16 March 2009

Gunner's visit, Part 2

Morning . . .
After a short spell of crying, Gunner finally settled down in his crate and slept until 7 AM at which time he decided it was time for us to get up. 7 AM is better than 5 AM. To continue his shaping, I waited for him to sit (or lie down) in his crate before opening the door. If he rose as I was starting to open the door, the door closed. His behaviour determined whether the door opened or not. Success at last. I was able to open the door and he sat until I said the magic phrase "OK / Break". I am starting the process of phasing out "OK" but for him to understand his new release word, I say "OK Break" as if it's one word. Then I'll say, "O Break" and then finally just "Break".

Anyway, I quickly looked to see if there was a regurgitated sock in his crate from overnight. Nope. Onto a Flexi and outdoors to do his business. Nothing that looked like a sock came out the back end. Indoors and up to the kitchen where I spent time rewarding him for being on a mat/Bowser Bed. This used up 1/2 cup of his kibble. I delivered the treats at a very high rate within a short period of time & then would release him before he decided to do it himself. I waited to see if he got back on the bed - which he did pretty quickly. More treats, then "OK - Break". Then it was back into his crate while I read the paper in bed. Oh my but did Gunner protest. He carried on for several minutes. I usually try to wait this out but even my patience was wearing thin so I did shout at him to be quiet which he did, much to my surprise. After that point, I was able to verbally praise him from our bedroom when he was quiet. His humans say he's very smart so I am confident he'll learn quickly.

Afternoon . . .
Spring was in the air so we decided to do some work in the garden, cleaning up leaves that we didn't complete due to unexpectedly early arrival of winter and snow. Gunner was outside alone with us and he acted like a 3 month old puppy with my rake, trying to attack and grab it with his mouth and bouncing on the piles of dead leaves. How old are you Gunner? Not 3 months; you're almost 9 months old. What are you like with a vaccum cleaner? I did expose you to that when you were a baby but you didn't try to attack it.

Meal times . . .
At his home, Gunner lives with a senior aged Labrador Retriever named Boomer. Boomer is very, very placid and doesn't put Gunner in his place, which Gunner does need so Gunner is top dog at his home. Not here. He hasn't figured that out when it comes to meal times in our house. He acts like a Lab around food - all consuming - and because he's at the bottom of the pecking order in our house, he gets served last. That's not how he figures it should be though and twice dove his head into other dog's food as they were starting to eat. He was so fast that I estimated he ate almost 1/3 to 1/2 their food before I could tear him away. Now, he's put on a leash while I serve the others.

Evening . . .
My step-son came to dinner and things always get a little more chaotic in the house when there are visitors and extra dogs. I leashed up Gunner in case he decided to greet Mark by jumping up. That didn't happen. Wow, I was surprised. After the dogs ate their dinner, Gunner & Tyro started playing in the kitchen but it was turning into a dominance - submission routine where Tyro was trying to put Gunner in his place in a non-aggressive way and Gunner was submitting. That was fine. The only problem was that Gunner was submitting by peeing all over the kitchen floor as I was trying to get things ready for our dinner and the dogs were tracking all through it. Absolute pandemonium! Got the floor washed, the vegetables finally ready, table laid out, food plated and then Michael said he wasn't feeling well and warned us he was also feeling faint. He dropped down to the floor just to avoid fainting. More chaos as Gunner and Diva came over to investigate and lick his face. As I dealt with Michael, I was fully aware that there were 3 plates loaded with food, including very tasty roast lamb sitting on the counter - prime target for counter-surfing, chow-hound Gunner! Well, Gunner wasn't interested in our dinner because his stomach started heaving. Then he started to vomit. Where? Right at Michael's feet as Michael lay supine on the kitchen floor still. Sick husband, vomiting dog, upchucked kibble on floor, human food sitting out on counter getting cold, no paper towel in the kitchen. But there in a pile of vomit was the sock that Gunner ingested 2 days ago! Asked step-son to put the food in the oven to keep warm while I dealt with hubbie and cleaning up vomit. Hubbie went to bed, not the hospital (likely something he ate that really upset him) and Mark and I finally had our dinner. Later that night, Gunner curled up by my feet like an angel while I sat at the computer and when he went to bed, he didn't utter a peep. All quiet in the Moffat household after a full day of Gunner's visit. What's in store tomorrow? Well, I hope I can get some decent photos of him. All the ones I've taken so far are blurred because he won't remain still. Tomorrow is another day. Sleep tight Gunner. Sure hope your humans are enjoying themselves in Jamaica. We know you're having a great time in Moffat.

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