So the funniest thing that happened all day...Penny squished herself in Lola's crate. B/c the crate in the bedroom is still too big, I took the "roof" off of the little plastic crate. This is the perfect size for her b/c she can stand up & lay down very comfortably but I've blocked off all of the extra room so she can't pee in it.

Apparently Penny misses her crate b/c this is how Scotty found her at bedtime.

Sorry Sweetpea...but you don't fit!

I had a bit of a breakthrough tonight...not only w/ Lola, but w/ myself. I was actually successful free shaping a behavior! This is a big deal to me b/c I've attempted this w/ Penny & just end up frustrated. I have the patience of...well, a puppy! But Lola is a clean slate and I thought I'd really give it a go. I gave myself 15 minutes to free shape Go to Mat. I put a blanket in the middle of the floor in the bedroom & then sat down on the bed. Lola went through her best behaviors...sit, attention & targeting (my hand). This was my warm up. Then I waited. She sat & stared for 20 seconds...then her head turned toward the blanket (C/T). 5 more seconds...head turn (C/T)...body turn (C/T)...walk toward blanket (C/T)...front feet on blanket (C/T), etc. It took 7 minutes before she was running to the blanket w/ all 4 feet in a little puppy sit. Yippee! Success!! Ideally I want her to lay down, but I stopped w/ our victory.

Without even realizing it, I have been gearing my training toward Sue Ailsby's Levels.

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%20Dog1/levels.html

I've referenced her website on more than one occasion and have read & re-read Stich's Blog many times. But I was looking at it this weekend & realized...Lola was just about ready to pass level 1. I need to work more on Down, but we're a nosehair short of passing. Not too shabby @ 15 weeks. We also have a nice start on Level 2.

I'm focusing on this right now so I can get a clear picture of just what I'm trying to teach Lola. Level 2 is the basic behaviors I really feel all dogs should have. Does this mean Sherman & Penny could pass Level 2??? Ha!! Penny could (w/ the exception of Distance...I could have her doing that in a day)...Sherman No. But I think I could get him to pass w/in a week if I worked w/ him every day. Do I see a challenge for myself??? Maybe.

I do think too many behaviors are added between Level 1 & 2. But I didn't make the whole thing up, did I??? Maybe I'll make up my own Level 1.5.

I'm hoping Debby will be my tester. I really want to do this right & have someone "judge" my progress. It's way more fullfilling that way.

Today was the day to recover from the SuperBowl. I'm pretty sure I had every muscle clentched during the entire game b/c I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Lola also had a trip to the vet. I'm lucky that I can walk there so I took the opportunity to practice our LLW. Right now Lola's idea of walking on leash consists of flinging herself out in all directions so she can check out everything in sight. This is fine w/ me as long as the leash doesn't get tight. When she hits the end of the leash, I say "Whoops!" and stop moving. Takes about 3 seconds for her to turn and look at me ("What'd ya stop for??") and then another 10 seconds for her to get frustrated and turn back to me. I then say "Let's go" and we continue walking. A 3 minute walk took us about 15 minutes.

My little girl is now 18 lbs!! I knew it! She's doubled in size since we brought her home. She had her last set of shots and doesn't need to go back till May, when she'll be spayed. I had them trim her nails b/c I haven't gotten up the nerve to do it myself. I've never had to do S&P's nails b/c they get walked everyday & their nails are naturally warn down. So the vet tech restrained Lola while Dr. Nagle chopped her feet off...kidding, of course but that's what you would have thought she was doing by the way Lola was screaming. So now I need to teach little Miss Full of Herself to tolerate being restrained.

SuperBowl Sunday!! WooHoo! We're having a little party for the big game, but before the guests arrive, Lola has her first puppy class @ the WPHS.

When we got there, I noticed there were a lot more puppies there than I expected. And what I was very pleased with...all different kinds of people. Different ages, different races, different sexes...all very good flor Lola's socialization. She did, of course, think they were all there to play with her. We started class by letting the puppies off leash. Lola took off like a bullet. First she ran to the people and wiggled around getting pets...then she realized there were other puppies around! She zeroed in on a yellow lab puppy and decided that would be her playmate for the day. My scared little girl gots some guts in class yesterday and you really would never know she was afraid before. I personally think this has to do w/ how young she was when class started. I guess all puppies are different and 12 weeks was just too early for Lola to start. Apparently 14 weeks is just right.

