I tried out my new agility toy today: the Move It Aframe mover. It is totally awesome and works as advertised. However, I plan to modify it by gluing some slippery plastic strips to the claws so they don't scratch up my newly repainted Aframe.
And yes, it was as beautiful outside today as it looks in the video. About 72 degrees by noon, blue sky, just a bit of a breeze. I had windows open all over the house! After training the dogs outside (Mimi and Gracie on the equipment, Cap in tug and chase and ball games) for well over an hour (I work them in 5-10 minute shifts), everyone took a well deserved nap in the late afternoon sun.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Cap
At about 17 weeks of age (and after one month with the fox terrier pack), Cap weighs 13.1 lbs (measured on the vet's scales yesterday) and is still between 13.25 and 13.5 inches at the shoulder. I'm leaning to the shorter measurement because I think I got the wicket right over his shoulders this time (practice makes perfect...). He's only gained 0.3 lbs in a week and I've been stuffing him with food.
House training is going much better. I take him out every 20 minutes or so but he seems to be settling into our routine and doesn't pee every time. A lot of that peeing before was probably stress related. I have actually let him loose in the house out of my sight for 60 seconds at a time! Okay, I exaggerate just a bit, but I am letting him wander about a bit more.
His recall and "get in your box" commands are becoming very solid. I continue to treat them nearly every time. His wait in the box for the release word and his stay in a sit or a down are also looking very nice. I'm getting about 6 feet of distance now.
I was in Austin this past weekend to help my flyball club at a tournament (I felt sad not to be running a dog; more on Harry later) and got a chance to watch one of my friends train her dogs in between races. She is a good dog trainer so I thought I'd ask her for some advice on getting Cap to offer a paw touch. It has been frustrating to me that he wouldn't offer this. He uses his paws all the time in play but so far never in training. The terriers start pawing at things right away no matter what and that is sort of what I expected from him. But Cap was not cooperating. I was stuck.
She suggested I use a piece of carpet or some other more familiar object instead of the strange and scary plastic lid.
You know what? It worked like a charm! I put a folded throw rug on the floor and Cap offered a down with his front paws on it immediately. Then we progressed to having him lay down on it. Then I put the plastic lid on the rug. Bam! In less than 10 clicks, he was offering a very deliberate paw onto the plastic lid, even when I moved it around the room. I tested him again on this skill tonight and it is pretty solid. He will even drive back and forth from the mat to the lid over a distance of a few feet. And he also tapped my closed fist with his paw, another game I play with the terriers. He only did it a couple of times so this trick needs a bit of work. But this is a huge breakthrough.
This same flyball friend has papillons and papillon mixes. After seeing her dogs up close, I'm not so sure Cap isn't part papillon too (one of you suggested this and I dismissed it but am now reconsidering). Something in his genetic mix is keeping him small. So I broke down and ordered one of the canine genetic tests. More on that as the story unfolds.
Cap and Mimi in a quiet moment, Jan 2009.
Here's some things I've noticed about Cap.
He walks on his feet, his entire feet. Fox terriers walk on their toes.
When I go to grab his nose, it's like some sort of trick--there's hardly any nose to grab! Along with his shorter face, Cap's got a tongue like a freaking hummingbird. Astonishingly long.
Without a tail, there's not much of a signal that he's generically happy. But when he's super pleased with himself, he wiggles that tiny nubbin on his rear. Very strange. I'm used to terrier tails that never stop moving.
His fur is like duck down, unless he's finished a play session with one of the sisters, then he is totally spooged with spit and his neck fur is all spiky and stiff. I've never owned a dog with a soft coat. The terriers have stiff, coarse hair that lays very close to their bodies and is hell on fleece. Cap has these wispy, microscopically fine hairs that are also hell on fleece but that float in the air.
He politely poops and pees far out in the yard. My lazy terrier bitches may go all of 2 feet from the back door before squatting to pee.
Cap almost always plays with one of the other dogs. The terriers never play among themselves. Too much stress, too much competition. But the tan and whites happily play with Cap, one at a time. (Harry has as little contact with Cap as possible and Dyna ignores him.)
The only time he doesn't have a toy in his mouth is when he is sleeping, eating, or outside. Otherwise, he's chewing, tugging, squeaking, carrying, chasing, or ripping up some toy. He has favorites to be sure but his tastes in toys are surprisingly broad. He's pulled out some toys from the bottoms of the toy bins that only Iz used to play with.
