A Day In the Life & Other Musings

Beautiful Gift Basket of Ohio Specialties Included Treats for the Crew!

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Just coming away from spending several delightful hours with puppies.  As you may imagine right now is extremely busy and the 'must do' list seems never ending as new things are added frequently. Even so, you will rarely if ever find me complaining although it's absolutely true John and I both find ourselves exhausted at the end of some very long day. The need for human interaction is the greatest it has ever been for Molly and Scooby's pups right now.  Pippin's pups are transitioning and coming into their own.  This all translates to spending hours with the pups, coming up with new and innovative ways to stimulate their curiosity and lay foundations for learning and for training.  Equally as important of course is making sure where ever they happen to be hanging out at the moment is clean and sanitary.  This is not as easy a task as one may think.  Although some pups do get the hang 'somewhat' of going to the bathroom in one certain area - not all of them do.  Just when we thought the Mega litter understood the whole concept, we found all of the pups sound asleep, cuddled up sweetly close to each other - in the middle of the frame with the shavings! Sweet indeed! I discovered yesterday they also had also pooped on top of a pile of their toys. Nice. The scene is repeated several times a day and puppy laundry supersedes people laundry - this fact was proven much to my embarrassment yesterday when Maggie wandered into our laundry room while Deb and John were here and climbed on top of my ever growing Mt. Everest of laundry and dragged my Woolwich shirt and Jacks blanket across the den floor.  Thanks Maggie.  Frequent baths in the sink or frequent touch ups with "Bath in A Bottle" are the order of the day for the older pups whose 3 square meals a day means in one end and out the other.  I don't know why I apologize for dog poop... maybe because I hate seeing pups with dried feces on them and/or yellow stains on them.  Not to say our puppies do not roll in their own - but I just prefer to keep their living areas as clean as possible. On the rare occasions when BOTH John and I need to be away payback is truly - a bitch (word for female dogs).

So, it's been rainy and the lawn hadn't been mowed, and the land mines courtesy of ATB enjoying our fully fenced in property had not been removed - or in other words 'no scoop poop for you.'  I have been to places where dogs are raised and had to dodge multiple piles of land mines - unacceptable and no excuse.  Please scoop poop on a regular basis.  We may miss a few but it's not intentional.  The most difficult part is in the spring after the snow has melted. Sure we try to get out and pick them up but when there is about 3 feet of snow it's a little difficult.  And don't ask me about yellow grass.  I use to think if what covered the yard was at least all green we were good. Not so much anymore.

Being retired means kicking back. Well to me that means I get to wear t-shirts and sweatpants (do they still call them that) or other, ahem..'comfortable' clothing. I get to wear them morning to night. Better yet, I get to wear my comfortable pajamas all day if I want.  Thank goodness for trips to the vets, dog events, group meetings and a steady flow of people interested in meeting the ATB crew - I actually will wear earrings, makeup, and dress 'up' a little. Yes, when you come to visit - I'm dressed up  - believe it or not LOL!  Gotta love it.  Seriously though, what good does it do to put something nice on if all I am going to do all day is hang with the dogs (and John too of course).  I'm going to get paw prints on me when at least two of the crew visit me up close and personal and it will be much worse than that if we're all down to the pond together.  Tromping in the woods, sitting at the pond, playing in the yard - it's all about dogs. Don't get me wrong - I do have a wardrobe of very nice suits, slack sets, and dressy clothes.  Not left over from my administrative assistant days at USNH. (Are you kidding me? They all shrunk years ago.)  Nope. My dressy and formal wardrobe is reserved exclusively for showing our dogs.

Speaking of a formal wardrobe. When I was working (a gazillion centuries ago) I enjoyed color coordinating my clothing based on my hair color and skin tone. My 'season' was cool winter so the jewel colors were what I was supposed to wear.  And I LOVE purple, royal blue, deep teal.  But those colors do not work when showing our dogs, not at all.  Now I have to select colors based on what good looks in the background of whatever dog I am showing.  When I first began showing I scoured the free magazines distributed at the dog shows to see what colors the professional handlers wore while posing with dogs in similar colors to ours.  And just imagine - I really should not wear the same color with Treasure as I would wear with Pippin or True.  Yup.  And most of the time that means I have to wear formal outfits that are of the warm summer color palette.  Sigh. 

TRUE BECOMING A TEEN AGER??
Puberty for male dogs?  Maybe.  7 years is equal to a humans 1 year so they say and True will be 2 year old this fall.  I think that True is coming into his own as he's tried to challenge his uncle Scooby lately, something that is not tolerated here.  The boys all get along together very well. They train and hunt together and often are at events with each other and with other boys. Each of them sufficiently understands the correct way to communicate with another dog and recognizes the signs of proper greeting and reaction. And John and I have very definite guidelines about what is acceptable - something our boys especially understand. 

