Don't Panic

So, we put Goo-Be-Gone on the dog tonight.  We're not proud of our decision and clearly didn't think it through.  It was just that he had some sort of gum-like substance ground in to his stomach and the more obvious mechanisms of ice, peanut butter, and dish soap didn't occur to us in our puppy-parent panic.

I don't have any photos of the whole ordeal, but just imagine me standing in a defensive position trying to keep Primo from moving.  That's right - I was trying to keep a nine-month-old Boxer puppy from moving while we applied some smelly, cold, foreign substance to a place on his body that I wouldn't allow him to see.  (When we make a bad decision, we really go all out.)  R was trying to limit exposure to the goo eliminator by spraying strategically, but Primo's sporadic bucking prevented any kind of accuracy.

What's even worse is that the very first command Preems ever learned in his puppy training class was settle and I didn't use it!  That command was especially designed for gum-on-the stomach situations and I completely blanked.  It's terrible.  Clearly we know who needs the training here.

In the end, we got whatever it was off of him and declared that tomorrow will be bath day.

Since I can't leave you with any photos of the incident, I'm going to share a link to the Boulder Humane Society because they have a sweet black female Boxer mix puppy up for adoption and I would bet anyone who reads this blog is just dying for a Boxer puppy of their own.  Just don't let her near any gum.

Click here to check her out.  If we had a bigger house, I would adopt her in a second.

Paw and Other

Not to be confused with Law and Order, but equally entertaining when you think your puppy is a genius and you're procrastinating doing other stuff.

However, before I explain, I should begin by apologizing for the delay in posts.  There's really no excuse for this in the blog world and I realize I may have lost the three readers I have had.  Nevertheless, I'm back to earn your trust?  interest?  sympathy? and want to share all of the fun stuff we've been doing.

Primo's latest achievement is to learn paw and other.   For the sake of extreme clarity, this means that, when I say paw, he places his right paw in my hand.  On the same note, when I say other, he puts his left paw in my hand.  I know - impressive stuff.  I should qualify this by saying that we're still in the learning phase, so occassionally he lays down when I say paw (because I had to have him lay down to teach paw in the first place) and sometimes all paws are up for grabs if I have an especially delicious treat.  (Like these.)

Primo playing it cool while he shows off his skills.

The upside to these tricks is that he looks super smart (or at least of average intelligence).  I've been battling some, ahem, family assumptions that Primo isn't too bright and it's now my mission to prove everyone wrong.  These tricks are the first step.  The downside is that this might be yet another reason why he won't qualify as a therapy dog.  (Look for a future post on the disasterous Canine Good Citizen fiasco of 2012.)  I guess pawing is discouraged for therapy dogs because they run the risk of injuring people if they get overly enthusiastic. So, until we have this whole paw and other business under control, Preems may have to wait on his new career in therapy.

I should add that I'm suuuuuper annoyed with myself because I didn't think to teach Primo right and left as the commands for what is now paw and other from the beginning.  That really would have been the icing on the Primo-is-smart cake.  I'll have to come up with a few other gems (I'm thinking something like barking twice when I say one plus one) to reinforce his new status as an intellectual.

Funny about that training...

While Primo may be an expert when it comes to sit, stay, and leave it, we haven't exactly gotten him to stay off the furniture. 

I mean, if you just look at this picture, you can tell we're victims in this situation.  Who could be expected to resist this level of cute?  No one.  At least, no one with a heart.  And, if you consider that Preems truly is a puppy of leisure (see previous posts) while being an instinctively good snuggler, well...  We didn't stand a chance. 

Thank goodness we decided to wait on buying that new couch.

Who's really being trained here?

Happy New Year!  Primo enjoyed a nice holiday with an absurd amount of toys, and is now relaxed and ready to work on his manners in 2012.

Preems recently started training at a local, holistic pet shop (which are more common than you might think) and is doing really well.  In fact, one very nice woman who is the proud mother to a Schnauzer/Poodle mix named Dottie swears that he's one of the most in-tune dogs she has ever seen. 

During this exercise, owners jump up and down while the puppies look at us like we're idiots.

Little did she know that I had hot dog bits in my hand throughout the entire class.  Our trainer prefers to call Preems "independent" and, upon discovering the hot dogs, whispered that I smuggled in the "good stuff."

Part of me wants to get a fanny-pack to keep the treats readily available. 
But it's a very small part of me that I'm choosing to ignore right now.

Primo has some pretty cute classmates, too.  In addition to Dottie, Preems is joined by Sophie, a 14 month-old cattle dog mix recently rescued by her owners.  Remi is a 5 month-old German Shepherd that likes to guard the water bowl during class and George is a 5 month-old Newfoundland that's a bit of a drooler.  Penny is a 4 month-old Golden Retriever rescue with the sweetest personality and, occasionally, we're joined by the twins - Henry and Ruby.  They're English Bull Dog littermates and are completely hilarious.

Stay tuned for more updates on Primo's progress.  I've already publically declared him to be a genius and my current goal is to get him to flop over when I make my hand into a gun and yell, bang!

Play Date

Today I'm happy to introduce a celebrity guest puppy!  Cera, a beautiful 8-month-old female Cane Corso, came to meet Primo and put the little furball in his place. 

What we didn't expect was (1) Primo thinks he's the same size as her and (2) Cera's too sweet to ever do anything but nudge the little guy with her head (when he clearly deserved more).  These two played for hours, pausing only when asked to sit for treats.

The only time Preems took advantage of his size was at the end when he was tired.  Then he would just antagonize poor Cera (who tried to mind her own business by laying down about 16 times) and hide under a chair.  Chicken.  

This seems inherently unfair.

Fortunately, they made up and were inseparable by the end of the day.

So sweet.  I think they love each other.