Reading with Haddie

This post needs no explanation ~ 

but feel free to comment your captions. 

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! 

Car Rides

Haddie outgrew her last kennel a month ago, and the large size kennel is a tight squeeze into the back of our Rav4 (not to mention a complete hassle getting it in/out of the house for all our outings). After great feedback from all of you, I decided on the following.

I purchased a seat belt harness at the local pet supply store. And using the tie out that we purchased from our CCI Chapter, I hook the tie out to the harness and to the metal tie-out in the cargo area of our car.

During the winter I exchanged her bed in our house that I had purchased when we first received Haddie with a fluffy pet blanket for the floor. The bed was just too cumbersome for our family room, and wasn't as transferable around the house, and washing it was a pain! The blanket works much better for so many reasons. The bed stayed under the stair closet for many months. I'm glad I did not completely toss it, as it works great in the back of our car.

Haddie is easy to get in and out of the car now. Getting in and out of the harness has been a good learning experience for us both; many times I was challenged because once the harness is fully unclipped, it can twist easily and had me all confused on how to get it straightened out and around her. But we have worked out the kinks and we are more smooth in our transitions.

With this set-up Haddie is free to look out the window, although she never chooses to do so. She always rides like the picture below - from the moment she is strapped in. One would think that she does not like car rides, but she always skips to the car with tail wagging when it is time to go.

The views below are rare, but so adorable. She will get into this position if we are parked and have been waiting awhile before we exit. But never while moving. Perhaps she is just that safety-conscious.

I am so happy to have this new set up. Travel time is such a breeze and she is so good.

Haddie's First Movie

One of the To Do Items on Haddie's outing's list that has been gnawing at me for some time has been taking her to the movies. I would agree that I sometimes over think her outings - perhaps setting her up too perfectly for success every time. But I am one that likes a bit of control, so I know part of it is just me.

I decided on a mid-day movie, while all the kids were in school, and the weather was starting to overcast. The movie I chose was only 1 hour, 18 minutes - yes, I looked that part up. Partly because I was on a time constraint to get my two lovies from their school, and partly because ... again ... I wanted to set Haddie up for ultimate success and not overstay her experience.

I bought one ticket for the movie Chimpanzee. The ticket taker smiled at Haddie and let us proceed to our movie room which was dimmed low. We were the only ones in the room. I walked Haddie through the isles before choosing our seat near the top. Soon two ladies joined us, but sat many rows apart. Haddie could hear them talking before the movie started, but could not find them.

She explored while the advertising was moving on the screen creating really the only light for me to see where she was sniffing. Haddie is a great sniffer, so much so that I am going to start adding that find in her monthly reports in case she does not have a fit at CCI, maybe a different organization can use her skills. She will sniff, but she rarely swipes a lick.

Until ...

She found her love at the bottom of the movie house seats. Oh my goodness, I found how much I appreciated all the other millions of times where she has chosen to Watch Her Mouth. This was a real struggle for her today. She was fidgety for the first twenty minutes, obeying about 80% of her Down command, and only about 10% of No Lick!

Eventually she finally gave in and fell asleep on my foot. At least I knew where her mouth was!

But it was a light sleep because every time I might have slightly moved my position (not even my feet) she popped her head up to check in. That was fine, but really she needed to just trust me that we weren't headed out the door unless I actually told her.

At one point I had her do a Lap and it proved to be my favorite moment. She caught the movement of the Chimps on the big screen and her face was very curious and alert. And then, she leaned her head against my head, so we were cheek to cheek as she starrrrrrrrrrrrred at the Chimps on the screen. I kissed her cheek and whispered to her. It was the best Haddie-Moment - she was adorable!

Then it was off and back in a Down until the movie was over. It proved to be a great first movie with all the animals noises from the jungle, and the Chimps. The music was plenty blaring and varied. However, noises have never phased her; this environment had no affect on Haddie either.

We will return for additional movies before she goes off to College. She will need more experience to settle in more quickly, stay in her commanded position, and keep from licking
a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.

I'm happy to help in this learning curve with Haddie - watching movies? Sure!

Haddie loves water

We will be buying a kid-sized, puppy-proof swimming pool for Haddie shortly. This girl loves the water from the first day we brought her home on that hot August afternoon. She started off drinking her water this way in the house, but thankfully I was able to break that habit quickly. It was a mess!

Now she drinks her water this way outside only. I'm not sure if this is a positive trait to have, but she has to have some fun while doing all her strenuous training expectations. We get splash-zone play after she's run the yard with her ball. Panting and tuckered out she splashes her way into cool down.

I can not wait for that swimmin' pool. I imagine she will be a sloppy, happy mess!!!  Too cute.

Sounds Like ...

Have you ever tried this? Say a word that sounds like a command and see if your PIT reacts to the command? The reaction can be comical.

Now that Haddie is consistent in knowing her commands I tried the Switch-A-Roo on her. Every morning we have 1:1 time during our grooming session secured in our closed laundry room. Daily cradle time equals teeth brushing, and hair brushing, and once a week ear cleaning - we get it all done before we start the day. Then, it is a work on the series of commands that we can accomplish in our dinky laundry room.

