Peaceabull

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“Sit.” 

The other night in puppy class I heard the instructor say, “Sometimes you just have to over train.”  What she meant is that just because you spend an hour a week in class, doesn’t mean you and your dog will just “get it.”  You have to constantly practice.  Then you have to practice again and again.  When we first learned down, or lie down, Ray was having none of it if it had to be done on a hard surface.  At first I  thought he was not going to learn or perform that behavior, but I soon realized he just did not want to do it on a hard floor.  I then began luring him to his pillow and then to the carpeted rooms where he became a champion “lie-downer.”  Now, however, if I ask him to sit somewhere soft and happen to make any kind of downward motion, he hurls himself into a lying position.  Silly boy.

What I also need to remember is that training isn’t just meant for training.  We are training for real life circumstances.  I know that sounds a little daft, but bear with me.  We’ve been in the mode of class and practice for long enough now and there are times that I do set aside for practice in the morning, that I might not remember that this stuff isn’t just for practice.  What I mean by that is there are real life circumstances in which I forget to utilize my training.

This morning, Ray seemed to want to eat from one of his food puzzles so as I was sitting on the floor trying to screw the top to the bottom, Ray was trying to help by butting his head and batting his paws at me in an effort to speed my progress.  After absentmindedly batting him away a couple times, I said, “Sit.”  And he did.  He plopped his little butt down and waited for me to finish putting the thing together and to give it to him.  I’m a little hesitant to say that I was a little dumbfounded that it worked so easily.

See?  I guess I’m not too old to learn new tricks either.

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The Next Steps

After six seemingly grueling weeks, we have finished Puppy 1 class.  Upon reflection, I would have to say that this was an experience we definitely needed to have and indeed benefitted from.  The last time I was involved with obedience class of any type, I was enrolled with my rescued Rottweiler and that was over twenty years ago.  At that time, training methods were quite different and for me, learning or relearning was important in what I wanted to accomplish with Ray.  In the beginning, I just wanted a dog/puppy that wouldn’t use me regularly as a chew toy.  I wanted a companion for walks and I wanted a stellar obedient pet.  I had high expectations and mixed results.
At home, Ray is good.  Really good.  He is improving in his life skills every day and though I know it is just a normal part of his growing process, I can’t help but feel that he is going to be a great dog.  His leash walking is improving, though we need a lot of practice and much of the time that is something I just don’t want to do.  It is probably the most stressful endeavor so far but my new plan is to start even slower and keep it in the yard for a while longer before we venture down the busy street.  When we’re at home, I feel like it just might be too stressful to continue with classes.
But I know in my heart that I want more.  I want to be able to expose Ray to more and to enjoy things with him.  I want to be able to take him to parks and to events like the upcoming Pits in the Park.  I know we have more work to do and I am committed to doing it.  I’m pretty stoked that we’ve actually advanced enough to go to Puppy 2 class and I think we’ll grab a little individualized training before the next round starts.  Stay tuned for continued progress!
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Rough Housing

Puppies play rough.  I’m not talking about Pitbull puppies specifically, just puppies in general.  When they are still with their litter, they learn certain boundaries of play like when to back off and when to continue with the help of little yelps and other body language signals.  After being separated from the litter, continuing with the yelps helps the puppy know and learn new boundaries with their new human pack.  While I find this continued training to be slow going, I am also finding it to be successful.  When Ray was much smaller, and his teeth were like the jagged metal blade of a table saw, his bites were pretty potent and we made sure to keep lots of chew toys handy.  Now, the biting/gnawing is becoming infrequent and much softer allowing for a nice healing period for my hands and feet.  I can tell when he’s getting tired because that is in direct proportion to the pressure and frequency of the nips he administered.  Last night I actually said to him, “You’re getting cranky, it’s time for night-night.”  Upon hearing that, he ran to his crate door and waited for his three sugar snap peas.  (Bedtime snack.)
Sometimes it’s more difficult to tell, though, when play becomes too rough.  This weekend we had friends and neighbors over to enjoy some libations on St. Paddy’s Day.  It’s funny because all three of us couples had no dogs about six months ago and now we all have puppies.  One person brought her 8 year old chihuahua for a short time and the neighbors brought their mini American Eskimo who is nine weeks old and had met Ray only one other time with little success. 
Coby at 6 weeks
Coby was only home for a day when he me Ray with the big bruiser paws and had already decided that Ray was not going to be his kind of dog. Three weeks later, though, the little pouf was much more outgoing and ready to play. 
As sometimes happens, play got exciting and Coby’s mom picked him up to calm down.  No one yelped, no one seemed to want to get away from anyone else, but still a couple of bite marks on a snout (muzzle?) resulted in some blood.  I’m sure you can guess where this is headed…



