1st WELLNESS CHECK COMPLETE

We just got back from our first Wellness Check with Dr. Munique of Veterinary Associates of Princeton.

I chose Dr. Munique to be her vet because we are on the same page about the importance of growth plate closure before spaying, she has a great understanding of Giant Breed nutritional needs and we are on the same timetable with vaccinations and parasite control.

It's nice to work with a vet that sees things the same way you do and isn't pushing to fix a giant breed puppy at 4 months old.

They were quite busy when we arrived and it was almost an hour before we were seen. Luna couldn't have behaved any better.

While we waited, she met some great people who learned about her breed / training and loved on her.

She was very settled and relaxed around the cats and other dogs - many people complimented her on her behavior at such a young age!

She settled on the bench and after about 30min, she was sound asleep.

When it was our turn, she did beautifully with her exam and Dr. Munique said she is in wonderful condition.

Current Weight: 14.8lbs
Heart / Lungs / Ears / Eyes:  All Clear
Body Condition: Great

Again, so many thanks to Shawna for producing such a wonderful litter and putting the extra time and effort in to help us choose the right pup...

She is amazing!

CONTAINMENT FRUSTRATION - DAY 1-3

Containment frustration is a common thing for a lot of dogs.  Whenever they are behind any type of barrier - in the car, behind a baby gate, in a crate - and they don't want to be there - they can certainly let you know with no shortage of vocalizations.  So what do you do?

First, it's important to understand WHY this is happening.  Most barrier issues stem from one of two places - frustration (over excitement or boredom) or anxiety.  Not all - but most. 

While there are certainly similarities in how you handle it - it is important to identify the CAUSE instead of just lumping it as a bad behavior and throwing a cookie cutter solution at it.

LUNA started the week VERY frustrated at any separation.  The car ride home was a tribute song to her people and the first night in the kennel was very, very long.  Neither of us got much sleep!

So why do this?  Why kennel her?  Why not just let her out?  How can you listen to that and not SAVE THEM!!

The answer is threefold:

• All dogs need to learn to cope with stressors but especially Service Dog candidates.  Trust me - there is a difference between a panic cry which would be addressed and general frustration. 
  
  Just like the divided camps of letting babies cry it out in the cot - trainers are divided on this issue as well.  I fall in the middle.  I will let a pup cry if it is a much higher level of frustration than actual distress and do not open the door if they are in an all out tantrum.  This WILL teach them if they cry longer, harder, more intensely - you will give in and let them out.
  
  Obviously if you live in an apartment or have a living situation where you can't allow this to happen, you have to have a different plan but in my case here, my dogs and I are the only ones effected.

• I honestly believe ALL dogs should be crate trained, regardless of if you are going to use a crate as part of their daily routine or not.  If the first time your dog ever goes into a crate is at the vet or the groomers - this is VERY stressful for them.  I include crate training in every dogs life, just like any other part of the HAPPY HANDLING series for vetting and grooming.  This is the same reason I believe all dogs should be taught to wear a muzzle - if the first time they ever have to is when they are in pain or shock from an accident - it causes a huge amount of stress.

• Luna will not be sleeping with me, as much as we both may want it.  People ask how can I let a dog go after they have been with me for so long, and this is one of the ways that happens.  Imagine how bonded she would be to me if I spend all this time training and living with her but create no coping skills for independence.  She can sleep with Daishia to increase their bond and sleep in her kennel to facilitate independence during her training here.

Her first day - she cried the majority of the ride in the car, anytime I closed a gate between us and for almost 2 hours that night, then anytime she woke up. A very long and unsettled night for all of us.  Gryphon actually came and stood by the bed staring at me like - Moooooom - Do something!

Keep in mind - this is perfectly understandable - she is away from her littermates for the first time, away from home and everything she knows - she has been in the cars for days and like an overstimulated toddler - she is just overwhelmed.

It will get better as we work on it.  If she is out WITH me, she settles and sleeps beautifully.  She has adopted a spot in the kitchen and will go there to rest whenever she gets sleepy.  She fell asleep chewing her cow ear the other night.  She just wants to not be separated which is understandable.

Day 2, we had 45min of crying and were starting to see breaks in it of up to a few minutes instead of a few seconds.

Day 3, we are seeing improvements again - I think in about a week or so we should have this much more under control!

LUKA & LUNA LOVE

So apparently this is going to become a normal thing.  LOL

Luka doesn't normally have too much to do with the boarding dogs.  He likes them okay - but he has a host of medical issues and even though he is only 5, he acts like he is 90 most of the time. 

