We had a really good puppy class today at Petsmart! We arrived early and went for a walk first to calm Coda down... Not sure that worked! Coda has discovered the horn on the car steering wheel and beeped it a number of times as we waited for the store to open! As the other puppies started to arrive, we went to wait outside the store and Coda played with Abigail and Rosie... Very playful but not barking or aggressive. Everyone, puppies and parents, seemed pleased to see each other after not having class last week (which was apparently due to a fire?). The main lesson today was doing a come in the store... Erin took our dogs on a 30ft leash and we hid in the store and called them and they had to find us, and Coda found me!
We have even been invited to a puppy play date with Abigail, who apparently has an acre fenced in yard! Way cool!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
An interesting night walk...
Even though I was not feeling it, I thought about the obligation I have to Coda and decided to a,e him for a walk at about 11pm Saturday. Having to do some things that I don't want to is a part of having a dog and forcing myself to walk is a large part of why I wanted a dog. Mapmywalk is proving invaluable to encouraging me to walk a little farther whenever possible. I love seeing the miles add up!
So the first challenge was to walk past people standing on the street and Coda did great as long as I kept talking to him saying "lets go" "good boy Coda".
We were walking along a dark block and a pit bull suddenly lunged at us from a garden and started barking... coda started yapping and I screamed! coda quickly stopped barking as we walked off and I said "let's go".
Oh and by the way... We walked 1.3 miles!
So the first challenge was to walk past people standing on the street and Coda did great as long as I kept talking to him saying "lets go" "good boy Coda".
We were walking along a dark block and a pit bull suddenly lunged at us from a garden and started barking... coda started yapping and I screamed! coda quickly stopped barking as we walked off and I said "let's go".
Oh and by the way... We walked 1.3 miles!
OMG! My baby is growing up...
I can't believe it but Coda is already losing teeth! I was brushing his teeth yesterday and noticed that one was loose so I wiggled it but it wouldn't come out. Later on we were playing fetch and he started bleeding on his rope toy so I looked for the tooth and eventually found it on the carpet. Then I stood on something hard and found another! Definitely keepsakes for the album...
Coda has basically learned "wait" and yesterday we worked on drop and stay. He was doing the target training great last night so I started adding the command "touch". Not having the Petsmart class last week got me off track a little with doing those commands! Fortunately we are back to work tomorrow :)
I've managed two walks daily Monday through Friday this week. On my days off I would really like to be taking Coda to new places for walks so he gets a car ride and has new experiences.
I am trying to come up with a budget for Coda's expenses and fun spending. Skip hasn't wanted to talk about it as he's been sick, but if I include food in the cost it comes out to about $40-50 weekly. It seems like a lot of money but I enjoy it... It's fun buying new toys and treats etc!
Coda has basically learned "wait" and yesterday we worked on drop and stay. He was doing the target training great last night so I started adding the command "touch". Not having the Petsmart class last week got me off track a little with doing those commands! Fortunately we are back to work tomorrow :)
I've managed two walks daily Monday through Friday this week. On my days off I would really like to be taking Coda to new places for walks so he gets a car ride and has new experiences.
I am trying to come up with a budget for Coda's expenses and fun spending. Skip hasn't wanted to talk about it as he's been sick, but if I include food in the cost it comes out to about $40-50 weekly. It seems like a lot of money but I enjoy it... It's fun buying new toys and treats etc!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
19 weeks young!
2/12/13
Coda is an adorable puppy... Cute, companionable, energetic, playful, smart... & then he finds cat shit in the garden and eats it! Pulling poop out of his mouth is my least favorite task related to Coda!
We are walking a lot and we are both enjoying it! Today we managed 1.5 miles :) Dr Frankel should be pleased with me when I see her next month. When we discussed getting a puppy, Skip put some conditions on us having one... It would have to go to the vet regularly, take obedience classes and be walked plenty! I am doing all of these things and am deservedly feeling rather pleased with myself. Yes, I am being a good and responsible dog owner :)
Our puppy training class this past Sunday was the toughest one yet... I arrived early enough that I was able to walk Coda for 15 mins so that he was as mellow as possible. When we got to the car, Taylor the springer spaniel from our class was arriving and Coda went nuts barking at her so that I had to drag him away. Our class had a new puppy, if you can call him that-a 6 month old Great Dane that was huge and also very timid! Coda was incredibly distracted for the entire class. The trainer told me that she had two other cocker spaniel puppies in her classes and all of them are "ADHD".. Majorly distracted and hyperactive! I asked her at the end of the class what I could do and she said that Coda obviously knows the commands but then just gets distracted!
Coda has really improved related to the clippers. He has let me use them on his face as long as I can feed him liver treats... His hair around his face is all short and he looks so cute! I took the photo of him sitting below today. The other photo shows just how fast he is... For every good photo of him, there are 50 more with only parts of his body in the shot or blurred.
Our best new trick of the week is training Coda to walk on a loose leash... I have a stick that I am spreading peanut butter on and then I walk with the stick at my side and he follows along in perfect heel position! See sometimes he is a complete genius :)
Coda is an adorable puppy... Cute, companionable, energetic, playful, smart... & then he finds cat shit in the garden and eats it! Pulling poop out of his mouth is my least favorite task related to Coda!
We are walking a lot and we are both enjoying it! Today we managed 1.5 miles :) Dr Frankel should be pleased with me when I see her next month. When we discussed getting a puppy, Skip put some conditions on us having one... It would have to go to the vet regularly, take obedience classes and be walked plenty! I am doing all of these things and am deservedly feeling rather pleased with myself. Yes, I am being a good and responsible dog owner :)
Our puppy training class this past Sunday was the toughest one yet... I arrived early enough that I was able to walk Coda for 15 mins so that he was as mellow as possible. When we got to the car, Taylor the springer spaniel from our class was arriving and Coda went nuts barking at her so that I had to drag him away. Our class had a new puppy, if you can call him that-a 6 month old Great Dane that was huge and also very timid! Coda was incredibly distracted for the entire class. The trainer told me that she had two other cocker spaniel puppies in her classes and all of them are "ADHD".. Majorly distracted and hyperactive! I asked her at the end of the class what I could do and she said that Coda obviously knows the commands but then just gets distracted!
Coda has really improved related to the clippers. He has let me use them on his face as long as I can feed him liver treats... His hair around his face is all short and he looks so cute! I took the photo of him sitting below today. The other photo shows just how fast he is... For every good photo of him, there are 50 more with only parts of his body in the shot or blurred.
Our best new trick of the week is training Coda to walk on a loose leash... I have a stick that I am spreading peanut butter on and then I walk with the stick at my side and he follows along in perfect heel position! See sometimes he is a complete genius :)
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
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