The pups played for 10 minutes or so and then we rounded them up to start the class. The first thing we worked on was settle. Marsha teaches this differently than AF does. She had us get down on the floor and gently restrain the puppies. The idea is to get the puppy to lay on it's side and run your hand down it's body from head to the tip of the tail. After about 2 minutes, everyone puppy was relaxed and getting lots of love from their owners...except Lola.

**I do NOT want to settle! I want to play with the other puppies! Let me go!!!!**. This protest continued for a while and she finally gave in. I am quite sure this little outburst was due to the fact that she was very overtired. Lola & Penny had played for about 3 hours and Lola took little random naps all morning, but never really got any serious snooze time. I need to remember this for next time.

We did some work on Sit and Attention and this went very well. I had about 80% complaince on both behaviors. Class wrapped up & we headed home to get ready for the big game.

We had about 10 people over for the game & let me tell you...it was stressful. I was sweating the whole time!! But the boys in Black & Gold brought it home!

Thanks for a great Season boys...see ya in September!!

I went to Kuhn's this morning and asked the butcher if they had any marrow bones & "soup meat" in the back. She brought out a tray of really nice marrow bones and asked how many dogs I have. I told her I'd by soup meat by truckload if they had it & she said that chicken is on sale this week so I should call on Friday & they would package me up a boatload. It's the trimmings from the chicken breasts & they'll give it to me for 59cents/lb! They also gave me a package of liver trimmings (which was just small pieces of liver) for 28cents. I love Kuhn's!!

We had our 3rd puppy class at AF today. There were only 1/2 of the puppies there most likely b/c of the Super Bowl. It actually made for a nice size class. Lola definately thought so. There were about 5 puppies total & I suppose that was less intimidating for her. The first play session she only ran to hide under the chair twice. The second one she really got into it & showed very little fear.

We reviewed LLW and did some recalls. Lola is doing pretty well w/ both of those. The new things for the week were Down & Drop it. We haven't done much w/ down and she was not interested in laying down at all. This is something I really need to work on before next week.

Friday night in the Steel City. The Super Bowl is upon us & the whole town in covered in black & gold. Just a little side note...I'm a huge Steeler fan. Not a fair weather fan...a win, lose or draw fan. It all started in college when my roomate, Katie, (during my 5th year at IUP) refused to let us do anything on Sundays but watch football. She was actually pretty good at explaining stuff & HEY...it was 1995. A coincidence? I think not.

I went to a Super Bowl party that year w/ a couple other college friends and I don't need to tell you...we lost. Sad to see grown men crying in their beer. But I was hooked and loved the game ever since.

10 years later and we're back! This town has come alive! Pittsburgh really is a "Town". The greatest "Little" Big City in the USA. I love it here & despite my complaints about the winters...will most likely never leave. And we sure do love our football. From the little old ladies in their sparkly Steelers gear to the big, brawny men in the way-too-big Big Ben jerseys.

When we decided to get another dog, I did a lot of research. I chose the breeder route (for reasons too long to lay out) and started thinking about what puppy we might get. Being the B&G gal that I am...I wanted my Steeler Fever to show in our new puppy! I had it all picked out even before the litter was born!

If we would have decided to get a boy ...his name probably would have been Milo (SteelCity Mile O' Minute) or Bettis (SteelCity BusDriver) ..but we decided on a girl. If she were Fawn, she would have been "Rooney Steel my Heart" (aka Stella) and if she were white..."SteelCity Copacabana" (aka Lola). The little white gal w/ the fawn eyepatch won me over & Lola really is "K&L's SteelCity Copacabana". She's named after my beloved Black & Gold (and the Steelers main man, Myron).

Time to take a deep breath & chant "Let's go Steelers!". It truly is fate that we get "one for the thumb" this year. My favorite big man, #36, is back in his home town. We gotta win!!!!

