Poor Craig...

I just put his silver chair from Ikea up on craigslist, already had 2 emails about it and it's only been up for a few minutes! He's heartbroken about losing it, but he is getting to keep his black recliner. We kept it after moving because Craig and I each have our "own" rooms here, but our two rooms are going to be compiled into one in the new house, so extra furniture has to go. Plus, it matches *nothing*!!!!!!

We Aaaare the Champions My Frieeends...

Jilly rocked puppy class tonight. The first half was spent talking about doggie health care. Then we got right to heeling and about turns, she did great. Then we did some puppy push ups...Jilly was *amazing*. We did 23! The next closest dog did 17, a few were still in the single digits. She was on fire. We got an extra few in because I only gave her a treat for every other full push up, instead of every push up (tonight's push ups were sit, down, stand, in that order, as many times as possible). Even the instructor was impressed. Our only real problem was whenever she stood up from the down she would take a couple steps toward me, so I had to back up (though I couldn't back far because I was so close to the fence), so instead I had to have her back up instead. Next time we'll start further from the fence so that I have room to back! I also think that next time we'll do sit, stand, down because the instructor pointed out that going from stand to down is harder when we first added the stand.

After the puppy push ups we worked on a fastest down contest. The previous week we had done fastest sit, where a small group of dogs just walked around aimlessly until the instructor said sit your dogs and we would stop and have them sit. Jilly tied for first last week with it. This week we were supposed to have our dog lay down as soon as he told us to stop. Jilly won her heat again, and tied for first as well.

After that we did a recall exercise, which Jilly did very well with. She would stay sitting while held by the instructor as I walked away, but she did run straight to me and sit a couple feet away, right in front of me. The instructor had the rest of the dogs start working on sitting a couple feet away instead of running all the way to the owner, so it was nice that Jilly already does that.

We did some more heeling after that, and then worked on staying while the dog was in the down position. Jilly did awesome at that, didn't move at all. Then class was over.

After class we worked on her trick for the last class (which is next week!!!!). Her trick is to get up on a little stool, turn one circle, jump down, and then crawl under it. She doesn't like doing it with her harness on though, so I'll have to bring her collar for that segment of the class so that it's not interfering with her (she scrapes the clasps of the harness on the bottom of the stool and she hates that).

We also worked on our stay and recall a bit before heading home. Overall she was terrific. I think this time was better because I practiced more with her leading up to class. Last class was right after our house shopping trip, so we weren't able to work with her Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. And just didn't have the time on Tuesday.

Next class is the last class. We'll have a puppy push up contest, fastest sit contest, fastest down contest, and demonstrate the trick we've been working on since class started.

Our New House!!!

This is our new home in Florida! We love it and it's nearly perfect for us. As usual, you can click on the pictures to see them full size.

This, of course, is the outside of the house.


The entry way, we're hoping to put my parents piano where you see the shelves off to the side.


This is the hallway between the two guest rooms and the bathroom between them.


Guest room number one...


The guest bathroom...




Guest room number two...


The living area...one of the highlights of this house for us is the wide open floor plan, because we want the animals to have lots of room to chase each other around. Our current living room is a good size, but the Jilly and the cats can't run around the couch or anything, because it's against the wall.






The dining room...


I think we're going to put my bookshelves in this area, with a couple of chairs pointed toward them to make a reading area, since we don't have the furniture for a sitting area like the current owners have set up.


The beautiful kitchen! We love everything about the kitchen.






An extra room, not sure what we're going to do with it, maybe put the elliptical here?




Laundry room...


We're looking forward to having a pantry because we don't have one currently.


The backyard...we really like the backyard (and *love* the view), we just wish it had some kind of fence for Jilly. So we're going to build one, once we figure out what kind of fence we can build. We were initially worried that we wouldn't be able to put up *any* fence, because we thought our house was pondfront, but while the view is there, it's not technically considered to be pondfront. So, we'll be allowed to put up a fence!












And finally, the master bedroom. It's smaller than the one we have now, but the bathroom makes up for it.






C and I will each have our own closet (one on each side) on the hallway leading to the master bathroom.


The master bathroom is huge...






Craig and I will each have one of these sinks all to ourself! We have double sinks right now, but this seems a little nicer than even that, lol.






Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the tour! My grandpa was nice enough to supervise the home inspection for us and the house pretty much passed with flying colors. He's living in Florida for the winter, which is nice, because we got to see him while we were in Florida, and we'll be able to see him in the winter while we're living in Florida too. There are a couple of things the current owners are fixing (actually, fixed yesterday or the day before). Right now we're just waiting for paperwork, we'll be closing in April and should be able to move straight into the house, that way we won't have to board Jilly and the cats because we need to live in temporary lodging on base.

Burned Out...

Jilly is burned out on puppy push ups. It started a couple of weeks ago, during puppy class we did puppy push ups and Jilly just wasn't having any of it. She'd get "stuck" and at one point even took a walk during the segment of puppy push ups! We were only 7 push ups behind the winner of that round, but still, highly unusual. Fortunately we redeemed ourselves later in the class when we added stand to the regular routine of down and sit. There we won again because Jilly already knew stand. So we just don't practice puppy push ups anymore so that she doesn't get tired of them, even without praciticing we wont the "new" puppy push ups in the following Puppy Class, but a couple of push ups. Only one other dog was even close. Jilly has also been giving me the same kind of reaction with her trick for the last class, so we'll see how that goes.

I'm Behind, I Know...

I am two puppy classes behind, plus three puppy classes behind for pictures! Aaaaaack. Jilly is still doing great at puppy class. For the fourth class we worked on recall exercises where we walked away from the dog while the instructor held it behind us, then calling the dog and running away from it, and added something to puppy push ups, stand, in addition to down and sit. We also worked on going fast and slow while heeling in addition to about faces (180 degree turns).

