Pug pics

Just when I think I can take good pictures and have a half decent digital camera, “Jennygolightly” of Pugvillage posts pictures of her dog, Pixel

http://www.pugvillage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16413

and I’m put to shame again. Isn’t Pixel great?

Puggy update

It’s been a while since we’ve updated the blog so I thought I’d say how the guys are doing.

Buddy graduated from his puppy class.  He did really well.  There’s an advanced puppy class coming up that we’re wanting to start him in starting the 24th (I think).  I would love to sign Brutus up for one, but he is far too stubborn to go for doing pet tricks.  He will sit and come when you call him (usually).  Otherwise he just looks at you like you are daft.

Now that it’s getting nicer out, they’ve been getting much more exercise.  We’ve been taking them to the beach more lately, especially in the mornings.  It’s also light out when we get home from work, so we can take them then as well.  Today they’ve been up twice.  This morning they got to play with their puggy friends Lola and Greta, a little white fluffball pup by the name Henry, Logan the older pointer mix and Kayla, the collie.  There weren’t many dogs on the beach tonight, so they spent most of the time chasing each other and the seagulls.  It’s nice that they can burn off all this energy outside now and not in here making us crazy.

We’re going to try to get a vet appointment for them both next week, as they are out of heartworm meds.  Plus we really need to get Buddy microchipped, and both of them up to date on any boosters they need.

Pug Training

Yesterday was week 7 at Buddy’s training class, and pretty much the last productive week ... next week is graduation, and pretty much just a play games and run over stuff session.

It’s really been a worthwhile thing to go through, and I’d recommend it for anyone with a puppy. It’s mostly not about teaching the dog, but about teaching you how to teach your dog.

Through the weeks, we have learnt how to get Buddy to St, Lay Down, Wait, Stay (yes, they are different. Wait is a short pause, and you come back, Stop is a longer pause, and you call him to you), Come. My favourite has been Leave It, although we need to work more on that one I think ... we have also tried to go through things like pulling on leashes and jumping up at people coming in the house, and neither of them I’m too worried about, as he’s only little and it’s not a big problem.

We have also covered all grooming and health problems, gotten a lot of valuable information on how to deal with a puppies teenage years, how to deal with house training ...

The trainer only deals in positive reinforcement, and it is very effective. Obviously there have been times when we had to time out our dogs, and by now we are all familiar with our startle word (a loud noise or work you yell when you need to interrupt them from doing something bad), but it’s all coupled with given them treats for things they enjoy, and it really helps. The dogs now work to please you, so they get treats and praise.

It’s helped Buddy a lot! We still have issues, he’s not completly house trained, and sometimes he gets very wound up and will do naughty things in the house (ripping up his pee pads, biting Brutus, chewing hair and stealing socks are his favourite), but with startle words, then redirecting him to a toy, he’s getting the hang of it.

He’s not going to become a perfectly trained canine good citizen any time soon, but it has helped immensly to give us the tools we need to train him as he grows.

I defenitely like the puppy class!

Double Trouble

Since getting Buddy, it’s done nothing but snow, and they haven’t really had the chance to get their regular around the block walks in, instead going out to the back yard.

Now it’s getting nicer again, I’ve started walking them around the block every morning and evening. It quickly became apparant that we didn’t have the tools for the job.

Leashes were a major pain. Buddy had a slightly shorter leash than Brutus, and they would get twisted up and tangled badly. Brutus’ leash would tangle up underneath them (it being longer).

So, yesterday I picked up a coupler.

The one I got was tagged as Extra Large, and seemed to be the only one that wouldn’t drag them so close together they couldn’t move.

I tried it last night and this morning, and the difference is great. I have Brutus’ long leash hooked to the coupler, so they get great range. They tend to pull each other around a little more than before, but it’s so much easier for me to control them, I’m willing to let them yank each other, rather than have someone end up in the road!

Definietly one of my favourite buys.

My lovely puppy

On Monday night, as usual I took both dogs out for their nightly pilgrimage before bedtime.

I’m standing on the back deck, and they are busy snuffling around in the dark.

Then Buddy dissapears. As in, totally gone. Now, our back yard it *completely* enclosed, there is no possible way for him to get out, so I knew he hadn’t done a runner, and after a minute or two, I could hear snuffling.

He’d gotten under the deck!

On the far corner of the deck, the ground dips away, leaving a gap big enough for him to crawl through. He then crawled all the way to the other side of the deck (remember, totally enclosed, he can’t get out that side), and he ended up under the steps. The steps had a small enough gap for him to look out and put his head out, but way to small to crawl through.

So, it’s midnight. I’m laying on my belly in the snow and ice. My jeans have gotten soaked, then frozen, and I have a claw hammer, trying to dig enough frozen mud away to give him a big enough gap for him to crawl out of. He’s getting panicked, and whimpering and woofing for me, but refuses to go the way he came in.

30 minutes later. I’m cold, fed up, I’m seriously thinking of ripping up the deck. He turns around, wriggles the way he went in and pops out!

So now, there is a very large brick, blocking that entry.

Puppy Training

A couple of weeks ago we signed up for puppy training for Buddy at the local Petsmart ... we got snowed off last weekend, so it started last night.

The first session was without the dogs, just owners, and it was pretty good. A lot of the stuff she was saying was stuff we had already been doing (never say NO, or use their name when telling them off for example), and some of it seemed very basic to me, but from the looks of some of the others in the group, not to every one else.

There is one woman there, I’ll call her Jumper Lady, cos she had a horrible jumper on, who is going to be difficult. She has a “Cockapoo”, a cocker spaniel / poodle mix, and seems to think that bringing the dog to the one hour a week sessions will automatically make it well trained. She seemed quite shocked when the trainer suggested that we should carry treats, so any time they do good things, or follow a command, they can be rewarded, and you could just see her brain thinking “I’m not carrying stinky dog treats in my pocket!” She also jumped around with questions, all things that her dog does or she wants to know, instead of just shutting up and letting the instructor get to it ...

Either way, we have a couple of excercises to do this week, one being the Name Game, where you hold a treat in a clenched fist, raise it to face height, say their name once, then extend your arm out. They get the treats, along with a YES and a cuddle when they look back at you, and stop looking at the treat. The idea is to have them focus on you, not the reward, and to get them to see that their name being called is a good thing too. Buddy is good at it, he already sits very well and on command, so it’s pretty easy for him.

We also picked up two fantastic toys:

and

These things have the loudest squeekers I have every heard, and both dogs absolutely *love* them. They are quite soft, but very tough. They will squeek when they bounce even! Buddy has worked out how to pick it up by the head and chompsqueek chompsqueek chompsqueek chompsqueek, but Brutus still hasn’t worked it out. He picks it up by it’s feet, which don’t squeek, they gets all confused that it’s not making that cool noise

Most definitely recommended toys!

Experiment

We’re trying an experiment today ... we normally have Buddy in his crate in the day time, and let Brutus have the run of the house, but today we’ve let Buddy have free run. He showed us this weekend that he knows how to use pee pee pads, if he has too, so we’ve left one or two down for him, and his crate is open, if he needs time out.

According to webcam watchers, Brutus is chasing him around right now I expect they will chase till they are tired, then pass out on the sofa. I’m heading home at lunch, so if there is a problem, I’ll put him back in the crate ...