HERE WE GO.. STEELERS....HERE WE GO!!!!!

I didn't do a whole lot tonight other than try to catch a few pics of the pups in their Steeler gear. After 20 minutes of attempts, I only got two decent ones.

I did switch Lola out of the small plastic crate and into the big wire crate. I was expecting a sleepless night, but she just got in the crate & went to sleep. I guess I need more confidence in her. The crying & screaming during the day has just about finished. I still have a fight getting her in there, but she will clean out a PB bone and I throw a handful of goodies for her to hunt & find. We are making progress!

Lola continues to get bigger (and heavier!). She has a vet appt. this Friday and I'll be anxious to see what she's up to. I'm guessing 18lbs.

She's almost sleeping through the night. The past 3 or 4 nights, I hear her stirring & scratching on the sides & the door of the crate, so I open the crate to let her out & she just stays there. So I shut the door again & then she starts crying. So, last night I decided to just leave her when the scratching starts and she goes till 5:00...then starts to cry. I take her out & when I come back, I feel inside the crate & she's peed in it! She's never peed in her nighttime crate. So I guess I'm expecting too much or need to withhold the water earlier. She had been out at 10:30. We're transitioning into the bigger wire crate tomorrow. She just fits in the plastic crate, but cannot sit up the whole way.

Tonight we worked more on eye contact and targeting and started "down". I haven't really added the cues yet, but will start this week. She's holding eye contact for 8-10 seconds before looking away and targeting at about a foot away. I've only had her target my hand at this point, but will add the target stick (or in our case...wooden spoon) later in the week too.

I've really tightened up the reigns on Sherman this week. Tonight I had him hold a down stay for about 30 minutes while Penny & Lola played. Sherman feels the need to intervine during their play sessions, breaking the whole thing up. He shoots across the room and gets in Penny's face or steals the toy they're playing with. Scott & I have taken a liking to calling him the "Fun Police" (a term I stole from Amy R. of PghDogs). We make siren sounds when he's patroling their play. Lola tries to play w/ him but he just puts her on the ground. Penny now refuses to play w/ him. He'll bring her a toy or try to tug on a toy she has...and she just drops it & walks away. He gets what he deserves. He's really been mean to Penny. He does get play time w/ Scott & I everyday so he's not terribly neglected .

Anyway, Sherman's never really been big on Stay. I've gotten him to the point where he'll Sit Stay w/o distractions, but I've never really tested him on the Down Stay. So tonight he laid at my feet while I was at the computer and observed the girls having a blast. 4 or 5 times he inched up in position to pounce, but settled down with one little "Uh Uh!" I've also made him hold the wait longer at doors and while the girls eat. Sherman finishes his meal in record time & really likes to hover around waiting for Penny to spit out some kibble or Lola to leave her bowl to check out something in the living room. He now has to sit on the rug, about 8 feet away from both of them and wait. Once they are done and leave their bowls, I make him hold the wait for at least 30 seconds and then release him to clean up. It's so easy for me to get lazy w/ his NILIF, but his behavior is so much better when I enforce it.

I had orientation today for our puppy class at WPHS. Marsha is the instructor & I'm so excited for this class to start. I haven't taken any classes from her & have heard great things. We went over lots of stuff & spent a good deal of time talking about nutrition. I thought this was wonderful & is really missing from a lot of classes. We decided to have class next week even though it's Super Bowl Sunday. We'll be done by 3:00...home in plenty of time for kick-off.

Later in the evening I saw Molly outside w/ their Dach/BeagleX, Minnie. I decided this would be a good chance for Lola to meet them so we took both dogs into the back yard & let them run around. I'm realizing that while Penny is very good w/ Lola, she lets her get away w/ entirely too much. Lola was jumping on Minnie's head, biting her ears & legs...all the stuff she does w/ Penny. Penny will put a stop to it after a while, but poor Minnie was visably stressed out. So we kept the meeting short and let Minnie escape the little white Tasmanian Devil.

Mmmm 'kay...remind me again. Why did I want a puppy? For the life of me...I can't remember. I was just thinking back to the lazy Saturday nights I used to have before the "holy terror" entered our house. ~sigh~.

