PuppyLog

Two Dogs

A few days ago Lila was trying to play with Ipo while he was chewing on a chew toy. Ipo got protective of the toy and growled and snarled at her.  This was an improvement in a way... He was not just giving the object up and running away from her.

Of course it was still not the reaction we want but it turned out great! I was right there, Lila was on leash as she always is in the house, and Ipo was not feeling out of control. I pulled Lila away from him with a short tug on the leash and told them both "No!" I took the toy away from Ipo and had them both sit. I then gave Ipo the chew toy back and lila got a treat. I walked her away from Ipo and he settled back down with the toy.

This does not seem like much, but combined with his previous experience of having me and S_ block Lila from biting his face by just standing in between them using our bodies to control their interactions, Ipo got the message that we would be in charge of  him, Lila, and the toys. He did not get punished for trying to dominate her. The situation was simply taken out of his hands (out of his paws?).

The results were clear. He settled back down and the next morning he approached her first thing and greeted her by licking her head.  This was the first time he approached her in this way. This morning at the park, he invited her to play and they ran around together for quite some time. This play session, for the first time, ended naturally with both of them just getting tired and distracted by other things.We walked home together very nicely.

Injury

Yesterday I took Ipo and Lila for a walk. At the park we met a very old dog who was on his last walk. His owner had just recently adopted him from the humane society a few weeks before, knowing he was dying. He did a really beautiful thing, giving that sweet old dog a loving home for his last days on earth. It was so sad and so lovely at the same time. He saved that dogs soul.

I let Ipo and Lila off leash and they ran around to play together. I stopped to pet the old dog and was not watching my two pup for a moment. Of course that was the time something happened. Lila started screaming and would not stop. I went to her as she was coming to me with one of her front paws held up off the ground.  I picked her up and inspected the leg but could not tell what happened. She calmed down after a few minutes but could not use the leg for a while. I palpated the leg and bent and straightened the joints while trying to calm her down. She was obviously in pain but demonstrated no difference in her reactions no matter what I did with her hurt leg. I could not tell where it hurt or why. 

I was quite worried that she had a serious injury. She was able to limp around on it after 5 or 10 minutes and after a half-hour or so  I could not see any more signs of limping. I gave her a dose of 30c Ruta Gravioulins and kept her with me for the rest of the day. She was mostly in her crate with only a few short on-leash walks to prevent her from further aggravating her leg. She seemed normal (although a bit of a monster because of the lack of her usual exercise and training sessions) and was her usual bouncy self this morning.

Stats:

Age: 18 weeks
weight: 21 pounds The same weight as last week.  This is ther first time that has happened. There was even a day or two last week that she was up to 23 1/2 pounds. We are however, just using a home bathroom scale so it is not the most exact thing in the world.

Agility Training

This was the final day of the puppy agility intro class. Lila had a grand time, went through the tunnels, over the jump, through the tunnels, up and down the "A" frame ramp played with the other puppies, up and down the A-frame ramp, got introduced to the teeter-totter, and went up and down the A-frame ramp.  Did I mention that she likes the ramp and the tunnels? 

She did all the activities with obvious enjoyment but still seemed to be a little under the weather today. She has lots of energy, just not as much as she usually does. She also threw up a good portion of her breakfast durring the class (several hours after breakfast). It may just be the extra playing with Ipo this morning plus all the excitment of going around with me on errands. It's pretty normal for a puppy but it worries me a little.

She's also turning into a little princess. She doesn't like to lie down on the wet grass. She would not go all the way down on command at first. When she wanted to sit down she would go over to the closed tunnel and sit on the nylon.