Crazy something in the Garden?

The evening Garden walk to have her pee a last time for the day was odd this time: she got crazy right away and ran towards the two large palm trees next to the Pot-Ghetto, only she was on the leash. It was tough to get her out of there, something must have smelled really interesting. So there was some tension, and we eventually brought her in. We went out again (need to pee, eventually), and tried to claim the area of interest by blocking about a third of the garden with the body. It worked, eventually she gave up and did the business. Next morning was again that area the first target, she obviously remembered that there is something unfinished. But there was less enthusiasm. So peeing and pooping worked at 7:20AM Monday. 

Meeting Cliff

We went to see Cliff, the dog owned by Megan and Eric. It was at their place, Penny was reserved first, but after 90 minutes of keeping distance and exploration of the backyard the game was on. Penny and Cliff raced around and barked and played pretty rough. Cliff might have been too rough at the end, although Penny did her share to run around and engage. Below is one picture before and two after the play. Penny was quite "done" after the game, but could walk in the evening and next morning.

Training Class III

Another training class. This time the new things are "stay" and move a few feet away from Penny, "leave it" with the treat on the floor in plain sight, and "focus" with the treat at arms length. She did very very well with these. 

Penny Sleeps

Tired from all the stuff...

Dogpark III

We went to the dogpark again in the evening. Penny came well along, but right in the beginning there was a dog fight in one corner, with a lot of screaming and barking. All dogs wanted to get there, but we could catch Penny before she got close. Afterwards everyone was nervous and the fun was diminished. Nevertheless, she did run a little more than last time and found a few friends. Here is a video from a little success story: she came after I called her...

Training Class II

We went to the training class again. She did better than before with "Archie", who does pose a lot, but once Penny responds, he would go hiding. 

Evening Walk with Phottobomb

It's a little staged, but good anyway...

Selfies: Pictures from the recent days without comment

Raiding the treat stash

Sometime today Penny was raiding the bag from Unleashed with the great Chicken Treats, while unsupervised for a few minutes. Uncool. 

New Sleeping Place

Sleeping upstairs in the second crate - worked well also. There was a little nervousness in the beginning, but all good. In the night there was once a barking at another dog outside. 

Upstairs

We introduced today the upper floor. It went pretty well, no issues with the stairs. We knew that, as she was already opening the gate and showed up a few times uninvited. 

Swimming attempt 2

We could Lure her again into the pool. Very little forced swimming, but in-and-out of the pool is OK. 

Dusty Rhodes Dog Park

We went again to the Dog Park. She did run a little after meeting a few other dogs, but stepped into a hole and was a little discouraged afterwards. Otherwise Ok. 

Training Class at Sandy Pawz

Dog training class as Sandy Pawz.

Morning Walk, slow

Penny seemed to be somewhat unenthusiastic this morning on the walk. Good thing: no pulling at all. I needed to motivate her a little to get going, but then it was all good. We went to the small community park at Springbrook Drive, she pooped there (we don't count anymore, it is all good, but it usually this business is done in our backyard). The way back was uphilll and really slow, she did not want to walk normal pace. Perhaps yesterdays adventures are still taking a toll?  

Walk to the ridge opposite of Creekside Elementary Schooll

It was the evening walk, about 30 minutes. Uphill was a little tough on her, but it's all good.

Entering the pool

We could convince Penny today to go into the pool to get a treat - she really likes the Trader Joe's Organic Chicken Sticks. It took a few attempts, but eventually she would take a step down the stairs of the pool, and another, until she was waist-deep in the water. Then we showed how to escape from there. She would come back into the water for more treats. Eventually we carried her into the deeper area for a few seconds, and she made swimming attempt. It was overall quite good and she did never panic. Next weekend we'll try again.

SDRR Meeting at Markim Pet Resource

Today we went to the Markim Pet Resort where the San Diego Ridgeback Club had a meeting. Penny did very well - not too much excitement, and good manners. 

Dusty Rhodes Dog Park

We went to the dog park at Dusty Rhodes Dog Park with Alexandra. There is a short video available, and a few pictures.

Ballpay in the Garden

We did another play with the ball in the garden. 

Stairs!

Using a momentary lapse of supervision, Penny opened the gate to the second floor and was up there within a few seconds. Loud shouting made her aware that this was not good, she was depressed for a little while. But she can go stairs up and down with ease, we now know. 

