What's That?

Today we got to walk past something potentially scary...this odd whirly thingy out in front of a car wash.  Well, yes, I know "thingy" is not technically a word, but what would you call it?  Its movement has always gotten my attention as I drive by -- I guess that's what it's designed to do! -- and I've been meaning to work Alfie past it.  I had some slight reservations about this because, to be honest, that thing freaks me out a bit...it's wacky!

His reaction was, to say the least, anticlimactic!  Alfie sat and looked it over (his usual response to new stuff), then walked past as calm as you please.  The light changed, cars whizzed past, and he put his ears back a bit as if he understood that traffic is what you really have to watch out for, not silly whirly things!

He actually found these balloons quite distracting as they tossed in the breeze.  I think he would've enjoyed sitting and watching them as long as I let him, silly boy!

Then it was on to a store to pick up a few grocery items.  I confess, I am a label reader.  All 3 puppies I've raised so far have eventually figured that out.  They learn that as soon as I start reading a label they may as well settle in and get comfy...it'll be a while!

Mmm, good thing the floor's nice and cool!

Deer Shouldn't Talk

Last week we visited Cabela's...Alfie's first trip there.

Everything's more fun when Grandpa's here for a visit!

It's a great place for training, with a giant aquarium; taxidermy exhibits; elevators AND stairs for puppies to find and navigate; a cafe; and, usually, crowds of people too. First stop was the walk-thru aquarium...sorry, no good pictures of Alfie to share...but Katharine did almost get eaten by a giant catfish!

Close encounters of the catfish kind.

...Well, maybe not, but the big guy did seem to be following her around! Alf was kinda bored by it all. Next, it was off to Africa.

Um...are we sure it's a good idea to practice down/stay in front of this giant rhino?!

After that, I let Alfie find the elevator. I thought the puppies found elevators by the appearance of the doors...but as Grandpa pointed out, Alfie circled sniffing until he found it. Is there an elevator smell? I don't know. Anyway, he found it and we went up...and meandered around until...



[The video shows Alfie transfixed by an animatronic deer's head that is mounted up high near the ceiling. It's motion activated, so every time we start to move away we set it off again. Alfie's ears are flicking back and forth as he watches the deer's mouth and head move while it talks. He doesn't seem to like it, and yet he doesn't want to leave either!]

I've never seen a dog react to the talking deer quite like Alfie! One puppy I remember just sort of tuned the noise out and didn't look for its source; another one saw the talking head but was more interested in other things. Alfie spotted it immediately and didn't want to let it out of his sight! We stayed there the longest time, and even as we finally walked away he would turn around and peek at it some more over his shoulder. Funny puppy!

If they won't let me "speak," a deer should definitely not be allowed to talk!

This & That

Off to the vet today!  Nope, nothing's wrong with Alfie...it was just time for his last puppy vaccination.  As usual, he was a trooper and although excited, behaved pretty well for us.  At 4 1/2 months old, Alfie's between 18 and 19 inches at the shoulder, and weighs in at just over 26 pounds.   I wonder how much of that is fur?

I recently had to give him a haircut around the face, as his shaggy locks hung over his eyes, blocking peripheral vision.  I learned with our last doodle puppy that  this can really hinder their work on overhead obstacles!  Now his face fur is trimmed to about an inch and a half, and the rest of his coat is still around three and a half inches.  Sooo...he looks...FAT!  Dr. Boggs even thought so, until she felt under all the fur and said, nope, she could feel all the ribs and he was just the right weight.  When the weather warms up a bit, I'll see about trimming the rest of him so he seems a little more proportional.  Until then, we'll just enjoy all that soft cuddly fur!

We're still working on those long down/stays I mentioned a couple of posts back.  I think right now, that's his biggest "working" challenge.  We've been practicing a lot, and I think we'll just have to be patient.  There is some progress though...I've been taking him to church with me and last week, one of my young students observed, "Wow, Alfie's so much better this week!  Last week he was terrible, but this week he's way better!" Kids always tell it to you straight, don't they?  I love it! 

