Wow again.

We went to puppy class again tonight - the last one in this series. What a difference in Syn!

We arrived about 15 minutes early. There were no dogs there yet, just several people. I walked Syn around the room, letting her sniff and look around. Then we wandered over to say hello to the people, and one of them started to play the Come Game with us. Wait Just A Cotton Pickin’ Minute Here! WHO KNEW people played the Come Game in other places besides home?

We were about 20 feet apart, with Syn racing back and forth between us when that horrible monster Cairn Terrier puppy from last week showed up again. Syn went behind my feet and peeked at it.

I took her off to the other side of the room and worked on her behaviours. She was busy as the rest of the pups came in, glancing over at them now and then but busy working. The instructors laid out some objects - a wheelchair, a walker, some noisy kid toys, some bubble wrap and a play tunnel. As the other pups were being introduced to these things, Syn and I wandered casually over and circled the area, coming closer and closer. She flipped an ear back once in a while, but in general was ok as we got closer and closer.

I clicked her for interacting with some toys, and then the tunnel was free so we went to it. She didn’t want to stay with the instructor while I went to the other end of it, so the instructor went to the other end, looked in, and called her as she had done in the beginning, and suddenly we were playing the Come Game through the tunnel. Hey! Syn got into that! Back and forth, back and forth - and for the rest of the night, the black hole of that tunnel entrance kept sucking her back to it. Let’s go do the tunnel again, ma! C’mon! Tunnels are good!

And she got to ride in the wheelchair.

Then the rowdy puppies went to one half of the room and Syn and a Cavalier pup went off lead in the other half, with another well-behaved adult Collie on a downstay. Syn was almost brave!

Finally, one by one, we took each pup to one end of the room and left it with an instructor keeping it busy with treats while we went and hid behind a partition. Then we called them - hide and seek. The other pups came running immediately to find their mommies, much relieved to have them in sight again.

Syn did too, but after three or four bounces (I found you! I found you! I’m so GOOD at this game!), she suddenly ripped herself out of my hands and went tearing back to the instructor, stopping to bounce on each other person in spite of their puppies being right there with them - trying to find anybody willing to keep playing the Come Game.

I LOVE THE COME GAME. What a grand session! What an incredible difference from last week!

I took Syn out to pee three times during the class - and each time she was eager eager EAGER to go back into the classroom. And she’s starting to think that Cairn Terrier might be kind of fun. Especially when it’s on the floor and Syn is sitting in the wheelchair.

I am VERY happy. And very, very proud of myself for being calm, solving the problem, and not pushing Syn into feeling more afraid. And Syn, her little tummy stuffed with kibble and wieners, is curled up on my lap. Dear little tat.

Had a good breakfast session, fooling around. A 5-foot sit stay straight ahead and 3 feet out to each side. A bit of eye contact without slinking - I'm sitting in a chair, tossing a treat and then playing the Come Game alone, having her sit when she arrives in front of me, and then I get several seconds of eye contact without dancing, head-flipping or anything else.

Then because a friend was having trouble figuring out some Level work, we videoed Level 2 Distance Step 3 (going around a suitcase), Level 2 Jump Step 2 (going around a suitcase with a bar on the floor), and L2 Jump Step 4 (going around a suitcase with a bar 6" off the floor. Videos should be on the website (sue-eh.ca) under the Movie Album link.

Then, because she'd just been introduced to jumping, I taught her to jump over my foot (heel on the floor, toes up). Man, this dog is SMART. I wish I had THAT little session on video. She was lured over my foot once, went around it once and got nothing, then jumped it back and forth about 8 times.

For lunch we visited a different PetsMart. This one had a doggie day care behind glass (didn't look like much fun to me, just a room with some dogs in it and a couple of toys).

Again we spent several minutes in the parking lot. Syn looked like an old hand, surveying the property. No trouble with the doors today, and we again worked in the foyer until I thought she was ready to go in. She immediately heading down the first aisle, alternately exploring and offering me superb moving eye contact.

Eventually we came to a cat room (also behind glass) and the dog room. She stopped walking to stare at the cats, and I clicked her for looking at them, but they were all still and silent and didn't present too much of a challenge. One step further down the aisle and she could glimpse the dogs - and they could see her. She backed up rapidly, but came right back when I offered her a treat. She was able to sit and down, peeking around the corner to see if the dogs were still there.

One of the dogs saw her owner and started barking, but she was saying happy things and this didn't bother Syn. Much.

After several minutes of performing, peeking, and being treated, she swung out in full view of the dog room to give me a sit - then glanced over her shoulder and saw where she was. She stood for a moment staring at the dogs, thinking of what to do. Then she tried out a mighty BARK! BARK! and was wound up for a third one but lost her nerve, her voice broke, and it came out more EEEEEK! By then I'd managed to move her back out of sight. She recovered well and we continued our tour of the store, coming back a few minutes later. This time she was able to look at them with her tail up, staring fixedly at them between giving me eye contact and offering sits and downs.

Finally we walked confidently out of the store. There was a police K9 unit in the parking lot, the dog vigorously warning everyone to stay away from his car. That DID bother Syn, but she remembered she'd be safe if she stuck with me, and she was. Halfway back to my car, she almost forgot about the police dog and started getting silly. Another successful outing. Puppy class again tomorrow night.

My baby's growing up. Her feet are growing an inch a day, her legs a bit more. Her mouth has reached the tiny-baby-teeth-in-a-huge-mouth stage (which will shortly be followed by the huge-monster-teeth-in-a-little-baby-mouth stage). And as of last week when we went to her first puppy class, she has reached the I-thought-I-was-invincible-but-I-was-wrong stage where almost anything could be fatal.

Yesterday a folded ex-pen slipped to the floor with a bang, resulting in poop, pee, and a major screech. Then some friends came over to visit in the evening, and she was visibly torn between wanting to greet them joyously and fleeing screaming from the room before they murdered her. Greeting won out, but with a large submissive urination.

Her turn-her-back-on-Zen-objects has morphed into a submissive slink-in-a-circle. I've got to be careful now.

Today I took about 3 meals' worth of kibble and wieners and went to PetsMart. We spent 10 minutes in the parking lot. A few adult dogs walked in and out of the store. Syn was interested but they were far enough away that she wasn't really bothered by them. I concentrated on rewarding any offering of eye contact, and if she stared at anything for more than a moment, I'd click and reward for looking at the dogs as well - or looking at cars, or people, or anything else.

When she was comfortable, I found a drain in the pavement and we played a game designed to teach her not to "mat dive" - once a dog has been "allowed" to pick up treats off the ground, she tends to not want any to escape, so she keeps searching until she finds one. I want her to know that if she doesn't find one she thinks is on the ground in, say, a second, she can come back to me and I'm guaranteed to replace it with one from my hand. The game is easy - I reward her for making eye contact four or five times, then I toss a treat down the drain. She looks for it... and looks... and looks, and finally gives up and looks at me. I treat her, then four or five more for eye contact, then another one down the drain, and so on.

Next we went to the automatic doors into the store. She thought she should be scared of the whoosh of the doors, but we moved away, did a few behaviours, and approached again. That went well. Did the same inside, then started to go into the store - oops, a large (calm, well-behaved adult) Sibe walked past her. Well, no screeching anyway, but she turned and booted it back outside.

