Learning to walk among distractions

Guinness is a B student at school. He does better than many dogs and worse than others. Here he is doing a “Let’s Go” exercise of walking among the distractions of his classmates on “Down Stay’s.”

http://www.vsocial.com/video/?d=9519

Straw Yard

The precipitation this winter is rain, not snow. The temperatures are warm, but not warm enough to evaporate our water soaked lawn. I have spread two bales of straw over the mushy and muddy areas to prevent dirty pawprints from entering our house. Yesterday, I ran out with Guinness in the rain, skidded on the soggy grass, and slid to a resupine position in the muck. I had to strip at the washing machine right down to my undies!


Guinness has discovered, in his adolescence, that he has choices to make when given a command. He is making the wrong decisions forcing us to keep him on leash. That is annoying for both handler and dog, plus he cannot run and play. I pulled out our cable, which was useful last summer before he learned the boundaries of our yard, and tethered it to a tree. Our longest leather leash is too skinny to be a satisfactory training leash, but it is perfect to usher him outside and attach as an extension to the cable. We can even play games of fetch!

The Goofball

Guinness is 40 weeks old and growing into a strong, strapping fella.

We were curious to know how much he weighs, so I made an appointment to have his nails trimmed. He is soooo excited to see people that he is uncontrollable. He knows the vet’s office when we arrive, and is wild to enter the building. I strung him up on his leash a couple of times while approaching the building to try to gain control. No effect. Inside, he was bonkers. One of the technicians joined us in the exam room with the scale. He was doggedly intent to play with her and be petted. It was impossible to obtain a scale reading with him bouncing. Two more staff members came in to help, escalating the fracas. It was hopeless. I said, “If you three leave, he will settle for me.” Within seconds, I called out to them, “He weighs 67.2 pounds!” While he was having his pedicure, one of them suggested obedience school. Ha! A vet stuck her head out and said, “He is in Grade 2?!” LOL

What were we thinking?

Having an adult dog is a wonderful thing. They know how to behave; they are companions who ask for nothing except food, bathroom time, exercise, and love. You can leave them at home alone for hours with no worry. They are happy to remain in the car for long stretches, as long as the weather is temperate. But having a puppy is a nightmare! Actually it is worse! You awaken from a bad dream, realize that the world is still turning, and life goes on. A puppy nightmare does not end for months, maybe years. The training process seems to be neverending. Once you think they have conquered a command, they prove that they have minds of their own and disobey. The excitement of running in the house and grabbing whatever tickles their fancy is sure to grate on an owner’s calm demeanor. The only reprieve is crate time. Common sense tells you that a dog will never be trained to behave if confined to a crate permanently. Crates are for humans, allowing us to collect our senses.

Currently, Guinness is learning to remain on a Down/Stay during our dinnertime. Our teachers suggest that we reward good behavior by saying “Good Stay” and treating the dog periodically. We place a dish of treats on our dining table to have readily available to reinforce good behavior. A couple of days ago, Guinness thought he was being very good and that I was being slow in delivering the expected compliment. He jumped up and bit my forearm. That landed him in his crate sans treat faster then he knew his mother could move. Today the bruise is probably looking its worst, so I photographed it to obtain sympathy.


My day is consumed with the puppy. I have to rise in time to serve him his breakfast at the expected hour. When not in his crate, he has to be in the same room as I am. That means, even when concentrating, I must still pay attention to whether he might be chewing on a chair leg, licking a piece or furniture ruining the finish, pawing at the carpet to pull up a thread, getting into the trash or something else which is supposed to be off-limits to him. We are grateful that he does tell us when it is potty time, though a 65 pound dog persistently jumping on you when you are talking on the phone is not always convenient.

Thus, the question: What were we thinking? When he was a tiny puppy in the summer, it was fun and relaxing to play with him outside multiple times per day. Otherwise, he was in his crate. Practicing our obedience school homework was not a problem in good weather. Now that it is wintertime and he is too large to spend long stretches of time in his crate (we do not have room for a larger crate), we must endure his antics inside. Our little home is not large enough for most homework exercises, thus we probably are wasting our education funds by registering for winter classes.

When this cute little beastie comes to you with big brown eyes, nuzzles against your leg wanting TLC and melts your heart, then you know why you have a puppy.

Hershey, who was the worst puppy on the face of this earth, magically became the perfect dog at 10 months when we moved to San Diego. Guinness has one month to become transformed. Stay tuned…

Guinness loves Kevin

Karin insisted that we watch the Christmas video she had taken when everyone was at our house, or she would never bother to make a DVD for us again. We turned it on and were enjoying Kevin’s antics when Guinness walked up to the television, placed his front paws on the furniture holding the TV, and put his face into Kevin’s! I didn’t grab my camera fast enough, but a few minutes later, he did the same thing! This time I captured the act!

