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!
The Complete Adventures of Raiser Erin and a couple of naughty puppies.
Showing posts with label Quiz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quiz. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, February 13, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Quiz is Here
This afternoon my supervisor dropped Quiz off with me. He was a little late in getting here so I had to rush off to my English tutorial and leave Quiz in her crate. I felt a little bad about it, but at the same time I don't because I had left two hours between classes.
Anyway, she's a very nice puppy. She was napping in the crate when I came back in and now she is just laying on the bed playing with some toys. Seriously, she's been so good. I couldn't have asked for a better puppy. But of course, I might be counting my chickens before they hatch. She could turn out to be awful. Haha!
Now on to the slightly confusing news. When my supervisor came in he said that I should have 3 weeks with her. I was confused because I thought that I would only have a week with her. But I decided not to say anything until after the first week. If she is really, really good then I won't mind having her for another two weeks.
However, I was instructed to get her to lose some weight. Haha! She's a bit of a chunk.
Anyway, she's a very nice puppy. She was napping in the crate when I came back in and now she is just laying on the bed playing with some toys. Seriously, she's been so good. I couldn't have asked for a better puppy. But of course, I might be counting my chickens before they hatch. She could turn out to be awful. Haha!
Now on to the slightly confusing news. When my supervisor came in he said that I should have 3 weeks with her. I was confused because I thought that I would only have a week with her. But I decided not to say anything until after the first week. If she is really, really good then I won't mind having her for another two weeks.
However, I was instructed to get her to lose some weight. Haha! She's a bit of a chunk.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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.
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.
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