Sit. Down. Shake. Roll. Stand. Heel. Side. Back. Turn. Up. Visit. Wait.

I scramble them up so the order is never the same, and sometimes I leave some out.

But yesterday I instead of Down I said, "Doughnut", "Daisy", "Daffy" ... and Haddie didn't move from her Sit, but sometimes would twitch like she thought a Down was coming. It was funny. Then I said Down and she responded correctly.

I think it is a sign that she knows the word.

Her eyes are so expressive!! I love how much you can see this cutie think while waiting for her toy, or a command, or a treat, or her food bowl. Her chocolate eyes melt me. And her cute head - how it tilts when she is processing the words is that typical Lab adorable way.

Sounds Like .... yep, I love Haddie!!!

Happy Saturday

I wish I had not been so impressed with our CCI Puppy and had gotten up from the couch to snap a photo of a moment last night.

My brother and his family came over for dinner last night, and while Haddie has met them in the past she has not spent a lot of time with them, nor necessarily "hung out" with them. The times she has seen them she has been on leash, at my parent's house, controlling her manners and learning about being social, without being social.

Last night while at our house and sitting in the family room, I let Haddie out on her long leash and made her sit/down next to me, while her bum wiggled and pleaded to see my brother and his wife on the opposite couch. They were awesome and ignored her.

It took about fifteen minutes of us all talking and ignoring Haddie, minus the times I needed to correct her for breaking her sit/down commands. She eventually chilled out.

I gave her the release and she calmly walked over to my brother and his wife and got all the love and attention she had been waiting for. Then, I suggested she get her "pink toy" (a rubber doughnut looking-thing that she has yet to destroy) and to see my brother. She did.

Then the awe struck me and I couldn't move. It was so fun to watch the two play together. At first it was the common, throw-retrieve approach, and then my brother, having fun, tried to place the doughnut on her nose. It worked, but she was squirmy. I told him the command would be Wait to get her to stop moving (not sure if it this is technically true because it wasn't until she was about 7 months old did we get the Wait command clarified in class. Apparently a lot of us had been using the Wait command like a Stay command and all of our pups were rocking it!). She did, he placed it, she didn't move, he laughed, Game On!

I proceeded to spell-out the series of commands he could give her, not really sure if she would obey as she technically has never seen him in an authority role over her. It was not like our weekly Trainer from class was visiting our home and giving her commands.

She obeyed every! single! one! I was enjoying the "awe moment" as much as my brother and sister-in-law were. My favorite was the list of commands: Sit. Wait. tossed doughnut. Haddie didn't move. Okay! and she was off. Or this one was impressive too: Down. Roll ... because for the longest time she would not do this command for anyone! Loved it that she was listening and took direction from my brother.

The rest of the night was all about her wandering and chilling out. She had passed the test ~ what a Happy Saturday!!!

She doesn't speak

I think I might have created an uphill battle. Haddie does not speak.

When she came to our home she was a wiggly puppy who never made a sound, however, she was much more excitable then than she is now at 10 months.

We have a beagle that barks at cats who cross her vision while starring out the front window, or who lurk too closely to our back fence line. Otherwise, Cora is a silent dog.

My thought was that I did not want two barking dogs. Not taking into account the big picture that one of those dogs (Haddie) would have to learn to not bark unless commanded, and who would stop when commanded. Really, she would be under my lead in regards to barking and it should have never been a concern nor developed into an issue.

But at the same time, my thought was on a fellow CCI pup who attends our church like Haddie. Haddie is the silent one under our feet, while other puppy is under foot but will routinely give a quick bark every time the music begins after moments of no music. (That puppy's PR is not too happy, but I secretively think it is funny since our Worship Director is also a CCI PR - hahaha).

That is all the behind the scenes story to current day with a CCI 10 month old puppy who does not speak.

Now, I want her to speak. We chatted with our trainer last night and she said to get Haddie really wound up, perhaps with the best savoring treat you can think of, and see if she will get so excited that she'll bark at you. She gave an example with a three month old pup in class. The puppy got wound up and sure enough barked at the trainer and received the reward.

My son laughed politely and said, 'Okay, get Haddie excited ...."  The trainer laughed too as she knows that our pup is very mellow so we were already in an uphill battle (remember, mellow does not relate to naughty - she can be naughty).

Haddie loves chicken. Loves, loves, loves. Her commands can be spot on and fast when she knows that chicken is coming her way. I rarely use chicken because I don't want her relying on it. I only pull it out when I know I have a tough outing, or a tough learning objective.

I pulled out the chicken tonight and Haddie got excited by Haddie's standards, and at one point her cheeks were puffing out in that doggy way that looks like they were going to let her voice be heard, but nothing. Nothing. Poor girl was beside herself trying to do what we were asking.

We eventually stopped, gave it a rest, distracted her with different things to break the concentration before going back to work on commands she knew in order for the chicken reward.

Got any ideas? Open to suggestions on how you make a 10 month old puppy Speak!