What a Week

Yes, I know, it's been a week almost since my last post. We have had a very busy week. Monday, Kolton and Harley had class with Jenn. First they worked a bit on agility. Kolton will be running Harley at the State Fair in the 4H dog show and needs to improve weaves and a bit of distance on them with Harley. After agility they did a bit of obedience. Harley's stays are getting better, not great but hopefully with work and three weeks to go they will do great at the fair. While Kolton and Harley worked, Nimbus got to hang out with his best buddy, Potion. It is amazing how rough they play and yet both of them go back looking for more. Nimbus will grab Potion by the side of the face and just drag her across the xpen. But she is always coming right back for more.

Tuesday, we had our second week of puppy class. Nimbus loves playing with the other puppies and is not rough with them like he is Potion. This week at class, Nimbus got to meet another Sammy lover. Her name is Vicki and she has shown Sammies in the past. She kept trying to give me instructions on how to train him and that it's ok to train a sit. Nimbus has a sit, he has no verbal cue for a sit, but does sit. He also has a down and stand. Stand is starting to get a cue as is down, but I am not working extremely hard on it yet. We have been working on walking nicely on a leash, and waiting at the door. Wait is coming along wonderfully. He does it great at home, out and about we are still working on, but it's coming along. Walking on the leash is also going pretty well unless there is something he absolutely has to get to, ie: Potion. Usually when he sees Potion he wants to pull hard on the leash, so we are working on it. He is still doing great with house breaking; granted right now it's more preventive than anything...taking him out often and giving him plenty of time to do what he needs to do. He has had a couple of accidents, but it's not because he hasn't told us..usually it's because I have to go before I take him out.

We have also been working on the table. I have been feeding at least one meal a day on the grooming table. I really want him to feel comfortable on the table, whether he is standing or laying down on it. He still is not quite sure of himself when he's on the table.

So, today Nimbus went to the vet for boosters. He was amazing..well he did pee on the vet, but he was very excited and just couldn't help it. He got a great bill of health and did fantastic for the shot. He weighs 15.8lbs. Wow he sure is growing fast. The vet was glad to see that I have trained for him to looked over. He didn't mind her "digging" in his ears or fumbling around with his feet and belly. He was not thrilled with her looking at his teeth but he tolerated it. Yeah, we are working on that too. I try to take about 10 minutes every night and go over him. Mess with his feet, rub his belly and back, and try to get fingers in his mouth. He is not thrilled with people messing around his muzzle but it is getting better.

Ok, so on to some fun stuff. We have a blast playing with Nimbus...he cracks us up on a daily basis. Tonight I took him out and he was cat pouncing crickets in the yard. He also likes to cat pounce his tennis balls or the zapp ball. The zapp ball makes all sorts of noise and lights up. He loves to throw it and chase it. Sometimes he gets the pink tennis ball mixed up with the zapp ball and gets a quizzical look on his face...as if to say, "Hey, I bounced you, why you not make noise and light up?" He loves and when I say loves, I mean LOVES plastic water bottles. We take the cap and wrapper off of them and just hand him the empty bottle. He will play with it until it is as flat as it can possibly get. He will slide on them around the living room, chew them, throw them or just carry it around. I don't know what it is, but he loves those things. He loves to chase Harley around and to torment the cat. However, the cat loves to torment him as well. When he is in the xpen, she will lay just right outside of it swooshing her tail. It drives him crazy. He will bark and bark at her and she just lays there knowing he can't get her.

Going to bed has become much easier, Nimbus has a pretty good "get in" command. When we are ready to go to bed we tell him to get in, and he gets right into his crate. For awhile he would get agitated if one of us got up in the night to go to the bathroom, but lately it's been getting better. He doesn't fuss as much if at all. He likes to get a piece of ice when we get ready to go to bed. If I have ice in my hand on the way to the bedroom, he will run ahead and just in his crate without being asked. He is such a great puppy. We all adore him and have fun with him. I find training the humans to be harder than training Nimbus. It's amusing to watch the others try to get him to do something by telling him rather than giving him a hand signal. He just looks at them like they are crazy. I have been showing them how to work with him because he needs to know he has to listen to everyone not just me, especially since I will be gone for three days next week. So I have been trying to run errands and spend a couple of hours a day away from home so he doesn't have a horrible time with me not being home. So far, it's been going well, and he always gives me a wonderful greeting when I come home.

We have a busy weekend planned. Saturday, Kolton will have an agility class, then Sunday we are going to an obedience/rally show n go and taking the puppy so he can hang out and Monday we are doing a rental and also taking the puppy. I don't think I will be able to post again for another week or so. I leave Wednesday or Thursday for Cincinnati for training with Pure Romance (my business) and won't be home until next Sunday. So until next time....