A little victory

We did our walk this morning. Lots of red light/green light but we did it. He was biting the leash when we were in the house but when we got outside he stopped biting it (for the most part). Every time he pulled, I stopped and he sat. Then when there was slack in the leash we would walk a few more steps. It felt great to get him out there for a walk. We made it around the cul de sac. That's progress (before we were barely getting out of the driveway). He's been playing since we got back. We tried retrieve a few times. I throw a toy, he gets it and comes back to me but doesn't want to give up the toy. He will at some point. I just have to keep working with him.

There's a piece of the carpet, by the sliding door, that is loose and he's always trying to get at it. I've sprayed it with Phooey and that seems to keep him away for a least awhile.

I just went and made sure the yard is picked up because it is trash day. Not much to pick up thankfully. I'm glad that I'm able to keep up with my little pooping machine.

I think I'll take him over to PetsMart this morning and working on our commands while we are there. He has to be able to do the commands no matter where we are. I'll try them outside of PetsMart too. He definitely needs to get out though. It's already Thursday and class is coming up pretty quickly. We have lots of work to do though.

a piece of Heaven

We've had Harley for 33 days now. It's only 3:30am so this 33rd day has really started yet. Harley is in his kennel sleeping. Something woke me up so here I am. I'll be heading back to bed in just a few minutes. I'm making a commitment to walk Harley at least 2x each day even if he's giving me a hard time (pulling, biting the leash, throwing himself on the ground, etc.). I'm going to dictate the walk. I haven't been calm and assertive, I've been fearful that he would give me a hard time again. I'm going to use visualization and see Harley and me walking together without incident. I have to project the image in my mind of what I want in reality. I know he can do this and I know that I can do this too. I really am determined to do my best with Harley.

I think I've been nervous about sharing Harley with my friends because I'm afraid that he'll go all puppy on us. He's a puppy and they are older dogs, more laid back dogs. Harley is full throttle even when he's sleeping, he sleeps hard. He puts his whole being into whatever he is doing at the time whether it's playing, relaxing or sleeping. I love that he is committed to himself. I need to be just as committed and not be nervous because that transfers to Harley. He definitely feels what is going on with me. If I'm nervous about him meeting my friends and their dogs then Harley will be nervous meeting them too. I don't want that for Harley.

I just realized that I haven't taken Harley out much in the last couple of days. I think it's because he's been having such difficulty with the leash. I need to get him out there later today. I'll take him over to PetsMart and just walk around with him. I'll just walk up and down the aisles with him. I'd like to bring him up to the trail but it takes way longer to get there and back than it does to be there. I love bringing him up there though. I think I've been quitting too soon with Harley. I know he is capable of so much more than I'm getting out of him right now. I need to rededicate myself to him.

An interesting thought just ran through my mind. Harley is like a little piece of Jesus. What I'm giving to Harley I am learning to give not only to others but to myself. I can rededicate myself to Jesus by doing the same with Harley. Jesus always talks about 'doing for the least of these' is like doing for him. I can see that with my relationship with Harley. I'm not trying to get all profound here but I want to keep this blog real and show the true picture of life with Harley.

So it's day number 33 with Harley. He's learned a lot in one month's time. I think the next trick I'm going to work on with him is to play dead when I say 'bang'. He's already got sit, down and over so I think he could learn to do it all on command (than command being 'bang'). He needs to know how to do a lot of tricks to keep his mind working. Anyway, back to day #33. I'm grateful that I have very little time where I feel like I'm not a good enough owner for Harley. I felt like that all the time with the GSP's. I know I'm the right owner for Harley and I see having him for the rest of his life (or mine, whichever comes first). I am committed to Harley. I am responsible for Harley. He is my dog. I need to put in the time with him. If I don't I'll pay for it later with a misbehaving dog and I don't want that to happen. He's too smart and willing to please me. I need to take advantage of that fact.

I opened Harley's kennel but he had no interest in getting out. I'm surprised that he didn't want to go out to do his business. I'll check his bed in the morning to make sure he didn't pee in his kennel. I wouldn't want him to start doing that especially since he's so good about letting me know when he needs to go out. I rarely think about him having an accident in the house. If he did it would be because I wasn't paying attention to his cues.

