Down to 2

The trip to return Pyra went pretty well.  Py was happy to see so many "new" doggy friends and even got to play with the litter of puppies.  She apparently figured out how to play leap frog in order to get to the toy bin on her first night.  Also is learning some quick lessons about needing to look before you leap from the top of the couch.  

The 6 pack litter was crazy.  All so cute and moving so fast that it was hard to tell who was who!  I've decided we will soon be picking up "Honeyweiss" to bring back home.  

The house is empty and oh so quiet without little Py.  Haven't had just 2 dogs in a long time.

Good thing Vito is the best cuddler, even if he's not as insistent as Py was.

The only good thing about winter here is that with the ticks finally gone, we can go walking again in the fields behind our house.   In this picture Vito is right at the very edge of our actual property.

We did just have a mini warm up though.  With temps back to the 30's and some melting snow I can see the driveway again.  Will go back to freezing this week again though.

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Pyra's Last Week

The time with Pyra is coming to a close as I will drive her back to her breeder on Friday.  I thought this last week would be harder than it has been.  For the most part I'm at peace with my decision. Sadness, but no regrets.

Py just turned 18wks.
This past week we mastered a retrieve to hand of many objects, and a solid hold with a variety of objects.  Just not combined yet.
Hind leg lifts also going well and I've faded out an obvious target.  She still needs something to aim for, but it can be pretty much anything, including just a wall.
She's reminding me a bit of The Schipperke this last week though with her food obsession.  Py's been getting more frantic at throwing behaviors at me and wanting to steal glances at her food bowl.  I've been needing to remind her a bit of the don't stare at food rule, and the concept of being still.

And then I got a non cell phone camera! Expect *slightly* less blurry pictures than before!

On the trip to return Pyra I have decided to also look at a litter that will be 6wks at that time.  In some ways it's too soon, but in many ways it feels best to just jump back into loving another puppy.  Fingers are crossed that the girl meant for us is waiting there.

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Pyra 16wks

This whole decision to return Pyra is way harder on us than it will be on Py.  I know it's going to be easy for her to find a great home and new people to love.  Such a confident and easy girl!  Huge thank you's to everyone who has been supportive of our decision, even if you disagree.

Last picture with leaves.  First snowfall brought 7 inches to our door.  It's safe to say that Py loves the snow!

Pyra remains the most cuddly puppy of all time.  She constantly wants to be crawling on my lap, back, or even head.  The advantage point of sitting on top of the couch allows her to easily able to offer   all possible variations of crawling on top of me with 2 or even all 4 paws.  Supreme couch monkey.

Bad selfie.  But chin rest on head is better than standing on my head.

Vito is used to her clunking around on the couch and falling everywhere, that he hardly notices anymore when she just decides to stay on top of him.  Good boy Vito.

The plan is to drive her back to her breeder in 2 weeks.  In the meantime, fun with training has continued:

1. Backing up to her 2o2o has been successful!  We have about a 3ft backup at this point and very rare cheating of spinning around and going forward to the little box.

2. Formal retrieve of objects we are still working on moving to my hand.  Progressing nicely with movement but Py has also offered just sitting and holding the item as well.  I think she has been my only puppy to ever offer a solid short hold of an item!  Typically I always train retrieve to my hand before I work on being still and holding as it's just easier and more fun.  So Py is the first dog I've taught a little hold first, and we're up to 3 solid, non-mouthy, seconds!

3. Hind leg lifts!  Py had her first few lessons on putting just one of her back legs on a vertical-ish surface.  Lots of attempts to smash my little leaning board to the ground so she can more easily stomp on it.  But I think she's starting to get the concept

4. Drumming!  Another new trick for Pyra.  Such an easy but fun trick.

And of course we continue an occasional session of her other tricks.  So far she has also been introduced to:

- shake (L), paw (R), scootch backwards, are you sad, frog, (sad frog), reverse between my legs, walk on my feet, weave between my legs, spin Right, spin Left, 4 feet in a small box, out around a cone/tree/something, under a chair, nose touch hand, rollover

I wouldn't bet a dollar on any of them being done on one cue though!

