I Am So Neglected

I am getting a bit sick of hearing how wonderful Niamh is. Barbara is constantly telling her that she is smart and beautiful and giving her kisses. Sure Niamh now has letters after her name but I could have some too if someone would train me. I have been completely neglected while Niamh got lots of training and attention. Barbara says that I have regressed.

Then she tells me that I look all tufty. Well if she would groom me I would look really handsome. And I actually enjoy being groomed, not like some Gordon Setters I know who get very touchy about their grooming.



If I didn't have my friend Scout to play with I just don't know what I would do with myself. At least I can run around with her and try rid of some of my excess energy.



I have been doing lots attention seeking behavior. I have gone back to my old counter surfing ways and I dug this nice hole near our patio. But the thing that got the most attention was when I found some old poop under the leaves, put it in my mouth and tried to bring it into the house. Many HBO words were said I can tell you.



Maybe I should chew up a shoe or something.

More Fun Time with Wallace

It continues to be ridiculously hot here in NC. It is very bad for us mostly black dogs. It is hard to get enough exercise and still keep cool. Niamh does not like the heat at all and only wants to stay inside in the AC. I have been going over to Scout's house and playing with her and jumping in her pool. We get nice and wet and then shake the water off on our people!



I want Scout to get out of the pool and chase me.



My brother Wallace came back for a visit to our training center. It is nice and cool there.



We had a great time training and playing. Of course Barbara did not have her camera on when we had a really nice, bashy game. Then just as Wallace got ready to leave I decided to see if I could get him to play some more. I think he was tired so it didn't get as wild as our earlier game but you can see that we had a good time together. Wallace is the one with the striped leash. I'm the one who is barking.





After Wallace left I made a huge discovery. Niamh has been hiding her Squeaky Sheep at the training center! It is the great one with the 16 squeakers inside. Well once I found it I gave it a good shake and raced around and around with it, squeaking it like mad. Niamh will be so annoyed when she see what fun I had with her toy.





One of the reasons we haven't been posting much lately, or commenting on your blogs the way we would like to, is that Barbara has been working on making a monthly newsletter for Paw In Hand Dog Training. Not being the most creative person in the world, this has taken her some time. I would be very surprised if you hadn't heard an explosion of HBO words yesterday when she somehow managed to erase all the changes she had made and the new copy she had written for the newsletter! I know it woke me out of a sound sleep.

The most exciting part is that I am going to have my own column in the newsletter! It will be called" Ask Ambrose" and subscribers will be able to write in with questions about dog training and behavior and I will answer them in the next newsletter. I know I will do a good job since I love training and and I am an expert in dog behavior because I am a dog. Notice that Niamh did not get her own column. She will be sick with jealousy when she finds out since she thinks she knows everything.

My Brother Wallace

Ambrose here! I am getting to do 2 posts in a row. Niamh will be sick with jealously when she sees the blog.

Anyway life here has been very dull. It is too hot to do anything fun and I am bored. But today Barbara said that I was going to see my littermate Wallace! His person brought him to our training center to do some practicing.

I have not seen Wallace since last November and he has grown to be bigger than I am. I am 70 lbs and he is 80 lbs! This spring he earned all of his confirmation points and is now a Champion! His fancy name is Ch. Albannach A Knight's Tale.



We were a bit unsure about each other at first but we walked around the center together, did a lot of sniffing and got lots of treats for being good boys.

Here we are together. I am the one on the left and Wallace is on the right. His feet are even bigger than mine!



We did get to run around a play a bit too but then I got a bit over excited and started to hump Wallace which Barbara thought was very rude and she made me stop!



We are going to get together again next week. I am looking forward to hanging out with my bro!

A Year and a Day

It has been one year and one day since I came to live with Barbara and Niamh! This is Barbara's favorite picture of me when I was a puppy. I am trying to cuddle up to Niamh. I missed my brothers and sisters a lot at first and wanted Niamh to like me. You can see pictures of my parents and siblings at Albannach Gordons.



Barbara picked me out of litter because she really liked my temperament and my sweet, mushy face.



I've grown up quite a bit since then and I am very strong and fast.