Unleashed in the garden

First time we left Penny unleashed in the garden. She visibly enjoyed it. There was some ball play as well, probably 10 to 15 retrieves happened.

Evening dog encounter and ball games

The evening walk was going Ok, but this time Penny saw another pair of dogs in the beginning and was on high adrenaline for the remaining of the walk. So she would pull a lot, and showed some strength. The encounter with the other dogs was not aggressive: they actually did not really meet close, but it looked like Penny was in the "play" mode since then. So we should bring her in touch with other dogs to get the excitement lower in the long run.  We also had some gameplay in the house: she was going after the green squeeky ball like 10 times. Bringing it back to us was not yet possible, but there was excitement about the ball and interest. It's a good path. 

Poop counter IV and V

Looks like we are on a good digestive path... this noon Penny showed poop IV and around 6:45 poop V. Twice a day is good enough, so if that stabilizes we don't need to report it anymore, which is good news. 

Evening pictures

Here are pictures from the evening time in the Garden. There was something intensely interesting to sniff - that sniffing did exhausted her a lot. We did a little Clicker training after dinner (1.25 cup kibble). Unfortunately, she now lays down when doing commanding "sit". That's not great.

Eye Sore?

There was some kind of crust in Penny'e left eye this morning. It appeared a little more serious than the usual after-sleep stuff (what's the name for it?), and there some redness, was but after a while we managed to get it out.

Tired after the night walk

This is Penny after the night walk.

Clicker-Training

I started some Clicker-Training to distract Penny while Christina gives a Yoga class. It worked well for "sit" and "down", while at times she did "down" instead of "sit". But it is mentally taxing, and so she was well distracted and tired at the end. 

Poop-tracker: III

There was a walk by Christina before her Yoga class, and she pooped in the backyard afterwards... third. We stop counting once it's a normal routine. 

Return from evening walk

Returned from the "good night walk" 20+ minutes plus "free"- making her tired so that humans can sleep as well. It was going OK, I look forward to the night. In fact, she does not like uphill... getting slower then.

Relax just ahead of the evening walk

Penny is relaxing just as we are about to do the third walk for today.

Second walk of the day, socializing, second Poop

The walk was OK, however she appeared tired when going uphill. I did not manage to make her run despite two attempts. Really short seconds of cantering was all that we got. We met Julie the neighbor, Penny was friendly and moderately interested. Also, hopefully no more reporting about Poop, as it becomes routine? Second poop happened after a 40 minute walk. No picture... 

First Morning Walk

Got out to walk for 30 minutes around 7:30. Penny was a little uneasy with the walk, more distraction from the sides. 

First Poop...

After the first night, she did decide to poop in the garden. No picture :-(

Second walk of the second day

Walking early afternoon again, 30 minutes...

Third walk of the first day, and first night.

A late walk starting well after dinner to roundup the first day and make her tired. Again 25 minutes walk, 10 minutes in the dark "free". A little peeing in the free area. Then we had some decompression, and she moved into the crate. We use the inflateable bed to stay close. It was an uneventful night, lights off at 11PM. 

Second walk of the day

The trainer recommended to get her walk three times so that stress can be worked out. The second walk was the same as before, it worked out well. A little more distracted, perhaps. 25 minutes walking, 10 minutes in the middle "free".

First Feeding

Other than Treats, Penny gets to eat 1.25 cup of the food that she is used to from Costco. Mixed with 1/2 cup water, she was eating it quickly and seemed to look for more afterwards. But there have been treats before, so we kept it at that level.

Digestion Concerns

Eventually in the afternoon Penny did pee first time - good job :-) but no pooping at all. It's probably the stress.

Getting into the house

Everything was prepared: crate, X-Pen, even treats and toys. Penny was pretty calm exploring things in the house and garden. Easy going into the X-Pen and even the crate. She must have been accustomed to it already.

Meet the trainer and first walk

We met with Alexandra from Behave! for an initial assessment and a guided walk. Penny was OK, walked well with us, about 30 minutes.

Pickup Penny...

We picked up Penny the dog on Saturday morning 9AM. She is supposed to be a two year old Rhodesian Ridgeback / German Shepherd mix - but definitely more on the Ridgeback side. The driving back to our place went really well.