In the last hour that I've been catching up on email and stuff at the computer, I've gotten up 2 dozen times b/c of "the silence". Lola usually stays & plays in the bedroom right where I can see her. And she's done just that for 50 minutes of that hour. She's taken 8 or so toys out of the basket and has been doing a marvelous job of entertaining herself.


(Her imaginary friend that lives under the bed has been playing w/ her too).

But she keeps adding stuff to the toy pile that she retrieves during "the silence"...2 different socks, a big wool sweater from the dry cleaning pile, 1/2 dozen hair bands..mostly w/ gobs of my hair attached, 2 pieces of cellophane from the trash and (my personal favorite)...a pair of my dirty underwear from the laundry. And in between her scavanger hunts, she has taken great joy in racing from one side of the room to the other at warp speed (this is driving Sherman nuts).

But, back to Why again Did I Want a Puppy??? Oh DoG...b/c I laugh everytime I look at her w/ one of those silly things in her mouth. B/c I can't stop smiling when I watch her play...all by herself...w/ a toy twice as big as her. B/c during her rampages around the room, she stops to check in w/ Mom...plop into a sit so I'll pick her up and she smothers me w/ kisses. B/c I've never appreciated Sherman & Penny more. And I'm sad b/c the puppy breath is almost gone.

I have always wished that I could have seen Sherman & Penny as puppies. I get glimpses of what they would have looked like w/ the pups we get at the shelter...but I have no idea where either of them came from or how they were cared for as babies. I'd give anything to make sure their start in life was wonderful...and maybe they wouldn't have the issues they do now. I'll never regret holding Lola at 6 days old and watching her discover everything new. I try so hard not to take that for granted.

And I really do love having this puppy...especially right now when she's snoring like a log on Sherman's dog bed.

Second puppy class...I flew solo today. I need to get a harness for Lola so I can keep her in the back seat. On the way there, she insisted in walking back & forth between my lap & the passenger seat. Not safe. The crate doesn't fit in my car so I'd solved the problem in the past by keeping the dogs in the back, securing Sherman w/ a leash I'd tied in the trunk & slipped through the back seat. I really do need to get a larger vehicle...no car payment on a fuel efficient Civic is just too nice right now though.

Anyway, Lola walked in the building all by herself. She's doing pretty well w/ not pulling on the leash & when she does, I say "whoops!" and stop moving. Took 3 times before she figured out that a tight leash means we stop. Smart puppy. This was of course w/o distractions. Our problem surfaces when she sees people she knows (or kids). She is a people puppy for sure. That I am happy about...it can be used as a reward for good behavior.

We started class by reviewing what we went over last week. I didn't do any work on "settle" and it showed. That's my priority for this week. She's got a great sit & responds to her name 50% of the time. All those puppies are a terrible distraction! We have a very annoying frustration bark thing going on now. This is a problem at home too. Lola wants Sherman to play w/ her so very badly & he just lays there & glares at her. This puppy's got a set of lungs on her. I did some body blocking w/ her and took her outside a few times when she started being vocal.

New things for this week were "come" & "LLW". I do a lot of recall stuff at home and she did pretty well...blowing me off a couple of times for a tail in her face. LLW is fine & she's doing pretty well w/ that. I hope to have 1 dog that walks nicely on leash!

The play session went a little better. She starts under the chair but did come out to play a lot more than last week. When a big group of puppies hit her all at once...back under the chair we go. I try to stay close by so I can intervine if it becomes too much, but let her handle things on her own. On one of our "time-outs", we ran into a young BC mix that was having a private lesson. He was twice as big as Lola and that seemed to be more her liking. She did lots of play-bowing and was really excited to play. She just needs to get some confidence in herself. That will come.

