Ah - it's so
hard to realize how fast the time flies by! October 29 marked two
months of Scooter being here in her new home and us all learning to be
a pack of three. It's been quite a time still - she is growing fast,
went through a growth spurt that even I, being with her all the time
could seem to see her change in
front of my eyes. Her bone structure has changed from puppy to small
dog
- for time she was like Jack in the Beanstalk - her legs were getting
longer
and longer which put her almost shoulder to shoulder with Puffin. Then
the
rest of her started catching up - her face and head have taken on their
adult
form, cute as anything just like her puppy face but more mature. She is
up
to about seven and a half pounds now - and just turned five months old
on
October 29. We've finished all her puppy shots, all through even her
rabies
so she is all done with those, and believe it or not her spaying is set
up
for the first week of December. Her mind is still going a mile a
minute,
soaking it all in - and she is still learning quick as lightening. Now
that
fall and winter is settling in we can't get out to run in Zoe's yard as
much,
but we still take walks around the circle if the sun is out -
which
unfortunately has not been much around here!
Our morning routine has settled
in nicely - we get up between six and seven (granted Ginny hasn't seen
the
sun coming up for quite a while - but it feels good to be getting back
into
a normal schedule) - although our clocks may have changed the end of
October but Scotoer's didn't - which meant we spent a few weeks getting
up at five. We all go out, I take my meds and have a snack, Scooter
settles into her
place in the living room and Puffin and I have our morning snuggle....
as
we all take a nap. Then when it's time to go out again, Puffin usually
is
ready to spread out so she surrenders the sofa, and Scooter and I have
our
morning snuggle. (Of course this is not without interesting experiences
too
- one morning about a month ago we were happily snuggling, Scotoer
rolled
over with her front legs out straight and planted her paw squarely in
my
right eye - resulting in a 3+ corneal abrasion, but not even the eye
doc
could get upset when he saw "who did it" - thankfully I grabbed a
picture
on the way out the door!). Lately though we actually have had some
three-way
naps on the sofa... so there is some progress.
The most major activity these
weeks has been going to school. The same good friend that rescued
us at
the airport when Scooter flew in got the info for us for Top Notch
Obedience
classes here - three gals have been running these classes at all levels
for
a good number of years (and actually have also placed dogs in places
like
Disney Channel and David Letterman's show....) - well to cut to the
chase,
for an early Christmas present Liz volunteered to commit to taking us
to
the five basic classes. The first class was two hours for the humans,
and
it was very good- basic dog psychology, the basics of positive
reinforcement
training, and good old common sense (which some people did need).....
then
four classes with our dogs. We were in the Monday afternoon class which
thankfully
was small and cozy.... A Jack Russell Terrier, an Akita, a German
Shepherd, a Brittany Spaniel, a West Highland White Terrier, a Maltese
- and Scooter. I was very enthused after the human orientation, since
the whole program
is based on positive reinforcement rather than negative correction -
even
if you want to stop a "bad" behavior" - like jumping up. You don't
scold
for jumping - you turn it around and reward for keeping all four feet
on
the floor. This was going to be interesting - Scooter was not the
smallest (the Maltese beat her out there by a pound or two) - but she
was indeed
the baby of the bunch, having just made the cut out of having to go to
puppy
class by a week in age (and the fact that she was a Cockapoo - which
they
recognized as a smart mix!). The dogs in the class were fine - the
owners
another story -! - but it certainly proved to make things more
interesting.
We also had a few showoffs that sort of put a damper on the rest of us
until.....
(hang on to that thought). So- each week we learned our paces in
class,
and granted Scooter was much happier sitting there watching rather than
doing
since she is in her "skittery" mode/age - which the teacher understood
and
worked around. But, we had full two page sheets of homework each time
to
practice - and homework time each night soon became one of Scooter's
favorite
times of the day. (It's been great for Puffin too since of course I had
a
homework session with Scooter and then repeated everything with
Puffin).
We started with learning the "reinforcing word" - one word that signals
"good
job!" - and associating that with a treat. After we had that put
together
then it's sit, then sit at heal, loose leash walking, getting and
maintaining
their attention - each week getting a little more involved, including
sit/stay,
with treats on the floor a foot away and not diving for them.... and
also
an exercise called Targeting - where you use something (like a yogurt
lid)
as a target and teach the dog to touch it with their nose... (this is
how
they begin to teach service dogs how to do all those jobs)....
Well it took about three times
for Scooter to fall in love with touching her target. She also
progressed superbly through the basics - by week three she would sit,
stay, and not budge to
the treats on the floor a foot in front of her, as I gave her one by
one,
and did not move till released from the stay. She learned to sit, stay,
down, leave it (something on the floor), take it (when it's ok to take
it) - and basic manners that built on these things. Our last class was
this week,
and she did her sit or down stay with treats there perfectly -
let
Dee take her out the middle of the floor and come back to me on
command,
and then, it was surprise time. Each week Dee would ask us how the
targeting
was going - and most of the others were going along on schedule, but by
the
middle of the term I said that I could put Scooter in a sit/stay, put
the
target anywhere in the room (as long as she saw where it was) and then
on
command she would land right on it. Well - we just kept practicing that
through
the time - and this week at the end of the last class, Dee looks at me
and
says "Do you think Scooter will do her targeting here"? (Scooter was a
bit
shy in class) - well, let's see. I'm praying as hard as I ever did that
Scooter would be overtaken with her favorite game versus being
chicken.... gave her a few practice touches with me, then put her
in the sit/stay, put the target four feet out into the room, gave her
the "touch" command, and that little darling gets the glint her in her
eye and pounced right on it..... and THAT was how school ended
for all us, with Scooter graduating
with honors (yes, we'll be framing her diploma).