Alfie's in that period of puppyhood that our book calls cryptically, "the juvenile period."  According to these experts of understatement, at this time "Chewing is a priority." That is their gentle way of expressing that chewing is almost the ONLY thing the puppy does!   When Alfie notices something new, you can tell his brain is assessing:  #1--Can I fit it in my mouth?  #2--How good is it to chew?  (everything is good to chew -- only some things are better than others, e.g. erasers, pencils, dolls...) and of course there's #3--Can I chew it without being noticed?  In Alfie's defense, I'll note that there's excellent reason for his chewing...he's teething like crazy.  And also, whenever I notice him chewing something inappropriate, all I really have to do is ask him to "fetch" it for me, then substitute it with something actually meant for puppies.  He's got a lot of growing up to do, that's all!

Lying Down On the Job

I've shared before how much Alfie likes his work, and he does.  But the whole truth is, he likes part of his work...the active part!  He loves commands like "let's go!", "find the...", "steady," "heel," and "watch me." He likes getting out and going places, and he loves walking...walking...walking...you get the picture.  But oh man, he does not like to lie still and wait.  And guess what, Alf...that's a big part of being a guide dog!

So yesterday on our family trip to the library, instead of browsing for books as usual, I just had him find me a seat, and we practiced down/stay.  The whole time.  He was one unhappy camper!  He did a nice "tuck in" (getting under my seat and out of the way)...

...but then spent the rest of his time undoing it with his jack-in-the-box impression.  He'd sit up, I'd frown & give him the hand signal to "down"...he'd do it for about a minute...then sit up hopefully, as if to say, "Well, now can we do something fun?"  I'd "down" him again, a couple of minutes would pass, and - pop! - up would come his furry face asking, "OK, how 'bout now?"  Sigh...I could tell this was going to be a long lesson!

I also have a hunch that Alfie, being the assertive/dominant personality that he is (yep -- he looks like a teddy bear but looks would be deceiving!), is especially reluctant to keep a down/stay in public because it is such a submissive posture for a dog.  He'd yawn, and snort, and pant, and show me in a ton of little doggy ways that he'd rather not do this.  Those of you who know me...know that only strengthened my resolve!

All right Alfie...we'll be here just as long as it takes!

Well, he's far from perfect, but we did make progress!  All in all, I felt it was a good day and made sure that Alfie knew I was happy when he did the right thing.  After the kids checked out their books, I rewarded him for his patience by letting him find me some trash cans on the way out.  That got his tail wagging!

...But the funniest thing to me was how he acted when we got home.  He was completely zapped.  Now, this is a puppy who can literally walk for miles, come home and play fetch, and never miss a beat.  But that "down/stay" business exhausted him!  He found a quiet corner, curled up, and was out like a light. 

It's harder than you think!  Really!

Bright Sunshiny Day

Sunshine...blue sky...we just had to walk outside today!  After all, it's important for Alfie to understand that all his walking "rules" apply just as much out on a walking path as they do on city sidewalks and inside stores.  Of course we practiced obedience work too, like sit/stay...

...and down/stay.

I wish I could say that Alfie ignored the beautiful roadrunner gliding ahead of us due to his excellent training, but that wouldn't be quite true...

He did ignore the roadrunner, but I'm pretty sure he just didn't see it in all the tall grass ahead!

More excitement ensued when we found that, due to recent rains, our normal route was flooded!  Alfie was definitely game for forging ahead...I tried to explain that fording river crossings probably wouldn't be in his job description as a guide dog.  So it was back to the alternate -- dry -- route.  Overall, Alfie did great, walking on a loose lead, paying good attention (for a puppy!) and not getting distracted by all the new smells.  Good job Alf!

There's nothing like getting outside for an afternoon!