I love Harley. I love the changes he is making in my life and I love the changes I'm making in his. He's my little piece of Heaven.

Red light/Green light

I did some research on walking on a leash. I'm finding pretty much the same advice everywhere on the web. The suggestion is to do the red light/green light procedure with him. When he pulls, I stop until he puts some slack in the leash. When the leash is slack we get to walk. When he's biting the leash, same thing, stop when he's biting and walk when he's not biting. I can't reward bad behavior AT ALL! He can't think that he's going to get away with misbehaving. So tomorrow we'll get out there at least twice, possibly 3 times. We won't take long walks but just enough to get him walking okay on the leash again.

The only conflicting info is whether or not to let him sniff around. Some say to not let him do that, but he's a puppy and he needs to explore the world. I think he'll only get frustrated if I try to keep him on my side the entire time. Then again, I don't want him to think he can just do whatever he wants. I guess there needs to be a balance between the two.

He's crashed out on the air vent because the AC is on and he ran himself out tonight. He was doing retrieve with his duck and his ball. He's not quite getting the 'bring it' command but he's doing okay. He had a lot of fun and that's what's important.

I'm really grateful that he sleeps through the night and doesn't complain about being in his kennel. I'm sleeping so much better now that he's here. He's not going to sleep on the bed though. I'm not giving up my bed ever again for a dog (even though he is very cute!).

Biting the leash

Well, Harley got another burst of energy this evening and ran all around the house, back and forth. Now he's sleeping on the kitchen floor. I decided to use his blanket in the car as his mat so I don't have to buy anything. Plus he's familiar with it. I'll bring it in this evening and do the mat work with him. He's still not really coming when called so I need to focus on that. Since he's doing well with sit and down I'll back off on those and only do them a little bit compared to come, leave it and the mat work. Only four days until class again and I feel like I've got to kick it into gear with Harley. I left him alone for a couple of hours today while I went over to Lisa's today. He was fine when I got home. I think he only barks when I'm going out the door.

I soaked his leash in vinegar. Didn't help at all. He is still biting on it. I'll have to do some research and see what is the best thing to do to help him not to bite his leash. I wasn't able to walk him today because he wouldn't stop biting his leash. And it's so important to walk him at least a couple of times each day.

That's it for now. The President is going to address Congress about Health Care Reform and I want to watch his speech.

Sleeping better

I didn't wake up until 5:30am today. I'm sleeping a lot better now that I have Harley. And when I do wake up in the middle of the night I'm more apt to just go right back to bed instead of staying up and playing on the laptop. Anyway, we went back to bed afterward and didn't get up again for a few hours. Once we did get up, Harley was just chock full of energy. I put some Agave Nectar in a couple of Kongs for him (just a few drops in each) and that settled him down for a little bit. He got a boost of energy and was running all over the house, darting back and forth. It was fun, although tiring, to watch him. He's asleep now on the floor next to my ottoman. He wore himself out. I'm worn out too. I think I'll try to catch a siesta before I head over to Lisa's this afternoon. I won't leave Harley for too long but I do want to see Lisa. It's been about a month since I've seen her (basically since we got Harley). I wish I could bring him over there but I don't think he's ready for that yet.

We did some training this morning working on sit, down, paw, up and over (on his side). I used his kibble to treat him. He's just fine with that. I may do a half kibble/half treats combination for training at home and at class. I'll have to see who that works.

Okay, I'm nodding off. Time to take a late morning nap.

Amazing

We did some more training with Harley tonight. He's doing sit, down, paw and over (he turns over on his side). I'm hoping that we can get over to become rollover at some point. He was coming when his name was called too. I had David change out the treats in the Everlasting Treat Ball to the liver flavored ones and he's really enjoying it. He's been chewing on it for about a half hour so far. I think it's a treat I should just give him once in a while though so it's special. I get worried that I'm lagging behind with Harley but then we do some training and he amazes me.

