Puppy Sitting Benji

This past week I have been puppy sitting a 6 month old black lab/golden retriever cross named Benji. He was such a wonderful puppy to have around during my spring break. He was so mellow and, frankly, a little lazy. Sometimes, he wouldn't even get up to get pets and love.

It was a little weird for me. I have never had what anyone would call an "easy" or "mellow" puppy. Even during a puppy sit. This was my very first experience. Needless to say, I was a little bored with him for the first few days. He was interested in the leaves blowing in the wind and birds and other dogs, but I just had to say "leave it" (not even firmly sometimes) or put very, very slight pressure on his collar and he was back on focus. It was...just weird. But after a few days he became a little more comfortable around the house and at the office and his personality came through a little more. He was still an easy, lazy, mellow boy, but he definitely had a silly side as well. Really, he was a nice puppy to have around. But I don't think I could have such an easy puppy full time. Well, maybe I could. I would probably get attached to the puppy the longer they stayed around. And if the puppy was a absolutely adorable as Benji, I'm sure I could get over it.

Saying that, he did have one issue; filth eating. He didn't exhibit this behaviour in the first few days, but around Wednesday he started eating other dogs'...waste...when we went on our free runs. I tried a few things and he got a little better, but it really was the only time he didn't listen at all. And he didn't do it on lead either. At least there was a little bit of a challenge. I made sure that his raisers were aware of it and they were. They said it started recently and that it only happened occasionally and that they were working on it. He really is such a good boy though that I imagine he'll get it eventually. 

He left yesterday. And, while I do like having a puppy around, it was nice to sleep in for as long as I wanted this morning. Especially since it was snowing outside when I did wake up. Totally ready for spring to get here. 

Benji in the living room sitting like a good boy

Benji running with a toy in his mouth. All four paws are off the ground in this one.

Benji in front of the topiary at the park. Tradition to take a picture of the puppy here.

Benji playing. His bouncing with the toy in his mouth. 

Benji running towards me at the park.

Benji sitting in the grass on the one pleasant day we had.

Benji at work on his blanket under my desk. 

Handsome boy Benji posing in front of the blue, clear skies. 

Benji on the River Don path yesterday morning before leaving.

Benji up on a hill. Benji like to climb and bound up the hills.

No new news on Frankie as of yet. he's been gone for a little over a month so I'm hoping to hear a little something more in the next couple of weeks. Also no news on when they will be getting their new puppy and in return I will have a steady puppy sitting gig.

2 Hours with Rachel

About a week ago I had the opportunity to watch a little 8 week old puppy for a couple of hours. The raiser needed a sitter for the whole weekend, but I wasn't available Saturday or Sunday so I said that I could watch her for an afternoon if she couldn't find anyone to do the whole weekend. It turns out that she had two separate things to do so it worked out well for me to take her last Friday for a couple of hours.

Again, the only thing I knew before the puppy came to my house was that she was a female 8 week old puppy. What I got was an adorable golden retriever named RACHEL. She was super tiny and super cuddly.  I kinda wished that she could stay the whole weekend, but I had a fun weekend with friends.

Rachel walking toward the camera

Rachel standing in an alert stance when she heard barking on the TV

Rachel chewing on the bunny

Rachel turning away form the camera with her eyes closed

Rachel is a dark golden retriever who is not as fluffy as others, but still a fuzzball

A closeup of Rachels face with the bunny in her mouth

Wilma's Visit: Part 2

First, some pretty pictures of gorgeous Wil sitting in our front room.

Wilma looking like she is rolling her eyes.

Wilma starring straight at the camera.

Wilma looking up at the camera.

Wilma with her head cocked to the side.

Now, after those pictures here are a few during our free run. On the last afternoon she was with me, I decided that I was going to try Wilma on a free run. If I haven't mentioned it before, we are allowed to take the pups on "free runs" which basically means off leash play time. There are, of course, some rules to follow when doing this. I really enjoy taking the pups on free runs especially when I know that they are able to handle it. I was a little nervous about taking Wil because I wasn't too sure how great her recall would be when she was distracted. I knew she would come when called when not distracted so I decided that I could probably, eventually, get her back. Turns out, I didn't need to worry.

I brought the no stuffing bunny for her to fetch and run around with. As soon as I told her to "run free" she took off with it in her mouth and made a huge circle before returning to me so that I could throw it for her. She totally loved it.

