Water boy

Well, it's just after 10pm and Harley is in the kennel in the dining room sleeping. I've stayed out here until he fell asleep. I think he'll do okay as long as he sleeps. He may whine if he wakes up and discovers that he's alone. I think he's almost outgrown the other kennel anyway (as you can see in the picture above). It will probably last another month and that's about it. I think he's enjoying sleeping in the big kennel because he has more room. I'll be selling the other kennel on craigslist before I know it.

We did mat work tonight. I tossed the mat away from me onto the floor and motioned for him to lay down from a distance. He went to the mat right away each time and followed my signal to lay down. I am very proud of him. He did bite me tonight by accident when we were playing. It isn't too bad. It looks more like a scratch. He's also been doing well with retrieve. We throw his duck down the hall or out into the kitchen and he runs to get it and brings it back. He's still not dropping it but he's almost there. It's fun playing with him.

Tonight I started using little pieces of hot dogs to get him to come in from outside. So far, so good. He comes running to come in now that he thinks he's getting a piece of hot dog. That may be our high value treat. We'll have to see. I'm only going to use the hot dogs to get him in the house if he's digging or dawdling at the fence.

We have to start our day with a walk tomorrow morning. It was rainy tonight so we didn't get out for our second walk. I'm going to take him for a walk before he eats, make him work for his food. I should put a little sign on him that says "Will work for food!". lol

He's laying on his back in his kennel. He seems like he's fine in there. I don't really want him to be so far away from me at night but there's nothing I can do until that tray gets here. I don't want him to tear up the rug any more than he already has. I'm afraid he'll eat something he shouldn't. Today it looked like he just tore it up. I'll have to watch when he does his business to make sure everything is okay. I know - TMI! lol



I'm going to have to sneak out of here in a few minutes and see if he'll sleep okay in the dining room. He's just the best. I really enjoy having Harley. Training him is fun. The only thing I need to work on is getting more walks in. Oh, and the impulse control stuff. An example of impulse control is when I'm putting his bowl down that he continues to sit and doesn't move until I tell him to move. We're just at the beginning of working on that. Besides the carpet incident today, he's been awesome. I wasn't mad at him at all for tearing up the carpet. I wish he hadn't but if I had done my job as his caretaker it probably wouldn't have happened.

He seems to be sound asleep now so I should probably go to bed. I'll miss having him in the bedroom with me. Almost forgot - he's able to jump up on the couch now. He looks so cute when he gets up there and lays down. I have to run to get a treat to get him off as quick as I can but he gets pretty comfy right away. I don't let him know I think it's cute though because I don't want him up on the furniture. All I have to do is just walk toward the treat container and he jumps off. I try to say 'off' so he'll associate getting off with that word. He did look cute though curled up on the couch (my bad).

Here's a picture of him carrying his water bowl. Hopefully the new set up will deter him from continuing to do that. Again, cute but not a wanted behavior. It's a ceramic bowl so I'm kind of surprised that he picks it up. I tried using the real big ceramic bowl but he can move that one too. We may have to anchor something down so he can't pick up the water bowl. What a little cutie.

Replacement tray ordered

I went out and looked for a replacement tray and neither of the pet stores had them. I'll have to keep looking. Never thought to call the other PetsMarts in town to see if maybe they have them.

Called the other PetsMarts and they don't carry them either. I found one online that I can get by the end of the week so I ordered it. He'll have to sleep in his big kennel until the tray gets here. Maybe that will help some with the separation anxiety he gets when I leave the house.

David worked with him while I was gone on sit, down, stay and retrieve. He said that Harley didn't really well. It's raining and hailing out so we won't be going for a walk this evening (unless it stops before it gets dark). I feel terrible about not giving him enough to keep him busy today. I know if I had given him so Kongs and a bison bone he probably would have been okay. No problem though. The carpet through the entire house needs to be replaced because of the previous pets we had. It'll be a while though before we can do that. He's still too little for us to get new carpeting. I guess I can live with a hole in the carpet (especially since his kennel will be covering the hole lol).


I will work with Harley later this evening on his mat work and some of the impulse control stuff. Right now he is completely khacked out in his kennel and I won't be disturbing him.

Uh oh!

I didn't walk Harley this morning because I slept in. I had to be out of the house for 2 hours for my appointment with Marianne. He got bored. Now I need to get the tray that fits in the bottom of the smaller kennel so this won't happen again. Totally my fault for not walking him before I went out. I think that tearing the rug apart got him so excited that when I got home he could barely contain himself. I took him for a walk right away. Now he's napping in the kitchen. It just didn't occur to me that he would tear at the rug under his bed. Oh well. Lesson learned. He'll have to go out for a couple more walks today to get all the pent up energy out. I'm going over to the pet store when David gets home to see if I can find a tray to fit in that kennel. I don't want to leave Harley alone again today. I should have given him more things to chew on in his kennel when I left too. Again, not Harley's fault. He was bored and tearing at the rug was the only thing he had to do (the one toy I left in there didn't keep him occupied). We're going to be replacing all the carpeting in the house eventually anyway. Better that he did it to the old carpet than to new carpet.