He seems to be really taken with Luna though - everytime I have checked this morning, they were together.  

SHAPING EARLY OFFERED BEHAVIORS

One of the great things about positive training is you are always looking for things to "capture" that you might need later. 

Capturing is when you see a behavior that you like or may be able to use later so you acknowledge and reward it when it happens.  

Since one of the ways Luna is going to learn to alert for Daishia is to put her paw on Daishia's leg while sitting, when she offered this behavior - we had a puppy praise party! 

You don't have to have treats or toys or anything ready - just acknowledge and recognize the behavior when you see it and begin to pair it with the cue you are going to use if you know it. 

Little one is already learning!

SETTLING IN NICELY

Since she had such a big few days, we are just hanging out today and letting her find her feet here. She has done very well and fits in really well with my crew.

We are working on passive house manners behaviors like waiting at the door, soft recalls (meaning just hanging around in general and checking in as opposed to the more formal recall we will teach), learning property boundaries, general polite mannerisms... Nothing specific... as I see it we work on it.

Her only two issues at the moment are:

• Mouthing too hard - I don't want to discourage putting her mouth on things since we want to teach retrieves but we do have to curb the strength behind the bite as she doesn't know when to stop and goes too hard.

• Containment stress - she is not a happy girl if blocked behind a barrier of any sort. In the car, behind the fence, in the crate - she has a powerful set of lungs and will sing the song of her people at full volume for awhile in an attempting to persuade the hoo-man that she will likely die if left there.

Neither of these are in any way worrying and are things I am already seeing improvement in.

Her first night of crating, we had hours of unsettledness, last night was significantly better and hopefully tonight will be better still.

It is about reducing stress in those situations and building value to being in the place they don't want to.

While it is certainly a work in progress, I think in a week or so we will have it most of the way resolved...

MILEMARKER 001 - SOCIALIZATION CHECKLIST

Luna made a huge dent in her SOCIALIZATION CHECKLIST in just her first day. 

GETTING COMFY

She has fit right in.  We had a rough night getting her settled, so we are running on only a few hours sleep at the moment but so is the life of many a new puppy handler! 

I let everyone out for a potty break and the yard was still wet from the rain and fog last night.  We started introducing the bell by the door for Potty Notices and this will be one of the first few things she learns.   Of course there will be more information and videos of this as we go so if you are struggling with potty training or just want more information on this technique, stay tuned!

She had a pretty full on last few days so the next few will just be her having a chance to settle in, get her head around her new life and relax with my dogs. 

I had to laugh at her ingenuity this morning.  I come back from starting a load of puppy laundry from the car to find her having solved the issue of how to stay warm and dry in an otherwise wet yard - just use Luka as a pillow of course!  Yeah - she's going to fit in just fine here!

FINALLY HOME!

After meeting up with her family, we still had a 4hr trip home which Luna slept beautifully through. I had some car trouble coming home and it had been a long few days but we finally got home just after 1.00am.

I let my personal dogs out to meet her.

Living with me are:
Gryphon - 3yo Rough Collie
Luka - 5yo Giant Schnauzer x Standard Poodle
FizzGig - almost 4 month old Yorkie mix

Within minutes she was exploring the yard, had let everyone have a good check over of her, was not intimidated in the slightest by the 80lb boys (but then again when your parents are Giant Breed dogs, these boys are probably small) and was running around the yard with Fizz.

MEETING THE FAMILY

Our next stop was the most important of the day - Luna's family had been excitedly waiting to meet their baby all day and the time had arrived.  She had a good nap on the drive out to them so she was ready to be a real social butterfly.

Her upcoming handler is Daishia, the young lady above.  First we did introductions to the family and let Luna settle into the new space. 

She made herself right at home.

They have two adorable pugs, Steeler and Brutus (Buddha) who were excited to meet her too. 

So somewhere, somehow along the way, my new Samsung Note 8 decided to randomly delete photos and videos I had taken and so there is a bit of a gap here in with her interacting with the boys.  This will be a work in progress to get them used to having another dog in the house.  She was pretty unphased and I think should handle her stays with them well.

After much playing and a little play biting which we need to work on, she settled down for some cuddles and Daishia ended up putting her to sleep with a puppy head massage.  LOL  She won't fit in laps for long, but for now she was a very contented pup!

It was getting late and I still had 4 hours of driving to do so sadly we had to start wrapping things up for the night. 