Now here comes the really funny part. I try and do free runs when there are not many dogs in the park. It usually means that the puppy won't be too distracted and increases the chance of them coming when called. When we got there, there was only one dog who was so engrossed in his ball that he didn't even notice us walk in. So, I took Wilma quite a ways away from him before telling her to play. She didn't even noticed him either at first. I'm fairly sure that he noticed Wil first and started walking towards us. Any other dog would have seen him noticing them and ran straight for them. What did Wilma do? She noticed him, looked, and sat down with the bunny in her mouth. Haha! She sat there until he got within five feet of us and just couldn't take it any longer. She ran straight towards them and they started playing and playing and playing. After they were done playing quite a few other dogs started pouring in so I decided it was time to leave.

She was just fine with that, though our walk home was considerably slower since she had tuckered herself out. Of course, I didn't leave without taking some pictures. She's such a photogenic puppy.

Wilma in a "sit/stay" looking at the camera

A picture of what Wilma did when she noticed the other dog walking towards us. She is sitting with her ears perked and a forgotten stuffed bunny in her mouth. Notice, she doesn't have the leash on and I did not tell her to sit, she just did it.

Wilma after playing with her new friend

Wilma with her giant tongue hanging out because of how tired she was

Wilma with her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth

Wilma with her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth and her ears perked

I was totally sad to see her go later that afternoon. I also don't think it helped that Lisa left for home that morning which meant that I was left in an empty flat. But mostly I think it was because I really liked her and wished she could have stayed longer. I guess it also meant that I would never see her again because she'll be going back in for training next month when I'll be home.

I think, as long as she passes her medicals, she could definitely make it. She does have a softer, golden side. But she settled after a second or two after every loud noise that startled her or just needed a little encouragement at points. But as long as you said "good girl" or "Wilma forward!" in a happy voice, she would realize that there was nothing to be worried about. *smiles* I wish her well and a part of me wishes that she needs to be sitted again before I leave. Haha!

Wilma's Visit: Part 1

I got a call a little over a week ago from a raiser asking if I could watch her puppy from Monday evening to Saturday afternoon. All I knew before she was dropped off was that she was a thirteen month old yellow lab who was very sweet and very good. I was so excited especially since I am finished with exams and second year. That meant that I could do anything with her without having to worry about classes.

When she was dropped off she started to explore the house right away and paid little attention to her "mom" standing in the door. Since she was happy as a clam her raiser decided to slip away without her seeing. Before she left she did say that the puppy's name was Wilma. Immediately I started calling her Wil because every time I said Wilma I thought of the Flinstones.

Turns out that she was very sweet and very good! And very, very silly. It didn't take her two hours for me to fall in love with her. She loved her crate, she let me sleep until I work her up, and she had a wonderful pace and listened really well to all of the commands. She loved her crate so much that she would wonder in there in there to take her afternoon nap...but not before trying to make it more comfortable.

Wilma sitting in the crate with the bed under her chin and covering her

Wilma trying to get comfortable with the crate mattress

And the best part was, her raiser wasn't lying. Wil was very, very good! First, she had wonderful house manners. She would grab onto a nylabone and lie on her bed and just go to town on it. Sometimes she would grab the rope and get me or Lisa to play tug with her. Poor thing was so persistent even though we have wood floors. Or she would bring us one of the stuffies and have us play fetch in the house. And when she was feeling particularly needy she would sit on our feet and wait until we scratched her ears. But she wouldn't bother us too much and when we needed to stop she would just sit at our feet.

Wilma on her first day with me looking at the camera

Wilma lying near the bed

Second, she had wonderful leash manners. She didn't pull too hard and listened when I said steady, forward, leave it, hopp up, and left and right. Now she did have a little trouble with her "right" but mostly she was great. When we went to puppy class on Tuesday morning she was wonderful. She was a little excited when we first arrived, but she settled down eventually and listened really well. She even got super excited when she returned to me after we did a puppy swap. That made me feel special.

Wilma sitting near my feet while watching TV

Wilma

Wilma showing off her golden nose

Now, I knew that she was a yellow lab but some of her mannerisms just screamed golden retriever. She always had to be touching someone and she had this great smile she would give me this silly smile that reminded so much of Colorado (I mean it was scary how much that she looked like him when she looked up with me and smiled). She also used her paws when she played and talked with her bones. And she had lab fur in a stripe down her back and golden fur on the sides. Haha! When she was picked up I asked and she is half golden and half lab.

Tomorrow I'll put up pictures from our free run.

