17 Weeks, 1 Day

Today, Epic went to the groomer all by herself! It’s the first time I have left her for a time without being in the vicinity. It’s well past time she started learning to be confident with me there. She’s now comfortable with baths, and I can do her toenails, so it stands to reason, someone else should be able to do the same. I took her to my friend Kathy, who grooms for a living out of her home, about 10 minutes from our place.  While Epic was at the “spa” Sean and I went for Groceries and Bear enjoyed the house (in his crate) to himself. We were gone about 3 hours and when I picked Epic up she was happy, clean and, by all accounts a good girl!

Once we got home, Epic was ready for lunch and a nap, she slept soundly for 3 hours.

17 Weeks, 2 Days

This afternoon, after I taught a class, Epic and I went to a conformation class. I promised Epic’s breeder I would show Epic and am looking forward to the new experience. Conformation shows are, essentially about evaluating a dog against the breed standard and against the other dogs of the same breed and then against other dogs of different breeds present at any given dog show. Breeders use dog shows as one way to evaluate breeding stock and their offspring but a large component of competitors are in it for the sport.

When I was first introduced to conformation, I thought it was rather boring and that it did not require much in the way of skill from a dog and handler. Now I know better and today, I learned a LOT. More than anything, I learned, how much I, as a handler need to know about the ring, how it is run,  how to manage my dog and how to make sure we (Epic & I) look our best for a judge. In short, I’m a student again.

Epic did well, her free stacking is coming along, she is comfortable with someone approaching her for an examination (albeit, someone she knows) and she will let me briefly show her bite. She remained calm in a room with more dogs than she’s been around in her life. The only difficulty we had was the gaiting – keeping her moving in a straight line at the beginning and moving at all towards the end of class when she was obviously tired. I’m really looking forward to our next class.

17 Weeks, 3 Days

One of the things I love about having Sean home is that he always makes time to play with the dogs in the evening. No, it’s not a long walk but he will call them onto the couch or bed, or get down on the floor with them and wrestle. This SO not the way I interact with dogs but Sean and the dogs have an understanding. If they get too rough and he stops playing and walks away. Furthermore, with Bear, I haven’t seen this rough play transfer to me or to anyone else.  I am thankful both dogs get this kind of play, I think they enjoy it and otherwise, I would not be providing them wit this kind of out let. The other thing I appreciate is that when Sean is playing with the dogs, I don’t have to keep a hawk’s eye on Epic. I can relax, take a shower or just close my eyes on the couch.

17 Weeks, 4 Days

Weight: 18.3kg ~40lbs

This morning, I made crock pot pulled pork so while Sean and I had pulled pork for supper, Epic and Bear each got a nice pork bone for supper. Bear, as usual tore into his. Epic licked hers for a few minutes, then she tried to bury her bowl and then finally after watching Bear she started gnawing on it. he whole process was entertaining to watch…this is the first time she has ever been given anything larger than a chicken back.

17 Weeks, 5 Days

Today we went to our second “big dog class” at Two Brown Dogs Canine Consultants. each class we do an exercise where we see how many times we can get our dogs to sit or lay down in 20 seconds. Last class Epic sat 7 times in 20 seconds, this class she sat once. Want to know why? Because in an effort to get her on all 4 feet for conformation class, I consciously stopped rewarding sits. Two weeks, that’s all it took. Now, I think it’s safe to say that I should be rewarding both intermittently if I want to keep both behaviours on cue, and I do.  There is a whole group of conformation people that do not believe in teaching a dog to sit before they have finished their conformation titles – it’s hogwash. If I can teach and un-teach a dog to sit before she is 5 months old, it’s safe to say that I can teach a dog to sit and stand on cue quite easily. She’s a smart cookie.

On the way home from class, I pulled the car over onto the shoulder because I thought the car was making a weird sound. Turns out, the sound was not coming from the car but from Epic in the back seat snoring loud enough to put a full grown man (and broken car) to shame. I guess puppy class tonight was a real workout!

14 Weeks

This evening, I had to head to Portage La Prairie to teach a class. Since Sean is away, both Epic and Bear came with me. Before class we had a short walk around the block and then Epic came inside to socialise while Bear camped out in his crate in the car.  I left Epic with a friend while I went out to get her crate and when I came back she did not appear to panicked by my absence.

One of the things I have agreed to do with Epic is obtain either a CKC Canine Good Neighbour Certificate or an AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate. Both the CGC and the CGN are programs designed to encourage responsible dog ownership and the test contains basic exercises designed to test whether a dog is well behaved in public around people and other dogs. The most difficult test item, and one that I think is the most toughly judged is the final test – supervised isolation. Dogs are left with a stranger for 3 minutes and are not supposed to whine bark show distress or be generally out of control until the owner returns. This means that if your dog is calm until he sees you return and then barks and jumps to get to you, depending on the evaluator, you could disqualify for nothing more than your dog being happy to see you.