In the last class we changed the recall exercise a little, but having the dog come to us while we stood in one place. We also did puppy push ups, which Jilly won again (she won it the previous week too). I got stuck hanging onto the French Mastiff for an exercise again, it started out really well, and then the dog went nuts again. Oh well. Then there were more heeling exercises and working on stay, which Jilly does *awesome* at.

On the health front, Jilly is doing terrific. Her UTI is completely gone and I can't see any sign of vaginitis anymore, she's no longer licking her vulva and she's going much longer between potty trips, and she pees for a lot longer than she used to. We'll still wait until after a heat cycle though, just to be safe that her reproductive system is fully mature.

Last week Craig and I were in a bind, getting the house ready to show for potential renters, so I tried something new. Sorry about the visual, but Jilly showered *with* me. Crazy, right? It was soooo easy and fast. She seemed to like it better than being bathed in the sink (or she was just in shock). I think she got a lot cleaner too.

Craig is sick and Jilly is taking advantage of it by stealing Kleenexes from the box and shredding them. She has also begun having inappropriate relations with her octopus. We've given her "the talk" and she seems to have subsided somewhat, we're hoping it's just a phase.

We've had two potential renters look at the house, both loved it, so we'll see how that goes. We bought a house in Florida, I'll post about it in another post, when I get a chance. I posted on my other blog, but we've decided to leave Sophie in Ohio for a while after we move to Florida, which will be good for me in the long run, because Sophie will be in full training and come to Florida a much improved horse.

The Second Puppy Class

I didn't post about our second puppy class, where we started learning puppy push ups (basically having the dog sit, down, sit, down, sit, down in quick succession). We also learned "down" in that class, but Jilly already knew it so we were kind of bored while everyone taught their dogs to lay down (most didn't seem to know it already, whereas most knew sit for the first class). We still practiced it the whole time the others did, I was just surprised that the other owners hadn't already taught their dogs down.

We also worked more on heeling, and we had an exercise to work on recall where everyone was in a big circle, the instructor called a dog away, and the owner called the dog to the instructors left away, until finally everyone had someone else's dog, then it started over with people calling their own dog back. *I* had to call over a big red dog, a French Mastiff I think (Hooch, in Turner and Hooch). The dog wanted nothing to do with me and wouldn't come. So the instructor had me walk up to it with my treat and make friends. It still wasn't thrilled and after it took my treat I reached to pet it while putting hand on the leash (which the owner still held) and it bolted backwards, so I let go of the leash right away. The instructor asked me if I could handle the dog or was it too big, I said "I can handle him, but I didn't think I should hang on to him with him running backwards like he's scared of me" so the instructor tried to lure him forward, which didn't work for him either, so he just grabbed the leash and pulled the dog across the circle and turned over the leash to me.

We were supposed to talk nice to the dogs and have them sit/lay down while we had a different dog and this dog wanted nothing to do with that, it started lungeing around, ultimately in circles around me. I just held on, then it started trying to take off back to it's owner and we were next to a post so I kind of ended up using that for leverage and then the instructor finally had the owner come get the dog. I personally thought that the dog was obviously not a good choice for the exercise from that initial reaction and needing to be dragged over by the instructor, but needless to say he ended up sitting that exercise out.

The puppies also had a chance to play on leash with another puppy. I think I must just get annoyed easily. There was a girl there that kept talking to me during class, first she wanted to know if Jilly was a long haired Chi, then she wanted to know the breeds of two other dogs in the class, she called on a Cocker Spaniel and I told her it was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and she told me that they were the same thing. Then a few minutes later she put her hand down for Jilly to lick and love on while I was asking Jilly to sit!!! Urgh. I am so used to people being more respectful when it comes to horses, I mean, you wouldn't try to give another person's horse a treat while they're leg yielding down the long side would you????

Our biggest problem with this class was Jilly's attention span. When she listens to me she's perfect, when she's distracted, well, she's distracted. She was particularly distracted by the regular obedience class in the ring next to ours. C took her for a super long walk before class, but it was a couple of hours before we left, and she had a nap in between. I just spend the whole class keeping her attention as good as I can and then getting it back when I lose it. I saw a huge improvement in her last night, but we've been doing more work at home, with asking her to sit and lay down for longer periods of time before getting the treat, so that she gets better at sitting and laying down when we're waiting during class...

Working on our puppy push ups...









Us, waiting for the instructor to finish talking, and then working on puppy push ups a bit. I try really hard to keep her attention even while the instructor is talking, as long as I can pay attention to him at the same time.

















These next few pictures are from the circle exercise. The instructor called Jilly away first, that big red dog is the one that I was stuck trying to handle the first time around. I don't have any pictures of that, because Craig put the camera down, ready to jump the fence to protect me from the giant dog, lol.


This is me with my charge, after the red dog was dismissed from the exercise. Her name is Lucy, she's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and just the sweetest dog. Her owners had a Papillon before they got her. She was sooooo silky and loving, I just wanted to take her home with me.


This is Jilly with the lady that took her over from the instructor after her dog was called away...


Me with Lucy again...


Jilly with her new handler...


And me with Jilly right after I called her back, we did sit and down while the rest of the dogs went back to their owners, because I didn't want her thinking she could run around like a nut all the time...


Heeling...


Jilly at her worst in puppy class (it was *really* hard to get her attention away from that class). Fortunately she was only this bad for the few minutes we were on that side of the ring, and she didn't even look at the other class last night.


Trying to get her attention away from that class...


And finally, Jilly getting to play with Lucy and another King Charles that I forget the name of...