About three weeks ago Scooter
taught herself to climb up the stairs to the second floor where my
studio is.... but coming down wasn't on the radar. the week she learned
this, we started with about four steps, then about half the staircase -
and within four days she was all the way up. That night the main game
was how many times she
could run up so that I had to go up and rescue her. That ended with a
safety
gate at the bottom after about ten trips.... we've been working
on
coming down without much success (it is hard when your body and legs
aren't
long enough to reach from one step down to the next).... but,
this
week each time she got up there, I'd bring her part way down and put on
the
stairs, and she'd get herself down the rest. By the weekend I just
lifted
her off the top landing, put her on the next step and she made her way
down.
Sunday she followed me up and I looked at her and said "Ok - you're up,
now you get down" - and down she came. So - add up and down stairs to
the
acquired skills......
That hasn't been the only
"accomplishment" through these weeks.... we've graduated out of the
crate at night, first
for a few nights sleeping on Pod in the bedroom but that didn't last
long
- Scooter has weaseled her way up onto the "big bed" with Puffin and me
-
which works fine after about an hour of what Scooter thinks is "play" -
which
we are working on. Once we do get through that though we all snuggle in
and
are happy together.... we've ditched the playpen from the
kitchen
and sent that on to its new home today.... since Scooter was much
more
interested in Puffin's food than puppychow, and Puffin would rather dig
into
the puppychow, everyone is now eating big girl food. Scooter now gets
her
own bone when Puffin gets one.... and her tidbit after supper
when
Puffin gets hers. Unless it's raining out we rarely have indoor
accidents
- she knows to hold it - but we are still working on Ginny learning the
"signal"
that it's time. Long as I keep tabs on elapsed time to put her out
we're
fine. This also means that for the most part she has gained her freedom
in
the house... which is also letting Scooter and Puffin find their way in
working
out the "turf wars" - and both are learning. I realized that as long as
Scooter
was confined or restrained this was not happening, so now we can let
things
sort out. There are ups and downs but the ups are starting to outnumber
the
downs.
Then there are the teeth. When we
were at the vet's for the last set of shots Dr. Relyea affirmed that
her molars
(Scooter's, not the vet's) were coming in... and of course the jaws
have
been nonstop chomping. Well - earlier this week we were playing and I
got
a gander in her mouth -and haven't we got two rows of teeth across the
front,
top and bottom - her permanent incisors were coming in well but
the
puppy teeth were still hanging on. That didn't last long. Friday night
we
were playing after supper as usual, (fetch with tennis balls) - and I
noticed
a few streaks on the ball. Then, bigger spots on my sweatshirt sleeve -
then
as we were wrestling with one of her favorite toys, it was obvious that
something
was going on in there... took another peek and by golly, no more
two
rows (mostly). Did a little looking around and came up with three teeth
on
the rug... another one later that night, and four more the next day.
Eight
teeth out in 24 hours! Those darned little needle fangs are still in
there
nice and tight though.... !!!
Let's see, we've discovered the
trash basket in the bathroom, which seems to hold those fascinating
things called tissues and paper towels, that we just love - actually
any paper will do but
tissues and PTs are all time favorites.... Slippers are still
high on
the hit parade too, although it would seem now that just carrying them
around
and having them in possession is the main goal- not necessarily chewing
them.
Same with the sneakers. She's finally learned to go out and come in
from
outside by going AROUND the door, not under it... and now takes the two
steps
at the porch door on a dead run, usually making it without falling up
them.
We did give up the playpen in the kitchen -so that meant no more "being
in
jail during meals" - although I have to admit that she was darned cute
standing
there with the head and two front paws up over the top bar. While
Scooter
had managed to convince me that it was time to start sleeping on the
big
bed with Puffin and I, getting there was still a problem until last
night
when she taught herself to jump up there using the footstool like
Puffin
does.... which now of course means that ANY foot stool in the house is
fair
game (NOT!). It also didn't take her long to learn that there is a
treat
to come right after Ginny finishes supper... and so far there isn't
anything
she doesn't like (although chewing things without teeth can pose a
problem.....).
Learning to share with Puffin is
still well... coming, shall we say. Puffin is usually quite
tolerant other than if it is edible, and Scooter never seems to learn
to not tread on that turf - although she can send the message clearly
herself to leave HER goodies alone - I know that there will yet to be a
good "attitude adjustment session" to come - and there have been some
good ones, though Scooter has yet to learn the lesson well. I'm
actually happy that Puffin is beginning to assert more authority -
seems that Puffin knew that Scooter needed to do some growing first to
be able to be an even match. They also are learning to play together -
most of the time it is in competition but not always. Scooter seems to
have
come with a built-in fetching mechanism, very much like Puffin - those
tennis
balls come back just as fast as they are tossed out and with deadly
accuracy
(I mean it - bringing it back to Ginny means delivering it with a
flying
leap into the lap).
And - lest anyone think that life
is quiet around here, just ring the doorbell and come in. You will be
told
in no uncertain terms by a seven pound cockapoo that she is not
particularly sure of you - for nigh on to 20 minutes or so at a time.
The sound effects can be quite interesting, ranging from the nice
common bark to sitting there, butt square down, side lip lifted, head
back and letting out with a howl that
belies her size.... to the most non-describeable squeak-noise during
play
that one could imagine. There is one thing though - so far, unlike her
big
sister, Scooter doesn't snore. (
You might want to go cruise
the new photos.....)
Click here for lots more growing!