in Class", but I may be a bit biased. She has started to DOWN on voice command and will LEAVE IT after one correction. Practicing recalls (having her come to me), she even STAYed while I walked away. As in the past her recall was solid - responsive and eager to come when called.

Of course the class ended with puppy play time. The terror was let loose to attack any and every dog in sight. Promise was there also, so she was the most common target. Actually Promise may be more of an instigator. The secret to Cinder's improved behavior was that I kept her away from Promise until play time.

Cinder continues to be very disturbed by loud noises and is easily/often distracted by other canines. The band percussion practice and thunderstorm were issues yesterday. She will pick up any/all items from the ground. She doesn't walk very controlled either, so she still needs a lot of work.

Training?

We had another OccuPaws training session this evening. Cinder was horrible, but then again she is only three months old. She was contantly pulling on the leash to get after the other dogs. Her favorite target was her half sister Promise, who is a week younger. If either puppy saw the other she would attack. Overall not much training.


Earlier in the day, I introduced the FIX IT command when Cinder finds herself on the wrong side of a tree or pole. She needs to learn to avoid the situation or learn how to navigate the the correct side without making matters worse. Our focus has been on teaching the DOWN command and secondarily the STAY.

Our trainer promised to post plenty of pictures of the session. Don't hold your breath :-) Here they are:

Warning

Warning to Cinder's future puppy raisers: On our way home from Bark For Life the other day, which was a three minute drive, Cinder chewed clean through our GPS power supply cord. It was not plugged in so she was not hurt and I was able to reconnect the two ends.

She's at that stage where everything is potentially a food source. Everything goes in the mouth for a quick taste test. Anything not awful, applying dog taste, gets used as a chew toy.

Bark for Life, part deux

Hi Fellow Woofs,



Here are a few more pictures from the Bark for Life and one of me resting comfortably at Mound's on Sunday.



All for Now,



Slick

Brewers

This year Cinder accompanied us on our annual trek to Miller park. As we approached the corporate tailgate, we were swarmed by a group of puppy loving children. This sight was repeated continually throughout the pre-game festivities, as we entered the stadium, and as we exited.

She showed some fear of the music blasting from the speaker. So we spent some time conditioning her to the music using treats. One teenage boy gave her some special attention to help her settle in.

As you can see we had Bob Uecker's seats; we were literally in the top row. A long walk up for the little girl. She stopped a few times for pats on the head. Other than waking her up for this photo op, she slept through the entire game. Having just awoken, she refused to go down the steep stairs. We had to carry her down the first flight, but walked the rest of the way with the exception of the escalators. She never hinted at taking a potty break until we hit the grass.

After the game, we stopped at a restaurant for some dinner. As we were leaving, Cinder encountered a group of girls that thought she was the cutest thing ever. They loved the tiny guide dog. Cinder was distracted by the crowd or the scents and she ran smack dab into a floor sign. Well, the girls didn't think that she would make a very good guide dog after that demonstration.

Bark for Life

This morning we had a tray of stuck ice cubes thawing on the counter, so I taught Cinder to bob for ice cubes. She loves ice and must have retrieved half a dozen, each time blowing bubbles in her water as she had to trap the ice on the bottom of her water bowl.

Cinder spent the afternoon being cute to get pets from humans and sniffing butts to make friends with canines. She surpassed her monthly quota for meet/greet and socialization in one day. She met up with her pal Slick, Reggie, Divit, and Deegan. None of them were too happy to see the four legged black terror. On the walk and cruising the booths, we had plenty of opportunities to work on LEAVE IT. Barb laughed at me when, out of habit, I threw in a HEEL command.

This evening our puppy took an IQ test. It was similar to the one where you throw a towel over your dog's head to see how long it takes them to uncover their eyes. Watching over our backyard Cinder spied a bug on the window. Bump, Ouch, Nothing. Bump, Ouch, Still There. It took her two minutes and multiple attempts to figure out that she couldn't get to the bug on the outside of the window. Oh well, she is a dog and only three months old.

Tough

We received a tip on Wednesday night to help keep Cinder from chewing on her leash - soak it in dish soap. We tried it and we might not have soaked it long enough because she enjoyed the taste and licked it more. This may be our toughest test.

Although usually fearful of barking, Cinder is fascinated by two fenced in dogs that always bark at us as we walk past. Working hard on this for the past couple days, she is getting better, but this may be our toughest test.

"Training is boring." Cinder knows SIT, can be lured into a DOWN, will WATCH you, and decides to LEAVE IT after a few corrections. To spice things up, we began working on the STAY command tonight, back and forth in the living room. She also waits at the door until we tell her it's OK. She wants so badly to follow and she hones in on any movement or sound; this may be our toughest test.

Cinder is entranced by any moving object or noise, especially dogs. This semi-neurotic puppy chases her tail, often. When she catches it, she spins around until she falls over. We redirect her with toys when we can, but this may be our toughest test.

On our walk after dark, she was frightened by a grill, a barking dog, and her shadow. Cinder needs more exposure to different things to develop more confidence. The night is scarier than the day. This may be our toughest test.

She didn't seem to like blankets until this episode:


Medical Update: still urinates frequently when outside near grass, appetite improving

Talking Box

Cinder had another busy day. She stopped by the vet to pay her bill and then took a long car ride to Janesville. She is understanding the car better every trip. The one thing that caused her some confusion was the Talking Box (GPS). Cinder heard a voice and knew it wasn't Lisa or I. Initially she kept searching for the other lady. Now she doesn't even seem to notice.

Once in Janesville, she spent an hour in the ice cream shop, then walked over for dinner, and then more ice cream for dessert. The workers at both places couldn't leave her alone, she is so cute. We received kudos for the work that we all do from a woman whose friend just received his guide dog.

Cinder's evening culminated with another puppy class where she worked on SIT, DOWN, WATCH, and LEAVE IT before being allowed to socialize. She played with the smaller dogs for a bit and then joined Marley and Carmen for an educational lesson. Again she returned home exhausted - Good Dog.

Training Day

Bodie and Moby Here,

We saw Lilly gave a report about training her humans so we thought we would mention our work as well. Pretty much the same routine as Lilly is doing, but we have two dogs and two humans to train - lots of walking. We had an O & M Instructor today to teach our humans sighted guide work, which will be similar to guiding with us.


Everyone was doing sooo well that we each had a very brief session with both children.


They are both using the canes nicely as we move, and not hitting us :-) Why, they even used a thing called shorelining along a curb.


We were quite impressed. As I understand it, Mark and Barb will be coming back several more times - the next time at the mall.

Wheee, food perhaps.

We'll keep you pups posted,

Moby and Bodie

Lilly

Hello there!

This is Miss Lilly reporting from my new family's home. I LOVE IT HERE!!

Everything is going well, I'm totally adicted to my new family and did I tell you - I LOVE IT HERE!!

Anyhow, I thought I would tell you about my latest sessions training humans. They are learning doggie language and cues to tell me exactly what they want me to do.


Right now it is just practice, practice, practice. Lots of walks with me in harness with either Tony or Becca telling me what to do and the other one wearing a blindfold and tapping with a white cane.


I'm pretty used to that cane now - just don't hit me!

I guess everyone is doing pretty good since I heard all of them talking about ...just one or two more sessions...next time with Tino...loose leash....good job...etc.


And here is back home getting my favorite - tummy rub.


Lilly

Happy Birthday Slick