And then there was one....

It has been two weeks since my last blog and I sure have a lot to fill you in on. First, after 12.5 weeks of carting all 5 of the Z pups plus Olive back and forth to work I had to cut the apron strings and leave the Z's at the facility. Olive of course continues to make the trek back and forth. It was not that the pups were too much work at home, it was more that I couldn't keep lifting the 35 pound pups in and out of the car twice a day! The Z's will be heading to puppy raiser homes soon but Olive will stay here with me. She missed having the boys to rough house with but the adult dogs here still play with her.

This meant that Olive is now 100% integrated into the adult dog pack. I enjoy having the older dogs model behavior for the pups. Olive has only had one accident in the house in the last two weeks. Of course, I have a doggie door so she doesn't have to tell me that she needs to go out - she just does.

Another important lesson she is learning is that sometimes she spends time in the crate during the day. With a service dog in training the pup is often with the handler 24/7. This sounds great but it could easily set a pup up for separation anxiety. In order to avoid this I try to be sure that Olive spends at least 15 - 30 minutes per day with out me. At this age that means in a crate, when she is older it will just mean in the house alone (well, with other dogs!). I count my blessings that I don't have to make time to spend with my pup but rather make time to spend without! I time these stints in the crate for when she is tired and I have something to do that would be easier without her. She really doesn't mind and usually sleeps the whole time anyway.

Olive is learning that the cats of the house are not to be chased. A simple..ah ahh is enough to stop her in her tracks.

She had her first Friday night happy hour this weekend. Every Friday we go to a local bar/diner for happy hour. Our group often has dogs with us so we are always known as "the dog table". She happily laid under the table and was unobtrusive and quiet the whole time.

Now that she has had her complete set of shots the field trips will increase.

Here she is with her kitty friends, Jelly and Bean.

Here she is in the office waiting patiently for Nettie to finish with the bone. Of course, there were plenty others but she wanted THAT bone!

Her very best buddy is Chrissy.

Until next week,

Molly and Olive

A Week of Firsts

This was a big week of firsts. Olive is learning to be one of my "office dogs". Each staff member at Bergin U has a group of dogs that share their office. The dogs range in age from puppies to graduate dogs and often include personal dogs. On my side of the building I have all the intact females. Olive shared her office with two of my personal dogs, Holly and Florence. The Bergin U dogs she joined are Chrissy and Nora. She really enjoyed playing with Chrissy. I don't have any pictures of this but will get some next week.

We had our first real fieldtrip on Friday. We have had fieldtrips where the pups were carried but Friday they were walking by themselves. We went early before the mall was really open. We cause quite the scene with 7 students and 7 puppies parading through the mall. All of the pups did really great.

After that first field trip the pups were exhausted. They all crashed! I was able to sneak this picture.

As the pups get older they must learn more self control. One of the "games" we play each night is the treat game. All of the pups sit in front of me and when I say their name they get a treat. They have to learn not to grab at the treat, that they must wait for it to be given to them when it is their turn.

We had a 3 day weekend so the pups got plenty of running in the grass and playing in the sunshine. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

After all the fun outside Olive is practicing being a house dog. Here she is enjoying the couch.

I think thats all to report for now. She and the rest of the pups are growing like weeds...they will be all grown up before we know it!

Molly, Olive and the Z's

Not too much to report this week. It still has been rainy or too wet to play outside much. Olive and the gang are moving along wonderfully in their training. This week we started with the leash. We use a harness when teaching the puppies to walk correctly on the leash. We don' t like them to have strain on their little necks while they learn that they have to stay close to the person on the other end of the leash!

The pups first get used to just training with the leash/harness combo and then move to actual walking with the leash. Olive is also learning to turn the light on! She is getting quite good at this!

I hope to take some pictures tomorrow if we don't have rain.