In the scheme of things, I’m not certain this is the most realistic test item. I’d like my dogs to be calm when I leave them with strangers (vet, groomer, boarding) however I am ok with them being a bit excited when we are reunited so long as they aren’t knocking anyone over in the process.

It took me quite a long time to teach Bear to contain himself when he was reunited with me….and I have the feeling Epic might have a rally title or two under her belt before we even attempt the CGN or CGC.

14 Weeks, 1 Day

Today we headed to 4U Farms in St. Norbert MB to take Epic to a Herding Instinct Test. Herding Instinct tests are a pass/fail kind of thing and simply evaluate the natural instinct your dog displays the day of the test. Passing an instinct test doesn’t mean you have a herding champion in the making, some dogs with instinct need more training than others to succeed in trials. Conversely, failing doesn’t mean your dog is a herding dud it may just be that your dog needs a few exposures to stock to ‘turn on’ or perhaps they need to mature a bit.

I didn’t have a clue what to expect with Epic. I knew her breeder took the litter out on ducks when they were about 7 weeks old…about 1/2 of Epic’s lifetime ago.

At first, Epic was pretty certain the the ducks would bite her. She ran towards them and they got all flappy which made her jump back. We caught one and held it for her so she could sniff it, determine it was not a duck of the puppy killing variety and then she was much more willing to give chase. Once she gave chase, the ducks would scatter and her little puppy brain had a tough time diving itself between having fun exploring the arena and keeping the ducks together.

She did have a few moments, however of gathering the the ducks together, working in balance and even a bit of driving (moving the ducks away from the handler as opposed to towards the handler).

Epic passed the test and I’m looking forward to more herding with her. You can view the test evaluation form here.

14 Weeks, 2 Days

This morning, I took Epic to a local vaccine clinic for her final distemper/parvo booster. I stayed on hand afterwards to help out with dogs receiving vaccines, nail trims and to hand out some daycare coupons and talk to potential customers.

While I was busy Epic waited in her crate, when I was not busy she was out to say hi to whoever would pet her. She met quite a few new people and even made friends with a very sweet little girl.

After the clinic, I had to go into town to teach a class and to pick up some groceries so I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to leave her home alone with Bear. After she was fed, watered, went out to potty and had a new (to her) chew toy to play with I left her in her crate, beside Bear for what ended up being 4 hours. Class happens to coincide with what is typically her afternoon nap-time so I returned to a clean, dry, happy puppy. Much better than the last time I left her alone for that length of time! With Sean away, and my very long work days, I have even less opportunity to leave her home alone so for the next few weeks, if I have errands to run on the weekend, instead of staying in a crate in the car, Epic will be staying in her crate at home like a big girl.

14 Weeks, 3 Days

Today we returned to St. Norbert, MB to attend a herding trial with Bear. Epic came along for the ride and got to schmooze with her herding friends both canine and feline. Sometimes I think my dogs have better social lives than I do.

14 weeks, 6 days

For the past few days, I have been battling some kind of virus. It figures that I would get sick when I’m stick home alone with a puppy.  Epic has been spending a lot of her time with food puzzle toys (Kong, squirrel, Nina Ottoson) and chew toys. Now that I am feeling better, I’m looking forward to the weekend when we can get out and do more.

13 Weeks

Today over lunch I decided to play some games with Epic using both a fleece tug and cookies as rewards. I rewarded her for offering stand and downs, for walking beside me and for coming to find me if I hid out of sight while she was distracted. I am making a very conscious effort with Epic to pair the click with food and toys so I use them both as rewards in the same session.

The other thing I practiced was letting Epic “win” the tug game, encouraging her to bring it back for another round and then doing the same thing all over again. I am hoping in the long run that she finds playing tug with me more fun than whipping the tug around on her own…we’ll have to wait and see about that.

This evening Epic came with me when I drove to Portage la Prairie to teach an out of town class. As usual she was a princess in the car and since we had some time when we got there before class started we took a short walk around the block and then went into the training facility to say hi.

She went down some dark stairs, said “hi” to old friends and new, and she was able and willing to play tug with me for a while. I took her back out to the crate in the car while I taught class but plan to try her in her crate in the building while I teach next week.

13 Weeks, 1 Day

Weight: 13.2 kg (~29lbs)

Well, Epic can now help herself onto the furniture now, without taking a flying, leaping, running start. She’s growing like a weed, but not all at once. First her back legs seem long, then her front legs catch up. At the moment she most closely resembles a linebacker because she appears to have lost her neck. I hope she finds it again someday.

