By katie, on December 31st, 2012%
My baby boy is growing up! It was a day of firsts today and my heart just doesn’t want to accept the reality: He’s not a baby anymore!
 December 15, 2012 – 6 months old  Embee’s Stupendous Flying Man! It started this morning with a text to Mary Beth that said, “I think Calvin is starting to mark!” My next text was to his Auntie Nikki and said, “We need to talk!” Calvin just marked! Aaaah! Nooooo! Eeeek! Aaaaack! Aaaargh!”
That pretty much sums it up! I have never had an intact male dog before. Magnus was an early neuter, by the rescue at 8 weeks, so he doesn’t even lift his leg to pee. (I would NEVER do that again, structurally I can see how it was detrimental to him.) Summit lifted his leg, but I don’t remember him marking really. He was double cryptorchid and neutered at 10 months, so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I really don’t know anything about living with a dog who marks! Thus my dramatic texts this morning.
Then this afternoon it happened! He lifted his leg to pee! I am so silly, but I got all emotional about it. I mean he pees like a big boy now! It’s pretty funny cause he doesn’t have good balance and his aim stinks so twice he almost tipped over and once he fell off the curb. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but it made me chuckle.
That wasn’t the only first though. Right after that he came in and hopped right up on my lap with NO help! It was like all day he was telling me, “I aint no baby!” I actually got teary eyed when he did that! I just can’t believe how grown up he is.
He never really went through an observably change at his 14-16 week fear imprint period. I noticed a few small changes, but nothing really notable. So this is the first real developmental change I’ve been able to see affect him.
I could tell he didn’t feel himself today. He was SUPER needy at the store. Barked up a storm while I was with customers for the first half hour or so we were there. Then every time I picked him up he would just burrow in to snuggle my neck. I know he’s not feeling quite himself when he’s that snuggly at the store, normally he’s all about play, play, play there.
We’ve been having so much fun. Walks in the snow, classes, training new tricks and foundation skills. He’s just a blast. He’s got Magus playing and it just makes me laugh. Maizey went though a couple of days where she had just had it with him so he transferred his attention to Magnus and now they go out together and just chase and run. Today they were tugging together. I bet they would be crazy players if Magnus hadn’t got sick when Calvin was little. Oh well, they are making up for lost time now.
He’s as wonderful as every oowie gooey gushy post says he is, even if he is a pee monster now! Each pup sure does come with their own set of lessons and today Calvin’s is lesson is to teach me how to deal with a marking BOY dog!
By katie, on September 30th, 2012%
Warning: Do not continue reading if you are uncomfortable with gross anthropomorphism.
I raise dogs that are like me. I don’t know how, well I sorta do, but I make dogs that are their mothers daughter or sons. Maybe I raise dogs to be introverts like I am.
I’m doing it again with Calvin and play. He doesn’t love puppy play. He’s okay there, not hiding or afraid, but he doesn’t love it. As a puppy momma I feel the same way. As a trainer I enjoy puppy play. I’m in charge and that must satisfy the control freak in me. As a puppy mom I hate it. I get uncomfortable and nervous. It’s called puppy social for a reason and the word social and I? We aren’t on good terms.
Introverts are most comfortable with just a few people, or even just one. We don’t need a crowd to satisfy our social needs. In fact crowds are overwhelming. To me crowds are like watching 10 TV’s at once, all on different channels, all with the volume full blast. It’s input overload. Put me in a room with 10 families and 10 puppies and my head is absorbing way too much. That’s why introverts like smaller groups. My brain absorbs so much as once, it’s exhausting.
 “It’s okay mom, I can be your snuggle puppy!” It’s not that I don’t like people, I do! I find people fascinating. I love the capacity for showing human compassion we were created with. I love teaching. I love learning. But put me in a group that big and I can only handle it for a short period of time before I want to just shut down. Put me in a group that big with a puppy to protect and I go into overload even faster. That’s where the problem comes in, that’s where I make dogs that are their mothers daughter or sons.
When Maizey was a puppy I was reactive, to say the least. It was a very anxious time of my life and I was having regular panic attacks. None of that equipped me to help her. I know her genetics and my genetics are not a good match. We have a conflictedly parasitic/symbiotic relationship. If there were such a thing. While I’m convinced there are few people equipped to handle her I also know she would be much better off with a calmer person, especially when she was a puppy. Sometimes we do trigger each others anxiety, but we also take care of each other and I think I understand her in a lot ways other don’t and couldn’t.
By the time Magnus came along I was not so reactive and more settled into my introversion. I think it shows, when it comes to dogs he’s a lot like I am with people. He likes dogs, he’s okay with dogs, but he prefers one or two and in small doses.
I can see it happening with Calvin too. I like kids, I don’t have kids, but I like kids. I especially like to interact with one or two kids at a time. I don’t really like the loudness of kids, it goes back to that input overload thing. I prefer adults. He’s already like that with puppies. He doesn’t really like puppy play, but he really loves to play with grown up dogs. Today at puppy play he interacted a little. He doesn’t hide and he would really like to play with the big dogs, but he doesn’t really dive in there and enjoy himself. Then this afternoon this sweet blenheim, Cheeto, came in with his dad. Calvin loved him! LOVED him! They played until Cheeto was pretty sick of Calvin, but Calvin would have just kept on chasing! All Calvin’s work Aunties were so surprised. I told them, he’s his mothers son. He doesn’t like crowds, it takes him a minute to adjust to new environments and he does best one on one with grown ups. I was very similar as a kid.
