A Big Day For The Pups

Before we get into the details of this past Friday, I thought we'd start off with something really cute:


And now, on to Friday...

Duncan had a vet appointment first thing in the morning. He's been digging at his ears a lot, and occasionally trying to grind them into the ground. I knew it wasn't the same problem he had a few months ago, because he didn't have any of the crud in his ears. Dr. Lapham agreed that it wasn't a standard infection. The only thing he could figure is that Duncan's having an allergic reaction to something that's inflamed his ears a bit. My poor pup is on meds for a week or so, and they'll hopefully ease the irritation. Duncan doesn't mind the pills, but I'm pretty sure he's put a hit out on me because of the ear drops.

Kodiak went to the vet with us, just for the exposure. Dr. Lapham did an quick assessment on Kodiak's age and potential weight. Kodiak's a bit older than originally estimated - he's at least six months old already. This means that he's going to be smaller than originally estimated - at most about 45lbs. This confirms what some of the GSD breeders said at the club meeting a couple of weeks ago. He's basically going to be a cute little fuzzy teddy bear. He handled the vet visit pretty well, except for those pesky doorways that still terrify him so badly. He actually walked up to one of the techs, and was quietly interested in what Dr. Lapham did with Duncan. He was definitely ready to go home when it was over, though.

Friday afternoon was training for all three pups. Reyna has her first therapy visit coming up in a couple of weeks, so we worked on her basic manners for a bit. Mostly just to remind her that she has them... We also worked on her object name recognition. We've been using a squeaky toy and a tennis ball, and she definitely knows which is which. She refuses to pick up the correct toy, but she's pretty willing to smack it with her paw. The funniest moment came when Duncan distracted her with a bunch of whining, then when she turned back to me, I asked, "where's your Duncan?" I thought she might go over to him, but instead she immediately put her paw on top of the squeaky toy. Suzie and I agreed that the squeaky toy was an accurate substitute for Duncan...

Speaking of Duncan, he has an APDT Rally trial coming up at the end of the month, so we've been working on his speed. APDT actually times for qualification, so Duncan has to get through the course in less than 4 minutes. He's definitely walking faster, and surprisingly enough, he's even sitting faster. I think he stands a pretty good chance of meeting the time requirements.

Kodiak's time was spent on confidence building exercises. We worked him on some agility equipment, and he surpassed all of our expectations for the day.

Here he is going through the chute tunnel towards Suzie. He wasn't thrilled about the moving canvas, but he plowed right on through.


Coming towards me in the regular tunnel.


On the dog walk. This one just shocked us. Once he'd traversed the dog walk once, he kept turning around and going back the other way with no encouragement from us.



The last exercise of the day, the tire jump. He was the most uncertain about this one, but once he finally got over it the first time, he was totally fine.


Before we wrapped up the session, we had a group activity. I tried to get them to shake paws at the same time, but that was not happening. They're still pretty cute just sitting there looking at me.



Reyna spent the ride home watching traffic, Kodiak passed out a few minutes after we left, and Duncan was definitely tired. I love the fact that Kodiak curls up next to Duncan, and I really love that Duncan's so tolerant of it.



One last thing....a video of Duncan and Kodiak playing tug with a long squeaky toy. Notice how Kodiak is doing most of the work...