Exercise is Goooood

Tyler and I have created the habit of taking Jupiter and Honey to the Haskell Indian Nations University nature preserve in the mornings on a "double dog walk." We let them both off lead. Jupiter gets worn out sprinting about and chasing the other dogs we meet and then becomes a couch potato for the rest of the day. Honey actually plays (just a bit) with Jupiter. It truly warmed my heart the first time I saw it – she's dog-aggressive and has never played with a dog before. It was awesome.

I just took Jupiter to puppy class for the first time since we started doing this daily (past week or so). He was his normal overly-excitable self at first, but about half way through he got really attentive and obedient. We actually got to show off a bit with some happenstance long distance obedience – there was literally oooing and ahhing. He's quite obedient at home without major distractions (we practice nothing's-for-free for feeding twice a day) and that finally came through at class tonight. It was awesome.

even worse

http://in.solit.us/archives/download/168591

I recorded him in the crate this time, with his rawhide bone, water, and about eight hidden treats.

This weighs so heavily on me. I talked to Perry about it and he so graciously told me that as long as I remain as productive as I've been I can come in less. I'm planning on spending at least Tuesdays and Thursdays working at home and working on increasing the amount of time I can leave the room without him flippin' it. So hopefully we're on the mend.

Also, my new puppy class teacher suggested freezing some of his canned food (he usually just eats kibble) in a Kong, which is the most interest he's ever shown in a Kong. This has kept him occupied during my very brief absences.

anyone speak dog?

http://in.solit.us/archives/download/168297

I decided to record Jupiter left in the living room when I went to work this morning. My iPhone quit after 40 minutes, but he was still whining. :(

He made all this noise even with our other dog Honey laying across the living room – he wasn't actually alone (admittedly: she doesn't like him). Yesterday I put him in his crate in the living room with Jeff watching TV and Jeff said he went off as usual. I don't think he goes so crazy if he's left with Jeff without being in the crate; hence today's test.

I'm hoping someone out there knows dog and can tell me that he's saying "If only I had a banana!" or something. He whines with or without toys/chews; once I leave he's fixated on the door and window, regardless. He generally quiets down after about an hour.

Unfortunately, I have to go to work and I can't bring him along. That's a new quality of my dream job, by the way.

will of the gods!

I just had four standoffs in a row with Jupiter.

1. Turning right on the leash. It took about 15 minutes of a circle for him to give in, and I didn't even actually wait until he was preventing any leash tension, just until he significantly improved.
2. Shake. Before we go in the door, I make him sit. He was really reluctant, so I commanded him to shake also. That took about 10 minutes.
3. Down. Then, before feeding we do a series of commands. He already sat, so I said down. That took 35 minutes.
4. Sit. I wanted to make sure he didn't go down just because he gave up on sitting (because he was starting to doze off, which was kind of cute), so I said sit. I gave up after 25 minutes and shuffled into him (I had gone down to my knees a while ago – standing for 50 minutes got boring) in order to make him do it. Then he shook, down, sat, shook, stood, sat, shook, and stood with quick responses but very slow movement. Then I let him eat; he hopped to that.

These commands are all normally immediately and quickly obeyed. Recently he's been testing me, but tonight was just ridiculous. It was 2 hours from walking out the door to him eating! Sheesh. Working on the turning right was new tonight, so I think that put him in a disobedient mood.

I don't feel great about entering standoffs, but I'm trying to reinforce that my commands are absolute and that it's more him choosing to obey that I'm looking for and less me physically posturing him. Instead of "sit", waiting, and then putting him in a sit with the leash or by tucking his back legs with my arm, I've been waiting until he obeys. That has been a matter of seconds, especially once I move to be right in front of him (he's usually looking out through of the glass door).

I hope this incident doesn't repeat itself, gods willing.

Jupiter is 6 months

8 March 2009 + 6 months = 8 September 2009

Forgot to take these in the daytime, so please forgive the lighting.





His old photos are on Flickr, too.

I kenneled him last night because Adam Bennett was in town and the actual event was on pretty short notice. He was tuckered this morning, and then we went to Mutt Run, and now he's passed out on the couch.

This was the first time at a dog park, and it was great. He interacted very well with many dogs until he got very tired. The owners were attentive. He tried joining up with other dogs that were being taken for a walk a couple times, so I had to catch up and walk him back. And there was a Chiuaua that didn't mind that Jupiter was 50% playmate and 50% predator, but he responded very well to me telling him to tone it down.