I was wrong about him not being a cuddler. I have to have both bitches work him over first, but after a couple of hours, once the other dogs are settled, he's happy to curl up in my lap and watch TV or read a book with me.
I suppose I'm going to have to keep him.
House training is going much better. I take him out every 20 minutes or so but he seems to be settling into our routine and doesn't pee every time. A lot of that peeing before was probably stress related. I have actually let him loose in the house out of my sight for 60 seconds at a time! Okay, I exaggerate just a bit, but I am letting him wander about a bit more.
His recall and "get in your box" commands are becoming very solid. I continue to treat them nearly every time. His wait in the box for the release word and his stay in a sit or a down are also looking very nice. I'm getting about 6 feet of distance now.
I was in Austin this past weekend to help my flyball club at a tournament (I felt sad not to be running a dog; more on Harry later) and got a chance to watch one of my friends train her dogs in between races. She is a good dog trainer so I thought I'd ask her for some advice on getting Cap to offer a paw touch. It has been frustrating to me that he wouldn't offer this. He uses his paws all the time in play but so far never in training. The terriers start pawing at things right away no matter what and that is sort of what I expected from him. But Cap was not cooperating. I was stuck.
She suggested I use a piece of carpet or some other more familiar object instead of the strange and scary plastic lid.
You know what? It worked like a charm! I put a folded throw rug on the floor and Cap offered a down with his front paws on it immediately. Then we progressed to having him lay down on it. Then I put the plastic lid on the rug. Bam! In less than 10 clicks, he was offering a very deliberate paw onto the plastic lid, even when I moved it around the room. I tested him again on this skill tonight and it is pretty solid. He will even drive back and forth from the mat to the lid over a distance of a few feet. And he also tapped my closed fist with his paw, another game I play with the terriers. He only did it a couple of times so this trick needs a bit of work. But this is a huge breakthrough.
This same flyball friend has papillons and papillon mixes. After seeing her dogs up close, I'm not so sure Cap isn't part papillon too (one of you suggested this and I dismissed it but am now reconsidering). Something in his genetic mix is keeping him small. So I broke down and ordered one of the canine genetic tests. More on that as the story unfolds.
Cap and Mimi in a quiet moment, Jan 2009.Here's some things I've noticed about Cap.
He walks on his feet, his entire feet. Fox terriers walk on their toes.
When I go to grab his nose, it's like some sort of trick--there's hardly any nose to grab! Along with his shorter face, Cap's got a tongue like a freaking hummingbird. Astonishingly long.
Without a tail, there's not much of a signal that he's generically happy. But when he's super pleased with himself, he wiggles that tiny nubbin on his rear. Very strange. I'm used to terrier tails that never stop moving.
His fur is like duck down, unless he's finished a play session with one of the sisters, then he is totally spooged with spit and his neck fur is all spiky and stiff. I've never owned a dog with a soft coat. The terriers have stiff, coarse hair that lays very close to their bodies and is hell on fleece. Cap has these wispy, microscopically fine hairs that are also hell on fleece but that float in the air.
He politely poops and pees far out in the yard. My lazy terrier bitches may go all of 2 feet from the back door before squatting to pee.
Cap almost always plays with one of the other dogs. The terriers never play among themselves. Too much stress, too much competition. But the tan and whites happily play with Cap, one at a time. (Harry has as little contact with Cap as possible and Dyna ignores him.)
The only time he doesn't have a toy in his mouth is when he is sleeping, eating, or outside. Otherwise, he's chewing, tugging, squeaking, carrying, chasing, or ripping up some toy. He has favorites to be sure but his tastes in toys are surprisingly broad. He's pulled out some toys from the bottoms of the toy bins that only Iz used to play with.
I was wrong about him not being a cuddler. I have to have both bitches work him over first, but after a couple of hours, once the other dogs are settled, he's happy to curl up in my lap and watch TV or read a book with me.
I suppose I'm going to have to keep him.
Ice Storm!
North Texas got smacked with an ice storm last night. I went to sleep with the hiss and scratch of ice pellets hitting the windows. My office is closed today as are all area schools. It's a brisk 25 degrees this morning in my backyard but the sky is clear and it's promising to be a sunny day.
The dogs are not at all happy about walking on the spiky frozen grass.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Best Twenty Bucks I Ever Spent
When I was in Salt Lake City over the holidays, my friend Gosia took me to Costco. This may seem to be a non-event to many of you, but in fact, this was the first time I had ever been in one. It was somewhat overwhelming to say the least.