13 weeks, 2 days

This afternoon, my partner Sean left to work in Cyprus for a month so I’ll be flying solo with two dogs for the first time. Since I work long days this means both dogs will be coming to work with me during the week and there’ll be no one around to entertain Epic in the evening when I am tired and most likely to have any regrets about getting a puppy. I’m armed with a lot of food puzzle toys for those moments . We’ll miss him terribly but I am  thrilled he got the opportunity to travel overseas, without having to go into a conflict zone.

This evening, Epic and I went to my friend Renee’s birthday party. Renee has a Westie puppy, Darra, who is about 6 weeks older than Epic but right now they are perfectly matched in size and play style. Much of the evening was spent watching puppies play. They chased each other around and around and around the furniture until Epic could barely walk. During dinner we put the puppies in their crates and Epic settled in quietly with a few kibbles in a Kong. This is the first time she has been in her crate outside of work or home and I was pleased she was able to settle down. After dinner the puppies chased each other around some more! We got home at about 11pm, I had to drag Epic out of the car and I didn’t hear a peep from her until 8:00am the next morning.

13 weeks, 4 days

Today we got a lovely gift from Perri & Andrew (Epic’s breeders).

A lovely pink bowl (she was the pink collared girl in her litter) handmade by Andrew. It made me burst into tears. I was feeling tired and a little lonely with Sean leaving so receiving such a thoughtful gift put me over the edge and brightened my day at the same time.

13 Weeks 5 Days

Today I cleaned out the Sherpa bag I brought Epic home in. She was such a tiny fuzzy puppy and she has doubled her weight since.

For memory’s sake, I took a picture of her beside the bag and there is no way I could even try to stuff her into it now.

13 Weeks 6 Days

One of the ways I have been making time to work on certain things with Epic is to attach them to certain events throughout the day. This week, after every potty break at work, Epic and I have been working on mouth handling or as I call it Operation-teach-Epic-not-to-flail-like-a-dying-fish! We started with a click/reward for chin touch (to my hand), graduated to longer chin/hand contact, then chin/hand contact with fingers under lips and on gums. We are also working on rewarding her for staying still when I place my fingers over her muzzle, which seems to be the part that really sets her off. We’ve been practicing this on a grooming table for now so to avoid the whole element of me leaning over her into the mix.

Epic goes out to pee a gazillion times a day, so I figure if I can work on this 10 repetitions at a time, a gazillion times a day, then we should have it sorted out quickly. Since 10 repetitions of this lasts about a minute, we can make a lot of training happening in a short period of time without carving out hours to do it and that suits me just fine!

12 Weeks, 1 Day

Weight: 11.8kg (26lbs)

Today our puppy adventure involved a trip to a vet clinic – our very own vet clinic. Although Epic has been to the clinic, I like to take her frequently for low stress visits. A weekly visit for a weigh-in to monitor her weight is perfect and the staff at Brandon Animal Clinic are always happy to see us and always have a cookie for Epic.

A dog that is comfortable at the vet and looks forward to visiting the vet is a dog that will experience less stress, should she ever have to spend a significant amount of time there.

Before and after the off-site clinic Epic and Hudson spent the morning playing tug and chasing each other. Cooperative play is not something Bear ‘does’ (he would rather hoard toys and guard them from Epic) so I am pleased that she has an opportunity to play this way with Husdon.

We came home from puppy camp to discover a yard full of heavy machinery and half a dozen men in the process of re-siding our house. Epic was slightly wary of the strange men in our yard but I convinced her to come into the house. The dogs and I napped in the afternoon to the sounds of drills, hammers and siding being cut. Neither of the dogs barked all afternoon – until the workers piled into their truck – apparently the slamming truck door was something to bark about.

Since they are only about halfway done with the house, there is some heavy equipment, ladders and a small pile of building material in our yard. Epic was not worried about this at all and the scissor lift has become a centerpiece in a new game for Epic and Bear. Epic hides underneath the scissor lift while Bear runs around it barking. From time to time Epic will pounce on Bear and then run back under the lift where he can’t find her. This causes more barking!

12 Weeks, 2 Days

One of the things I want to work towards in the next few weeks is having Epic stay at home, alone in her crate for up to 4 hours. Having a dog that can stay home alone means I can go for dinner with friends, or run errands when it is too hot or cold to leave a dog in the car.

I left her last night for about 2 hours. I put her into her crate with supper next to Bear’s crate and Sean and I went to a friends for a bonfire. When I returned she was dry, clean and happy to see us.

