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| I took Flint and Sunny to a park in Visalia toady. That is Flint under the tree. I got to practice with my new PnS camera - handy little thing I can carry in my purse :-) |
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| I couldn't believe she held still for this - she does not know stay yet! |
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| Sunny is a pretty good retriever already! Of course all these were taken at home where she can run free. That would not be happening in any park right now LOL!!! |
Hard to believe that Sunny is 15 weeks old already! In the six weeks she has been here she has doubled in size - weighed 20.5 pounds when I took her in for her third vaccination on Tuesday. She is starting to sprout legs but seems to be growing pretty evenly - at least for now.
Sunny loves to be with me and this week when I built new agility courses she was my chore dog. Let's see......she heeled the weave poles as I drug them across the field. Helped me carry jumps - apparently pvc feels good in the mouth. Oh, tried to help me drag a tunnel across the field but I put a stop to that - don't need teeth holes in the tunnels. So she followed along beside the tunnel and made sure it didn't get out of line. She carried around tunnel snuggler straps for me - problem was I had to round them all up again. Supervised the staking of the tunnels....I developed a new style of holding down the strap with my foot to keep puppy from making off with the strap before I got a stake in it. She was out with me for hours and I thought that a puppy should be tired by now - but she wasn't. But I was finished building and had to number the courses, and she is not good at that - in fact - she moves all cones from their appointed obstacles. So I put her in the back yard and let another one of my dogs, Vino, come to hang out with me for a while. Well, Sunny was not happy about that arrangement at all and threw a little screaming fit in the yard. I tried to ignore her. I did ignore her until she showed up out in the field. Little bugger figured out how to get through the fence. There is about a 6 inch gap between a 3 ft. tall no climb fence and a fence board. So much for the no climb fence.
Now Vino does not like puppies - you could say he hates puppies. So when the escapee Sunny came running out to see me, I was a little panicked but tried to stay clam. She knows Vino through a fence only. I figured I would quietly try to corral the little stinker and get her put in an xpen. Of course Sunny saw Vino and made a bee line for him. I remained calm. Apparently Sunny is good at reading dogs because she did not leap on him with her mouth wide open, grab fur and hang on like a tick. That is her usual M O around the other dogs. Nope - Sunny slows down and just casually walks by Vino... and Vino ignored her! I was stunned. So I let her stay out in the field and she was very respectful of the Vino man and did not once attempt to do anything puppish around him. Smart girl! I think I will let her hang out with Vino more often - she definitely could use the structured time around a dog she can't maul LOL!!!
How can a puppy so young be so darned smart? She got out of the back yard fence again this evening. I had put all the elder dogs in the dog room and was getting their food. I left Sunny in the back yard while I got the bowls ready. I looked out the kitchen window and she was out in the agility field! Little stinker climbed through the fence again - only she really wanted back in because no one was out there. I let her sweat it out for a while before I went and got her. Crap! Well, when she gets bigger she won't fit through that space. I hope she doesn't learn to jump the 5 ft fence that is back there. Flint did that trick for a while.
Let's see, what else did she do this week. She can now go tire - tunnel for a thrown toy. I even got jump - tunnel - tire today! Of course jump bar is on the ground as is the tire - no jumping for puppies. I am not really wanting to teach her to sequence already - she just does it. She wants to work :-) So I just find more things for her to do. Outside this puppy is a dream to train, work and play with. Inside this puppy, well, inside the house this puppy is mostly confined. She will not be content to play quietly with a toy or chew on something. No. She constantly harasses Flint, runs from room to room, bites Sam, jumps from chairs to tables - she is a wild child. I LOVE IT!! So she gets crated a lot in the house. Then she will chew on her bully stick or sleep.
Yes, all that drive is a wonderful thing - well - mostly. I had to rearrange the dog room. I had her xpen in a place right by the door and when the other dogs came in to get in their crates, Sunny was starting to act like a maniacal tiger in a cage - bouncing - running back and forth - hitting the sides of the xpen, barking and going crazy. Not that nice. So I decided she really didn't need that xpen anymore. I took the xpen down and put her in a small wire crate away from where dogs come into the room. Then tonight before I let the other dogs in, I gave her something to chew on and covered her crate. Worked like a charm - no bouncing, screaming puppy. MANAGEMENT. It works.
Sunny has been learning what the word NO means. She has been pretty testy about several things lately so I have had to set her straight. And she listens! Well, maybe not the first time, but definitely by the second time she does show respect. Oh, I do love my Sunny girl! She definitely keeps me on my toes and thinking all the time. She is just so much fun! Before I got Sunny, Cathy and I joked about me getting a little red stinker ........cuz that is what I asked for :-D Thanks Cathy!! Sunny is awesome!
