New House for Puppy

So we closed on our townhouse on Monday, and we've been so busy!! I've been doing nothing but painting and spackling and vacuuling and steam cleaning and..... I'm so sore.

I feel awful about Zelda becuase she's couped up all day. We can't let her run around because I don't want little paint pawprints all over the carpet. I can't wait until we're moved in and this is over so I can relax and give her a good workout.

Sorry so brief, but I"m beat and jsut wanted to explain my absence. I'll write again once I don't have a paint brush permanently stuck in my hand.

Busy Weekend for a Busy Pup

I'll be surprised if Zelda doesn't sleep for 3 days straight.

Saturday she came to my parents. I'm actually ashamed to say she was crated most of the day. We were out and about, and went to dinner, but came home once in a while to let her out.

But then there was Sunday. We went to Bryan's parents. They have 2 dogs, so she had plenty attention from them and Grandpa Stokes, who has a tendency to spoil dogs rotten. There were tons of people there too, almost 30. So she had plenty of attention, excitement, and play. She also got to stay outside a lot in the fenced yard. We also took a break to take her to the dog park near Bryan's parents house. The park was split into 2 sections, small dogs and large dogs. Each section had an agility course, so Iw as really excited about that. With her speed and athleticism, I think she'd be great. She didn't quite make the cut for the large dogs, she was short 15 lbs. So we had to go into the small dog section, which I think she hated. The small dogs weren't as rambunctious as the large dogs. most ran away from her. She kept going over the the fence and staring at the large dogs. She really thinks she's 70 lbs, but she's only 20 :( She had no interest in the agility course, too many other distractions around.

On the way home from Bryan's parents, I held her in my lap. Usually we keep her in her crate for long car rides, since she seems to get car sick and its safer. But this time we had lots of boxes in the back seat that we took from his parents for the move. So I had to keep her in my lap. And, well, she peed. On my leg. Didn't even squat. while she was laying down, peed on my leg. Didn't even stir. And I didn't even notice until later, I just felt warmth, and figured it was her warm belly. She's never peed on us before, and she had plenty of opportunity to go before we left, but there she was... with a little leak on my leg.

After work today, we took her for a long walk, and stopped for ice cream for ourselves. Its a little incentive to take her on walks, although the walks aren't going to help my waistline at this point. We were out for about an hour, including the ice cream stop. When we got back to the building, there as a guy walking his 3 month old white German Shepard puppy, which by the way, might have been the most adorable dog I've ever seen. his name was Tuce, and he was the same size as Zelda, but Zelda is much skinnier and leaner. We let them play for about 10 minutes, and I was so happy, because Zelda's never really got down and rough with a puppy. They wrestled like I have never seen dogs wrestle before. She had a great time, and so did Tuce, I was so happy to see her play like a puppy should, and not like adult dogs should. That wore her out even more than the walk I think.

Today I also decided to teach her the game "find it". I would hide her tennis ball under her towel, tell her to find it, and she would go to town digging into that towel and wouldn't stop until she found it. She picked up the game right away, and would not stop until she found it, no matter where I hid it. It was very entertaining for me, and kept her busy and thinking. The terrier in her really came out for the hunt.

In the past week, Zelda has lost 8 TEETH!! 8 in one week!! Can you believe it? I had no idea they lose them all at once like that! lol. Now I just have more for my collection. Maybe I'll make a puppy tooth necklace. hehe :)

Quickie updates!

Well Houdini's secrets have revealed. Zelda can climb. I saw it first hand. She puts her two front paws on the gate, then uses her back paws to scramble up . She got out one day, went to a loose spot on the carpet, and dug a nice hole. There goes the security deposit . Now during the day she is banished to the bathroom, she lost her privileges. At least the bathroom has a door of off Bryan's office so he can keep an eye on her.

Zelda hasn't been feeling well the past couple days. She's been sleeping more than usual, and her eyes aren't as bright, and her nose gets dry and hot. She's still plenty rambunctious though. As I type she keeps dropping her ball at my feet. I brought her to the vet this morning, just to make sure all was ok. She didn't have a temperature, and her chest sounded fine. She has had bouts here and there of icky poo, so he gave me some meds, I have to bring her back if she doesn't get better by the end of the week.

I know she's teething, I see blood on her toys sometimes, but I've never found a tooth. I was upset because I want to keep them. My baby's first tooth!! lol. Last night she was on the couch, jumped off, landed on her towel, slipped, and fell on her face. I felt so bad, it looked so painful, but it was hilarious too! She's such a spazz sometimes. She ended up knocking out 2 of her teeth, and one of them wasn't quite ready to come out. It was hanging out of her gums! She kept trying to get it out, and looked like she was in pain. I held her and her head, and Bryan ripped out the tooth. She was upset at the time, but I think it was a relief. We gave her some ice cubes and she was back to normal. And I have 2 teeth for my collection, finally!

On a lighter note, she's doing excellent on the leash. I got her an Easy Walk harness, and that thing is a miracle! NO more pulling at all, and one little tug and she's right by my side. it may be cheating, but whatever works. Its a joy to take her on walks now, I enjoy getting exercise myself. I'm sure she likes it too, she's actually letting me put the harness on without much fighting.