It was 50 degrees & sunny so I took advantage of the day & took 3 walks. Sherman & I had a nice stroll through the neighborhood. All that boy needs is a 1/2 hour on his flexi & a little attention from Mom & he's happy as a clam. Penny & I went up to CA ave. and worked a little. We did lots of heeling w/ distractions. She was in heaven. She was so relaxed that when 2 Besenjis walked past us, she sat down on her own waited for them to pass. Atta girl! I really need to do this more often. A 15 minute walk w/ 1 dog is so much more beneficial than a 1/2 hour walk w/ 2. Lola & I just took a quick stroll down our street. She did really well & was unphased by an ambulance and an old loud car w/o a muffler. We met two young boys that were more than happy to help me train her. She was a wiggling, jumping, outta control puppy and they made her sit & then made a big fuss over her. Good puppy.

I had class from 4-6 (first class w/ dogs). It was a packed house, especially the first class. Saturday should have been called "dog day". I didn't take my bait bag of until 6:30!

What is up with the weather in Western PA??? It was another mild day for January...mid 40s. Last night we had thunderstorms. Thunderstorms!!?? In January?? I've never heard of such a thing. It's supposed to get cold & snow on Wednesday...Lola hasn't had much exposure to snow. This should be fun. For now...the pups are really loving this weather and their outside playtime.

We had another gathering for the AFC championship game.

Pittsburgh's going to the Superbowl!!!

Woo Hoo! What a game! Pittsburgh brought the big guns to Denver and upset the Broncos 34-17!

Everyone was pooped after the big game!

We had our first puppy class today. I actually convinced Scotty to come along to watch. It was held in the new Animal Friends building (which is amazing!) and there were about 10-12 puppies of various breeds and ages. Lola was very unsure of what was going on. I carried her in b/c we haven't done much leash work yet & I don't want any part of her learning to pull on leash. We got ourselves situated and listened to the rules. I was happy to see some friendly faces. Penny & Sherman have taken many classes at AF and Lori & Lilian were both there. Sue, the instructor, participated in the first class Penny ever took, but she was only there one day.

This was my first puppy class ever. All of the other classes I've participated in, either as student or assistant have been teen or adult classes. We started out with the Settle command. Hmmm...very much like Margot Wood's Sit on the Dog. Margot's is for a min of 30 minutes 2x per day though. We broke this down into small time periods. Lola had a very hard time settling. Here she is throwing a temper tantrum:

She was more interested in the other puppies, play bowing and barking at them. But after a while she finally got it and it was time for the first puppy play session.



We let the puppies off leash & the most bizzare thing happened. Lola was petrified. I mean really scared. For most of the time she hit the deck when approached by another puppy or hid under the chair. I got up & walked away from her b/c I didn't want to encourage this fear, but I kept a close eye on her in case it got too much. The other puppies seemed to find her boring & really just left her alone. After 5 minutes or so, we leashed up the puppies and continued w/ class.

The next thing on the agenda was to teach a marker word. I use both the clicker & "yes!" at home. "Yes" seemed to work better in this environment, so we stuck with that. Sue had us work on attention using the puppy's name. I've already done some work w/ her on this at home & she has really done a great job. In the class situation, however, not so good. I had about a 40% success rate in calling her name & her stopping what she was doing and looking at me.

We then started to work on Sit. Lola already knows this very well & we had no trouble w/ this. They teach sit using luring and this was initially how I taught it. Lola has to sit for most everything at home so we get lots of practice.




My homework for the week:
* Attention w/ distractions
* Settle
(*set by AF...they also want us to work on using the marker word & sits, which we already have a good start with)
more work on leash (right now, Lola prefers chewing on it or acts like a fish outta water)
start downs
lots of recalls

So I mentioned a while back that Apache, Annette's dog, was sick & and it was potentially really bad. These are Annette's three dogs, Apache is in the back (Cheyenne lying down in front & Chip hanging out in back).


Well here is the outline (in her own words) of what happened w/ him. He really is a miracle and I'm really, really glad he's better. He's a great dog.