I followed her out, worked her outside and in the doors again, and her recovery was excellent. Then we started going up and down the aisles, starting in the fish department where it was less likely we'd meet another dog. FanTAStic contact, sits, down, a little Zen (I'm not going to work much Zen until she forgets about that slink-in-a-circle thing), and a marvelouse loose leash.

By the time we'd done 1/4 of the store, she was starting to lead out ahead of me, examining merchandise. We finished the entire store without incident, used up almost all the food, and then paraded out to the car with her flag flying. She's started putting her front paws up on the back bumper to be lifted in to the crate in the car.

An excellent session.

First thing this morning I put Syn in the big soft crate, opened the top like it was last night, and sprinkled her breakfast on the floor around the crate. Then I sat down just out of sight. Sure enough, the little monkey climbed up the mesh using the official water-dog-getting-into-a-boat move where she pushes her head back against something (the closed part of the lid) to give her traction to climb.

Told her No (our Zen cue) and she stopped immediately. I picked up her breakfast and used it to reinforce her for being in the crate and quiet.

Then we had a rip-roaring playtime that Stitch would have done with her if she'd been here. This is exactly why Stitch isn't here - I'm forced to tire Syn out myself, which means *I* get the bond, not Stitch. When she started to slow down getting ready for a nap, I used 5 kibbles to shape her to go into the big crate, then shut her in with the roof open. She stood up, but I said No, and she settled right back down and went to sleep.

Yesterday I thought "I should work one meal on the Levels, one meal on retrieving, and one meal on shaping practise."

Today I thought "I should work one meal on the Levels, one meal active behaviours and one meal on duration behaviours like Focus and the stays."

And then I worked on my new website until I was too tired to think and put her second meal in her dish and she ate while I had a nap. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

Stitch left on a 3-week working vacation this morning. That’ll give Syn a chance to be an only dog for a while and learn to rely on me more than the obvious draw of the other dog.

I’m re-reading Stitch’s puppy blog. One big difference I see right away is that the kibble I was feeding Stitch was very small. I got many, many repetitions per meal, but she had trouble paying attention to them so I ended up having to give her 3 or 4 bits at once. Syn’s food is a more normal kibble size, big enough to keep her attention, but fewer repetitions, so I’m “forced” to concentrate on fewer behaviours at a time. I think this is a good thing. Because of that, and working diligently through the Levels, Syn is getting a much better foundation than Stitch got, though Stitch’s foundation was better than most dogs have.

So. We had a very good session this morning. I moved to another room with a tile floor instead of carpet, and the frantic behaviour-throwing didn’t kick in when I asked for eye contact, so she passed the 2-second test. I’m not going for longer duration on any behaviour until I convince her that doing nothing IS a behaviour. LOTS of Chutes & Ladders!

She threw a few half-hearted somersaults at me when asked her to give to the leash, but she got nothing for it and soon started calmly releasing the pressure I put on.

She passed the first three Steps of Level 2 Target, up, down, sideways, over HERE, over THERE, with wooden, plastic, and metal objects, so we moved on to Step 4 - touching a sticky note on a wall. I got her to touch it first in my hand. That was a no-brainer. If I’m holding it, she’s touching it. I moved it around, then put a second note on the wall and moved the one in my hand near it. Still good. I put the first one away and tried pointing at the second one - no go, she focused on my hand until I wiggled the note a bit, then she had the idea. Sweet. That took 5 clicks from the beginning. (!) Two more and she was going 4’ to touch it.

Since we were in a new room, with her bed 8’ away, I shaped her to go to the bed. Took awhile for her to get started, making me think about how shaping is a learned skill for trainer AND dog. About 10 clicks in, she seemed to get a clue about what we were doing. Shortly after that (maybe 5 clicks) she was jumping into her bed and lying down.

Since she’s go eager to target things, we finished the session by jumping to Level 3 Retrieve. Step 1 is putting many different objects into her mouth. She got that right away, with 2 different objects - a wooden pencil and a metal spoon handle - and we worked on getting them all the way into her mouth, and on twofers - two “bites” for one click.

For lunch, I was still excited about retrieving, so we worked on that some more. Got a pretty good 1-second quiet hold of the pencil (of course I was still holding it as well).

For supper, I was still excited about shaping, so I shaped her to bump a big ball with her nose. That was fun. She kept forgetting what we were doing, but about midway through the meal she clued in and after that she got every click on the first try.

We went out this evening and left Syn in the big soft crate. When we got home, she wasn't in the crate. I have no explanation for this, unless she climbed out the window in the top, through a tiny bit of open zipper, over her head, without leaving any snags in the mesh on her way out. Very strange.

I thought maybe my husband had put her in the bedroom crate upstairs, so when I saw she wasn't in the soft crate, I went upstairs in the dark to let her out. She was hiding on the other side of my bed and peed when I came into the room, while alternating between barking and whimpering (Please don't eat me, I'm little, but I'll kill you if you come any closer!). She was so excited when I turned on the light and she saw who it was. For once I rewarded her frantic greeting - this time because she really WAS frantic. She calmed down after about 10 minutes. I think she ate something she shouldn't have because her stomach is taut and uncomfortable.

This incident makes me think about puppies left home alone without a crate. We tell people that a crate is a safe place for a puppy, from the owner's point of view AND the puppy's, but this really brought that home. Being loose in the house left her responsible for the whole house - and clearly too young for the task. That wasn't a kindness, it was just a scary time for her. Poor little tyke...

According to her vaccination schedule, Syn is “street legal” today, so we went to a puppy class.

My, didn’t she have a good time! She walked on a loose leash from the car to the building, had to think about stepping in the door for a moment but when I gave her the moment, she decided to go on in.

Inside, there were PEOPLE! People to play the Come Game with! And boy, did she! Wheee!

And then a horrible, monster 5-pound Cairn Terrier puppy showed up. This thing must have been related to Godzilla! It LOOKED at her! It wagged its TAIL at her! The HORROR! She squealed and ran behind me and peeked out through my legs. Yep, it was still there. Mom! Pick me up before it kills me!

So I picked her up, got a chair and sat down, held her in my lap for a few seconds, and then put her down and started giving her treats and asking her to do things - sit, down (would I settle for a sit? Yeah, OK), touch my hand.

Then a Miniature Dachshund puppy arrived. This was even bigger and nastier than the Cairn! It wanted to VISIT her! Back up on my lap.

When the class started, we made our way slowly around the outskirts of the room, sniffing good smells and eating treats. When we got back to our chair (alive! A miracle!) I set up her little soft crate and she dived gratefully into it. 15 minutes later she was making little forays out into the room to get treats, and backing slowly into her crate whenever a puppy came too close (a big improvement over screaming and diving into it). At one point she even had the nerve to sniff the back end of a Cavalier puppy that wasn’t looking at her (if you can’t be brave with a Cavalier, you can’t be brave with anybody!).

Near the end, a lovely, calm, rational adult Collie was put on a down about 4’ from Syn’s crate. She made a few treat-forays with him there, and then started offering me downs and sits. Maybe she thought he was big enough to protect her from all those dangerous monster puppies!

