Tag: border collie puppy

Day 46 & 47 – May 22-23, 2023: brief puppy updates

Leave a comment

Day 46 – May 22, 2023

Today, Chai and Game got to go to Las Islas at the UNAM campus and met quite a few dogs:

Game and Chai are meeting new folks at Las Islas.

Chai also had a solo adventure: we rode the scary elevator once and she joined me at the bank and on a loop through the Walmart corridor in her puppy backpack.

Finally, we practiced walking past the Pits. Chai is getting better and better at anticipating her treats rather than having intense feelings about the barking dogs! Go puppy!

If Chai keeps going at this rate, she’s going to turn Game into a dog/dog snuggler!

Not much to report otherwise and I didn’t take any video – so today’s update is a short one. Stay tuned for more (and more exciting) Border Collie puppy adventures!

Day 47 – May 23, 2023

Another update on the shorter end today!

+ Husbandry: “Brush!” Chai keeps being a great sport about husbandry!

+ Chai and I went to Parque Ecológico Huayamilpas where she met a few dogs and walked on a metal-grid staircase like a pro. Only downside: she gave two brief barks at suddenly appearing people after we had hung out at a particular spot for a while. This is the first time I’ve seen this behavior in her – I’ll be sure to nip it in the bud by coming back to the same spot later this week! She also pooped outside not just once, but TWICE! This is rare and amazing and clearly facilitated by us hanging out in the same spot for a longer period of time.

What looks like a lake on the map is actually all dried out. No swims for puppies! Sad face.

Huayamilpas, an ecological park that’s part of the Coyoacán neighborhood.

+ She walked through a new street market and did really well.

+ Today’s adventure included two Uber rides. For the second one, her belly was full of all the treats (kibble) she had earned along the way – and she did perfectly fine! No throwing up! Go puppy!

Back home and ready to snuggle away the rest of the day with big sister Game!

May 12-16, 2023: puppy diarrhea isn’t fun

1 Comment

Chai got diarrhea, meaning I put her on a diet. She was tired and so was I – neither one of us was up for a lot of training for a few days. Apart from sleeping, going out (and actually pooping because of the diarrhea!) a few times a day and wrestling a little with Game, not a whole lot happened. Here’s the bullet point version!

May 12, 2023

+ I took Chai to the lavandería in her backpack and we rode the elevator twice. This time, I put her on the floor in between the doors opening. She did okay. Slow and steady wins the race! One day, she’s going to stroll in and out of that elevator with her head held high!

+ We walked past the Pitties twice and Chai was being a superstar!

+ Chai and Game got to go to UNAM together so Chai could get some outdoors pooping done. We didn’t much else because her stool was pretty liquid.

May 13, 2023

Chai seemed tired and her diarrhea had a little blood in it. I took her to the vet in the late afternoon to make sure it was nothing serious. She did amazing! You go, fearless puppy!

Loose leash walking on her back-clip harness on the way to the vet’s:

Chai got some mysterious stomach medication which turned out to solve the problem over the next few days. The vet also suggested that in case she had a sensitive stomach, I do not use hotdogs in training again. Apparently hotdogs are the worst possible reward for a dog with a sensitive stomach because we have no idea what is actually in a hotdog. They probably have a point. Chai got A LOT of hotdogs the other day. If THAT kind of diarrhea is what they are capable of causing, there will be no more hotdogs in her future. I’m sorry, puppy. I know you like them a lot.

Yes I’ll take those post-cat-watching snuggles!

Galleta, the wild child, was more scared of Chai than vice versa: Chai approached her as if she was another puppy. Galleta said NO and fled to her vantage point up on the stairs!

After the vet, I met up with friends – first at their place where Chai got to watch cats and then get loved on, and then I put her in her car crate to rest while we went out for dinner.

Yummm!

May 14, 2023

We had a stay-home, sleep and watch Netflix day. Chai was a tired and sad puppy!

The Border Collie life is hard.

May 15, 2023

Lazing in the morning sun: one of them has got to keep their eyes open at all times while the other one rests!

Her poop looked almost normal again this morning and she was more active! Yay!!

+ We went to la Michoacana (where a lovely Michoacana ice cream vendor always stops to chat) and through the Walmart corridor in her backpack.

+ I lured and named all three positions: sit, down and stand.

+ We rode the scary elevator and Chai was more confident than last time! She got to stand during the ride while the doors were closed and I carried her in and out.

+ She did REALLY well walking on Game’s shorter leash and her harness and hardly pulled at all. Good girl!

+ Chai was also ready to play a bunch with Game in the apartment. Definitely feeling better!

Tonight, Chai’s poop was finally completely normal again – and so was her level of activity (and mine too). We’re ready to adventure again with Scarlett tomorrow!