I emailed Christine and she sent me two pictures and a video! I am so excited! Christine was kind enough to share the photos and video that she took.

This is a picture Christine took of Harley, Ike and the pit puppy (I don't remember her name).


This is a picture Christine took of Ike and the pit puppy playing, Ginger and Harley checking things out.


And here's the video Christine took of Harley and the pit puppy playing. Ike comes into the video at the end.



Just want to add Christine's information again since we are having such a great time in class.

K9 to 5 Learning Center
Christine Kelly
1722 Brookwood
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-238-8118
ckelly@k9to5.us

Christine is a certified trainer. Check out her website K9 to 5

Consistency

We just did some training with Harley. We worked on sit, down, leave it and having him come by calling his name. He's figuring out that when I call his name that he'll get a treat. He's in his kennel right now chilling out. He's still tired from class today. We tried trimming his nails but he was too wound up to do that. We'll try again tomorrow. Because his nails are black it's hard to tell where the quick begins. I may check with the vet on Friday to see if they can trim them so I'll know how far back we can go. Oh, we also did some work on stay with Harley. The only problem we're having is being consistent with him (like giving him a treat EVERY time that he comes when we call his name). He gets what we're trying to do but at times we confuse him by not being consistent with treats or commands. I don't want to frustrate him by being inconsistent.

I can't believe that the weekend is pretty much over. Tomorrow's Monday and I have my noon appointment with Marianne. Harley will have to stay home. He's still not ready to sit for an hour in the office. Soon though he'll be able to do that. I look forward to those days. I'm enjoying my time with him now too. He's so smart and such a wonderful puppy. It was nice in class today because one other person is dealing with resource guarding and both of the others are dealing with their dogs biting and scratching like Harley is doing. Misery loves company I guess. lol

Puppy Pre-school #4

We did a lot today! I am tired and so is Harley.

When we got there we let Harley go play with the other puppies and boy did he play. Ike was there along with Kaboose, Cody and a pit puppy (can't remember her name). She was only there for play time as was Ike. So there were only 3 of us there for class which was kind of nice. It wasn't as chaotic today, it was more laid back. We still worked really hard though. First we did our sets of 5 sits and 5 downs. Harley was great with both. We worked on a bunch of stuff today: stay, leave it, mat work, impulse control work and I can't remember what else right now. lol The impulse control is to get him to stay sitting when I give him his bowl of food or water. Also to keep him sitting when I have food in my hand. It really was a lot today but in a good way. He peed in the room every time he had to go though. The door was closed and he didn't know to go to that door and sit. He also was excited or scared and peed because of that. Lots of clean up on Aisle 2 today. lol

I also asked Christine about Harley running along the fence with Zeus and she doesn't think that's a good idea. She wants me to work on calling him away from the fence using a high value treat (such as hot dogs). I definitely need to do more work with him on calling him by his name to get him to come to me. Although he did do better today coming to me but there weren't quite as many distractions as there usually are. Overall he did really well with everything.

We have 2 more puppy classes and then the week of October 4th Christine will be away. I guess we will start another class after that. I'm not sure that other folks will be staying with the class or not so I'll have to see what will happen. I definitely want to keep Harley in classes though.

Christine took more pictures today. I need to send her an email and ask if she would send some of them to me. I'm so busy during class that I don't have time to take pictures. And I didn't take the camera or my cell phone today anyway.

I think I figured out some things that I need to do differently in training. Doing the mat work I need to be further away from the mat. I need to toss it down and then motion him to go down from a distance, then treat him. With leave it I need to add the floor component to the exercise. I also need to treat him every time I call him by name and he comes to me. It's the little things that I need to add in, the details. I can see that I'm starting to have some issues with Harley because I'm not doing the training the way I need to or as much as I should. I'm also not walking him enough. That has to change.

He'll probably sleep for about an hour or so then he'll be full of energy again. I didn't feed him any lunch because he gets about that much in treats. He'll get dinner though. I'll practice some of the stuff that Christine showed me when it comes time to feed him tonight. Okay, time for me to relax.

Retrieve

David played retrieve with Harley tonight using Harley's duck. He's bringing the duck back but doesn't want to drop it yet. David did get Harley to give it up and sit before he would throw it again. He even had him doing down in between retrieves. Harley had a lot of fun. He's sleeping right now. It's way past our bedtime but I forgot to put his bed in the dryer so it's in there now. It'll be a little while before I can go to bed. His mat is drying too. I need that for class tomorrow. I'm tired so I'm going to get ready for bed so as soon as his bed is dry we can turn in for the night.