Works been crazy, so not much motivation to update on Zelda, I'll try to be more persistent, I promise!

Free to Roam

So yesterday Bryan and I took Zelda to the park, because she was doing so well on the leash, we thought it would be nice to take her to a more enjoyable environment than the streets of New Brunswick.

We got there and started walking down the jog path. She was doing so wonderful for about 5 minutes, then she saw a goose, and lost all focus completely! She became such a terror, pulling, struggling, little tantrums because she wanted to go chase the goose. It was very frustrating, but we kept calm, knowing that the frustration would transfer to her. After about 20 minutes, it became completely useless. She just had too much energy and was all riled up. We got into the car, and decided to check out the dog park. It was only 5 minutes away in another park, I just wanted to see where it was. Bryan had to get back and do some work, so we weren't planning on staying.

When we got there, there were only 2 other dogs there. They were running around, playing, having so much fun. I knew Zelda had to get in there and work off some energy, because she wasn't getting any exercise the way she walks! Pull stop, pull stop, pull stop..... you get the idea.

We decided to stay a few. As soon as Zelda saw the other dogs, she was so excited! I was so amazed at how polite she was. She usually bats dogs in the face when she sees them, which usually causes the other dog to get annoyed and back away...lol. Maybe it was because she was off the leash, but she was very polite, just sniffed their butts and wagged her tail. It was such a joy to watch her! Many dogs showed up shortly after, there were probably about 10 or 12. And I've never seen her run like that! I had no idea she could run that fast, it really was amazing. She was out-running dogs twice her size. Some people asked if she had greyhound in her!

When we brought her home, she was so tired, she just plopped down and barely moved the rest of the day. I knew that was exactly what she needed, being in an apartment and not getting long structured walks.... I think she was getting bored and frustrated.

We took her again today, and once again she had the best time! My favorite part is not only watching her have fun, but I get to play with the other dogs too :) Today she met her soulmate, Dexter, a 10 month old Parson Russell. I though Zelda was fast, man Dexter could run! Zelda spent the whole time chasing him. It looked almost as if Dexter would taunt her and take off, and she was happy to chase. It was great! Dexter was definitely faster than her, but she is 6 months younger, and she kept up pretty well. I can't wait until she's 10 months, she'll outrun them all!

We plan on taking her there a lot until we move. Once we get the townhouse, she'll have a little yard, but it won't be big enough for my little track star. Luckily, there is a privately-owned dog park 6 miles away in Princeton. I saw the pictures on the website, and it looks great. they have little pools for them to cool off in, and even a separate puppy section, large dog section, and small dog section. The membership fee is very reasonable, so I think it will be great for her.

I'm so happy we finally decided to take her to the dog park. I've never seen her have so much fun. I highly recommend dog parks to everyone!

Walk the Line

Wednesday was our 2nd day of puppy class. We learned about loose leash walking, which was worth the whole class fee if it worked. We were taught to hold a little treat in front of their nose to keep them focused and to our side, and to stop if they started pulling. I thought there was no way this would work with Zelda. I've tried to take her on walks before, and it was pull pull pull sniff sniff sniff.

She did fairly well in class. But in class she's so excited and just wants to jump all voer the other dogs, its so hard to get her to pay attention to me, but she is getting better. Thursday night I tried the techniques and took her on a walk outside. I cut up little pieces of ham to bring along. I figured since her usual training treat are cheerios (which she loves, they're cheap and work great!) the ham should be a jackpot! I took her several times around the building. She did VERY well, except if she had to go potty, then she'd pull and be whacky. I thought it was a great start, and was very shocked she was doing so well.

I'm a big fan of the show The Dog Whisperer. Some of Cesar Millan's techniques I disagree with, bu a lot of the stuff he says makes sense. Handle your dog in a calm assertive manner. Wait until they're not excited to pay attention to them or do anything. When I talked to my class teacher about how overly excited Zelda gets on the leash, she told me "she needs a job, she's part husky. Get her a backpack, have her carry your water." Right away I started laughing, and asked her if she watched The Dog Whisperer. This is one of the techniques he uses for working dogs. That was indeed where she got the idea from. I was telling her how i thought it was unbelieveable how he can get any dog to walk with him within 5 minutes. She said its his confidence, and calm, dominating demeanor. This is exactly what the show teaches, but maybe I just needed to hear it from someone else to reinforce it in my head.

Last night I took her for another walk. I didn't have any pockets for treats, so I figured lets just give it a try, see what happens, using only my calm assertive manner. That walk was such a joy! Right away she was right by my side, and rarely wandered. I was using a combo of both techniques. I would say "let's go!" when we started walking, and would stop and say "easy if she started pulling in front, jsut like I learned in class. If she started to get excited when she saw another person or dog, I would give a little snap-tug on the leash and say "lets go" and she would start trotting along again. The whole time stood up straight and confident, showing her I'm the pack leader. She did extremely well, it wasn't perfect of course, but much better than I could expect for her 2nd walk since training. I am so proud of her!