Saturday, August 29, 2009

Lack of posts

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, four 12 week old puppies seem to be taking up all of my spare time!! :) The boys are doing well, although they are at the jangle stage at the moment. All of them really have 'Sit' down pat and most are good about 'Down' (as in to lay down), and heal. We worked on heal without a leash first, by walking up and down the hallway in our home, using a clicker and reward each time they get in proper position. We have now transitioned into walking on a leash and going around the block - we do this with the clicker too, and when they get in proper position, like magic they get a click and treat... within 1/2 a block or so, each puppy has figured out this game and are walking on my left side on a nice loose leash. I'm hoping to find some other people in the area who have pups around this age so we can get together for a Play Day, to keep their socialization going. If you know anyone interested in one of these great pups, please send them our way!!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Elliot & Sonny Video

Elliot's mom has uploaded the following cute video to U-Tube for all of us to enjoy. Check out Elliot in his new home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOGy3rqSDlc

Saturday, August 8, 2009

House guest

Today the boys met their first four legged 'stranger'. At first they were very shy, but within minutes they decided strangers could be FUN! Their first encounter took place in our backyard so the pups had 'home turf' to help them feel more confident, and the other dog is Callie, a stray that lived with us for about a month before she became a very lucky dog by acquiring a permanent home with Adrian's mom. Callie is very submissive with strange dogs and lives with cats, which made her a great first encounter dog.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tunnel Work


Seeing 7-12 week old puppies learn extremely fast, we have been working on clicker training the boys. So far they are very good about 'Come', 'Sit' and now tonight we began working on 'Tunnel'. All boys were very brave and had a great time with their new toy. By spending time working with them now, we hope to create dogs with a passion for learning, setting them up for success in their new homes.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Four wet boys

It was 116 degrees today, so everyone spent the day inside for the most part. This evening it dropped down to the 90's, so we decided it would be a good evening for the puppies next life lesson... swimming. We have a 32" deep kiddy swimming pool in our backyard, which is just perfect for puppies to learn to swim in. All four boys were naturals and swam as well as their daddy who happens to be a fantastic swimmer. They enjoyed it so much that they would run around in the yard a moment or two and then right back trying to climb in the pool again! It was lots of fun, but once we came in the house they were all tired and a little chilly in the A/C, so instead of being sprawled out all over our laundry room floor, they stacked up like cord-wood. I thought this photo was too cute, especially how they made their pattern of black, liver, black, liver. :)