This morning we left her for 2.5 hours while we went for Breakfast with friends. Again, we left her in her crate beside Bear with breakfast and returned to a quiet house, and a clean, dry, and happy puppy.

Later this afternoon, I took Epic to a local agility trial to schmooze and take in the sights. This trial was a bit different from the last one in that Epic could see right into the ring where the dogs were running (which was fascinating) and this club uses an electronic timer with a loudspeaker. The loudspeaker says “go” and counts down from 5 for the table count. Epic did not startle when she heard it but she did look around the first few times to see where that voice came from.

As with all puppies at agility trials, Epic got a ton of rewards from strangers (men and women). She also got to meet a few dogs who she approached cautiously but wasn’t all that interested in. Since it was a windy day, Epic got to check out some flapping tarps and shade cloths – which were quite suspicious. I think I might attach my tarp to our fence next week (we always have wind) and let her explore the scary flappy thing.

After a few hours at the agility trial I thought Epic would be nice and tired for a bath and nail trim. She was. This time we did the bath at the local Dog Wash. She was less than impressed but stood still while I washed her. I could not believe all the puppy coat that came out of her, even though I have been noticing that her adult coat is overtaking the puppy fuzz.

Once we returned home, I did her nails with her lying down on the couch next to me (I use guillotine clippers) with minimum fuss.

12 Weeks, 3 Days

Today (Sunday) was mostly a lazy day but Sean and I did want to go to the local bar to watch the football game. Since Epic did well in her crate the day before, the plan was to giver her a good walk/play before the game and leave her with a couple of chicken necks to chew on. This time we left her in her crate upstairs.

Approximately 4 hours later we pulled into the driveway and when I opened the car door I could hear Epic having a royal puppy fit from the open window.

I went upstairs to find a clean and dry un-happy puppy. God only knows how long the fit had been going on for. It occurred to me then that I had left her downstairs with Bear before so perhaps she was more bothered by being truly alone than by being left for the extended period of time. Next time I leave her, I’ll leave her with Bear and see how she does.

12 Weeks, 4 Days

Last night we had a typical prairie thunder-storm – several in a row actually – with thunder so loud that it woke me up! Bear who normally barks, was quiet and so was Epic. I knew she was awake because I could hear her rattling around in her crate but I didn’t hear a peep from her. Although the thunder made for a sleepless night, I am happy to know that Epic does not appear to be sound sensitive or thunder-phobic.

Today at work my friend Kathy was in to do nail trims and grooming so we had a chance to chat a bit more about conformation. Epic is still growing (right now she’s all legs, no neck) but we are working on standing still as the lead-in to a free stack. We also talked a bit more about the mouth exam. Epic did not like Kathy covering her eyes, she fidgets/fusses while we look a her bite and there was no way we were going to see her molars. The Canadian Kennel Club standard for the Rottweilers dictates that Rottweilers must have all of all of their teeth, so it is almost certain that I will have to show a judge her molars in the ring. I don’t want this to turn into a battle of wills (or strength) so I’m going to use some of the methods outlined in the book, Click for Grooming to get Epic used to people handling her mouth and face.

Before our Puppy playgroup this evening, I brought Epic and Bear to the training building so that my friend, who was concerned about a photo I shared last week, could see them play in person. We watched them for about 15 minutes and even though both dogs had half-closed mouths and we could often see ALL of Epic’s front teeth, we both agree that everything else about what was going on says “play”: the dogs took turns being on the ground and crawling over each other, despite ‘scary mouths’, both dogs had relaxed bodies, ears and faces, they took natural breaks in play and both came when called to sit for a cookie. I am glad my gut instinct was correct.

Our Puppy Play Group consisted of Epic, Copper-the-Beagle and Hudson-the-Welsh-Terrier (from Puppy Adventure Camp). The puppies got to play and then we did a bit of recall and obstacle work then the puppies got to play again. The game of the day was tug/chase!

12 Weeks, 5 Days

Epic’s AKC registration arrived in the mail today! This means she is now officially recorded as an individual dog in my name with the American Kennel Club. I also received the 3 generation pedigree I’ll need to register her with the Canadian Kennel Club and now I have a boatload of paperwork to do to make that happen.

12 Weeks, 6 days

This evening I had to teach two classes and I had Epic with me. Between classes, as I was taking her out to potty, the daughter of one of my students asked if she could see the puppy. Of course, I said yes, this being the perfect opportunity for Epic to meet a young person, especially a young person who has done some training with her own dog. Epic was very gentle (no jumping, no nipping) and happy to perform some of her tricks, for a stranger, in exchange for cookies. We have 3 weeks left of this class so I need to remember to make sure Epic gets a weekly visit in with this great little girl.