Guinness loved Kevin when he was here, but he was overly excited. We did not dare to let go of him, as we feared he would trample Kevin and possibly scratch him (or worse) in his excitement to play with this darling child.

Get ready, Kevin! Guinness wants to play!

Guard Dog

A couple of weeks ago, Guinness noted that he could see out the windows! He began taking great interest in watching what was happening outside. Now he sits and stares out the window at woods, squirrels, birds, and the highway for long stretches a few times every day. This morning, he saw a man walking down the highway ramp and began barking. Then he started jumping on me which means he wants to go outside. I suspected that it was not potty time, but that he wanted to check out that man. I was right. He ran to the front fence and diligently searched for the man who was not to be seen. Then he turned and looked at the back fence, over which he had spotted the man from inside, obviously wondering where he had gone. It is good to know that he is protecting our property.

Grocery Trip

Guinness enjoys sticking his nose in the kitchen trash when the opportunity arises. Usually, he is immediately banned with no opportunity of retrieving some tidbit. A couple of times, he has pulled out an appealing banana peel or tempting paper towel.

Guinness has earned the privilege of running errands with me. He is very good alone in the car except he, unlike Hershey, loudly whines as I leave him. Then he jumps into the front while I am away and stands on the center console, thus turning on the four-way flashers. Today we made a grocery run. Like Hershey, when the bags are placed in the back of the vehicle, he has to sniff them, yet, like Hershey, leaves them alone. As I walked around the to the driver’s door, I glanced at him through the window to discover that he had a bunch of bananas in his mouth. With no regard to the people around who might hear me, I screamed while running to the back, “Guinness! Drop it! Drop It!” Of course, he didn’t. I opened the rear, removed the bananas from his mouth, placed them in the bag and took it with me to the front seat. As I turned my head to the right to switch off the flashers, I noted that the two women parked beside me were in stitiches. I rolled down my window to relate, “It’s just a good thing he’s cute!”

Foiled

There are no Christmas stuffed animals on the staircase for Guinness to steal, ensuing a game “You Can’t Catch Me.” To replace that fun sport, he swipes one of my boots at the deck door and hightails it to the dining room where he cannot be cornered as he runs back and forth on the opposite side of the table from me. It reminds me of playing Checkers when one player moves to the two-space corner, moving back and forth without consequence and no end to the game in sight. With Grant assisting, we might be able to block him, though he usually is too swift and too strong to be caught. He knows it is easier to run through my blockade than Grant’s. The normal ending to the game is for Guinness to make a misstep and corner himself. Today I had no patience to wait for his gaffe. He is too smart to obey the commands of “Come” or “Drop it” when in play mode. His aim is to entice me to “Come” to him, and he certainly has no intention of relinquishing it. I finally used my noggin. This dog is attending obedience school. Duh… “Settle!” Little response. “Sit.” He sat! “Drop it.” Voila! He won excessive praise and treats!

Caught Red-Handed

When we started letting Guinness wander the den, that included having access to the bathroom where his food and water are. Since there are interesting items to be found in a bathroom, particularly the toilet brush, I place such things in the tub to keep them out of his reach. Recently, he has proven that he can grasp items near the side of the tub, so I moved them to the far side. This morning, I heard strange sounds from the bathroom. He was IN the tub with a soap dish in his mouth. He had a taste of the soap long ago. We have never had a dog jump into a bathtub, but, after he was in and out of it several times today, I realized why. He is learning to jump barricades in school! The side of the tub is an easy barricade to surmount. Now when I find him in the tub, I only need to give the command “Jump” and he jumps. Too bad husbands aren’t trained that well.

Our Handsome Boy

Now that the kids are gone, the snow has returned. It was the perfect photo op to take decent pictures of a chocolate lab.

After everyone left on the 29th, Guinness was again allowed freedom. Instead of only one room at a time, we are giving him limited opportunity to have access through four rooms: den, living room, dining room, and kitchen. He is doing fairly well. The only obstacles are a pathos plant in the living room (he thinks that he must remove one leaf every time he passes), a bell on a low branch of the Christmas tree, and, of course, any shoes that may be sitting inside the deck door. He also knows that, if he rams the gate blocking the hallway, he can push it aside and race either upstairs or downstairs. If he chooses to go upstairs, he will grab one, two, or three of the Christmas stuffed animals on the stairs. Downstairs, he heads for the waste paper can. Life is improving.