Apache's Christmas Miracle & My Resolution
Annette Sexton

You may have read about my Apache in the summer issueof Pets N People. We've been busy the past fewmonths. Apache did get his obedience title in Octoberin a local obedience trial (see picture). InNovember, I noticed a small lump by his left eye. Iwaited for about a week, then made the first vetvisit. They lanced it, thinking it was an ingrownhair or infection, but while the scab healed, the lumpnever went away. I was starting to stress, & growconcerned, as more appeared along his spine. Vet #2treated as an allergy, but mentioned the possibilityof cancer. Lumps kept spreading, getting bigger, butnot bothering him in the slightest. Everyonesuggested a different vet, and I decided to try onemore. Vet #3 did another exam and a biopsy. He'sonly 5 years old at this point, my best friend, and Ihad to wait 2 weeks for the biopsy results. The results came back right before Christmas (the 20thI believe), and the real drama began. He has a raregenetic anomoly, an auto immune disorder called'Cutaneous Histiocytosis'. Vet #3 made some calls, sodid I, & I began searching the internet on my manysleepless nights. Apparently no vet in the area, orthat I contacted outside the area had ever encounteredor treated this, & I was on my own. The lesions arecalled histiocytes, and can spread, but can also comeand go. They sometimes grow in the throat, nasalpassages, & eyes. The disease/disorder itself doesnot kill, but complications can be many & evenpainful. Conventional treatment starts with highdoses of steriods, if necessary, followed bychemotherapy. I didn't like the risks associated withsteriod use in such elevated doses, so I kept lookingfor information & alternatives. My sister was kindenough to pour through all of her herbal remedy booksto find possible options. Dec. 22nd was terrible, histhird eyelid in both eyes was extended & irritated. He couldn't see, & panicked, so did I. I seriouslyconsidered euthansia &, sobbing, made some calls. Mysister, Thank God for her efforts, gave me an herbaltea remedy to use as an eye wash which eased thediscomfort that night. Another sister ran him back tovet #3 the next day (my work had been extremelypatient & supportive up to this point, but end of yearin a financial position required me to be there), whoprovided the steriods & antibiotic ointment for hiseyes. I didn't follow the recommendations, becauseafter 3 days with the tea eye wash, his eyes hadcleared up. Back to researching. I had foundmultiple websites documenting dogs deaths fromelevated steriod doses... I didn't consider this anoption, & made an appointment with a holistic vet.More phone calls, research, pleas for help, and money,but I had hope. This genetic issue is a hyper allergyresponse triggered by stress, heat (in his caseanyway), & allergies. Apache has had severe allergieshis whole life, & I have the vet bills and tests toprove it. I decided to make some major changes in hisdiet, followed some of my sister's, my internetcontact's, & the holistic vet's recommendations. Apache will no longer get vaccinated, per the vet'srecommendations (refer to critteradvocacy.org for someinformation prior to your next vet's visit). He noweats raw rabbit from a butcher shop (which isdifficult to locate & expensive, if anyone has anyother connections, let me know), yams, baked potatoes,carrots, a premium dry natural dog food called SolidGold, and various natural suppliments. Within a week,he went from 60 histocytes, down to about 20. Currently, he has only 3, including the first one byhis eye. Apache appears to be in remission, but I know he canrelapse, as it's in his genetic make up. I opted notto follow conventional treatment, but I have a greatsupport system in my sister, the internet holisticgroups I've found, and a patient holistic vet who iswilling to work with me. Unfortunately, this means nomore competitions for my dear boy, since my stressruns right down the leash to him. You still have theopportunity to meet my 'genius' dog (biased opinion, Iadmitt, but he does have many many fans). He is stillmy favorite demo dog for my obedience classes, & forany other shelter demostration that my schedule, hishealth & the weather allows me to attend with him. My resolution is to simply enjoy and be grateful forevery day I have with my big, silly, flashy,intelligent boy.

The ExPen idea has been scrapped. I came home at lunch to be greeted by my 3 favorite puppies. Don't know how she did it, but the doors were secure & the opening was hinged. She must have slipped underneath ~sigh~. So, she's back in the crate where she should have started. I'm keeping this to myself to avoid a few "I told you so's...".

As of yesterday, the crate worked fine. At first I thought she had held it the entire time, but came to find she peed on her blanket, rather than the papers. Let's hope we've turned a corner. I've been working w/ her a little every night getting used to the crate. She's still not comfortable chewing when in the crate so we need to work on that too.

