Little Problem Solver

At daycare today I was back with the little dogs for the first time in a couple of weeks. Well Vito impressed me by wanting to explore on top of the kennels that are placed all along the back wall. He had seen another little dog go up there earlier in the day to sleep in the smallest kennel and Vito decided that it must be pretty cool up there. Apparently Vito isn't quite big enough or agile enough to jump up yet, but he tried. And then as I was watching him look so intently at the wall of kennels, Vito quickly ran a couple feet to the left and proceeded to jump on top of the only small plastic kennel in the row, and then used that to parade back and forth across the entire line of them! He looked so proud! And wisely, Vito decided against walking on top of the wire kennels after testing it out with one paw.

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Leaking update

So update on the peeing problem- Vito does not have diabetes insipidus after all. We took him to our trusted ferret vet who recommended taking him off the meds and collecting a urine sample from him first thing in the morning. If he is able to concentrate his urine after not having water all night, then he can't have DI. So after having to invade Vito's privacy for a couple days, and being scared to open certain drawers of our fridge, we tested all the samples. Based on the results, the vet thinks that Vito just has Psychogenic Polydypsia. Which basically just means they have no idea why, but Vito has an unhealthy obsession with water. Chances are he'll outgrow it!

And already we've noticed improvements. He still will sit at the water dish sometimes, but he has been going outside a lot less. When he has to come to Petsmart with me he can hold it for over an hour while I'm teaching classes!!!

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Lance's 2nd Rally-O Trial

Today Lance had his 2nd Rally Obedience trial. It was held at the club we train at so I was hoping that Lance would be less distracted and more focused.


Lance did absolutely amazing! His heeling was almost perfect, his eyes never left me, and he didn't even sniff one sign! I couldn't have asked for a better performance in my wildest dreams :) I did talk to Lance a lot more this time around, I used a lot of "good boys" and reminded him to "heel" on the many turns, but I don't even think he needed it. We qualified with a perfect score and placed 1st. It was a really big novice class, I think there were 20 dogs, and 2 others scored a perfect 100 as well. So it came down to time, and Lance finished the course 1sec faster then a golden who then placed 2nd! So we've done 2 rally trials, scored a perfect 100 2 times, and got 2 1st places! I am so proud of Lance :)

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Vito's 15 wks video

This is most of the stuff we've been working on since we got him. I am also in the process of teaching Vito to stand in a dish (we're up to 3 paws in), back up, retrieve, and cross his paws the other way.

The biggest thing we're still having problems with is Vito being calm and quiet when left alone. At home he's getting pretty good. He's quiet anytime we're in the bedroom with him, and for the most part he's quiet even if we're in the living room as long as he can see us. Most days he's even quiet if he can't see us as long as he know we're there. But leaving him alone is still a big deal. I left him alone on Thursday for Lance's agility class again and he was fine for 40mn chewing his bone, but then paced, panted, and screamed for at least 40 mn straight. The video camera died, but I"m assuming he cried for over an hour. And at daycare he's gotten worse when they put him in a kennel for nap. It's just for 5-15minutes until I free him to go home, but he's definitely gotten worse and won't even be quiet now when he can see people. *sigh*

At least Lance doesn't have a care in the world

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A nice day outside

It was really nice out a couple days ago, so I thought I would hang out with the dogs outside. Vito wondered why I had to wake him up

But then found something cool to chew on.

Sometimes those sticks move and your left looking like this

And it's hard to remember to open your mouth

Sideways works kind've well

And then there's this again

Yumm!
It's time to come in Lance
d'oh!

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Annual Trophy Match

Today I took the dogs to the club's trophy match. I decided to enter Lance in novice, even though we wouldn't be eligible for prizes since he has his CD, and decided to try open as well. Open was first and I really wasn't sure how it would go. Lance has never done a full broad jump before, he's hasn't done a retrieve over a full jump yet, and we haven't done a drop on recall in months! I was able to practice a bit before it was our turn and then just crossed my fingers.

He did ok on the heel off leash, not great but ok. His figure 8 required some cues for attention, but it wasn't that bad either. His drop on recall was amazing, and then we did the retrieve on flat. Lance stood up after the toss, but did a great retrieve! We've come along way considering he wouldn't pick up anything in his mouth less then a year ago. For the retrieve over the high jump I had a decent throw, and he actually did it correctly, yay! And I was happy that I had decent throws without hitting any of the jumps :) His broad jump was quite interesting. He actually jumped over the broad jump nicely intead of stepping on it like I thought he would, however after he jumped it Lance looked at me, and since he didn't get a treat thought that something MUST be wrong! Lance decided that just maybe I did want him to step all over the boards after all so went back to do just that :P It was very cute, I could just see his face light up with glee when he figured out that touching the boards must be the answer!

However, in the novice class Lance was an absolute mess. His brain was totally fried and couldn't heel to save his life. I decided to get out a treat before the off leash heel, so Lance got one treat before we started the exercise and performed perfectly on the off leash! Silly puppy. So we NQed in both events, but I'm very proud of his first time in the open class!

And in other great news, Vito came and did amazing in his crate! Adam was giving lots of treats, but Vito was able to stay quiet in his kennel while Adam walked 20ft away and stayed away for a while. Progress! Vito also got to have a little bit of playtime with another corgi. Echo is 1yr old corgi that also needed a break from her kennel while her big sister was in the ring.
Vito's 15.5lbs now at 15wks

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Lance is so charming

And Vito is a quick studyVito had class today (click a trick), so when Adam brought him into PetSmart he surprised me by bringing me some roses, and a balloon attached through Vito's harness. It was sweet, and I'm impressed that Vito didn't fly away! Unfortunately, Vito did a better job than Adam of holding onto the balloon. When Adam untied it for me he forgot that a balloon's purpose in life is to fly, so up and up it went!