But we are professionals and remained focused on our goal: dog beds, round 42" wide beds with cedar and polyfill priced at less than $20, to be exact. I bought two and dragged them back to Texas.
Who would have thought that one bed could accommodate so many little dogs?
Clockwise from top: Gracie, Cap, and Dyna, with Jack in the middle
But we are professionals and remained focused on our goal: dog beds, round 42" wide beds with cedar and polyfill priced at less than $20, to be exact. I bought two and dragged them back to Texas.
Who would have thought that one bed could accommodate so many little dogs?
Clockwise from top: Gracie, Cap, and Dyna, with Jack in the middleFriday, January 23, 2009
The Boys
It is week 17/18. Cap has been a busy boy. He grew an inch this week! He now stands 13.5" at the shoulder and weighs around 13 lbs.
He's visibly bigger and longer and he's starting to develop a little more muscle. All that wrestling and chasing with the sisters, who are as muscular as young Arnolds, is certainly not hurting.
Harry is starting to feel better. His toes no longer bleed with the slightest activity and he seems to be more willing to walk. He even had a bit of a lilt to his step yesterday! Two nights ago he brought me a toy as we were heading for bed.
He seems to be past the dry heaves but I continue to give him famotidine twice a day. He's still got a bit of diarrhea from that nasty castor oil but I think we are moving past that too. We're shooting for a March flyball tournament.
I haven't mentioned Jack much lately. He spends a lot of his time with Dyna on the fringes of the main pack activity. In fact, these two are the only pair that I can play with together. Jack retrieves a ball and Dyna chases him and barks in his ear.
Jack doesn't care for the puppy much. Jack's all about finding warm spots to take naps and humping Bix. Jack is a sweet, affectionate dog. Doesn't cause much trouble or fuss.
He's visibly bigger and longer and he's starting to develop a little more muscle. All that wrestling and chasing with the sisters, who are as muscular as young Arnolds, is certainly not hurting.
Harry is starting to feel better. His toes no longer bleed with the slightest activity and he seems to be more willing to walk. He even had a bit of a lilt to his step yesterday! Two nights ago he brought me a toy as we were heading for bed.
He seems to be past the dry heaves but I continue to give him famotidine twice a day. He's still got a bit of diarrhea from that nasty castor oil but I think we are moving past that too. We're shooting for a March flyball tournament.
I haven't mentioned Jack much lately. He spends a lot of his time with Dyna on the fringes of the main pack activity. In fact, these two are the only pair that I can play with together. Jack retrieves a ball and Dyna chases him and barks in his ear.
Jack doesn't care for the puppy much. Jack's all about finding warm spots to take naps and humping Bix. Jack is a sweet, affectionate dog. Doesn't cause much trouble or fuss.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Aaand They're Off!
I stood outside in my jammies and bare feet this past Saturday morning just after sunrise to get this video. Brr!
The barking? All Cap. Mimi never makes a sound when she plays.
The barking? All Cap. Mimi never makes a sound when she plays.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Bits, Oddments, and Loose Ends
On Sunday, I worked Mimi in the field with our little PA system. The sound quality in the video below is kind of crappy because it was really windy (that's why I cut out all of the sound from the clips of Gracie and Cap). Still, you can tell that Mimi is flicking her ears back, standing up, and generally getting uncomfortable on the table as I'm counting down (the volume was up pretty high and I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell the crazy dog lady was up to). But I was able to reinforce her on the table quite a bit and she went on to perform nicely.
I believe. . . dare I say it? . . . that she is slowly desensitizing to the PA sounds.
Enjoy the video. I shot it on Sunday morning. It was cool and breezy and all three pups enjoyed doing some work outside.
On Friday, I had my first lesson in TTouch (this link is reasonably informative). I am willing to try anything that might help my girlie and I figured TTouch could perhaps give me some tools to maintain a connection with Mimi in the gate area at trials. The idea is that with time, she will learn to associate a calm, relaxed, but focused state with my touching her and that perhaps I can recreate that state in the gate area before she becomes so stressed. My friend Denise suggested that I can also use TTouch after runs when she is also pretty worked up.
It will take a while for me to learn how to do it correctly and for her to learn to associate the touches with a calm state. Fortunately, I have an entire house full of animals who will line up to let me practice on them! I'll get a second lesson in a few weeks.