May 16, 2023

Chai’s poop looks fully normal! Woohooo! Hopefully, there will be no more puppy popop talk for a few days!

+ We went to Petco Oasis. Chai showed no fear of its sliding doors and did great walking around in the pet store!

+ We went to a park Chai hadn’t been to before.

+ Husbandry: I clippered Chai’s nails on the right front paw. No problem!

More well documented training and adventuring starting up again tomorrow!

Chaiary, day 21 – April 27, 2023

Leave a comment

Have a snippet of good-morning play with patient Game on the floor! Now that Game knows Chai well, she lets her crawl all over her while rolling on her back.

Sidenote: is my dog “socializing” (dog trainer speak for “learning to get along with other members of a certain species”) when playing with other household dogs/humans?

No! Family, friends and strangers are 3 distinct categories:

+ (Almost) every dog – even the most fearful one – will learn to trust human and canine household members.

+ Many, but not all dogs will make friends (human and/or canine) if given the opportunity.

+ Not every dog will get along with strangers (human and/or canine).

Having a multi-dog household or lots of human housemates doesn’t mean you get to skip socialization outings. That is, assuming that you want to have the most socially confident and at-ease-in-the-human-world dog your puppy is capable of becoming! Having other canine and human household members doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t replace experiences with strangers.

That said, genetics are a HUGE factor in who a dog is capable of becoming. So is their in-utero environment and the first 8 to 12 weeks of their lives which most puppies won’t be spending at their future home but at the place they were born.

Doing everything right once you’ve got the puppy doesn’t guarantee you a socially easy dog because the sensitive socialization period is already closing. It just nudges the dog into the direction of social at-ease-ness. How far in that direction an individual dog can go is still largely out of your control. If you hope for that social dream dog, you’ll still want to stack the deck in your favor to nudge as much as you can: head out there and socialize your pup in the way that is right for the two of you!

… end of sidenote!

In the morning, we practiced walking next to heavy traffic together with Game. Apparently, Chai knows how to make this look as if she had been doing it all her life! I’m happy and impressed with her!

They have certainly become friends! Sleepy after their morning outing.

We visited a corner convenience store in the puppy backpack Scarlett lent us. It’s starting to come in really handy for all the indoors training I want to do in places that don’t allow dogs (but won’t mind them as long as their paws don’t touch the floor)!

Chai in her (that is to say Scarlett’s and Nazli’s!) backpack.

Chai and Game also had another Las Islas UNAM adventure to be around people and dogs, run and have fun! There were SO many students today – and walking between them was no problem at all! Chai was neither magentized nor the least bit concerned. She was mostly interested in finding food scraps between the groups of people. Surprise dogs coming up from behind, like the Schnauzer, didn’t faze her either.

During the week, the campus is teeming with students! There are less dogs than on the weekend, but Chai had a good time meeting a few anyways!

Chaiary, day 20 – April 26, 2023

Leave a comment

Left: one of our two new Pittie neighbors! Right: our space is starting to look cozy with plants!

Commercial indoors spaces!

Chai and I started getting used to indoors spaces today: we entered and exited several small stores that allowed me to bring her in, and I carried her through Office Depot and walked her through the Walmart mall corridor (without asking permission; by the time they kicked us out, we had almost made it through the entire corridor).

In the course of our store-outing, we took Chai’s first elevator. The first journey was up. She walked in and rode the elevator without issues and walked out confidently again. Going down, however, she got her tail caught in the elevator door and startled. Bad, bad experience! She hurried out as fast as she could. We are going to spend the next few days trying to counter this experience with good ones!

Left: a clothing store we got permission to explore. Right: in the elevator – before the scary experience!

People socializing continued

Chai voluntarily approached and was fed by 6 strangers today, 2 of whom were kids. She is feeling better and better about strangers – even the ones who are reaching for her from above out of the blue!

UNAM

Game and Chai went to Las Islas again – lots of UNAM campus freedom, running and exploring, meeting people and dogs!

UNAM: chasing Game to who plays with balls, not minding people and meeting her first Xolo!

Videoing clicker games for a future project!

We continued working on a little project we started a while ago: a platform game that’s meant to teach cue discrimination and location specific marker cues to dogs and an introduction to shaping and luring as well as clear, clean mechanics to handlers – all within a single, increasingly complex platform game. Both Game and Chai get to play as we are building more and more complexity into it. Our platform these days? My suitcase. Lots of shaping fun for little Chai today!

One of the reasons I’m not placing Chai yet? I need her as a demo dog for my suitcase videos!

Housetraining

I’m introducing the shower as Chai’s peeing and pooping spot indoors. I use it as a supersized indoors crate and only let her into the rest of the living space when she has either done her business outside or in the bathroom. So far so good!