Guinness's Christmas

Since Guinness was doing so well at being loose in a room with us, I expected that, once he settled down from the excitement of meeting his little nephew Kevin, he would be fine. Our previous dogs sensed the fragility of a young child or older person. Guinness does not seem to recognize that he must be gentler with such people. Once company arrived, he was too filled with Christmas joy for us to tolerate his exuberant behavior. Thus, Guinness spent most of Christmas week in his crate. We never dared to let him loose with Kevin. He was so ecstatic to meet this wonderful little fella that he would have tramped him with no intent to harm. When we were outside playing in the snow, I kept Guinness tethered to my waist.

Brandy and Jeremy are used to crazy dogs and had fun playing with him. He did his “slain in the Spirit” backwards flop for them to have his tummy rubbed.

Santa brought Guinness a rubber hamburger, and Kevin’s cats brought him a fuzzy gingerbread boy. He was thrilled with his gifts. The hamburger quickly had a big bite out of it and the gingerbread boy was losing his stuffing within hours. While we were opening our presents, I presumed that we could leave him free in the den with the French doors closed allowing him to visually be a part of our celebration. As we continued our gift opening, the thought struck me that my present from Grant, a beautiful sweater wrap, was hanging on my desk chair. With a gasp, I flew into the den to find that Guinness had already torn a sleeve apart. Thankfully, the store had another one.

Canine-ality Traits

Selecting Hershey, Dec. 20, 1995
(Greg's coat was NOT pink!)



















Bringing Guinness home, June 21, 2005


Eleven years ago today, Greg selected Hershey to be our new puppy, and Karin held him all the way home. We have dubbed Guinness “H2,” because he looks like Hershey and is similar in many ways. Yet there are traits which are specific to each dog. I do not recall Hershey ever running away from me. He always stuck close by. If he ran ahead on a trail, he would come back looking for me. It is unfortunate that Hershey did not have the opportunity to teach Guinness to be a good boy on a hike and not run away. Distractions can cause Guinness to forget that he should stay with me.

Guinness has his own inimitable mannerisms. One of the funniest is that, when he wants to be petted, he will fall straight backwards onto his back. It is as if he is “slain in the Spirit” to be tummy fondled. When he was a tiny puppy, it wasn’t much of a fall. Now that he is over 60 pounds, you would think that it hurts to flop especially when he is falling onto an object such as the edge of a concrete wall, a toy, or a furniture leg. We try to grasp a finger into his collar to ease his fall.

Agility Fun Day

We attended an Agility introductory class today. Guinness was a goofball in the tunnels. Sometimes he would go through, and sometimes he would turn around inside and come out the end he went in. Of course, I was at the opposite end which meant he had free reign to chase any dog he wanted. A teacher had to help me with the tunnels by staying at the end he entered. He was fairly good at the jumps, but he got tired. Me too! We did balance boards and ramps last. He was hesitant on the low ramps, but pranced with total confidence over the very tall, steep one seen in the picture (taken from their Web site)! The reason is that we bought a ramp for Hershey a couple of years ago when we acquired my X5. It was too high for him to jump in. Now we use it for Guinness, as he is too small to jump that high and too heavy for me to pick up (58 lbs.).

This afternoon Guinness was POOPED!!!!! He was sprawled out on the floor and did not move except an occasional twitch! Later he moved to Hershey’s favorite spot – under the large den desk. We called it his cave. Guinness snuggled up to Hershey under there, but has only sniffed the area since he has been gone. Today Guinness curled up into that space on his own. After all, he is H2.

Grade 2, class 3

It is too frigid outside to spend any time out there doing homework. We did minimal homework inside. Tonight at class, you would think that he had done his homework faithfully and had conquered all the exercises. Here he is on a “Sit Wait” exercise while the dogs, one by one, wove in and out around the other sitting dogs. What a good boy!

Christmas is coming

Guinness is playing with a new Christmas toy while Daddy takes a Christmas snooze.

My throat is sore!

Too bad the ice all over his fur is not visible in this picture! Actually, it is visible if you enlarge the picture and take a close look.

Today was our first attempt to walk on the beach. He is so good off leash on our property that I hoped he would be at the beach too. But the distractions were too intense to conquer. As soon as we arrived and I opened the back of the car, he jumped out before I could snap on his leash, and ran to an older woman jogging. There were too many people there on this brisk, sunny morning to allow him to run free. He was tugging and tugging, showing no leash respect. No one was behind us, so I turned and let him go free in that direction. He sailed down the beach until he came to rocks which needed to be circumvented. Instead on going around them, he chose to run into the freezing lake. I was becoming concerned, because he was headed for deep water. I screamed to him; he eventually stood still in the water staring at me, then decided to come, though he was not interested in a treat. The beach was more exciting than a treat! We continued beyond the rocks. He next indiscretion was to leave the beach for the grass where he saw a friendly woman walking. My throat was sore from shrieking, I was out of breath from running, so, after only ten minutes, we headed back to the car. I stood on his leash as I unfolded the ramp. My foot was not heavy enough to counteract his eagerness to meet a man strolling by. Fortunately, he too was not unfriendly to happy puppies.

