The Adventures of Puppy School

Marlee and I started our first puppy class this week.  She already knows many of the commands she will learn during this 6 week course, so the main reason for going is to socialize her with other dogs.  There are two other puppies in the class.  Poppy is a 5 month old Vizla, and Piper is a 3 month old lab/newfoundland mix.  Right away, we could see that Poppy, being the oldest of the group, had much better puppy manners than Marlee and Piper.  Eventually, they all got finished sniffing each other and got down to playing.  Let me just say, Piper can give Marlee a run for her money when it comes to play.  I think they are equally matched!  But, it was obvious that Marlee is the winner when it comes to the sheer amount of energy she has.  When play time was over, the other two puppies just plopped down nicely next to their owners.  Marlee, on the other hand, decided that she was going to keep trying to play with the other two dogs.  She did this by bouncing and barking and jolting back and forth between the two.  Finally, she wore herself out and I was able to calm her down.  The trainer shot me a look that said, "Wow, you have your hands full!" And I shot her a look right back that said "tell me about it..."

One thing that was pretty amazing was that immediately after finishing with the class, I noticed Marlee was not biting as much or as hard.  It seems some interaction with the puppies really helped her to get an idea about appropriate biting.  A friend of mine is also helping me with this aspect, and with being more stern so that I can be the dominant one in this puppy-human relationship.  Marlee is a smart dog, and with smarts comes the ability to test the boundaries and find clever ways around things.

These pinecones are delicious!

For example, I have trained Marlee to sit, lay down, shake, stay, and come (at least, we can do these commands in a nice calm environment like my kitchen but if we go outside then forget it!).  Marlee has trained me to stay with her when she eats her food (this is a whole other story).  One of her current tricks is to pick up something in her mouth that she is not supposed to have (a rock, for example).  Then when I call her she trots towards me...but then right at the last second, when I think I can reach down and pull the object from her mouth, she darts off to the other side of the yard.  She thinks she is really clever for creating this keep-away game, but I know better than to continue that game with her and it usually ends quickly, much to her disappointment!  We are still working on chewing on appropriate objects, and we are playing the toy swap where we cycle toys every 4-5 days and she thinks it's a new toy every time (this is a GREAT idea by the way).

This week, our assignment before our next puppy class is to introduce her to at least one new person (done...we meet new people daily), and to introduce her to three different "loud" noises/locations.  So far, we have walked on a busy street.  Later today, she will get to experience construction noise.  I'm sure about the third noise yet...maybe the vacuum, or maybe we will go down by the train station.  One thing's for sure, loud noises do not seem to phase this dog, as long as she can see where they are coming from, or if she is in her crate and feels safe which is the case with thunder and loud storms.  I consider this a blessing!

Marlee, 13 weeks old, 21 inches tall!

 

It's amazing to me how much she has grown in just the 5 weeks that I've had her.  She is already measuring nearly 21 inches tall...that's 10 inches taller than a month ago!  We go to the vet next week so we will get to see how much weight she has put on.  Even though she is bigger she still has those same beautiful markings on her paws and belly, and her big lab eyes still steal my heart :)  Probably the most amusing sound is taking her outside in the morning and listening to her stretch and moan in preparation for the day's adventures!  Who knows what today's adventures might be.