Monday, October 31, 2016

Puppy Updates...

Hey all.   Hope the summer treated you well.   So those of you wondering how the pups are doing, here's your info:



DUCHESS:
Duchess at the park
She's becoming more social at the dog park.  She's always been a bit of a loner. She'd be walking along the fence line or searching in the woods all by herself. She may run with a dog or two, but she's never really played with any dog.   She's never been overly affectionate and tended to be aloof.

Prior to Peryn she would become playful with her food, tossing it in the air and such. She and I would play a bit after I gave her a cookie.  She had her 2 stuffed animals: Lambchop & Hedgehog that she would play with on the bed.    

She would play with Athena until Athena discovered other dogs, now they don't play (or I should say Athena doesn't really play with her).

Since Peryn though, the jealousy Duchess has is showing. She competes for attention from Peryn. 

After getting over the initial "shock" of having Peryn in the house, she often played with him. Actually it was more of her pushing him around.   Peryn loved it though and her rough play helped him out.
With our wanting to socialize Peryn as much as possible, we often had meetups with others to have the dogs play. This additional one on one time with other dogs has made Duchess a little more comfortable around other dogs.  


While at the park she still tends to be by herself, she'll join in with the group more often than not.
Additionally at home she tends to seek out attention and affection much more often. While she still isn't very affectionate (she does NOT lick ) she has mellowed some.  She tends to curl up against us all the time now.   Her competition with Peryn has made her a much sweeter dog.


While the two of them do not play together as much, and I think that has to do with the constant exercise and dog park visits, pay too much attention to one or the other and a "fight" aka Playing starts.

Duchess is a good dog and very protective. I still don't trust her with strangers.  

One good thing that has happened is now that the dogs play often with Huskies (remember Duchess is half Husky) things are better.  I don't feel I have to explain her when she does some things (like her drive buys or aggressive play) because I'm with others who have dogs that are the same way.

So overall Duchess is good.   She is "aging".  Her snout which had been brownish when we adopted her 3 1/2 years ago is all white.  I am unsure her exact age and that worries me as Duchess is my favorite dog of the current 3.   

Current Likes:  Loves Grafton, Kirtland, & Medina dog parks for their sizes. She loves Grafton because it is wide open and in the country. She LOVES the country.  She loves Median for the woods. And she loves Kirtland for the water and the play area.  She loves to splash. She loves to explore and run free.
Loves running with ponies.   Loves her schedule: morning brusha and cookies & her out times.
Loves to lay or sit at the back of the yard, in the shade, and monitor. She loves to lay out on the patio and sun bathe.

Favorite toy: Anything that dispenses treats as she plays with it.
Car rides?   She is a horrible traveler. HORRIBLE. She paces back and forth and whines and husky howls until she can stick her nose out an open window.

Favorite sibling: Peryn


Athena getting some loving at the park
ATHENA: Athena has come such a long way. I was looking through her paperwork from when we adopted her.  She's gained weight (14 lbs),stronger legs, and her infections are gone.
Personality wise, Athena hasn't really changed much over time. She's pretty much the same dog as she's always been.
She really loves us and loves being with us. She loves playing with other dogs..sort of.

She'll play with Peryn, MC, & Bridger, but at the dog park she's happier to run after other dogs and bark at those wrestling.   
She and Peryn are ok. Peryn loves to bug the crap out of her. He will "munch " on her as she goes up and down stairs.  
They're more likely to play with one another than Duchess and Peryn would.   


She loves loves loves going to the park to "play" with other dogs. She's still obsessed with smaller dogs as she tries to mother them. She tries to break up "fights" (dogs wrestling with one another) and sometimes ends up as a protector of weaker dogs by doing so.

She does not sleep in the bed with us as the uneveness of the bed bothers her legs. She still has weak legs from her life before us. While we've strengthened them by allowing her to play and walk, she still has issues with them.  Her own bed is either the big chair next to the bed or the dog blanket/bed on the floor in front of it. 

She has a bladder of steel and once she's in bed for the night, she won't get up until we force her out the next morning.


She's the best listener of the bunch.   Call her once or ask her to stop and she does. She is a barker.  I call her Barky Bark and the Furry Bunch...
  

Current Likes:  If the place has dogs, she loves it.  She loves other dogs.
She's a doll who loves to be outside. She could be outside watching all day long if we would let her. 

Favorite toy: Rocky the Raccoon.

Car rides?   She is a horrible traveler. HORRIBLE from the minute she got in the car with us. She's better than she was, but only if no one (Duchess or Peryn) encroach on her space in the car.  

Favorite sibling: Peryn

PERYN the Pup: Peryn. Peryn. Peryn.   Lil dude is a handful.  He's an extremely happy dog who loves his Mommy very much. He loves Daddy too, but it's like a 60/40 attachment with Mommy being 60.  Personally I think it's more, but we don't want to upset Daddy!

Peryn loves playing.  Other dogs, balls, toys, anything he finds on the floor, the tie outs... 
He is full of life and loves to show it.    He still is not to be trusted alone, so is crated during the day. 

He loves to swim, play rough with his friends, and most importantly FETCH.   The dog can play FETCH non-stop for hours if you have it in you to keep up.  


He LOVES bodies of water. He loves to run, play, & swim in water.  It's going to be a long winter for him.

If you read up on Cattle Dogs, he's matches everything perfectly.   He has more than the regular puppy exuberance.  We've had 2 dogs at the 9-10 month age and neither of them had Peryn's energy.    We've discovered that if he is not regularly exercised, he's a monster.
He will chew anything he finds, walk all over Mommy in the middle of the night, and just bug the heck out of you until you play.  

We started him in day care 2 days a week-starting last week.   A big difference it's making.  It makes dealing with him the rest of the day and the whole next day much more bearable. 

Yay!


He has a few friends he LOVES to play with: MC, Akira, Apollo, & Kato (last 3 are huskies)

Current Likes:  Fetch, balls(Squeakier the better), going on rides, parks, other dogs, walks, playing

Favorite toy: ALL

Car rides?   He's WONDERFUL in the car.  He's like Galen was.  Quiet, comfortable, and enjoyable. He is a great traveler.


Favorite sibling: to play with: Athena.  TO sleep around & run with: Duchess.