The class has been going on for 6 weeks already, and Syn was just invited for the last 2 weeks, so the other puppies are used to each other and the situation. If I had been expecting her to run into the middle of the class and show everybody how it’s done, I would have been very disappointed, but you can’t think that way. She’s a baby and she needs what she needs.

Right then she needed reassurance and a chance to assess the situation reasonably without being pushed into anything she didn’t want to do - and she responded brilliantly. Four things I was very happy about - first, she never stopped wanting treats. Second, she thought that if she came to me, she’d be safe (and she was right, I never stopped her from coming back into a safety zone). Third, she bounced back from her scares. By the end of the class when the pups were taken off lead to play, she was sitting in the door of her crate watching them run. And fourth, she was almost always willing to look at me and give me behaviours. If I can get a dog to give me behaviours that she knows, it helps to make her feel like she’s not totally helpless.

Before next week’s class, we’ll keep working on the Levels, and I’ll try to get there early so she has a chance to play the Come Game with the people again before the other pups arrive - and maybe say hello to that big Collie.

Much more reasonable day today. Last night after her supper, Stitch showed her how to open the door to the pantry and they both chowed down on a lot more kibble than they should have. Then Syn had a big drink, stretching her poor baby tummy until it felt like a balloon about to burst. At least that's what it felt like on the outside. It must have hurt a lot on the inside, because she came to me crying but didn't want to be picked up until after she went outside.

Then she had to go out three times during the night.

Zen is excellent, but not a default yet, and this morning I forgot to give her the cue, so she knocked her breakfast out of my hand and spread it all over the kitchen. She dragged 3 dozen bits of dead weeds into the house from the dog yard, and this evening she threw up peanut butter, kibble, and dead-weed-bits all over her new dog bed.

When I went out this afternoon, I left her in her crate and Stitch loose in the house, which was apparently a lot more annoying than having everybody locked up, because when I came home she did her best to demonstrate the joys of separation anxiety - yapping, clawing at the crate, screaming. Unfortunately the poor baby got no attention at all for this amazing display of pique and had to wait until she settled down before she got to come out of the crate.

At supper, I used 3 treats per behaviour and ran through everything we'd done so far. Most of it she remembered and performed amazingly well. The leashwork we started yesterday was remarkable today, though. I put a little bit of pressure on her collar and she did a complete backflip and spin (this must be a triple Salchow, or a half gainer with a twist, or something grand like that) to loosen the lead. Sounds like a freak-out EEK MY LEASH IS STRANGLING ME reaction, right? Nope. She was perfectly calm, and did her there-I-did-it tail wag when she was done. I was so surprised that I clicked it and gave her a treat, and then she repeated it. By this time I'd figured out that she wasn't really loosening the leash and that I didn't really want her to do this every time she felt the collar tighten on her neck, so I stopped paying for it, which made her do it even harder. Eventually she stopped and did it my way, but I feel like I just told Beethoven to quit making so much noise.

Anyway, she is a puppy after all and not some freaky reincarnation of Scuba.

We had a quiet morning. Playing with Stitch first thing, she hurt her front leg and wouldn't put it on the floor. 2 hours of resting seemed to have cured it but we planned on taking it easy for the rest of the day.

Not counting the shower we took together and the paddling lesson, she had her first bath today. I think I'll buy a peanut butter company. She was busy with the pb for the bath, but it took a bit more than that to get the blowdryer on her. Peanut butter on the wall, on me, on the table, on the dryer hose, lots of cuddles. I dried her tail for about 10 minutes before she let me dry her hips, but it went quite quickly from there to her back, sides, and front legs. Didn't attempt the head. She popped her pupils once, but more pb and cuddling settled her down quick enough and she was OK from then on. When we were done, of course, she got the rips and just about wore Stitch out. So much for taking it easy. Leg seems fine. She's all fluffy now except for her naked little butt. She looks like a cross between a brown and white pansy and a baboon that stuck his finger in an electric socket.

OK now, seriously, this pup is starting to scare me. Scuba was exceptionally smart. Stitch is a lovely dog, knows a lot, is reasonable and reliable and fun - but she's not the sharpest crayon in the box. This isn't something I think about a lot, since, compared to Scuba, nobody is. But this puppy is SMART.

Or maybe it's because we're working word-for-word with the new Training Levels book, it just makes her seem smart. Yeah, that's it. I'm sticking with that.

Second day of Level 2.

Zen - Step 1, complete. She doesn't just stay off a treat on the floor. She actually turned her back on it and stared at me over her shoulder.

Took it outside on the front step - WHOA NELLIE! Totally different story! Thank you, Syn, for pointing out that you are a real puppy and not Scuba reincarnated or something. She had NO idea what the cue meant, so I stopped giving it. I had to teach her right from the very beginning, she had apparently never heard of Zen before. The neat thing, though, was that she was so engrossed in figuring out how to get the kibble out from under my foot that she paid no attention whatsoever to the big wide world.

Focus - she found my eyes with no trouble at all, even in other rooms and outside. When I started building duration, though, she made worse what had been cute-but-barely-noticed yesterday: remember that I'm-doing-it tail wag? It was so successful it moved to her feet and her vocal chords, so when doing any duration behaviours, today she decided to stamp her feet and warble to speed things up. THAT is not going to continue, so in spite of the fact that I was easily getting 8 to 10 seconds of eye contact yesterday, I dropped right back to zero today and made sure I was only clicking for silence and a quiet body.

Come - she's excellent, it's her favourite thing. Today we tested coming past my leash hand so I could snap her leash on without her eating my hand or the leash.

Down - the dancing and singing took over her down as well, so we worked very slowly on Chutes & Ladders.

Sit - she knows this one. I can walk 5' away and come back and she stays. I started moving from side to side.

Lazy Leash - this is the one that scared me. She sat in front of me and I put slight pressure on the collar. It took her maybe 5 seconds to think of releasing the pressure. The next one took another 5 seconds. Then she had it. Left or right, I couldn't get her to leave pressure on it (not that I wanted her to, but gosh). I tried pulling forward on the leash. For an instant she thought about panicking, started to rear up, then gave a little startle and moved with the pressure, doing that I'm-doing-it tail wag.

Target - she did my hand in Level 1, and my feet. Now we're doing twofers on a pencil. She tried touching my hand HOLDING the pencil but didn't get a click for that so now she aims at the pencil. And that used up almost all of her meal.

Stitch wanted to do some work too, so I thought I'd start Syn on understanding that she has to do what I want her to do (rather than barge over and grab) even if another dog is getting something, but either she really is as smart as I think she is or the "This is for STITCH, this is for SYN lessons are totally assimilated into her little brain. I put on her collar and leash, put her comfy little bed near a heavy chair, and tied the leash to the chair, giving her just enough leash to get off or get on the bed. Then I moved across the room and started working Stitch through all of Syn's behaviours.

She didn't even try to come over. She sat on her bed and wagged. I tossed her a treat every now and then. Once or twice she got off the bed, but then the treats stopped so she climbed back in. Once she tried barking at me, but that didn't get her anything, so she shut up and re-arranged her paws to let me know she was DOING what I wanted. She's not ready for me to take the leash off, but holy cow.