Lance is so good with the puppies!

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The Most Difficult Decision

While I have been writing about Pyra these past two months I haven't been sharing everything.  I noticed Pyra's feet turnout and jutting elbows starting around 10wks of age and have been closely monitoring.  It's been quite the roller coaster ride of feeling optimistic she will outgrow it and feeling completely wrung out with worry that her body will never be able to handle the impact of dog sports.  Around 14 weeks of age I was fully panicked with worry and by 15wks of age I called to make an appointment with a specialist to discuss her options and predictions for the future.

In the meantime I've went back and forth several times a day on what I would do if her body could not handle training for dog sports.  On one hand, the amount of time I spend on a daily basis training for sports is a miniscule amount of the time we spend just hanging out together, going for walks, and cuddling.  But on the flip side,  the time I do spend training each dog one on one is priceless to me and I believe it forms the foundation for the strong bond I have with my dogs.  I know that without the push to train for the sports I love, I would need to make a much greater effort to get that same type of effortless communication and teamwork with her.

I've also thought immensely about whether it would be even be doable to keep Pyra, and get another puppy in a year as my performance prospect.  Do I have the time and money to devote to 4 dogs?  If so, what about the future when Vito gets close retirement and I have 2 retired older dogs?  So many questions and so many thoughts whirling around.

The discussions I've had this last week with the specialist left the decision I needed to make a reality and not just a "what if".  The radius (or maybe the ulna?) isn't growing at it's normal rate and it the cause of both the leg turnout and the elbow issue.  It's not going to get better.  It is possible it may not get any worse and she may not have any symptoms of limping or pain.  By the time she's 8 months we should have a pretty good idea.  Any problems she could have will likely stem from the elbows and not her feet.

According to the orthopedic specialist she could possibly do agility just fine.  But from others I've talked to about the impact that jumping and turning creates on the dog's front end, I don't think I could ever feel comfortable trying it and could never forgive myself if she was in pain and just not showing signs right away.  From discussion with rehab specialist, the risk of arthritis is high and the chance of injury greater.

Ultimately I've decided to return Pyra to her breeder to find her a good home as a pet.  As you can imagine this has not been an easy decision and the choice will only get harder as the day to hand her over comes.  Currently we are still working out the details and deciding what comes next.

I'm so sorry Py.

Finally mastered backing up to her 2o2o position!

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Pyra 15wks

Miss Py turns 16wks old tomorrow and weighs 20.8lbs.  I'm easing back down on my guess for her final weight, maybe 37lbs now?  But then again she still is up to where Gracie and Fiona were at the same age!

We had a few more fun days exploring the park and a new little neighborhood "nature trail" as well.
Sadly with the lovely invention of daylight savings time we won't be able to go after work anymore on the few nights I'm not teaching classes.

It's so hard to get Vito to look at the camera on our walks!  He will stay, but that boy is constantly trying to air sniff

Learning this week has been trying to master 3 areas

1. Backing into the 2o2o position on a box.  We've finally made some progress on this trick.  For a few weeks now Py has had all my "prerequisites" and then some in order to be able to do it.  But the lightbulb was just not clicking and I couldn't get her to offer it.  I even tried some variations on my normal training plan with no luck.  I can't say that she knows what I'm looking for, but at least she has done the backing up to the position a few times now.

2.  Formal retrieve.  The previous week we finally got open mouth on non toy objects (non thrown items) and now we have movement with the items.  Still not to hand but I'm thinking we will get there this coming week.  Py gets super frustrated with this trick.  All about her paws and not so much about her nose and teeth.

3. Offering spins.  Py has had nice fast spins left and right with a hand signal for awhile.  But I haven't been able to get her to offer the behavior or listen to the verbal cues left and right.   With the help of better reward placements we finally have offered Rights and I'm hoping for offered Lefts soon.

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Happy Halloween

Vito as the Riddler.  Full of questions, but sadly he doesn't share the answers with me.

