Quiz's First Day

Again I say that Quiz is doing so great. She let me sleep in until quarter past seven this morning and probably would have let me sleep longer if I hadn't said her name. Lesson learned I guess. She's also pretty content with just laying on her bed or pile of blankets and playing with a toy. It's absolutely great because that means that I can sit at my computer or watch TV and not really have to worry about her. I think it's fair to say that she's pretty much adjusted to how things go here which is wonderful.

For those of you who aren't puppy raisers it's important that a puppy is very flexible when it comes to where they are living. This is why we do things like puppy swaps back home. Since we have no idea who they are going to go to we don't want them to get so wrapped up in their routine that it can't change without the dog completely freaking out. We also don't want them to get so attached to one person that they can't function with other people since they'll be going to a few different trainers while in formal training and eventually going to their blind partner (their blind partner is the one person that we expect them to get so attached to that they are confused when they aren't with them). Confused puppies are ok. Stressed puppies are not. So if a puppy is stressed when they are with another raiser, it's something to work on.

Quiz isn't at all stressed. She's got food and toys and attention. In order of importance, it's all a Lab really needs. Haha!

Of course, when a puppy does go to a different raiser it is expected for them to be thrown off a little. So Quiz does have a few issues that I need to work on while she's here. The first is not wanting to pooh when I give her the "busy busy" command. (For those who have been reading this blog for a long time will know that 'poop' is a big, important topic in puppy raising circles). I totally expected this for the first few days because Freya and Rocco didn't like to pooh anywhere but at home. Hopefully by Monday she'll get the idea. She's also an alert barker. One thing Erin doesn't tolerate after the puppy is four months old? Barking. Now, if someone is trying to break into my house I want the dog to bark. If there's a small noise in the next room I would rather the dog not alert me to it. So, we're working on it. Finally, she smells. I don't really think her last raisers gave her a bath for a while. I'm one of those people who makes sure that the puppy is bathed once a month because they have to be out in public a lot and I don't want them offending anyone's nose. It just add fuel to the fire of, "you shouldn't be allowed to bring that dog in here." A bath is in her future.

Other than those three things (one of which isn't her fault and another I expected) Quiz is wonderful. I'm really, really enjoying her. She makes me laugh. She makes my flatmate laugh (and my flatmate isn't a dog person...well, she's not a pet person). She especially made me laugh when the postman came today. Quiz must think that he loves her because when he left she had two food bowls (almost as important as the food itself) and two new toys. She spent a good twenty minutes showing off her new toys to my flatmate and me. This included a flipping routine. It's so excellent I should sell tickets.

Pictures will come soon. I'm just trying to get a good one. She doesn't really like sitting still for them.