Recap

I have been bad about blogging, but not about getting Rigger out and about!  We wandered through an astronomy club and met people, been to the mall a couple of times, been to Lowe’s, and walked along busy streets. Tonight was Lowe’s again, and the mall. We me one very over the top woman, one much more normal one, and three guys. He does fine with women. Still would rather not deal with men, but was much more confident than in the past. He’s not bouncy happy to go see them, but not slinking either. I will say that he seems to have come up with the idea of “people mean sit and get treats”. I didn’t teach that. I was giving treats for being around people, and he has quickly learned “sit to say please”, and seems to have just decided to combine the two. He is jumping on planters that are about knee-high (not encouraging that, but not discouraging it either). And sometimes he just gets this notion to take off running down the sidewalk. I really try and prevent that. 

We have also started puppy class. He did reasonably well, but does NOT like to settle down and relax!  I am going to have my hands full trying to distract him!

Dealing with strangers

I had some people over to see how Rigger would do in a more controlled,slower paced situation. My friend Kathy came over last night, and this morning Anabel of the amazing purple and pink hair came out to take some pictures. While wearing a hat, and with camera gear!  He was slow to warm up to them, but did eventually let them give him treats. He also would approach them, and let them pet him.  I will say that he’s not a snuggler, even with me, and would much rather play and explore. But it looks like we’re moving in the right direction with regards to strangers. He was also much more comfortable at the vet, and with the vet techs, especially when he realized they have really really good treats!

Which he was very determined to get to. I had to physically restrain him from trying to jump from the exam table to the counter that the treats were kept on!  He would have probably been able to make it, but the counter was cluttered and the landing would have potentially been real bad. He’s getting over 2 ft x-pens now, and has done some amazing leaps on walks. Wobbly footing and strange textures don’t seem to bother him at all!

And I can’t wait to see what sort of pics Anabel got!

Paseos and stairs

Well, he’s definitely getting more active!  I’ve learned that he can go over a 2ft fence, and watched him leap over a flower bed to land on a concrete and steel pad. Having some housebreaking issues, too. I have a large kennel on order that will hopefully fix both issues. Too tall to jump, and hopefully small enough to discourage peeing inside.

Tonight’s outing was pretty simple, since I was feeling tired. Park at Whole Foods, take the paseo bridge to the mall, take the stairs from the lower parking lot up, and back to the car. He was fine with everything. Really seemed to like watching the traffic from the bridge, went up and down the stairs no problem. Went through some bike racks, waded through a LOT of bushes!  Walked by some people. He does sometimes seem frantic in his exploring. I’m not sure if that’s a stress reaction, or just an “oh, something new here! And here! And over here!” reaction. His ears and tail are up, but it does seem a little over the top. I’ll keep an eye on it. 

Back to the mall

This time we made it all the way to the middle of the Patios!  Past the Jenga and the lawn chess. Explored the turtle pond, several planters and chairs. Interested in people and sniffing after them. I held him while some older teen boys fed him chicken. He didn’t entirely like it, and it took some coaxing, but he did eat some. Hopefully friends at home will be better. That starts on Wednesday. Afterwards he he recovered quickly, back to sniffing and exploring. He doesn’t seem to have any issues with surfaces. Jumped up on a planter wall twice (not my idea!), walked the turtle pond rim, went in Apple store, and on a metal grate around a tree.  He wore his new harness, which I think I have finally gotten adjusted correctly.  Couldn’t get him on toys... to busy exploring everything. Did get some wits in the Patios and the Apple store. Being much more eager to get out of the car and to explore new areas. I think he’s coming around nicely.

Beach day!

Rigger hunted his first gopher!  Admittedly a very young, very small gopher, but still. It was very much a puppy hunt... lots of darting in and snapping, not much real attacking. Until Pixie finally noticed the gopher, darted in, snatched it up, crunch crunch dead gopher. Hopefully Rigger took notes!  I will say that he did a good job of tracking the gopher, better than Pixie. I think her eyes may be going bad.

