Weekly Weigh-In and Training Update: July 26, 2009

Momma and Mia were out of town last weekend so, unfortunately, we missed our weekly weigh-in day. Mom has also been kinda lazy since then and hasn't really had time to update our blogs.

We are now thinking that I may be a Black and Tan Coonhound Mix because I have really gotten long and tall and lost all stockiness. My nose and ears have gotten longer too.

So, as of July 26, 2009, I am still only weighing about 21-22 lbs. I am 18" long and 14" tall.

We have not done much with training in the last two weeks because they have been CRAZY. I had my first day at Camp Bow Wow last week (I had a BLAST!) and we've been to the dog park every other day. I have had tons of socialization.

Our homework assignments for obedience class are to learn a trick involving a down (I am going to learn to crawl) and to learn a trick involving a sit (we will work on high five). We are also supposed to be working really hard on "Leave It."

That's all for now. It's bedtime!

Exhausted after obedience class today.

Weekly Weigh-In and Training Update: July 12, 2009

As of July 12, 2009 Lily is about 15 weeks old and 20 lbs. She is 17" long and will not cooperate with me to get her height measurement.

Sit and Down: We have mastered the sit. She was reliably sitting on verbal cue in class today. She was also doing downs with the hand signal.

Leave It: I hadn't worked on it at all during the week but during class we got to the point where I could drop the treats from about 6 inches without her going for them.

Fetch: Fetch is going even better. I am no longer giving her treats when she brings the ball back and drops it. She very much enjoys the game now and brings me balls to throw occasionally.

Crate Training: Crate training is going a bit better, I suppose. She's still not thrilled about being in there but has been whining less at night. She also is whining a little less when I put her in there for "quiet time."

Potty Training: She has not had any potty accidents in the house that I know of and has only had a few poop accidents. They happen at night after I have gone to bed and Daddy is supposed to be watching her. He watches her but not close enough that he'd see her having an accident. I wouldn't be surprised if she went to the door but he just didn't notice.

Loose Leash Walking: I still haven't worked on this with her. I think I am going to wait to see what Rachel says about it before I start teaching her.

Goals for the next two weeks: Work on "Watch" and increasing the length of eye contact before she gets a treat, get "Down" on a verbal cue, work more with leave it.

Weekly Weigh In and Training Update: July 5, 2009

I have been really busy the last few days and haven't gotten around to writing this post yet!

As of July 5, 2009, Lily weighed 17 lbs. She was 15" long and 13" tall.

Sit and Down: Lily now knows the verbal cue for sit. We are still working on the verbal cue for down. She is also learning that she has to sit calmly and "ask" if she wants to get up on the couch or bed.

Fetch: She is now fetching further distances and doing a lot better with dropping the ball.

Crate Training: This is going a lot better. Last night she whined all night and we couldn't figure out why. I found out this morning that she needs more room. She didn't have enough room to lay down comfortably and now I feel bad.

Potty Training: Lily is now always going to the door when she needs to go outside. I don't think she is at a point where she would hold it if we weren't paying attention or couldn't take her out but I know that will come with age.

Loose Leash Walking: I am going to start working with her on this today in preparation for the walks we'll be able to take in a few weeks once she gets her second shots.

She is still pretty itchy from her staph infection but we haven't found any more pimple things on her. We have three days left of antibiotics so I think things are going well.

There are a few things that I need to start working with her on in addition to what we have worked on already. Obviously, we need more work on leave it and getting down on a verbal cue but we also need to work on her being calm when people walk into the house. She gets very excited and mouthy. We also need to work on her mouthiness because it HURTS. Those are the goals for the next couple of weeks/months.

We start puppy class on Sunday! I am hoping that she will enjoy it and that it will wear her out.

Weekly Weigh-In and Training Progress: June 28, 2009

Kaitlin here...I have decided to do weekly weigh-ins and training progress updates to better document Lily's puppyhood. I wish I had done this kind of stuff when Mia was a puppy. I am also taking pictures like a crazy woman because she won't be this small for very long!

As of June 18, 2009 (at Lily's first vet appointment) she weighed 11 lbs. Today, June 28, 2009, she weighs 15 lbs. She is 15" long and 12.5" tall. She is approximately 14 weeks old.

On Tuesday we will have had Lily for 3 weeks. So far we have worked on sit, down, fetch, roll over, leave it, and touch. She is also reliably responding to her name now.

Sit and Down: She knows the hand signals for sit and down. Sometimes she will respond to the verbal cue for sit.

Fetch: She will fetch her toys at a distance of about 7-8 feet but sometimes would rather play tug with them than drop them at my feet like she's supposed to.

Roll Over: She was catching on to roll over very quickly but I have decided to hold off on that until she is less mouthy. My hands are all scratched up from her little needle toothies.

Leave it: After ten minutes of work on leave it I could throw treats up to about 2 feet. She is crazy for treats too so I was surprised at how quickly she caught on.

Touch: I am teaching her to nose target my index finger. She is doing relatively well with this but having a little trouble because she'd much rather put my finger in her mouth and bite down! I am hoping that by teaching her this it will help with her mouthiness.

Crate Training: Crate training is not going as well... I bought a 36" crate hoping that we wouldn't need a crate divider. It was a cheaper brand that didn't include one. The first night with her purple crate pad she peed so I took the pad out and gave her a small towel to lay on the next night. She peed on the towel too so I took that out. She also peed in it with no bedding at all. I knew after that night that we needed to get some kind of divider but I couldn't find one that would work with our crate. We ended up with this:

Plastic lid reinforced with weave poles.

We had a successful night last night, yay! She always gets a stuffed frozen Kong when she goes in her crate so that usually keeps her busy for a while. She also gets fed in her crate.

Potty Training: She is still doing really well with this. We still have to take her out about every 45 minutes but she is sometimes going to the door when she needs to go out and has even whined or rang the potty bells by herself a few times.


All in all, things are going very well. She will start a puppy/basic obedience class on July 12th that will last for 6 weeks. In about a week and a half we will get her her second set of shots so we can finally take her places!!!!!!! We're getting a little stir crazy in here especially since she's starting her wild puppy stage! It's difficult to properly wear her out inside.