First Session Down

Well,, we made it through our first of four "Puppy Play n train" dates. WOW, is all I can say.

First picture 8 puppies in one room, off leash. (Scary picture isn't it?)

Then picture me huddling my puppy close to me (but not touching him) and spreading my arms around him to keep other puppies at a distance so he didn't get too overwhelmed! Talk about overwhelmed (and I mean ME).

I have to say it didn't go too bad all things considered, except for maybe when the 3rd off leash play time came and Buddy decided he would be the aggressor this time! He had more time outs than any of them!

And after scrounging all around for loose puppy treats,(too bad that  wasn't one of the things he was being trained for) he decides mine weren't good enough anymore, which meant he wasn't so enticed by them to do what he was supposed to do.

Next week we bring his blanket and favorite toy for training (can just picture him stealing all the other puppies favorite toys, oh my!)

I Must Be Nuts!

It is so easy to forget how much work a new puppy takes, especially after having a dog as part of your family for 9 years, you tend to forget the first 2 years! Those years must fall into a part of your brain that you have only limited have access to! Otherwise why would I go through this again, (call it a lapse of judgement, or big time forgetfulness).

This is "Buddy" our new Cairn Terrier, who is definitely a very strong willed, albeit loveable new addition.  I have been reading up on every site and following blogs for tidbits on training that works for others.

So far we have the "SIT" command working not too shabbily, and "Fetch" (so long as there is a treat involved), however "Stay" and "Come" are in need of work! Lots of work!

So we are attending our first night of "Puppy Play n Learn". That should be interesting. Will follow up on that tomorrow (that is of course unless we don't make it through the first night, or get invited back!)

Hateful Worm

I finally have my PC back after getting infected with this wonderful thing! UGH! What a pain in the you know what! Had to get my PC wiped clean so that the little bugger didn't hack into my important stuff! Nasty! Shame on people for being so dispicable, I am wishing nothing but spiteful, hateful things for them! Now to catch up on all that I have missed for the past week.

What Happened to Spring?

While we were in Cuba it was apparently 18-24 degrees here in Halifax most of the time we were gone. So now that we are home it went back down to normal 10 degrees or so... only today we have mega snow! Yes SNOW! And it's accumulating even! Looking out the window is like looking out in mid January not mid April. And of course my winter tires have been removed (we thought we were doing good having them removed while we were away, yeah real smart!) The lilac tree has buds, and the maple trees even have there starting buds too. Good thing the snow blower still has gas in it,, ha didn't catch us there!

Meet Buddy

Meet "Little Buddy". Our new addition to our household. I really wasn't sure about getting another pup so soon after losing our beloved Goliath to diabetes, but I also new that one day my husband would just do it anyway, so I gave my 2 cents on what he could have this time (they always seem to just come home with one before, and then how can you say no once they are staring you in the face!)

Anyway Buddy is a 12 wk old Cairn Terrier. He is definitely the dominant male from his litter! We are fighting a hard battle right now with the biting and house training! Not sure who is going to win this battle! I had so forgotten what housebreaking a pup took, it has been so long since we had a little one around.

He is definitely a rough and tumble 5lb bundle of energy! And as you can see from below he is not afraid of my son's big brute Moses. Poor Moses has his nose out of joint a little, he is not happy about having this little monster around, stealing his toys, biting at his feet and having no fear.

We have a big job ahead of his with this little one, and since I am off to Fredericton for a conference it will be my husbands job to go out every half hour, keep insisting "no biting!" and so on for the next 4 days. Love it!

Back to Normal

Ok, I'm back! Shame on me for being so lax, but there are times you just fall into a rut and just doing some of the simple things like updating my blog seemed to be too much trouble and bother. I have no idea why, maybe it was the winter blues or something like that.

Anyway, April has turned out to be a much better month. To begin with I had a great trip to "Cuba". My very first. It was certainly an eye opener! The best part of course was the beach, all that glorious white, soft, clean sand, and of course that sparkling blue water! Even for someone like me who can't be considered a "beach" person it was heaven!

For someone who doesn't travel very much (ok, never) going through the Cuban airport was a very unnerving event! Especially when we had to go through the check point spot where the man behind the glass just glares at you, never smiles, never says anything except look at the camera (the one you can't even recognize as a camera!) and then continues to look at you, look at your passport, look at you again, and so on,,,, I was starting to have a melt down when he finally said "go".

I was warned beforehand what to expect, but it is still a startling contrast from home. I just wish I had followed the advice to pack some Ketchup and Coffee! A whole week without coffee was stretching my limits a bit! But we did manage to find a pizza place that was actually like home (especially since the originator came from our own province of NS! How cool was that!)

Since it was our first (and most likely not our last) we did some excursions this trip. Loads of fun! All in all it was a great week! It certainly has put me back on track now, ok well maybe it was a start to getting back on track!

Giving In To This

Ok, I gave in, I caved, and rather quickly too I might add! Our poor Goliath has only been gone a month and we are now getting ready for a new addition to our household! In one sense I feel extremely guilty and on the other am excited too! Of course having seen him I fell in love with him so that didn't help. I can only hope that G Man is looking down from dog heaven and saying good for you. So anyway here he is (although we don't actually pick him up until we come back from Cuba). We haven't quite decided on a name as of yet, but we do have a week to decide.