...And Now, the Bright Side

As if to get even with me for sharing about all his shortcomings, Alfie has shown marked improvement in his manners over the last couple of days.  Granted, he still has a mischievous streak about a mile wide, but by limiting his freedoms and giving him more work to focus on, we've seen a noticeable difference.  Yay!!

I thought it'd be fun to share his training progress too.  At 13 weeks, here's what he's learned so far (some of these are kind of obvious, like knowing his name, but when I make a list it always makes me feel better to list as much as possible!!):

• Alfie
• come
• watch me
• fetch (well, okay...I can take no credit for this; as Tim put it, Alfie came with the fetch software already installed; we just linked the behavior to the command!)
• sit (which is really a sit-stay, until released; we're working on that part!)
• go free (release command)
• down (really down-stay, again, a work in progress)
• wait
• off
• leave it
• go busy (the all-important potty command!)
• heel (not too good at this one yet)
• find the seat (his newest achievement, where he indicates a place I can sit down)
• go to bed

Yesterday Charissa and I took Alfie for a training walk to Walmart and he did beautiful-
ly.  We were so pleased!  I didn't think that New Year's might be a busy shopping day, but it was.  Alfie did quite well in the noisy crowds, even when a little group of teenagers insisted on following behind him for a while howling!  Yes, really!!  We just ignored it and went on.  To Alfie it was just part and parcel of the great new experience and he didn't give it a second thought.  He probably thinks it's normal for people to walk around howling now!  But the best part was when we went to check out.  Even in the express lane, we had to line up behind several others, so I put him in a down to wait.  We had been standing there, chatting and waiting for several minutes when a girl in the next line over glanced down and gasped to see Alfie.  She hadn't even noticed him at first, he'd been so unobtrusive!  That was my proud moment for the evening, as you can imagine!

You see, I can be very good when I want to be!

Carpe Canem

...that's just a little Latin for you, translating roughly to "Sieze the Puppy"! That's all we had on our minds Friday as we drove up to get Alphini. Here he's saying goodbye to his breeder, Dixie Moore of Dixie's Doodles.

Thank you, Dixie!

The rest of the weekend passed in a sort of blur. Those of you who've been through the 8-week-old baby puppy stage will understand! Alfie settled in to his new home quickly, and in fact, we're having to remind him that he doesn't actually own the place!

There's so much for a new puppy to learn. So far, Alfie's hardest adjustment has been sleeping in the crate. He cries every time we put him in, which is normal at this stage, but the good thing is it's getting a bit less each time. He's had no "accidents" in the crate, which is terrific. Can't say the same about the rest of the house!

We're in that hectic stage of the game where every time he eats, wakes up, plays...basically any time he does anything...we have to take him out to "go busy"(guide dog code for potty)...then write it down on a chart to help us keep track of his schedule. He's really getting the idea that when we take him out to his spot and give the command, he's supposed to do his business. Eventually, he'll catch on he's not supposed to do that indoors! For his age, I think he's doing just fine.

Alfie was already used to wearing a collar, but now he's got to get accustomed to a bigger collar with a tag on it. He spent most of the first day trying to scratch it off, but finally reconciled himself to it. Now we're working on walking on the leash.





"Heel" is still a ways off in the future! At this point, we're just happy if he gets the basic concept of walking in the same general direction. I was at church working on Saturday and had the idea that we could use the long narrow hall to help us with that.



...Seemed to help! All that hard work wore him out and he had to take a nap.

Sweet dreams!

Alfie is an intense, eager little learner. Luckily for me, he also seems to be quite motivated by treats (the good and smelly ones, that is!) We taught him "sit" using the treat as a lure and now he'll do it on his own, even offering a "sit" when he wants something...outrageously cute! He's also learned his name and "come." Today I'm starting to work on "down."

We've been spending some time each day on grooming, too, not so much because he needs it but to get him used to the routine. He sleeps through most of it so that's nice!

Alfie's also been on a couple of outings with us already and so far he's taken everything in stride, a real trooper.



Now if only I could catch up on my sleep...