Yesterday I needed to pick up Mackenzie's framed RN certificate with her ribbons and pictures of me and her with the judges at Hobby Lobby. Audrey needed a few treats and I had a $10 coupon for PetSmart so I decided to wait until Mom came home so we could do both errands. I definitely wanted to take Audrey because obviously she needs it. And secretly because I enjoy the comments I get when I walk her. :)
So off we went and lo and behold, Audrey was an Outgoing Friendly Puppy. She was pulling to meet people in the parking lot, and once inside the door steered us straight toward the registers where one of her favorite people was standing (my pal Marianne). She was wary of sudden movements from the young children she met (but allowed them to pet her), and was still slow to greet people when they reached out towards her and over her head. But the highlights were when a few of my friends asked to greet her, they knelt down or allowed her to approach first and she was perfectly calm and accepted petting and high-pitched greetings. She took treats from people, sat when I asked her to, she would down, AND she would Heel. She even got to play with the fattest Cocker Spaniel ever.
Mom was super impressed and said it "made my heart burst with pride to see her act like that" (in those exact words). We've made some incredible progress I think. Although Mom thinks it was because she was with me and Audrey felt more secure with both of us there. Either way it was BY FAR the best she has ever acted out in public and it gives me hope that she will be a normal outgoing friendly puppy in no time.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday
I know I haven't written as often as I should, but don't think that just because Audrey isn't going to be a conformation dog that we haven't been working on her. Every week we still have our socialization adventures. At 6mos old she is an absolute terror in the house, but extremely shy when either people come over, or she meets people/sees people outside of our house, or something new and scary happens. So every week we go on adventures.
As I wrote in a previous post, the scariest place on earth to her was the park we go to on Sprague Rd. Since her first time there I always bring her back with Mackenzie. This park is probably on Mackenzie's Top Ten Fave Parks, so she's always super excited and that has really helped Audrey get over her fears. We've gone almost every week for the past few weeks and the progress is coming slowly. There are several different entrances and playgrounds in the park so we've yet to hang out at all of them.
Note: playgrounds by the skateboard park are NOT a good place to take a fearful dog. Sounds of young boys skateboarding = even bomb-proof Mackenzie flips out a little bit.
Other than that park and PetSmart on a weekly basis, she goes with us for a car ride nearly every night either to the pharmacy, or to pick up food. We also go on walks in the neighborhood where she sees/hears other dogs, cars, people, big black trashbags full of horror, and terrifying wooden Easter Bunny lawn decorations.
Her other adventures include several visitors to our house on a weekly basis. In just this past week we've had my best friend Ashlee and her boyfriend Ben visiting from London, Matt's friends Nelson and Robert, and my friend Marianne all come over at different times. She will alternate between coming up to sniff them, running away terrified, and then coming over to sniff again when no one is looking at her. So we're working on that.
Today however, was an extra special treat. Dad and Mom are off from work because it is Good Friday so Dad invited us to go with him to Lowe's. Being the great outdoorsy place that it is, they allow dogs in the plant section outside. Thanks Lowe's!
Overall she did extremly well. There were a few tough spots; the forklift, the birds cooing scared her (worst bird dog ever!), people pushing the big baskets/wagons full of plants, etc. The great thing was, she recovered very quickly from most of the incidents. When we first went in she would spit out her favorite banana flavored cookies. Once we were in though, in between short bursts of flipping out, she was jumping on me asking for more cookies. Several people commented on how beautiful she was and I had a silly conversation with a husband and wife outside on our way back to the car.
Wife admiring the dog (also wearing white pants so it was my turn to flip out that Audrey was going to jump on her with muddy paws): She is soooo beautiful! ::turns to husband:: Look honey, look at this pretty dog!
Me: She's just a baby. She's only six months old and shy so we're working on that.
Wife: Oh My! Six months! She's a big girl! Cocker Spaniel?
Me: No, she's a Field Spaniel.
::Husband finally turns around:: What's the difference?
Me: Field Spaniels are bigger. They are a medium sized hunting dog.
Husband: A what?
Me: Hunting dog.
Husband: Hunting what?
Me: Birds...