Vale's Visit

Well, Vale is here for a visit. He's only here for tonight and then will be going back with his raisers tomorrow when they pick me up for puppy class tomorrow. I know that it isn't a very long stay, but we've been planning this visit for a while and it hasn't happened yet. I'm pretty excited that it's finally happening because he leaves for training in 10 days! It's still weird for me because he just turned a year old and they're already pulling him back in for training.

I've known Vale since he was a tiny thing. It's really hard for me to realise that I have in fact been in Scotland long enough for that to happen. His raisers like to overlap a little and just got a new puppy named Frankie. I hope I get to meet him tomorrow and he and I become best friends like Vale and me.

Vale is definitely not as comfortable with coming to a new house as Quiz was. She saw the toys and the bed and dog bowls and started playing and jumping and having fun. Vale doesn't really want to venture past my room. Odd, but hopefully he'll get a little more comfortable by tonight. He's also about ten times as mellow as Quiz. Haha! Right now he's taking a nap after walking to the grocery store and doing the shopping. Hopefully, he'll perk up a little when he realises that he gets food here.

I'll post some pictures of him tomorrow.

Quizie's Gone

Well, Quiz is away. She's headed down to Forfar for harness training. I think she'll do well. The thing that'll get her is her distractions. Haha! Anything that moved would catch her attention. Hopefully she'll mature a little as she's only 14 months. I told Graham that she had a slight yeast build up in both ears and that I'd been cleaning them twice a day, but that they should look at them anyway. And that there was a possibility of a bladder infection. It hadn't occurred to me until yesterday, but she shouldn't have had some of those peeing accidents because she had just gone before leaving the house. He said he'd put the peeing stuff down when they got there as it's something they may not catch.

He didn't have any real news for me, just that not all of the puppies had be allocated. Which means that he doesn't know what kind of puppy I'm getting which includes breed, gender, and age. I'm secretly hoping that means that I'm getting a baby. *Grin* He did say that he should know soon and as soon as he knew I would know. Hooray! I'm getting pretty darn excited!

Good Luck Quizie!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Sorry, I haven't had many pictures. I've recently lost my camera and, while my phone takes pretty good pictures, it's not as good as my camera. Anyway, here are some pictures of Quiz.

Quizie's Time

Well...it's official. Quiz will be leaving me this Friday morning. Not because I emailed Graham about anything. Nope. After these past two days I actually thought that she could stay for the extra two weeks.

Quiz got pulled back in for formal training early. One dog got sick and another got pulled in. That one was Quiz. I'm actually a little sad that she won't be with me the rest of the time she was suppose to be. Through all the frustrations, she really is a very nice puppy.

One thing I have learned this past week though is that my schedule works really well with having a puppy that can't go places. Big plus. Haha! Graham is coming on Friday morning, early I might add, to pick her up. I'll be talking to him about my own puppy then and seeing if he's got any news about it. Should be fun though even though I'll miss Quiz.

A Semi Success

I really wanted the title of this post to be "SUCCESS!!" but we'll just stick with little victories.

I've mentioned that I can't take Quiz to classes with me due to her unwillingness to "down". Well, today was my first day with her that I had classes*. Today's classes were a psychology lecture from 12-1 and then my psychology practical from 2-4. If I left Quiz in her crate from the time I left to the time I got back she would have been in the crate for four and half hours. If I were back home, this wouldn't have bothered me so much because we're allowed to leave them alone for four hours. Here we're only allowed to leave them in the crate for three hours. So, I came home in between my two classes.

*Note: I have my schedule worked out to where I can easily come home in between classes if need be. I can also skip classes if I really need to be with a puppy because all of my lectures are recorded. As long as I make it to my tutorials and practicals I'll be fine. I thought it would be good to have some wiggle room if I got a baby puppy.

This morning, for about an hour, Quiz and I tried the outside in the relieving area for ten minutes then in the crate for ten minutes and repeat. I ignore her completely from the time we leave the relieving area to when I take her out of the crate again. She didn't end up going before I left the house. So, when I got home between classes, I gave her the chance to relieve again. It took her about two minutes to pee. She got lots and lots of praise and was allowed to play in the house. Then right before I left I let her out again and guess what! She pooped! *does a little happy dance* I was a little sad that I couldn't give her a real reward right then and there because I had to leave for class, but I gave her so much praise.

When I was done with class for good I came home and rewarded her with a free run. My first free run...didn't go too well. When we first got there there weren't any other dogs and she had a grand time chasing the leaves (she actually looked like a cat). Then some kids with a soccer ball game around and she kept trying to steal their ball. Then a dog came around and she tried to steal her ball. One thing I've found the same; these dogs aren't allowed to play with balls. Her recall got pretty bad around the balls as well. We cut the run short. She pooped on the way back to the house. She was completely ignored (my new thing as well, I'm not giving her any attention when she relieves when she's not suppose to).