And she's listening to my voice and learning the cues. Teaching reliable voice cues is one of my worst things and she's getting them.

My fingers are tingly.

Back in the swing. We went for a walk today, and she's not coming under my feet, but she's happy again and galloping here and there. She runs to the end of the leash and then curls back to look at me, comes around behind and runs by me again. The circling will have to stop eventually, but it'll be easy to stop and right now it's just cute because the reason she's circling is because she's looking at me with the leash loose. If she was just barging out to the end of the leash and then leaning on it as she went around me, I'd stop it right now.

She did so well on our trip that today I took her into town to get groceries - alone! She put paws up on the bumper to be boosted into her crate. Then I sprinkled a handful of kibble in the crate and started off. She was quiet the whole way, didn't say anything when I got out and went into the grocery store. I didn't greet her when I came back to the car, just got in and drove away, and she was quiet all the way home. Yee hah! There's hardly anything I appreciate more than a dog who's good in the car!

AND all day today she's been heading outside on her own. Once she was playing tug with Stitch, gave a little startle, and then ran out the dog door. When she came back in, she picked up the tug toy and continued with the game. What a good puppy.

Since we've been going over what shows are coming up after her 6-month birthday, I checked for matches and yes, there's a conformation match in 2 weeks. Today we started practising stacking. All we accomplished in the first two sessions was to convince her that MAYBE she didn't have to sit at every single opportunity. That's a good start! And while she was standing, I got to move her back legs a little bit.

We moved on to Level 2. We started with Zen. She's not quite ready to test yet, but after one what-the-heck-are-we-doing-now? mistake, she's great at it. Since we've been practising with her NOT diving into Stitch's meals, she's very, very good at Zen. L2 Step 1 is floor Zen, that's easy, no matter where we do it. Step 2 is staying off for 10 seconds - not a problem. After 4 seconds, she scooches backwards, lies down, and turns her head away from the treat. From there she looks like she could go for 3 minute Zen. Outside and other rooms makes no difference.

On to Focus. I haven't done any shaping today so she's easy to get eye contact from. We go outside on the front sidewalk. She glances around once and then swings in front of me, grabs my eyes, and sits. From there she zooms up through 2 seconds to 6 seconds with no discernible difficulty. It's awfully tempting to push her too far, but I resist. I started Focus sitting down, so I tried it kneeling, then standing up. No problem. Once I was standing, she developed a serious drift to my left (towards my right hand). Since she was doing so well, I started turning my back on her when she drifted too far away from front. The first two times she decided that staring at my hand would be as good as staring at my eyes and I had to call Puppy Puppy to get her to come in front of me to find my eyes again. The third time, she gave my hand half a second of staring and then whipped around, finding my eyes, sitting, and starting that "Look, I knew what to do!" tail wag.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Several eventful days! Not for Syn, but for me. My son called to tell us our daughter-in-law was in labour (this was, of course, not unexpected), so I booked a hotel, packed up the dogs and all our junk, and headed off on a 2.5 hour road trip with a 10-week-old puppy. I was NOT looking forward to this (the travel with the puppy part, not the having-a-grandchild part).

The setup: I put two wire crates in the back of my SUV, one for Stitch and one for Syn. Syn's crate had a couple of toys and the towel and cuddly bed from her soft crate. I also took the small soft crate that I had tried to introduce her to the other night because I don't want to have to carry the big wire one in and out of the hotel several times a day.

Before we left, we played a rousing game of tug and chase to get Syn emptied out. I put them each in their crates and then sprinkled their breakfasts, dry, on the crate floors to give her something to do while we were leaving the yard. I put them in their crates. They both did the mighty Kibble Hunt, then Stitch lay down and went to sleep, and so did Syn. I stopped once on the trip to let her pee and give her a drink, and again she went into the crate and went right to sleep (or if she was awake, she was playing with her toenails and not saying anything).

When we arrived the "kids" were home from the hospital awaiting further developments, so Stitch and Syn had a chance to come in, work the room, and stretch their legs (this is the marvelous home that recently said goodbye to old Scuba). They went back to the hospital and we went to check in at the hotel.

I do like to get pups into hotels relatively early so they can learn that they don't have to bark at every sound. This is quite a bit younger than I generally do it, though.

S&S played for a while, explored the space, went out to pee a few times (reinforcing the idea that even in this strange place, there is another choice than dropping on the spot). Then Syn asked if she could come up on the bed with me, and promptly fell asleep, where she stayed until I went to the hospital. I sprinkled another handful of kibble in the crate when I went in, and they were both sleeping when I came back out.

That was plenty of sleeping and I expected to have trouble getting her to bed that night, but when I finally put her bed, her towel, and her toys in the little crate, I didn't hear another word from her until 5 AM when we all awakened to my phone ringing - IT'S A BOY! Since this is Syn's blog, I won't go into that...

Took her out to pee, set my alarm to get up at 7 to go meet the little man, and woke up at 8 - I guess I can't read numbers at 5 AM.

Another round of car crate, then back to the hotel.

She wanted to play, which was fine, but when she and Stitch started really getting into it and she started to bark, I brought her up on the bed so I'd have a little better control of her mouth, and she fell asleep again immediately, and stayed asleep off and on until 3 when we went back to the hospital and then came home.

But what a rip-and-tear there was when hit the living room again! So another Wow! Wow, she was terrific. Why is this dog so sensible? It's a little scary.

Re the barking-in-hotels. We had a ground-floor room with a glass door out to the parking lot, so once in a while someone would walk through her line of sight. The first time she saw someone, she coughed at them and ran right up to the glass to watch them. Her body language was halfway between "Boy, are YOU guys in trouble!" and "Holy cow, are WE in trouble!". She'd watch them for a few seconds, glance at Stitch (who yawned and rolled on her back), look at the stranger again, then run back to me so I could go drive them off. Instead, when she came back to me for support, I told her she was a good girl, gave her a little pet and a bit of kibble, and then went back to the computer. She'd go back to the door and watch, sometimes going through the same routine three or four times before the ogres disappeared. By the third stranger, though, she was just watching, with calm body language - even when a couple of skateboarders went through the parking lot.

While we were gone, I'm sure her legs grew 3", and when we got home she just casually walked through the indoor AND the outdoor dog doors to pee. When I congratulated her, she looked at me like "Yeah, that's what they're FOR, eh?"

Finally got around to taking our official “generations” portrait.

This is Scuba on the left, Stitch at 8 weeks on the right.


and this is Stitch on the left and Syn at 10 weeks on the right.

I was busy today.

Ladies and gentlemen, Simon Ailsby, my first grandchild.

Gosh, the days are flicking by so fast!

Today she came in through the triple dog door all by herself, and went through the single several times without thinking about it.

I'm changing her feeding back to 3 times a day, she seems to be spending a great deal of time with a full tummy - not that she wouldn't eat until she exploded.

I bought her a new smaller soft crate yesterday and put her little bed inside it last night. No deal, thank you very much. This was not HER crate, and she was NOT having anything to do with it. I put her back in her big crate and she went promptly to sleep.

I probably won't get to go for a walk today, I'm busy getting ready to leave to await my first grandchild's appearance in a slightly closer location, but once we're ensconced in a hotel and waiting, I expect we'll have lots of time to play outside on dry (paved) ground.

