I forgot to mention that Raelyn knows when we are going on an outing and gets super excited when she sees we are collecting all of her gear. As soon as we are on our way out, she quickly goes to the backdoor and hurries to relieve. Then she will come back inside and wait patiently by the front door as we put on her vest and leash. She is calm and sits while we get our shoes on and get all our things together. Then we are off!
She is also doing MUCH better about greeting people when they come in the front door. For a while there, when someone new came in the door she would race over and sniff like a crazy puppy. Now she will wait a good distance away and when you come in the door and tell her to sit, she will sit and wait patiently for you to come to her. It is a work in progress, but getting better every day!
Her new fun game to try and play is keep away. She tries to play that a lot now. Whenever she starts that, we stop play and turn around and do something else while not paying attention to her. She immediately will stop moving away and come over to us as she really wants to engage us and play. She knows we won't chase her, but she still tries anyways!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Raelyn at 7 months (and I'm a total blog slacker)
I know, I know. I have been a total slacker this past month as I haven't posted a thing about puppy even though I was "hounded" by more than a few people for the latest Raelyn update! My lack of posting has been for two reasons: On e is because school has started so keeping the students in line takes away from my blog time, but really the main reason is because Raelyn has been doing so great that we are in a fantastic routine and nothing out of the ordinary has happened in a while!
Raelyn hasn't had any relieving incidents in over a month. Hurrah! She stares intently down the stairs when she wants to go, so she gives clear signals and will wait patiently for us to notice. She hasn't had any problems on outings either. When we go to Dominican, she has her potty spot and she'll go right on command without any trouble. She has also stopped needing to go so frequently, so that has really helped as well. She can hold her pee better and only poops 3 times a day (sometimes 2) instead of having to go pee every 2 hours and pooping around 6 times a day.
She isn't whining nearly as much as she used to. She really only whines when the alarm goes off since I don't let her out right away. Other than that, she is in her crate during class and does fabulously! She isn't a distraction at all. She will just hang out and either watch what is going on or just rest. She hardly makes noise and the students totally forget that she is there. I am so glad that it is going as well as it is. The students and the other staff love to see her around campus and always ask about how she is doing. They are all so excited about her.
A few weeks ago she had some weird blister/pustules on her chin that were coming out of nowhere. They were looking a little scary and we went to the vet and he said that she had a common case of puppy acne. It was most likely caused by a skin irritation that got infected by skin-dewelling bacteria. We just need to keep the area clean and she should grow out of it. It has gotten considerably better, so it looks like it is healing nicely.
She such a pleasure to be around. We have had a few overnight house guests and she takes right to them. She wants to play with them and show them her favorite toys. She has a very friendly and sweet disposition so she is a joy to take out and about. She has great self control and resists chasing things and meeting random people.
The main problem now is that whenever she meets someone new, she is SO EXCITED! You would think that is totally attention starved and hasn't seen a person in years. This is a problem when I let her meet people when we are out as she has to learn she just can't tackle them and stick her nose in their crotch. The funny thing is once the person is no longer new (like if we hang out next to them for a while), they aren't interesting and she could care less about meeting them. She is still very interested in other dogs and pulls on the leash when she is excited, but it seems to be getting better. She got approved to be on food protocol for distractions, but I just haven't had the opportunity to implement that training yet.
Raelyn is now 7 months old and HUGE! She has grown a ton since we first got her (duh). It was hilarous as we went to a puppy meeting recently and we met up with her older puppy friend Amity who used to be ginormous compared to Raelyn...now Raelyn might be bigger than she is! Crazy. Her head is about mid-thigh level and she probably weighs around 50 lbs. Tall and sleek! She gets comments all the time from people about how she is "such a goregous dog with a beautiful shiny coat" (like she needs any more reasons to be a diva!).
She loves to play with her large hard chew toys which she never liked before. She will carry them around with her and then drop them in different places, so every night I have to go to her "drop off" spots to collect all of her toys and put them away. She also LOVES to do lab loops. These are where she tucks her tail in and then takes off and sprints around in a loop. She doesn't go anywhere special and there isn't any reason, she just likes to run around in circles. Then she'll get tired and as quick as she got possessed by the crazy, she stops and gets a drink of water and lays down to chew on the toy she was carrying around.
She has made so much progress just in the 5 months that we have had her and it has been so fun to see her grow and change. She is a fantastic puppy with a lot of potential! :)
Raelyn hasn't had any relieving incidents in over a month. Hurrah! She stares intently down the stairs when she wants to go, so she gives clear signals and will wait patiently for us to notice. She hasn't had any problems on outings either. When we go to Dominican, she has her potty spot and she'll go right on command without any trouble. She has also stopped needing to go so frequently, so that has really helped as well. She can hold her pee better and only poops 3 times a day (sometimes 2) instead of having to go pee every 2 hours and pooping around 6 times a day.
She isn't whining nearly as much as she used to. She really only whines when the alarm goes off since I don't let her out right away. Other than that, she is in her crate during class and does fabulously! She isn't a distraction at all. She will just hang out and either watch what is going on or just rest. She hardly makes noise and the students totally forget that she is there. I am so glad that it is going as well as it is. The students and the other staff love to see her around campus and always ask about how she is doing. They are all so excited about her.
A few weeks ago she had some weird blister/pustules on her chin that were coming out of nowhere. They were looking a little scary and we went to the vet and he said that she had a common case of puppy acne. It was most likely caused by a skin irritation that got infected by skin-dewelling bacteria. We just need to keep the area clean and she should grow out of it. It has gotten considerably better, so it looks like it is healing nicely.
She such a pleasure to be around. We have had a few overnight house guests and she takes right to them. She wants to play with them and show them her favorite toys. She has a very friendly and sweet disposition so she is a joy to take out and about. She has great self control and resists chasing things and meeting random people.
The main problem now is that whenever she meets someone new, she is SO EXCITED! You would think that is totally attention starved and hasn't seen a person in years. This is a problem when I let her meet people when we are out as she has to learn she just can't tackle them and stick her nose in their crotch. The funny thing is once the person is no longer new (like if we hang out next to them for a while), they aren't interesting and she could care less about meeting them. She is still very interested in other dogs and pulls on the leash when she is excited, but it seems to be getting better. She got approved to be on food protocol for distractions, but I just haven't had the opportunity to implement that training yet.
Raelyn is now 7 months old and HUGE! She has grown a ton since we first got her (duh). It was hilarous as we went to a puppy meeting recently and we met up with her older puppy friend Amity who used to be ginormous compared to Raelyn...now Raelyn might be bigger than she is! Crazy. Her head is about mid-thigh level and she probably weighs around 50 lbs. Tall and sleek! She gets comments all the time from people about how she is "such a goregous dog with a beautiful shiny coat" (like she needs any more reasons to be a diva!).
She loves to play with her large hard chew toys which she never liked before. She will carry them around with her and then drop them in different places, so every night I have to go to her "drop off" spots to collect all of her toys and put them away. She also LOVES to do lab loops. These are where she tucks her tail in and then takes off and sprints around in a loop. She doesn't go anywhere special and there isn't any reason, she just likes to run around in circles. Then she'll get tired and as quick as she got possessed by the crazy, she stops and gets a drink of water and lays down to chew on the toy she was carrying around.
She has made so much progress just in the 5 months that we have had her and it has been so fun to see her grow and change. She is a fantastic puppy with a lot of potential! :)
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