Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Baxter Meets Susie

Baxter got to meet his other cousin this weekend. Susie, a 4 year old miniture white schnauzer, is my brother's dog. I guess my brother and my sister both have a thing for the breed.

When we arrived, Susie was already outside to greet us. She was very curious of Baxter, and he was anxious as well. They sniffed each other for a while, and began to run around the back yard and play. Instant friends! Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me since this was an impromptu stop.

Baxter stayed at Uncle Nick's house overnight and got to explore a whole new house. He even accidentally marked his territory once during the evening. Whoops! Nick says Baxter was very well behaved. Susie and he got along just fine. Once bedtime came around, Susie was starting to get a little jealous and wasn't so sure this new puppy was so cute anymore. He had already been chewing on all her toys.

Nick put Baxter in a caged-in area in the kitchen, but Baxter wasn't happy to be left alone in a strange new place. He whined and whimpered until Nick finally let him sleep in a real bed (that's something we can't do because of my allergies!). Susie was definitely upset now, and she climbed out of bed and slept on a pillow on the floor.

In the morning, Nick had to go to work, so I went to get Baxter...again, without the camera! He wasn't very eager to leave, and he whined and whimpered all the way home. When we got home and he saw Trista, his complaining stopped.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Baxter's First Snow

It's only a slight flurry, but this is a lot of snow for Kentucky this early in the season. It's also the first time our crazy Beaglier has seen snow. I figured I'd bring out the camera to see how he reacted. Hopefully, we'll get a reasonable amount of snow later so he can be reintroduced. I think he was more interested in running around the yard than he was the flakes hitting him in the head.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Baxter is Growing!

Baxter is now three months old and has nearly doubled his weight since we got him a month ago. He's now 11 lbs. Tonight while playing with him, he got a bit scared and was able to effortlessly leap onto the couch for safety. Luckily, Trista and I were both present to experience his excitement. It actually brought tears to Trista's eyes...in the form of laughter.



This first instance was completely cute and hilarious all at the same time. I'm almost certain we're going to have to put a stop to it sooner or later. For now, we'll deal...

Update: I just went through the camera and found this photo from last week.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Baxter Meets Maggie and Rosie

Baxter got to meet two BIG dogs today. I took him to visit Mary (from work) and her two dogs, Maggie the Golden Retriever and Rosie the Black Lab. At first, Baxter was very excited to be in a new house and to smell all the new smells. Maggie and Rosie were a bit more skittish around this new, smaller, energetic creature. I took a few photos, then I left Baxter to play with his new friends.



By the time I came back to pick him up, Baxter and Maggie had become best friends. Rosie was still unsure of the whole experience. Maggie was even sharing some of her favorite toys and treats.













When I got Baxter home, he was so worn out he headed straight to his bed and began snoring very loudly! Apparently, Maggie passed out soon after we left.


Mary took some video of Maggie and Baxter playing in the living room.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Puppy Training - Week 2

Baxter spent his Saturday traveling. We started the day by visiting the vet to get the next round of vaccinations. The vet's office is about 30 miles away. We picked this particular vet, because I went to high school with both docs, and it's close to my parents' house. It gives me an excuse to go see them, since I'm in the area.

When we left the vet's office, Baxter and I stopped by my parents' house, where he met one of his cousins (my sister's dog), Macie. Macie is a two year old white miniture schnauzer, but she is just a bit bigger than Baxter. Macie and Baxter got to run around in the front yard and the driveway. Macie was rather dominant and aggressive at first, but once we went inside I let Baxter play with a few of Macie's toys and he completely ignored her.

After about an hour, we headed off to puppy training at PetSmart. Mike the trainer explained how to sit and stand and how to train a dog to walk on a leash beside you. Baxter did really well during the first half of the training. He mostly sat or laid at my feet. He didn't fall asleep this week. I believe with some training, he should learn to sit and stand on command fairly quickly.

During the second half of the training, he got anxious. We went to a small aisle, dogs were everywhere, and he was just too overwhelmed to walk on the leash like Mike had showed us. Hopefully, with this class, he'll get used to other dogs and he'll get over that anxiety. Hopefully.

Once we got home, Baxter went straight to his cage and passed out.

Dogs with Blogs #1031

This weekend Baxter's Blog was added to the Dogs with Blogs listing at number 1031. Dogs with Blogs is a world wide listing of...well...dogs with blogs. Click the link below to visit the site and learn more.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Photograpy and Puppy

Mary at work sent me this slightly outdated version of "How to Photograph a New Puppy." I found it rather fitting.

Remove film from box and load camera.
Remove film box from puppy's mouth and throw in trash.
Remove puppy from trash and brush coffee grounds from muzzle.
Choose a suitable background for photo.
Mount camera on tripod and focus.
Find puppy and take dirty sock from mouth.
Place puppy in pre-focused spot and return to camera.
Forget about spot and crawl after puppy on knees.
Focus with one hand and fend off puppy with other hand.
Get tissue and clean nose print from lens.
Take flashcube from puppy's mouth and throw in trash.
Put cat outside and put peroxide on the scratch on puppy's nose.
Put magazines back on coffee table.
Try to get puppy's attention by squeaking toy over your head.
Replace your glasses and check camera for damage.
Jump up in time to grab puppy by scruff of neck and say, "No, outside! No, outside!"
Call spouse to clean up mess.
Fix a drink.
Sit back in Lazy Boy with drink and resolve to teach puppy "sit" and "stay" the first thing in the morning.

I've noticed when I pull out the camera, Baxter gets anxious and wants to explore this new toy. Once I get the lens cap off and point it at him, he is usually striking a pose something like this...

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Obstacle Course





Puppy Training at PetSmart

This past weekend marked the first of eight puppy training classes at our local PetSmart. We'd already read several books and visited many Web sites to learn about training dogs, but it was refreshing to have a chance to expose Baxter to other dogs and watch their behaviors as well. It also helped to see we weren't the only owners suffering through biting and the occasional accident on the dining room floor.

The first class was more of a training course for humans. Mike, the trainer, introduced us to the idea that maybe we're the cause for some of Baxter's bad habits. We even got a study sheet to remind us of things we might need to work on (tone of voice seems to be a big one). Baxter was very anxious at first, but once we walked him around the store and introduced him to a couple of the other dogs, he calmed down. I was surprised at how well he behaved. Of course, not to be outdone by any of the other dogs, he actually fell asleep during part of the lecture.

Our take-home assignment this week is to work on focus exercises using food rewards. So far, Baxter is a quick study. He does love the attention and his treats! He's beginning to recognize his name when I call him, but I think he gets distracted fairly easily. I've noticed if he's in the house, he'll acknowledge his name most of the time. If he's outside playing, forget about it.
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