ZZZZZ

This may be nothing new to most of you, but today, for the first time ever, Tucker actually fell asleep somewhere besides his crate! ;o) I've been wondering if this would EVER happen! He slept for about 10 minutes on place. Nothing like a rainy day for a nice nap . . . .

Plotz without a point?

I'm still in the testing stages...but I had a very desireable treat and I told Marshall to plotz without pointing to the ground and he did it. I've thrown it on him a few other times by surprise and he's responded, not quite immediately, but he did it.

I was quite surprised, but I must say...impressed.

Good job, Marshall!

With Love from Hilton Head, McIver

Please enjoy McIver's picture montage...

Ya'll are awfully pale so this is going to take a while.

McIver left his mark in many ways!

Seriously WAVE! You don't know who you are messing with...

Okay so maybe waves aren't so bad.

So I shouldn't eat the sand?

RRRIIIIIGGGGHHHTTTT!!!!!

I think Darlene talked about those brilliant adolescent ideas...

McIver thought for a split second that vacation meant sleeping in the bed. He looks comfy doesn't he? We had to get the picture before saying that dreadful word... OFF!

Trainers- do not have a heart attack!!

GOOD BOY!! This is more like it.

Milliken Comes Home

Milliken has been at "Camp Julie" for a week now, and Alyssa brought him home today. Thanks to Julie (for Camp Julie!), Sherry (for meeting me in Greenville on Saturday) and Alyssa (for driving him all the way from Easley and coming into my home and showing me how to handle him) for your intervention. It's great that Dogs for Autism has such a supportive team of dog trainers to help novices like me! Here's a photo of Alyssa arriving at my house with Milliken.

I was so glad to see him-and so was Mary Kate! Alyssa showed me a few new rules that we're going to be following. "Wait" for eating, and for entering or exiting a doorway. Here are photos of Alyssa and me hand feeding Milliken and having him "Wait." Photo is of Mary Kate telling him to "Wait." He's being taught respect.

Since Milliken is a dominant dog, we're changing from a pinch collar to a choke collar with a rubber leash because he requires a hard correction. Life is not easy for a puppy in training to be a DFA Service Dog.

Anything for a cookie

Look at this handsome Marshall. And the photographer took this picture with one hand!

Here, we are working on waiting patiently to be let back into the house. Marshall has to sit and wait for the "ok" to go inside. Our times with the door open until "ok" is getting longer. He still fails some times so I go get him and bring him back outside and we try again.

McIver Takes on Hilton Head Island

Hi Everyone! McIver made it all the way to Hilton Head without car sickness. Still a little drooling but he is making serious progress. We had one little accident in the room but we have it all figured out now. He enjoys long walks on the beach and beautiful sunsets... maybe Julie can put that out there if she ever wants to breed him. Ha! He really seems to be enjoying his time alone with mom and dad. He has learned that sand shouldn't go up the nose and waves will not bite. I have some great pictures to share when we get home. Due to some unforeseen technical difficulties, I am not able to post the pictures here. McIver has certainly created a buzz here at the resort. We may go out to eat tonight so hopefully he will use his good table manners!!

Fence Patrol

After a very serious session of "here" on the long line, Marshall has made tremendous progress on leaving the neighbor dog alone. But he's kind of made his own little game--run to the fence, bark and come back to 'mom' expecting a treat for coming on his own. It just doesn't work that way...The dispenser only works when mom calls you! Here he is on fence patrol waiting for spring and more time outside in the sun!

Tribute

One of the biggest problems with dogs is that they do not live long enough. Today I'm sad to report the passing of Avanti vom Kartauserweiher, SchH 3, Kkl2, great-grandmother of our "N" puppies. She came to the USA from Germany as a baby, and spent her entire life at the Haus Reichenfels kennel in Texas where she earned her titles with her owner/handler Isabel Lambertz. Avanti made a large contribution to the world of German Shepherds through her progeny, and perhaps most especially by passing many of her strong and fine qualities to the DFA breeding colony through her daughter Cleo, and grandaughter Handy. Avanti was well beyond the age of 13, and still had plenty of "attitude!" No one who met her will ever forget her presence or strength of character. RIP Avanti. You will be missed. The photo displayed was taken in 1997 at the Caesar's Head lookout.

Puppy Practice

Puppies practice walking on loose leash during obedience classes. Ignoring distractions is really hard work! L-R: Olivia & McIver, Carol & Tucker, Laurie & Naomi, Kelly & Mauldin

Bark or Ball?

Marshall has a problem to figure out. He enjoys playing with the ball and barking at the neighbor dog. But yesterday and today, as a way to distract him from barking, I asked him to play with a ball. He took the ball to the fence and got a perplexed look on his face..."how can I keep my toy AND bark at this dog?" Unfortunately sometimes the ball wins, other times the bark wins.

New Tricks

McIver has been a very busy puppy the last couple of days. First, he discovered how to open his food bin pictured below. Our house is pretty small and dog proof so the dogs have access to most of it. We were in the den and McIver had gotten up to get water in the kitchen or so we thought. We heard a scratching noise and so my fiance got up to see what was the matter. McIver had his whole head in the bin scarfing down food. Ashley quickly stopped this situation and now the bin sits on top dryer away from hungry little jaws! SMART PUPPY!

We were in the car for approximately 30 miles today and no sickness just minimal drooling!! Success!

Tucker had a busy day today, and did very well. We went to the Haywood Mall, and then on the bank, both first time visits. (I have to say that the teller seemed a little irritated that there was a dog in her bank, but she'll just have to get used to us!) Anyways, at the mall Tucker was relaxed and in great form, but couldn't quite figure out those people up on the second level (How do they do that?). He strutted his stuff, resisted squealing children, didn't wet on anything, and walked right past a piece of food on the floor after a quiet "leave it" from me.

Later in the day we went to the Bob Jones campus (first time also) and walked at the athletic fields. We stopped for a while and he watched an outside basketball game - got a little excited at first and then settled down. Then came the real test - watching soccer practice! We sat right behind the goal, so balls regularly came over the top right towards us. After only a couple corrections he learned to let them go past. But he was still absolutely quivering with excitement - and I can see in my mind the chaos that would have erupted if he had been off leash!

He hasn't been car sick in a long time - I hope we're past that. Sometimes I can see he's been drooling a little, but that's all.

The Joys of Multiple Dogs

Top: McIver and Lucy give Calhoun a dose of his own "top dog medicine" while Daddy works on the computer. (No dogs were harmed in the making of this photograph.)

Middle: Calhoun says, " I hope you know how generous it is of me to allow you to lay on a bed in this home..." as McIver dreams of the day he will be larger than Calhoun.

Left: Who has the best sits- Lucy or McIver? Never mind the shameless kibble bribery.

P.S. No worries, Calhoun really is a big ol' baby.

Otto - Popular at the mall

We have the distinguished honor of having Otto w/ us for the time being.
He is a real joy to have around. Things are very very hectic w/ 3 dogs, 2 of which are on bed-rest/light-duty. All any of them want to do is play w/ each other.
On Saturday afternoon for an hour we brought Otto to the Haywood Mall in Greenville.
We found a comfy bench & just relaxed & people watched. Otto worked on his 'stay'. He did very well for our first outing together. We are impressed w/ all the training that has gone into him. It seemed everyone that walked by either stared, commented or even wanted to take his picture. Otto is a real superstar! The time spent was very good for him to just see the public & not deal w/ distractions.
We look forward to future outings.

Fountain Dogs

As our pups get better trained, we'll work on getting a group photo that doesn't cut off members of the group!