A Puppy Good Time

Today was hectic, and Tessa had to spend a chunk of it in her crate. To be fair, I brought her with me to visit with some family at my mom's house. She got to meet her "cousin," who is a big-time dog lover. Tessa and the three kids (my two and Cousin) ran and played in the backyard for over an hour. Tessa particularly enjoyed when the boys wrestled because they would chase and tackle each other. She would run alongside and hang back a little, and as soon as the boys came down, she pounced, licking their faces and climbing all over them. It was exactly as you might imagine a big kids-and-dog play session would be (but rarely is).

She's just so perfect. I love her to pieces. Even when she's stealing shoes and streaking around the house with them.

Here's a video of a bit of the action. It's noisy in the background because, while Cousin was completely enamored with the pup, my kids are now a bit jaded and were busy playing Uno.

By the way, I'm the voice in the video that sounds like that of a smoker. I've got some kind of long-term Laryngitis thingo that I'm supposed to fix by resting my voice and taking a bunch of nasal allergy medicine. I'm doing one of those two things well. I'm betting you'll be able to figure out which one.

Social Butterfly

I'm working hard on socializing Tessa while still keeping her safe from disease. My dog training friend Angelica told me to try for five new people and one new location every day. Well, I'm failing that. But I am trying! Saturday the "new location" was our front yard on a long line. Sunday was a good day, though, as I took her to a safe location to meet with lots of new people (more than five!) and some safe dogs too. She hung out in a tunnel for a bit and practiced on a balance board as well. She had a fabulous time and was really tired at the end of the visit! I brought my Papillon over too and he hated the entire experience, which is typical of him.

The rest of the week was really hard. We had many medical appointments for members of the family, as well as other obligations. Monday Tessa went to my parents' house and visited with their dog briefly. She met my dad for the first time as well. Friday she went to my daughter's school at pick up time to meet kids and parents. The rest of the week is fuzzy; I can't really even remember what all we did but there were a couple of days where "nothing" was the answer. I didn't realize that I'd feel so much pressure with this puppy. I feel obligated to make her upbringing perfect, and then I feel overwhelmed at the realization that that's not going to be possible, not with my life. My mom gave me good advice though: "She's a puppy, not a project. You should be enjoying her!" I'll try!

For other Border Collie lovers, Kristie Moser and I put together a fun Border Collie T-shirt which is now for sale in my Zazzle store. More are coming but since there is a 40% coupon available for white shirts today, I thought I'd share. Here's the link to my store: http://www.zazzle.com/0Brenna0?rf=238917557343649119 The coupon for the white T-shirt discount is DAILYDEALS12

This is what's on the shirts :)

What's in a name?

After much debate within the family, the puppy got a name. It's not Lily, which my daughter wanted but which is the name of another dog we know. It's not Kenzie, which I wanted but The Girl didn't want (possibly because I wanted it, but honestly I don't think Husband liked it either). It's Tessa!

Meet Tessa!

So far my daughter loves her but is a little frustrated when the puppy gets distracted away from her, as puppies often do. My son loves her but gets distracted and forgets about her, as he often does. My husband loves her but doesn't love sharp puppy teeth, as no one ever does. Payton the Wonder Whippet has been surprisingly patient but has, of course, asserted her dominance here and there as she has deemed necessary. Mr. Beagle still thinks Tessa is a little odd and possibly scary, but he's played with her several times. They are a good match. (When Tessa's big enough to jump up on the sofa, though, Mr. Beagle is going to get a rude awakening!) Papillon Spark thinks that this might all be a bad joke and requests that the annoying little thing please go back where she came from right away. I was hoping they would be friends but I suspect they will eventually mostly ignore each other (which is what Spark and Payton already do).

Since Wednesday, Tessa has:

• seen two airports 
• flown in the cabin of a plane
• ridden in the car several times
• gone for a friendly, fun vet visit
• gone to an elementary school at pick-up time and got treats and pets from many children
• met a neighbor boy of a different race 
• walked on stacked dogwalk boards and climbed over concrete blocks and various other surfaces
• stayed quietly (and not-so-quietly) in an ex-pen and crate
• learned to wear a collar
• experienced a leash (she thinks leashes suck)
• run through an agility tunnel
• chased rolled discs and balls 
• played with a bunch of toys
• played several games of tug
• started learning new things (sit stay, down, stand, spin, her name, come, and place). 

I'm going to try to keep track of the new things that she experiences every day so that I can make sure that at the end of the socialization period, she's done all that she needs to do.That's it for now!

See you later!

 Click here to shop at Clean Run!

THINGS have happened.

I haven't posted here much recently because we came to the very sad decision that we could not keep Smoke. We were unable to get him to behave safely around my Papillon, Spark. Smoke isn't a bad dog at all, but there were several instances that just made it clear that this was not going to work.

Telling the kids was horrible. I agonized over finding Smoke the right home before I told the kids, so I kept my suffering silent for a week and a half.

Luckily, we were able to find him an outstanding home with loving people who have two older Border Collies. He seems to have fit in there very smoothly. The family has sent me several photos of Smoke enjoying his new life, which I think is just awesome.

My son was sad and my daughter cried. But we did have news to soften the blow: we decided to get a female Border Collie puppy.

I had talked to dog training friends (one of whom knows all my dogs), Border Collie breeders, and owners of both BCs and Papillons before determining that getting a female puppy to raise with my dogs (including the male Pap) would be the way to go. Fortunately, a friend of mine that I met through working with the United States Dog Agility Association is a great breeder with a long history of breeding just the type of dog I was looking for. Amazingly enough, she had puppies available, and one sounded like the sweet, middle-of-the-road puppy that we were seeking.