Digging

I did some training with Harley earlier this evening. We did mat work and he did just fine. He's chewing on his bison bone right now. He was out earlier and the dogs out back were out too. He and Zeus chased each other along the fence. The older lady that lives over there doesn't like it if the dogs bark and brings them in right away and poor Harley doesn't have anyone to play with. Her daughter lets them work things out and and play. It's been raining all day today so we haven't gone out to walk (except when we went on our morning ride). He'll have an opportunity to play his little heart out tomorrow at puppy class. I wonder if we'll learn anything new tomorrow or just continue working on the things we've already learned. Tomorrow will be our 4th class. I'll have to see what we'll be doing after this class. The other folks should be moving on too so maybe there will be a basic obedience class after this.

Harley is wanting to go outside a lot now and it's not so he can do his business. It's so he can hang out by the fence and dig. David just let him out and that's exactly what Harley did. I'm going to have to figure out how to keep him from digging. And instead of coming in he ran under the deck so I had to lure him in with a few pieces of kibble in the measuring cup. He hears the clinking and comes running. He's got a bit too much energy though and so he's settling down in his kennel. He always seems to get the burst of energy just before he needs to settle down and take a nap. He bit a small hole in my sweatpants. Oh well.

I'm washing his bed and the mat so it will be clean for tomorrow's class. His bed needs to be washed at least once a week since he sleeps on it. I have some other laundry to do but I might wait and do it tomorrow morning or after class. Well, he's sleeping now so all is well.

A new bison bone

David, Harley and I just went for a ride over to Garden of the Gods. Harley slept most of the way there and back. We stopped at the natural pet market on the way home so I could get him a bison bone. The two he has don't have much left on them. Before I went into the store I took Harley out to pee and he did. He wasn't too anxious to get out of the car when we got home until I showed him that I had his bison bone. He has it in the dining room right now and he's really enjoying it. That will keep him busy for a while.

First training done

We've done our first training session of the day including mat work. He really gets that he needs to return to the mat and lay down to get a treat. We need to work on 'leave it' though. He's not quite getting that. He knows to touch my hand and back off but he's not getting the duration part of it. He's an instant gratifier. lol David is handling him right now, feeling his ears and mouth and tummy etc. Harley does really well with being touched.

Ready to go

Harley and I got up at 7am today. He's eating breakfast from his Kibble Nibble. He's already been outside and peed and pooped. He just got frustrated because his Kibble Nibble got stuck in the kitchen (he growled). He just finished though and is laying at my feet. Okay, he just got up and is sniffing around for more food. Nope, he took a trip down to the bedroom to get something out of the laundry basket. Door is now closed and he can't get to that stuff so he's playing with his Kong Tails. Boy, he's busy this morning. I can't leave his water bowl on the floor for too long because he picks it up in his mouth and carries it around often running behind the couch with it. I don't want him to break it so I remove it once he's done drinking.

The bison bones won't be shipped until Monday and should get here by Wednesday or Thursday. I sure hope he likes them. He's playing with one of his old bison bones right now. He loves chewing on them. He has his paws wrapped around it holding it. He's so cute.

I'll do mat work with him later this morning. I still need time to wake up. ;)

Totally off topic

I think I've figured out why I'm having anxiety tonight. For the first time in 3 months I drank a soda tonight. I think that between the carbonation and the caffeine I set myself up to feel bad. I wont' be doing that again.

Anxious night (nothing to do with Harley)

I can't sleep tonight. I got up at about 1:30am and let Harley out. He went out and did his business and came right back in. I think he was cold. There's a cold front moving in and you can sure feel it tonight. I would have liked to keep Harley up with me but I don't want him to get used to getting up every night. While he's a puppy I'll still let him out during the night but once he's able to hold it overnight, he'll be sleeping the night through even if I don't. I'm not sure what's going on with me tonight. I was cold even though I had a blanket on and I kept feeling anxiety that woke me up. It's a real weird feeling that I could do without. I guess I should head back to bed and try to get back to sleep. I hope Harley is able to get back to sleep too.

Day # 34 with Harley

We did some more mat work tonight and Harley did a wonderful job. He really seems to understand that he needs to get on the mat and lay down to get a treat. We also worked a little bit on the other stuff but mostly the mat work. He's in his kennel right now because David is eating some deli meat and cheese. I don't want Harley begging for food. I did give him a small piece of cheese to see if he would eat it and he did. I'll only use that for a VERY special treat. Tomorrow I need to take him for a couple of walks and over to PetsMart. We didn't walk today because of the wind. I know that I need to walk him every day but I haven't been. I'm not quite sure what I'm waiting for to get going with a routine but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. He seems to be getting enough physical energy out each day by playing outside and running the fence when the other dogs are out. He loves doing that.