But because I have had such a lot of socialization and training, I have stayed nice and sweet. I like everyone I meet, people and dogs. I have good play skills because Barbara exposed me to nice dogs when I was little. Scout and I like to play rough but we have a good time. Today we ran around the training center before we practiced our training. It is raining out so I couldn't go to the dog park.



It has been a great year. I have learned so much. I know Niamh makes fun of me on the blog but we really do get along very well and play a lot. She does yell at me though if I annoy her before breakfast when she is watching the deer in the woods.

Barbara thinks I am the sweetest boy and I give good smoochies. She has big plans for me in training. She says that I have to live up to my name which is Albannach Almost Famous. I just want to have fun and get lots of petting, praise and treats




I hope Niamh won't be such a blog hog and will let me post some more. Other than that, life is good.

Ambrose

I Am ONE!!!

I am one year old today and because of that I finally get to post on the blog! It is called Settertails, which is plural so the blog shouldn't just be about Niamh (and her complaining about me).

I've put a lot of pictures in my post so you can see how I've grown from a little puppy to a big dog.

Here I am at 7 weeks old with some of my littermates. I'm the one in the red collar. This is the first time that I met Barbara. She liked me right away. She said that she wanted a "mushy male" puppy.



This is the day she came to pick me up from my breeders. I was sad to leave my siblings but little did I know that I was going to have a new sister and lots of adventures.



We had a long drive from SC to my new home. I did a little exploring and then crashed on my new bed (a bed that I eventually ripped to shreds).



You can see that Niamh was not really thrilled with me at first. I wanted to be close to her since I missed my littermates. She did not think it was a great idea for me to share her bed or her toys. She had to teach me to respect her.



I had a lot to learn. Barbara exposed me to lots of people, places and new things to socialize me properly. I love to go in the woods and explore.



My first time in the snow.



Niamh decided that I could stay and I learned to play great bitey face games with her. She was very gentle with me when I was little and taught me excellent bite inhibition. I never put my teeth on human skin and I have a soft mouth.



To help me be a well socialized pup, Barbara introduced me to dogs with good social skills. Here I am with my friend Cherie.



This is me on my first track. I love tracking. The smells are great and I get good treats too.



Of course I went to puppy class. I learned to make nice new dog and people friends. We also practiced obedience skills. My recall is great. It is all positive reward based training so I really enjoy it.



Barbara took me to interesting places so I would get exposed to lots of new things. Here I am at a garden center.



Scout is my best friend. We get together frequently for walks and for bitey face and chase games.



Niamh always says that I am goofy. Well sometimes I am. But mostly I am very sweet. Barbara says so.



Since I am a Gordon Setter, I am going to have a lot of long hair which requires quite a bit of grooming. Barbara got me used to the grooming table by putting me up on it for short periods and giving me lots of treats. It is really not that bad. I don't know why Niamh makes such a big deal about it.



You can see in this picture with Scout, that I am growing up.



We played in the pool during the hot summer.



We like to get silly together. We are puppies after all.



I get to go to the dog park and meet other dogs. Barbara is very careful about who I am allowed to play with. Here I am making friends with a Boston Terrier. I do like little dogs.



Look how big I am in this photo taken last month.



I'm still a pretty goofy boy though.



It has been an exciting year. I know that Niamh complains about me a lot and she is sometimes horrified by my behavior but I am trying hard and I am just a teenager. Barbara is my special person and I am the mushy boy that she wanted. She thinks that I will make a great therapy dog when I am older. I know that I still have a lot to learn before I am grown up. I am very glad to have all of you as blogging friends.

Since this is my first birthday, I am not sure what to expect. But I understand I may get some presents and treats. I hope so!

Bad Ambrose

Ambrose is almost 7 months old now and he is huge! Almost as big as me. His paws are enormous and he still has a lot of loose skin so he is not nearly finished growing.

The first picture is us today. The second picture was taken in March when he was only 2 1/2 months old.





You can see the difference.

He has grown in spurts. Sometimes his front legs grow and sometimes his back legs grow. One day Barbara was horrified to see that his hips were higher than his shoulders! I think that we should lock him in a closet so that no one can see him and think that is what Gordon Setters are supposed to look like.

