Puppy Classes!

Wash and I started Puppy Classes last week at Petsmart. Petsmart was the cheapest place around for the amount of lessons, and realistically, I just want him socialized with other dogs and puppies. All the training tips are a bonus for me.

We have a small class, only 3 pups, and Wash is by far the biggest and also the oldest by a few weeks.

His classmates are Sparticus; the 3.5 month old Border Terrier (like Baxter from Anchorman) and Kobe (after Kobe Bryant, the basketball player) the 10 week old Airedale Terrier.

Last week we focused on our "good boy" voices. And our "hey" cut that out tones. Start calm, and stay clam, even when your dog is good- be calm and happy. It'll keep the dog from getting too over excited.

We also worked on the "Sit" command, and the "Release" to teach our dogs when we want them to stop performing a task.

We didn't run the dogs around too much, but Wash certainly was exhausted when we got home.

This week my man is coming with us to puppy class, and if I'm not mistaken we're showing off our "sits" and "releases" and then learning how to walk properly without pulling. Should be another exhausting day for Washburn.

Yesterday Wash was introduced to several dogs at a "pseudo" dog park. It's a fenced off place that parents bring their dogs right before they pick up their kids from school. Washburn met several dogs- and was a very well behaved little man!

He met; -Gromit the Eskimo dog/ Corgi cross
-Tag the Shetland Sheepdog
-Abby the Chocolate Lab
-Dala- the German Shepperd/ Collie cross
and (the other dogs I didn't catch their names) 1 Labrador Retriever, 1 Golden Retriever, 1 Water dog, 1 Poodle cross and a terrier of some kind.


He ran like the wind, and was very polite when he was introduced to the other dogs. It was amazing to see. (Also, he slept very well that afternoon.)

-Brandolyn

Teething

So my pup is almost 4 months old, and starting to lose his baby teeth.

He's very fussy with his toys and it took me a while to realize that some of his favourite toys are probably very painful for him, if his gums are sore: Tug of war rope or his chew bone.

He's still obsessed with ice cubes, which is a cheap toy option, but increases how frequently he needs to go out for pee breaks.

I gave in, and gave him a new toy; a stuffed Nemo toy. (sorry LN, but we knew he'd get him eventually) Nemo is small and soft, well made so he won't be destroyed easily- the only catch is he's not a dog toy, so supervision is (in my opinion) mandatory. He has beans, AND stuffing, and I don't want Wash to ingest either. So far, he's just happy nomming away, he's not ripping the poor thing apart.

Posing for the camera

Wash likes Sushi

Washburn the Anemone

Also, look at this pretty kitty I got to play with at work! (I mean, totally ignored while I worked.... definitely no cuddles were had.)

Brightest Green Eyes. M H-S you would have loved her! She's a snuggle buddy!

-Brandolyn