I keep thinking about the change Harley has made in my life and how I'm so grateful that I found him. He's been so good for me. It's a challenge sometimes but it's not anything that I can't handle. There are a few moments when I feel overwhelmed but I think it has more to do with me than it does with Harley. It's usually a day when other things are getting to me and anything Harley (or David for that matter) does overwhelms me. Thankfully there are only moments now and then that feel that way. Mostly Harley is a bundle of joy.

I ordered some bison bones online tonight. They are way cheaper than getting them here in town and the shipping was free. I'm not sure what they will be like so I only got one bag (about 5 pounds or approximately 4 bones). I hope Harley likes them. I should be getting the other stuff I ordered pretty soon (the diner, pheasant, Tug-a-Jug and Buster Cube). I can't wait to see how Harley does with the Buster Cube. Here are two pictures of Huxley and Blitz playing with their Buster Cube (I'm not sure what happened to it).



I can imagine that Harley will figure it out quickly and we'll have to choose the difficult setting for him after a short time at the easy setting. Huxley and Blitz always liked the Buster Cube and it was fun watching them play with it.

I put Harley in his kennel again because he was biting. He's playing with his bison bone. It's old and he's pretty much eaten everything off of it but he seems to find a piece here or there to chew on. I'd keep getting them here in town if they weren't so expensive (from the natural pet market).

Well, it's almost bedtime. I'm grateful that Harley goes to bed without any fuss. I hope that doesn't change. He doesn't seem to mind being in his kennel in the bedroom when we are in there sleeping or napping. I think as he gets older it will be easy to get him to sleep on the floor on his bed. He's not ready for that yet though. I couldn't trust him not to chew things during the middle of the night. He's safer and happier in his kennel. I'm happier too not having to worry about him and being able to sleep.

September 11, 2009

Harley is eating dinner from his Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble. Well, that was quick. He's already done. I just put some more kibble in a Kong for him. Dinner needs to take a lot longer than it is at this point. It's taking longer than it was when he was eating out of a bowl though, so that's good. He's learning that he can jump up and put his front paws on the counters. This is really starting to get fun! ;) I'm going to have to really work on 'off' now too.

We worked with the mat tonight. He did really well. He's getting the hand signals for sit, down and paw. He's figuring out that he needs to go on the mat and lay down in order to get a treat. I'll practice it again with him later. We also need to work on leave it. I'm not doing so well teaching him that command and I really need to get him to do it. That will help with the resource guarding I believe.

Now he's laying down playing with his duck. I can't wait until his pheasant gets here. I'm sure he's smart enough to figure out the Tug-a-Jug but it's not easy at first. It will be fun seeing him figure it out.

As a side note, today is 9-11. Eight years ago today. Please never forget.

Resource guarding

I did some research on resource guarding and found some interesting suggestions. Basically you let the dog know that you're not going to steal his stuff, that you'll trade for it instead. He needs to know that good things will happen when you do need to take something from him (or more to the point when you make him give you something). We'll have to work on that with Harley. I'm working more with him on hand signals for sit, down, up and paw. He's doing okay so far. I'll just keep working with him until he gets it. Oh yeah, working on the hand signal for roll over too. I haven't done any mat work with him this week. I'll have the rest of today and tomorrow to work with him. Sunday morning too but I don't want to wear him out before class starts by training too much on training day.

I'll still talk to Christine on Sunday about the resource guarding and see what her take is on it.

A blustery day

It is VERY windy out today. Harley didn't want to go out at first because of the wind but he eventually went out and did his business. He's been pretty quiet today. There are a couple of things he did today that concern me. The first one is that he is growling and biting when I go to reach for something he has in his mouth, especially a food dispensing toy. The second thing is that when I try to pick something up off of the floor he goes after me. I'll have to do some research on those things and also talk to Christine on Sunday. I'm sure it's something we can remedy pretty quickly as long as we nip it in the bud.

Harley went outside earlier and I noticed that the poop bucket has been blown out into the yard. The bag was still in it but whipping around. Harley was afraid of it. He stayed on the porch. When I brought the bucket up onto the porch so it wouldn't blow away again he got scared and peed on the porch (he was going out to pee anyway). I don't want him to be afraid of things so I've left the bucket on the porch so he can check it out (which he just did when I let him out again).

He's keeping himself pretty busy today playing with his toys. I'd like to take him out for a walk but the wind is really whipping. Hopefully it will settle down and I can take him out later today.

2nd walk of the day

Harley and I did another walk around the cul de sac. He did really well. He did a lot of running around and playing in the house too so he's sleeping right now. He bit his leash on the way out and on the way back in but not during the walk. I'm not sure if I'll get another walk in tonight or not. I do need to practice for class on Sunday though. We've got to do the mat work and leave it. I haven't spent enough time with him on either of those behaviors. I don't think it will take much work to make him play dead when I say bang. That will be so cute. I'm going to try to get a few things done while he's sleeping.

