Sherman? A therapy dog???

Yep, you betcha! And no, I'm not kidding. I am so unbelievably proud of this dog...I can't even stand it. I actually cried on our way home from testing this morning.

Not only did he pass...but the comments from the evaluator on his TDI forms were"What a sweet dog! Very Obedient!'. Very Obedient? Sherman? OK...yes, he is very sweet. But Sherman is not a big fan of other dogs (Huskies, Rottis andLabs in particular), is insanely food obsessed and would prefer that all of the children of the world be kept a safe distance. My big, grumpy boy did the meet& greet w/ a (male) Chocolate Lab and didn't even make eye contact with the dog. He did the Leave It like the big peanut butter cookie was made of poison. And...(and this is huge) he allowed himself to be brushed and fawned over by two5 year old girls who designated themselves as the doggie welcoming committee forall dogs being tested. One of them even whispered to me, "Sherman is my favorite dog here". It helped that I was feeding him Liver while she brushedhim LOL!!

We had the evaluator that failed Penny the first time. She is all business, which made me even prouder. He didn't get to skate through anything. I remember telling Scotty two years ago that Sherman would *never, ever* pass theCGC, let alone the TDI. And I really haven't worked with him that much.

I'm very giddy & very proud today. Sherman & I are a good team. He trusts me and I trusted him and we succeeded. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Penny & I then went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum to do a bite prevention workshop with Marsha & some folks from the WPHS. Penny was fine with all the dogs & loved the kids. She was a bit nervous when we were on stage, but give little kisses to those who came over to visit. Marsha is amazing with these kids. And she asked Penny & I to visit some preschools to do bite prevention sometime in 2007. I would actually get paid!

I just love my dogs!

The girls spent the evening "sharing" a chewie....

While Sherman chilled...

A lot of people ask about Penny's scar. Well, let me tell ya a little story. Penny & Sherman & I used to go to this great dog place, Misty Pines. For the entire summer after we got Penny, we'd go every Saturday, pay $10 and watch the dogs run & have a ball. I liked the place b/c it was very rare that an aggressive dog was present. And if it were, it was swiftly escorted (along w/ it's clueless owner) out of the dog park.

One gorgeous late September morning, we got to Misty Pines to find a packed house...probably 50 dogs were there. I thought it was great...lots of dogs for them to play with! (I was really, really dumb back then). Everyone moved their dogs away from the gate, I walked in & let both dogs off leash. Sherman ran to the first tree to start his patroling & Penny took off at 100 miles an hour in hopes of finding someone to play her favorite game...Chase Me! Well...Chase Me, they did. About 15 dogs took off after her, knocked her into the fence & when I turned around to see where she was (I had been watching Grumpapotomus, Sherman), a 6" x 6" flap of skin was ripped from her body. It was just hanging there. I could see her muscle and some rib bones. And it was bleeding, a lot.

I screamed, but no one seemed to notice. Penny was surrounded by all of these dogs, still trying to play with her and she was petrified. I started yelling "Everyone get your dogs!!" and started pushing away all of the dogs out of my way until I got to her and started to lead her to the gate. The owners were all still clueless, talking and laughing and thinking their dogs were playing. I turned to the guy next to me, in tears & shaking, and said "YOU'VE GOT TO HELP ME!!" He took one look at Penny and said "What do you want me to do???". Truly, I wanted to punch him. "Get these dogs away from us so we can get out of here!!!!!". He half-assed moved tried to move the dogs out of the way. Fortunately, our dog park friend Nicole, realized what was happening & totally took control of the situation. She cleared a path for us & we got outside of the fence.

To make a long story short, Penny was rushed to the Vet (by me, who was having a partial heart attack on the way). They put her under to clean her, remove all of the metal shavings & then they stitched her up. She came home the same day with the instructions of wearing a T-shirt every day to prevent licking the wound for the next 6 weeks. We spent a sleepless night on the floor in the bedroom...me right next to her just trying to help her get comfortable. By the end of 6 weeks when the stitches came out, we realized her modeling career was over. She was permantly flawed.

Unfortunately, in more ways than one. She became exceptionally dog aggressive when on leash...lashing out at any dog within 1/2 a mile of her. I tried to take her back to Misty Pines after she healed and she almost pulled me down in the parking lot trying to get at another dog. We left and I cried the whole way home & immediately called my friend Debby to help us get over the aggression. She started us out on the right path & 3 years later, Penny is a Canine Good Citizen & a Certified Therapy Dog. But it took a LOT of work...a whole LOT!

My point being...Dog Parks are great. They are a wonderful outlet for dogs to be dogs...to play , run around...to just be dogs. BUT, please, please observe the environment before you enter the dog park. Know your dog's stress level. Watch the other dogs in the park. How do they play? Is it compatable with your dog? Are the owners watching their dogs or are they chatting on their cell phone? Are the owners attentive to their dogs? Are they watching their dogs & stopping any inappropriate behavior? Do they even know what behavior is inappropriate?

There is nothing wrong with taking your dog home if a bunch of asshole owners & their out of control dogs are ruining a good time for your dog. Now is not the time to take a stand & say "Well my dog is the well behaved dog & we're staying!" . Put your dog first.

