Sunday, May 25, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Monte Saw His Sister Mattie!

Monte went for his post op appointment and ran in to his birth sister Mattie! We walked in and her owner Jerry asked "did you adopt @ Beagles and Buddies?" Of course they were from the same litter!

Now you have to understand the Monte boy weighs 9.25 lbs. - Mattie weighs 22 POUNDS! They totally look alike and so it is funny to see size difference!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Puppy Park @ Sepulveda Basin


Monte met cousins Jack and Patrick @ a great no leash park in the SFV @ the Sepulveda basin. The boys had a great time and I think the Monte boy was happy to see his cousins and his Auntie Sarah!

Monte of course made friends with all the doggies and the men! We met some cool doggies and spent 2 hours running, fetching, tug of waring, etc!

Hopefully we will go back on Friday.



Sunday, May 11, 2008

Two Week SummaryI'

Well, Monte is going home tomorrow. He has learned a lot and is doing really well. I'm just going to include a whole bunch of pictures in this post.

This one is Jackson and Monte playing tug. That bottle (a gift from Honnie!) Is Jack's absolute favourite toy. It took Jack a little bit to learn to share nicely, but in the end he go it.





The Second Picture - Monte actually got his head stuck int he dog slipper. I thought it was pretty funny. Sadly, my picture is slightly mis-timed. You get the idea.




Monte was TIRED and found himself prime sleeping location. The blanket was fresh out of the dryer and warm. To be honest, I'm pretty sure Monte moved the pillows to suit his needs - they are never like that.








Jack was jealous that Monte had the best sleeping spot... but let him be.


Jack and Monte patiently wait for their training turns. I usually work with one dog at a time, keeping the others in the pen. This way there aren't other puppies causing distractions or stealing well earned treats! (Patrick is a BAD treat stealer!)

The rest of the pictures are just the boys suntanning. I would like to point out that the dogs think the camera means "come" and will rarely stay put while taking photos. This sun photos involved me putting the dogs on the black mat, and giving them all a down and stay command. Obviously they all listened quite well.




The tricky part was getting them to all look at the camera. It was not easy.


SUCCESS!!

Monte's People are coming home Sunday!

We can't wait to see him! Krista and Bianca are greatful for all the loving care that the Monte Boy got from Uncle Jared and Auntie Sarah while we were in Hawaii. They have cared for him, loved him, trained him, cleaned his poop disasters, took him for neutering -- THEY DID IT ALL! I know Monte will miss Jackson (Mr. Swanky PUP) and Patrick and he looks forward to doggie dates with his cousins in the near future!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Thursday

Monte has some serious diarrhea today. I think it probably relates to all the food his stole from Jackson and Patrick yesterday (he gobbled up the entire bowl - twice - in like 1 minute flat -normally I lock them up when I feed them, but failed yesterday). The only upside to this is, he has managed NO accidents today, which is a first for him. I took him out to walk first thing this morning, still no outside washrooming. Tomorrow I think I'm going to take them all to the dog park.

Today's photos: Monte's Impressive Wingspan, Monte doing his best trick (sleeping), and Monte hogging the bed on Patrick!




Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Tuesday in Monte-Land

Overall Monte had a really great day. I thought it was going to be trying when he started out by chewing my shoe - but that was his first and only bad act of the day.

He went on three walks today. He was very well behaved for all of them. He did not go to the washroom on any of them though. Maybe I'll start bringing a pee pad out with me so he knows he is supposed to go outside.
Today Monte learned stay. Not only did he learn it, but he has it pretty under control. He sits, I say stay, walk back about ten feet - he waits until I say OK and then he comes and gets his cookie. It is working really well. He does it in his cage and at the door coming in and leaving the complex. Maybe tomorrow I'll try it going in and out the apartment door.
Monte had a bath today. Somehow he got poo stuck in the pads on his feet so every where he walked he was leaving poo prints. I tried to just wipe it off, but he has some deep paw pads! So into the tub he went. As Krista said, he is really well behaved in the tub. He just stood there waited patiently for Jared to be done washing him. (I gave Jared the choice of washing the dog or cleaning poo prints... obviously he chose the former).

As I mentioned, he has been behaving better than Patrick today! Today Patrick spent the most time in the naughty chair. Now Monte is tired from his walking/bathing episodes and is curled up on my lap looking all shiny and smelling better than anyone else in the house.




The Daschund Mystery

I forgot! When I was at the vet with Patrick on Monday, there was a long haired Daschund in the waiting room. It's face looked JUST like Monte's. They had the same colouring, but it was more the eyes. They were almost identical. I would totally believe he's half daschund based on seeing that dog. I wish I had my camera with me to take a picture.

Work...

They make it hard to get stuff done!

Monte's Methods

In horses, when a horse pees in the same spot in it's stall all the time it generally means they are content and neat and tidy. Monte always pees in the exact same spot in his box. I wonder if it means the same thing for dogs... or if it is just by chance? Either way, it's interesting and keep the rest of the litter a bit fresher.

Also, over night he is pooping multiple times in the box and not going outside of it when it is soiled. He's actually not done that at all since he's been here. (the first two nights I put a pee pad all around because he's on carpet so I didn't want it to get on the carpet) but he didn't use it.

He is also napping peacefully after his walk. I'm going to try again to take him out to pee. I suppose if I don't give him a chance to pee inside he'll have to go outside.

Monte's Big Walk

We went on a walk and it was wonderful! At first he was very nervous. I've never seen a tail so far between a dog's legs. However, he quickly warmed up. Monte sat at every street crossing and curb we came to. I was especially impressed because there were a lot of distractions that would have made it easy for him to ignore me. He barely pulled at all. When he did pull I used the "Tree Method". Our trainer Jim uses the Tree Method to teach walking on a loose leash. Monte is still a little over stimulated to follow the cookie just like the video - so I use a squeak toy. The noise gets his attention and reminds him of fun stuff, and so he follows.

Loose Leash Walking Video - http://www.expertvillage.com/video/60953_canine-obedience-loose.htm

The only thing was he didn't go to the bathroom! I swear he had to go - but he wouldn't and we walked far! I am going to do some research on that today.

More Monte


I think Monte needs to go outside. Today I am taking him for a walk and I just don't care. He has started doing things he never did before (such as chewing my shoes, barking at people walking by) and I think it has more to do with him being bored and needing to burn off energy than being bad.

Things I'm not sure are related to that: Monte eats his poo. GROSS! Did you know that? He was flinging something around the floor and rolling on it and I was like "Monte what do you have?" (he eats cords too... so I have to stay on it) and he was rolling on poo. When I went to get it he ATE it. This has happened more than once. I try to keep all his poo picked up but evidently I am not quick enough. On the same note, he likes to poop on my shoes (and then chew the same shoes... maybe I sense a pattern). I know it's his poo because it is WAY bigger than the boys'.

As a result of his pooping on and chewing shoes fetish lately, he's been spending a bit more time in his pen. The good news of this is he is so much better about waiting to come out. The bad is, it contributes to his boredom. Walk for sure today.

He is eating much more of his own food than he was which is good. His sits are wonderful, he has stopped digging in the trash. They all get a long better now - until the boys run out of energy and Monte does not. Then he gets a stern talking to from them and settles down.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Short and Sweet

Monte has been good according to Jared. I have been out of the house for the last three days.
After 1 week Monte now responds to his name, sits, is more respectful and mellow, whines a lot less when we leave or when he is caged and has reduced his jumping into inappropriate things dramatically. All around, he's much nicer to have in the apartment lately.

Hopefully pictures tomorrow. I am just too tired today.