So this reminds me that we place a lot of importance on our new puppy owners to attend basic puppy classes.  It's an important part of socialization.  As dog owners and leaders in the family we do need to be able to recognize and/or learn what is typical when one dog meets another dog.  If you are respected in your family (pack) by your dog, a sharp and quick, suitable correction for behavior you will absolutely not tolerate is needed.  Never let a puppy learn that it is acceptable to do something you do not want them to do when they are an adult. It's a lot easy to teach them right from wrong when they are kids. Just like teenagers. If parents do not correct and discipline their children when they are toddlers, that child will be 10X likely to really have problems when older.  Number one rule in every house with a dog - humans will be respected and obeyed. Dogs are not the leader/boss of the humans. If you let that happen it will be an unfortunate situation for the entire family. Don't set your puppy up to fail - set them up to succeed.  Take a lesson from how momma dog corrects an older pup. It doesn't mean to walk around and be a bully or be mean to pup - but it does mean to give them the guidelines they are looking to you for.  When your pup slows down long enough and sits down to look into your face - they are hungry to be taught something.  There is a window of opportunity awaiting every new puppy owner while their little brains are like sponges, ready to soak up as much as you can possible teach them.  The affection is a given and each pup will show it in their own way.  They are not little cuddly toys to baby and fondle. Brittany pups are highly intelligent and need jobs.  Fun jobs that don't seem like work!  You've seen our recommended reading in the right column including those we request new puppy owners read and keep on hand. Here is a link with another great list of books on dog training, some of which we have listed as well RECOMMENDED READING LIST. Be sure to check it out. There is one book I have that Tenzing's owner, Helen gave as a gift to me. I have loaned it out and cannot for the life of me remember the title but when I do I'll be sure to add it to our list here.  By the way young Tenzing has been in training since a pup for Agility trials - I'm looking forward to when he one day participates in one!

UNSUCCESSFUL PHOTO SHOOT
I tried to take some decent photos and some video of posing Pippin and Chevy's pups.  It came out more like how NOT to take picture and video posing 5 week old pups.  Maybe I'll put it together anyway. I will say I'm getting much closer to determining which pup will remain here as J & A's Magnificent Obsession of Acton "Magnum".  We are also getting closer to determining where the rest of litter will go and appreciate the interest that there is in them. Thank you for your patience in waiting with us and those who have contacted us will hear from us again soon.  It's all very exciting of course.  The big pups interact with close supervision with the little ones.  They play very nicely at first but then the older babies try to strut their stuff.  This encourages their "playmates" to also strut their stuff with pint size challenges, which doesn't quite work out to their benefit and up and out the big pups go.

BLESSING FROM OHIO
I don't want to leave out the wonderful visit we had yesterday with Maggie's new owners who came to us all the way from Ohio. They came bearing a beautiful gift basket filled to overflowing with very special items that came from Ohio itself.  There were cheeses and wine made from the Amish there.  Very special chocolates, snacks, information about Ohio, and so many other things.  They even brought dog treats that are named Scooby Doo treats!!!!   And Maggie was her absolutely delightful, outgoing, personable self.  I was so proud of her as I showed how well she has grasped the concept of clicker training. Maggie put on a show and even offered laying down as a behavior for a click and a treat.  Training a young pup to lay down on it's own is no easy feat - especially a 7 week old pup. I'm happy that her new family is getting a chance to unwind and enjoy some R&R in nearby New Hampshire.  We will see them again this weekend when they return to take their sweet little girl home.  We don't ever expect such generosity to be extended to us when people visit and are very humbled and appreciative when it is. I am reminded of so many who have and continue to bless us with their thoughtfulness... and to say thank you just simply doesn't seem adequate.

PUPS TO THE VET
Tomorrow is a big day for Maggie, Ruby (May), Benny, Flower, Blossom, and Veronica as they go for their well puppy exam, health certificate, and first set of puppy shots. Have I mentioned I love our vets at Broadview?  As I've said before, I suppose we could do all of that here ourselves and save some money. But my experience is that our vets are well prepared to send our pups on their way with a clean bill of health without issue.  I feel like it's more ethical and responsible to do this and wouldn't have it any other way. I understand the mindset that fears young pups picking up 'something' at the vets. But the fact of the matter is they can pick something up ANYWHERE even when least expected. 

Need to stop rambling - there is a lively crew of Brittanys in and outside of the house at the moment who would like to spend some time romping pond side.  My pleasure.

Take care and God bless and as always we so appreciate your interest in ATB!  John, Ann and the crew