Lance as Batman.  Of course.

Pyra as Harley Quinn.  Adorable sidekick.

They do have hats.

Epic battle between good and evil.

Trick for Treat?

I think Batman was defeated.

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Pyra 14wks and Video

Miss Py had a few new experiences this past week.  Most of them at the agility trial where she learned about lovely dirt floors and horses.

She's starting to lose her puppy fuzz and look like a real toller now!  Well, still a golden retriever actually.

We played with toys and leaves outside and mainly used food inside the arena.  Partly because I didn't want the toys covered in dirt and partly because she's very food focused and toy love is not quite as high yet.

Training wise the only new thing is she's starting to get the concept of biting an object for her retrieve training.  Py had a nice nose touch previously but wouldn't open her mouth until this week.  We also are building some distance on our sends around cones and trees for little puppy agility!

Our little pivots and side steps for heel work are pretty hit and miss right now.  Lovely some days and other days she is completely insistent that I must want her either between my legs or in front of me.

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Pyra 13wks

Pyra at 13 weeks seemed like a really big milestone for her.  At 10 weeks I remember feeling like the lightbulb was starting to come on in her training sessions.  She was learning that she was in control of the cookie delivery.  And now at 13 weeks I feel like the light is getting brighter.  This past week Py started offering most of her behaviors and you can see the wheels just turning in her head.  Her Frog Legs trick that we were still struggling with a pillow under her hips she was able to purposefully offer for a cookie!

A few people who have watched our quick meal training sessions have commented on how I'm really not using any commands at this point.  I'm just in no rush.  Right now her training has very little to do with learning words and lots to do with  Py figuring out how to communicate with me and discovering body awareness.  If she offers a behavior other than the one we were working on I usually just go with it.  I might later regret that I'm letting her hop from one thing to another but right now it's still cute and fun.  I suppose that's how most naughty behavior start!

I'm also heavily managing Py's focus when she is out and about with me.  We still have our romps at the park where she can just sniff and explore, but pretty much everywhere else when Py is on the ground I'm in training mode.  I almost always have a toy or cookies on me to reward her for offering behaviors and for keeping focus on me.  If I'm not able to give her that feedback then I'm just scooping her up in my arms.  Or in her group class she's either in my arms or in her crate for 80% of the class so that the remaining 20% she can give me full effort.  An hour class is too long for any dog, but especially a puppy!

Still working lots on chase me games to try and cultivate a love for running.  While Py is still fairly uncoordinated she is sure gaining speed.  I can no longer out race her and I've added the words Go Go Go to her tiny vocabulary.
And Py continues to claim the highest point of the couch.  She says it has the added bonus of easily being able to see whatever food I'm eating.

Toller bonding.

The Duck continues to be slightly bigger than the Teacup Labradors of Gracie and Fiona.  She weighs 19lbs today!

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Pyra 12 weeks

Since Py turned 12 weeks I've taken her to the nice disc golf park a few times to swim in the lake and run on the paths.  She is pretty darn independant on our walks and really doesn't care if she is abandoned while she checks out a good spot.  Luckily Pyra really likes her food so she is mostly coming when called and also likes to check in every now and then to beg for some more.
Some more accidental swimming! But only did it once and then has been careful not to get too far in the water.

She seems to have come up with her own solution for couch overcrowding.

Vito is pleased.  Until sometimes she falls on top of him.

At this point we're nice and settled with her routines.  Almost too comfortable in that it's easy to forget that she's still a puppy and really does need constant watching.  But Py knows about watching other dogs train, mostly uses the rock potty area without prompting, chews slightly less on naughty items, and runs to her crate when asked.  Too easy.

And on Neurotic Toller days, Vito will even play with her.  Meaning he will growl very loudly the whole time and pin her to the ground often.  But he's in a play bow the whole time so Py can clearly stop panicking :)  Actually she does really well with all the dog's she has met, including Vito.  Very confident and bounces back easily from being pushed around.

