Cash at 15 Weeks

Cash will be 15 weeks this Saturday.  We picked him up at 8 weeks and just a little over 12 pounds and Cash is now at 24 pounds; almost double his weight.  It is already hard to remember him so little.

Cash took a car trip with Curtis to Michigan two weekends ago.  It was almost 9 hours in the car.  Cash did really well.  We stopped about every two hours for exercise and potty break and there was not one accident.  Cash has always ridden well even when we take him to the vet he settles in rather quickly.

So where do I begin.  Cash is the reincarnation of "Marley".  He is the epitome of a rambunctious puppy if ever there was one.  I feel guilty as to the number of times I have had to correct for all kinds of issues.  And I am supposed to know what I am doing as a trainer but Cash is really testing the limits.  He is not perhaps the puppy I wanted but maybe the puppy I need to help me learn even more patience.   

Great eye contact

He has knocked over lamps, he jumps on Curtis our pet dog just to aggravate, protests vocally when things don't go his way or he wants attention, has already chewed through one leash even though we have worked hard to control that behavior, is still very mouthy but has softened somewhat, picks up what ever he can whenever he can, (Hoover is his backup nickname), still whines at times in his crate or when he is tethered in protest.  Should I go on?

 Through all of that, out of 30 commands he must learn before turn in dated February 2014, he already has 20 of the commands.  I will not tell you that he is proficient with all of them at this point but in order to keep his mind busy we have worked on that many to date.  He is only 15 weeks old.  I am going to run out of commands.

With big brother Curtis

Cash is still a loving puppy that follows me all around the house.  I have to be in sight when he is loose or he will come to find me no matter where I am or what I am doing.  We are going to have to work very hard on his greetings with people however as he is a bit over the top.  That would be the golden retriever coming out.  He does seem to have more of the active golden personality than the more laid back lab characteristics.  Never-the-less, check out the current pictures of a beautiful puppy.

Getting to know you!!

Our new CCI puppy is named Cash.  He is a lab/ golden cross but carries more of the lab characteristics physically but his personality is more of the golden retriever.  He is a precocious little guy.  At times seemingly smart beyond his time but still very much a puppy learning the ropes of becoming a CCI puppy and part of our pack.



Our release dog Curtis however wants nothing to do with the little guy.  Of the four puppies that we have now had, the only pup that Curt has really accepted was Pazzo.  Cash is taking full advantage of Curtis not wanting anything to do with him by taking his sleeping places, his bones; what ever Curtis has Cash wants.

We have had Cash almost three weeks now.  He just turned 12 weeks old this past weekend and now weighs almost 19 lbs.  He has gained almost 2 pounds a week since we brought him home.

As all puppies do, everything goes into his mouth just like a human child.  Leaves, sticks, paper, you name it, if he can get to it he will vacuum it into his mouth faster than you can blink.  I forget from one puppy to the next how fast puppies can do that.

CCI requires that we acclimate the pups to a gentle leader or halty as some are called.  Cash loathes his.  He is the worst of the four pups that we have had.  We will have our work cut out in getting him over the wearing of it.

And one other issue that we will have to work on early and often is his control in greeting.  Cash seems to carry the excitable characteristic that most goldens have with their love of people and being around people especially greeting new people.  A lot of no look, no talk, no touch and a lot of treats.  Will he out grow it by February 2014?  We will see!!

Giving Up Pazzo

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog but near the time of the last post, Pazzo was dismissed from the program due to food guarding.  Pazzo was left with CCI for a week to try to help with his food guarding but to no avail.  When we picked up Pazzo we were given the news so Pazzo became our pet.

The problem is we want to continue to raise puppies for CCI and we do not have the room for more than two dogs.  We already have a release dog from CCI so keeping Pazzo would have been a choice to no longer raise puppies which we did not want to do.

Friends of ours who are also puppy raisers told us of friends in Texas who have been on the adoptive list with CCI for nearly three years and were still very interested in adopting a release dog from CCI.  After several e-mails the decision was made to allow Pazzo to be adopted.

