Won Over!

He's done it! Vito has finally won Lance over. It started out small, "ok, you can sit this close to me- as long as you don't look at me!" Then a few seconds in the backyard of chase, and now full blown play! Last night they played forever after Lance came home from work with me. Vito looked like he was on crack as he somersaulted, vaulted off of Lance, and repeatedly stuck his head in Lance's mouth! Now, they won't stop playing! Unfortunatly for us, it does mean that Vito has to go outside even more frequently because of all the running. But on an even better note, he's actually starting to whine a tiny bit by the baby gate when he has to go potty, yay!


Oh, and he's also finding the ferrets a blast to play with, but no no to pulling on their tails.

Vito has also come to Petsmart with me a little bit as he waits for Dad to get off work. He is following me really well on leash and just having great attention. He apparently loves everyone he sees, especially little kids, and only peed once in the store! He really is doing amazing with his training.

I however, apparently need some work on my training. I was all bummed out about having to go into work tonight since I am so tired, but drove all the way over anyway. Only to find out once I got there that the store closes in 2 hours due to New Years Eve and I don't have to be there after all! So yay for not having to work, but a smack on the forehead for being so stupid.

And of course, all this play leads to one pooped puppy! Happy New Years!

Read more...

Settling In

We made it! Vito has slept through the night until 5:30 which is when I usually get up! He is also getting the hang of the whole "don't pee in my house" routine, although feels he must pee only the smallest amount outside so he gets to go every 45minutes. He is also trying very hard to get Lance to warm up to him...


Doesn't really like no for an answer...


But settles for sitting really close...

The biggest thing still has to be his kennel. He's fine if he's really tired and knows you are around, but if he's only somewhat tired hell breaks loose. On the positive side, he is walking in there all by himself to eat a bully stick...you just can't close the door!

Read more...

He's a screamer!

Wow does this little guy have lungs! Vito apparently did not read the rules that says the average pup cries for about 20 minutes before settling down. No, this little guy cried for 2 hours before we finally gave in to our ignoring rule and went to his kennel. And this wasn't just crying, this screeching surpassed that of a jet engine. I first tried to give him treats for being quiet, but Vito refused to take any. I finally gave in and scooped him up where I could feel his little body shaking and panting. After a few minutes, back in he goes and I try shoveling food into his mouth for 1/2 second of quiet. Adam ended up waiting next to his crate with his fingers though the bars until he fell asleep and was good for the rest of the night.

Other than crate issues, Vito is doing great! I'm hand feeding him and making him work for each piece of kibble. He's quickly learning his name, hand signals for sit, down, come, spin, and turn. And also doing some puppy zen- no staring at the treat does not make it come to your mouth! Today I took him to PetSmart to show him off to my coworkers and did some training with him in the new environment. As much as he loves to chew on everything, Vito didn't nibble on his leash once! Of course everyone wanted to greet him, and he confidently walked up to everyone. At home, Vito is a little monkey. He apparently feels that the top of our head is a great place to explore!

Well, I'm just crossing my finger that tonight is a quiet night!

Read more...

Vito's 1st Day

Poor Lance, there is no break for him. Cosmo has left us, and our new puppy, Vito, is finally here. Lance seemed to want to play with Vito at first, but now I can look over and see Lance looking at me mournfully and sighing loudly. The pup wants to chew on EVERYTHING, even metal, but especially cords. Whenever we tell the the pup "ah" and redirect, Lance has the special urge to exhale and give me another look.

Vito also met the ferrets, but doesn't quite know what to think of them yet. When Lance was a puppy, I remember him crawling into my lap trying to hide from the strange little creatures. But Vito isn't afraid at all, he just doesn't know what to do. Zoe seems especially enamored with him, following him around quite a bit. She also bit him- twice. Once on the foot, and once on the lip; Vito squealed each time.

Our cat, Luke, was really put off by him at first. Luke's tail was huge when Vito first walked in, which was weird since he didn't do that at all with Cosmo. But now Luke finds it grand to sit right next to Vito as I am training him. Luke hopes that a stray kibble might just find its way into his mouth!

Overall, I LOVE Vito! He loves to tug, eat, chew, cuddle, pee, and sleep. Yup, he's a puppy! Except for having to take him outside every hour, listening to him cry in his crate (only 15 minutes, not bad!), and having him chew every wire in our house, life with Vito for the first 9 hours is perfect!

Read more...

New Puppy!