Adventure at PetsMart

Harley and I went over to PetsMart. I walked him up and down every aisle. I made him do sit and down at the end of each aisle. I even had him do paw. Even with all the distractions (sights, smells, tastes and noises) he was able to do his commands. He's pooped out now and sleeping on the kitchen floor. He didn't go after his leash at all. I also made him do sit and down outside of PetsMart and he was able to do it there too. I took him out as soon as we got home but got impatient and brought him in before he did his business. Needless to say, I'm washing his bed right now. I was able to get him out to finish peeing outside though. My fault for not waiting for him to go. He had water in the car and when he got home so I should have known better. It's all good though. The bed washes really well. I need to check his other bed and make sure he hasn't had any accidents in there. He didn't seem real anxious to go out this morning. I don't want him to get in the habit of peeing in his kennel. That would be a bad thing. Now he's laying down over by my chair. He likes being near me and I like having him near.

I'm waiting for one final box of pet supplies. It's the raised diner, the AKC Pheasant, the Buster Cube and the Tug-A-Jug. I want him to have different ways to get his meals each day. I don't want him to get bored. I want to keep his mind working. A tired puppy is a happy puppy (which makes for a happy owner!).

I'll take him out for another short walk around the cul de sac before he has lunch. Then I'll feed him his food in his Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble. It dispenses the food slowly as he pushes it around. He seems to like it.


Boy he's wiped out from all the activity we've had this morning. I'll have to leave him for a couple of hours this afternoon while I go to my appointment with Marianne. I'm going to leave him in his big kennel without the bed in it in case he has another accident. I'll give him his Everlasting Treat Ball. That will keep him busy. Here's what it looks like. There are two flying saucer shaped hard treats that fit in each end of the ball.


He has lots of chew toys and he is pretty good about not chewing on other things. I've had to spray a few things with Bitter Apple and Phooey but not much (pieces of the carpet that are coming up, the recycle bag and my sneakers). He's not chewing on wires or furniture at this point. I hope that holds up.

I think I may go take a nap while he's in the mood for a nap. I have time before my appointment.

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.

GoD and DoG

Harley and I walked over to the mailbox to pick up the mail. Every time he pulled I stopped and waited for him to sit or come back to me. He really did well. It's a pleasure to walk with Harley. He's napping now because David is napping. I just watched this cute video from youtube. It's called GoD and DoG. It really made me think about Harley. Here's a link to it.

Two walks so far

Harley and I went for a short walk up at Palmer Park this morning. He didn't want to walk as much as he wanted to bite the leash today so we didn't walk very long. He did get to meet some other dogs though. That's a good thing for him. I took him for a second walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. Again it was a short walk. He's napping right now in his kennel. I was looking at waist packs so I can carry water and all my stuff without weighing down my pockets. I have my ID, car keys, tissues, cell phone, plastic bag, poop bags, water and the treat pack. It's too difficult to have everything in my pockets so I'm going to search around for an inexpensive pack so walking will be easier.

I'm nervous about Harley slipping out of his collar while we are walking. I've been thinking about getting one of those Gentle Leader harnesses. I'll have to research them though before I think of buying one. I need to work more on getting him to walk beside me and not pull in front of me.

David just got home so I'm going to finish for now. I need to let Harley out so he can say hello to David.

My beautiful boy

David took some pictures of Harley when he let him out tonight.

New kennel is a hit

Harley has been going in and out of his new kennel to play and lay down. I'm glad he's okay with it. He's in his other kennel right now taking a nap while David naps and I get a break. It's already 6pm. Where does the day go? It seems to go by so quickly now that I have Harley. I'm glad that I got him out there on the trail this morning. We'll go again tomorrow morning. I'll try to get up there earlier so it's not so warm out. David wants me to get a cover for the back seat so I'll have to look for one. I put a water bowl on the floor in the back seat for when we are through with our walk. He appreciated that today. I'd like to get a backpack to bring with me so I can put a few things in it (poop bags, water, the stuff I usually try to jam into my pockets too). I can wear the treat pack on the side of my shorts or pants. I didn't feel like I was totally prepared today (didn't have big plastic bags to put the small plastic bag in). There are only 4 trash cans on the trail so sometimes you have to carry for a little while. A big plastic bag would make that easier.

I should try to get Harley out there early, so I can feed him when we get home. He would probably do better when it's cooler anyway. Tomorrow I'd like to do a 20 minute walk with him. I think he can do that without too much fuss. Today is was a little difficult because a lady decided to walk with us and Harley kept going in front of her. It was a tad awkward. But it was nice to have someone to talk to. Until I get get him to walk with me better I'd rather walk just with Harley. It makes it easier for me to stop and greet other people and to keep Harley under control. He really did seem to enjoy the walk today. I'm excited to bring him up there again tomorrow.

