Fetching for a Break

Well it has been a longer Summer and yes, Ilse and I are still here and doing well.  I apologize for not posting more often.

I wanted to have a good post today about Ilse going to vote today in the KW By-Election, however, you're not allowed to take any photos inside the voting stations.   So, we went together and she was very well behaved.  I even had her sit and stay in the room with volunteers all around, as I walked away to cast my ballot.  I didn't want her to know who I was voting for after all.

This afternoon, I was sitting at my desk (I work from home) and was finding myself getting a bit stir crazy.   I decided and Ilse agreed that it was a good time to play some fetch in the back yard.  In the process we even found her lost Kong toy, so it was a win-win-win!

Here are some of the photos I snapped as Ilse would run back to me.

Nothing New

Well, not a whole lot has changed over here.  We go for walks and we play and we go out in public.

Last night I went for Mexican with a few friends in Cambridge.  While at the restaurant there was 2 young boys that were quite interested in Ilse (their parents ran the place).  So, they were constantly around and want to pet and interact with her.  What was good, was that Ilse did very well ignoring them and keeping focussed on me.  Despite missing out on conversation with friends, because I was watching these kids, it was a very good experience for Ilse and she did very well.

Oh, so I guess I lied, there is some new things going on.  A few nights ago, I purchased a new crate for Ilse, since she has grown into the one I had borrowed from EW.  She was a bit hesitant to it at first and whined a bit the first night, but I think she likes it now, and will go in there and sleep throughout the day.

Overall, things are good.   Here are some pictures! 

Which Way the Wind Blows

In my backyard there were a few things left here and there by the previous homeowners.  Ilse has been kind enough to find the majority of these things for me.  It seemed each time I let her out there for some free play time, she would rummage up something new.   However, in the last few weeks this has died down and I think she had collected all there was to be found.  As she collected it I placed it in this storage bench, so that she could not get at it. (these pictures were not taken in order, but rather taken and adjusted to better tell the story).

However, over the last few nights it had been windy, which resulted in this:

Bench lid blown open by the wind. Ilse checking it out.

Which resulted in this:

Oooooh, look at all the goodies in here.

 Which resulted in this:

BUSTED!

  Which resulted in this:

This was how things were in the bench before she went exploring:

Items place back in (after removed) to give context

For those keeping score at home, the only thing she didn't remove from the bench was one tennis ball, which she was in the process of doing when I caught her.

Needless to say the bench is closed up once again, and the so called "toys" are no longer in there.  She didn't seem to happy about my decision.

"Maybe if I look sad and cute, I can have them back."

"But they were fun... :( "

- PK & I

I thought I'd start with a photo.

While to most of you, this doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, it actually is.  This is not my bathtub.  This is my co-worker EW's bathtub.   Why am I bathing Ilse in someone else's home? Well, she didn't get muddy.

You may recall from earlier posts that Ilse and EW's dog Boomer have become pretty good friends, as seen below.

(Ilse is about the same size as Boomer now)

With them being good friends, EW and I decided to have a play date, they could run around, chase one another and have a good time.  I arrived at EW's house and Ilse has already caught on to where we are, so she gets pretty excited and takes some effort to calm her down.  Once she is calm and settled, we allowed the two to go in the backyard and play.  All was going great running here, running there, plenty of excitement!  Then Boomer decides he has to take care of some "business".  He finds a spot and tries to go start "filing his paperwork" when Ilse comes over and starts pestering him a bit.  Boomer stops, plays a bit more, then remembers, "This report is due, I need to do this now".  

Seeing that Ilse won't leave him alone, I call her over to me, and she comes more/less right away.  Boomer finishes up, and we let the two at it again.  After a little while longer, Boomer decides it's time to take a pee and Ilse seems not too interested, so we decided not to worry about it.  However, once Boomer had lifted his leg, Ilse appeared to be thinking "Ohhh, that seems interesting!"  and headed on over.  At which point she crawled under his stomach and placed her head right into his stream of pee.   

