Wow, it's been a while since I've given a Bailey update!
Socialization
Socialization
We've been much better about getting her to the dog park on a weekly basis. She is getting much better at interacting with all types of dogs. She's learning that she needs to be a little more gentle with the smaller dogs and she doesn't need to be scared of the gentle giants :-) A few weeks ago, she met her first Great Dane. She was terrified of him at first, but after she finally decided that it was OK for them to sniff each other, they played really well together. I think she really had fun running under him. Haha. We talked to his mom while they played with the other dogs. His name was Connor. I assumed he was an adult because of his size. Nope, he weighs in at 130 at 10 months old! I didn't get a picture, but he looked something like this one.
On a side note, I love Great Danes! If they didn't have such a short life span, we would definitely consider getting one.
This last time at the dog park, Bailey was chasing other dogs. I was just standing around chatting and I had all my weight on one leg. A dog ran into the back of my knee, (You know that weak spot that people can kick you in and you just fall down? Yea, that spot.) and I just fell flat on my butt. I turned around to see which dog it was, thinking it was a larger dog...nope, it was a little Jack Russell! It was hilarious! I think I laughed for about 10 minutes straight.
Camp Bow Wow
Camp Bow Wow is a boarding facility and day camp. There are locations all over the US (which is why I wanted Bailey to go there) so it's really convenient for when we travel to Raleigh (there's a location in Cary). They require an interview day before they will allow a dog to enroll in day care or board. Bailey had her interview day this past Tuesday. Their are pretty strict on playing, so I was actually really worried about taking her. She's a sweetheart, but she can be a rough player. After an hour or so of no calls to come pick up the ridiculously hyper puppy, I felt much more comfortable. We were able to tour the place and have a brief orientation when we picked Bailey up. They confirmed that she was a rough player. They have time outs for when the more enthusiastic ones get carried away. I like that :-) We do timeouts at home and at the dog park if she goes crazy, so it works well for us. We were originally doing this just so she would be covered for when we need to board her or take her to daycare, but we've decided to take her one day every other week. She had so much fun and she was completely exhausted when she got home. She was also very affectionate :-) I sat down beside her and she just plopped down and put her head in my lap. Normally, sitting down beside Bailey means fighting off kisses and her trying to walk on you. Haha.
Training
We're still working on "say your prayers". We haven't been nearly as consistent with this as I would like. She's getting it, we just have to stick with it. She is doing the actions on her own, without so many cues now. She just lays her heat between her feet most of the time though. Now we're working on getting her to bow her head on her own and hold it.
We intermittently work on give it and take it. We're not doing any organized training with it, but we try to use those words while we're playing with her. She still won't hold anything you get her to take (except a treat of course). I have gotten her to take a dollar and hold it for a few seconds, but she just drops it after that.
Once we got back home from Thanksgiving, we didn't use her pinch collar for a few days. That was a bad idea. We had hoped to have her weaned off it by now, but she's still way too immature. She wasn't responding as much to our verbal commands because she knew she wasn't wearing her pinch. We took her to the vet without it and that was a nightmare. She wanted to pull like crazy to sniff EVERYTHING. We've started using it again, and she's doing much better. We still have a long way to go with walking. I think this is going to take the longest since she's SO curious. We're taking her to the human park today so we'll have lots of opportunities to work with her.
Camp Bow Wow
Camp Bow Wow is a boarding facility and day camp. There are locations all over the US (which is why I wanted Bailey to go there) so it's really convenient for when we travel to Raleigh (there's a location in Cary). They require an interview day before they will allow a dog to enroll in day care or board. Bailey had her interview day this past Tuesday. Their are pretty strict on playing, so I was actually really worried about taking her. She's a sweetheart, but she can be a rough player. After an hour or so of no calls to come pick up the ridiculously hyper puppy, I felt much more comfortable. We were able to tour the place and have a brief orientation when we picked Bailey up. They confirmed that she was a rough player. They have time outs for when the more enthusiastic ones get carried away. I like that :-) We do timeouts at home and at the dog park if she goes crazy, so it works well for us. We were originally doing this just so she would be covered for when we need to board her or take her to daycare, but we've decided to take her one day every other week. She had so much fun and she was completely exhausted when she got home. She was also very affectionate :-) I sat down beside her and she just plopped down and put her head in my lap. Normally, sitting down beside Bailey means fighting off kisses and her trying to walk on you. Haha.
Training
We're still working on "say your prayers". We haven't been nearly as consistent with this as I would like. She's getting it, we just have to stick with it. She is doing the actions on her own, without so many cues now. She just lays her heat between her feet most of the time though. Now we're working on getting her to bow her head on her own and hold it.