Husband: Is that what you use her for?
Me: No. I'm going to show her in obedience... (at this point I trail off because obviously Rude Husband was done being interested and had already started walking away).
She took cookies from another lady's hand (one of dad's friends) and sniffed her and her husband, and she was interested in sniffing people who came up to her. What she really doesn't like is when people reach over her head to pet her. If they would just open their hand and let her sniff their palm first she would be fine. But somewhere in dog history some idiot decided that dogs needed to pet on the head and everyone and their mother tries to do it like that. For the record ALL my dogs hate that, especially Spencer who is the master of avoiding petting.
But overall Audrey was really great. She was panting and smiling by the end (which is the normal goofy Audrey face) and strutted out of Lowe's like a little champ. Then we went to Burger King to pick up breakfast and she got a hash brown for being a good girl and also go to finish the rest of her bag of treats once we got home.
Luckily I think that since Audrey is young, with enough adventures like these she will be fine. I worked on Mackenzie's severe dog aggression/reactivity for years before she was able to be shown at 5yo. So there's always hope. :)
As I wrote in a previous post, the scariest place on earth to her was the park we go to on Sprague Rd. Since her first time there I always bring her back with Mackenzie. This park is probably on Mackenzie's Top Ten Fave Parks, so she's always super excited and that has really helped Audrey get over her fears. We've gone almost every week for the past few weeks and the progress is coming slowly. There are several different entrances and playgrounds in the park so we've yet to hang out at all of them.
Note: playgrounds by the skateboard park are NOT a good place to take a fearful dog. Sounds of young boys skateboarding = even bomb-proof Mackenzie flips out a little bit.
Other than that park and PetSmart on a weekly basis, she goes with us for a car ride nearly every night either to the pharmacy, or to pick up food. We also go on walks in the neighborhood where she sees/hears other dogs, cars, people, big black trashbags full of horror, and terrifying wooden Easter Bunny lawn decorations.
Her other adventures include several visitors to our house on a weekly basis. In just this past week we've had my best friend Ashlee and her boyfriend Ben visiting from London, Matt's friends Nelson and Robert, and my friend Marianne all come over at different times. She will alternate between coming up to sniff them, running away terrified, and then coming over to sniff again when no one is looking at her. So we're working on that.
Today however, was an extra special treat. Dad and Mom are off from work because it is Good Friday so Dad invited us to go with him to Lowe's. Being the great outdoorsy place that it is, they allow dogs in the plant section outside. Thanks Lowe's!
Overall she did extremly well. There were a few tough spots; the forklift, the birds cooing scared her (worst bird dog ever!), people pushing the big baskets/wagons full of plants, etc. The great thing was, she recovered very quickly from most of the incidents. When we first went in she would spit out her favorite banana flavored cookies. Once we were in though, in between short bursts of flipping out, she was jumping on me asking for more cookies. Several people commented on how beautiful she was and I had a silly conversation with a husband and wife outside on our way back to the car.
Wife admiring the dog (also wearing white pants so it was my turn to flip out that Audrey was going to jump on her with muddy paws): She is soooo beautiful! ::turns to husband:: Look honey, look at this pretty dog!
Me: She's just a baby. She's only six months old and shy so we're working on that.
Wife: Oh My! Six months! She's a big girl! Cocker Spaniel?
Me: No, she's a Field Spaniel.
::Husband finally turns around:: What's the difference?
Me: Field Spaniels are bigger. They are a medium sized hunting dog.
Husband: A what?
Me: Hunting dog.
Husband: Hunting what?
Me: Birds...
Husband: Is that what you use her for?
Me: No. I'm going to show her in obedience... (at this point I trail off because obviously Rude Husband was done being interested and had already started walking away).
She took cookies from another lady's hand (one of dad's friends) and sniffed her and her husband, and she was interested in sniffing people who came up to her. What she really doesn't like is when people reach over her head to pet her. If they would just open their hand and let her sniff their palm first she would be fine. But somewhere in dog history some idiot decided that dogs needed to pet on the head and everyone and their mother tries to do it like that. For the record ALL my dogs hate that, especially Spencer who is the master of avoiding petting.