Later we went to the beach. He did reasonably well. I think it was a little overwhelming for him sometimes. Especially the waves.  He didn’t love them like a lab, but also didn’t entirely avoid them. I think with time and exposure he’d get to like them. He did seem to like sniffing around and exploring. Climbed onto logs and piles of seaweed. And of course, there was the bird wing!  Best. Toy. Ever!  He spent some time jumping up at my leg. I’m not sure if that was “I’m not comfortable, please protect me” or “hey!  There’s a stranger!  That means chicken!”  Because it was the side with the treats. I did hold him for a bit once, down by the water, which he was ok with, until he wanted down again to go explore more. And he is definitely following after people and air sniffing, and wanted to explore towards some people on the beach, so that’s a good sign. We walked back to the car along the road, which I was thinking would be easier than the loose sand. It wasn’t. No sidewalk, so just more loose sand. But he did good there, with strange plants and cars and crows.

Walk

Took Rigger for a walk on the bike path near me yesterday.  He's doing pretty good at walking on leash.  Keeps getting tangled up in the leash, but I figure he will learn about stepping over it eventually!  We saw a lot of bikes, and a person with a dog, who we managed to walk past and ignore with the benefit of chicken.  There was a woman walking by who he definitely sniffed after and seemed interested in.  I'm doing some planning on getting him out around friends so that they can interact with him in a controlled manner.

Petsmart

Took Rigger to Petsmart tonight. He did fine with store and the displays. Interested in the people as long as they ignored him. Doesn’t want people to interact with him, but follows them air sniffing when they walk away. I am going to contact Janine and the breeder about what they think the appropriate steps should be.

And I think I may have figured out a way to keep him in the x-pen!  Time will tell.

Fun with sprinklers

wss doing morning playtime to burn off some energy when Rigger spotted a dove on the grass. He took off after it, right when the sprinklers popped up and started spraying. Best thing ever! After an initial hu?, he was running around in them and biting at the sprays. I, of course, had to run through a bit, in the fancy work clothes, just to confirm that yep, this totally normal, no big deal. He is being an awesome dog!

Park playground

Tonight we went to a park play area. There were adult men playing basketball, kids on skateboards and scooters, teens and adults on exercise equipment, and general members of the public. It took about 3 minutes for Rigger to warm up and start exploring, about 6 for him to start playing. He was easily distracted while playing, but that might be the fault of the leash. He gets tangled up easily. Need to work on that!  Tried to have three teen boys feed him,but he wouldn’t take it. Did hang around without problems while I talked to two of them about their skateboards. Walked on metal cover, wood chips, and metal exercise platform. Seemed to want to chase the basketballs towards the end. Very interested in them, at least.

Cars!

Went and sat by a busy intersection.  It took about 8 minutes for Rigger to move away from me and start exploring.  But after that he was mostly good.  Sniffed, explored, chased the whip toy, did some personal play.  Stayed out for around 30 minutes total.  Saw cars, busses, a car-carrier, motorcycle, and heard either a motorcycle or muscle car.  Loud and obnoxious!  Also saw several people walking dogs, which Rigger either was interested in, or avoided (big bulldog that was lunging and not dog-friendly, from how the owner was acting).  He would occasionally stop and watch the traffic, but then went back to playing.

The beginning

This is going to mainly be an on-line training journal, so that I can keep track of what I have done, and what I need to do.

Last night, socialization:

Went to outside part of mall.  Noted that Rigger was anxious on opening car crate.  Seems uncertain of traffic.  Walked reasonably well on leash, for an untrained 4-month old puppy!  Hung out by the "dog spot" at the entrance to the mall.  Uncertain at first... a lot of hiding behind me.  But then, seemed to decide everything was ok, started playing with toys and exploring the area.  Tried drinking from dog drinking fountain.  Followed nose a lot... think he might have been smelling the dog treats they keep in the area.  Played a little of the name game, then came home.  Time spent in "happy mood"... 10-15 minutes?

Tonight, we will hang out by the street, to get used to traffic.