GROWING FROM THIS:TO THIS:IN A MERE 15 WEEKS!

…has its challenges.

To start, the world looks different every day. One day a shoe is a big monster larger than you and the next it is an enticing chew toy to drag around. One day human legs appear as very tall trees. The next they are tunnels to run through. Some day those legs will hopefully attach to a human requiring unobstructed motion to walk without tripping.

The second is body awareness. Puppies direct themselves with their nose. As newborns they propel themselves nose first to their mother’s nipple to nurse. They are driven by the intuition of scent and mouth. Their eyes and ears are closed, so that is what guides them as they learn to creep, walk, and run. The body just follows along. At 15 weeks ears and eyes are opened, but its all still directed by their nose. Only now their extremely long nose is followed by a much larger body very capable of tripping up those silly, unsuspecting humans. They have very little idea of how to actually control that body. Where the nose goes, somehow the rest follows.

Add the two together and bring in the newest challenge…

PUPPY MEET STAIRS!

Why, we ask, are stairs such a challenge for a pup seemingly fearless and game to try anything? For starters, the stairs to my apartment aren’t normal stairs. They are the metal, slatted, uneven, rickety and four stories of echos and shadows in a cramped external stair-well. From the parking lot it’s 3.5 stories of stairs. Fortunately from the street entrance, there is only half a flight.

SEE HOW THESE STAIRS APPEAR AT PUPPY LEVEL???

If you’ve only been on this earth for all of 15 weeks is this something you would feel excited and confident to attempt? From this perspective it doesn’t even look like there is solid ground to step on!

Further, stair climbing takes coordination, something a gangly, growing pup lacks. Domino understood to move his front feet to the first landing, but he had no idea how to step up with his hind legs.

During our Monday visit, the stairs didn’t work. He was adjusting to me and the city, so instead of making it a focus I carried him up and down. He is a big boy and that wasn’t going to work during the weekend visit. Stairs became a priority training activity. Before he arrived I transformed my staircase to appear sturdier and more inviting to a pup.With these less intimidating stairs along with the work Brigadoon did with him in the past week he was able go down just fine and much more comfortable with up. He still just didn’t know how to move his hind to push himself up.

Adjacent to my apartment there is a conference center with terraced gardens. There are all types of stairs from tiny 3 inch steps to full sized concrete open staircases with steep decreases and everything in between. So starting with the 3 inch, we then moved to sets of 5-inch single steps. We worked those for quite a while and then moved to a 2 stepper. During the weekend he grew more and more confident. 5 steps, 7 steps, 15 steps! His confidence grew and his understanding of body movement. By the end of the weekend he was breezing up my own staircase with ease!

Domino is an ACE! I am so proud of him. He still isn’t quite sure of his hind legs or body but I saw a lot of progress just over the weekend–both with the stairs and walking in a straight line. For that I used the T-Touch Balanced Walking technique connecting my leash to both his collar and harness giving him body awareness and input. Loose leash walking right by my side, but without running into me became a breeze in a very short time!

Domino, you are a VERY GOOD puppy!

After the successful Monday visit, Denise asked if I would like to take Domino for the weekend while she was doing team training. Sooo… I had the puppy once again! This time overnight from Thursday until Sunday. I knew quite a bit more about him and was a whole lot more confident. The plan was to have an easy, relaxing weekend just to get to know each other. No major trips to shopping centers!

Having a puppy is a lot of work, but he really is a sweet pup. He lounged in the dog bed at my feet, followed me around, and chewed on his chewy. He is completely house trained which is amazing, but his bladder will only hold for 2 hours so we had a lot of trips out side to ‘Hurry’. He is great at going immediately on command which is very nice.The stairs to get out to ‘Hurry’ were an issue, but that is another story.

We went out for walks and short training excursions at the conference center behind my house. We practiced stairs, and loose leash walking without running into me, and different body awareness exercises. He was introduced to more sounds and experiences of Seattle life including a venture to a 5 way intersection. He did great. He is highly distract-able, but has some very solid nerves. The distract-ability will fade with age and experience.

At home we worked on retrieves for fun. He could retrieve a pen for me until his ‘must chew’ impulse kicked in. I set up some interesting obstacles/experiences for him to explore–like a baby gate on the ground. He is willing to try pretty much anything! It was loads of fun.

Mostly we just got to know one another. Even as a puppy, it is shocking how different his temperament is from Hope’s. Hope was a extremist, go getter, drama queen. He is a laid back thinker. He is MUCH slower to follow through with commands but he is much more likely to offer the actual behavior I asked for instead of offering whatever is the quickest/easiest. His learning is a very different process. He is curious by observation and then action. Hope had to work hard to harness her impulsiveness. It will be interesting to see how he develops. He is yet to hit the teenage stage and that is where my memories of Hope begin.

After both of us are rested up, I will be looking forward to another visit. Right now I am still worn out from this one. Exhausted, but with hopes for a good future.