Your pouf bit my Pitbull

…or maybe not.  All in all, no one was harmed and I didn’t even know Ray had gotten scraped by the baby teeth until a bit later.  From the looks of it, Coby got a nice grab on both the top and side of Ray’s muzzle, but like I said, there was no yelping etc, so no signs of harm.  Coby’s mom was all worried that Ray was hurt, but after all, it takes quite a bit to harm the anvil-head.

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Weekend Fun

What a glorious weekend in Indiana.  We have been completely spoiled these past two weekends with unseasonable temperatures which have allowed us some pretty serious hanging out on the patio time.  This weekend we got some of our summer gear out of storage over the weekend such as our lawn ornamentation, the furniture cushions and the solar lights.  Kevin even got the lawn mowed.  I imagine we’re going to pay in spades over the insects this summer since we’ve not had many sub-freezing days.
Ray being a December baby has not been typically excited about spending much time outside until lately but we try to be outside as much as possible when the weather permits.  These past two weekends have really been enjoyable for him as I’ve noticed a new reluctance to come inside.  Since we spend so much time on the patio I wanted to find a nice cushion for Ray as well so that I could have him nearby without having him lie on the concrete.  I actually scored big time with a weatherproof cushion that I found at WM for under $30.  It’s even big enough and strong enough that he’ll be able to use it for many years (I hope.)
You can see the pet cushion in the background.



I didn’t even know he could get up there.

 So even though he was on his cushion quite a bit over the weekend, the only pics I got were of  Ray after he sneaked into Mommy’s vacated chair.

The other good news of the weekend is that Ray’s sister, Kimmel, has been adopted and will go to her new home right after her spay surgery. 

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Baby Steps!

With the glorious weather that we’ve been experiencing, the urge to go for a walk with Ray has been overwhelming.  I love taking walks when the weather is nice and have had visions of walking with my dog for quite some time now.  As we’ve discovered, though, at just over three months old, Ray is not ready for the hikes I’ve envisioned.  Last night would have been a perfect evening for a walk.  While we grilled some steaks Ray played in the yard, investigated everything with a scent to it and ignored the two little neighbor dogs who insist on charging the fence and barking at Ray.  Yes!  Good boy.
 These are Ray’s “paying really close attention” ears.
Knowing that I was probably setting my expectations way too high and had really set us up for failure, I decide to take a few steps back and referred to the Lily Fireworks/Lolly Wonderdog school of desensitizing.  In my typical fashion I actually started obsessing about the string cheese Lily and her mom used.  Should I shred it? Chop it? Stuff a whole stick in Ray’s mouth?  Have it ready?  I decided to peel it into strings and have all of that ready in a small bowl.  Off we went to the front yard.  We picked a spot more than half way away from the house but not too close to the street.  I secured Ray’s leash around my foot and we just waited until a vehicle approached and JACKPOT!  I got his attention/eye contact and began stuffing string cheese in his mouth until the vehicle passed.  It worked pretty well, too.  There were a few times he was ready for cheese but we didn’t have a vehicle to distract and a couple of times he still sneaked a peek out of the corner of his eye, but all in all it really started to work.  It worked so well that we made it back to the house and he only grabbed his leash once, but immediately let go. 
Ah, baby steps, how I love thee.
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Bath Time and Peanut Butter

Sunday night is bath night whether it’s needed or not and to date, it has been needed every Sunday.  Each time we begin bathtime, I think  back to when my sister first got her cat.  She decided if we gave him enough baths he’d “learn to like them.”  That never did happen and luckily we still have skin on our arms.

When I began bathing Ray, I wanted to make it an experience that if he didn’t grow to love it, he would at least learn to tolerate it pretty well. This post made me stop and think about ways in which to make Ray feel more comfortable in the tub, but I think I’m a little more impatient than Julianna, so here’s what I came up with.

I smeared peanutbutter on the inside of the tub and just let the little piggy enjoy himself.  It wasn’t the neatest solution, but hey, the bathtub is easy enough to clean up and now so is Ray.  There is a video of this buried in the depths of Droid hell and if I ever get it transferred, I’ll be sure to share.

