Growing and Learning

Lacey had another visit to the vet today for a third set of vaccinations. She is now 7.1lbs (3.22kgs). That's about 27% growth over the last 3 weeks. She is getting longer. Lacey is starting to show the classic wire fox terrier posture at times.

Before going to the vet we visited a local dog training school. We had hoped to put her into a puppy class offered through the City of Brentwood Park and Rec Department. However, there were not enough enrollees and they cancelled the class. But they referred me to the organization that was doing the training. So we went there this morning to check into it. They have another obedience class starting in March, so that's the one we will sign up for.

Lacey Video

I finally took a video with the iPhone to show Lacey playing. Not great, but gives you an idea. At one point you see my finger obscuring the lens as I switch from normal to macro and back again:

Week of Storms

Starting on Sunday afternoon our area was blanketed with a series of rain storms. The blowing and swirling winds, wet and cold were problems for Lacey and our work on her delicate condition. I can't say as I blame her--imagine if we humans continued to use outhouses...without walls...without a roof...and without a seat. I am not sure we would relish being outside in a storm and might opt for a far corner of a covered and walled location.

So we set up a papered pen in the gated kitchen for use when we were less than successful outside.

Lacey continues to be very cute. Her playing and quiet times are a joy to watch.

Lacey's "delicate condition"

I was reminded today of how the phrase "delicate condition" has been used to reflect a female's bodily state that was not to be too explicitly discussed in polite society -- often involving pregnancy, but not always. Recognizing that we have talked on this blog so much about Lacey's bowel and urinary status and how tedious (and possibly odious) that may be to the reader, we will now simply refer to it as her "delicate condition".

Lacey's delicate condition is still in flux. Yesterday Momma and Poppa had to be away from the house for several hours so it was not unexpected that there would be some policing to do upon our return. But more importantly there was no opportunity to reinforce the desired behavior. So last night and today we are doing our best to reinforce (reward) desired behaviors and minimize opportunity for bad outcomes.

There is puppy obedience training locally available starting on Jan 28. We can't sign up for class until Jan 21. (The class is through a program managed by the City of Brentwood, so city residents have priority and were able to sign up starting Jan 14. We hope there will still be openings on Jan 21 when non-residents can join.) The class takes puppies 10 to 18 weeks old. Since Lacey turns 10 weeks old tomorrow this is a good time to start. It also gives us some expectation that behavioral progress thus far has not been so much laxness on our part as much as Lacey being still a little too young to have the necessary attention span.

Fortunately Lacey has such a sweet disposition that her misdeeds are merely misdemeanors and not felonies. And, of course, the presence of the leash regulates her potential for mischief making. She is off-leash only in the penned kitchen, her sleeping crate, and the occasional laundry room stint when we both have to be gone. We let her explore the rest of the house only under our guidance to prevent disaster either to her or by her.

After successful obedience training she will be getting more freedom in the house. That is something I am sure both we and Lacey are looking forward to.

9 1/2 Weeks Old

Two Steps Forward?

In the last few days it seemed that we had moved beyond "two steps forward, one step back". But last night things seemed a little off kilter -- the routine I thought we had established was not as "routine" as I had hoped. Not like a couple of weeks ago, but not as reliable as I thought we had established.

The days are still a challenge. With the poorer winter weather outside there is a disincentive to exercise her for long periods in the yard or the deck. She seems disinclined to walk far down the sidewalk away from home. Our strategy will be to put her in her carrier and walk with her to a distant point then return home with her on the lead.

Took some photos that I will work on to post here soon. She responds well to the camera and I am trying to make the camera not an object of interest in itself. The shots I would like to get are those candid and quiet moments when she is not experience her PADD (puppy attention deficit disorder). I am using the wide lens most of the time just to ensure I can keep her in the frame given her proclivity to move quickly and in difficult to anticipate directions.

A growing girl

The trip to the vet on Friday went well. Lacey is now 5.6 lbs (2.54 kilos). That's a 40% increase in two weeks. I swear I thought it was going to be more -- she seemed so much bigger. But it may just be that she is getting so much more lively and determined.

I have experimented with the video on my iPhone, but haven't yet gotten anything worth posting. What I think would be most interesting would be something from my point of view where I see her doing something cute. But it's hard to see something, get the iPhone, and then hold the iPhone steady enough. The frame rate is 10 fps so if she is thrashing about it is just a blur. That suggests a quiet time would be best...but if she is not moving a video is not better than a still shot...so I have some work to do to become a good videographer.

Lacey is doing much better at night. It doesn't mean that I have been getting a full night's sleep, but it does mean that she is not fouling her crate which is the first step.