Harry is still feeling super crappy. I can hear his poor little gut rumbling and roiling. My friend Denise, a regular font of information tonight, suggested famotidine. Iz took that too. I'll get some tomorrow and see if it doesn't help Harry. I gave him some carofate tonight before dinner in the hopes that it might help him rest more comfortably tonight. He got me up twice last night to go outside with diarrhea, poor little guy. I spent many long months with Iz sleeping with the light on and one eye open. It is not a skill I am pleased to have. On the bright side, sick pups get to go to work with me and he's enjoying that special attention. I can't tell yet if his feet feel better--his GI distress is masking any change there. Today is day 5 of the nasty meds.
Lola is still fat. Maybe she's photosynthetic.
Cap went to my vet today for his "puppy wellness" exam. He has tapeworms and I wanted a course of strongid to treat him for all of the other kinds too. Puppies get worms and he's been in at least half a dozen foster homes so it's not a surprise or a big deal. Still, worms. Ew. Need to be dealt with.
The vet told me some very interesting things. Foremost of these, he said that in his experience, twice the weight of a pup at 16 weeks is about what they will weigh as an adult. The more accurate scales at the vet told us Cap now (at about 17 weeks) weighs 12.8 lbs . . . so he may only be around 24 lbs as an adult! Gracie weighs 22 lbs (but as I've said, she's a big, strapping bitch).
I already knew that Cap only has one descended testicle. The vet said the other one is up in his body but that it probably won't drop. Since Cap won't be bred, having only one testicle is not of itself a problem. But those undropped testicles often become cancerous. Now, his neuter operation requires more invasive surgery, more like a spay than the usual snip-snip. I'm glad I convinced the rescue group to wait and let me take Cap intact. I'll feel more comfortable having my own vet do this more complicated surgery.
I believe. . . dare I say it? . . . that she is slowly desensitizing to the PA sounds.
Enjoy the video. I shot it on Sunday morning. It was cool and breezy and all three pups enjoyed doing some work outside.
On Friday, I had my first lesson in TTouch (this link is reasonably informative). I am willing to try anything that might help my girlie and I figured TTouch could perhaps give me some tools to maintain a connection with Mimi in the gate area at trials. The idea is that with time, she will learn to associate a calm, relaxed, but focused state with my touching her and that perhaps I can recreate that state in the gate area before she becomes so stressed. My friend Denise suggested that I can also use TTouch after runs when she is also pretty worked up.
It will take a while for me to learn how to do it correctly and for her to learn to associate the touches with a calm state. Fortunately, I have an entire house full of animals who will line up to let me practice on them! I'll get a second lesson in a few weeks.
Harry is still feeling super crappy. I can hear his poor little gut rumbling and roiling. My friend Denise, a regular font of information tonight, suggested famotidine. Iz took that too. I'll get some tomorrow and see if it doesn't help Harry. I gave him some carofate tonight before dinner in the hopes that it might help him rest more comfortably tonight. He got me up twice last night to go outside with diarrhea, poor little guy. I spent many long months with Iz sleeping with the light on and one eye open. It is not a skill I am pleased to have. On the bright side, sick pups get to go to work with me and he's enjoying that special attention. I can't tell yet if his feet feel better--his GI distress is masking any change there. Today is day 5 of the nasty meds.
Lola is still fat. Maybe she's photosynthetic.
Cap went to my vet today for his "puppy wellness" exam. He has tapeworms and I wanted a course of strongid to treat him for all of the other kinds too. Puppies get worms and he's been in at least half a dozen foster homes so it's not a surprise or a big deal. Still, worms. Ew. Need to be dealt with.
The vet told me some very interesting things. Foremost of these, he said that in his experience, twice the weight of a pup at 16 weeks is about what they will weigh as an adult. The more accurate scales at the vet told us Cap now (at about 17 weeks) weighs 12.8 lbs . . . so he may only be around 24 lbs as an adult! Gracie weighs 22 lbs (but as I've said, she's a big, strapping bitch).
I already knew that Cap only has one descended testicle. The vet said the other one is up in his body but that it probably won't drop. Since Cap won't be bred, having only one testicle is not of itself a problem. But those undropped testicles often become cancerous. Now, his neuter operation requires more invasive surgery, more like a spay than the usual snip-snip. I'm glad I convinced the rescue group to wait and let me take Cap intact. I'll feel more comfortable having my own vet do this more complicated surgery.
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