We went home and she played a little and then it was time to be off again. I took her out to the relieving area and she looked like she peed. It was dark so I really couldn't tell. Darn dog tricked me. Right when we were getting to my friend's house she peed on the sidewalk.

All in all...it was a semi successful day. She pooped for the first time in the relieving area so I have hope which is more than I had this morning. 

Frustrations

As the title states, I'm a little frustrated. Not so much with Quiz, but with little habits that she has and issues she has presented.

The first is still the relieving issue. I gave her 45 minutes yesterday to relieve. Then went back inside, let her wait for about 10 minutes, and gave her another 10 minutes. Then I repeated the waiting for 10 and circling for 10 another 2 times. (Yes, that is in total, an hour and five minutes she had to relieve). I was getting worried about her so I decided to take her on the shortest walk ever (to the house next door and back) just to loosen everything up a little. Just past the bushes of my house she decides to pooh all the pooh she had refused to get rid of the five times I had taken her out to the relieving area. Yes, it's very frustrating. My new rule (which was actually instated yesterday) is that I'm not taking her anywhere unless she relieves and to give her an extraordinary amount of praise when she does (even if it's just pee). So far, we have not had one successful walk where she does not relieve and I'm giving her plenty of time to relieve out back. In fact, she has not pooped once in my back garden. At 13 months, this should not be the case. So, if she doesn't relieve she'll have to stay in the crate while I go out. I hate doing it, but it's better that she learns that she needs to relieve out back before we leave or wait until I find an appropriate place for her.

I know what you all might say. Freya was a really finicky reliever and at 13 months she sometimes didn't go when given the opportunity. And Rocco didn't like relieving anywhere but at home. All this is very true. But they knew that if they didn't go when I gave them the chance they needed to wait. Both Freya and Rocco would go for the entire walk and relieve upon returning home. I mean, Rocco held his pooh for the entirety of Fun Day because he didn't want to relieve in the hotel parking lot. Then only went when I gave him the command. And he was only 6 months old.

Secondly, she does not do "down". Point blank refuses to do it. Which means that I can't take her to class, restaurants, or the cinema until I teach her "down". This is also a little frustrating because when my supervisor told me I was getting a 13 month old puppy, I was expecting one that knew all of the basic commands so I could take it places. The only places I can take Quiz are grocery stores and malls and places like that where I won't need to lie down and be still...but I can't take her there because she won't poop when given the opportunity.

Lastly, she's a forager. In the past, when we've been walking, my hand has constantly had to  pull her away from bushes, the ground, poles, and everything. I've had to give her a few strong corrections because verbal commands with a slight tug don't work. She is intent on smelling or grabbing whatever is there. Of course that won't be an issue because she can't go anywhere unless she poops.

Honestly, it feels like I have a really well house behaved 5-8 month old puppy in a 13 month old puppy's body. She's an excellent worker and loves to go out. Her whole body starts to wiggle when she sees her puppy jacket come out. But, I can't take her anywhere until she learns to relieve out back. I really didn't think I was going to have to teach her how to relieve on command or the command "down." Those are things I expect a 13 month old puppy to know already. She's a wonderful dog and, like I said, has really nice house manners but it's hard to being able to take her anywhere. At 13 months old they really should be able to go everywhere and need the exercise of walking and running outside.

See, I set up a lot  of stuff in these last weeks of February so that all the things I needed to do would be sure to be done by my spring break. I knew that having a little puppy would mean needing to be more flexible with my time schedule so I told all of my friends that I would have to just take things as they came during and after spring break, but made plans up until spring break. The reason I agreed to take Quiz was because she was older and could fit into this busy life style that I have created at the moment so that I can be super flexible when my little one came. But, she doesn't. The main reason I said that I had to wait until spring break for my own puppy was that I needed time to prepare...I needed to get ready for some of the issues Quiz is presenting.  

What this all sums up to is that, if she doesn't get better about her reliving and about her "downs" I might tell Graham that I can't watch her for the entire time. A week is absolutely fine, but the entire three weeks of not being able to take her anywhere, right before her recall, would be really frustrating and she would lose a lot of the training she received with her first raisers. All of it makes me really sad because I really, really like Quiz. But in honesty, three weeks of not being able to take her anywhere and running myself ragged when I didn't think I would have to might be too much. I didn't plan for a baby puppy right now and I'm not ready for it. Spring break I'll be ready for it.

