Jr. Puppy Graduation

Last night Barbara's Junior Puppy Class had their graduation ceremony! Junior Puppy Class is for very young puppies who are under 16 weeks of age when class starts. This is the best time to teach puppies that learning is fun and to help them get socialized to people, other pups, and new places. The old theory was that puppies couldn't learn anything, and shouldn't go to class, until they were 6 months old, which is completely ridiculous. A puppy's mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Good puppy classes balance socialization, play, management and basic skills to get puppies off to a great start. I, of course, was in puppy class almost as soon as Barbara brought me home and look how well I turned out.

The puppies showed off their tricks and then went through an obstacle course to demonstrate their skills. Sasha is rewarded for excellent attention to her person.



Sailor bravely walked over the hula hoops.



Gracie enjoyed going through the tunnel. All the puppies showed great confidence - one of the benefits of attending a class.



Here are the graduates. There were treats for dogs and people and they got nice diplomas for completing the class.



Of course 7 weeks of class is only the beginning but all of the puppies signed up for another set of classes. Soon they will be practically perfect just like me!

Ambrose Has a Busy Day

Monday was an exciting day for Ambrose. First he and his friend Scout got to go tracking. They do little tracks with lots of articles and rewards. Then Ambrose went to the lake for the first time!

Scout has already been to the lake once so she knew just what to do.



Ambrose went into the water but kept looking back at Barbara to see if it was ok. She encouraged him with lots of praise and some treats and threw little sticks for him.



Ambrose did not know what to do with his feet! Should he splash the water with his paw or try to swim?



He is not sure if he wants to go back in to the lake or just watch Scout swimming. Next time I will go with him and show him how much fun it is to splash and swim.



Afterwards they both rolled around on the grass to dry off and played a little bitey face.



Monday night was the Junior Puppy Class graduation. The puppies got to show off their tricks and do a mini obstacle course. They tried to get a group picture but it is hard to get 9 puppies to sit still at once!



The puppies have grown so much in seven weeks (Ambrose has more than doubled in size) and learned a lot. I hope all the puppies continue on with classes so that they will grow up to be great dogs. A puppy's mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Mail, Tag and more

I love to get mail. Yesterday this great package came in the mail from Addie and Lucie. For their 200th post their mom decided to donate a pound food to the animal shelter for everyone who commented on their blog. I thought this was a great idea so of course we had to comment. It turned out that we got randomly picked to receive a present for commenting.

I had to stick my head all the way in the package to check it out.



Look at all the goodies in side! Candy bar stuffies, chew sticks with chicken, a squeaky tennis ball and a lovely card.



Here is the card with Addie and Lucie's paw prints.



I love the candy bar stuffies as they are just the right size to carry in my mouth and squeak.



Since the package was addressed to me, all the presents are mine. However, generous big sister that I am, I will let Ambrose play with one of the toys and maybe have a chew stick.



Thanks so much Addie, Lucie and your mom for donating to the shelter and for my neat presents.

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A Game

Barbara was tagged by the Dughallmor Beagles to play this game awhile ago. She finally figured out all her answers!

1. What is your name? Barbara
The following answers must all begin with the first letter of your name.
2. A four letter word? Boss
3. Girl name: Brigid
4. Boy name: Brendan
5. Occupation: Baker
6. Color: Blue
7. Piece of clothing: Blouse
8. Food: Bacon
9. Item in the bathroom: Bathtub
10. Place/City: Boston (where many of our blogging friends live)
11. A reason for being late: Barbara has never been late in her life!
12. Something you’d yell: Blegh!
13. Movie: Brigadoon (Beagledoon)
14. Something you can drink: Bourbon
15. Band: Beach Boys
16. Animal: Baboon
17. Street name: Broadway
18. Car: Buick
19. Song: Born to Run
20. Activity that includes more than one participant: Baseball



I sent Ambrose off to Trotter's house yesterday to play with Trotter's new little sister Scout. The puppies got very silly when they played.



Ambrose's legs have gotten so long. I am afraid that he may be part giraffe.



Scout hid in the tunnel and Ambrose did play bows to coax her out.



When she got tired of their play she rested on the broad jump.



Ambrose continued to run around the yard with a chicken stuffie in his mouth.



Scout needed to cool off in the shade of the pause table.



All this playing with Scout wore Ambrose out, thank goodness, and I was able to rest last night instead of having to play endless games of tug.

Puppy Training

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) thinks it is vital that all puppies get trained. I do too. Ambrose is bad enough as he is. If Barbara wasn't training him I don't want to even imagine how bad he would be. Barbara started teaching a new Junior Puppy class the other night. Of course I went to demonstrate and Ambrose came too. The puppies are pretty cute but they are all very silly

Goldie



Abby



Milo



Ambrose made friends with a Lewellyn Setter named Chief.



They practiced doing their sits.



My boyfriend Trotter's special person Chris came with their new Golden Retriever puppy named Scout. Poor Trotter. Now he will be neglected the way I am while Chris spends all her time with this new puppy. I have a great idea. Trotter can come to live with me and I will send Ambrose over to Chris to live with Scout. Then neither Trotter or I will have to deal with icky puppies.



Ambrose gets lots of training at home. Barbara takes him out into the woods to climb over logs and to practice his obedience. She says it will make him confident and strong. I think that he is too confident and strong already. He has tried to put his paws on my shoulders, the little brat!



He climbs over logs.



He crawls under branches.



When he isn't looking at her, Barbara will hide behind a tree and call him.



Ambrose races to her and gets bits of hot dogs. This is a great game to help with the recall. I love to play hide 'n seek.



Here is a photo of the two of us. You can see how big he is getting.



Now we are off to play bitey face. I've been tagged for a game and received an award. We'll get them up in the next day or so.

Leonberger Pups

I like Leonbergers. They are big and hairy, twice my size at least. Ika had 7 little Leonberger pups and you can see them at www.kenneldisforzando.com . Barbara went to her house to do a behavior evaluation on the puppies. She did this same evaluation to me and my sisters and brothers when we were 7 weeks old. I must have done very well on the test since she is my special person.



The evaluation looks at puppies to see how social they are, if they liked to be handled, how they behave with toys and food and will help to place them in good homes. This puppy obviously likes being handled.



But what is happening here? Barbara is playing with that puppy with my brand new tug toy that I just got last weekend at the Canine Freestyle workshop.



This is terrible. Now she has let 3 puppies play with my toy!. I am sure that they have ruined it with their puppy drool. I will not touch it until Barbara washes it for me.