And start training Levels again.


That's a lot of work for 5 minutes, but she dug right in and got the job done!

I was right about trusting her bell-ringing. She's forgotten what that's about, so we're starting back at the beginning, reteaching it and reintroducing it.

The only training we did other than that today was making up for that killer acrobatic manoeuvre she did yesterday. We went for another walk and she was behaving very seriously, walking directly behind me with her tail down. It took me almost 15 minutes to get her running beside me with her tail up. I hope tomorrow goes better.

I have 2 dog doors (cold climate, eh?). One is in 3 parts - inside flap, outside flap, and insulated flap in between. Further inside the house, there's a plain plastic see-through one. I've been holding the heavy one open for Syn to come through, but haven't bothered with the lighter one yet. This morning, using Park (sit) and No (Zen cue), I got Syn to stay with Stitch in the little porch between the 2 dog doors while I came into the house and closed the big door. Then I asked Stitch to come in AND SYN STAYED SITTING IN THE PORCH!! OK, that's just unbelievable. And people, THIS is what I want my training to be - that I have a chance of getting a behaviour the dog doesn't know by combining things she DOES know. Not that I thought for an instant that at this age and with this much training I could get Syn to do a sitstay while Stitch ran away from her and disappeared. And I must remember not to rely on this EVER happening again. Still. Wow.

Anyway, then I called Syn and tapped on the see-through dog door, and she pushed right through it and came in the house.

Bad night last night. We were out late and that threw her clock all out of whack. She woke up at 5 AM, ready to play. Didn't handle it well - muttered at her periodically to shut up until Ron took her out at 6. Then she slept until 9, wretched little brute.

Between the frozen peanut-butter-kibble kong (which she only gets when I'm leaving her in her crate), Scuba in the crate right next door, and me mostly remembering to put her in her crate when she lies down for a nap, she's getting pretty darn good at being in her crate. If I'm going out and she doesn't have her kong (sometimes I can't find it), I sprinkle a little kibble inside the crate so she has to hunt for it. Then she whimpers a couple of times when the kibble's gone, then she settles down.

A few times she jumped up yelling when I came home, but I just stayed out of sight (or retreated out of sight) until she shut up and either sat or lay down, and now she sits silently until I open the door. Then she circles my feet all the way to the going-outside door, grumbling madly the whole way to let me know what she thinks of the idea of being left behind.

In the afternoon we went for our second walk, hoping there would be some dry ground on the road. No such luck for at least 200 feet out from the house. Then we hit dry road and wow again (maybe I should change her name to Wow). She remembered the tiny bit of mud Zen we were doing the first time out. She'd sniff a clump of mud, get ready to pick it up, startle, stare at me, get a treat, and walk on. Leash was tight several (many) times, but she was lightly hitting the end of it and then coming back to stare at me rather than getting to the end and pulling. Most of the time she was conscious of where I was and how much of the leash she was using.

So many wonderful smells and textures!

This time on the service road we got to work on Horse Poop Zen and, once again, wow. She blundered into the scent cone from the first batch and walked to the end of the leash. Since she wasn't really pulling and we were going on HER walk, I just stood and let her sniff it. After a few seconds, she startled again and came back to stare at me. Click! We walked by more bunches and she scalloped toward it but never went close enough to grab any. On the way back, she actually walked OVER a clump of manure, dropped her nose to smell it as she was walking, and kept right on coming.

Back in our lane, with long dead grass on the sides, she got "the rips". She'd come to me for a treat, then drop her back end low, spin her tires, and race through the grass to within an inch of the end of the leash in front of me, spin and race to within an inch behind me, then forward again to stare at me to get a treat. That was WAY fun until one of her stunt-driving turns picked her up off the ground into a full airborne somersault and landed her with an audible thump on her back. That hurt. She squealed for a minute with her tail down. I picked her up and some part of her butt hurt but she got over it in a few seconds (and a few kibbles). That settled her down, no more ripping around. She walked politely at my side for at least 45 seconds.

Whatever problem she was having with sounds last week seems to have blown over. The hose in the dog tub made a strange gurgly noise that would have bothered her last week but was only mildly interesting this week, and I did her nails with the grinder again with no trouble (and very little peanut butter).

AND another "accident" because I wasn't paying attention. She's doing a good job - she's going right to the door and putting it there, so she certainly has the idea of housetraining. Now we just need to work on communication (HEY, STUPID, I NEED TO GO OUT!). Started with 1/3 of a meal shaping her to ring her bells. The next 1/3 I hung the bells on the door-to-outside. The final 1/3, I closed the door. When she rang the bells, I clicked, opened the door, and tossed a couple of treats on the other side of the door. See? You ring the bells and the door opens so you can get what you want...

Finally, since she's no longer fussing about noise, I got the outsides of her back legs shaved, and scissored her muzzle. I'm sure George Washington Carver didn't think he was inventing peanut butter so I could shave my pup's butt, but he goes down in my book as a great man anyway.

Long day, good day, synced Sync into the ground. Amazing the lengths I will go to to avoid doing income tax.

I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. With an entire class of 8 year olds.

Today was a super day. I paid better attention and there were no accidents (of course I use the word "accident" lightly - any accidents are totally my fault). We've tested out every behaviour and every extra in Level 1 and she's PASSED. And she walks pretty well on leash. And she rarely bites at or claws at the walls of her crate. And she came in the dog door once - I suspect she came in between Stitch's legs because the next time I found her curled up quietly waiting outside the door.

We went to the vet to get her second parvo shot. She loved up everybody and was intensely curious but unfazed by the various noises we encountered - the printer, the phone, busy people whirling by, a dog whimpering in the back. She sat on cue on the scale, and when I put her on the examining table she responded to the sit, down, touch, and Zen cues. Doesn't seem possible something this young can think of all that. She whimpered for a moment in the car on the way there, but quickly stopped and mellowed out for the rest of the ride. Whimpered once or twice on the way home, then curled up and went to sleep. Puppy vaginitis has cleared up, but she's got a bit of unfriendly bacteria in her ears so we got some meds for that. She was excellent when I cleaned them yesterday and when the vet looked at them today.

Wow! On to Level 2! And in another week she can go to puppy class (there'll be 2 classes left when she's OK to go, and she's been invited to come out for them).

I have to start trading her a treat for things she has that she shouldn't have, instead of just grabbing for them. She's starting to turn away when she has something in her mouth and sees me coming.

Maybe the most impressive thing she did today - for supper I had them both sitting, one on each side of me. I picked up one dish in each hand. I looked at Syn and said "No. (our Leave It cue) This is for STITCH." Then I put Stitch's dish down and Syn held her sit and waited. Then I said "This is for SYN." and put her dish down. There they were - each eating politely (OK, gobbling hysterically) from her own dish, and no more than 2 feet apart.

I took a neat series of photos today. My husband was badly bitten by a dog when he was a child, and when two dogs start playing really rough, he gets concerned. I think these photos are perfect for demonstrating the difference between rough play and serious annoyance.


Playing. Look at Syn’s body language. Her tail is up, she’s jumping at Stitch. Stitch is ready to grab her by the throat with a big enthusiastic grin.


