Getting back to work, or Adjustments puppies make.

I had to go to work today.  The fall semester will start soon, and I need to finish prepping for it.  I need to be there for students coming in.  So, I did a warm-up today, since I had to go in for a meeting anyway.

For Reilly, we did some leash work this morning, and some practice on "come", to which he seems to add, "if you wanna" at times.  Then I expanded his space.  The mudroom leads into the kitchen, which is quite large.  All the pictures with the camouflaged floor are kitchen pics.  There are two other doors leading out of the kitchen.  One goes to the hallway.  I shut that door.  Then there's a pair of swinging doors (think old cowboy movie saloon) from the end of the kitchen into the dining room.  I moved the baby gate there.  I moved the main food and water out to the other rooms where Jake and Murphy could get them, and put new bowls down for Reilly.  I made sure Reilly had lots of outside time...then I left him in his new digs.

I realized several hours later that I forgot to put down paper for him.  Whoops.  I anticipated a serious mess. 

I didn't get home until 4:00.  That's a long time for Reilly to be without me.  And without paper.  Oh, my.  When I opened the door, Reilly sat just inside, waiting for me.  So he heard me outside and knew to come to the door!  Yay!  No potty messes in the mudroom.  Makes sense; the mudroom is his sleeping room.  At his age, he understands not messing up your den, at least to a point.  The pee and poo should be in the kitchen.

Then I was shocked at Jake's face appearing in the mudroom, wanting out.  Then Murphy.  SOMEONE had opened the door or knocked down the baby gate. 

It was the door.  I tested it and realized that it didn't catch properly.  That would have made it easy for Murphy to push open, as it would swing into the kitchen from the hallway.  Jake wouldn't push a door open on a bet, but Murphy will push them open, or hook a paw to pull them open.  After noting two poop piles and two pee spots in the kitchen, I checked the rest of the house.  Nothing.  Nada.  Nothing gotten into.  No pee spots.  Nothing.

I remind myself that I have no idea how long the door had been open.  It could have been all day, or it could have been since my car pulled in.  If Reilly had access to the entire house all day, though...he was a seriously good puppy!  On the other hand, he sleeps a good part of the day, being active mostly mornings and evenings, so that could be it.  Regardless, it was nice to come home to minimal clean-up after seven hours.  Reilly peed as soon as he got out. 

Then I found that he had done his first chewing.  Thirteen weeks tomorrow?  Beginning teething, perhaps?  The threshold from the mudroom into the guest room was chewed on by the previous owner's dog.  Then Jake, very briefly.  Now Reilly.  Chris will dress it up with bitter apple spray this evening, and hit a few more places that enticed Jake as a puppy.  That should do it.  He's got a couple giant rawhides to chew.  Big ones that he can't eat.  In fact, they belong to Jake and Murphy and have for several years.  One is older than Jake!  If he decides he likes them, I'll have to watch them as he gets bigger so he doesn't eat them, but at this stage he can't.  And I'll see what other things they're making for teething pups these days.  He needs appropriate, safe things to chew. 

I couldn't get him still enough to take leg pictures from the angle I wanted this morning, but we'll try again this evening.  But I did take a few more regular photos this morning.  I'm getting admonished about pics more frequently, so I'm going to try to have at least one to post every day.  (Note the word "try" in there!)

Note the interest Murdock has in Reilly.  Murdock is the white lamb on the right.  He greets Reilly every morning. 

This morning, I mopped the mudroom floor on the way out to feed, rather than just clean where his paper was. I didn't pick up his bed this time, as I was lazy, so I tossed all the toys up onto it and left them there.  When we came in after chores, he was tired and went to bed.  I think this was his reminder that he needs room on there, too!

All The Boys waiting for breakfast:

And getting it. Reilly is getting a dog biscuit for now, until I sort out how to handle his breakfast. We don't do food aggression, and make it a point to all eat amicably together. I take food away from them and give it back, and they all know they will eat. In fact, if one of the big dogs is eating the kibble and Reilly comes to eat, the adult will relinquish the bowls. Probably to protect their ears!

I have been fascinated with the color differences.  Murphy is a fawn, and both Jake and Reilly are apricots.  Jake is dark like Reilly's mother, but he was also dark as a pup, where Reilly is somewhere in between the two.  I wonder if Reilly will darken to the shade of his mother, or remain the shade he is.  It matter not one bit, as they're all beautiful, but it'll be interesting watching how it turns out. 

This is just because Jake is in fewer photos than Murph, as he doesn't interact with Reilly as much yet.  :)

Okay....Reilly's legs.  To give you a comparison, first look at Jake's straight legs above. Then Murphy's legs, below:

Just ignore the cute puppy next to Murph.  He's having a fight to the death with a rope.

Okay, now Reilly.  Three pictures.  The first is him lying down with legs stretched out, like Murphy.  You can see an angle at the wrist.  (he's yawning above those legs)

Now sitting, so you can see the angle, plus how it's posing his feet; on tiptoe and turned out.

Another so you can see his feet, from slightly higher. You can see that his right foot is worse, which is why he limps on that foot.

I hope that's enough pictures for today!

The only accidents Reilly had in the house today were when I was gone, and those don't count, when he has no other option.  He's not able to hold it too long quite yet.  So the potty training is coming along nicely.  We've also added a hand signal to "come" as of this evening, and he's liking that a lot.  You can see his eyes go to my hand when he hears me say the word, and his head cocks sideways as he watches the movement.  Then he does what I ask, fairly consistently.  He's sitting better today, too.  Every day he gets better on these simple commands.

Another term that I use a lot is "take it".   Any time he picks something up, I try to tell him to take it, so he gets the idea of picking up what I indicate later.  He likes to carry sticks, and invariably picks one up when we go feed the sheep.  Sometimes after he's gotten his own, I'll offer a different one, with "take it".  He likes new sticks, so he'll drop the one he has in favor of the new one, for which he gets praise.  I also use it for the dummy on a rope I have.  We'll use something similar to teach him to pull open doors.  He's quite mouthy for a mastiff, likes to carry things, and is the licky-est mastiff I've ever met.  Bodes well for getting him to retrieve, but is no guarantee. 

He also knows, "not for you".  I have a mental block with the common term of "leave it".  I hate it.  I want to finish the sentence.  With "not for you", it's the first part of the sentence that's missing..."This is..."  Sometimes I add that, and other times I don't.  But it ends properly, and I have no compelling urge to complete it.  Plus it's habit, as that's what Murph and Jake know.  Silly thing I know, but I'm weird that way. 

I should add a page to track the terms we use with him.  He gets other terms too, that he's slowly becoming familiar with.

Oh, I had a discussion about Reilly with my department chair today.  David is quite supportive of what I'm doing, which is nice.  I've told him my plan for this semester, which is once Reilly is properly potty-trained, and has reasonable manners, to bring him to work on non-teaching days.  I'll decide next semester what his maturity level is, and what he's doing at that time, and see at that time if he's ready to come to classes or not.  It'll depend in part on my class schedule, and in larger part on him.  If he's not ready at the beginning of the semester, he may become ready during the semester. Or he might not be ready until fall 2012.  We'll see, and not push him.  That wouldn't help anyone.  In the meantime, coming on non-class days gives him an opportunity to learn to help in my office by picking up things I drop or fetch things I indicate, and a chance to practice  how he's allowed to meet people.  He's going to need to learn to approach people only with permission, even when he's not balancing me.  Inside my office is a good place to practice. 

Good day today.  Actually, aside from the leg issues, we haven't had a bad day yet.  It's steady improvement, all the time.

Meg and Reilly