Intruder!

In the middle of last night, I heard 1-2 puppies barking as well as the big dogs.  Our adult Vizslas only bark in the night if there is a strange sound outside - or inside the house.  I thought I heard a dog barking outside so thought perhaps that got them started.  That in itself would be very unusual because the house is set deep in the woods and far from neighbours. However after about 60 seconds or so, everyone quietened down and we all went back to sleep.  Then at around 6 AM, all of a sudden we heard a thud outside our bedroom door and thought, WTF?!!!  Had someone broken into the house and that's why the dogs had barked?  Or was a puppy lose in the house? I quickly got out of bed & went to investigate.  I had absolutely nothing to defend myself with; perhaps if I flashed the intruder that would scare them to death (I'm no spring chicken any more!!).  In the dark, I could see a large brown blob in the hallway and my first thought was - puppy poop!! Someone did a big dump! A puppy must have escaped - but how because I distinctly recalled latching their pen?  When I turned on the light, I had a big shock.  It was . . . . . .

 

Mr Toad!!

When did it get into the house?  I know how it got in because he had been hanging around the back of the house and the patio slider for the past few days and nights - probably wanting to get into the house where it was cooler (we've been having an insane heat wave). In fact, I had first spotted him when the puppies were playing under some shrubs by the patio. He is HUGE!  

So most likely when I took the puppies outside for their final pee before bedtime last night, he was by the patio door and just hopped inside the family room without my spotting him. And since the puppy pen is set up right by the patio door, Mr Toad must have made some noise to set them barking last night which then set off the big dogs.  So we have good watch puppies and watch dogs!!!  Anyway, having a large toad in the house is a first for us. (Thanks to Corrine for taking these pictures of Mr Toad for me when she was visiting.)

Mr Toad being relocated from puppies mouths and noses

Introducing Vacuum Monster

Our Canadian house has a central vacuum (which I LOVE!) and every litter of puppies gets exposed to it. The puppies have had a brief encounter to the hard floor attachment once before, but not the power head.  Well, technically that's not quite true. When Nora, our terrific cleaner, has been here the last three times (she comes bi-weekly), she has used the power head on the carpets when pups have been in the whelping box and in the puppy pen. So they have heard the sound and seen it close up but not had direct contact. In fact, Nora told me the power head seemed to calm them as they quietened down when she was vacuuming close them.  Probably they were curious about the noise and the object which distracted them from screaming.

This morning I had an opportunity to bring out the power head since the pups had shredded one of the puppy pee pads. Nora had just cleaned yesterday so I was rather annoyed at the pups but what can you do? Every negative situation is a potential positive so I turned it into an opportunity to get them used to the power head.  The results were mixed; 4 couldn't have cared a less and 2 were curious and very interested. Black was so focussed on getting treats from me that I don't even think he realized he was standing on the vacuum monster.

Black conquers the vacuum Monster

Here are the steps I took to introduce the vacuum monster. At each step, I gave puppies lots of treats.

1. Bring out the hose and place it on the floor. Treat the puppies for walking on/around it.
2. Plug in and turn on the air.
3. Move the power-head without the power being on (suction is on however).
4. Turn on the power-head.
5. Move the power-head.

As you can see from the video, it was a great success!  No one was scared of the vacuum monster and most of them were very indifferent.

Unusual feeding places

I decided to get creative on the feeding locations for my Miska-Brick puppies born May 31. This was largely driven by the fact that it was getting increasingly challenging as the pups grew and moved faster to try to feed several at the same time - well, more or less the same time depending on fast I could get the bowls down & the puppies to the bowl before one finished and ran to mooch from its littermate.  Instead of group or 'family-style' feeding from the same bowl, each puppy has eaten from its own bowl since I started them on solid food.  Initially I was able to separate them into 2 groups of 3 but when a baby-gate no longer worked, I had to develop a different strategy.