Argh! Going for throat backfired! Puppy has her down! I love to watch adult dogs play “rough” with puppies.

And then Syn makes a serious error. She grabs Stitch’s tail.

Look at Stitch’s face. Her muzzle is all crumpled up - not the happy toothy grin she’s showing in the first picture - and the corners of her mouth are pushed forward. NOBODY touches the flag, Jack! Her voice has changed, too, from a cheerful “ung-ung-ung” to a lion roar. Syn hasn’t had time to react yet.

Here’s a better look at that crumply muzzle. Stitch is SERIOUS, and she’s letting Syn know it. Puppies who bite tails get in BIG TROUBLE.

No fool, Syn realizes her error. She’s pulled her ears tighter back, let go of the tail, and she’s backing up as quick as she can and turning her head away. If I didn’t know the dogs and saw this picture cold, I could easily think that Syn was about to be seriously injured. Stitch didn’t stop at just yelling “OW!”, she’s still coming, and she looks dead serious.

When she gets to Syn, though, her muzzle is starting to un-crumple, and since Syn stopped biting immediately and is accepting the correction by turning her face away, Stitch is content with a sideways bump to say “And I COULD have killed you if I’d wanted to!”

This is REAL dog communication, between dogs who speak Doggish. No actual force necessary, no matter how grievous the offence.

20 seconds later, Stitch offers Syn a better alternative for playing tug and Syn, understanding the lesson she was taught and taking no offense from it, is happy to accept.

Go for a long walk? Apparently I have no brain at all. I dreamt of being tortured all night and woke up in agony. Syn is still sleeping, an hour past her normal second-get-up time, and didn't pee when she was taken out at 6. Maybe next time we'll go for a SHORT walk.

I felt ill the rest of the day - sore, headachy, whine, whine. Syn had 4 accidents, ate 2 electric cords and a shoe, got poop on her foot and walked on my beige parlour carpet, and looked so cute when she fell asleep on my lap that I almost cried.

I ran through some of the Level 1 behaviours we've been working on - I think she's finally getting the hang of Zen without jumping up and trying to suck treats out of my hand before she backs off. Sit and down were excellent, and she was giving me downs on her mat. I took her out on a leash once and she was very good.

We did one whole meal working on Stitch's-food-Zen. At the end of the session, she was proudly staying away from Stitch's dish, her little tail wag-wag-wagging.

Then I went out and bought two short PVC exercise pens that come apart, and put them around a) my 10' kukui tree, b) all my computer cords, and c) at the entrance to the computer room so I don't have to keep trying to keep it blocked with assorted cardboard boxes and briefcases. Tomorrow should be easier.

I've lost a couple of blogs between this one and the previous one. Don’t know how that happened

The last day of her 9th week. Is it really 2 weeks since I first met her?

What a change in my attitude since yesterday! Thinking that she might actually ask to go outside has changed her in my mind from a walking, talking poop and pee machine to a very smart new baby dog.

We started the morning with a brief run-through of everything we've done so far. She's definitely responding to the sit cue!

Then a nap - I'm starting (starting!) to feel the pressure of a deadline. My first grandchild was due today, which means that sometime in the next 7 days, I'll be suddenly going on a trip. Of necessity, Syn will be spending some time in a crate while we're gone (she and Stitch are coming with me). I introduced her to the world's most important invention - a small Kong stuffed with peanut butter and kibble - and I've been putting it in the crate with her whenever I think of it (mostly every time I go to the bathroom). She's doing so well at night that I've moved her bedroom crate from beside the bed to the foot of the bed.

The weather was beautiful this afternoon - almost 7 above zero. Snow is squishy, mud is muddy. Stitch went to an obedience match with her friend Fish, so Syn and I went for a long squishy, muddy walk. She hasn't worn her harness and leash for four days, but she hasn't outgrown it (quite) and she remembered how to walk on the leash. She had a blast! She ate about 4 pounds of mud and half a bale of dead grass - let's see, mud and dead grass, gosh, she's making a brick! I hope it comes out before it sets... She got "the rips" and ran big circles around me, respecting the leash but not inhibited by it at all. She found horse footprints on the service road in front of our place and had a wonderful time following them, and then (gasp) a truck went by ponying some racehorses from the nearby track. I picked her up so she could watch them go by, and then she tracked them again. She got tired about halfway home so I carried her the rest of the way. I rinsed her muddy feet and belly and we had another long warm cuddly nap.

And we ended the day with a 3-way Come Game. Boy, does she know the Come Game! She plays it at the least hint that somebody might want her, racing enthusiastically back and forth between people. If she isn't tired tonight, she never will be!

Taught Syn to climb the stairs today so I could take a photo for the cover of Volume 1 of the Training Levels book. I like this one best



but this is the one that got “voted in”

Great night - she asked to get out of the crate at 6:30 so hubby took her for a pee, then put her right back in. When I woke up she was curled tight in her doughnut-shaped bed in the crate, calm and happy and looking at me.

Good: I take her out on a leash to pee. It's cold out (wasn't there supposed to be a spring this year?) - minus 18C and she's not inclined to explore. She pees immediately. If she has to poop she walks around the car once or twice. Then she's ready to come back in RIGHT NOW. She started out galloping for the door. The leash is long enough that she can run until she gets to the start of the paved walk. Then she'd run into the leash, I'd have stopped, I'd call her and give her a kibble, then I'd start walking forward and she'd gallop the remaining 10 feet to the front door. Today she was galloping to the place where she would have hit the tight leash, then turned around before she made the leash tight and came back to me. I gave her a kibble and she galloped to the door. GREAT. Lazy leash all the way!

Bad: she learned a nifty little chain when we're outside. "Hmmm. No treats in a long time. How to get mom to give me a treat? Oh, yeah, I remember! Stop, sit, don't walk. Then mom will look at me, show me a kibble, then I'll run over and get it! Cool! Boy, training humans is EASY!"

Stitch mopped the floor with her this morning. Literally. Sync lay down while holding onto a tug toy, and Stitch dragged her back and forth like a mop. Very cute.

Another training session.

I'm using her meal, which is about 60 bits of kibble, give or take (or, y'know, spill).

She didn't lose her sit when she started offering downs - she got the sit back immediately at the start of this session. I'm about a quarter of the way through telling her what it's called (Park) before I try asking her to do it - so, 40 or 50 reps with the cue so far in our explanation of sit.

I lured a down once, and she started throwing those at me again. I started telling her what the cue is.

Then we did touch. Still opening her mouth on my fingertips or licking (LOTS of licking - I almost always meet tongue when she's touching my hand), so I switched from my standard fingertips-together hand position to presenting her with my open palm and fingers. That worked better.

And on to Zen. Still licking my hand a lot. I'm going to blame the Linkable toy that she has to lick and bounce around to get treats out of. Still, it's worth it because it helps keep her occupied. She soon remembers that we're talking about Zen, but almost every time I present my Zen fist, she licks first. It is SO cute when she suddenly backs off my hand and wags her huge tail furiously: "I'm DOING it! Watch me! I can do ZEN!"

She was tired when I put her to bed last night, so I put her in her crate without Stitch next door. She went to sleep immediately and woke up at 6:20. Took her out to pee and went back to bed until 8:30. Aside from having to watch her every second she's awake, this isn't so tough...