Waiting on the kennel

It's hot so Harley is in the bathroom on the cool floor in there. He just came inside after being out for about 10 minutes. I took some of that time to clean up the yard. I'm so glad I'm able to keep up with the yard this time. It makes all the difference. No kennel yet. It says it's being delivered...

Woohoo! It just arrived. I already have it set up and the bed is in there. Harley hasn't gone into yet. I'm going to leave it open and see if he wanders in on his own. He's laying on the air register behind the living room table right now. The A/C is on and he loves the cold. He's definitely a cold weather dog. I'm going to have to look for a cooling mat for him for next spring and summer. I'm sure they have them. I'd want one that we could take in the car when he goes on rides with us. This new kennel is HUGE! Just the right size for him to grow into. I don't want him feeling squished in his kennel. If he feels uncomfortable, he wont' go in it.

I was going to take him for a walk to the mailbox but it's 88 degrees out! A bit too warm for me, let alone Harley. When it cools down this evening I'll take him for a walk. I don't think we're expecting any rain, but who knows. I have to get him out there at least twice every day for a walk. The morning walk will be nice because we'll go up to Palmer Park and walk the Mesa Trail. In the evenings it will probably be a walk to the mailbox and around the neighborhood. I think that Harley, like me, prefers to walk on the trail. ;)

Here's a picture of the new kennel. That's his duck in the kennel. You can see that he'll have a lot more room in this kennel.

New bed arrives

Harley's new bed arrived today. Now I'm just waiting for the kennel to put it in. He's playing with the bed, dragging it around the dining room. I had to go out to run an errand and he didn't make much noise at all when I was leaving. And when I got home he was quietly waiting for me. No accidents in his kennel. He went right outside and did his business. He's really enjoying playing with the new bed. I got a really good deal on it and got free shipping. It cost less than the first tiny one I got! I'm running out of treats though. I'm going to have to order some Zukes. I think I can get them online for less than I do at the natural pet market and there's no shipping cost either. Have to have lots of treats for training. I also need to make an appointment for him for his next set of shots (his 12 week shots). I better go and take care of this stuff. I think I'll take him for a walk over to the mailbox too and pick up the mail.

Harley's first trail walk

Harley and I went over to Palmer Park this morning and I took him for his first walk on the Mesa Trail. We walked down to where the figure eight crosses and then we turned back. Harley got to meet a lot of new dogs and a lot of new people. Most people roughed him up a little which is exactly what I wanted them to do. He did so well on the leash for his first time up there. He's still going all around me and pulling a bit by the majority of the time he was loose leash on my left side. I didn't time how long we walked. We kept going until it seemed like the right time to turn around. He was very appropriate when meeting other dogs and other people. He's still jumping up but at 12 1/2 weeks I'm not going to complain about all the little things. He is plum tuckered out. He's on the kitchen floor sleeping. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

He's getting so big!

Harley is laying down in the kitchen by the dishwasher. He is a lazy puppy and I love that about him. He's starting to want to stay out longer when he goes outside. He loves laying in the grass. I'm not too worried about him going under the fence but there is one section that still needs fence at the bottom so I don't feel comfortable just letting him out on his own. Plus, he's still just too young to stay out on his own. He did have to get a time out today for biting at me and my clothes. He wasn't in there too long, just long enough for him to know that what he did was not acceptable. I think I will get my point across easier once the second kennel is in place in the dining room. That's usually where the biting starts. If I can give him a time out more immediately maybe he'll really get that the behavior is not wanted.

I've been reading conflicting things on walking Harley. Some say it shouldn't be more than 20 minutes, some say to walk them until they tire out (which could be 20 minutes, I don't know). But they also say that the biting may be because he has too much pent up energy from not getting enough exercise. I agree with that. Everything I read about getting them to stop biting I've tried (yelping, turning away) and giving him a time out seems to work the best. So I'll be sticking with that until he gets through the baby teeth stage. I just put two wet wash clothes in the freezer for him to chew on once they are frozen. I'm sure he'll like that.


I try to make meals interesting for Harley. Sometimes I put little piles of food all over the living room and dining room and let him hunt them down. Other times I put his food in a couple of Kongs sealed with peanut butter and liver treats. He loves that but he's so smart that he's figured out how to shake his food out of his Kong pretty quickly. So tonight I spread his food out on the dining room floor. It makes him eat slower and gives him something to think about. He seems to enjoy the change up in meals.


Here he is with the big dog biscuit I got for him at the natural pet market. It's almost as big as he is. He loves to bring his food and toys over to the air register. He likes to drag stuff on it. Maybe he likes the sound.


And here he is perched atop his toys and chews. The might Harley! lol David just took him outside. I can hear the dogs behind us barking. I think Harley barked once too. He really wants to get to know Freckles and Zeus but they are just so much bigger than he is right now. I'm sure he'll get closer to them once he gets a bit bigger.

