The Dog Days

Wow, we've been quite busy here, so time for an update! Just a little side note from all the four legged, furry chaos, this past weekend was my 21st birthday :) The house was full when Nate and Mal came down to spend the weekend with me, and boy was that lots of fun! Kinda hectic since Mal is such a big guy, and all Dean wants to do is torture the living hell out of him, but we made it work. Lots of fetch outside, aka Mal fetching and Dean running after him, trying to herd him or mouth anywhere he can reach.Thankfully Dean doesn't have the endurance his big brother has yet.

As far as training goes, we've been working on reinforcing his basics, sometimes the pup thinks listening is a choice, but treats are mandatory. Noooooope! So we're doing random obedience drills now on walks and when we make a trip to the dog park as well. I've got my arsenal of string cheese and super smelly salmon Zuke's alongside my trusty clicker. As far as building foundation behaviors, we're starting with a fussing position by working against a wall. So far, just position, click, and treat. I haven't decided on what finish I want him to learn by default. So far I'm leaning towards the left finish, or a flip finish. To reinforce his rear end awareness, I'm going to start doing some perch work. His rear drive could use some work I've noticed, and it will help with his growing puppy coordination I'm sure.

So that's all for now, I'll update with some photos later too. Adios!

Playing Catch Up

So its been well over a month since I last updated, so I'm going to try to pump out a few posts today and tomorrow before Nate and Mal arrive to celebrate my 21st birthday weekend~

(I also promised a few people that I'd update for their reading pleasure as well.)

Here's a quick tl;dr in advance though.

-Training going well, hit a stall with vacation and whatnot
- Went on vacation to Disney World with my family as a gift from my mom
- Dean went on vacation with his dad and brother while I was away. Threw up on the way there, was a brat for a day, but settled nicely and became super rambunctious right away.
- Came home and went to pick up Dean a day later. Almost cried at how sweet and happy he was to see me.
- Wound up spending a few more days with Nate and his family than planned (like... Almost an entire week) and really enjoyed it. Saw his niece's dance recital and also spent some time with her over the weekend before leaving.
- Oh yea, did some driving while I was out there too.
- Came home Sunday night, pup was overjoyed to be home, but had vomited in the car again so he had to be bathed right away. He was not happy.
- Typical schedule from there on out. Sleep, wake up and eat, walk, come home and sleep (for Dean, not me), do laundry, clean a bit, walk some more, get ready and go to work. Come home from work, walk, sleep.

Now more recently, yesterday recently, pup is done his basic immunizations, so even more socialization and exposure will be happening. Today we even went to the dog park. This is all I have time for at the moment, but I'll update on more specific things during my break I think, photos included.