Most is well in Jupiter land. He's not peed inside in a long while – I'm far more trusting now. Still tries to eat too many things: plastic, rocks, and toiler paper. Oh, toiler paper.

The separation anxiety is still strong. This is a difficult behavior to train him out of as my presence is the issue. He's plenty happy in his crate when he sleeps, but he panics when I'm not accessible (crate or no crate). Whining, drooling, barking, and sometimes peeing. Weighs heavy on me still, not knowing what to do. I work at home sometimes trying to increase the distance he can relax with the door to my room open. Once he's calm I start moving out of sight for minutes at a time; working our way up. This issue makes me lose my cool with him sometimes, as it's so restrictive of my freedom; that's something for me to work on. And sometimes he tries to walk in front of me on walks, but it's more his attention on something causes him to speed up – regardless: that's the other thing that can frustrate me. Calm is good. Calm is good.

He's otherwise healthy, happy, and friendly, even with the bigger dogs. Sometimes he's shies away pretty hard, but mostly he's making himself small asking for play or chasing and mouthing. And goodness, he loves people.

We get our first lure coursing practice soon! There was one I've missed because I was out of town, so we're looking forward to this one. And the second puppy class starts next week. We're both excited.

A Couple Contenders

Some day Jupiter will have a sibling.

Schnauzer (undecided regarding size). I like that they look like the dog version of a (fantasy) dwarf. Out of left field, I know.



Pharoah Hound. I'm pretty consistent, I guess.


[Please yell at me in the comments if you're so angry about me linking to your photo.]

Jupiter!

I bought a puppy on 23 May 2009. His name is Jupiter and he is a saluki.

I bought him from Windrush Salukis. Kathy and Jeff were great to meet at Clinton Lake. They already had planned to come for a lure coursing trial and it was perfect timing: Jupiter was born 8 March, so he was the right age to hand off.

Yesterday was a really good day. I had been (and still am) getting really frustrated with his separation anxiety. If he can't see me, he starts whimpering and barking and he pees. This happens whenever I put him in his crate (even if I am right in front of him) or leave the room. What bothers me the most is that I can't interact with him in any way when he's whining or else I'll be rewarding that behavior. But letting a dog whine for too long (I've let it go for up to an hour and a half before) can lead to behavior problems down the road. There are tons of conflicting opinions out there about what to do. But my vet and my breeder say just let him wear himself out on it and then let him out when he's been quiet for a while. At night, I have no place to let him whine that doesn't keep up the roommates. It's been nerve-racking.

But: yesterday was a really good day. First, I took him on a walk and he did a great job! We had been practicing on the lead in the backyard with the commands "easy" and "let's go" and he responded to them very well on the actual walk. He stays at my side or a bit behind, not in front – just as I'd like. It was good to have a really positive experience like that after being mostly frustrated for a few days. Then, I made a strong effort to keep him from napping, and it payed off! He did not whine in his crate last night. A further stroke of genius: I woke him up to let him out at 2am (since he last drank at 10:30pm) and then waited for him to get tired (3am) before I put him back in the crate. He again made no complaint. I kept repeating "Good boy", "Good settle", and "I'm right here" and left my hand hanging over the bed in front of the crate until I passed out. It was so encouraging to get a good night's sleep with him in the right place and not bothering the roommies!

We'll do another walk today, for sure. House-training is going well. I'm using close tether training and a shaker-box to interrupt him. I've been praising/treating for eliminating outside – I use "void" as my command instead of "pee" or "potty" because I feel silly saying those words. (And I think "Void" is the name of some Final Fantasy boss, which is always a happy reference in my book.) I take him out every 90 minutes – as he catches on and becomes more comfortable alone the crate, I'll ween that to a schedule I can actually keep. His poop is really predictable in the morning (about 12 hours after dinner), but he only goes occasionally in the afternoon and sometimes waits until evening. He's only pooped inside once at my house (day one) and once in each of two other houses, but I think that's sort of expected with new places. It's the urination that he's not doing so well with.

See photos at my Flickr page. You can see his father, a lure coursing beast named Marquis, here. I met him this weekend, too, and he's gorgeous in person. Kathy says her dogs are usually 55 pounds, so I'm inferring Jupiter will be about the same size as his father, which is exactly what I want.