 “It’s okay mom! We can just play with you!” I worry about it a bit. I don’t care so much of they are doggy introverts as long as, like Magnus, they have the skills to deal with being around dogs peacefully. Calvin is nothing like Maizey was and I bear little resemblance to the mom I was to her, so I’m not worried about him being reactive. I just hate to think I affect them with my stress. It’s a pointless thing to worry about. What I should, and am, more concerned with is giving them the skills to deal with me being their mom and them being their mothers children. But isn’t it crazy how in tune dogs are to us?
It’s their ability for compassion that I love so much, but also makes me worry about them. Maizey especially. It is just crazy how she reads me. I can be totally quiet on the outside, but she knows the instant I reach a certain level of internal anxiety. She comes and taps me and if I don’t calm myself down she insistently smothers me. I love it, but I hate for her to take on that self appointed job.
It will be interesting to see how Calvin grows. He’s certainly more people oriented than either of my other two. We’re working already on when you can say hi and when you can’t. However he turns out I’m proud of who he is already. I can’t help but be who I am and if that makes them a bit more reserved I guess we can deal with it. I don’t believe dogs need to play with other dogs to live fulfilled lives, but I do want them to be comfortable around other dogs. We’ll keep working on puppy play and who knows, maybe I’ll let one of his trainer Aunties take Calvin to play next time!
By katie, on September 27th, 2012%
If you have a puppy you know all about sharp, pointy, razor sharp shark teeth constantly tearing at your flesh, or at least that’s how it feels sometimes. You probably also want to know how to stop it.
 “I am puppy! I will bite your face!” So lets get this out of the way first: Your puppy does not bite you because they are bad. They don’t bite because they are aggressive. They don’t bite because they are dominant or don’t see you as a clear leader or alpa. They don’t bite to hurt you make angry.
They bite because they’re puppies. They bite because they explore the world with their mouths. They bite as a way to communicate. They bite hard because they haven’t learned bite inhibition. They haven’t learned bite inhibition because we as mom’s and dad’s haven’t taught them yet. In fact, unwittingly many people reinforce hard biting without even realizing it.
If a puppy bites their mom or one of their litter mates too hard the litter mate will yipe and move away, effectively communicating the bite got too hard and they don’t play with bullies. Thus puppies learn bite inhibition, or to control their jaw muscles and how hard they bite. If a puppy does not learn bite inhibition before they get their adult teeth and they bite, the bite will do damage. Thus there is more importance to teaching bite inhibition than just protecting our own skin. (Although that is important too! Just ask my arms right now!)
So how do you go about teaching a puppy not to rend your flesh? Here’s what not to do: Do not grab your puppy’s muzzle, holding it shut. Do not pinch your puppy’s lip or dig your fingernail into their gums. Our dogs need to be able to trust a human hand coming towards their face so always keep a hand reaching towards your dog a positive experience.
The most effective way to teach bite inhibition is to have a zero tolerance of hard biting policy. There needs to be a consequnce for hard biting. The consequence is all fun ends. Teach your puppy the same way their litter would teach them. If your puppy bites you remove yourself from the puppy. You can exclaim, “Ouch!” but combine that with a consequence. The consequence of biting is mom or dad goes away, game over. I use the cue “Too Bad!” then walk away from Calvin.
 “I don’t know why she’s saying I’m a biting machine. I’m a nice boy, I am!” “Too bad” is my timeout cue and I use it when ever a dog is going to be put in timeout. For biting it’s usually easier to just put your puppy down and walk away. If the puppy follows you close the door or leave them behind a baby gate. If the whole family is there everyone must ignore the puppy. If the puppy is gets attention from another family member after biting hard they will keep biting hard. The same is true if the puppy is allowed to bite dad hard, but not your 8 year old. Consistency is very important. The more consistent the whole family is the faster the puppy will learn not to bite hard.
You can prepare a timeout area for your puppy. This can be his crate, but can also just be an xpen, the bathroom with a baby gate across the door, or any barren, boring, puppy proof space. If using a timeout area, be quick about putting them in there. If you’re outside and have to take the puppy inside he won’t know what the consequence is for. The consequence has to come within a couple of seconds of the hard bite.
Now I’ll take off my dog trainer hat and put on my puppy momma hat and just say, this is hard to do consistently. It’s hard, but it works. My personal survival tip is to keep a toy in my pocket at all times. If the biting gets wild I redirect to the toy. Bullies, cow tails and ears, trachea tubes are all my best friend. Keep healthy chews on hand to give them when they’re having a hard time. Pay attention to the times your puppy is wildest. For Calvin that’s 9:45 PM. If he’s not in bed by then, all bets are off. All bite inhibition ends by then. He gets wild and crazy. My solution? Put him to bed at 9:30 PM.
It also helps me to remember age affects a lot. He’s 14.5 weeks old and entering fear imprint period, I know things in his brain are changing. I also know things will get better and then he’s going to start teething and it will get worse again. Not a hopeful thought, but a fact none the less. Remembering those things helps me be consistent.
As a puppy momma the thing I most want to say is please don’t get mad at your puppies. As a trainer I see so many frustrated puppy moms and dads. I get it. I’m living it and puppies are a full time job, but they don’t bite you to hurt you. They bite you cause they don’t know any better and it’s fun! For them anyways. So if you’re frustrated by the time out put your puppy in timeout you’ve waited too long. Timeouts are for instruction, for training and should be done with matter of fact calmness. Remember they are only puppies for such a short time, enjoy it if you can!
 I admit I bite. . . but I snuggle too!
By katie, on September 1st, 2012%
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