Harley and me

Harley is in his kennel working on a stuffed Kong. I made it a little harder for him by putting the peanut butter more inside the Kong instead of just on the surface of the hole. I put some kibble in it. I was hoping that his stuff would arrive today so I'd get the Kibble Nibble thing that will dispense treats slowly while he pushes it around. But, no package today. Maybe tomorrow. I'd like to try another walk but it's raining out right now. Maybe later before it gets dark. Not that Harley can't be out in the dark, I don't want to be out in the dark. lol

We just got back from a short drive. Harley stayed home and didn't whine or bark when we left. He's laying down in his kennel right now. I'll let him out in a few minutes. I have been with him all day today and it's been a delightful day. Very quiet and laid back. The house is clean so I didn't have that hanging over my head so I could just enjoy the whole day with Harley.

We saw a Golden Lab on the way home and it's hard for me to believe that it won't be too long from now that Harley will be that big. I want to have control of him before he gets that big though. I want him to walk with me and come when called and definitely no biting or jumping up. I know we'll get there, Harley and me.

The first month with Harley

I've been using Harley's kibble instead of treats today to do training. He seems to be fine with that. I want to save treats for when we go to class or for new behaviors we're working on at home. We've practiced at least 3 times today. We tried going for a walk but he was uncooperative today. He wasn't just pulling on the leash but he was trying to run and play. That made walking very difficult so we cut our walk short. I don't like doing that but I don't want Harley to think that a walk means he can misbehave. He's on the kitchen floor right now sleeping. He was outside for a while because the dogs behind us were out. He loves to see them. He goes right up to the fence and he and Freckles stare at each other and go nose to nose. Zeus was too busy playing to care too much about Harley. Zeus has a squeaky ball that he chases. I wonder if Harley would retrieve a squeaky ball. I think we need to work on retrieve more because he's not doing it as much as when we first got him.

He's doing well with sit, down and paw. I'm working with him on leave it. I haven't bought a mat for him yet to do mat work so I need to get that done. I know it's ridiculous but I feel like I'm not giving him enough training or time. I'm with him all day but I want to make sure it's productive time, not meaning always training, but socializing with him too. I keep telling myself that he's only 13 1/2 weeks old and that he'll be able to do more as we go along. I'm doing my best to be patient and allow him to mature on his time table, not mine.

I need to make an appointment for Harley for the 18th to get his second set of shots and a canine influenza booster. I'm anxious to see how much he weighs. He's gotten so big. Won't be long before I'm making an appointment for him to get neutered. I'll get his microchip implanted then too since he'll already be under anesthesia. I'm NOT getting his dew claws removed. That wouldn't be fair to him. If it was done when he was little that would be different but he's too old now to do that. Huxley and Blitz had their dews and they were fine.

It looks like it's going to rain. I'm glad that Harley has already been out and done his business. If he needs to go out, I'll let him out and watch him from the house. I'm glad that he's not afraid of thunderstorms.

So we've had the little bugger for a month now. I think it's gone rather well and a whole lot better than I could have imagined. It's a lot of work but I don't feel overwhelmed all the time like I did with the GSP's. There are moments that he is relentless but it's only moments. It's not like he's a terror all day long. He's a typical puppy and I enjoy having him in my life.

Quiet day

After looking at Harley's dad and doing some research, I'm wondering if his dad has Flat Coated Retriever in him. I guess it could be another long haired dog but I was just wondering.

Harley is asleep in the kitchen. He's had to spend more time than usual in his kennel today because the cleaning lady came this morning. He didn't put up much fuss though. We did go out for a little over an hour to take Harley for a ride over to Garden of the Gods. He pretty much slept the whole way over there and back. It's been a quiet day here which is nice. I think Harley is still tired from puppy class yesterday.

I was talking to Marianne today about how Harley has changed things in my life. It really is amazing the things I'm learning through owning Harley. He's a definite gift from God.

Pictures from class #3

Here's a picture of David working with Harley at class. They were working on sit.


Here's a picture of Harley and his pal Star. She's the one that's a bit shy of people but she's really coming along. Christine is in the yellow in the background with her dog Ginger and Sylvia is sitting down with her dog Ike.


If you look closely, you can see Rocky between his mom's feet to the left of Ginger the Golden Retriever. Harley and Ike are off to the right playing together. Rocky's whole family is sitting in this picture (mom, dad and kids).


Again, Harley and Ike tumbling around.


Harley sitting and Star standing. You can almost see the white star on Star's back.