I am getting a toller puppy in 5 days! This past Thursday I drove up to visit the puppies again and did temperament testing with them. There are five extremely cute little boys. I am getting "red" the little spit fire. He was the boldest of the group, not afraid of any of the "scary" toys. I took him out into the hallway to see how he responded to training (they haven't had any individual training yet) and he got extremely excited about the prospect of treats. Extremely jumpy and bitey but I could see his little brain thinking. I am very excited! Now I just need to think of a name, preferably one that starts with "v" since that is the theme for this litter.

In the meantime, I am puppy sitting Cosmo, a corgi that we know from corgi gettogethers at dog parks this past summer. He's just 2 months younger than Lance, and they absolutely love each other! They are wrestling with each other almost constantly and then pass out. It's also good for Luke (the cat) as he generally likes to stalk Lance and pounce on his butt, claws out, and then runs away. Now Luke is trying this with Cosmo, but Cosmo thinks it is great fun and chases him back. Cosmo will leave us on the 25th, and then puppy comes the 26th, so no break for little Lance!
Generally, the roles are reversed!

Read more...

All About the Ferrets

Names: Zoe, Molly, Bjorn, Loki, and Opie
Nicknames (in order): A.D.D., Miss Spreads Em, Baby Bear, and collectively Loki and Opie are the Bad News Bears.
Breed: Ferrets
Birthdays: All were born around 2007 +- with Loki being the oldest and Opie being the youngest.

Arrival Stories:
I have owned ferrets since the 8th grade when I begged and begged my ferrets.  In a moment of weakness my mom agreed to getting a ferret if I wrote a research paper on them.  Soon ferret math hit and we had 3.  When the original one died due to cancer at a very young age (2yrs) we grieved and got 2 more making the total 4.  I went off to college and pined for my babies.  When graduation drew near I scoured craigslist and convinced my mom to pick up some ferrets while I was still in Iowa.  Zoe and Molly arrived.  By the time I graduated and came home, the last of my original gang had passed on and Bjorn very quickly arrived when I saw that Molly was too much of a sweetheart to properly occupy the insane Zoe.  I got married, moved out, and within the year got two more ferrets from the humane society, Loki and Bartleby who were suverely underweight.  Everything was great until Bartleby needed emergency surgery Chistmas Eve of 07 and passed away shortly after.  He had eaten some rubber piece and had a blockage and the surgery was botched.  Well Adam wanted another ferret and Opie was brought home.  All of our ferrets are rescues.

Personalities:
Well like all ferrets, ours are party animals.  They steal everything they can, bounce into walls, wrestle constantly, climb into places they shouldn't and pretty much just get into trouble.  Of course that's only for a very few hours each day since all that trouble leads to tired ferrets.  Ferrets sleep about 16hrs a day.  Ours share a gigantic cage that pretty much takes up our entire den.  Of course they all pile into one hammock most of the time even though there are plenty of options.

Of all our ferrets,  Zoe is the insanely smart one which makes her the most trouble maker.  She can jump 3ft baby gates and even after we went out and bought taller ones, she still finds every opportunity she can to move obstacles enabling her to leap from surface to surface until she gets into the area she wants!  Molly is our normal ferret which basically makes her not normal at all.  She is a sweetheart but way to calm to be a ferret.  I don't think Molly has ever gotten into trouble.  Bjorn is the sweet and cuddly boy named for "bear" in Norwegian.  He is also our master thief with pens being his specialty followed by shoes.  Loki went from being extremely skinny when we got him to very chunky.  He is our special ferret as for a long time we thought he was deaf, but turns out he's just stupid.  Oh Loki, Always entertaining to say the least!  And last we get to Opie.  Opie is a barrell of monkeys!  He is deaf (and a bit dumb!) but doesn't let that slow him down.  He is slowly surpassing Bjorn in his hoarding ability as he LOVES stealing all the dog's toys, even out of Vito's mouth, and also loves socks.  He is most known for teaching other dogs respect for ferrets.  Any dog that comes over to the house almost immediatley finds an Opie attached to their foot, ouch!  Vito is still scared of him.  But he is a blast and especially loves the kitty.


Likes:
Stuff to steal.  Tubes to run through.  Plastic bags, paper bags, crinkle sacks, anything that makes noises.  Furniture to climb on and jump from.  Rice boxes.  Life!!!

Pet Peeves:
Hmmm this is actually hard.  The ferrets just seem to love everything.  I suppose thier only pet peeve is having to wait to come out and play.  Oh and closed doors.