Pazzo left us in September and is now at home with his new pack near Dallas, TX.  Pazzo has a new big sister Katie, a 13 year old golden retriever and little sister Gracie who is a 2 year old Maltese.

Pazzo was our first puppy that we really got to know not only as a CCI puppy but as our pet.  The last four months Pazzo became a true member of the family.  That made it hard to give him up.  We came very close to keeping Pazz.  He seems to be acclimating very well to his knew family and pack.  His new owner actually flew here and spent 3 days here with us learning who Pazzo is and his personality before driving him back to his new home is Texas. 

His new family has been very good about keeping us informed on how Pazzo is doing.  While there have been a few bumps on the way, everything overall seems to be going very well. To help us get over Pazzo, we have received a new puppy from CCI and that is news for a new post. 

Pazzo is now 7 months and over 60 lbs.  He is still very inquisitive.  He has lost most of his puppy shyness and is more than willing to now investigate new noises, sights, or situations.  Pazzo of course at this age has also begun to test boundaries as a teen would do. I have gone back to training sessions to reinforce who the pack leader is. 

He has developed a bit of food guarding however.  As long as we hand feed or hold the bowl he is fine but if I just set the bowl down and then come back he growls at who ever approaches.  I have been working hard with Pazz to help him get over this as this will definitely get him dismissed from advanced training. 

Pazzo came to us with entropian; an eye disorder in which the lid turns in which can cause corneal damage if not corrected.  Staples were used to stabilize the lid until he outgrew the need at around 5 months.  There was no need for surgery for Pazz.  He also did not bother the staples during the time they were in.  He did not then need the cone to keep him from scratching at the staples.  Some dogs will not react well to the staples and paw at them until they are dislodged.  I think each dog will have to be raised on their own as to what measures are needed to correct the entropian. 

With Pazz we started with the least restrictive environment and adjusted accordingly.  For us it was easy as Pazz seemed to not to mind the staples at all.  The staples eventually began to fall out so we went to the vet and had them removed so that one wouldn't catch on something and tear out.  We did have to use an ointment of some type for about two weeks to help with some tearing after the staples were out.  There seemed to be some irritation at first.

I hope this answers some questions I have gotten about Pazz and entropian.  As with special children, start with the least restrictive and move on from there.  I would spend some concentrated time (two or three days) correcting any pawing or watching for other problems and then go on to the next level. 

Pazz did have to use a cone for about a week after he was neutered.  All went well with that and he is now well past recovery.

I will try to post more often on the progress Pazzo makes and how we get along with his training and moving closer to advanced training. 

Pazzo at 4 months

Pazzo has reached four months.  His birthday was 1/21/12.  He is still a pup but is showing more of his adult personality everyday.  He settles nicely in the evening, usually, but still has his zoom time now an again.  He is inquisitive but not over the top.  He is also still a little shy about some things but showing improvement as time goes by. 
The main concern was the entropion but he seems to be outgrowing the problem.  Not as concerned about a medical intervention as I once was.  His bowel problem also seems to be improving although very slowly.  He still has soft stools but not as they once were. Pazzo is on regular Purina One Puppy Chow for large breeds and seems to be doing well.  We have only been up once during the night in the past week. 
Train with Pazzo is going well also.  Knows down and sit really well at home and I have worked a little outside in quiet places during our walks.  He has stay (implied when given a command) pretty good.  We try to release him from a command before he breaks it so now we are working on increasing the stay time.  I am really amazed at how many commands we have already introduced in just the 3 weeks that we have had him and how many we are already taking for granted such as the wait command at doors, sits and downs.  Another important command that we have begun working on this past week is the BED command.  He will need this one and be proficient with this command.  It is a great safety command as well as a one to use when the door bell rings or we just need to control him with guests. 

Pazzo on Jan 15

Pazzo is.....special.  The longer we have Pazzo the more calm he is, the more he shows us his real personality.  He is still a puppy that still loves to zoom through the house from time to time and still wants to use his mouth a little too much but all in all Pazzo is showing a basic personality of a calm puppy but very aware of his surroundings and where we are.  He focuses on us and approaches respectfully unless he has his "game" on. 

