seriously like CHILDREN!!

Cora has always been a stuffed animal lover - all of her toys have always been the stuffed dog toys, and they look brand new because she never destroys. Her way of playing is carrying the toy around the house and rotating through sleeping with them. That's it. Not sure how that is "fun" but she loves it.

Haddie has always been a hard toy lover - all of her toys have always been the heavy chewing variety. Stuffed toys are quickly destroyed, mainly during teething - she has gotten a wee bit better. She likes to chew and chew and chew. Not sure how that is "fun" either, it would give me a headache if I chewed that hard and for that long. 

From the beginning, Cora never bothered Haddie's toys and for some reason, Haddie has naturally always avoided Cora's toys. Cora's toys sit in plain sight in the dog toy box in the family room, and Haddie will only sniff them, but never pull any of them out. Amazing really. We didn't teach her that. The only time Haddie shows interest in the stuffed variety is when it is in Cora's mouth.  

There is a Blue Puffer Fish that recently has been the learning phase of Tug-O-War between the two pups. I honestly have not studied how to get two dogs not to play Tug-O-War (but I think they are not supposed to, right? Feel free to comment on this!!!), so I usually end up finding ways to get the dogs to split up, or I take the toy myself. 

The inspiration of this blog post just happened. The dogs were going crazy through the house because the Blue Puffer Fish was in Cora's mouth as she cruised around - Haddie chasing her and being wild (insert bad puppy manners)!!  I got Haddie settled into her bed (tie out) and let Cora continue her playtime with Blue Fish. 

Haddie was watching Cora run this way and that past her bed ... perked and alert, but sitting nicely. And then Cora made a sharp left turn onto Haddie's bed and dropped the Blue Fish and left. Haddie's eyes were HILARIOUS!!! What a great expression of disbelief - I could seriously see her saying, "Whaaaaat? I'm kinda like in a time out - do I dare pick up Blue Fish?! Moooooom!?!" 

Cora walked away about 12 feet, and then just sat looking at Haddie, as if waiting for Haddie's turn to run away with Blue Fish. 

These two are seriously like CHILDREN!

Mutual Love

My little sidekick when she is not in school is my girl. She loves to take Haddie on outings with me, and she does a great job controlling the leash and situation.

The other day we were out for a quick grocery shopping trip. We must have hit the overly friendly crowd as we were stopped more times than normal. It wasn't until we got back into the car that we both looked at each other in exhaustion and said, "Wow! Haddie did great!".

Haddie has been known to get pretty excited during greetings. She went through a phase of jumping - not necessarily on people as we were always able to stop her before she made contact, but it was annoying and disobedient nonetheless.

However, last Sunday at church and during outings this week, Haddie kept her feet and bum on the floor the entire time anyone asked to pet her. The entire time!  That was a huge change and accomplishment for Team Haddie!!

My girl and Haddie work well together ~ they certainly love one another!!!

8 MONTHS!!!

Eight Months Old.

As I unloaded the dishes last night I had a flashback to when I started training Haddie on the expectation of her job in unloading and loading the dishwasher. I have this spot in my kitchen that is out of the way in my line of travel to put dishes away, so very early in her arrival I commanded a Down, or a Sit, and worked on her staying while I did my kitchen duty.

In the beginning - she was up and down, and here and there. Dishwasher unloading took three times as long, but of course I did not give up in training.

Last night she just went to her spot, and Down she went. And, she fell asleep. Ha! It didn't take me that long to do my chore, Haddie!  She just knows the expectation and won't move until I give her the Release.

Sept 25, 2011

How far she has come in the six months that we've been a team! She knows most of her commands - I am purposefully saving some (like Speak - my reasoning for another post) - which really makes me take pause at all that we have accomplished together in 5 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days together.

Feb 19, 2012

She is not perfect, and neither am I, but I am very happy with our current state of learning this CCI Training together.

Snuggles

Cora has been feeling the love this week and is all about getting close to Haddie. Like I've mentioned before, I really think that Cora would be fine if we Turned In Haddie sooner than later. She does not fuss with her in either a positive or negative way - she just plain ignores.

This week, however, Cora has chosen to love on Haddie. The girls and I were upstairs this week doing laundry when I caught some photos off my phone of the two friends (poor quality, but I had to catch it while I could).