Today has been a really good day. Harley is really behaving today. He did pretty good at puppy pre-school. Just when I think he's doing well, we get to class with all the distractions and I'm not so sure that we are doing that well. lol We did learn something new today - having them go to a mat and lay down. Harley was more interested in playing than laying down. So now we have sit, down, come (by calling his name), leave it and the mat work. Whew! So much to do. I really do need to work with Harley more than I am. It's one thing for him to sit at home but getting him to do it at class with distractions is a whole other story. He did pee outside today, but he also got excited and peed inside (Christine was messing with him).

Star is doing so well. It gives me hope that Harley will be able to do just as well as long as I take the time to work with him. I'm not sure what I'll use for a mat yet. I thought about using the door mat but it's not quite as portable as I'd like and it's too familiar to Harley. Christine wants us to use something that will only be out for mat work. I'll have to see if I have a blanket that I can use or get something at the Goodwill.

I'm so glad that I finally took some pictures today. I still need to ask Christine if she has the one from Harley's first class. Star's mom was taking pictures today too. Harley and Ike really got into playing today. I could see Harley using his bite inhibition because Ike wasn't yelping at him while they were playing. It was good to see.

I felt like I was messing up a lot today (saying come on, not clicking on the behavior, etc.) but I'm going to cut myself some slack and say it's all good.

Up in the middle of the night

It's about 2:40am. I got up to go to the bathroom and then I let Harley out of his kennel so he could go out and do his business. I probably should have gone right back to bed, having put Harley in his kennelk but I didn't. Harley never complains about having to sleep in his kennel, but I know he would prefer to be out of the kennel if he could. He fits in the bedroom kennel okay but I think that if he could chose, he'd chose the bigger one for sleeping in. But what do I know, I'm not a dog. He's playing with one of his toys, the Kong with tails. I know I shouldn't encourage him being up in the middle of the night though. I don't want to have to get up every night to let him out. Of course, it's no big deal since I'm up at least once every night myself.

It's officially puppy pre-school day! Yay! We'll be there in less than 11 hours. I love how tired out Harley is after class. He sleeps on the way home and when we get home too for quite a while. When he wakes up he's a terror (for about 10 minutes) but it's all good. Now he's playing with his duck. He's laying in his kennel chewing on his duck. I really should get him back to bed. I'm pretty tired and need to sleep. Change of toy again to the Everlasting Treat Ball. He has the attention span of a puppy. lol

Okay, I really need to get us both back to bed. See you in the morning.

The amazing farting dog

Harley is farting up a storm tonight. Boy he stinks. I think it's because I gave him a ham bone (NOT cooked) earlier today when we went to Garden of the Gods. Bad choice. I hope it doesn't give him an upset stomach. He's just laying there farting (out loud, for goodness sake!). He may need to go out during the night tonight. I'll be listening for him. I'll probably smell him before I hear him. LOL I was doing some research on feeding dogs green beans, carrots, pieces of apples, bananas and yogurt. I think I may try adding some of that into his diet. I fed Skooter and Moped a raw diet and they liked it. I wouldn't feed him a complete raw diet though. I'd still keep him on at least 1/2 to 2/3 of his kibble. The kibble I got for him (Eagle Pack Holistic Select Large and Giant Breed Puppy) was recommended online specifically for Retrievers. I'm glad I made a good choice about that. But really, no more ham bones. I need a clothespin for my nose. ;)

10 minutes of terror lol

Harley has gone through his terrorizing phase for the day. It lasted about 10 minutes. LOL He's sleeping on the air register again. I tried to take him for a walk but the only thing he wanted to do is bite the leash. So I brought him back home after a very short walk. He finally went up to the fence to see Stephanie. The barking was minimal (on both sides of the fence). They chased each other along the fence and played for a few minutes. I'm hoping that now Stephanie won't bark at him so much. I don't want the neighbors to get mad at me because my dog is causing their dog to bark.

Have I said lately that a sleeping puppy is a good puppy? LOL Today is flying by and we're getting closer and closer to puppy pre-school. David worked with Harley while I was out. They worked on sit, down and paw. I love that he knows to give us his paw now. I'm hoping he'll get to a point that when anyone reaches for him he'll give them his paw. I'm curious about what we'll be doing in class tomorrow. I want to be teaching him something new if possible so he doesn't get bored. I'm sure he'll love to see the other puppies. I'm still wondering if Rocky will be there tomorrow. Nothing I can do about it if he's not.

