Author Archives: dazzlesmom

He wasn’t sure about the hard rain hitting the sliding glass door at first, but we played lots of games and he got lots of chicken and when the storm slowed down a bit (& Voodoo indicated he needed to go outside) we tried it.  He didn’t want to come through the door with the rain hitting him in the face.  So I carried him into the yard and then he ran around and played (& pooped). There was a close and loud rumble of thunder that spooked him a bit and he ran toward the house, but I got happy excited “yea!  What a cool sound!” and he came to me and got him a bunch of chicken and I think he recovered well.  Hopefully all he remembers about storms is that they bring fun and lots of treats. 🙂

Voodoo caught a bee on his first potty trip outside this morning and got stung in his mouth.  I didn’t see at first what happened and thought he was choking on something. Looked like he was trying to spit something out and couldn’t (as he was running in circles), but when I caught him, I didn’t see anything in his mouth/throat and he seemed better . It wasn’t till he then tentatively went back to the spot where he got stung and sniffed that I saw the bee and realized what happened. Thankfully, no allergic reaction of any kind and within about 60 sec. he was back to play as usual.

He is growing!  I’ll measure him again at 10 weeks on Saturday, but we can see he is clearly taller.  He’s also getting faster and more coordinated and is now able to keep up with Dazzle when Dazzle is trotting (puppy at full run) which he couldn’t do before. His stamina is increasing too 🙂 I’m sure that may be a curse soon LOL But at least with him I have Dazzle to help wear him out (which I didn’t have when Dazzle was a non-stop puppy).

We did a session on “take it-give it” this morning (didn’t get video) and he was doing well with take/tug and give, but it might be a bit before he has the “bring” part of a retrieve 🙂  I’ve been calling him when he has a toy, hoping he will bring it when he recalls, but so far no luck. He drops it and then comes running.

He had a blast in the basement again and figured out where the loose piles of straw allowed him to get ON the bales!  I lifted him down, but he is definitely part monkey! Dazzle was having fun running around the course without touching the floor where Voodoo was chasing him, but it won’t be long before that high ground won’t save him 🙂

I have caught Dazzle sniffing Voodoo and wagging his tail a few times.  I think he wants to play and he has teased him with a toy briefly a few times too.  Just little glimmers of play so far, but I don’t think it will be long. They have been doing better than I ever could have hoped so far!  <knock on wood> Dazzle lets him take his toys right out from under his nose and even the bully sticks! He doesn’t care if I’m training the puppy and is happy with just a few treats at the end of the session (if he wants any at all). And Voodoo is SO respectful of him!  He barks at him because he REALLY wants to play with Dazzle, but he respects his space for the most part and the few times he’s crossed the line, Dazzle has very appropriately corrected him. Hopefully they will have good play established before his puppy license (to do as he pleases) runs out.

He sleeps on the A/C vents all the time and has often barked and flopped around in frustration when the vent is not blowing cool air 🙂 But he is gaining heat tolerance and is able to play outside much longer before “melting”. He figured out shade is cooler pretty quick too and has sought out the baby pool to wade through to cool his feet and get a drink.

He’s still struggling with how to tell me when he needs to go potty. I think he understands that he’s supposed to go outside, but when he’s contained in the office with me, he doesn’t know how to tell me when he needs out.  I get a little whine about 2 sec. before he squats, so I have been very attentive to that little whine 🙂  When I get up fast enough, he is able to hold it till he goes out.  But sometimes he whines and lays back down to go back to sleep (just readjusting) and other times it means he is bored.  So we’re both still learning. I may try some bells. I have stopped giving treats for potty outside and just use praise because he was no longer emptying himself completely, in order to get the treat faster. Not saying anything when he starts and just giving praise when he’s done seems to be working better. 🙂

He slept through the night again last night! VERY thankful for that! I don’t recall having a puppy that started doing a full 8 hours through the night so young!  But I haven’t tried having the puppy sleep in bed with me with any of my other pups. Not sure if that made a difference, but it made MY nights much better not having to listen to puppy barking and howling till exhaustion set in. Voodoo is VERY comfortable in a crate, any crate, so that helps as well! Thank-you to Erin, his breeder, who did crate work before sending the pups home!

