Snuggle Time For Us

I made this bed for the pups last week.  Sewed it all by myself!

I think Tibby approves.  Isn't she the prettiest dog?  I'm not sure if it's her cute little nose or the way her marking are shaped, but she is cute!

"Yawn!"

"Sniff, sniff, pee-you!"

Dhali with Tibby's nose in his mouth.  He does this a lot.

And she does this a lot.  Lick, lick, lick.

Lovies.  They are so jealous of each other.  If Dhali is sitting on my lap, which he likes to do all the time.  Tibby will look at him, sit and wait.  Then if he doesn't get down, she will go pick up a toy or bully stick and of course, Dhali will jump down to take it away from her.  Only Dhali is allowed to have toys or bully sticks - apparently!  Then she jumps up into my lap and snuggles in like a rock.  No one is moving her!  Then Dhali sits and barks at her.  Then, eventually, I have 2 dogs in my lap and finally the cat will come and sit on top of the whole pile.  I feel loved - LOL!

Wake UP!

Good Morning, Tibby.

"grumble, grumble"

Good Morning, Dhali.

"GOOD MORNING!!!"

"Wakey, wakey,wakey!"

"Get up!  Get up! Get up!"

"Ugh, that's how you ignore a little brother."

"Now go away."

Lazy Deck

The deck is a very popular hang out spot.  And the deck bed is the spot to have.  Notice Dhali has the bed.  Doesn't look like he's going to share either.

These first 2 pictures are from last Sunday.  

This one is from the week before that.

And this one is from the 12th!  So behind on picture posting!

Dhali was enjoying a frozen pupsicle on the deck.  Now that it's so much colder he isn't as interested in pupsicles. We'll have to wait until next summer, I guess.

Sleep Less, Play More

"Sleep Less, Play More"  Dhali's motto at the moment.

Last night was an especially bad night.  At 2:30am Dhali ended up being moved (crate and all) into the bathroom.  I'm not sure if he's just growing up and testing the rules or what.

I got home from work at 11pm.  My parents had taken care of the pups - they reported that Dhali wasn't interested in running around outside.  He just laid in the grass.

So I get home and they go outside.  Dhali runs around the yard - big loops and checks out all his outside toys that I had moved off the grass.  We go inside and do a clicker session and then play some.  Back outside.  Inside and he plays with Tibby while I empty the dishwasher.  I work on calling him out of play from Tibby while I'm tidying the kitchen.  He comes flying to me 100% of the time.  Really good job recalling.  They were playing rough and chasing around into the bedroom and back to the kitchen.  But he came to me every single time!  Yay!

Ok then back outside for another potty time.  

Quiet time with a bully stick.

Time for bed.

Lights out and the barking begins.  Bark,bark,bark. After 20mins, at 1am, I take him out for another potty break.  Maybe he needs to go?  Nope.  Just wants to lay in the grass.  Ok.....back to bed.  

At 2am I took him out for another potty break.  He goes pee.  Ok good!  He'll sleep now, right?  

Nope.

bark,bark,bark,bark,bark

2:30am  - off to the bathroom with Dhali.  With 2 closed doors between us Tibby and I get to sleep.  Dhali is quiet (must be sleeping) until I wake him up at 7:30am.

I take both pups out to potty and Dhali just wants to lay in the dog bed outside.  He's tired!  He goes potty and then into the x-pen.  Tibby and I fall asleep again until 9:30am.  Then both pups go outside for another potty break.

From 9:30 until 1pm Dhali did NOT stop moving.  He destroyed several cardboard boxes and played with a bunch of toys.  We did some clicker training and played.

Now he is passed out and asleep.  He has been so much quieter today.  Maybe yesterday was just a barky day.

Too Cute For

I have had a bad cold since Sunday. It should be against the law to be sick AND have a puppy! And I hardly ever get sick! I haven't been able to do much running around with Dhali, but I have had him playing with the flirt pole. He LOVES it so, so much. He's crazy for it. Even more than Ellie was. He's very fast too - for 11 weeks. Of course, his judgement isn't always quite right and he ends up head over tail when he tries to grab the lure :P>

I think Tibby is jealous of Dhali, when I play with him, but she doesn't know what to do about it. So I'll be sitting playing tug with Dhali and after a few minutes Tibby will slip under my arms and end up sprawled across my lap. Dhali keeps on playing and running crazy for the toy, so I guess it's OK. Tibby isn't interested in the toy or playing at all, she just wants to sit and get a cuddle. I wish they could talk :)>