Cora would not stop rolling into Haddie, and Haddie was as shocked as I was and just stared at the Beagle in disbelief. Haddie didn't know what to think, or do. Her one chance to play and enjoy, and she was struck in awe.

Cora has done this daily for the last four days. The newness for Haddie is starting to wear off, so there are times when I have to step in and break up the friendship as Haddie can get a little frisky for my 12 inch, 20 pound Beagle. It really isn't a fair match in my opinion.

But I am so glad to see Cora Volunteeeeering to repeatedly snuggle with Haddie.

I get it ...

Today's CCI Class brought "I get it" moments. It was the first class we've been to after a CCI Turn-In/Graduation Weekend.  The highlight was seeing the door open and watching a brand new Skilled Companion Dog enter with her new Handler.

The Handler is in our 4-H CCI Class. He flew down to California on February 5th to find his dog and start their training together. He graduated on Saturday, and then flew home. Everyone was anticipating their arrival tonight. It was SO FUN!

The Handler and his parent's shared with us about his experience, and it was fun to see the family and their dog working together in class. You can tell the bond is still in infancy stage - they are still learning to work together - and it will be so fun to watch firsthand their bond develop stronger every week. How exciting!

The other highlight for tonight was seeing the multiple 4-H kiddos that Turned'In their dogs over the weekend and who brought home new pups. Oh, how adorable to have puppies in the group again! While it is different to see one gal with her tiny black lab pup, versus her older, experienced, trained yellow lab, she was excited like Christmas morning. No tears or sad face at class because her other puppy was returned. Just shear joy that she gets to keep raising puppies and starting over.

I get it. I get the draw to this volunteer gig. I get the magnitude of the gift we are giving to others. I get the joy of learning that the puppies bring to us.

I get it ... 

Question of the week ...

If you are a regular reader, you know that I like to solicit advice and opinions from fellow Puppy Raisers. Here is my current scenario and question. 

Haddie is good for about a small handful of treats (spread out) during our outings until she gets an ugly combo of a dry cough and gagging. When that happens, I worry she is about ready to toss up her cookies. Thankfully, that has yet to happen. But sounds awful, looks awful, and can make heads turn.

Yesterday in church it got to be so obnoxious that I took her outside, just in case. Nothing came of it, but she seemed to settle down with the breath of fresh air. I stopped giving her treats after that, even though we stayed for an additional thirty minutes back inside before it was time to go home. Although treat-less, she was thankfully well behaved. 

Do other PR's have or have had this issue with their pups? What's the remedy? Is it a sign of stress? I am fairly confident her Gentle Leader is not too tight around her neck, but I will have our Trainer check it tomorrow at class. 

Any advice would be helpful ... Thanks!!!

Differences

The first dog that my husband and I ever purchased was from a rescue shelter. It was a yellow lab, a boy, 3 months old, that we named Buhner. He was good, but because of our young age, lack of knowledge, and working full time, he could have been even better. It truly is amazing how much he behaved for how little we knew how to guide him. Loved him!!

Labs are smilers. I never picked up on this until we got our Beagle after Buhner passed away. I remember quickly realizing this during Cora's first few days with us. I thought she was unhappy. I thought we had messed up. She! never! smiled!  It was three months later during the heat of the summer did I see her smile ... she was panting. It was there that I finally realized Beagles must not get overheated, and therefore don't need to pant, and therefore don't smile.

Haddie came to live with us and she immediately smiled. Panting. Awww, it was fun to see a dog smile once again. I missed that part for sure!

Haddie has a bed that she sleeps on during the day when it is time to "chill out" (aka: when I need to get things accomplished with out her assistance). But when she is on a full Release, she will find a spot on the hard wood floor and just zonk out. Our beagle has never, and will never, do this. Never!

Our beagle is all about the cuddle. The cuddle to sleep on her bed, on our couch with blankets and pillows, on a circle chair in my girl's room that is wrapped in fuzzy, soft material. Never a hard wood floor.

Haddie also will chew every bite of food; either from her dish or as a treat. Cora, however, will skip the chewing and go straight to the swallow - which is funny because what's the point of the reward if you never taste it? But I guess to her it doesn't really matter because she is still highly food motivated!

It's fun to find the differences in breeds - the simple things - but differences nonetheless.