The news that a puppy would soon be ours helped the kids have something to look forward to when Smoke was gone. The darling puppy, a tri-colored BC currently named Fig (but who might soon be named Lily, or possibly something else), arrived from California today, accompanied by the breeder's boyfriend who had business to do in my area. She was apparently an angel on the flight and so far, she's been amazing for the half-a-day that she's been here. She's sleeping next to me on the floor in an exercise pen right now.

This photo was taken of her a week ago. Thanks to breeder Karen Moureaux, Contact Point Border Collies (and Contact Point Photography) for the puppy and the photo usage!

So far she's already learned to be respectful of my senior Whippet, who is the queen of our doggie family. She's fascinated by our Beagle, who thinks she's awesome but he's ready to turn tail and run if she grows a second head or does anything that he might think is bizarre. He's a smart guy, that Beagle. Friendly but cautious with strange dogs. And the Papillon.... well, he's a bit afraid, but she's been friendly toward him and Spark seems to be loosening up a bit.

More to come!

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I guess she told you

Tonight Husband came out with me to see Smoke’s improved flying disc skills. He hadn't seen Smoke do anything with a disc since we met him that first night (has it been two weeks already?). I think he was impressed to see Smoke actually catch it, despite the difficult lighting (it was dark and we have horrid lights in the yard). He was having fun tossing it for the dog but we kept having to move Payton the Wonder Whippet out of the line of fire. Usually she does her own thing out there, and, quite frankly, I thought she was having a canine dementia moment. I mean, she IS 11. Plus, she’s got a bad leg thanks to a spinal stroke (look up FCE sometime). So, you know, maybe she just didn't feel like moving out of the way.

And then she ran down Smoke’s Frisbee.

EVERYONE was stunned, including Smoke. Now, Payton didn't catch it; she's never been one to do that. But since Smoke is apparently a wee bit afraid of Payton (good call), he pulled off and let the disc drop. She forgot that one leg doesn't quite work right and I guess adrenaline kicked in because she FLEW and snagged that disc. Then she slowly walked off with her prize, because bringing stuff back is totally beneath her.

Smoke just stood there looking stupid so I went and got him another disc. Then I took the disc back from Payton, because she was just working on destroying it, and I tossed it for her a few times. She ran after it and had fun, until she didn't and then we called it a day.

Interestingly enough, Smoke wouldn't go after any disc that neared the part of the yard where Payton and I were playing. I don't know how she inspires this sort of respect from male dogs but I wish she could loan some of it to me!

I don't know what all the fuss is about. 

TUNNEL!

After the kids were in bed tonight, I took the dogs outside to wear off a little steam (theirs AND mine!). I wanted to work Smoke over some jumps and whatnot but I knew I couldn't use food as a reward because the other dogs would be all over that. So I thought I'd reward him by throwing his beloved soccer ball #2 (#1 is all crumbly and pathetic. Sadly, after tonight, #2 is rapidly deflating. On to #3...).

The first thing I learned is that Smoke can't really think when I'm holding his soccer ball. As smart as he is, it all goes out the window in the presence of SOCCER BALL! While I was trying to get him to take the tire, to no avail, Spark the Papillon came over and did it. I was really proud of him for that bit of initiative and intelligence. There's not just one smart black and white dog in this house.

I couldn't get Smoke to sort out the tire with the ball as a reward so I put the tire away before that ended badly. Two inch high jumps seemed much more up his alley. I was able to get him to jump, turn left, and jump again before I threw the ball. I thought that was pretty good for a baby dog. Then I remembered that I had yet to get out my new short tunnel that I got from the lovely Andrea Davis a few months back.

I taped up a few jagged places and stretched the tunnel out in the yard. I thought maybe I could send Smoke through the tunnel and start teaching him left and right by lobbing his soccer ball in the correct direction.

This premise was based on one very big flaw. It assumed that I had the ability to throw the ball exactly where I wanted it. Which I do not. At all. Plus, there was the part where Smoke had to learn how to turn away from me (and SOCCER BALL!) and run through the tunnel. Once again, Spark had to demonstrate how to do the tunnel. Then Smoke worked it out and it was GAME ON. While we did practice a few sends and one or two "rights," Smoke also practiced lots of "ON MY GOSH THIS TUNNEL IS THE BEST THING EVERs". At first he seemed to think he only could enter it from one end, resulting in lots of circles. Then he figured out that both ends could be entrances and had lots of fun. Here's a picture of him having a blast:

Yes, as you can see, this is mostly a photo of my new tunnel and a tiny bit of Smoke's tail. He's faster than my phone camera. 

We're having fun!

Now that I have a herding dog....

Smoke the Border Collie was herding Spark the Papillon today. Spark enjoyed it about as much as you might think he would. When my husband came home from an errand, we had this conversation. Keep in mind that we live in the suburbs of Tampa.

Me: Smoke was herding Spark a bunch today.

Husband: Oh?

Me: Yeah. I think we need to get something for him to herd. Ducks, maybe? 

Husband:

Me: Ooo! Goats! They'll eat all these weeds and stuff out of the yard, too!

Husband: *$&!%. 

Me: What?

We technically live outside the city lines. I totally bet we could legally own some pygmy goats.

Goats? BRING 'EM ON!

A PSA from your local fern protection association

This is Smoke, my first Border Collie:

These are my ferns:

These are my ferns on Smoke:

Any questions?

Smoke, the world's best fern smasher.