Honestly, I trust the dogs Waaayyy more than the people.

Last night was another good night. Sherman enjoyed his solo walk, Penny has finally let it sink in that we will go further, faster if she works with me and not against me and Lola had another non-freak out walk.

I gave Lola melatonin again & we may have just found the key to calming her down. That & I talk to her the entire walk. This walk we went treatless and I just talked and sang to her the whole time (she's very fond of the theme from Laverne & Shirley). We heard several dogs barking & when she tensed up, I walked backwards and got her to sit & focus on me. She did Woof at a strange looking guy walking across the street but I calmly said "Oh knock it off. Come on Lola!!" and we ran up the hill together away from the guy (she loves to run). My neighbors are REALLY gonna think I'm nuts, but I don't care. Better me singing than her barking, right?

Who's got funny teeth????

Before I took Penny to class, I walked Sherman & Lola, individually. Sherman is supposed to take the TDI test on Saturday & we haven't practiced much in the last couple of weeks. He's a good boy though. He shouldn't have much of a problem.

I gave Lola melatonin as soon as I got home & was anxious to see how it would affect the walk. I put her on the GL, despite the objection I've gotten from some. She seems to focus so much better and it almost seems to relax her. I'm learning to trust myself & listen to my dog. The GL made Penny way more reactive and she never really took to it. Lola seems to be a little different so we're going with it for now. We walked the whole block w/o a single flip out. It's much different for her now walking in the dark so I made sure to stop every couple of minutes & have her work. And anytime we saw a person, we'd move to the side & she'd sit & I'd feed her. She's been reactive to sound as well recently and a barking dog 2 towns away sets her off. Not tonight. I'd hear a dog bark & jump around like a moron chirpping "Lola, what do I have? and Who's a good girl??" and stuff her with liver brownies. She's getting better!

Penny & I had class at the Univ. of Pitt student union tonight. We had to park about 3 blocks away and she was more than willing to heel the whole way to the SU. Oakland is way more hustle & bustle than she's used to. She took it all in stride and was very calm as long as she was working. Any time she was allowed to stop & sniff & explore, she got a bit anxious. We met up with 5 other dogs...all of which she wanted desperately to play with. Nice change from my normally snarky Penny. We met lots & lots of students and she was in hog heaven...all those people there to pet & fawn over her! Towards the end of class she was over it, though & she'd had enough petting. The last exercise was walking through the Catherdral of Learning up & down step, through a quiet study area and moving through revolving doors. She did not like the last part. Those spinning doors freaked her out and I was grateful she did not have a tail. She moved through them 5 or 6 times and then was happy to head home.

Who doesn't love a Pittsburgh Autumn day???

Tonight was lazy & quiet at home. I ordered some really bad Chinese food (that I ended up throwing away) and watched the Dog Whisperer (Paul Owens, not Cesar)

Lola enjoyed watching too...let's hope she learned something.

Lola had her first Feisty Fido's class tonight. Walking into the building, we were surrounded by volunteers walking dogs...which of course, sent her into a full-out barking & lunging frenzy. Hmmm...not a good way to start out.

But class eneded up being great! There are 6 dogs per class and each dog is separated by an ex-pen covered with a sheet. Lola found this very annoying as there definately other dogs in the room for her to play with. But it did give us a chance to practice attention & focus. We were given several good things to practice. Some I knew & was doing (Watch, Hand-Targeting, U-turns) and a new exercise (Walk Away) that Lola picked up on quickly.

They had each dog view a giant stuffed Dalmation (that was pretty dog like) and practice Stuff a Dog...Lola loved this! Dog comes into view...Yahoo! Peanut Butter!!! Dog goes away...so does Peanut Butter :o(. I've tried this at home outside, but she is usually too worked up to eat. I have done something similar on the front deck & it worked very well. I'm gonna just keep moving in baby steps till she can relax outside.

I love to take random pics of the dogs in the sun. Some of them turn out kinda cool.

Happy 1st birthday to Lola!!! Her "technical" DOB is 10/30/05, but she was the 8th puppy to be born at 1:34 am on the 31st. She's a Halloween baby!

As a teeny sprout...

At 5 weeks...

Kissing her brother good-bye...

Hanging out with her bestest friend in the whole wide world, Penny...

Little thing could barely keep her eyes open after the first 36 hours at her new home...

Sherman would only (partially) tolerate her when they were both sleeping (I can almost hear him growling in this shot)

All grown up!

Having a puppy was fun, stressful, joyous & tiresome. I wouldn't trade our first year for the world but can't say that I'd ever get another puppy.

Well...we'll see.

Penny & I started the Dynamic Dogs class at the WPHS on Monday. This class is to give TDI dogs & their owners some experience doing therapy work before they venture out on their own. I was thrilled that they started this class b/c I was a little unsure about how to get started. It's taught by Marsha Robbins, who is exceptionally gifted with people and dogs. Lola & I took her puppy class and it was stellar.