Day # 28 with Harley

I took Harley for a walk over to the clubhouse this morning. He did fairly well. When we got back David wanted to go for a drive so we took Harley and headed over to Garden of the Gods. We stopped by the trading post to let him out. He loved all the new smells. He had fun. He's been in and out today and of course he's gotten in quite a bit of sleeping. He was in the kitchen and heard his kennel door in the bedroom (David bumped into it) and now is all curious about what is going on. He is such a good puppy. I added some pictures of him on my facebook page. Harley has his own album. A couple of people commented on how big he is getting.

The dogs out behind us haven't been out much today so Harley hasn't had a chance to play with them. Each time he goes out he goes over to the fence to look for them. He'll get plenty of play time tomorrow at puppy pre-school. Just as I was typing that David took Harley out back and Zeus was out there. Harley tried to play but Zeus didn't seem to want to play in the heat. There are two women who live over there (a mom and her daughter). The daughter lets her dogs stay out when Harley is out so they can play. The mom usually brings the dogs in as soon as she realizes that Harley is out. I think she's afraid that her dogs will bark and bother people but they don't do that much anymore. Now I just have to get Stephanie to stop barking when she sees Harley.

Day # 27 with Harley

It's 10:30pm and Harley has been asleep on the living room floor since about 9pm. He certainly is in a better routine than I am. I love that he has down time. I can't really remember Moped ever having down time. Now Huxley and Blitz, they were very lazy and I loved that. It just was too hard to have two large dogs in a small house like this. Especially when they were in bed with us. lol Which reminds me, I had a dream about letting Harley in bed with us. I was worried (in the dream) that something might happen to him one day and I'd be without him and so I let him get up on the bed. What a weird dream. I've told myself that he's not going to end up in bed with us, but I know that I'm not totally sure about that. ;) I do like him sleeping in his own bed and having room for me in mine.

I realized tonight that I never took Harley out for a walk today. Not good. I know that I didn't get out because I was feeling blue today. Nothing about Harley factored into that though. He's such a good boy. Sometimes he's a bit much but luckily that doesn't last too long. Tonight he played with the dogs behind us along the fence. He was running all around the yard and trying to sneak up on them. Freckles, the Saint Bernard, played with him the most. Zeus also wanted to play but was distracted by his owner throwing a ball. I was glad to see Harley playing with them. He barked a few times which was surprising because he just doesn't bark that much (unless of course we're in puppy school).

Today I had a few seconds where I thought that I just can't take care of Harley. Then I reminded myself that Harley and I know what's going on and that I don't have to doubt myself when it comes to him.

Busy boy

Harley has finally figured out that he's big enough to get his front paws up on just about anything. We finally had to move all the shoes too. He's officially a puppy. He's napping in the kitchen right now. He's been busy, busy, busy today. He's been wearing himself out running all around the house, usually with a toy in his mouth. He bit David and me today. He doesn't mean it, he's just playing, but he's playing too rough. So he gets a time out each time he does it. He still hasn't figured out going into the trash (thank goodness!) or jumping up on things with all four paws. I'm sure he'll get there though.

Puppy school in just 2 days. I love taking him to puppy school. I just hope he doesn't terrorize Rocky like he did last weekend (if Rocky even shows up this weekend). He's doing really well with sit, down, paw (shake) and up. I'm sure he's not an exceptional puppy but he seems pretty bright to me. I think it's just that I spend more time with him since it's just one puppy, not two. I get to do a lot more with Harley than I did with the GSP's because there were always two of them. I was outnumbered. lol

I still don't have a routine down. I need a routine as much as Harley does. I've decided to change his feeding times to 8am, 12pm and 4pm. Half an hour before he eats we'll go for a walk. I've got to get him walking 15 to 20 minutes at a time. He needs to get all his energy out. As he gets older we can go for the 40 minute walks but for now I'd be fine with 20 minutes. I need to not give in to him when he starts biting the leash or jumping on me. I know he can do at least a 15 minute walk. I'll work with him on that.