But overall Audrey was really great. She was panting and smiling by the end (which is the normal goofy Audrey face) and strutted out of Lowe's like a little champ. Then we went to Burger King to pick up breakfast and she got a hash brown for being a good girl and also go to finish the rest of her bag of treats once we got home.
Luckily I think that since Audrey is young, with enough adventures like these she will be fine. I worked on Mackenzie's severe dog aggression/reactivity for years before she was able to be shown at 5yo. So there's always hope. :)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A New Journey
As previously mentioned Audrey was diagnosed with Demodex (demodicosis, demodectic mange, puppy mange). In doing my research and talking to the vet it is clear that this diagnosis puts an end to Audrey's conformation/breeding career. Predisposition to demodicosis is considered hereditary and should not be passed on. While the demodex mites themselves are not considered hereditary, it is believed that dogs with demodectic mange should not be bred.
At the beginning of her hairloss (right around the belly, inner leg area), I put off taking her to the Vet to see if her hairloss resolved itself or not. After it continued to spread I knew she needed to be put on medication.
Mackenzie was diagnosed with Demodex when she was 3.5yrs old which is a much bigger red flag. It was right after we adopted April from the shelter (stress), Mackenzie had just gotten vacc'd at a new vet (more stress) AND she ended up getting kennel cough from April anyway (stress + suppressed immune system = mange) . We took it very seriously and she was dipped in Mitaban every week for 8wks or so (cost close to $500 total) and had her skin scraped 4 times. Incidentally she was also at her highest weight of 11.8lbs (omg!!!)
Audrey will be on oral Ivermectin for approximately 60 days. So far she doesn't look any better, but they say it gets worse before it gets better.
After discussing these details with Audrey's breeder it has been decided that she will be spayed as soon as we feel comfortable (once she is clear of the mange) I'm thinking some time around her 1st birthday in the Fall. Our contract will change from Show Prospect to a Performance/Pet contract. As previously decided, in addition to Conformation I was planning on showing her in Obedience and Rally and any other dog sport we could possibly get our hands and paws on.
Thus now we truly begin our journey. Our road has changed a bit, but we are just as excited to get started. Instead of her rolled leather collar to prevent the collar "dent" we have officially switched to a martingale training collar. We will begin her formal obedience training as soon as possible. Although she knows the basics (Sit, Down, Stand, Stay, Watch, a loose Heel) we had been mainly focusing on stacking, stand/stay, and socialization. Now we can really start working on Obedience/Rally. The goal is Mackenzie in Rally Advanced A and Audrey in Rally Novice B at the Corpus Christi show in August.
So Audrey will not be my first Conformation dog and I won't have a Champion show dog at the age of 25. But I do have the most beautiful, affectionate, wonderful puppy I could have ever asked for.
She is mine forever and we will travel whatever journey is put in front of us, together.
At the beginning of her hairloss (right around the belly, inner leg area), I put off taking her to the Vet to see if her hairloss resolved itself or not. After it continued to spread I knew she needed to be put on medication.
Mackenzie was diagnosed with Demodex when she was 3.5yrs old which is a much bigger red flag. It was right after we adopted April from the shelter (stress), Mackenzie had just gotten vacc'd at a new vet (more stress) AND she ended up getting kennel cough from April anyway (stress + suppressed immune system = mange) . We took it very seriously and she was dipped in Mitaban every week for 8wks or so (cost close to $500 total) and had her skin scraped 4 times. Incidentally she was also at her highest weight of 11.8lbs (omg!!!)
Audrey will be on oral Ivermectin for approximately 60 days. So far she doesn't look any better, but they say it gets worse before it gets better.
After discussing these details with Audrey's breeder it has been decided that she will be spayed as soon as we feel comfortable (once she is clear of the mange) I'm thinking some time around her 1st birthday in the Fall. Our contract will change from Show Prospect to a Performance/Pet contract. As previously decided, in addition to Conformation I was planning on showing her in Obedience and Rally and any other dog sport we could possibly get our hands and paws on.