She can be quite the puppy at times!  This didn't seem to bother her at all and she just walked on over to the door and looked at us like, "Why are you guys looking at me so funny?", meanwhile you can clearly where Boomer had marked his territory.   But hey, if their friendship can get through that, I think they will be alright!

(is it over yet?)

(she doesn't seem to mind TOO much)

(we don't like to be watched)

Then of course we had to have some fun with her being all wrapped up in a blanket!

(Yay! All clean!)

If you want any additional information on NSD click here and on the word if you are interested in donating or volunteering.

- P&I

Puppy's First "Real" Snow

Well winter has finally shown its big ugly head here in Waterloo.  I know myself and many others were enjoying the mild weather this far into December, we all knew it couldn't last forever.  This morning Ilse and I went for our walk in the -8°C (-18°C with wind) weather.   She didn't seem to mind, but I didn't particularly enjoy it.
Later on I decided that we should play in the back yard.  Here are some photos from that:

She was having a really good time playing with her kong so I decided to take a video of her.  Of course I had to add corny music to it.  Otherwise it wouldn't be nearly as adorable.

Overall, Ilse and I are doing well and are making progress in a lot of areas.  I will have more pictures from over the holidays and stories up soon.

First Trip Out

First off, it has been too long since my last post.  With it being the Christmas season, I'm sure you all know how busy things get.  

Anyways, last-last Friday (Dec. 16th) Ilse and I travelled to the wondrous Staples in Waterloo.  Two co-workers and I had to pick up some office supplies for the end of the work year, so we figured it would be a good opportunity to try our hand (and paws) at going out in public.  

I was pretty anxious about the outing and thought that it would be a disaster.  But, once again Ilse surprised me for the better.  She was very well behaved after the initial excitement wore down.  I was able to get her to settle down and listen and we worked on sitting/laying down and she did quite well.  

These were taken at Staples by my co-worker/friend EW.

Since then, we have been to several other places.  Mini-marts, the bank and Sobeys.  Each time she has performed well and draws a crowd.   It's definitely tough having people want to see her and play with her and having to let them know "yes you can, but you need to wait til she is ready".  Many people just want to pet her right away.  But with each outing she is getting better.

On one outing at Sobeys with my brother and Ilse, we both came to the realization that in public she likes to "show off"  meaning that she will behave better out then at home.  (this is not to say she is bad at home, she's good there too, just better when out with her jacket)

Happy 10th Week!

Well yesterday Ilse hit the 10 week old mark and well, looking back at how she used to be, she has improved heaps!

She is now consistently sitting on command, and we are working on down still.  As well she is walking very well with me, but still gets excited when seeing new people or other animals.  What I am really happy with, is that she will now sit and wait until I say 'ok' before getting her food.   We are also working on sitting at the door and only leaving when I say "forward"  and she is starting to get the concept.

I think she is more/less house broken now, I can't remember when her last accident was, so that's always a good thing.

However, I did see that she has started being more "whiny"  when it comes to be bedtime.  I know she's not hungry or thirsty.  I let her out before bed and she is getting walked 3 times a day, plus playtime, so I know she is tired.   The only thing I can think that might be disturbing her, is people coming in/out of the front door.   Either that or she is just getting very attached to being with me, in which case I will need to work on spending time apart from her.

All in all though, despite being very frustrated at times, and exhausted from getting up in the middle of the night to let her out.   She is coming along nicely and I am very proud of her progress.  

Making Friends

Well it's been a busy week with work, the house, and uh... what was that other thing?  OH RIGHT.  Ilse.   I guess I should start this post of with a moderately embarrassing correction.  Before I mentioned Ilse's name was pronounced "Ill-see", well in reality it is pronounced "Ill-sah".  My apologies to the sponsor of the puppy, we have made the switch and she is getting used to it now.  So, without further ado.... everyone meet, Ilse ("Ill-sah").  Haha.

