The First Week

The first night I was lulled into a false sense of security, Osborn slept most of the night, brill I thought.  The next night however.. Can you hear that? Of course you can, it’s the deafening noise of a small black puppy barking his head off in the kitchen.  With hardly a pause for breath he barked continually at the top of his voice box (and that’s loud) for several hours despite poking my head round the door every 20 minutes or so.  The next morning Osborn and I, together with a bottle of wine and some chocolate, blearily knocked at my neighbours and apologised.  He looked at them with his sleep deprived little eyes and my neighbours melted.  I looked at them with my sleep deprived eyes and begged them not to be too mad at me for him keeping them awake all night.

So what have we done this week? Well we spent the first couple of days at home, just to settle into some sort of routine.  I work in a primary school part time and this week is half term so I’m at home.  The children are away as well (Grandparents) so it’s just me and the dogs – ideal.  I’m trying to keep the same sort of routine as when I’m at work.  So breakfast, play, sleep in crate (which he will have to do whilst I’m working for a while in the morning), play, lunch, trip out somewhere, sleep, more food, play, sleep play, more food! Together with tiny amounts of training thrown in, disguised as play. Every time he sits on his own, I say ‘sit’ and he gets rewarded with one of his toys or a piece of his normal food.  He’s doing really well, his little bottom already glues itself to the floor if he thinks there is food or a game involved.

I don’t hear a peep out of him when we travel in the car with Osborn in a little cat carrier type box. He has got to be in my arms out and about as he is not fully inoculated yet, however in places like supermarkets he can walk about as there are no other dogs allowed.

In our first trip to the shops I decided to meet up with a friend as I needed to get some shopping as well.  Well let’s just say that shopping for food and puppy walking is a challenge. A pup in a shop attracts lots of attention and questions, which I answer as best as I can.  The more common ones are ‘how can you give them up?’ or ‘how long will you have him?’ and I explain that I will have him for between 12 and 14 months before he goes into further training. I really love telling people about him, I feel quite proud that Im doing something that is going to make a big difference to someone.

We chose a quiet aisle to practise walking on the lead (Osborn has already been walking around the lounge and garden on the lead).  Osborn had not shown any signs of any worry or hesitation, so I felt he was confident enough to try.  He was brilliant, and not bothered at all.  He was more than happy to follow me, wagging his tail and taking it all in.  We walked down the next aisle, and he was still happy and waggy so we went down the next one and then the next.  I was carefully keeping an eye out for any signs of tiredness or apprehension.  We walked the aisle that had all the Halloween things in it, together with a very strange looking purple path stuck to the floor.  This did not bother Osborn in the slightest.  So I took a picture of him sitting right in the middle of it. What a brave boy! (and he remembered what sit was).

After this I decided to give his little legs a rest, seeing as he has now got heavier (that’s four meals a day for you) my arms quickly got tired, but within about five minutes he fell fast asleep!!  So I gave him to my friend to hold just as I put the last couple of things in my shopping basket, here’s the picture as proof, that shopping is sooooo traumatic.

We have also been into the middle of the town I live in and sat with him on my lap as we watched the pigeons in the town square.  Walked about a bit with Osborn in my arms, looking at strange things like road sweepers, policemen with bikes, leaves falling from trees, children squealing and running about.  He did take a particular liking to peoples fingers if they wanted to talk to him, I’ve taken to warning people about his needle like teeth and please just gently stroke the top of his head, and although he’s just tasting them, I do wish they wouldn’t put their fingers in his mouth.

We are still having a few problems at night, but he is so much better than he was, he has just got such a loud bark, but not rewarding him in anyway for barking (looking at him, talking to him or going to him) has really paid off, that, and he is now sleeping with a blanket that I’ve rubbed on my skin. We will get there – hopefully before I’m completely deaf! He is also getting the hang of the spending pen, we’ve only had one accident indoors today, and that was my fault for taking my eyes off him for a second when I answered the telephone.  I’ve got a carpet washer, so it’s all sorted.

We have had a visit from my Supervisor and I’ve also seen my Mentor this week as well, they have both been on the end of the telephone at all times regarding my night-time worries and I’ve been given lots of tips and things to try.  My Supervisor showed me how to teach ‘Down’ and to extend the feeding routine (more on this in the next diary entry). So they are the tasks next week.

Things learned this week: do not try lots of shopping and puppy walk!

Things to work on next week: Down and Wait.

Till next week,

Janice and Osborn