Poppy Sitting

Cabana had a very special day today because we got to Poppy-sit! Poppy is being raised by my puppy group leader, who had a packed schedule today and tonight. So we got to have Poppy for an all-day play date. Have you seen happier-looking dogs? (Although in reality, it's exhaustion--but they do say a tired puppy is a happy puppy!)

I was interested in seeing how Cabana would do with another dog in the house. Let's just say she was VERY VERY VERY excited. I picked Poppy up and brought her home where Cabana was waiting, thinking that I might try to take both Poppy and Cabana for a walk sometime today. I thought I'd let them get used to being with each other, calm down a bit, and then we'd try the walk. Ha! Yeah, right. After letting them "get used to each other" for HOURS, they still NEVER calmed down! (Honestly, these photos are the ONLY few seconds when they weren't thrashing about with each other, when not separated by a barrier.)

Throughout the course of the morning, whenever things threatened to get out of hand, I'd give the dogs a time out. One would go in the crate until things calmed down, or I'd put up the baby gate and keep them on opposite sides.

Finally, I brought out the ex-pen (metal folding gate that can be configured in many ways, sort of like a baby playpen) and put it all the way across the living room. With this set-up, both dogs were able to fall asleep--for about an hour. Then I had to wake them up so I could pick my daughters up at school. After my daughters got home, though, there was too much general commotion in the house for anymore naps before Poppy went home. No doubt, she'll sleep well this evening!!

To top it all off, we bought and decorated our Christmas tree tonight! Cabana was so wiped out that she could barely even participate. Our activities kept her awake, but I know that ordinarily, she'd have been much more excited and curious about all the ornaments, tissue paper, and evergreen aromas. After the tree was all decorated, Cabana could finally get all snug in her bed, while visions of her playdate with Poppy dance in her head!

Distracted by Poppy

This is Cabana's pal and fellow puppy-in-training, Poppy. Poppy is just a couple weeks older than Cabana, and Poppy's puppy raiser is our puppy group leader.

This morning, Poppy and her raisers came over to give us instruction on food protocol for Cabana's raging dog distraction. Basically, we had Cabana sit on the sidewalk in front of our house, while Poppy sat several yards away. Every time Cabana looked away from Poppy, she got a treat. Eventually, Poppy got closer and closer, while I kept marking Cabana's positive behavior with "nice" and a piece of kibble.

Next step was to have Poppy walk toward Cabana, with Cabana stationary, while still encouraging Cabana to pay attention to me as her handler and ignore Poppy. Finally, we progressed to both Cabana and Poppy walking past each other. Normally, Cabana would have been pulling and going bonkers, wanting to play with Poppy. But thanks to all the positive reinforcement, Cabana was able to walk past Poppy with barely a glance. Miraculous!

Of course, the real test will come when we go for a regular walk and pass some big fluffy German shepherds or huskies (Cabana likes fluffy big dogs best). But I felt like we made a lot of progress today. The challenge for me will be to take it slow. I think I have a tendency to expect too much, too soon.

After the training session, we let Cabana and Poppy play--and boy, did they ever play! They were so happy to run around with each other, cavorting and nipping and jumping. They're so similar in size that it was sometimes hard to tell them apart.

Here they are drinking water after their romp session. Cabana is darker and redder, pictured in the back.

I think Poppy's raiser had called Poppy to come to her and was rewarding Poppy with a piece of kibble. But it looks like Cabana was horning in, even though she'd already received plenty of kibble earlier.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to teach some good manners when someone comes to the door. We don't get many visitors at our house, so when the doorbell rings, Cabana becomes overly excited. This evening, when trick-or-treaters ring our doorbell, I'm going to give the "go to bed" command while someone else in my family hands out the candy. So hopefully, in the future, Cabana will know that's what I want her to do when someone really is coming over, instead of running to the door to jump all over the person who enters.

Happy Halloween to everyone!! Don't eat too much candy! Well, go ahead if you want to--it's once a year, after all!