We have another visitor for a couple days. Trapper, a Juliet/Wrigley pup. Trapper is a BIG boy, gentle and nice. I was honestly, very nervous about if my boys would be nice with another boy coming into the house, but Georgia……
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Everything I’ve ever said about her being a pain in the neck, well, I take back every word. For the past hour I’ve watched Georgia manage all the introductions. She corrected every single member of my pack that needed it and gave warnings to those that might just think about not being nice to Trapper. Georgia is an AMAZI G pack leader!!
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Within an hour, we had the pack all together in the back yard. At that point, I did notice Trapper a little overwhelmed so now I’ve got Trapper and Enzo, our two visitors, each in a kennel with a lick mat. Just to give them a little space to not be overwhelmed with the pack.
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Wish me luck with nine dogs this weekend!!
What does mealtime look like here at IGR? All our dogs are trained to not go to anyone else’s bowl until the original dog walks away. I do that by kenneling puppies. They learn to focus on their bowl and no one else’s. Maya is actually at the point to where I need to stop putting her in a kennel and let her get corrected by another dog if she does near their food. She’ll learn. I feel she’s old enough now to get corrected and not be traumatized if the correction is loud.
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Visiting puppies are a different story. All visiting dogs eat separately. Whether that be in a kennel or outside the puppy room in a different space.
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In this video I had already prepared their meals and had them ready and waiting to feed. All but Maya just sit or lay quietly while I prepare meals. Maya….well it’s a constant battle to get her to not bark. It I’m on top of my game, she does in “place”and sits quietly and I reward her as I’m preparing food. If I’m lazy, then it’s a constant “Maya stop” from my mouth because she’s barking.
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Each dog has a regular spot they eat and they typically all go towards their spot. There’s also a particular order in which I feed everyone. If the spot is different or the order is different, they’re a bit discombobulated, otherwise mealtime goes pretty smooth for the adults.
Are you local? Should we visit you at your place of business? Comment with where you are and maybe we’ll show up.
My life the next couple days!!!!
Me trying to get a good pic of these two! 🤦♀️🤪 at the end, when they finally sit nicely, Sunny (Ellie yellow) is on the left and Enzo (Ellie green) is on the right.
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Those have been the only couple of seconds these two have sat still. One might ask, “do you think siblings recognize each other when they get together?” ABSOLUTELY!
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Our “dog count” today is nine! 🤪 Hopefully 1) these two yahoos will let me get some sleep and 2) tomorrow I can get a nice pic of the group.
No, I did not intend to grow raspberries for the dogs, nor did I realize I was gonna have to battle with them to get some raspberries for the humans. 🤦♀️ But it is kinda cute watching them pick raspberries and enjoy that fresh, homegrown, sweetness.
I’ve always been transparent to show the good, bad and the ugly. Today was “the bad”!!!!!
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So…backstory first of how we got here. We’ve had a tougher time potty training Maya, not because of her, but because I had a double litter and it was cold outside so I couldn’t just leave the back door open for her to go outside anytime. That led to her peeing on my area rug MULTIPLE times. I’ve pressure washed it, doused it with vinegar, pressure washed again and again every time she peed on it.
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Then after one final extra good clean of the rug I put it back in the house and within hours she peed on it again. Mind you, she IS potty trained. Fully. But yet she continued to think she can pee on my area rug.
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I got fed up and purchased a Tumble rug from marketplace. $200. Brought it home last week, installed it and within hours one of the dogs started chewing the corner of the rubber pad under the rug. Dealt with that, did a bunch of correcting and I’ve had no issues for over a week now. Til today.
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I was gone for just over an hour and the dogs we’re just settling down for a nap so I figured they’d just sleep while I was gone. I put the pup in the puppy room, closed the gate and left the pack in the house. THIS is what I came home to.
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I’m not sure what my next move is to be honest. I like having a carpet in this room because it gives them traction while playing. I’m always concerned about hips and a youngster slipping, injuring a hip, resulting in a failing OFA hip score.
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For now, there will be no carpet in the living room. I truly thought having a washable rug would solve the peeing issue for all the potty-training pups we seem to always have. Never dawned on me that I’d be dealing with puppies chewing the pad under the rug! UGH!!!!!! 😤
It’s super hot here this week so a couple days ago I froze large blocks of ice. Today was a good day to get them outside and out of my hair for a bit.
Two of the worst sounds to wake up to: your dog puking and thunder when you know the top to your Jeep is off!
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Heard thunder, checked forecast. Light rain they said. NOT! No sooner did I finish getting the trail cover on my Jeep did the skies open up and it down poured got 30 minutes.
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What’s another horrible sound to wake up to???
I’ve decided camp is great. When you first dropped me off I was so nervous, there were so many new kids and they were so busy and all wanted to say hi at the same time. It was overwhelming. But our camp director, Mama Glo, took me under her wing and always made sure to notice if I was overwhelmed. Sometimes she let me hide behind her legs while I watched at the crazy kids play.
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Last night I slept in my own space so I didn’t have to be worried about the other kids bothering me. I slept good and this morning I was ready to play and explore. I even ate my breakfast this morning!
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Guess what???? I got to play with all the big kids in the big space…and I wasn’t even scared. I played fetch and went exploring by the garden while they played in the park.
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My mom though, ugh, she’s annoying. She’s always correcting me when I get too rambunctious. And that little one, the one that’s about my size…geez, she needs to learn to chill when there’s food around. All she does at mealtime is jump and bark. So annoying.
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I really like one of the other “camp leaders”, her name is Ellie. She’s the fun mom cause all she wants to do is play. And she doesn’t correct me like my mom does.
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Gotta go - it’s nap time.
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Love, Briar
A while back one of our IGR fans contacted me to get my address. She saw something that she thought our dogs would love so she sent them a present. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing!!!! As you can see, they loved it! I’m sure they’ll have many summer days enjoying their splash pad. Thanks so much Sandy!
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PS I saved the “unboxing” for when Carys was here because I knew you’d want her to get in on the fun too.
Ever have something you KNOW you need to get started working on but you just are overwhelmed and that paralyzes you? For me that’s getting Roman’s Canine Good Citizen title.
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It took an entire day of cleaning and reorganizing to reclaim my house after the pups left, and then this week I started working with Roman daily. The first day, he seemed petrified to simply be out front and wouldn’t even consider hopping in the car. It was sooooooo discouraging.
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But after only three days of work, he hops in the car no problem, has remembered all of his early training and with today’s recall work has encouraged me that we’re not as far off as I thought.
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I’ve also discovered going to garage sales is excellent for focus, heel, greeting strangers (or not when I say leave it). Today we hit a couple garage sales and he did ok. Still pulled on the leash a bit, but we’ll do more garage sale days and get this heel thing mastered this summer.
This girl sure knows how to have fun!
Pups are 7 wks old today! Each litter seems to go faster and faster. No outside playtime today, it’s too cold today. Roman has learned to be gentle enough with the pups so he’s the resident playmate. I’m hoping that gentleness continues even when he’s adult size. I imagine it will.
THIS is one of the reasons breeders may be tempted to send their pups home early. Whining!!! If these two are awake and not being “entertained” by either humans or the other dogs they whine and whine and whine. They are currently 6 1/2 wks old and sooooo ready for more. More interaction, more experiences, just more.
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I set them back up in the puppy room this morning and actually in a smaller space because reality, this whelping box is only where they take naps and eat. 9/10 times when they are awake they’re either outside playing or loose in the puppy room playing. Sometimes by themselves, sometimes with a few other dogs and sometimes with us humans.
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And folks say, “How can you let them go? I’d end up keeping all the pups.” You let them go because it’s best for them.