My solution? They are fed one at a time in places that are inaccessible to the other puppies (at least so far).  Hence, the puppies have eaten in a sink, bathtub, countertop, desk, on top of a dryer (with the dryer on) as well as outside on the patio and on a straw mat in their ex-pen.  And there are different surfaces in each of these locales too which adds to the list of surfaces they have been on - all part of their socialization. If they can eat with zeal in all of these places, they should want to eat anywhere and also not be apprehensive about being on different surfaces.  Some puppies are very finicky or lacking in confidence so that if their food is set down in a spot/place they aren't used to, they won't eat.  Not these guys!

Do all breeders do this to their puppies?  Absolutely NOT!  I am sure there are some who think of doing this but I suspect not many.  After all, it does take more time to feed puppies one at a time and to move around to different parts of the house - time that many people don't have when raising a litter of puppies.  And of course backyard breeders and puppy mills would never do this!

Blue is almost too big to fit into the laundry sink!

Does my dinner come with clean socks?

Miss Red enjoying her breakfast during the wrinkle-free setting

Green will finish his meal in 27 sec. (or less!) whereas the laundry has 27 min. to go

On a desk

Yellow in the bathtub

Hey, how come she gets to eat in the tub & we don't?

We want a turn in the bathtub!

Black dining a la stainless steel

Puppy training treats

I discovered a great 'every day' training treat for the puppies - Nutro Natural Choice Lamb Meal/Rice Formula Small Bites.  It's the Small Bites (very small pieces of kibble) product that make this treat so great to use.  I had started to feed the puppies this food but stopped when they were continuing to have soft stools. The soft stools and diet could have been coincidental but now they are being fed another Nutro Natural Balance product with better success. However, a few of these Small Bites kibble rather than an entire diet doesn't seem to be upsetting their system.

Small Bite kibble next to a regular kibble and a Charlie Bear treat

When I refer to it as 'every day' training treat, it means that I will use something else that's more delectable for situations involving more challenging situations such as getting as having feet and teeth handled or getting nails clipped. For those situations, I have been using very tiny pieces of cheddar cheese.  It's important to learn that treats have different value for your dog/puppy just as certain foods are craved/enjoyed (or not) by humans. So just for peeing or pooping outside, I will give the puppy one of these Small Bite treats or when they are moving back & forth on the teeter-totter or when the teeter is moving up/down and they are moving with it.  Your puppy (or adult dog) doesn't need a chunk of steak as a reward; very small pieces of food work more effectively because the puppy can swallow it whole rather than having to take time to chew.  Since shaping a behaviour depends on the timing and speed of treat delivery, you want something that puppies can inject quickly. These Small Bites kibble do the trick, plus they aren't messy in your hands and pockets!

Mr Green, cool dude

Photos of Mr Green born May 31 taken over the past few days.

I hate papparrazzi!

Green attempts to nuzzle Diva, his half-sister, who is being extremely tolerant.

Hide and seek behind a rock

Be a COOL dog owner

Even moderately hot temperatures combined with high humidity can be deadly for dogs because they cannot cool as efficiently as humans can. This week, the temperatures in much of Canada and the US are going to/have already reached sweltering and dangerous levels so PLEASE:

• Limit the amount of exercise your pet gets (especially puppies, overweight dogs and dogs with heart conditions & Brachycephalic dogs) even in the cooler parts of the day. 
• Leave them at home in air conditioned rooms or with fans
• Don't take them with you in the car to run errands.  Even parked in shade, it's going to get exceedingly hot because of the humidity.

To learn more about the signs of heatstroke, click on this link:
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/be-a-cool-owner-don-t-let-your-dog-overheat/page1.aspx

Miss Red, aka "Feist"

I have nicknamed Miss Red "Feist" short for Feisty because she has a lot of zip and sass and also tons of dexterity!  Although she's smaller than the other puppies, she is the best and fastest climber in the litter, swiftly scaling a barrier that is supposed to keep puppies from entering the family room when I can't supervise them. She's up and over in a flash; just as soon as I 'rescue' her, she's back clambering over the 'wall'.  And she doesn't mind sassing the big dogs and keeps coming back for more "punishment" even after they growl at her.

I can be sweet!

