Baby retrieve & spins

The puppy has been here for two weeks (and shamefully still has no name - any ideas very much appreciated - every name so far either isn't quite right, or we already know/have/had a dog/horse/cat with that name)

She's settled in very well, although is rather opinionated and stubborn.
One of the trickiest things so far has been trying to get her to bring anything back to me - she loves running away with toys (or things that aren't toys!), and taking them off to chew them. And when training with food she hasn't been keen to also tug or pick up a toy. So I'm very pleased to have gotten her retrieving in a controlled environment.



Also, sorry I haven't commented on anybodies blogs for a long time - blogger isn't letting me. I know others have had this problem, any tips on how to fix it would be great.

A wee video

The Pup (still un-named) is settling in really well. Training is really fun and whining is down to a minimum, usually only when she needs to go to the toilet. Toilet training is not going so well though!
We had a mini disaster when she got her big back upper molar stuck in the crate for nearly 5 minutes and shattered it trying to free herself. We were both bleeding at the end of that episode. The vet has said not to worry and just to keep an eye on it, as removing the tooth could damage her big tooth underneath.

A wee video of some training from her 2nd day at home

She's here.....(warning, its a bit wordy!)

So we brought our new puppy home on Saturday morning (yesterday). After all my worries about her being spayed early, I got a horrible phone call on Friday (they day she was being spayed) to tell me that there had been "complications" while she was having the surgery and I wouldn't be able to bring her home for another 5 days. As you can imagine, my heart sank. The lady on the phone was unable to tell me what these complications were, so I asked to speak to the vet, or vet nurse, only to be told that wouldn't be possible as they in surgery all day. And not able to speak to the kennel manager until Tuesday as she was away. I was panicking & imagining the worst, and in a bit of a rage that no-one would tell me what had happened, when the puppy was mine, as all the paperwork, payments etc had been completed. Then, an hour later, the vet rings me. She told me that after they had intubated her she coughed quite violently for a period due to being a bit light (not enough sedation - its always tricky in small animals, hence why I wasn't keen for the operation!) and the vet thought that she had torn her trachea (breathing tube) as there was an air leakage. She said that she'd done hundreds of tiny pup spays and never had this problem ad was extremely apologetic. It sounded to me as if they used the wrong sized tube or didn't have the cuff (balloon that holds the tube in place) inflated enough, as its extremely unusual to sustain a tracheal tear from coughing. I rang round few other vets to see what they thought and they agreed that it all sounded a bit odd. Anyhow, they reassured me that if there was a small tear it would heal on its own and there would be no long standing problems (wheeffff!) I convinced the vet to let me ring her home the next day, as she was going to get closer observation her with me than at the cold pound kennels and being a person nurse I would know what signs to look for if she deteriorated.

She is a very cool puppy! Still haven't decided on a name (so far we like Spy - like Eye-spy cause of her patch, what do you think?) She has done a fair bit of whining (and her toilet training is not going to plan at all!) but after 24 hours has really settled in, and wow, what a fast learner she is.

Pepper has been amazing, far better with her than I'd ever hoped. She has let the puppy climb on her, sleep with her on her bed, play with her ball (this is awesome as Pepper is fine with food but resource guards her toys a bit) and follow her around relentlessly. I'm so relieved, I was worried she's be a bit snappy but so far so good, they're not allowed together unsupervised as the pups so small but I'm really pleased. The hardest part for her is watching me train the puppy, I think shes a bit confused about the clicker going off and her not getting a treat - any ideas about this???

We also had Misty and Bruno stay for the weekend so it was a bit full on, glad that we have the 1st 24 hours under our hats and that the puppy is healthy. Looking forward to training and can't wait until she toilet trained and not peeing and pooping seemingly every 2 minutes.

A new puppy

This funny looking wee girl (on the left) is the soon to be new addition to our family.

2 weeks ago I went in to the Waitakere Animal Shelter to sort out Pepper's registration for the year (as we'd moved to a new area and needed to change some details) While I was there I was told that a litter of puppies had just arrived and would I like to see them. (This is where I should have said no!!!!) They had been left at 5 weeks old in a box on the side of the road with a sign saying "Free" beside them. They're heeler cross (probably with a short coated border collie/heading dog)

One of the hardest things for me is that they must be spayed prior to leaving the kennels, so she will be spayed at 8 weeks. I understand why they have this rule, and certainly agree that it's necessary to control the overwhelming population of unwanted dogs that they and the SPCA have to deal with. But I still feel 8 weeks is a bit young! I've done lots of thinking and research and have spoken to 4 different vets and have decided that while it's not ideal, it's also not the end of the world and that alot of the information (both pro and con pre-pubescent spay) is not based on scientific studies more just hear-say. And the vets I have spoken to have much me feel much more confident.

Let the fun begin!

My dog is smarter than your baby

....

What canary????

New house plus Cambodia & Singapore

Its been all quiet on the blogger front from me for the past month but far from quiet at home. First of all, we moved into our first home. Very exciting, I'd been packed for about a month before we moved. The house is a renovated three bedroom 1960's bungalow, its got awesome safe and high fences all the way around, including a double fenced area around the garage (so Pepper can't get onto the road when we open the gate to drive in/out) The yard isn't huge but is more than enough to throw a ball or Frisbee or set up weaves and a few jumps.



The week we moved in we went down to Hamner (in the middle of the south island, a few hours from Christchurch) for a wedding, was a fantastic weekend and a gorgeous location.

Then the next weekend we traveled over to Singapore and Cambodia for a wee holiday (which was planned way before we brought our house, not very fortuitous of us!) I was totally unprepared for how muggy and hot it would be! We had a great time, particularly in Cambodia.

Incredible temples in Cambodia.

Cute wee dog that lived in the hotel in Siem Reap (actually not all that cute, tried to bite me!)

Singapore sling - not really all it was cracked up to be, very sweet.

Ridiculously huge Marina Bay Sands

Ben getting a fish spa! (I couldn't bear to put my feet in there, too tickley)

Singapore Zoo - amazing!

Animal tricks show!

The concept for this show was apparently a new one, the set was really cool.
The dog tricks were pretty unimpressive to be honest - the three bigger dog were elderly and overweight, they each did only one trick. This one turned on a light.

This little one did jump tricks (but had very little focus, kept running over to the crowds in between jumps)

Hoop jumping border collie

On the other hand, the cat tricks were GREAT! The cats (4 or 5 different ones) would come out of one side of the stage, saunter over to the other side, climb a pole and then run through the cat doors. They had one even jump into a rubbish bin!

And some wee rats performing too!

Cute baby pygmy hippo

On the agility front, we're having big weave issues in competition, 4 out of 4 runs disqualified at the weaves. She's definitely getting more focus and drive though and has stopped skipping round jumps.

And as for obedience, we've only had one competition. I thought heelwork was decidedly average but only got 2 points off. Then the recall, little beggar ran and sat behind me! Stays were fine. So we've been training recalls religiously since and have decided for a new "word" for the present, so instead of saying "OK, Pepper come" I say "OK, In front" as I realised that when we're walking and I call her back to me casually, perhaps to avoid a person or another dog, I say "Pepper,come" and so had been confusing her. So far it seems to be working.

Now we need to get moving on DWTDS!!!!!