He is also growing goofier by the day. Look at that face!. This week he forgot what sit means. Barbara gave him the cue and he just stood there and stared at her like he never heard the word before. She has only been practicing that with him since he was 8 weeks old!



Completely clueless.

Barbara says that he is the most destructive puppy that she has ever had. Even though we have lots of appropriate chew toys, stuffed kongs and other treat dispensing toys, he still likes to chew up things that shouldn't even be in his mouth in the first place. If Barbara leaves the closet door open for a second or leaves something out on the table, it is in his mouth in a flash. I have done a few bad things in my day but nothing like this and I was never destructive.

THE GALLERY OF DESTRUCTION

Ambose's registered name is Albannach Almost Famous. His breeders sent Barbara a baseball cap with their kennel name embroidered on it. She had it in the dog-crate-on-wheels on the console between the front seats. Ambrose's crate is right up next to the console. While she was driving he pulled the hat into his crate, chewed it and got his puppy slime all over it.




He stole her sandal from the closet and chewed off the end before she got it back.



I took my head off my dragon for just a few minutes and this is what he did to it.




He stole the camera off the table. Fortunately he only messed up the case and not the camera.




He is also a counter surfer. We used to have four of these Canine Freestyle Federation mugs. Now we have one. Barbara gets really upset when Ambrose knocks over anything glass or ceramic. Many HBO words are said while Ambrose gets shoved in his crate and I get told to "leave it" so she can clean up the mess. I think she is worried that we might eat the glass or cut our pads on it.




I really don't know how I am going to survive his adolescence. It was so nice to go to the competition in TN and leave him at the kennel. I had Barbara all to myself and didn't have to put up with his goofiness. But Barbara missed him. Why, I do not know. She is always kissing him and playing with him and trying to train him (a lost cause, I am afraid). So I am stuck with him.

Socialization

It's all about socialization at our house these days. Barbara is obsessed with it. Ambrose needs to be socialized to this, Ambrose needs to be socialized with that, is all I hear. It is very important that puppies get exposed, in a gentle, positive way to all sorts of experiences when they are under 16 weeks old. So according to Barbara, the clock is ticking. Of course we dogs need to keep being socialized all through our adolescence but the early weeks are critical

I was very well socialized as a puppy but I am getting a bit sick of all the time Barbara is spending doing it with Ambrose. It means I get neglected while she takes him off to have adventures. I have to stay home and he comes back with the smell of cheese on his breath.

Today she took him to her friend Jane's house to socialize with her foster dog Cherie and to walk in their neighborhood. Cherie is a lovely young pit bull mix that Jane, who is a dog trainer too, is fostering for the Durham Animal Protection Society.



Ambrose liked Cherie very much and you can see how nice she was with him. They practiced their sits before they went on their walk.



Ambrose got to see bicycles and he and Cherie met a little toddler. I hear that they behaved beautifully. I, of course, was not a witness since I was stuck at home alone. Barbara says that she has to "concentrate" on Ambrose. How hard can it be? He isn't that big!



Cherie is up for adoption. She is about a year old, spayed, housetrained and crate trained, really good with other dogs, loves people and of course has learned a lot of obedience skills from Jane. If you know of a great home for her, let me know.



Thank you for all your concern about my eating the brownies. I was fine and I can not understand why there was all the fuss. Actually I think it is some kind of conspiracy to keep us dogs from tasting something that is so delicious that the people want to keep it all for themselves.

The brownies were delicious. Barbara says that she hopes I enjoyed them because it will never happen again.

Snow Day

We woke up this morning to see that it had snowed overnight. I was very excited and did zoomies in the yard. Ambrose, of course, has never really seen snow but it did not phase him at all. He is a bold little guy.



He really enjoyed racing around in the snow and chewing on everything he could get his little mouth on.



It was hard to get good picture of him because he was always in motion but he had a great time.



We are getting along pretty well these days. We have had some good play times but of course I don't like Ambrose near me when I am chewing on a toy or eating. Barbara supervises us pretty carefully.



So after a lot of playtime outside we came in and Ambrose did some roaching on my bed with my fox stuffie!