Pazzo is still having bowel problems however.  We have tried several different possible  combinations to this point and we still have other things to try but this is the first CCI puppy that we have had this type of problem with.  I am beginning to worry that there is some other underlying problem. I am not a vet so I am not sure what it would be but I am beginning to have my suspicions.  We had to get up twice last night just when we thought that we were getting a handle on the problem.  So now we are back to square one. 

Pazzo is picking up his commands.  We have not been real structured to this point.  To help with his focus I have been trying to reward him for looking at me.  He gets rewarded for sitting, downs, waits, being calm at meals and sitting still until called.  The only problem we have at the moment is a little too eager to eat.  I know that sounds funny as all dogs like to eat and really look forward to meal times.  But Pazzo is a little over the top.  In fact he growled as I put my hand in his food to test out just how focused he was on his food.  Food guarding, toy guarding, or other high value possessions or resource guarding has to be controlled early as it will only get worse.  Teaching a young dog to control guarding is easy with some and can be a challenge for others.  In the case of food guarding, one way to help is to hand feed the dog several times until the puppy understands where the food comes from and who actually has control over that valuable resource.  Getting mad or frustrated with the guarding will not help.  A calm consistent approach has to be used or the problem with continue to worsen.  We will have to keep an eye on Pazzo and evaluate any other guarding problems. 

I think we will also have to increase his activity level.  The walks we are taking do not seem to be wearing him out too much.  At four months he can probably safely handle about double the distance.  I don't want to over work him but I also want to get him used to exercise and working enough to help him relax more.  Tired dogs are better dogs all around.  They relax better in the kennels, are easier to work with during training, and develop a closer pack relationship. 

Pazzo on Jan 10

The staples came out yesterday.  Did not have a problem with the removal.  Pazz was very good about it.  However I noticed later that evening that his right eye was a little teary so I waited until today to call about it to see if it would clear up.  It didn't so we were back at the vet's again.  Three times now within a week.  Any way, I have some ointment to apply two times a day for a week.  If the problem isn't cleared up by then, the vet may go ahead and snip a little skin to tighten up the lid.  Now is a wait and see. 

Any way, we are still having issues with bowel movements.  He is awfully loose for the most part.  He is now taking a probiotic pill once a day and we have him on a special gastrointestinal food formula for a week and then start weaning him back on regular puppy food.  On Sunday night/Monday morning Pazzo was out 4 times between 10 PM and 3 AM.  My wife also let him out last night around 11 but he did sleep the rest of the night.  We don't know what the problem is.  He does do better on adult food but still has a very soft stool even with that.  We did a stool sample last week but nothing showed up but we didn't test for giardia or one other possibility (don't know the name) because those are usually only picked up in warmer weather.  The one saving thing in all of this is he does let us know he needs out by whining about it.  Yahtzee, our last CCI puppy didn't say a word; he would just go and wake us up after the fact with the smell and him walking around the kennel trying to get away from it.  Pazzo has not had one accident in the house, knock on wood.  If he needs to go he knows to just go to the back door and sit down.  I love it.  Yahtzee wouldn't tell us ever.  We just had a schedule and stuck to it. 

Pazzo is a really nice dog.  We have started taking walks and he doesn't pull or lag.  He seems very happy to walk with me.  I  usually take Curt with me so Pazzo can learn how to react to things from watching him.  He is just a little skitish but not bad.  This is just so different from his foster home in the country; so many new sounds and things so he will get better.  He is not real consistent yet but he sits when we stop, knows let's go, is learning to stay, knows down but not real consistent with that either.  We have a small kitchen and Pazz just gets in the way so he is learning where the boundary is as well as learning he can't go down the hall or to the front door.  He waits to be let out and to come back in also.  He also has learned lap and up already.  He really is a good student.  He usually conks out around 7, goes out for the night, hopefully around 9 and then back to kennel.  Except for the bowel problems a really nice dog.  Oh yeah, even with all the poop, 32.8 lbs today up four tenths from last week.