We intermittently work on give it and take it. We're not doing any organized training with it, but we try to use those words while we're playing with her. She still won't hold anything you get her to take (except a treat of course). I have gotten her to take a dollar and hold it for a few seconds, but she just drops it after that.
Once we got back home from Thanksgiving, we didn't use her pinch collar for a few days. That was a bad idea. We had hoped to have her weaned off it by now, but she's still way too immature. She wasn't responding as much to our verbal commands because she knew she wasn't wearing her pinch. We took her to the vet without it and that was a nightmare. She wanted to pull like crazy to sniff EVERYTHING. We've started using it again, and she's doing much better. We still have a long way to go with walking. I think this is going to take the longest since she's SO curious. We're taking her to the human park today so we'll have lots of opportunities to work with her.
We've let Bailey roam the bottom floor and stairs a few times when we had to leave for just a little bit. She's been locked in the foyer before, but she's never been able to roam the State Room without us there. She did really well for a while, and we had worked our way up to a couple of hours. One day, when we were out for about 4 hours, she decided it would be fun to rip tear out part of our carpet padding and scratch up a little bit of the carpet. This is our fault, we still haven't put the transition from the carpet to the tile back up. Still, she shouldn't have done that and we won't be leaving her out to roam again for a while.
As far as potty training, she's doing very well! She has actually let us know she needs to go out when she couldn't get to her bells. I didn't know what she wanted at first, because she never does that. I was really proud of her. We'll still use the bells but we'll probably try to slowly remove them over the next few months. That way, we won't have to remember to take them with us when we visit other people.
I mentioned a while back (I think) that we were planning on getting Bailey shoes for the winter. We got them! We've been putting them on her while she plays in the house so she can get used to them gradually. She wiggles a little bit when I try to put them on, but she's not really bad. She will try to take them off, but she's pretty easy to distract. We've only walked her outside with them once and she did great! She's a bit more clumsy when she wears them and all of her tricks are exaggerated. It's so funny. Here are a few videos.
I felt a little bad about laughing at this one, but it's just hilarious!
She's supposed to be waving in this one. This is what I meant about her tricks being exaggerated!
We've started running a little bit with Bailey. Hopefully we'll be able to stick with this through the winter. It's definitely helped with her running up and down the stairs.
She's maturing just a little bit. She's becoming a little more cuddly. I'm excited about this because I'm a big cuddler. We don't allow her on the furniture, so she usually comes and lays her head in one of our laps until we go lay on the floor with her. Well, one night this past weekend, Josh and I both fell asleep on the couch. I'm a super light sleeper, so I woke up to Bailey putting her feet up on me. She was crawling up on the couch with us. I kept acting like I was asleep to see what she was doing. She ended up laying on my chest. It was so precious (even though she's a bit heavy for that now), I just didn't have the heart to make her get down. I fell back asleep eventually and she woke me up snoring in my ear. Josh woke up not long after that and made her get down.
Nap time on her "couch"
As far as potty training, she's doing very well! She has actually let us know she needs to go out when she couldn't get to her bells. I didn't know what she wanted at first, because she never does that. I was really proud of her. We'll still use the bells but we'll probably try to slowly remove them over the next few months. That way, we won't have to remember to take them with us when we visit other people.
I mentioned a while back (I think) that we were planning on getting Bailey shoes for the winter. We got them! We've been putting them on her while she plays in the house so she can get used to them gradually. She wiggles a little bit when I try to put them on, but she's not really bad. She will try to take them off, but she's pretty easy to distract. We've only walked her outside with them once and she did great! She's a bit more clumsy when she wears them and all of her tricks are exaggerated. It's so funny. Here are a few videos.
I felt a little bad about laughing at this one, but it's just hilarious!
She's supposed to be waving in this one. This is what I meant about her tricks being exaggerated!
We've started running a little bit with Bailey. Hopefully we'll be able to stick with this through the winter. It's definitely helped with her running up and down the stairs.
She's maturing just a little bit. She's becoming a little more cuddly. I'm excited about this because I'm a big cuddler. We don't allow her on the furniture, so she usually comes and lays her head in one of our laps until we go lay on the floor with her. Well, one night this past weekend, Josh and I both fell asleep on the couch. I'm a super light sleeper, so I woke up to Bailey putting her feet up on me. She was crawling up on the couch with us. I kept acting like I was asleep to see what she was doing. She ended up laying on my chest. It was so precious (even though she's a bit heavy for that now), I just didn't have the heart to make her get down. I fell back asleep eventually and she woke me up snoring in my ear. Josh woke up not long after that and made her get down.
I love the videos!! haha She's too cute :D And I love when Carter wants to cuddle too :D I know you have to enjoy that!!!
ReplyDelete