Working things out

I had my appointment with Marianne today. I was telling her that I've been feeling guilty because I'm spending so much time with Harley that I'm not cleaning the house at all. She had an awesome suggestion - have someone come in and clean. So I looked up someone on craigslist, a woman named Julie, and she's going to come by tomorrow to look at the house and give me an estimate. I was going to just have the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned but I think that I'll have her do the whole house (minus the 2 other bedrooms). I feel so much better knowing that the house will be clean and I'll get to focus on Harley. She only charges $18/hour so I'm going to have her come in every other week to keep things up. I'm really excited about this. It's also going to be good since my back and knee are hurting so much. I want to put my physical energies into Harley and walking, not cleaning my house. This will be great. And once the house is clean I'll feel more like making dinner. Right now it's such a mess that I just don't even want to be here. If it weren't for Harley, I'd be out of the house every day.

I also talked to Marianne about how much money I've had to spend this first month with Harley. I was panicking about it and she reminded me that I've already spent the initial money that I've needed to for Harley, training, toys, chews, vets, kennels, etc. The only expenses that will be coming up is the vet (2 more times for shots) and training (about every 6 weeks). I feel better since Marianne pointed out that it's not going to cost this much every month for Harley. Sometimes I get lost in my thinking and don't think things through but that's why I see Marianne, she helps me to see things more clearly. I am so grateful for Marianne.

Harley did fine while I was out and went straight outside and did his business. Now he's playing with his bison bone and his duck. I told Marianne that I really want to enjoy this time with Harley, while he's a puppy. I don't want to just stick him in his kennel all day. I want him to be out here with me. He's such a good puppy (even though he is still tugging on my clothes!).

Harley's Dad

It's almost 3:30am. I got up to go to the bathroom and then I let Harley out to go do his business. He seemed very sleepy and slow. It was cute. After we got in Harley plopped down on the living room floor like he usually does. We've been sitting here for a while now. He's sleeping and I'm on the laptop. I'll go back to bed here in a few minutes.

I happened to check out Barb's blog this morning and found that she had posted a picture of Harley's dad. Here he is:

Picture taken by Barbara Roy 08/2009


I didn't think to ask what his name is. I'll do that after I finish this post. He's big and good looking. It's not hard to believe that Harley will be that big before we know it. It's really nice to have a picture of Harley's dad. It makes things feel complete.

I'm heading back to bed and Harley is heading back to his kennel so we can get some more sleep.

Bite inhibition

I just spent quite a bit of time working with Harley. I'm thinking that I might hand feed him for a while until he gets that he can't bite so hard. We did leave it but he kind of snaps when he goes to get the piece of kibble or treat. I know that he knows how to inhibit his bite. I can feel it when he has a soft mouth. If he's going to be a therapy dog or a retrieving dog he's going to have to learn to inhibit his bite. In the book by Ian Dunbar he says that the best place for him to learn bite inhibition is in puppy class. I'm hoping that is true. He got better with the biting as we went along with leave it tonight. So, maybe hand feeding him for a while would be a good idea. I'll have to ask Christine what her opinion is of hand feeding.

Harley is in the kitchen again laying on the floor. He's had quite a busy day today. Because I worked with him so late tonight I'm going to have to make sure he poops before he goes to bed. I'm thinking again about taking him up to Palmer Park with me. I need him to be around other dogs and other people. Right now he's only getting about 2 hours of socialization a week. I think he needs more than that. My only concern is another dog attacking him. I don't want him to be traumatized. I'll have to pray about this and see what comes of my prayers.

The only other thing that I still don't know how to control is Harley biting my clothes and hanging on. I guess I should try Ian Dunbar's approach which is calling Harley a bully when he does that to me. I try to ignore him but he just bites harder and pulls even more. I try to walk away from him but it's hard to do when he is attached to me. lol I just want him to be a well behaved dog.

Even though we're having some issues, he's still the greatest puppy in the world.

Puppy Pre-school #2

Welcome to another episode of puppy pre-school. We got to class early but were able to go in with Harley. There was a 12 week old puppy, same age as Harley, but about the one quarter the size. It is a King Charles Spaniel. Very tiny. And of course Harley was full of piss and vinegar from the get go today. I felt bad that he was going after the little dog so much but I didn't do anything to stop him. Rocky, the KCS, was rescued several times by his family. I don't blame them for doing that. I would have been worried too if a much bigger dog went after Harley.

The first thing we did in class was let the puppies play. Harley really enjoyed doing that today. He was trying to hump other dogs though. Silly boy. He just was so excited. I think that all the dogs from last week were back (Stormy the Yorkie, Star the Beagle/Heeler, Coby the Golden Retriever, Caboose the Bernese Mountain Dog and Ike the Heeler). So today there were 7 dogs total - all shapes, sizes and breeds.