I will be bringing her up every month to work with Daishia and stay with the family but a month is a long time when it's your new baby we're talking about.

All in all, I think this match is going to be a good one.  I was really happy with her behavior overall, the family are in love and I already see a lot of potential in this little spark.  Congratulations Gainer family!

MORE MASTIFF FUN!

After the Botanic Gardens, we met up with another service dog team for a puppy meet and greet and some socialization with Ana and her dogs Qui (her retiring Mastiff) and Hoodoo Moon (her Mastiff service pup in training).

Ana runs the West Virginia Service Dog Support Group up the Morgantown way and works closely with the Hearts of Gold program at WVU there.

Hoodoo is a stunning reverse brindle, full English Mastiff like her predecessor Qui.  (In the background there) - She's 18wks old now to Luna's 8wks and a little much for her but it won't be long before I think these girls will be BFFs.

FIRST THOUGHTS

 
INITIAL OBSERVATIONS:
* She is a confident, friendly and outgoing pup.
* She readily explores new surroundings without hesitation.
* She is not distracted or bothered by loud sounds (gunfire from a firing range) in the distance.
* She redirects well and offered several self paced check-ins.
* Although initially unhappy about the leash, she settled into a good rhythm after about 20min.
* She met several groups of people who wanted to greet her and she kept her feet on the ground for the most part, approached willingly and was not phased by sunglasses, hats, bulky jackets or purses.

She seems to be exactly what we hoped for so far!

Follow her on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/lunasdit/

BATH TIME!

I'm taking LUNA out to meet her family on my way home, so we made use of the Self Service bath at the PETCO in Morgantown.  She was not a huge fan (not many babies are) but she handled it very well given they were really busy, dogs barking, dryers going - it was a lot for me audibly so I am very proud of her! 

 By the end, she just laid in the tub and waited for me to finish drying her.

SHE'S HERE!!

TODAY IS THE DAY IT ALL BEGINS!

I have picked up the baby girl, who the family have decided to name LUNA.  She is sooooo adorable and full of delicious puppy breath!  My initial thoughts are very good with her.  Even after spending forever in a car, she is friendly and engaged.  I will do a full fill in as we go!

WE HAVE A WINNER! PURPLE COLLAR GIRL IT IS!

It has been down to these two girls almost the whole time but after much discussion with Shawna, we have decided - we all agree - the purple collar girl is our best choice!!

We were discussing what she thought and here were her final observations on purple:

• She's a bit more curious and does not shy away from most anything that she experiences
• New situations go very smooth with her
• She is a bit more energetic than the dark pink
• She did the best with the ENS and I just think she's going to be the one eager to learn and not spook in new situations

So we have our girl!

BEHAVIOR UPDATE

Here is some of what I am discussing with the breeder...(I had asked a bunch of questions)

Yes they are changing so much as they grow, but the one which did best with the ENS would be the purple collar then the dark pink close behind. The purple collar is most puppy social would say while the light pink girl likes to be near the human. The dark pink seems less pushy at feeding time. None of them seem to be the picked on pup they all have their own times when they initiate and are initiated upon by the others. They started spending time outside and love it so outside playtime right now is there favorite. I'm really thinking the purple collar right now myself from behavior. But like you said we will surely see in the next couple weeks.

Some observations from her daughter:

The purple collar one was moderately calm during the ENS exercises, the exercise she had most problem with was the q-tips. The one she did best at was the towel. At feeding time she is pushy. And as I've seen all three of the females usually initiate play time, as for playing she can most the time hold her own.

 The dark pink collar one also did well at the ENS exercises, the one she did worse at was being held upside down. The one she did best at was the towel. She is typically very calm during feeding time. I feel like she tries to hold her own but the others just get the best of her.

The light pink collar one did not like the ENS exercises at all, she did worse at the q-tips and best at the towel. She is pushy during feeding time, and she has the heart of a bossy pup but not the size.

All three of them love to follow you around. None of them are the nervous type. 

GEAR FOR THE BABY HAS BEGUN ARRIVING

We're getting ready!  Whichever pup we choose will be coming in early November which is not far away at all now!

THEY'RE GROWING!

We have open eyes and more movement now!  Adorable!

We have our eye on the girls with the purple and dark pink collars as the forerunners at the moment based on their early ENS observations.

LOOK AT THEM GROW!

Just more puppy picture spam - not a whole lot going on with them at this age, so just a few more photos...