Have a happy Valentine's day!

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Vito 14wk video

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Luke's new feat

Luke doesn't want to be left out. He thinks that agility is stupid and that cats would be sooo much better at it

Adam decides to have some fun. It always makes me feel better when I push a kitty

But I guess Luke just looked so cute, he changed his mind. Either that or he got scared...

Awww

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Agility update and Vito's kennel

Lance had agility class again tonight. It was his last week of Beginner 1, (his third level). He is doing really really well. We didn't do any contact obstacles today, but worked more on our handling, getting the dogs to read us correctly on what obstacles to take. I learn that I have to be very literal with Lance, he needs to know what he's doing next, or to run with me, or Lance just stops! I also got to try out Lance's new toy in class today. I got him a Tug It to work on is tugging skills (it's stuffed with food and oozes out threw the open weave when he tugs hard) and have been trying to use it to throw forward and keep him from coming back to me after each obstacle. I think it will help alot, but right now Lance will tug with it like crazy, but won't go after it if thrown as a reward yet.

I decided to leave Vito at home in his kennel today instead of torturing him in the kennels at TCOTC. I threw in a pigs ear and cow hoof, crossed my fingers, and left. I also set up a video camera, so when I came home today I watched it to see how he did. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that he chewed on a pigs ear for 63minutes! Generally he doesn't eat any bones if he can't see us, so that is very exciting. Plus an hour is a long time! However, at 65 minutes, Vito wanted out and seemed to realize we weren't there. Commenceforth soft whimpers, followed by loud screams, thrashing in the kennel, and finally lots of panting. Unfortunately I didn't get to see if he eventually calmed down as my battery died after 1hr 25mn of recording. When I got home he was quiet, but who knows for how long. And it's possible I reinforced an hour of crying by coming home at that moment :(

But Vito can now jump on the cool footstool. Yay Vito!

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Vito 13wk video

And he is a little puppy genius. This afternoon it was raining pretty hard (yes rain, not snow!!!) when Vito asked to go outside. As soon as he was out he regretted his decision, but still had to go. So after a minute of staying on the steps and under protection from the rain, he looked over to the side, saw a patch of snow that was also protected from the rain, and crawled underneath the railing. When he had finished peeing, he crawled back under the railing to the steps and asked to come back in!

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Bone Wars

Vito and Lance had an epic battle today. Well it was more like the game of Risk, were each player plans, takes their move, and then waits for their opponent to go.

I gave each of the dogs a cowhoof today. Normally I don't buy them since they are really smelly once slobbered, but I got them hoping Vito would chew on it at Lance's agility class this past week
(no such luck). So both were very excited about the prospect of a smelly bone. Since I've been making Vito eat any bones in his kennel, and Lance likes to eat his there anyway, both quickly munched away in their respective kennels. Until...Vito becomes obsessed with Lance's bone (or his kennel, or Lance himself, who knows!). I yell at Vito to leave him alone, but the next time I look over there he is again! This time I get up and walk on over only to find not one, but two bones in Lance's kennel. That cheeky dog ran into Vito's kennel and stole his bone when I wasn't looking.

For the next hour I was constantly looking over to find either a)Vito in Lance's kennel chewing on Lance's bone, b)Lance in his kennel guarding 2 bones, or c)both in the living room trying to eye each other for the slightest chance they would be able to steal a bone undetected!

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Separation Anxiety

Ok, I've finally broke down and admitted that Vito has a mild form of separation anxiety. It's not just frustration, but actual anxiety. Not good. On Thursday I went half an hour early to Lance's agility class so I could work with Vito in the crate. He really is learning to love his kennel....with the door open. He will stay in there while I walk 20ft away, come when I call, and then before I can even tell him to "kennel up" he sprints back to an open kennel. However, as soon as the door is closed he needs a treat every 10 seconds before he starts a panic attack. So during class, I quickly shunned Vito back to the crate room so I wouldn't have to hear his shrieking. After class I went to get him and he was surprisingly quiet. However, as soon as I opened the door I was attacked by one of those monkeys with velcro on all paws. He jumped into my arms and was shaking. I spent another half hour after class working on his kennel again.

At daycare he has also started whining when I have to leave the small dog area for a bit. Even for just a couple of seconds. Luckily he is fine in there if I'm gone for awhile, but when he sees me leaving he freaks. On the positive side he is good if left with Lance. I can leave him and Lance in the kitchen at daycare together, or in an expen, and overall Vito does ok with that. But I don't want him to have to be reliant on Lance to feel safe. I'm kind've at a loss though on what else to do. It seems like we are doing everything right.

This is Vito's girlfriend, Harleigh. Harleigh is a couple of days older than Vito and is a rottie/lab mix. They love making out underneath the playground equiptment. I tried to discourage them on Friday by lifting up the little castle, but as soon as it was back on the ground they raced under it to play again. Vito's in love.


Oh, and we finally got his meds Thursday evening, but haven't noticed any difference. He's only getting one nasal spray though, so we might have to up it to 2 (the recommended dose).
Vito weighs about 13lb now and is 14weeks old.

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