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.  

Sunday with Pazzo

This is our fourth day with Pazzo, our CCI puppy.  Pazzo seems to have settled in nicely and is accepting us as pack leaders.  He is a calm dog for a puppy.  He has his moments but so far I have been impressed with his overall calm personality.  He also is picking up rules of the house and the few new commands that we have added.  DOWN is the newest command for Pazzo.  The foster puppy raisers had not worked with him on that command yet but he does have SIT down really well and had learned that SIT gets a lot of rewards.

Pazzo walks really well also.  Have had to correct very little for pulling ahead.  He is a little skittish about things but I believe that is because he was in a quiet foster home and not around many different sounds or traffic or many different people.  I believe he will make the adjustments given the time.  We did take a loop around the block for the first time and near major traffic which Pazzo handled well.  We even had a noisy semi drive by with very little reaction from Pazzo which is a good thing.  

His poop is getting better.  He did sleep all night last night for the first time since we brought him home Wednesday evening.  The problem is we are feeding only adult food right now which doesn't have the nutrition that a puppy needs but he has much firmer movements and a little more regular. I will start mixing in the puppy food tomorrow if things continue to go well this evening and through the night.

The Next Day With Pazzo

Another long night with Pazzo.  Although he did sleep from about 2 AM until 7:30.  But from 10 PM until 2 he was out 4 times to poop.  He didn't poop though from about 2 until near 12 so we hope that is a good sign.  And fairly firm all day when he did go.

This is the life of a puppy raiser.  When we get together with other CCI puppy raisers these are the types of conversations we have. Similar to new mothers with their little ones.  Of course we also talk about puppy food, which is the best, training problems, when is turn in, how much does he weigh.  Turn in is important because that is how long we have to love our puppies before we have to give them up.  The hardest part about raising our puppies.  We love them, take care of them, nourish them with our care and then give them up.  Sometimes forever.  Some times we turn them in and they graduate with a new caregiver and we never see or hear from our dog again.  But that is the down side.  The up side is that more often than not we are able to see and know that our puppies have become a loved member of another family. And a puppy that has grown into a wonderful working dog that helps someone who is disabled live a more full life.  And that is our focus and our hope.

Okay, I am done.  We took Pazzo and Curtis, our pet dog, to a closed in ball diamond so that Pazzo could run without a leash.  He loved the time.  Chasing Curtis, the frisbee, the ball was great fun.  He looked really happy to be out.  Pazzo has been more settled since we got back so the exercise has done him good.  Hope he has a peaceful night.

Monday Pazzo will get his staples out.  Without anesthesia. A second traumatic trip to the vets office within a week.  I hope he is able to handle the trip without a problem down the road because he goes again in two weeks for his next set of shots. 


Enjoy today's picture.

New day for Pazzo

As I said in the last post, nothing is ever dull with a new puppy.

After being attacked at the vet's office yesterday, Pazzo came home to a nice evening at home.  Or so I thought.  As most people who have raised a puppy know that little ones need to go out often to tinkle.  Nothing unusual there.  The unusual part is having to also poop every time.  At least last night.  And it got more runny every time Pazzo went.  Which was often; every hour and a half to two hours.  All night!  My wife and I took turns taking Pazzo out.  The good part is Pazzo is very good about "telling" us he needed out.  He whined every time throughout the night in his kennel to let us know he was ready.  Thank Goodness!!  No clean ups in the house.

Pazzo was not himself last evening either.  We are hoping it was all the treats given to him after the attack that upset his tummy.  He did better during the day today but has started again this evening although not as often. Not sure what the problem is.  Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

I have postponed most of his scheduled training due to not being able to use treats right now so he has it easy for the next couple of days.  We have begun walking short routes and Pazzo is great to walk with.  Staying right in a heel position and not pulling ahead at all.  Very pleased with that.  He is learning to SIT when we come to a stop and has learned Let's Go so steps right off with me.  The only problem right now is Pazzo is not as confident outside as I would like.  Has shied away from some things and a school bus passing by was not a good thing.  I did take Pazzo to a nearby playground and let him sniff the equipment and just take his time to get an understanding.  Using the nose is very important and he did a lot of that.  I am hoping that just more time around traffic and people, buildings, etc. will get him over all of this quickly. 