We keep her on a leash except when she's in an area for easy clean up. Outside she is always on a leash because she is very quick and very curious. And she really wants to meet people. Her trust level is waaay too high and that's not something you want to quash. But its easier to make her too afraid than learn just the right level of caution. So the leash is the principle regulator at this point.

Lacey's breed is known for being very smart and I hope that training some day will make her highly reliable with verbal commands. But I know that is definitely in the future with a lot of work that, frankly, I have never achieved with any of my previous dogs. So I suspect the wild card here will be my commitment and energy more than Lacey's.

It's Vet Day

Haven't posted for a few days. Quick catch up:

1. Lacey's trip to Grandma's was a real success. Everyone enjoyed it.
2. Lacey has clearly established that, for now, she can only be left unsupervised in areas where easy and effective cleanup can be done.
3. Lacey is still incredibly cute (which ensures her survival even with the need to do cleanup).

Today we go back to the Vet for her next series of vaccines. It will be interesting to see how much she has grown. It can be deceptive; Lacey looks fluffy and big outside when she is pulling at her lead to explore another dead leaf but seems long and light when you are carrying her about indoors.

I have added a video capture program to the iPhone and will try and get some video worth posting.

New Adventure? Disaster?

Lacey is off to Sacramento this morning with Momma. Momma has her hair appointment up there and Grandma suggested that Lacey come along and stay at her house for a few hours. Oh boy!

So bright and early we have been active in our first effort to compile and transport her foldable canvas crate. Of course trying to get Lacey well-pottied for the drive has been a priority. Puppy pads and towel on the passenger seat is a must.

Naturally this being our first effort at coordinating such an activity it was not all smooth. But they are off now. There will be a tale to tell tonight, no doubt.

Oh, and last night seemed to go by with no incident (accident) , so we're crossing out fingers.

The perils of a change in schedule

I have been off-work for two weeks during the holidays which gave me the opportunity to focus effort on Lacey's integration into the household. The previous posts give some indication of how that is going. But today I have needed to head back to work shifting the focus on Lacey from Poppa to Momma.

The need to integrate my getting ready for work has created a new challenge. Lacey still wants her vigorous play session first thing. So I accommodated that before showering and dressing. We need to initiate a morning walk -- both for me and Lacey. Her general distractedness had kept me from doing much formalized walking yet. She may be yet too young for that -- she just had her 8th week birthday yesterday.

With the need to get out the door it was a bit of a distraction to deal with accidents this morning. But I managed to do so at least leaving Momma with a "clean slate" for the day. Will get reports on how that's working out later.

Play

Enough about poop. Play is a more fun topic.

First thing in the morning Lacey's energy is off the charts. So that means she wants to really rough house. We have some things that are OK for chewing (and a lot of things that are not). Her stuffed fox terrier toy is the main "combatant" for her. I hold in my hand and we do battle. The game is to keep her interested. She reminds us a lot of our first terrier, Lady, in this respect. She really wants to challenged and her lithe puppy body can stand a lot. We do battle on the top of the bed first thing in the morning so her flipping and flopping are always on a soft surface.

Her second best opponent is her leash. Although I am a bit concerned about developing a bad habit of pulling on the leash, I think I will cure that with a leash change later to let her know something different is expected about her behavior at that point and let her fight this leash a lot. As it turns out this leash has a little leather connector where the material loops back to hold the clip. This is a very satisfying attack point for Lacey. The fixation with the leash allows for me to sit on a chair and flip the leash around while she attacks various points. She expends a lot of energy while I don't have to -- the perfect scenario from my perspective.

Hopefully soon we will transition to walks, but right now she just wants to roll about for play.

Progress?

Friday night and Saturday were good with a lot of attention. Lacey behaved as desired and was rewarded with lots of play and encouragement.

Last night was another hiccup. An accident in her bed. So are we really making progress? The space restriction did not completely work (although the prior night's success was encouraging). So does that mean that it was the right strategy and we simply missed the right signal? Our plan was to arise when she cried in the night, take her out for business and then return immediately. Once back in the crate just after having done her business, ignore her cries and let her settle down. Only respond to cries that come significantly later.

But given how sleepy one is in the middle of night are we judging time correctly?

New Years Day! Hurray!

I don't believe Lacey thinks much of New Year's Day. Since the focus was on taking down the tree and putting away the Christmas decorations, Lacey needed to be secured away from all the activity. Not her favorite thing. But there were enough breaks during the day that she did get some attention.

Lacey's progress on crate training has not been as good as I would wish. I placed a box inside the crate to block off the area where she has been having accidents. I hope this will expedite her understanding of the need to hold it until we can take her outside.

With our prior dogs we used a phrase "busy busy" to signal their need to potty while we were outside. I cannot now recall how long it took them to identify this phrase with outdoor pottying, but I do know that Lacey doesn't have the concept yet.