New thing we worked on this past week was re-visiting hind feet on a box.  She had done one session a few weeks ago but then I stopped due to some confusion and struggling with Frog Legs.  Frog still sucks, but it's going a little better.  I also introduced nose targeting a dumbbell for the start of formal retrieve training.  And we've recently started to do some pivoting in heel without her little perch.  Biggest hinder in that training is her tendency to auto sit.  I've learned from previous puppies that I really don't want the sit at heel introduced so early as it interferes in fluid motion when they're still learning.

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Pyra 11 wks

And just like that the socialization window is starting to close as Pyra turns 12wks old tomorrow.  Nagging questions of whether we went enough places, met enough people, experienced enough different noises, surfaces...

Pyra did go to her first agility trial this weekend!  Mainly stuck in her crate (quietly!) but she did come out for some tugging and a few treats.  Going back and forth between the two rewards certainly needs some more work.  The Duck is all about food these days.

And we knew it was inevitable but she made it up to the taller couch this week.  Vito's couch.  He's still doing a pretty good job of pretending she doesn't exist!

Except sometimes it's just too busy and crazy for him.

Only 1 new trick was practiced this past week.  Pyra has been learning to back up towards me, to return to being between my legs.  We are pretty consistently up to about 2ft now, with a treat tossed out to reset her.

Py also started her first Puppy Agility class this last week.  It'll just be fun to have her in a group class while working on those important foundations.

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Pyra at 10wks

Pyra remains a calm and confident girl.  I'm trying to get her to embrace in her inner sass.  She's certainly bossy and super loud with other dogs!

I'm also trying hard to be good about getting Py to new places as often as possible.  Socializing a pet dog is certainly harder than socializing the service pups in training.  And I'm not going to take for granted The Duck's confidence with new things in the way that it is so easy to do with the labradors.  So we've sat outside a few stores and have had a visit to the soccer fields.

Easy going seems to be her motto in life as Py rolls over for everyone to rub her little belly in a relaxed manner.  Not jumping on people hasn't even come up as something to train for.

Did figure out jumping onto the couch a few days ago.  The world will never be the same!  Vito appears to still be safe though as the main couch we cuddle on is a bit higher off the ground and she can't quite do it.

This week I felt that she really understands the concept of offering behaviors.  Previously she learned that doing certain things got a cookie, but now Py seems to get that she is really in control and can MAKE me click.  That means learning this week is both a little more frantic as her brain starts to whirl through her options and much more purposeful at the same time.

Her old behaviors are faster and a tiny bit more cemented now.
- Spin left and right
- Sprinting into her crate
- Go mat
- Pivoting to heel on a book (and still struggling a bit with pivoting to side without help from me)
- Rollover.  Although I'm trying to get her to offer it and it's not happening yet.
- Leg weaves. Just kinda starting to get without an obvious lure.
- Hand touches.
- Shake and paw. Not quite consistent in aiming for my hand but she's sure getting paw lifts.

New learning includes
- Training with her food bowl on the ground
- Very basic auto leave its.  But not very much emphasis put on this compared to the other puppies as she is too good right now!
- Scooting backwards in a down.  Her current go to behavior!
- Back feet on a block
- Frog legs.  Struggling a bit with this one as she's just too frantic about crawling!
- Up!

Py is 11wks tomorrow and weights 14.8lbs!  Almost a 2lb gain from last week and bigger than both puppy Fiona and Gracie at the same age!

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Back to 4

She's back.

Gracie did pretty well her first week living at the kennel but week #2 she became mopey and only wanted to cuddle.  So the lucky lab gets to come back home with me until she actually moves in with her new mom.  If all goes well next week the plan is for Gracie to move in either next weekend or early the following week.

Having four dogs in the house makes me briefly feel like the most amazing dog trainer ever as we're out for a walk.  And then the next second it feels like the biggest mistake ever as the puppy goes through my legs and tries to trip me.

Pyra is happy for a constant playmate.

Gracie just doesn't know how to say no, and actually mean it.

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