Now at least once a week I can count on a sweet smelling, soft little puppy.  I really have to add that with each passing day/week, I grow even more amazed at what a good learner he is.  Now, by good learner, I mean he picks things up quickly but of course the terrier in him doesn’t give it up all that easily.

Do you have any wonderful bathtime tricks?

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Nature Walk

What a busy weekend!  Sometimes I think it is nice to be able to go to work just to have some time to settle down, although this week won’t be like that.  I know Ray was pretty well tired from all of the activity and slept like the baby he is.
Yesterday we had an open house so everyone but the kitties had to make themselves scarce for about three hours.  Kevin left early for work so he could visit his mom, Asia hung out with friends and Ray and I went to Eagle Marsh to walk and practice.
It was a perfect day, windy enough that Ray was a little out of his comfort zone with enough traffic sounds that we could practice being brave and focusing.  There were geese honking and birds chirping and so many things to sniff.
We did really well and even met a couple of ladies (one using a walker) walking their elderly dog.  They stopped for a few moments to chat and ask about Ray.  The elder lady mentioned that she once had a pitbull and that it was the biggest baby ever.  It’s refreshing to me how well received Ray has been everywhere we’ve gone, so far.  I’m sure the fact that he is so stinkin’ cute doesn’t hurt, either.
I had a pocketful of treats and was feeling pretty liberal with them but with some satisfaction noted that I didn’t get back to the truck empty-handed.  We had a couple of moments when Ray didn’t want to walk and I just kept hearing Jodi’s voice in my ear saying, “Don’t pick him up.”  Luring helped so much as well as my running dialogue so that Ray did fantastically!  There were even a few times when I was able to rely on some of our training to refocus Ray before he got out of hand when he seemed to need it.
I’m really hoping to make another visit back there soon as well as venture out on some other walking paths available in the area.  How was your weekend?
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Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Wednesday seemed to just drag on.  I think Ray and I were so physically and mentally exhausted from Puppy class on Tuesday night that we just really needed some down time.  Well, at least I did.  I spent most of yesterday just fighting to keep my eyes open and even had pizza delivered to work so that I wouldn’t have to stop for it on the way home.
Kevin, who was home with Ray most of the day, reported that Ray was very good all day and especially so with our neighbor when she came to visit.  Looks like Ray might have found himself a dog sitter.  I just love this neighbor of ours anyway.  She is like a second parent to us and she also has three kitties, like we do.  One of her kitties, Chico, is pretty shy around most people except her, but he adores me which makes sense, since Ray seems to adore her. 
So, after work, my thought was to take a nice walk and practice some of our new training, but I was feeling so tired and it was raining, so we settled for a nice inside treat.  Ray and I ventured upstairs to kitty world where he discovered comfy blankets and plush pillows surrounded buy jingly toys.  Ray had a rousing romp for a nice 10 minutes or so, went outside to potty and settled with me on the sofa and nearly immediately started snoring.
I guess he was tired too.  We were both in bed by 8:30.
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It’s a Puzzler

The feeding habits of the Mighty Pitbull have been fascinating to me because Ray is moderately-to-very food motivated depending on the time of day and the treat offered.  He’s been pretty excited at feeding time but other times  is able to relax and sit to be fed.  I’m sure this is partially due to his hunger level and mood.  Usually, he scarfs down a few mouthfuls and then sets to playing with his toys so I can feel confident that he isn’t starving in between feedings.  Since we have a limited amount of time to eat, especially in the mornings,  I do try to encourage him to finish expeditiously while not wolfing down his food and then horking it back up.  A delicate balance.  The other thing is that I have always made it a good practice to put my fingers in his dish quite a bit to discourage any tendencies towards food guarding.  While making sure he is open to that, we discovered a new quirk.  Ray prefers to be fed like this:

(And yes, he is on my lap, here.)
I’ve also been experimenting with different types of food puzzles that are seemingly still age appropriate.  I want to stimulate his mind but not frustrate the puppy in him.  I have a kong which he manages occasionally, but I find more left inside than I would like to see and I tried a crinkit, but that doesn’t seem to work out as well.  Tonight he had just a smallish amount of food left so I put it in a clean Vitamin Water bottle and found some great success.  Ray loved it.  It was easy enough for him to figure out quickly, but hard enough that it took some work. 
I think this one is a winner, at least until Smarty-pants conquers it. (Note, I did get the label off before it got eaten along with the kibble inside.)  This was a great way for him to get some exercise, eat without wolfing his food and stimulate his mind. 
Do you use food puzzles and if so, what kind?