I can be bad too (but they GAVE me this box to play with).

Who me?

Learning to tug

Here Miska teaches her puppies how to tug.  While many people used to think that tugging with a dog was 'bad' because it would encourage aggression, we know differently these days! Of course, the game of tug has to be under the human's control.  Here's a good answer to the question of will tugging make my dog aggressive from another one of my favourite and respected animal behaviourists, Dr. Ian Dunbar:  http://dogtime.com/tug-of-war-with-dog-dunbar-faq.htm . In fact, it's absolutely critical to develop tug drive or toy drive if you plan on doing agility. Here's a link to a great article on creating a motivating toy from one of the world's top agility trainers, Susan Garrett, who happens to live practically next door to me (well, about 1 hour drive) and if you don't know about Susan Garrett and her training, you should check out her blog and her website.  And from Susan, here is a list of over 60 tug toy ideas.

Mr Turquoise and his cute faces

I love the heads on my Miska-Brick puppies born May 31!  As the bumper sticker reads, "Life is too short to hunt with an ugly dog." and this sure can be said about Vizslas.  Here is Mr Turquoise and some of his many expressions - handsome, cute and silly.  (There is supposed to be a soundtrack with this video but YouTube is taking a very long time to do the audioswap so there may be no sound,

On the blocks

Earlier this week, the puppies started learning how to 'stack' - the term that 'show people' use to describe how their dogs stand in the show ring.  Stacking means getting your dog to do a stand/stay with feet and head in the 'proper' position so that a judge can evaluate its structure while it stands still.

The technique is I learned from Joy Lyons, breeder of Lyons Vizslas in Okeechobee Florida who bred and owned some outstanding show Vizslas, is to get the pups to stand on 4X4 or 6X6 blocks of wood. However, in this case I couldn't find any that size around the house so had to make do with blocks of 2X4's that were nailed together by Hugs for some other purpose.  (PS - the nails are pointing downwards!!)

There are some rather expensive "stacking boxes" that one can purchase for this purpose but I thought it was way too pricey and opted to use Joy's method which is very cheap, with the same results IMO.  The pups have been getting very short training sessions each day (maybe about 30 seconds each). At this point, all I want is for them to stand still on the blocks. I don't care about how their feet are placed or whether their back is roached or whether their neck is stretched out.  All I want is for them to experience pleasure (i.e., treats of tiny, tiny bits of cheddar cheese) for simultaneously placing 4 feet on the blocks. After day 2, all had mastered this except Mr Blue who was more into the reward of the cheese without first demonstrating the behaviour!  Thanks again to my 'assistant' Corrine Sellars who was on the other side of the camera while I showed her and the pups what the stacking game entailed.

I'm a good girlie!

Please, I want cheese!

Mr Turquoise is almost a pro at this

Corrine put together this cute video of Mr Blue who had an incredible nose for the cheese rather than a penchant for stacking that day.



 

BIG breakthrough!

Last night was the first poop-free night! Yippee!!! Puppies went from about 11:30 PM until 7 AM. Good job!

Big dogs with puppies

It's so critical for puppies to be raised with and spend time around well-mannered and good natured, adult dogs. The adult dogs teach them many important behaviours, one of them being bite inhibition. And the pups learn how to defer to the big guys. Here are our various 6-week old, Miska-Brick puppies born May 31 interacting with their mom, Miska, their 5-year old Uncle Tyro, and their 3-year old, half-sister Diva.

Tyro (male) says, "That's as close as you get to my privates!"

Miska disciplining her kids

Yellow with the big dogs

Tyro, being very tolerant

Here Miska tells her kids off for being brats.

The dog did it!

If you thought that owning a dog was a contact sport and also dangerous to your health, you might have second thoughts about acquiring one of 'man's best friends' - and I am NOT referring to dog bites!  Everyone who trains and competes with their dogs in various dog sports will experience falls, spills, twisted ankles etc. in agility or show ring and in hunt/field tests.  Those don't usually involve actual contact with the dog although it's very possible in agility where things happen so fast that sometimes crashes are inevitable.