So, I've decided to move the ExPen into the living room. I should have done this from the start. Didn't I learn anything from Penny. Lola spends no time in that kitchen when she's home w/ us. It must be like a prision for her. Probably 70% of her "free" time is downstairs w/ her pack. So it only makes sense that she spend the day down there. I put another DAP unit in the living room. In the morning & afternoon, she went in the pen w/o much fuss. There was some crying, but that's OK. It's not like the screaming that she used to do. I put her small crate in there w/ the door removed.

I did come home both times to a mess. She peed twice & pooped once each time. This seems to be the trend. She's still having digestive issues and the pumpkin just isn't doing the trick. Penny has always had a sensitive stomach too. Wonder if it's a Boxer thing? One Boxer trait that's proving true is the gas...it's toxic. I just fed Lola dry food last night & this morning & she seems to be improving.

Poor Penny is just a bundle of nerves. She was so unsettled all day. Lots of pacing and following me around. I took Sherman on a quick walk by himself & then Penny & I went on a nice jaunt together. It was kind of cold, so it wasn't as long as I'd like...I'll make up for it on the weekend. I did some obedience stuff (heeling, automatic sits, fronts) w/ her & by the end of the walk she was much more relaxed. I need to get her back in class. She really needs that hour of one on one time. Sherman does too, but he'd be just as happy w/ a nice walk on his flexi. Penny likes to think & work. Shelley supposedly had a Thursday night class @ 8:00. I should call her & see if it's still on.

I should have named her Houdini...I don't know how she's doing it...but this is the 3rd escape from the ExPen. I was assisting tonight from 7-9 and Scott had a hockey game. I put her in the pen before I left and was greeted at the bottom of the stairs by a little Lola when I got home. She really hasn't done too much damage being out. She's gone to the bathroom on her papers and nothing appears to be chewed. That won't last long though. She'll be 12 weeks on Saturday. Next week we move to the crate. I'm not having much luck finding a divider so I'll have to rig something. She's sleeping 6 hours w/o getting up at night so I hope that will continue.

Super Steeler Sunday! It was gonna be a tough game against the Colts. We decided to have some people over for the game. Most of the same people but the game was earlier this week. I thought that Lola would run around & eat up all the attention. Ya know what she did during the game? She SLEPT! On a big pillow in the middle of the floor. And the game was really intense so there was lots & LOTS of yelling. She didn't wake up till it was over. Silly girl.

But we won! Steelers are going to Denver for the AFC championship! WooHoo!!!!! It's gonna be another tough game. But we're on a Roll. If ever we were to make it to the Super Bowl & win...it should be this year. With this most likely being the last year for the Bus...we need to roll into his hometown & get him that ring!!

Here we go Steelers, Here we go!!!!!!

Lola made her first public appearance today (aside from the vet). We took a trip to PetSmart so she could ride around in the cart & socialize w/ people. She was pretty clingy in the car at first, preferring to ride in my lap than on the seat, but she soon settled in and curled up in her blanket on the passenger side.

I put her in the cart when we got there & fed her chicken when people approached the cart. Not that she needed any reinforcement...she loves people! We walked around for a while, making friends & just having a lovely time.

A funny thing happened on the way out. We were approached by two girls (who I'll refer to as #1 & #2). They looked 15 or 16 yo.

#1 "What a cute puppy! What is she?"
#2 "That's a pitbull"
me "Er, actually she's a Boxer"
#2 (looking at friend & rolling her eyes) "She's a pitbull"
me "Umm, no, she's a Boxer. I met the parents & saw the litter at 6 days old. She's not a Pitbull."
#2 (to #1) "Well white Boxers are very, VERY rare"
me (laughing now) "Not quite...25% of a litter can be born white if the parents have white on them. I wouldn't call that rare"
#2 (again to #1) "Well, almost all white Boxers are born deaf"
me (laughing out loud now...) "The statistic is appx 18% are born deaf. Thanks for the warning, but I did my homework before getting this puppy"
#2 walks away in a huff.
#1 scratches Lola on the head, smiles and walks away. I think she knew her friend was a dolt.

Lola was pooped from our outting. She slept for the rest of the night!