The first 2 classes are at the shelter and then she takes us into the community for the last 5. And the class is incredible. We started out with basic obedience stuff to get the dogs comfortable with each other. Penny did very well with the other two dogs in class. One was Cowboy, who she's been in 3 classes with & knows well. The other was Tasha, one of the puppies in Lola puppy class last February (who is now huge!).

Marsha really put us through our paces. This class is tough! She really tests the dogs skills to get an idea of how they will be in different situations. (brag on Penny…she held her sit stay when Tasha broke and ran around her play bowing! I was very proud!). We discussed what our dogs are comfortable with & what they are not & she is tailoring the visits to the class.

We loaded all 3 dogs into the elevator & they all did great. Penny glued herself to my leg, but managed not to panic (she hates the elevator).

Next week we go to Pitt to visit with homesick college freshman (how cool is that??!!). We're also going to the Joseph something-or-other bookstore on the Southside and to a group home.

Marsha also invited Penny & I to do a bite prevention workshop at the Children's Museum. She's gonna LOVE that! All those little kiddies to give kisses to...what could be better than that?

Penny had her last Rally class today. Man, could she be great at this! I'm the problem. I don't know my left from my right & can't remember if I do the exercises before or after the stations. I also have 2 left feet and can't walk in a straight line. Very frustrating. But Penny is great. She's so attentive and willing to work with me. We did 2 courses about 3 times each. I

The only thing we still struggle with are the finishes. Other than blatently luring her, she freezes. She's great at hand targeting & that doesn't even work. I looked up some traditional methods and tried lightly popping the leash in the direction I wanted her to go and it did work. I'd like to get away from that as well so we'll just keep practicing.

Graduation Day for Lola at Animal Friends! Lola did surprisingly well and only barked at one dog going into the shelter. There were a couple of contests...one was a LLW relay race where we had to carry a glass of water. That went OK. We did timed Sits where Debby starts the clock and each person has to cue the dog to sit. Then we do it again w/o cueing, using only body language. Lola is stellar at this.

The best part was a contest between 2 dogs where they both have to sit while we put Leis over their head. They have to be sitting to get a lei. The one with the most leis wins. Lola ran away with this contest. The first one I put on her she kind of balked at and tried to eat. But then I slipped a treat in and she just sat their while I put 15 Leis on her. It was too cute.

We finished up w/ some agility stuff & she has no fear what-so-ever.

Sherman had CGC class today & I'm so proud of my grumpy boy. He's doing so very well & I don't have any fear about him passing. He did 2 great recalls, held his stays, heeled OK and didn't make a peep during a 2 1/2 minute supervised separation. We even did 2 dog to dog intros & he just sat by my side, wagged his tail & looked up at me with his famous Shermie grin. He's too darn cute!

It was a long day for Lola at Camp Bow Wow...

And a quiet peaceful evening for us....

The top picture, BTW, is on their home page. They really like Lola!

Lola will be a year old next week. She was just a pipsqueak at 3 months...


Now she's keeping up with the big dogs...


My goodness...could the be any cuter?! Yes...I'm totally biased!

I call this Penny's Princess Leia impression

Lilian was kind enough to squeeze us into this sessions Feisty Fidos class. As I'm still concerned that Lola is indeed in a fear period, I'm keeping her walks to a minimum and doing stuff with her in the yard & house.

We haven't done much clicker stuff in a while...I have signed up for the ClickerExpo in March & thought it would be fun to see where Lola was & try to shape a behavior. We had done "go to mat" a long time ago (9 months or so) but I never really continued with it. It was the first time I'd really shaped anything from the beginning. Debby & I had just had a conversation in the last class about shaping & I told her I didn't really do it much. She seemed surprised and when I thought about it, I guess I do.

So I brought out one of Lola's old puppy blankets & laid it down about 6 feet away from me. She started offering lots of previously highly reinforced behaviors...sit, down, stare holes in my head, Bang! Roll over, down, sit & so on...I decided to help her out & threw a treat on the mat and clicked when she stepped on it. I was following Sue Ailsby's method for Level 2 and within minutes she was throwing herself on the mat over & over. I moved it to a new place...same thing. I moved it again...same thing.

My good little girl...demonstrating "GoLayDown"


I Ssssoooo wish she wasn't having these issues b/c I would LOVE to take her with me in March. I don't think it's gonna happen this year :o(.

There has been a lot of talk on a lot of lists lately about tear staining. When Lola hit about 4 months, she started getting terrible tear stains in both eyes. I was wiping her eyes 3-4 times a day with a special solution called Eye Bright, and it really wasn't helping.

I posted about it on the WhiteBoxer list and several members made the recommendation of adding 2-3 TBS of pure pumpkin to her food w/ each meal and they should go away within a week. Only stipulation was it had to be with every meal or they would resurface & be twice as hard to clear up.

So, as pumpkin is something I feed my dogs anyway, I thought What The Heck! It sure ain't gonna hurt her. And wouldn't ya know it...within a week they were gone & have never resurfaced. I never wipe her eyes anymore (with the exception of the occasional morning eye booger that appears & just grosses me out).

Then (and this picture doesn't show how bad they really were):

Now:

I'm calling Pumpkin the new miracle food!