Took her out again, trained sit, Zen, and down for breakfast, took her out again, and then let her play with Stitch for an hour until she tried to fall asleep on my foot, so I put her in her exercise pen with her big cuddly bed. She whined and fussed - I decided that's OK, but climbing on the ex-pen or trying to eat it (it's cloth) or standing up on it or screaming is not OK. Any of those sins and I go over to her, hold the skin on the back of her neck for a second, say UH!, and walk away. She barked once at me the first time, and settled down the second time and went to sleep. Excellent.

Morning was great, afternoon and evening were bad. I was trying to get something done and she had 4 accidents, only one of which I can attribute to the puppy vaginitis. The rest were strictly my fault. I really have to remember to pay attention ALL the time, or put her on a leash attached to me.

Binkie slept all night, 10 until 6:15 again. Dear little tat.

After I took her out, she and Stitch had a long, joyous romp. Stitch picked up many different toys and paraded them in front of Sync, inviting her to latch on and have a tug. Sync started out running alongside and underneath, with Stitch dancing sideways and pushing the toys at her. Soon, though, she got enough nerve to grab for the toy - and missed, and sank her nasty little puppy teeth into Stitch's throat, then stopped running and just hung there, growling and trying to shake Stitch - not easy when her feet didn't quite touch the ground. Finally Stitch abandoned the smaller toys and picked up a marvelous large tug toy with many long arms that gave them each a chance to grab on without danger.


Between playing with Stitch, learning things, biting my toes, and exploring the house, Sync slept well in her day naps, too.

This morning we went to the vet - yesterday she started peeing two or three times every time I took her out. I diagnosed puppy vaginitis and started her on vitamin C. Vet confirmed diagnosis and treatment. It's a 20-minute drive. I kept her quiet on the way there by caging a bit of kibble in my hand and letting her lick it. I gave her 5 of them on the trip, so 4 minutes of licking and 10 seconds of chewing on each one. On the way home, she curled up and went to sleep. I used the kibble-lick for the examination as well, and she came through with flying colours.

For lunch, we practised sit, Zen, and down. She's got an excellent sit, was offering it immediately and I started telling her that the cue will be Park (I am no more up to Sync Sit! than I was up to Stitch Sit!, and I don't want to start a cue with a sound that might be her name). Down she does readily, though she's not offering it yet. Zen - not so good, probably because of that kibble-cage I used to get her comfortable in the car. "Hey, howcome I could lick it before but now I can't? NO FAIR!"

I got caught up on a lot of paperwork today so tomorrow when she's napping I hope I can scissor around her feet. She looks like she's wearing snowshoes.

I wonder where my brain was last night. I'll start training today? I've been with her for a week now. She has learned:

- by dint of me accidentally stepping on her paw, her fur, another paw, and her tail, she has learned not to run freely under my feet.
- not to leap boldly out of my hands (fortunately she didn't have to fall on her head to learn this).
- jumping on her pen doesn't get her out of the pen, and jumping up on people doesn't get them to look at her (this isn't absorbed into her soul yet, but it's coming), while sitting in front of people who are holding food has a good chance of being productive.
- a loud UH means "don't do that" - don't bite fingers too hard, don't fleabite skin too hard, don't go behind the big chair where the wires are, don't eat poop, don't pull Stitch's hair, don't chew on daddy's leather chair, don't chew on mom's computer screen. Don't, don't, don't, don't. Sigh. A life bounded by don'ts.
- wrestling with Stitch CAN be fun

Since I changed her food, I cut her back from 1/3 cup 3 times a day to 1/4 cup 4 times a day. She seems better able to handle it, less poop and less thirst. WAY less poop.

Another astonishing thing I have learned. In the Olden Days, besides never training with food, we never used harnesses on dogs. I've had an ordinary little harness on her from the beginning and she's reacting to it brilliantly. None of the bucking and kicking I'd expect from a first introduction to a collar, and when she gallops ahead of me back toward the house and I stop, she bumps the end of the leash, she stops, I talk to her and she turns around and waits for me (or gallops back and bites me on the ankle). Yesterday and today she's bumped the tight leash very lightly, so it's teaching her that she's going to have to wait. I can sure see that if I allowed her to drag me to the house with the leash tight, she'd already be VERY good at dragging me.

Last night I put Stitch in one crate and Sync in another with a big cushy dog bed, then I moved the two crates so their doors were right up against each other. Puppy slept from 10 until 6:30! Tonight they'll start out the same way, then before I fall asleep I'll move the doors a little bit apart.

First thing this morning, Sync and Stitch shared a growly little 3-second tug on a toy. Then Sync rolled over on her back and Stitch bunted her tummy a few times - but Sync was growling and kicking her feet, so it wasn't (totally) a submissive roll. Later Stitch played an enthusiastic game of Keepaway with the pup, though I'm not sure Sync knew there was a game in progress. I think she was just bopping around the room seeing what sort of trouble she could get into. Just now Sync chased Stitch, growling and barking as she ran, and Stitch growled and wagged as she "ran away". I TOLD her she was going to like her present!

This afternoon we managed to scare the pee right out of her. She was in the dog room with Stitch when Stitch went out the dog door. Sync stood around wondering what happened to her and then... she came back in. She must have looked like the devil come through the wall to eat puppies because Sync screamed and ran for the kitchen. Stitch followed to see what the fuss was about, which didn't help at all. It took almost a minute for the noise to stop but Sync's resiliency is amazing. When she finally shut up long enough to think, she ran to me for a cuddle and then scolded Stitch for scaring her. I took some kibble out to the dog door and she wasn't concerned at all.

I started officially training today. Videoed the first session and didn't turn on the camera. Tried it again at supper and got beginning sit, Zen, and down. Hope to have it up on YouTube tomorrow.

Excellent morning. I was still tired but feeling much better. Sync is easy to spot when she has to eliminate - she suddenly looks distracted and starts prowling around the edges of the space she has. She had one accident the day we got home as I was bringing in my suitcase. Other than that, she's been good about waiting and honest about her intentions (and I've been watching carefully so far). It would have been polite if her mother had held off coming in season for another month, then I wouldn't have a pup in deep snow, but oh well. There's a huge drift with only dog-sized paths in it out the back door, so for now I'm taking her out the front door. She's eager to go, eliminates immediately, has a little rip to tell me she's done, and then gallops for the door to go back in the house (we have freezing rain and blowing snow, so outside isn't much fun).

I started working on sit for breakfast this morning, then remembered I wanted to video the first and passing session of each Step in the Training Levels, which I was too tired to set up yet, so I stuffed the rest of her breakfast into a big rubber hollow toy and to my amazement she spent a solid 10 minutes working to get the food out of it, pawing it, bashing it, lifting and tossing it. What dedication! Whee!


No accidents today at all, though she's a bit loose because I changed her dog food this afternoon.

I'm shocked at two things.

First, nothing bothers her (yet). She went through the huge airports in Detroit and Minneapolis with nothing but polite interest in what was going on around her. She bounced into my house, examined the dishwasher door, made friends with my husband and decided her place in the world is sitting on him in his lounge chair - or sitting on his lounge chair if he's not in it. She's been glad to see everyone she's met so far (not an overwhelming number - next door neighbour and my kids). She hasn't heard anything that has bothered her. And she lips off anytime anything happens that isn't according to her plan.

