This post is a week late, and it's going to be picture heavy, but Bailey is already 1! Her Birthday was last Sunday.
She's definitely come a long way since the first time we met! She went from being a skittish little puppy to an outgoing human lover! She loves everyone and other dogs.
We've had some great times with Bailey during her first year!
Getting her first NC State collar
She had her first visitor in our new house.
We had our first Christmas together.
She got some new kicks.
We made the puppies wear Birthday hats so we could get a picture and act like they got to celebrate their Birthdays together.
Since Bailey came to live with us, she's learned so much. She's a smart little pup. She can be a bit stubborn and she doesn't care for some of the tricks, but if you have the right kind of treat, she'll happily do any of them.
Tricks she's learned:
Sit
Stay
Down
Off
High five
Say Hi (wave)
Shake
Roll Over
Play dead
Say your prayers
Things we're still working on:
Walking - She does well for the most part, and she doesn't pull anymore unless she's really got to pee or she sees something (or someone) she wants. I'd hoped not to have to use her pinch anymore at this point, but we still do. She's still doing just OK with heel. When we walk her we either let her roam where she wants or we have her heel. We want her to know how to do both so if we're in a crowd or around a stressful situation (sirens, etc.), she'll know how to stay right beside us. She recognizes that there's a difference and that she's not supposed to stop and sniff things when she's in this position, but she will still go slightly ahead of us. Usually if we just tell her to wait she'll come back to our side, but sometimes we have to give her a little tug. From the beginning, we've been teaching her to sit automatically if we stop walking when she's heeling. She's pretty good at that, but she usually hesitates for a few seconds. We stop at intersections or when we cross a road and make sure she sits then too. We do this in hopes that she will stop before she crosses a road if she ever gets away from us. I know it's a long shot, but I think it's worth the extra effort just in case. We do the same thing before leaving our yard.
Separation Anxiety - It's gotten a lot better, but it's still there. I'm looking forward to not having to crate her anymore, but I'm afraid we have a bit before we're able to leave her in the house again.
Barking - She's become a very good watch dog...maybe too good. One of the crappy things about the proximity of townhomes is that she can hear the noises like garage doors, car doors, etc. from other homes so well. I don't think she's learned to distinguish the difference between noises at our house and other houses yet. She also likes to bark at dogs, cats and people when they're outside. If she sees other dogs out back, she will bark then ring her bells to ask to go out. We know she just wants to go out and play, but it's annoying and the other owners just want to let their dogs go to the bathroom and go back in. Another biggie is the doorbell. She barks like no other when the doorbell rings. The same goes for when the doorbell rings on TV.
I know we just have to be persistent and we'll get these issues taken care of. On a more positive note...
Here are some of Bailey's favorites...
Dog(s): Carter and Abby. She LOVES to play rough with Carter and chasing (and running from) Abby
Trick: Say Hi. This is her go to if she wants something.
Weather: SNOW, for sure. She loves the stuff.
Toys: Anything that is stuffed or makes noise and bully sticks.
I let her go crazy with a stuffed elephant last weekend. I decided I didn't want to sew this one up again, so I just gave it to her with a hole in it and let her have fun. My living room AND the State room looked like this when she was finished.
Show: Dogs 101
Hobbies: People watching, sun bathing by the windows, de-stuffing stuffies, annoying mom while she tries to work out, getting dirty
So, enough of the year review.
I wanted to do something special for Bailey for her Birthday, so I made her some treats. I gave her one Saturday night to make sure she liked them. She liked them, but they didn't like her. She had HORRIBLE gas, so I decided we would have to find a replacement cake.
The morning of her Birthday, we took her to the dog park. This was the first time we had been in months. She always gets super anxious and whines when we get close. She just gets so excited and she doesn't quite know how to contain her energy. Used to, when we first got to the park, she would be a little nervous about all the dogs and she would just hang around all the humans for a few minutes, then she would finally warm up and play with the other dogs. I can definitely see an improvement since she's been going to Camp Bow Wow. She started playing with the other dogs right away. I think she chased just about every dog there at some point.
Once we left the dog park, we needed to pick up a few groceries. Josh went to Costco while I took Bailey to the pet store next door. I saw these really cute cookies and decided I could get one of those as a replacement treat. Isn't it cute?
I picked out a toy for her so I could wrap it and give it to her. It's a Kong stick. She used to try to bring sticks inside and we wouldn't let her because we knew she would make a mess with them. She LOVES the stick.
Opening her stick.
Waiting for Mom to take a picture so she can have the cookie and stick.
I'm looking forward to another year of puppyhood with our little one. I know we have at least another year to go before she's a mature adult dog :-).
I let her go crazy with a stuffed elephant last weekend. I decided I didn't want to sew this one up again, so I just gave it to her with a hole in it and let her have fun. My living room AND the State room looked like this when she was finished.
Show: Dogs 101
Hobbies: People watching, sun bathing by the windows, de-stuffing stuffies, annoying mom while she tries to work out, getting dirty
So, enough of the year review.
I wanted to do something special for Bailey for her Birthday, so I made her some treats. I gave her one Saturday night to make sure she liked them. She liked them, but they didn't like her. She had HORRIBLE gas, so I decided we would have to find a replacement cake.
The morning of her Birthday, we took her to the dog park. This was the first time we had been in months. She always gets super anxious and whines when we get close. She just gets so excited and she doesn't quite know how to contain her energy. Used to, when we first got to the park, she would be a little nervous about all the dogs and she would just hang around all the humans for a few minutes, then she would finally warm up and play with the other dogs. I can definitely see an improvement since she's been going to Camp Bow Wow. She started playing with the other dogs right away. I think she chased just about every dog there at some point.
Once we left the dog park, we needed to pick up a few groceries. Josh went to Costco while I took Bailey to the pet store next door. I saw these really cute cookies and decided I could get one of those as a replacement treat. Isn't it cute?
I picked out a toy for her so I could wrap it and give it to her. It's a Kong stick. She used to try to bring sticks inside and we wouldn't let her because we knew she would make a mess with them. She LOVES the stick.
I'm looking forward to another year of puppyhood with our little one. I know we have at least another year to go before she's a mature adult dog :-).
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