Dogs teaching dogs
Otis likes the treadmill
We’ve had a busy week – Otis visited us for a week and overlapped with Teddy who is still here and now Jackson has joined him! So many male dogs … but everyone has gotten along great.
Otis is a hard worker and while he was here he asked for treadmill work every night. He asked by running around the basement, pushing the heavy leather furniture around with his head and then jumping on the treadmill and looking at me longingly. Every night he’d run for a half an hour – at 7.0 mph. I can’t keep up that pace myself, but he did. And little Teddy, nearly 5 months old, watched him. So, Otie has left and I miss him. He is a sweet, simple, joyful and accepting spirit. And I think Teddy misses him too.
Teddy watching Otis on the treadmill
Tonight Teddy got on the treadmill all by himself. I ran to get his leash and some cheese and turned on the power. Ever so gingerly, Teddy started to walk, almost on tip toes. He did fantastic! It seemed to me that he had learned how not only to do it but to not be afraid of it from watching his buddy Otis! I was amazed.
Chloe’s reunion photos
Well, Thanksgiving is over and I have a chance to get back to things that I’ve been meaning to do. One of those is to post more photos from the Chloe reunion. Dogs romping in the autumn…what’s not to like?
 Indy, Koda, and Poppy say hello to Chloe - is she remembering when she used to nurse them? It looked that way to all of us. It was one of her first gestures to them when she first arrived. |
 Jackson and Indy playing tug of war with a stick while Chloe supervises |
 Poppy, Jackson and Koda on the run |
 The group |
 Chloe looks on while Indy, Jubilee and Lily put Poppy in her place |
 Indy, Jackson and Lily with proud mama Chloe |
 Jackson drinking while Koda sniffs Lily's ear |
 The group having fun. |
 Chloe says hello to Jubliee while Indy looks on. |
(click on each photo to see at full size)
Images of Chloe’s Family Reunion
Here is a slide show on Photobucket, complied by Koda‘s owner (thank you very much Pam!) The password to get in is case sensitive so use the capital C: Chloesgroup. It gives you a great sense of the joy of that day. It was so amazing that I am still feeling the after affects – warm, happy, love energy all around. Those pups remembered one another and they remembered their mama, Chloe. It was such a joy to see them running, wrestling, nosing, and chasing one another.
In this Photobucket video (use same password to view), Indy and Jackson wrestle with a stick while Poppy tries to get Chloe to break up the fun. Another video from the Chloe family reunion.
Update on Jackson
Here is an update on Jackson (formerly Jacob of Chloe‘s litter)…
It’s been a while, so I thought I would give everyone a quick update on how Jackson is doing. He has grown to be quite the big boy, weighing in at about 40 pounds at 18 weeks. He really doesn’t look that big, I guess he’s just solid. He is still good natured and loves to see new people and places. He used to cry and whine in the car, but now he goes and sits next to the van sometimes and is happy to go just about anywhere with us.
He loves playing outside, and lately he can spend a lot of time romping in the yard trying to chase moths. He has recently gone through a phase of hiding his bones & rawhides outside. If we are in the house he will sit by the door and whine softly. When we take him out he runs to the base of a tree, sets the rawhide down, then with his paws he digs a hole in the mulch. Then he’ll pick the rawide back up and gently put it in the hole and press it in with his nose. Then, using his nose again, not his paws, he covers up the rawhide and fills the hole. It’s pretty interesting to watch.
Yesterday he got his “big snip” at the vet’s office, so there won’t be any little Jackson’s running around in the future. They sent us home with a cone so he can’t lick his stitches, but it is WAY too big for him, so on the advice of a friend we fitted him with a custom t-shirt which I put over his head, his front legs through the sleeves, and then gather up the shirt over his butt and between his back legs and rubberband it off on one side of his tail. We have to undo it every time we take him outside to go, but it does keep him from getting to that area, and it is much more comfortable than the dreaded cone.
He is slowly getting used to the back to school routine, but hates to see the boys leave in the morning. I hope you and your pups are all doing well.
Update on puppy Poppy
Here is an update on Poppy, a pup from Chloe’s litter. We love getting these updates to pass along!
Poppy also just had her exam and vaccinations last week and she did well. She has grown a bit but is still seems to be the smallest one at 8.2 lbs although I think she has grown since. Like Jackson (formerly Jacob) — Poppy is getting a little more golden in her face and ears — at this point we have not noticed her stripe getting smaller and hope she keeps this as well.
Our biggest challenge has been the biting — but have since yesterday taken a different approach and it seems to be making all the difference. I watched a dog training video that talked about how this biting is the normal way puppies play with each other so we just need to redirect them. I kind of knew this but hearing this again helped me take a different approach. We were almost in a power struggle and I was getting her more riled up than redirecting her, but now instead of continually saying no and clapping my hands — If she bites my hand I say one ‘no bite’ and gently redirect her to her toy and continue to do this in a gentle manner. When she is biting on her toy I continually praise her and if she comes up and licks me instead of bites. I continually say good ‘kisses’ and she still gets a bit riled up at times or starts biting too hard but then I step out of her area for a bit or take her for a walk — and these times that she gets kind of crazy riled up seems to happen less and don’t last as long.
She seems to be fine with her crate and finally slept for 7 hours for the first time last night (11 – 6). She was getting up at 5. She has been to quite a few of my kids softball baseball games and is soooo good at these games (as long as we find her shade) — all the kids love having her there and she really seems to enjoy the kids as well — she is also making a lot of friends in our neighborhood!