Second, she has an incredible understanding of where she is in the world. We went into my house once. When I took her out to pee, she knew the way back into the house even though we were on the other side of three parked cars - and I had carried her out.

She and Stitch are trying very hard to play with each other. They each look very attractive from 5' away. They carry toys to each other - but when they get a foot away from each other, Stitch starts looking large, Syn starts looking strange, and they drop their toys and back off. This evening they came very close to actually playing before they each thought better of it.

And, in spite of me not yet teaching her to sit, she's started sitting like Stitch does when she wants something we're holding.

Good day. Tomorrow we start training.

We have to get up at 4:30 AM. This is 2:30 AM my-house time, so Sync is well and truly in a bad time-zone spot. We drive an hour to the airport in Detroit while I try desperately to keep her awake. She undoubtedly looks on me now as the worst kind of pest - she's trying to sleep and I'm poking, prodding, and generally annoying her. At one point I put her front paws on my shoulders and stand her up on her back legs on my lap, and she falls asleep in that position. We stop several times to run her around the car to empty her out and wake her up. We're failing dismally in the wake-up department. This is the last time she'll ride in a car without a seatbelt harness or a crate.

At the airport, I stuff her into her little travel bag, hook the travel bag to my rolling suitcase, and off we go. I check the suitcase because I've got my purse and the dog bag, and there are shampoos and conditioners in the suitcase for another dog - too much liquid to carry on the plane. That means I have to walk through the airport carrying my purse and the dog bag. She's up to 8 pounds now, which is, really, nothing, until I hook it over my shoulder and have to walk half a mile carrying it. By the time I get to the gate, I'm convinced that 8 pounds is about the size of a Smart Car. She's quiet the whole way - maybe the rocking as I walk is calming.

BUT when we get on the plane, she starts muttering in an increasingly loud and shrill voice. I let her lick a bit of kibble, but I don't want her to eat much in case she has to poop on the flight, and getting teased with it just makes her mad. She starts barking at it, so I give it to her ("Management deals with THIS behavior. Training deals with the NEXT behaviour." - Karen Pryor) and several more. It's hot in the plane, and even warmer in her bag in spite of the screens all around it. Soon the heat and the little bit of food overcomes her. She acts like a swaddled baby in the close, warm environment. She kind of glazes her eyes over and is absolutely silent until we've arrived at home. No trouble on the flights, no trouble in Customs. I step outside the airport and she pees immediately when I set her down. I've got a little rust-coloured harness and leash for her (complements her colour very nicely) which, aside from scratching at the harness, she doesn't mind.

I take a cab home, and she's still quiet. Take her out to pee and poop again, give her a long drink and another pee, and then turn her over to my husband and friend because I'm so tired my teeth hurt. I go to bed at 6 PM. Thank goodness for babysitters!

Sometime around 10 my husband puts the dog bag on the bed next to me with the sleeping pup in it.

At 1 AM she has to pee, so I take her out. Right back to sleep.

At 3 AM she's too hot in the dog bag, but I'm still comatose. I can't do more than take her out of the bag and hold her next to me. She sleeps until 6 and then mutters to herself until 7 when I get up and take her out. I really need to get her out of Elaine's time zone and into mine, and on the travel day she ate "wrong", drank "wrong", slept "wrong" and played "wrong".

I'll be a better owner tomorrow.

Last night at the breeder's. Most of the other pups left this weekend, there are only 2 left plus Sync. Elaine lends me a little crate which we put on a low table right beside my bed. Wait until the three remaining pups are played out, fed out, pooped and peed out, and starting to droop, then I put Sync on my bed and cuddle her for a few minutes. When she's nodding off, I put her in the crate and stick my fingers through the bars. She mutters a bit, then goes to sleep. Good pup!

Twice during the night she wakes up and starts crying and I take her out. She pees immediately and heads right back to the door. Back in the crate, mutter mutter, sleep.

We test Sync again. Oh! THERE'S my puppy! She's feeling better today. She races after the ball, grabs it, and flings both the ball and herself bodily into the tester's lap. She scolds the pan noise and instead of following when the tester walks, she picks her up by the shoes and tosses her gaily over her shoulder. What a bad puppy! Just what I want!

This time when we lie down on the bed, she's chewing my hand and trying to climb over my head and whining. She talks ALL the time - not whining unless she's really not getting her way, but growling and rrring and rurr-rurring and purring and grumbling. And she's ALWAYS looking at me.

At bedtime, I wait until the whole litter is falling asleep and then take her to my room again. She plays with my hand for a few minutes and then settles down for a sleep, but she can hear her sisters muttering and she wakes up and starts screeching so I get her settled and then put her back with the rest. I've got a clinic to teach tomorrow and I need some sleep.

Today we temperament test 13 (!) puppies. My husband Ron always says "You left my puppy there and got YOUR puppy again, didn't you?!" when I come home with a new pup. *I* want the evil pup, the over-the-top pup, the one who growls and tries to eat my shoe and bites my fingers too hard. HE wants the quiet one lying in the corner. Looks like today he gets his wish. Instead of following the tester, Sync follows watches her walk. She watches the ball roll away from her and then lies down. She blinks when we bang a pot with a spoon, then yawns and lies down on the tester's foot. Everyone watching is laughing at the dismay on my face, but I trust the breeder's reports of her. Still, the other pups are retrieving and shaking pant legs. Sigh.

Today I meet Hunter Sync Or Swym At Dragonair for the first time. She's one of a large herd of Portuguese Water Dog puppies - 13 puppies! There are 10 girls, 3 blacks and 7 browns. I won't pick a puppy on colour, but I'd really like a little more white than I had on my first 2 Porties, if possible, and I've finally come to the conclusion that if "my" puppy is brown, that's OK. Actually I've come past that to the point where I'm hoping for a brown. I'm also hoping for the brown bitch with the most white that Elaine (the breeder) tells me was the first one out of the whelping box and the one who spends the most time beating up her brothers and sisters, but I'm planning on making a reasoned, informed decision. Like I did last time. Right.

They had their first shots a couple of days before I arrived and the pup I'm most interested in isn't feeling well today. Everyone else is playing and wrestling and she does too, but just for a minute and then she goes to lie down. Even so, she's watching me all the time I'm in the room. Her eyes are still blue, changing slightly to dark yellow around the outside of the irises. And always she's staring at me. The pups are all friendly, outgoing, unconcerned about anything. They have a big play/living pen with a little slide, tunnels, toys and a crate, and an adjacent potty pen which they're all using. Frequently Elaine opens the pen door and, like a brown and black flash flood, they all flow outside to romp and roll and wrestle and pee and poop in the outside pen. Binky stares at me.

After 10 minutes I say "OK, let's all stop pretending I'm going to be reasonable about this. THIS is Sync!"

We cuddle on my bed until I'm ready to go to sleep, then she goes back in the pen with the herd. Stitch wants to play with her but isn't sure how. She jumps at her a little too fast and scares the baby. She weighs 7 pounds.