Adolescence

What a jokster! Today, as I was slicing a fruitcake, he grabbed a big hunk when I wasn't looking. Later, I was preparing dinner and had mixed the sauce in a casserole dish for baking chicken. While my back was turned, he tipped the casserole and ate most of the sauce in one gulp. We need major training for “off counter.” Also he has been ignoring commands when he doesn't want to obey. I expected the stuffed animals on the stairway to be a huge temptation, but thought we could get through it. One teddy bear is his. He knows it is his, but he is greedy and likes the others too. When he has a restricted one, he cannot be caught! I don't chase him, but he is too smart for my sneakiness too. It is quite funny.

Anthropomorphisms

Guinness is doing soooo well around the house!!! Tuesday, my thoughts were -- I wonder if Hershey knew it was time for Guinness to leave the crate, and he did not wish to be constantly pummeled by a puppy. Or he could have considered that his job of training Guinness was finished, thus he could move on. Guinness is still a mischief maker, and we have to keep him in the same room we are in. He really is cute and so reminiscent of Hershey as a puppy. Being the same breed, he even looks the same as Hershey did at that age. It's almost like we didn't lose Hershey. We just went Back to the Future.

Wednesday, an alternate idea struck me to explain his calm conduct outside the crate: perhaps Guinness understands that he needs to replicate Hershey’s respectable behavior.

Regardless of his desire to be “a good boy,” his adolescence sometimes supersedes his intentions. Thursday, I took Guinness with me to run errands. Our first stop was a housewares store where I found a sale on small poinsettias. I bought several and placed them on the front passenger seat floor where I hoped they would be safe. I accomplished two more projects before reality reminded me that Guinness is a “flower dog!” He had eaten all of one plant, spilling dirt all over the front passenger seat, floor, and console. At 5:58 PM, I pulled into my car wash as they were preparing to close. When they saw my mess, they agreed to be Good Samaritans.

Noticeable Improvement

Guinness is still bouncing off the walls, but he is becoming better in so many ways. In fact, I think he is becoming a Hershey clone. When I tell him to drop something, he doesn’t drop it, but loosens his grip so that I can take it easily. He is tolerating being toweled off on rainy days. He is behaving himself out of the crate more and more every day. When someone appears while he is off leash outside, he listens to me as he races toward the person while I am yelling, “No jump! No jump!”

I have Christmas-themed stuffed animals lining the stairway. He loves to grab the Garfield angel and the small reindeer. At his welcoming party last summer, Sasha gave him a blue stuffed teddy bear. He is an aggressive chewer, so we have not allowed him to have that toy. This evening, I tried letting him have that instead of the Christmas animals. He KNEW it was his! When he has something in his mouth which he should not, he can be caught. I was not trying to take the teddy bear from him, but he thought I was. There was no way he would allow me near him! He ran like a maniac whenever I came close. I could not have caught him if I had tried.

I think back to Hershey’s haunting eyes as he would stand on the deck, peeking between the slats, watching me play with Guinness in the yard. I wonder what he was thinking. Was he jealous of the new puppy? I don’t think so. Did he realize that Guinness would take his place in the family when he expired? I think perhaps. Was he just too tired to join in our game but wanted to watch what we were doing? Definitely that! Within the past month while playing outside, there were two incidents where Guinness tried to hump Hershey, declaring dominance. But Hershey, who has never minded being humped, did not allow it and humped Guinness instead. He may have been ailing, but he was not going to relinquish his authority.

The Magician

Guinness: Yesterday, I was licking my incision, so Mark took me and Daddy to the pet store to find a hood. I love shopping! But this hood thing they bought was terrible! It was like a huge lampshade on my head making it difficult to walk without bumping into things. I could barely eat the food in my bowl. Worst of all, I looked ridiculous! What were they thinking? I managed to remove one of the ties which secured it to me. Daddy thought he would trick me by using Hershey’s special rolled leather collar to hold the hood on. But I showed them! When Daddy came in to let me out this morning, the hood was no longer around my neck. I was sitting on it!!! I was sorry to destroy Hershey’s beautiful collar, but I could not allow it to restrict me. I ripped it into a million pieces and tore up the hood. In the process, I ingested some of the leather and plastic, causing me to vomit in my crate. I hope they got the message to never try putting such a thing on me again! They can’t figure out how I could have done it. Mommy said that I am just like Hershey. Apparently, Hershey ate a fifty dollar Promise Halter within three days when he was in puppy school. Uncle Gary dubbed me “H 2,” meaning “Hershey the second.”