Over the years I've sustained a torn meniscus, twisted ankles, a broken toe and lots of scratches (from their nails) as a result of doing something with my dog(s).  Recently, it was a different type of injury. And truthfully, my dog really did do it. He gave me a black eye!  How did it happen?  I was reaching down to pick up a puppy and Tyro, my sweet 5-year-old male Vizsla, was milling around me and just happened to do a hop and skip as I reached down. The result was a bone to bone encounter of the extremely painful kind - at least for me! He got me right by the upper corner of my L eye socket.  Most dog owners would probably think it was Hubs who did it but dog owners wrote me to say something similar or worse (like chipped teeth) had happened to them.  Mine is 'only' a bad bruise and will heal without expense in a couple of weeks.

Day 1, not too bad

Day 2 - getting worse

Day 3 - do I dare appear in public w/o sunglasses?

The nose knows

The puppies have great noses and Miss Red, in particular, seems to have an amazing sense of smell. She found a bit of snake skin that one of our gartners snakes had just shed (I had seen the gartner snake slithering around in the garden with its shed skin still partially on).  Anyway, she immediately snapped it up and was just about to swallow it when I managed to wrestle it from the back of her throat.  She didn't want to give it up! Then another puppy found an entire skin in the wood pile where clearly the snakes were hanging out. Later, Miss Red & Mr Turquoise kept sniffing around a large stone slab on our patio and would not leave the spot. Well, our garter snakes hang out there and clearly the puppies could smell one (or more).  The photo shows what the puppies found.

Snake skins from their molt

Week 6 - turning point

I'm an angel!

The devil made me do it!

The start of week 6 is bringing lots of changes in the puppies' development. In fact, it's a turning point. They are turning into hellions on paws!!!

They are now climbing big time. Today Black tried to scale the ex-pen. Yesterday Black & Miss Yellow escaped over a barrier when I was trying to feed other pups. This morning I found all 6 puppies on the other side of a baby gate - where they were NOT supposed to be.  How in the heck did they do that?  Blue is mounting other puppies; he climbed into a container where we keep newspapers and was having a go at shredding them. Miss Red tries to take on the big dogs and she athletically scales a barrier that is supposed to keep her and the puppies out of the family room when we're not there.  Green and Turquoise just follow suit, shredding newspaper when they can get it and screaming their heads off when I bring them their meals.  Aaarrrhhhh!  I am so glad Miska didn't have a litter of 10 puppies! I would be insane by now.

Pool 'party'

On July 11, the pups had their first experience with our wading pool which surprisingly had sprung no major leaks since it was last used 3 years ago for Miska's previous litter.  For their first time in, I just added about 1 inch of water so they could feel water on all their feet. They were curious about the pool but not terribly impressed with the experience of getting their paws wet.  Things will change!

Hmmmm I haven't seen this before.

Should we join you?

Nope, don't like it.

Looks inviting?

Yuck - wet paws!

Not sure about this.

Mr Black is considering it or else he's inspecting the octopus.

Fun with a box

Puppies love to play with a box.

And a box is a great way to learn how to shape behaviour using a clicker.  Here's a link to Karen Pryor's 101 Things To Do With a Box.  You can't screw up a dog's formal training by shaping them with a box so that's one reason to use a box; plus it's fun to see what behaviours you get from your dog, and thirdly, it's a great way to learn how to use a clicker.  The hardest things for me to do when I learned how to properly shape canine behavious was to:

1. Keep my mouth shut and not say a word.
2. Keep my body still.
3. Not try to help my dog.

As Karen points out, "Don't call the dog, don't pat the box, don't chat, don't encourage the dog, and don't "help" him."  You have to let the dog figure out what you want but you first have to decide what behaviour you want to get from your dog, time the click at just the right moments and treat quickly. When teaching a dog a new behaviour or shaping a new behaviour, you must deliver a lot of rewards at first and to do that, you have to be vigilant about what behaviours they are offering and deliver the treats at the appropriate times.  Like anything, practice makes perfect and I'm talking about the human here, not the dog.