Thus now we truly begin our journey. Our road has changed a bit, but we are just as excited to get started. Instead of her rolled leather collar to prevent the collar "dent" we have officially switched to a martingale training collar. We will begin her formal obedience training as soon as possible. Although she knows the basics (Sit, Down, Stand, Stay, Watch, a loose Heel) we had been mainly focusing on stacking, stand/stay, and socialization. Now we can really start working on Obedience/Rally. The goal is Mackenzie in Rally Advanced A and Audrey in Rally Novice B at the Corpus Christi show in August.
So Audrey will not be my first Conformation dog and I won't have a Champion show dog at the age of 25. But I do have the most beautiful, affectionate, wonderful puppy I could have ever asked for.
She is mine forever and we will travel whatever journey is put in front of us, together.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Vet x 2
Unfortunately Audrey was diagnosed with Demodectic Mange (Demodex, puppy mange) today. She will be on oral Ivermectin for the next 60 days. Her hair should grow back within the next few months.
Mackenzie accompanied us to the Vet because her bum was bleeding and as it turns out she has an anal gland abscess and got a shot of antibiotics. :(
Mackenzie accompanied us to the Vet because her bum was bleeding and as it turns out she has an anal gland abscess and got a shot of antibiotics. :(
Monday, March 2, 2009
Rally Novice Title!
I wrote earlier this year that I wanted to finish Mackenzie's RN title with at least one placement. We did it!
At the San Antonio Dog Training Club Obedience/Rally trial in Kerrville, Tx we got a Perfect Score of 100 on Saturday and First Place and a score of 99 on Sunday and another First Place!!! So Mackenzie is now officially:
JC's The Weiner Takes All, RN
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Fear Period
Claire (1yo, female, Field Spaniel) who belongs to Audrey's breeder Gayle, has been coming to class with me to try and work on her fear issues and has been making very good and steady progress in just the few times we've worked with her. That being said, I was hoping Audrey would be a magical puppy that never went through a fear period at all, much less several different ones throughout her first year.
So yesterday we went over to Central Office (Dad's office which is full of dozens of people, slick floors, random boxes, janitors, tables, Dad's fish tank, etc.) She was super shy about meeting people when they started squealing about how gorgeous she is and walking towards her with their hands out, but once they either squatted down or ignored her for a second she was much more willing to come up and be pet (or allow me to pick her up and get pet - which I won't be able to do for much longer as she's getting quite heavy).
We went around the office and got several weird questions such as "Is this the mother or the father of that little puppy that ya'll brought a few weeks ago?" To which Dad and I looked at each other and Dad said "Uh, this IS that puppy... she just got bigger."
And I said several: "No, she's still not a Cocker Spaniel. Yes, her paws are big, she'll be at least 40-50lbs. No, she's not related to the Basset Hound. Yes, she is related to the winner of Westminster (Sussex Spaniel). No, she's not an outside dog just because she's "big".
Then Dad had a meeting so we hung around for a little while and she ate some cookies and practiced some sit and stand/stay. Then we had a few more minutes until everyone got home from work so I figured as a treat for being such a good girl we would go to the park. Bad idea.
The park was the first time I've ever seen her really flip out (not counting when I dropped the box of Milkbones on her). As I was getting her out of the car at the park, I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should keep her car harness on her just in case she flipped out because I figured she could probably slip out of her leather collar. That was the only good idea of that entire outing.
We first had to walk on gravel in the little kid's playground and that freaked her out but she quickly got over it. Then as we were walking to the playground, a Mom was wheeling her son in one of those bright red plastic car-shaped strollers. The stroller itself wasn't scary but it happened to be wheeling on the sidewalk which was covered in pieces of gravel from the playground so it was making double the amount of noise. At this point Audrey was literally darting all over the place and running from side to side trying to get away (thank goodness for the harness). She was pulling me so hard to leave that she actually left nail scratch marks in the sidewalk.
After a few seconds they stopped wheeling the stroller and she calmed down a tiny bit. At this point though she was completely covered in stress-related dandruff (which I first discovered exists a few years ago when Mackenzie was young), panting, and her legs were shaking. We sat at a park bench and a nice woman came over and chatted with us for a while. I told her we were here for socializing and she invited her son to come over and pet Audrey. She was very nice and told her son to approach slowly and allow Audrey to sniff his hand before petting her. All of this she was 100% fine with. I'm convinced it was the sounds of the park and not the actual kids or people that freaked her out.