Some good news today however is that Pazzo can have his staples removed.  As mentioned earlier Pazzo has entropion which affects his lower eye lids.  His lids turn in to the eye which causes irritation and can scratch the cornea which can affect vision for life if not corrected quickly.  So we will be making an appointment with the vet to have those removed as soon as we are able.  I am afraid of Pazzo ripping one out while he is playing so hopefully once they are removed he will have no further trouble.  My luck will be that he will have to be operated on to correct the problem. 

Once again.  No dull days with a puppy in the house. 

By the way, the web site for Canine Companions for Independence is www.cci.org.  I will post this with all new posts.

Pazzo's first full day at home

Pazzo has been at home now for about 24 hours.  And with a puppy, nothing is ever dull or routine.

We had a first training session this morning and will do another later this afternoon.  We worked on SIT, DOWN, STAY, and HERE.  These are the first four basic commands any dog should learn as soon as possible.  At least beginning at 8 weeks when the puppy is weaned from the mother and the rest of the litter.  I disagree with waiting until later.  The commands should be given in a happy, supportive way with lots of positive interaction with no punishment at this age.  The puppy should look forward to the training session and it should be a positive experience.

We did go to the vet today for introduction.  I like to take the puppy in early in their residence with us to begin the vaccination regimen as well as just to introduce the puppy to the office and the staff with lots of treats and loving.  However, that didn't go as planned today.  As I was walking Pazzo to the scale for weigh in, another dog lunged out of an exam room and caught Pazzo by the right ear.  Of course Pazzo is screaming and it is a chaotic mess for about 10 seconds.  I had to grab the muzzle of the other dog and wrap his cheeks under his teeth to get him to let go.  Pazzo ends up with three minor puncture wounds and one wound with a slight tear.  So four in all.  The vet cleaned and treated all with no charge and Pazzo got lots of treats.  I don't think he will have a problem with the office but I am concerned about his acceptance of other dogs now.   We will have some extra socialization work to do I believe.

Oh well, all in the day and life of a three and a half month old puppy.

A New CCI Puppy Day One

Today is our first day with Pazzo, our new Canine Companion Puppy.  He is a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix.  He is three and a half months old and already weights in at 30 lbs.  He is pretty calm for a pup and is settling in nicely at the house.
CCI (canine companions for independence) uses puppy raisers like us to raise the puppies until about 20 months of age. The puppies are then turned in to training centers across the country for advanced training.  Hopefully the puppy does well in training and is placed with a disabled person in a forever home. 
Pazzo is our third puppy and I wanted to keep a diary of what we do and how we raise the puppies. 
In Pazzo's case, he was with another puppy raiser during the last month and a half while we did some Christmas vacationing.  According to our friend, Pazzo has been really good.  He slept all night the first night and became house broke very quickly so we have it easy with this puppy.  Most puppies don't sleep well the first few nights and have to be watched carefully or crated in order to help with learning where to go to potty. 
I should also mention that Pazzo also has an eye issue called entropion which means the eye lid, either the top or bottom or both turn in to the eye causing irritation and can scratch the cornea.  So for the time being, Pazzo has staples in his lower eye lids to control the entropion.  His staples are due to come out soon and he does not seem to mind them at all.  No scratching or itching of the eyes as if they are bothersome. 
Our job over the next few days will be to begin work on basic commands and learning the new house rules. We have already begun training with waiting at the door or in kennel before going out, there are certain areas of the house that he is not allowed in, having to sit for dinner and coming when called. Training in a more formal way will begin tomorrow morning for about 10 minutes starting with sit and down on command.  Then another session in the afternoon for about 10 minutes.  We will also begin short walks to help Pazzo get used to his new neighborhood as well as traffic and people.  Getting Pazzo out early at this age is critical so that he learns that the larger world is not out to get him.  He seems pretty confident so far so I don't think we will have a problem with any of this but he is entering a fear period for about the next 5 to 6 weeks so we need to keep an eye out for any problems outside the house. 
I will try to post a little bit each day about what we do with Pazzo and how the day went so most posts will not be this long.  Thanks for reading about Pazzo and please keep up with his daily adventures.