I know Quiz needs time to adjust, so this could just be her adjusting period. Which is why I've decided to let it go for a week. If after a week she hasn't pooped in the back garden I'll definitely need to talk to Graham about it. It all boils down to I am not ready for a baby puppy yet (I will be though) and that's what it feels like with Quiz sometimes.

With all that said, I'm going to review the commands in the puppy raising book and make sure that I have them all right. I'm not opposed to the idea that all this is my fault, but I'm doing all that I can at the moment. Hopefully, it'll all get better and this is just Quiz adjusting.

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.

My First Puppy Sit

Now, when I first emailed Graham I felt a little ashamed. A girl my age should have learned patience by now. But nothing but good came of that email.

I was really hoping for news of my own puppy, but I guess no news might mean that I'll be getting a baby and it hasn't been born yet. I won't lie, I'm hoping that's the case. I haven't had a baby in almost two years and I'm so ready for the whole puppy breath experience again. Haha! Anyway, he didn't email me back with any news of my own puppy but did say he had a puppy who needed a home for a week starting on Friday.

You might remember Quiz from one of my first posts after I got back to Aberdeen. When I went to the first puppy class after getting back I worked with a loud mouth, black lab named Quiz. She made me giggle, but she did have to give her opinion on everything. I like bratty black labs so she and I got on famously. Well, guess which puppy needs a home for a week?

That's right! Quiz! You see, her raisers at the moment have a funeral on Monday and it's pretty far away. So they're travelling during the weekend and spending some time down there and will be headed back up on Friday. Quiz is 13 months old and will be headed back for formal training at the beginning of March. So she's an older puppy who has a lot of energy. I think this is perfect for me (not counting the fact that she's a black lab female) because having a puppy with a lot of energy will be the perfect test of how I'm to balance social life, school life, and puppy life.

It should be a lot of fun! I'm hoping that everything I've ordered will get here by tomorrow when Graham drops her off. As of right now I'm waiting on toys and a dog bed. Those are two fairly important things when it comes to puppy raising.

A Puppy Sit

Well, before anyone gets excited, I didn't puppy sit a GDB puppy. My friend asked me a few days before the 4th if I would be able to watch his puppy Qualia for the afternoon. It was his first day back at work and no one was going to be in the house so she'd have to be in the crate from nine to five. We couldn't have that, so I said I definitely could. It helps a lot that I adore Qualia. *grin*

Qualia is an eleven month old husky mix puppy. I can't remember her other half, but she's definitely as hyper as any husky puppy I've ever met. But she did very well considering that it was her first time at my flat. She knows me though, so that might have had something to do with how well she did.

We walked from my friend's house to my flat which is about fifteen minutes. That didn't tire her out though! Haha! She spent a good half an hour sniffing around the whole place until she decided that the nylabone I have was good enough to chew on. She also really like playing tug. My brother was visiting at the time so she'd pick up the rope and "bludgeon" my brother with it. That's his word, not mine. But it is a very accurate word. She flung it at him. It was adorable...or it would have been if we weren't  both trying to study. Haha! I finally figured out how to keep her entertained for more than a few minutes. I opened the window and let her stare out at the world. She thought it was great!

Then she finally let it be known that she needed a walk. How did she do this you ask? Well, she decided to run around my flat (which isn't so big at all) leap onto the couch then leap onto the chair then back to the couch then back to the chair. Now, my brother was laying on the couch and I was sitting on the chair. So that meant when she jumped onto the couch and ran her body along it she was really pouncing on my brother and digging her way between his body and the couch. And when she was jumping on the chair she was really hopping on my lap. So, I took her for a very long walk in the park near my flat. After that she was pretty calm.

Then it was time to say good-bye. We walked her back to her place for, what my friend calls, "her evening feed." *smile* It was so nice to have a dog about the house, even if it was an over hyper one. I think my brother enjoyed it too seeing as he really wants a dog, but knows he can't have one at the moment.

Hoping for a GDB puppy soon! I'll keep you posted. Below are pictures of Qualia. By the way, Qualia! Wouldn't that be a GREAT name for a Guide Dog Puppy!? Qualia is a term used in philosophy to describe raw feelings about conscious experiences. Such a great name.

Qualia wearing the tie down...well she was pouncing on my brother.

Qualia smiling

Qualia looking out of the window



Qualia's goofy grin.