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.

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...

Star of Puppy Class!!!!

I don't have pictures ready yet, since I haven't even gotten around to getting the ones from last class up, but today Jilly was in the top four of puppy class. She was *amazing*. We started off with puppy push ups, we were supposed to do as many as we could in 30 seconds. So Jilly and I got to work, it ended up being closer to a minute, and Jilly got stuck a few times, I think she was tired because she had a walk right after he bath and then we pretty much went to class.

So we did our puppy push ups, and I was a little worried because she got stuck, even with me holding a treat right there to back up my hand and voice signals. After time was up, the instructor went around the group, starting with the dog just to my left, asking everyone how many they did, the answers ranged between 2 and 10 with a couple around 14 or so. The instructor skipped the Weimereiner and finally, I was asked how many puppy push ups Jilly did. So I gave my answer, feeling foolish, compared to the other dogs...."29". Fortunately, the Weimereiner did 27 puppy push ups, because I was starting to be afraid that I'd counted wrong. I even dropped a couple from my count because I wanted to make sure I wasn't counting too many. The female instructor told me that Jilly was flying, right after that, and asked if we were going to do agility with her, she was pleased when I said yes.

We also worked on stay, which Jilly did awesome at. It helps that she knows it at home, and today she was *on*. She was by far the best at stay, we would have the dog sit in the heel position, then wave a hand in front of the dog, say stay, and walk to the front of the dog and feed it treats for as long as it stayed sitting (while standing on the leash). I went ahead and did it that way in the beginning, but that wasn't very hard, so the next time I scooted the leash out way in front of Jilly (as far as it would go) when I went to in front of her. Then I would walk a couple of steps to her, give her a treat, back up and repeat. I was the only one standing for most of the exercise, and one of the only ones not saying "stay" everytime she got a treat.

Our biggest problem was the running recall. I've been practicing it differently at home (backing away from her instead of turning around and running away from her) but we practiced it a bit after class was over and she's doing great with it now, so we'll practice it that way at home so that she's perfect at class.

Her attention span was much better today, normally she's so busy looking around and at the other dogs that it's hard to do things because she's distracted. As soon as she looks at me she's fine doing exactly what I ask. She also did great on the car ride over, no whining or whimpering at all, just some panting. Also, she only whimpered a couple of times during her bath, and just a little more during her blow drying. She also stood stock still for her bath, it was amazing, she's such a great little dog.

We also worked on doing 180 degree turns, which was a little bit of a problem for us because while heeling she isn't paying attention to me much, she's mainly sniffing the ground the whole time. So we worked on that more after class was over, we really need more changes of direction as opposed to walking circles around the ring, to keep her attention on me.

We worked a little on "watch me", which I'm not sure I see the point of, but we'll keep practicing it. I really need to focus on teaching her stand. She'll do it with being lured, but not from just a hand signal, just a voice signal, or even a combination unless my hand is close to her. Fortunately she already stays when sitting, laying down, and standing (we practice that at doors and gates) so I can focus more on getting her to stand when directed.

For now Jilly is passed out on the couch. She had a busy day with the cleaning for the property manager (she's going to be handling the renting of our house for us), a bath, a walk, and then class. I was really displeased with the behavior of some of the other dog owners. When we're standing in line, waiting for our turn to do the recall exercise (only 2 dogs at a time do it) and the other owners are letting their dogs bounce around and play with other dogs (including jumping on Jilly >:( grrr). Meanwhile, I'm working on getting Jilly to lay down and sit for longer periods of time between treats. And the two worst offenders tonight are also the worst dogs in the class, go figure. But I'm still so, so pleased with Jilly tonight, she was amazing. We're going to try taking her to PetSmart to practice around distractions since she's awesome at home but not quite as good in class because of the other dogs and people that she wants to socialize with.

I Feel Sorry for Big Dogs...

Jilly's toys have gotten progressively bigger. She plays fetch with her little toys, but really, she prefers the big toys. We often buy the biggest version available (like the octopus and the giant Crazy Bird we found to match her teeny Crazy Bird). So what do big dogs play with? If our little Papillon puppy is playing with the biggest toys out there, what about those full sized dogs? What do they wrestle and attack?

On another note, I would be very surprised if Puppy Class happens tomorrow. We're getting a lot of snow, and under a Winter Storm Warning until Wednesday afternoon. Just 7 hours before Puppy Class. Plus Puppy Class seems to be cancelled if the schools are.

Jilly's Favorite Toy...

Everyone that sees this thinks it's too big for her and that she'd never play with it, but I just new she had to have it, and look!

Jilly's Trip to the Emergency Vet...

Last Sunday we took Jilly to the emergency vet clinic. She threw up once Saturday, and we thought she must have gotten into something, especially since she seemed just fine otherwise. Sunday I ellipticalled, did push ups and showered while Jilly stayed in her pen with her water, bed, and puppy pad. I was gone for about two hours with all of that, and I didn't check Jilly in the living room because I didn't want her to get excited to see me only to have me leave again. Once I did come back out I was shocked by what I found.

Jilly had peed three times and thrown up once while I was gone. She was shaking while in her pen. I took her out and sat on the couch with her and she went right to sleep, sometimes shaking in her sleep. I was really concerned, but Craig was gone and I couldn't help but think maybe she was just stressed out by me being gone but in the house for so long. I also wanted to see her reaction when Craig came home. He was back within 40 minutes and while Jilly did get off the couch to greet him, it wasn't her usual greeting.

So I played with her while Craig called our vet, and then the emergency vet. While we were playing she had an accident, which was strange because she had been accident free for 3 weeks until that day. We took her straight to the emergency vet and she was diagnosed with a UTI. We got antibiotics for it and have been giving them to her every day for the past week. It took us a little while to realize, but she likes the taste of the antibiotics and she hated the dropper, so Craig drops the antibiotics onto my palm and Jilly licks them off.

Today she had a follow up appointment with our vet, and I took a urine sample in with me (obtained through cutting up a garbage bag and not allowing her to leave it until she peed on it, she *loved* that, lol). Her urine was full of white blood cells, and while her symptoms have decreased a lot, she still pees often and never had a really big puddle (she didn't have a big puddle often before the trip to the e-vet either). The vet thinks she has vaginitis, which means we'll need to wait until she's had a heat cycle before spaying her. It's basically a result of having a not fully developed reproductive system. Getting spayed after a heat cycle should take care of the problem though.

We'll do another follow up in a week and the vet may do a more extensive exam, depending on her symptoms. The really bad thing about this though, is that often small dogs don't get their first heat cycle until sometime after 6 months, so we probably won't be able to have her spayed at our current vet's clinic because we'll be moving before then. I think that the vaginitis is why Jilly licks her vulva so often, and why she needs to go out ever hour or so if she's awake, and why she doesn't pee much when she does pee, and why it's so urgent that she goes out ASAP when she gets to the door to let us know she needs out.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

It's snowing, so Puppy Class was cancelled tonight. Booooo. Jilly is doing good. Using the bells a lot to let us know she needs to go out. Once we head toward her if she's just standing by the door needing to go out she starts hitting the bells. She hit them 6 times before one trip outside in the time it took me to pick up my jacket, put it on, and get a piece of food out of her bowl to give her as a reward for hitting the bells. She's sooooo funny. Anyway, here are some pictures of her on the couch in Pennsylvania.