He deserves the best

Harley was in his kennel having a time out when I got home. He had been biting David's feet. I'm glad he put him in time out. He's been okay most of the evening though. Little bursts of energy but nothing out of hand. I didn't get a third walk in today with Harley. I just got busy doing other things. He seems to be doing okay though. He's figured out how to put his front paws on the bathroom counter. That's not good. :-) I think he's getting to a stage where he's going to go after stuff on the living room tables and wherever else he can reach. I know he's just exploring so I'll have to make sure I keep him busy. I'm going to do some research online and see what things I can do to keep him entertained (besides walking him). He's laying on the air register again because the AC came on. And he's napping.

Sometimes I think that I just won't be able to give Harley everything he needs. I'm not as active as he probably will need. But I love him so much that I'll do the best I can with him. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about not being the best thing for him. I know he's the best thing for me. He's made such an incredible impact on my life. I'm learning about responsibility, commitment, unconditional love and the give and take between two beings. I really love having Harley in my life. Okay, no more tears. I want to think about all the fun stuff Harley does instead.

I love the way Harley picks up the Kong in his mouth and tips it over so food will come out of it. I love when he runs as fast as he can, back and forth. I love when he tries to hide in the grass. I just love everything about him.

Busy morning

Well, we didn't get too far on our trail walk today. Harley was having trouble focusing on walking. I think I may need to feed him before we go on our walk. I didn't feed him until after we got home which was almost 10am. That's too late to be feeding him breakfast. He did meet some other dogs up there today. Of course the one he chose to jump on was a full size Doberman. Luckily the Dobie didn't take any offense by Harley's actions. They know he's just a puppy.

So that's two short walks already today. He's bursting with energy again so I'll probably take him on another walk before I leave to see Marianne. It will probably be too early for the mail but we can walk over there just the same.

It seems like he is inhibiting his bite somewhat. He's still nipping at my shorts though. I give him a time out when he does that. That seems to stop the behavior. Overall he's doing much better than I ever would have imagined he would do.

I took all of his toys and put them in a small box with the flaps cut off. It's fun for him to go and pick out his toys. Of course the first toy he's chosen is his noisy Wubba. He's running all over the house with it. From the dining room to the living room, down the hallway and into our bedroom and then back again. He goes super fast. It makes me think that if he ever got away from me I'd never be able to catch him.

I guess he's run out of energy. He's kahked out on the kitchen floor now. Oops, now he's laying down by me. It's been a busy morning for Harley Barley. And now he's in my bathroom laying on the cool floor in there. When he gets a burst of energy he just doesn't stop until it's time to crash. I love my puppy.

Pooping machine

Harley and I took a short walk around the neighborhood. He had just pooped in the backyard before we left so I thought he'd be able to make it without pooping again. But I was wrong. Right on a neighbors front lawn. Thankfully I had poop bags with me. So, I turned around and headed home to the trash can to dispose of the bag. I'm thinking about bringing him up to Palmer Park this morning for another, hopefully longer walk.

While I took my shower this morning he howled and barked. Once he figured out that I was still in the house he stopped. I don't want him barking and howling when I'm not home. He seems so calm when I get in that I can't believe he howls the whole time I'm gone. I keep in mind that he's only 12 and a half weeks old and he's doing fabulous for his age. He's no genius but Harley and I get each other. He is a smart puppy.

He is chewing on one of his bison bones. He's being a good puppy. I guess I need to decide if I'm going to bring him up to the Mesa or not before it gets too hot out. It's supposed to be another warm day today. There is a haze over the mountains from wildfires in California. My eyes have been watery for days. I don't think it's effecting Harley though.

Okay, off to the Mesa we go.

Wow!

Wow! I mean, just wow! Harley has been a handful tonight. I sat out on the porch with him for a while. He's just full of energy. I had to put him in his kennel because he was biting too much and because David is eating something. I don't want Harley to think he can beg for food. I'll let him out in a just a little bit so he can blow off some energy before we go to bed. He moves his bed around so he can lay on the plastic pan that's at the bottom of the kennel. I'm sure that's because it feels cool to him.



I'm going to try to take him for a walk again tomorrow morning. I have an appointment with Marianne in the afternoon but Harley won't be home alone too long since David is home at 3pm. I took a video of Harley eating his food today out of the Kong. It's so cute the way he tips it up and dumps the food out of it.