Favorite Tricks:
I have done a tiny bit in trying to teach the guys tricks.  Unforunately the smart ones are all highly suspicious of any treats I have tried so far.  So that leaves me dumb and dumber to work with, aka Loki and Opie.  The boys have managed to learn a decent rollover, although still near a lure and a beg (also with a lure).  sigh.

Ferret Youtube Videos

Read more...

All About Luke

Name: Luke
Nicknames: Ki Ki, Kitty
Breed: um, cat
Birthday: est. Sept 07

Accomplishments:
Secretly ruling the house.

Arrival Story:
We had been debating about getting a cat for awhile, especially when I fell in love with a kitten being fostered at my old job.  But ultimately we decide against it and decided to get another ferret instead.  Well the one ferret ended up being two and then shortly after that Adam came home one day with a kitten.  Someone had dropped off a box full of kittens outside of PetSmart in the wee hours of the morning and Adam decided to bring one home before the others went to a rescue group.  He presented a cute little girl that I decided to name Layla.  Well it wasn't long before I took a look and found out that my Layla was a boy.  Layla became known as Luke or more often we just refer to him as Ki Ki or Kitty, and I was heavily outnumbered in the gender department.




Personality:
Naughty.  Luke is a very feisty kitty who absolutely loves wrestling with the ferrets and Vito and loves to torture Lance.  Kitty's favorite activity is stalking Lance and then pouncing on him, claws out, whenever Lance is curled up sleeping.  Lance is terrified and Kitty wins.  He almost always looks evil, except when he's hungry and then he just looks pathetic.  Our Ki Ki is also a big cuddler and loves to sleep next to us on the couch or between our feet on the bed.  

Likes:
Plotting his evil ways.  Sitting in the bathroom, either staring at the vent or sitting in the bathtub.

Pet Peeves:
That he doesn't get free fed and has to wait for his lazy humans to feed him.  Closed doors, especially the entry way, followed by the basement.

Favorite Tricks:

Luke has to be on his chair and sitting in order to be fed.  We have also briefly dabbled in teaching him a beg, high five, and spin but progress is slow since Kitty thinks no cat should have to work for food.

His "feed me I'm so hungry I can't even move" pose

Read more...

All About Vito

Name: Vito
Nicknames: V, Young Nasty Man
Registered Name: Vermilion's Versatile Vito
Breed: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
Birthday: 10/31/08

Accomplishments:
Obedience: CGC

Arrival Story:
I spent a long time deciding what breed of dog I wanted next.  I settled on the toller after meeting several and hearing that they were like a border collie with an off switch :)  The plan was to get a puppy in the spring or summer of 2009 when Lance would be 2, but in the meantime I talked to a few breeders.  I made plans to visit with one breeder in the fall before even knowing that she just had a litter born.  So the time came and I went to visit the breeder and fully decided that she was the one to go with.  Of course one thing led to another and soon I was putting a deposit down on that litter intead of the expected litter that spring!  I went down to visit for temperament testing and she had already narrowed down my choice to two dogs that she felt were what I was looking for.  I decided to go with the crazy little spitfire :)  We took Vito home the day after Christmas and he couldn't have been a more perfect present!

Personality:
Vito is still a crazy little spitfire.  I have put a lot of training into attention and impulse control so most people now don't even know how crazed this little guy is.  That is until a tennis ball is brought out or something else puts him over the edge.  We have done a lot of work but still have a long ways to go with Vito being able to remain calm and not shriek in intense moments.  Training wise, Vito is very eager to learn and loves shaping.  He is very quick and often goes to offering a thousand things at once if you miss your timing.  I often have to pause several times during a traning session just to gather my wits and stop his frantic behavior.  But Vito is actually a very sensitive dog and usually a firm "ah ah" is all that is needed to stop any naught behavior.  With new situations Vito is very confident with anything in his environment.  He has never had any qualms about moving objects, being up high, etc.  However, Vito does have major "stranger danger!"  We have done a lot of work on this but sometimes any little change can cause him to react to people.  Vito is always 100% fine as soon as the person gets close enough where he can smother them with kisses, but before that distance Vito does his danger bark.  So he is extremely confident with lots of things in the environment but vary wary of little changes with people.  I really think that if I hadn't worked so hard on this issue right away with him that he would be a reactive dog, with people and other dogs, since all the signs were point that way at 9wks of age.