Here are the training videos from yesterday (since it’s now after midnight). He did great learning that putting his front feet on the pivot platform is a really good thing!

I also did 2 more harness sessions that wrap up that training. He LOVES his harness (a goal of mine) and has zero issues wearing it (another goal). Now I’ll have to work on “keep your feet still while I fasten the harness”, but that might be awhile 🙂 For now, a pile of treats scattered on the ground is a decent distraction.

And a few photos:

Wearing his harness while he plays

The yellow and orange of the setting sun makes him look like a chocolate Lab in these photos.

Too pooped to party 🙂

I woke up to a single “I need to PEE!” bark this morning and came to the realization that it wasn’t 6 am and Voodoo had slept through the night last night in his crate! A full 8 hours! GOOD BOY!  Let’s hope that trend continues 🙂

Gave Voodoo a day off from planned training today, but he didn’t have a shortage of new things to learn/experience!

The cone was an accident. He had stolen them when they fell off the agility table and I was giving him treats and doing a trade when a treat went INTO the cone! He dove in after it and I started video. LOL I thought it was an accident that he tipped the cone over to get the treat out, but when I put a second treat in, he did it again!

He also learned to drink like his big brother.

PUPPY FEET!

Too bad he can’t relax 🙂

He also got to work on staying with my husband while I mowed the lawn. Apparently that still needs some work and he wasn’t happy I left without him. But I’m sure he will learn to settle even when he can’t see me for an extended period of time. I have a training plan for that 🙂

The harness training has progressed to where Voodoo is now wearing the harness!  He fully understands that shoving his head in the loop gets him the treat and he’s doing so with gusto and even when he has to move away from the treat to do it!

I also did a session on “release” (drop it) with a toy, but the camera ran out of battery right after it started. 😦 No doubt we will be working on that more.

Photos from today:

 At night, he spends about the first 4 hours in his crate, then he wakes up and needs to go out.  After his potty break, to prevent him from barking and waking up my husband, I then put him in bed with me and this is where he wants to sleep. But he’s quiet and doesn’t care if I move around and he sleeps for nearly another 4  hours, so I’m not complaining!

This morning he stayed like this after I got out of bed, long enough for me to get the photo at least 🙂

Just a swangin’… He seemed to like he patio swing.

He keeps inching closer to Dazzle to see where the boundary is.  It has gotten smaller and now seems to be contact. I get a “mom, he’s touching me” look after he warns him off with a grumble. I am SOOO proud of Dazzle though. Today he caught a mouse sized mole and really wanted it, but Voodoo dove on it and stole it right out from under his nose and Dazzle just let him do it!!  I was sure he would defend his now dead prize, but I guess “puppy license” wins.  Voodoo also REALLY wanted that mole!!  I had to pick him up to keep him away from it and then he kept sniffing around where it was after it got pitched over the fence.

Voodoo has scared me a few times by “disappearing”. The first time I called him and he wiggled out from under the low Jog-a-dog I busted out laughing (he also likes to go under my bed).  He likes to take his toys under the machine. His 9 weeks measurement at 12.5″ tall at the withers (1/4″ taller than Dazzle was at that age), but I don’t think he’s going to fit under there much longer. 🙂

I think the toy box exploded 🙂

Found a cool spot 🙂

Voodoo had a GREAT time in the Barn Hunt area of my basement!  This was his first time around the straw and he was having a blast!  Even did the Open level tunnel a few times!  Then he found the partial bag of rat food and who knew that would be SO much fun to dig at, bite and drag around!

This shows hand zen, the progression of the harness work and the start of the settle mat. I’m SO proud of him with the harness work! We’ve only done a few sessions so far and already he is moving away from accessible food (that he really wants) to put his head through the harness loop! Even when I accidentally make that rather hard to find. I love how happy he is to see the harness now too!

More hose wrestling and some tug with some dangling ropes. Because as the movie quote goes, you can’t focus on work alone!

I have today’s training vid to share too, but it’s still uploading so it will get posted after midnight.