Last week, before I got sick, I was running with Dhali and he bit me several times. Once was on the arm and MAN! it left a mark. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it turned purple, green and black. I can still see it and it's almost a week later! He has really sharp teeth.>

You will see that Dhali has a nice soft bed to sleep in. As long as he doesn't want to rip it up - he gets to keep it! Very cute to see him all curled up in it. Although, if he keeps growing at this rate he won't fit for very long! I measured him and he is about 12 inches tall at the withers. About, because he didn't really like the idea of standing still for me. Tibby is just under 16 inches, so he is really catching up on her! I knew he was getting taller!>

It's hard for me to know how to divide up his day. I want him to understand that he can and should relax when he is in the crate/x-pen, but I don't want him to spend a huge amount of time in there. So I bring him out for play with me, training/feeding and play with Tibby. In between those sessions he goes back into the x-pen. He did NOT want to settle tonight. Very loooong evening. I know he's getting enough exercise, but he can't be free all the time. For one thing he annoys Tibby and then she plays to rough with him. I don't want him to get hurt! How much time do your puppies spend playing with your other dog(s)?

Busy Day, Tired Pup

Dhali is very tired tonight.  This evening we went over to my parent's house - both TTs + me.  Dhali took a nap in his crate while we ate dinner.  Man, I love a crate trained dog!  It's amazing!  Then we (my Mom, me and Dhali) went to visit Zoe's Mom, Zoe and a few other family members.  Dhali explored a new house/people/backyard.  Zoe LOVED Dhali.  They played and played and played, until they were both laying on the grass totally exhausted.  :)  Zoe is just slightly larger than Dhali, so the perfect size (for now).  He's growing so fast :(  I wish he could stay this size forever!

He pottied in their yard without a problem.  Still hasn't had an accident yet!

After Dhali was completely tired out we stopped at my Grandma's house and she got to meet Dhali for the first time.  He was tired and very well behaved ;)

Then we went back to my parent's house and Tibby was SO HAPPY to see us LOL! 

I'm trying very hard to make sure they get to go to places separately.  I think that it's important.

Right now we are having a big thunderstorm.  I finally remembered to get Tibby's thundershirt out for her.  She calmed down after I put it on her.  She even offered some behaviors to get a piece of my banana.  Then she went to bed.  funny girl.  I wonder if she would like to wear the Thundershirt all the time?  Or would that ruin it's effect?

Good Morning

"Good morning.  Night shift's rough, huh?  Don't worry....I made the bed."

"Yup it's nice and comfy now."

"Your welcome...zzzzzzzz"

When You're Not Watching

Tibby wakes me up every morning and asks to go outside.  Then she runs ahead of me and steals my place in the bed!  I don't mind, but I wish she wouldn't put her feet on my pillow!

"What?  You don't like this?"

"How's this?  Better?"

Also, beware the quiet kitchen.  I thought Tibby was being unusually quiet and I found that she had been using her long tongue to sample some frosting.  My fault for putting it so close to the edge.  I had a laugh about that.  I like it when she's naughty!  She's just naughty enough, but she could be a little naughtier if she wanted to.  The things she thinks of.....she's so cute and funny!

Good Little Fluffer

We had a very good walk day!  I thought Tibby would pick this up fairly quickly.

We saw a delivery man getting things out of his truck and were able to pass by him (about 6 feet away) with zero reaction from Tibby.  She saw him - he said 'Hi' to us, but she was too busy heeling and working for cheese.

We saw a few cars - I stop and have Tibby sit and eat cheese while they go past, to eliminate the lunging for cars.  Very successful.

We saw a man using a wheelchair lift to put an elderly person into a van (about 20 feet away) Tibby had a level one/two reaction.  Stiff body language, tail dropped, staring hard at the man.  She stared hard at him for about 2 seconds, ignored me when I called her once, but responded when I started to move away from her and called her again.  She looked back once and then kept walking with me.

I read this post today Flying Dog Press and I think it made a difference in my attitude and our success.

I paid attention to Tibby instead of scanning the world for possible threats.  I talked to her and told her she was doing great.  And she was!  She heeled for 90% of the walk.  Once she checked out to pee, once to poop and once to sniff some bird poop.

I don't ask her to heel, but she seems to think that will get her the cheese faster. 

For day 2 I think she is doing great :)