Puppies and Possibilities: October 2013

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Quite Time Walks

Friday, October 18, 2013

Life Lately

This semester of school has been very busy and demanding for me. Unfortunately, that means that keeping up with the blog has fallen low on my list of priorities. This kills me because I do not want to neglect to record all of the firsts and fun things that Moray is doing and learning. Just a few of the things that Moray has done in the last few weeks:

My sister got married two weeks ago which meant a 14 hour road trip. Moray was dropped off along the way to spend the week with a friend, fellow puppy raiser, and blogger, Katherine. He had a fabulous time and barked at me in opposition of going home for 15 minutes after we got back in the car. A little attitude is starting to shine through in my opinionated, but still sweet boy!

My sister and new brother-in-law

Moray and Katherine

Moray turned 6 months old.

Photo credit: Becca

Moray is now attending three classes a week with me.

First day of chemistry class.

He has also started going on more public outings, and we are adding more time and upping distraction levels.

College visiting with my and my friend.

First visit to the "real" mall.

Grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Go check out this post to see Dante at the same age, same place!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Advanced Training Report!

Last week I finally received Dante's first full training report. I have been relatively calm about it for the last few weeks, but the day and morning before it popped up in my inbox, I was a little crazy. I was road-tripping the day it came, which potentially meant 14 hours in a car with little to do but obsessively check email. I'm happy to say it came by noon, and I exercised enough self control to only check twice before it came. Ha!

Dante has been assigned to his trainer, and has been working on the "hold" command (to hold something in his mouth). He is still working all commands ambulatory, so has not been introduced to working with a wheelchair yet. There are two sets of behavior charts: one good behavior, and one bad. All the boxes in the good (eg: attentiveness, loose leash walking, etc.) were checked except "calm" and "interacts appropriately with other dogs." The not-so-good chart had anxiety, assertiveness/dominant, barking, growling, hackling, and rough play with other dogs checked off.

They noted that Dante's distractibility and fearfulness are both low, and a moderate amount of energy was marked (which I was surprised that it wasn't marked as high).

The comments made by his trainer were:

Dante has finished his initial medical and temperament testing and begun training. He showed prey/chase drive on the temperament test, and we will continue to monitor him for this concern. He is responsive to correction and easy to motivate with praise. He barks and growls while displaying large hackles during play with other dogs. We are using a long leash when playing to be able to make corrections for any inappropriate behaviors. He is hard to manage when brushing his teeth, and we are working on this in training. He cradles well and is good for nail trimming during our grooming routine.

While Dante's report could have been better, a lot of the time things that have never been an issue while with puppy raisers will pop up during advanced training, so just the fact that his report did not surprise me is good in my books! The only thing that I did not expect was struggling with brushing his teeth. Dante has always been high-energy, and hard to keep under control while playing, but I suspect being in a new place and probably slightly stressed has played into that. He looks like he is doing well interacting with people, and is eager and easy to train.

The areas of concern with Dante are definitely legitimate, but I know his trainers are working and striving toward his success as hard as I'm sitting here hoping. I may have had my doubts, and this is still far from graduation, but Baby Boy! You've made it through your first report! Know that your raiser is still cheering you on, and again wondering if I can make it two more months till your next report!