"What do you mean, we can't play right now?"

This is what kills me about Ilse, her eyes always look like she is sad, despite being a pretty happy puppy.   It's hard to not give in to whatever she wants.  But I must stay strong! 

She is making excellent progress (in my opinion) in terms of training.   She will sit on command 100% of the time when focussed and slightly less so when moderately focussed.  However, we do still need to get her working on the focussing part.  But... we'll get there in time.   My goal is to have her responding to the 'down' command by Monday, so that is on tonight's agenda and this weekend.

Aside from training, she is just being the usual puppy and wants to make friends with anyone and everyone.  One of the good friends that she has made is my friend EW's 3.5 year old beagle named Boomer.   The two have played together a few times now, and they get along really well.  Boomer is very patient with Ilse and will play along, but keep her in check.  They are a lot of fun to watch when they are playing and here are some photos of it, courtesy of EW.

First Puppy Class and Puppy Sitting

Well this last weekend was quite hectic.  Working a part-time job on weekends to make some extra cash before the holidays left Ilse in the capable hands of some people.  On Friday night, Ilse was watched by my roommate KL, who left and then had her happily in her crate for when I arrived home later that night.  Of course, once I got home I wanted to see the little ball of fur, and she was pretty sleepy and I didn't get much out of her.  So, she went outside, then came and sleep at my feet as I watched TV.

On Saturday evening, my full time employer was hosting out annual Christmas party at the luxurious Langdon Hall in Cambridge, and event I did not want to miss.   So, my sister JK and her fiancée JB, took her in for the evening and she behaved pretty well.  (for a puppy).   I was really worried about handing her off for the night, its one thing for me to suffer through the whining and getting up at 4am, after all, I was the one that signed up for it, but to have someone else do it just seems unfair.   But as I was saying she was relatively well behaved, which was a relief, now the potential for my sister to watch her again still exists.  But then again who wouldn't want to spend time with this face? Here are some photos of their time together.  

Then tonight I had my first puppy class.   Unfortunately Ilse and I have not worked on "focus" enough yet, so she was a bit distracted by the other dogs in the class.  However, I did pick up some good info and will work with her on this and "down" over the week to come.  Oh, and on Friday night Ilse started to grasp the concept of "sit"  she still needs work on focusing on commands, however, when she is focussed she nails it!  I'm pretty proud of her, she learning quickly and putting pressure on me to keep up with her.

Balance of Work & Play

Well, my first full day with Ilse is done and all I have to say is. WOW. I mean that in both the good and the "not-so-good" sense of the word. Don't get me wrong, I can already say I love this dog! I just wish she would stop trying to eat the carpet... For the most part I think she learned this by accident. See, she hasn't really figured out where her paws are relative to her body, or her mouth for that fact. So, when she was playing with her bone, she began biting the carpet and developed a taste for it. Needless to say, when I see her doing this, I put the bone in her mouth and coerce her to chew that instead.

Also, working from home and having the puppy has proven a bit difficult, in the fact that I want to spend all my time with Ilse. It has proven (in 1 day) that it is a difficult balance, which will likely have me working a longer day to make up for lost time. In order to help me combat this. I created a flow chart last night.

Feel free to use this chart free-of-charge. For a more 'customized' chart simply, replace "puppy" with your dogs name. Note: this also applies to free-range children, although is not fully endorsed.

But despite her carpet fetish, I think she made a lot of progress yesterday. She is now pretty confident going up stairs, and significantly less anxious about going down them. She will still whine and complain while going down, but she gets there!

Tonight my friend RB will be coming for a visit with her pup Maeby (she's named after an Arrested Development character). Hopefully, Maeby and Ilse get along well, and then they both will have a new playmate! Pictures will follow.

Lastly, since I am new to this whole 'blogging' thing, if you have any feedback/comments for me, please let me know.

-PK & I