The second thing we did was to go around to everyone else's dog and mess with them (touch their ears, grab them by the collar, touch their feet, etc.). Harley had a great time doing that because he got treats from everyone. There were 2 people to every dog today! Wow! Every dog got messed with a lot. After the touching we got our dogs to come to us and we worked on sit and down with click/treat. Today we added in leave it. We put treats in our hand, closed our hand and waited for the dog to take it's nose or mouth off of our hand. As soon as they stopped rooting around we did a click/treat. Harley did okay with leave it. He did excellent with his sits and downs. We're also working on him extending his paw for a shake. He seems to get it so far. The only thing that I need to do differently is to do each behavior 5 times in a row so I can see what percent of the time he is doing the behavior. I was doing sit, down, up, paw shake, down, sit, etc. Christine said that we need to do 5 in a row so we can see what kind of progress he's making.

The puppies got another play time and Harley was under my chair for some of it. He was already tired. He got up after a while though and started to play again. He really enjoys playing with Star. Star, by the way, wasn't hand shy at all today. What progress Star is making. It was amazing to see. The other thing I noticed was how big Harley got since last week. Other people commented on it too. He's going to be a big boy.

After the second play time we worked on leave it and having them come to us. Harley did pretty good. He seems to get what is being asked of him. I didn't feed him lunch today since he was going to get so many treats. He wanted treats the whole time we were there. At the end of the class an older puppy came in and they all got play time again. We were in class over an hour again. I'm glad we get so much time for the puppies to play and learn.

Of course now Harley is khaked out in the kitchen. He's been sleeping quite a while. I'm sure he is quite tired out from all the playing and learning today. I'll have to get him up in about half an hour to feed him but I'll wait a bit if he really is sleeping deep. I'm ready for a nap myself.

Homework for the week is to work on sit, down and leave it. Also, we need to get our puppies out into the world as much as we can. I did talk to Christine about him jumping up on us. She said we should turn away from him when he does that. If we are sitting, we need to get up and walk away. He can't think it's okay to jump up on us. He was jumping up on everyone in class today. I don't want him to do that. I also need to work with him on not going around me when we are walking. I'm going to focus on walking loose leash this week and keeping him on my left side using treats.

We have class next week even though it's Labor Day weekend. I'm thinking that not everyone will show up because of the holiday. Having just a few dogs will make it interesting. Forgot to add that there were 3 kids there today. They were with Rocky. At first they were saying that Harley was attacking Rocky. LOL After Christine explained things to them about the dogs learning boundaries and learning how to be dogs they were okay with Harley playing with Rocky.

There's lots of work do be done this week. I want to work on rewarding the things that I want him to do and ignoring the things that I don't want him to do. There will be a lot of distracting with treats. Overall, class was excellent again today. I'm so glad we got into this class. I'm not sure if there will be another class after this or not. All the puppies should be ready to move ahead since they are all about the same age but I don't know what plans other people have concerning their puppies. If Christine doesn't have a class I'll have to take Harley somewhere else. I don't want him to go too long without training.

Well, he's still sleeping and I'm getting sleepy myself. I need to go to the store but I'm not sure if I'm going to make it there tonight. I'm just as worn out from class as Harley.

Early morning wake up

It's about 4:15am. I woke up to go to the bathroom so I let Harley out of his kennel so he could go first. He really had to go too so I'm glad I didn't make him wait on me. I gave him a treat for doing his business. We came in and I went to the bathroom. Harley is funny because he always comes into the bathroom with me and just plops himself down on the floor and waits. I didn't feel like going back to bed so we are up for a little while. I think it's the excitement of knowing that puppy class is later on today that's got me awake. Harley benefits from it though because he's up playing. He's been taking his toys/chews from the pile, one by one, and figuring out which one he wants to play with. So far he's tried his ETB (Everlasting Treat Ball), a Kong and now his bison bone. He seems content with the bison bone right now.

I forgot to mention that he had an accidentally on purpose peeing in the house yesterday. He went right back to David's bathroom and peed on the towel-rug that is on the floor. I'm not sure why he did that but it looks like we'll have to close off David's bathroom for now. He still hasn't discovered the trash cans around the house (living room, bathrooms, kitchen) and I'm very glad for that. I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually though and then the fun will begin.

He's carried two of his chews back to the pile, his ETB and his bison bone. No he's chewing on his biscuit. Nope, he's laying behind the chairs. And he's off to his ETB. LOL He can't make up his mind. He's laying by the food bag now. I think he wants breakfast. If I give him breakfast at all it will just be a little bit. He's going to be getting a lot of treats later today and I want him to be motivated to behave. He's picking up his Kongs right now to see if he can shake any treats out of them. He's so smart (I can say that because I didn't give birth to him lol).

I think I'll take both of us back to bed now. I'm getting tired and he's not sure what he wants to do. Puppy class later. Woot!