Likes:
Balls.  Tug toys.  Balls.  Anything that could possibly be thrown or tugged with.  Vito is a toy maniac and I love it!  Vito also loves his big corgi brother, especially when he gets to bite his butt during play.  The kitty and Vito are actually best friends and Vito just doesn't understand why Lance hates the cat so much!  And of course Vito loves cuddling.  He is an extreme cuddler and always wants to be touching someone.

Pet Peeves:
The ferrets.  Vito will occasionally play with them, but most of the time he stays away.  He doesn't like it when they steal his toys and stash them underneath the couch, and is afraid of Opie who tries to bite his feet.  Another pet peeve of Vito's is "strangers" scaring him like I posted above.

Favorite Tricks:
Vito's favorite trick, besides jumping on people!, is "are you sad?"  He also loves doing backward circles and will often do this when I don't want him to!  My favorite trick of Vito's is when he jumps into my arms.

Future Training Goals:
I dream big!  I would love for Vito to get his UDX in obedience and maybe even work towards an OTCH.  I am new to agility so don't have any title goals for that, but my dreams are also very high there :) 

In the future I might try flyball but right now I am afraid his brain would explode from it! 

Vito's Youtube Playlist:

Read more...

All About Lance

Stats:
Name: Lance
Full Name: Lakeway's No Ordinary Rabbit
Nicknames: Lancey Pants, Wonder boy, Lancito
Breed: Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Birthday: April 7, 2007

Accomplishments:
Obedience- CGC, CDX
Rally- RE, RL1
Agility- CL1, TN-N, NJC



Arrival Story:

I got Lance as our wedding present to me and my new husband! We picked him up on the drive back from our honeymoon at 11wks of age.


A corgi was chosen as the breed since I love big dogs but my husband wanted a smaller dog. Corgis have the energy I am looking for in the size he wanted Plus after having a really naughty corgi at the doggy daycare I worked at I just completely fell in love with them! After having Lance and since meeting many more corgis I would definitely own a corgi again. While they are smaller then I like I really enjoy their attitude!


Personality:
Very serious when it comes to training. Very laid back when it comes to almost everything else. You wouldn't believe that this dog loves to run since he is just such a chill guy. Even as a young puppy Lance acted very mature and almost never got into trouble. He has been such an easy dog to train in that sense! However, Lance is also very sensitive and hates to be wrong. He can easily shut down in a training session if he is uncertain of what to do. Lance likes shaping games but you have to make sure you don't miss too many clicks! Surprisingly, Lance doesn't mind repeating things over and over again. As long as he doesn't think it's because he was wrong, Lance will be content to drill again and again for nothing but kibble!

Likes:
Food. Other than Lance's love of anything edible he loves playing chase me with the ferrets, his annoying little brother, and me on special occasions where he barks with glee the whole time! Lance just loves to RUN!


Pet Peeves:

The kitty. Lance is not a fan of his little stalker friend who loves to pounce on his butt! Seriously, our kitty is very mean to Lance and takes great joy in tormenting the corgi. With some encouragement Lance will bark and chase the kitty back, but it's hard when at every opportune time Lance finds claws in his butt.

He also isn't the biggest cuddler although he loves to be close by. We have tried forever to get Lance to sleep in bed with us but he much prefers the privacy of the open crate. We do however spy Lance cuddling with Vito when in the car. Lance claims that it's not by choice, but we know the truth :)

And finally, Lance hates dogs in is face. He doesn't even so much as grumble most of the time, but I can just see his eyes roll each time we spot another crazy, undersocialized, untrained dog on a flexi run straight towards us at Petsmart!

Favorite Toys:
I'm working on building Lance's drive to play with toys. So far he seems to like bunny fur but we haven't worked up to tugging in most places yet. What Lance does like is balls. But only if the ball is in your hand. Once you release the ball Lance could care less where it lands or what it does. But a ball in a hand does not belong there and Lance will tell you so, loudly!


Favorite Tricks:
Lance knows a lot, but his favorite tricks are rollover, beg, and high five in that order! My favorite trick of his is "pose" (cross legs) since that trick took forever for his stumpy legs to do.

Future Training Goals:
My goal is for Lance to get his UDX in obedience. I don't see us going past that as it would require some major overhauling of the technical aspects (no forging on heeling, straight fronts and finishes) that I just didn't train right from the beginning. Plus I just don't think I'm an OTCH level trainer!

I am also leaning towards starting freestyle with Lance and possibly competing in the future. Lance really LOVES doing all his tricks and I think he would enjoy freestyle.

I don't have any agility goals yet since I'm still figuring everything out, but my goals are high. Lance loves it!

Lance's Youtube Playlist:

Read more...