We sat at the bench for a while and then moved to sitting on the grass in front of the biggest playground area (huge plastic slides, gravel, swings, the stroller and about 12 kids and assorted adults) to watch the action. She calmed down a bit and a little girl came up and pet her for several minutes (again she was totally fine).
Finally we got up and she pulled me like hell back towards the car.
So we're dealing with a fear period. Hopefully it will pass soon enough with some consistent training and weekly outings and we will be able to go to the park again with Mackenzie or one of the other two and she will see that it is their favorite place in the world and there's nothing to be scared of. Hopefully.
Speaking of Mackenzie, she and I are entered in an Obedience and Rally trial in Kerrville, Tx in two weeks! I'm pretty giddy about it.
So yesterday we went over to Central Office (Dad's office which is full of dozens of people, slick floors, random boxes, janitors, tables, Dad's fish tank, etc.) She was super shy about meeting people when they started squealing about how gorgeous she is and walking towards her with their hands out, but once they either squatted down or ignored her for a second she was much more willing to come up and be pet (or allow me to pick her up and get pet - which I won't be able to do for much longer as she's getting quite heavy).
We went around the office and got several weird questions such as "Is this the mother or the father of that little puppy that ya'll brought a few weeks ago?" To which Dad and I looked at each other and Dad said "Uh, this IS that puppy... she just got bigger."
And I said several: "No, she's still not a Cocker Spaniel. Yes, her paws are big, she'll be at least 40-50lbs. No, she's not related to the Basset Hound. Yes, she is related to the winner of Westminster (Sussex Spaniel). No, she's not an outside dog just because she's "big".
Then Dad had a meeting so we hung around for a little while and she ate some cookies and practiced some sit and stand/stay. Then we had a few more minutes until everyone got home from work so I figured as a treat for being such a good girl we would go to the park. Bad idea.
The park was the first time I've ever seen her really flip out (not counting when I dropped the box of Milkbones on her). As I was getting her out of the car at the park, I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should keep her car harness on her just in case she flipped out because I figured she could probably slip out of her leather collar. That was the only good idea of that entire outing.
We first had to walk on gravel in the little kid's playground and that freaked her out but she quickly got over it. Then as we were walking to the playground, a Mom was wheeling her son in one of those bright red plastic car-shaped strollers. The stroller itself wasn't scary but it happened to be wheeling on the sidewalk which was covered in pieces of gravel from the playground so it was making double the amount of noise. At this point Audrey was literally darting all over the place and running from side to side trying to get away (thank goodness for the harness). She was pulling me so hard to leave that she actually left nail scratch marks in the sidewalk.
After a few seconds they stopped wheeling the stroller and she calmed down a tiny bit. At this point though she was completely covered in stress-related dandruff (which I first discovered exists a few years ago when Mackenzie was young), panting, and her legs were shaking. We sat at a park bench and a nice woman came over and chatted with us for a while. I told her we were here for socializing and she invited her son to come over and pet Audrey. She was very nice and told her son to approach slowly and allow Audrey to sniff his hand before petting her. All of this she was 100% fine with. I'm convinced it was the sounds of the park and not the actual kids or people that freaked her out.
We sat at the bench for a while and then moved to sitting on the grass in front of the biggest playground area (huge plastic slides, gravel, swings, the stroller and about 12 kids and assorted adults) to watch the action. She calmed down a bit and a little girl came up and pet her for several minutes (again she was totally fine).
Finally we got up and she pulled me like hell back towards the car.
So we're dealing with a fear period. Hopefully it will pass soon enough with some consistent training and weekly outings and we will be able to go to the park again with Mackenzie or one of the other two and she will see that it is their favorite place in the world and there's nothing to be scared of. Hopefully.
Speaking of Mackenzie, she and I are entered in an Obedience and Rally trial in Kerrville, Tx in two weeks! I'm pretty giddy about it.
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