A Much Interrupted Puppy Update

Puppy is growing up so fast! She didn’t stay cute for long, that’s for sure. Well, all puppies are still cute, but some get awkward real fast, and Figgy is one. Not one of those that grows even either, right now she’s ridiculously butt high and all over the place. I imagine it’s going to take awhile for her to even out.

Had some good training progress with Fig, if you get the right mood and the right rewards she’s really fun to train! She’s not the thoughtful nerd that Navarre was a puppy, but that doesn’t surprise me, Fig is a party. Still, it’s funny how much more connected I feel with a puppy once we finally break through that language barrier, and as Fig took longer than most it’s suddenly WAY more relaxing to have her around. She does finally understand that her behavior is what makes things go … or not go, as the case may be. She weighs her options, that one.

Food is still an issue, luncheon meat is still her favorite, while she won’t even give me the time of day for string cheese. Hot dogs are okay, Fresh Pet is better, but in general in true border collie fashion she’s not necessarily working for the food itself, but the reward of figuring it out. Well, once I get her attention. And, yeah, she won’t even look at food when there is action going on.

She CAN do behaviors for action, but there is a LOT of thought involved. And if other dogs are around it may really take some work. But once we got the ‘stay’ she’s really started to understand self control before action.

I did teach Fig to hold an object, which is kind of extraneous, but handy. She already was doing a lot of choosing to bring me toys, but having an understanding of a hold is a great bridge to a good retrieve. In general, the Big Three continue to slowly solidify. Her recall is pretty good, she’ll kennel up somewhat on cue now (though we really haven’t worked on it other than every day life), and her stay continues to solidify. She’s doing a pretty good job dropping wherever she is when I ask, and, probably most importantly, she’s beginning to understand the concept of, “FIG, KNOCK IT OFF!” for when she gets overaroused and grabs onto the other dogs … or thinks about it. She’s pretty transparent.

It’s weird having a puppy that doesn’t have a lot of TRAINED behaviors, but she does get points for being good about sticking with me. She’s an independent little thing, and very easily distracted by things in the environment, but for the most part she makes good decisions. For now, I suppose. Though I suppose when I think about it’s she’s the LEAST trustworthy puppy I’ve ever had. I don’t trust her not to chase cars, joggers, dogs, go see people – I’m way more cautious with her than I have been with other puppies. And she does make a lot of good decisions, but I also just don’t put her in the position where she would be able to make bad decisions in general … because I kind of assume she would.

Figgy is a busy puppy, and needs way more action than my dogs, which seems really weird that my 3 month old puppy needs more running than my adult dogs. But exercise her or she’ll find her own way to blow off steam, and she’s creative. Once she’s ‘on’ she’s tough to stop, even if it’s 2am she throw giant parties with just the bed in her crate. Now, she DOES sleep, and usually through the night, but when she’s up, she’s UP. It’s crazy how she just never seems to get tired even running with the big dogs, you’d think she’d need to take a break, but it never occurs to her.

Puppy is very friendly, but she certainly isn’t cuddly – there is no time for that. She’s also surprisingly still okay with being carried, which a lot of puppies have been done with that for long time by this point. She’s getting BIG though – I can’t remember if I mentioned that she was 17lbs at her last vet appointment at 14 weeks. For comparison, Navarre was only 1lb bigger! I don’t think she’ll be huge, but she’s growing fast for a dog that doesn’t like to eat.

Still not housebroken, there is just not enough attention span there. If there is one thing that London taught me, it was to just chill and manage puppies until they’re ready for housebreaking. And some puppies that’s 8 weeks, but that most definitely not the case for London or Fig. I just manage it and take her out a lot when she’s inside, but it’s still kind of sad she just can’t hang out and chill inside. Maybe she WOULD be cuddly if she had a chance to actually chill … but I have my doubts she would chill or cuddle. Time will tell.

Since Fig lost weight again after getting sick after her last vaccination I’m back to just trying to get her to eat. So that means not much training at all, and I just make sure she always has food available. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she doesn’t – definitely not a priority in her life. She did eat an entire giant turkey neck, which surprised me. I figured she’d just gnaw on it, but, no, she ate the whole darn thing! She does like raw better than kibble, but, yeah, tough luck, kid.

Still wants to chase cars, which may be more of a Hubbard thing. It’s not exactly a bustling metropolis around here, which means the cars on our walks are few and far between – and often at night. She’s definitely worse at night than during the day, and it’s mostly with cars coming at us or passing us – she doesn’t seem to notice them going the other direction. Once again, if I had anything she wanted in those scenarios I would work on it more positively, but mostly I’ve had to use pressure and release. She does, sometimes, make some very good decisions … and sometimes not. Thankfully the other dogs just roll their eyes at her.

Anyway, been too long since I’ve written about the puppy, in puppy time so many things have happened I can’t even remember. Fig is getting older, bigger, faster and somewhat more responsive, with me and the dogs. BRIGHT even likes her now. Well, to an extent. She will now play with her, which is huge. But if that puppy takes one toe over the line Bright puts the smack down on her like there is no tomorrow. So not a love affair like with Aja, but Bright does like raising puppies, I think. Navarre is once again somewhat okay with her and then also finding her stressful in many ways, and Haku thinks puppies are stupid, which doesn’t matter because they all just adore him.

Weather has been horrible, hot and such bad air quality from the smoke we haven’t really gotten out like I feel a puppy needs. At this point it’s going places I don’t want to go, as she is really good with all my really haunts. I’m never very inspired to go seek out children, traffic, crowds and noises – which is what she really needs. Luckily she’s a pretty solid puppy. She is more cautious with big dogs she doesn’t know now, but that’s kind of a good thing.

Went hiking with a Visla puppy her same age, he’s just slightly heavier than her and she was TALLER than him! I can only assume she’s getting her growing out of the way quickly. Surely she’s not going to be a moose? She seems to get along pretty well with most other dogs, she’s a social thing, though a lot of puppy. A good match for a sporting puppy.

The other big event from the hike was Figgy discovering the world of rodents, and she was into it. Fig has been really good at staying with the group and coming when called, and first she disappeared and then when I saw her way behind us she wouldn’t come when I called – which was a first. So I went to investigate and she’s digging and pouncing at something. Got closer and she brought me a nearly dead mouse – eek. I say she brought it, but mostly she wanted to make sure everyone saw this was HER mouse as she tossed it around and caught it in her mouth. And she was not going to give it up, unfortunately. So luckily when I scattered some treats for the other dogs she was momentarily distracted to go investigate what they had, I quickly kicked the poor mouse to the side and she couldn’t find it. But, yeah, I think Fig would like Barn Hunt!

So puppy is doing well, I don’t think she’s ready to do a lot of training, but, knock on wood, is progressing well with just fitting in and learning to be a good dog.