Water Pups

Tessie and Skippy have been having a great summer (even though we're only a week or so in).  We've been taking 30-60 minute walks in the afternoon, which they absolutely love...and sometimes they're lucky enough to get a second walk when Dad gets home!  As I think I mentioned in the previous blog, they both are so well-behaved when I am home with them compared to when I come home after being gone all day.  Granted there's not much we can do about that once the school year begins but for now it's working out really well.

They both continue to do really well with their training, socialization, etc.  Tessie's new bad habit is barking when she sees a dog.  She does this completely out of excitement because she wants to play with every dog she sees.  However, she comes across s

ounding a little psycho so we bought a training collar last week at puppy class that has really been helping her.  Skippy goes up to people who come to the house now, sniffs them, and typically lets people pet him.  Tessie's still a bit shy with people but is making so many huge strides from when we got her in March.  We see a huge difference in her when we go to puppy class especially.  She loves playing with the dogs now, especially Odell, a Golden Retriever I mentioned in the last post.  I think she knows other Retrievers because she definitely seems to be more excited when she sees one compared to other dogs.  A few weeks ago I had Animal Planet on and a special about Flat-coat Retrievers came on.  She sat right up and watched the tv for quite a few minutes.

Last weekend the puppies took their first pool swim.  Neither one was very thrilled with it but they both did a great job swimming!  Tessie is a splasher.  She kind of flails when she swims and makes a lot of splashing because her legs are so long.  Skippy looks like a little wind-up toy dog when he swims.  No splashing and he moves pretty quickly for a little guy.  Towards the end of the afternoon there were a few times where Tessie looked a little curious about jumping in but she didn't.  I think if she had an area that sloped in like she would at a lake or ocean, she might have ventured in on her own.  It's a start!  There will be a lot of exposure to water for these puppies over the summer so we will be interested to see how they do with it.  There are more swimming pictures on my flickr stream.

Skippy the Spaniel?

Today's Daily Puppy was a Brittany Spaniel named Marley (one of the names I liked for a dog).  He's the puppy in the lower left hand corner.  I checked the page this morning and had to take a second look because Marley had a lot of similarities to Skippy.  His hair was longer but he had the same colors, the same freckles on his face and ears, and he had two small light brown spots around his eyes, like Skip has around his right eye.  He also had the same collar as Skippy but that's not relevant.  I googled "Brittany Spaniel mix" and found the picture of the dog in the upper left corner.  Her name is Faith and she's a Brittany mix (not sure what she's mixed with) but I could see a lot of Skippy in her face.  He's been a mystery to us so far.  In fact, I had kind of come to think he was the only dog like him out there.  However, these Brittany dogs have quite a resemblance.  Brittany Spaniels have much longer hair than Skippy does but as you can see in her picture, Faith's hair is also short.  Both pictures on the right are of Skippy.  It's the closest I've come to finding a match to him so far.  

Over the weekend we went to the Cape.  The puppies went to Crowe's Pasture, which is a beach that is part of preservation land in Dennis.  In Dennis dogs are banned from public beaches between Memorial Day and Labor Day but they can go on preservation land any time so we brought them down for a walk on the beach.  Tessie even braved the ocean and went in up to her belly.  Skippy wasn't so sure but he did get his feet wet.  Crowe's Pasture is on the bay side so the waves are typically very small, as they were this weekend, similar to a lake.  However, every time there was a little wave that came in, he backed right up like it was going to bite him.  There were a bunch of dogs there, including a Bassett Hound who only had three legs.  The puppies are doing really well with socialization overall.  Tessie has made huge improvements and was the life of the party at puppy class last week.  She loves Odell, a Golden Retriever puppy that is just a tad bit bigger than her.  Last week the two of them were having a great time during play time at puppy class.  It was so funny to see the difference in her playing with a dog her own size vs playing with Skippy, even though he holds his own!  

Both puppies seem to enjoy having me home for the summer, even though today is only day 2.  It so interesting to see the difference in behavior when I am home with them all day.  Typically, when I come home from work and they have been alone for 6-7 hours they are off the wall for at least two hours.  If I take them for an hour walk, Tessie is still bouncing off the walls when we get home.  Right now they are both sleeping soundly on the couch.  We'll go for a walk later, they will play with their toys, take another nap....it will be such a different day.

sum-sum-summertime

The puppies are enjoying their summer so far.  I have a feeling they will be enjoying it even more after I'm out of work for the summer on Tuesday.  We're going to the Cape for the night on Saturday and we're taking them to Crow's Pasture for the first time so I'm sure I will have plenty to write about here after the trip but today I just wanted to share some pictures of the puppies outside enjoying summer!

and one just for fun.......

Breaking the Shell

Tessie had a big day yesterday.  It began at puppy class.  The play time, which lasts about 5-10 minutes each class, was at the beginning of class this week.  Everyone takes the puppies off leash and then they get to run around the room and play with each other.  Our trainer's three-year old Standard Poodle was there, as well as two of the other puppies in our class, a Cockapoo and a Golden Retriever, who are both really sweet dogs.  Tessie usually stands off to the side with us and doesn't play.  Last week Paul went out into the middle of the play area and she followed which was big for her.  This week she took it upon herself to go out, play with the dogs, and have a lot of fun.  She was playfully barking at them and playing with a tennis ball that belonged to the Standard Poodle.  We were so happy to see her relax and have fun with the other dogs.  She loves the Golden Retriever puppy and gets so excited when she sees her each week.  She did so well and it makes me so glad we decided to continue the puppy classes after puppy kindergarten ended.  The socialization aspect of the class is really helping her.  Later on in the night we had Swilly and Sue over.  Tessie did so well going over to them, letting them pet her, and being so much less tense than she has been in the past.  It is so good to see her enjoying things a little bit more.

Tessie's new thing is shoes....if she could have her way she would spend the day chewing every shoe in the house.  She chewed a hole on the back of my sneaker and she loves Paulie's slippers.  But she really isn't picky, she'll chew any shoe she can get in her mouth.  She even tries to chew my father's sneakers while they are on his feet.

We went to the vet on Thursday and the puppies both did well.  Skippy weighed in at 21 pounds and Tessie at 29 pounds.  It is funny to look at pictures of Skippy from when we first got him.  I think he looks so little and boney in old pictures.  He's such a good boy and he listens so well.  I think he knows that he has it good here and he's very happy.  He really just wants to make us happy - except when he tries to eat goose poop at the pond.  

Next weekend the puppies will be going to the Cape again for the night.  We are buying an off road beach sticker for the summer because the drive-on area of Chapin Beach is conservation land and is dog friendly.  I can't wait to bring them on the beach this summer.  With a full day on the beach Tessie will probably have a moat dug around the car.