Saturday, March 19, 2011

Drakes Creek Park Puppy Meeting

Our puppy meeting was held at Drakes Creek Park. While there a professional photographer spotted us working with the pups and asked to photograph them. She was then kind enough to forward the following pictures to us...

Honey (back) and Moose (front)
Honey
Honey, Moose and Miles

We walked all around the park exposing the pups to the playground, the geese, and a floating dock
Honey was obviously relaxed on the floating dock
We practiced our under-downs
and also practiced our down
(or am I pointing out Goose Poop and begging Honey not to eat it?)
Honey loved the park and did very well with all the distractions!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

2.5 Months Make a Big Difference

This is Jenny again! I've just returned back to school after spending Spring Break in D.C. and at home. The last time I was home was over Christmas break, which was only about 2.5 months ago. Honey has changed a lot, but also stayed the same in a few ways:

1. Honey is on steroids. She is much bigger and stronger than I remember her being! She can easily pull me along the floor when we are playing tug-of-war with her toys, instead of the other way around.

2. Honey still likes to eat stuff: rocks, socks, grass, dirt, the floor, the walls, furniture, anything. Her now razor-sharp teeth though make it harder to remove said objects from her mouth.

3. Honey is still not very lady-like at all. She eats with her mouth open & slurps her water very loudly. She sits kind of awkwardly on one hip, and still runs in little bounds and slides into walls.

4. Honey does not bite anymore! However, she now licks and sniffs everything.

5. Honey makes sounds. Before this visit, I think I heard Honey make a sound (bark, woof, arf, whimper, anything) maybe once. Now she barks a little bit when she wants to go and you aren't quick enough.

6. Honey still likes to run in circles with random objects in her mouth. (Marathon dog!)

7. Honey listens better, but not to me. Honey is much better at sitting, staying, "down", and stopping when hearing "no", but only if other people command her. Everytime I would tell her to sit to prevent her from jumping upon me or another person, I was ignored. If I told her "no", she would look at me and then continue to do the forbidden action until someone else said it. Obviously, she is upset at me that I have given up on her & her Hot Hot Dog dream. However, I think maybe it's best for her to give that dream up too and focus on becoming a guide dog.

8. Honey is playful, cute, and fun.

I will be home in 2.5 more months, so we'll see how much more she has changed!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Destination ImagiNation Competition

Honey attended the Destination ImagiNation competition but since I was too busy leading the kids during the competition and Scotty was too busy keeping his eyes on the kids and handling Honey, there are unfortunately no pictures of Honey at the actual competition. I do however have pictures of the kids and Honey during the weeks leading up to the competition. Do I really need to mention that our DI Team, The 7 Aces, was a group of 7 4th grade students or can you guess that from the pictures??

Cheerleading, Basketball and Puppy


Honey hanging out on the sidelines watching

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Franklin Firehouse #4 - Puppy Training

Today brought teaming rain and Puppy Training. I asked Becky (our area AC) if our puppy training meeting could meet at Franklin Fire Station #4. Captain Black, who is also a dog trainer, was gracious enough to allow us to expose the puppies to the firehouse. What an exposure!
We first met Captain Black and his search and rescue dog, Jewel - a sweet and beautiful 6 year old Golden. After everyone arrived, we practiced some obedience then off to the truck bay. Before any puppy training could take place, all the kiddoes had a chance to sit in the fire truck! Becky asked us to walk the puppies around the fire truck. Captain Black turned on the flashing lights and we walked around the truck again. Then came the sirens - I was prepared for puppy insanity but each of the dogs was able to stay calm and none barked or made any noise. Captain Black was kind enough to dress out in his full fire gear and walked and crawled around the puppies while we tried to keep the pups in a sit, down, stay.
I would love to say Honey was a model puppy but today the Moose/doggie distractions got the best of her. I was pleasantly pleased with how well she reacted (or more correctly, did not react) to all the noise, lights and fireman distractions. Maybe being raised in a home where there is frequent noise and chaos is good for Honey. All we need now is to expose her to some more dogs.
It was a great exposure and one we hope to repeat with Honey in the future.
If you are a Franklin local, I would highly recommend a visit to Franklin Fire Station #4 even if just for a minute to say hi to our wonderful firefighters and Jewel!