Dispelling Myths

Don't ever forget how lucky we are to have been entrusted with such great dogs!

Da Girls

We've been fortunate to have two of the girls come back and visit for a while over the last few weeks. OK - we ditched Cheddar to the Lenoci's while Pekoe was in season and again now while Amber is in season,   Kona came back to visit while Jackie & Clayton went skiing in Colorado and then to Miami for Christmas. Meanwhile I got the chance for some training and a visit. Both girls are growing nicely and are about 19" tall and about 36#.  This is Sweet Tea stacked up for show and Kona ready for Christmas.

Sweet Tea will go to her first show on January 9th!

Kona has enjoyed Christmas!

Siren's First Snowfall

Siren saw his first snowfall. He did an admirable job of trying to catch all the snowflakes before they hit the ground!

Definitely have to do jumpers with him!

Rear legs about 2' off the ground
Contender for dock diving extreme vertical?

Gotcha!

Lateral attack!

Poetry in motion...

Fire Prevention Week

This week we conduct our Fire Prevention program with the local public school. Our introductory presentation before the entire school went very well. Siren's tail was wagging a million miles a minute even with all the kids "ooooh-ing" and "ahhhh-ing".

After the presentation we have been teaching individual classes. Once again Siren is doing great. He always has kisses and likes to make friends. He warms up to the children much faster than adults.

His "stop, drop and roll" routine is always a winner with kids and adults alike. Many adults have commented on how well behaved he is. When Siren sees that bit of hot dog he sits at attention until commanded to drop and roll. I think he'd snap a salute if he could!

From 90 to nothing in 2 seconds flat!

What's that you say? I'm all ears.

Thank you! (A HUGE one) to Aaron Zegelski for sharing this photo!

Cleared for Active Duty

Good news today. We received approval to put Siren on active duty during this year's Fire Prevention program. We have a little over a week to practice before we'll be working with the kids.

Growing Like a Weed!

(I just aerated the lawn, so no comments on the grass!)

Siren now has his show name: "Woodwynd Infini-Tea Imaginable"

He's grown quite a bit since our last update. He's also developing his dalmatian "bounce"-- that nice little up-and-down motion (or is it a lack thereof? I don't know, but I recognize it when I see it) when he's gaiting nicely.

We've been working on some basic obedience. 'Sit' has been proofed pretty well, and he will do it on hand command. It's also his preferred solicitation gesture.

He's also good at 'roll', where he rolls onto his back. This was a behavior he displayed on his own when we were outside. He'd run around the yard, leap into the laying position and roll over. I just began to reinforce it with a click and treat. Now he can perform it on command with some reliability. The gesture I've chosen to initiate the roll is an exaggerated tilt of my head to one side. He usually gets it.

We're working on 'down', but it usually takes putting the treat on the floor. It's also not very successful unless he is already in the 'sit' position. But we'll keep working on it.

He also is getting better at 'off', which is what we tell him to do if we want him to get off the couch or get down if he jumped up on us. We get a lot of practice with that one. I'm beginning to think he knows exactly what it means and that he is just beginning to develop his dalmatian stubbornness.

While working on these three behaviors, Siren would intermittently spin in a circle. Here is a dog in the sit position, I tell him 'down' and he stands up and spins in a circle? What the?

The giggling of my wife gave it away. Apparently my daughter has been teaching Siren her own tricks!

Tonka! Tonka! Tonka!

Tonka is doing well in the Merz household! We has a rough couple of first nights in the crate. Now we are doing wonderful at bedtime!!! He is sleeping through the night without having to go potty! The latest he has slept is 8:00 a.m. and it was wonderful!

He is good friends with

our landlord's big black lab, Beau. Tonka follows him around whenever he gets the chance to!

We have taught him to sit, lay down, shake, and jump up! He is such a good pup and a hit in Celebration. He is like a celebrity in our neighborhood. People come up to him and know his name!

He is a spoiled pup, but not TOO spoiled. He loves anything that has a tag, flip flops and toilet paper :)

He LOVES HIS FIRE TRUCK TOO! :)

Stacked at 12 Weeks

He's getting big! He also has this thing where he rears up on his hind legs and then hops.. Something inherited from his tree-climbing mommy perhaps?

A Large Glass of Tea Please

Got the attached photo of Sweet Tea and wanted to share them with everyone.  SweetTea has "trained" her person, Sarah Lenoci to sleep on the floor next to her crate.  Bet they'll both be glad when potty training is complete and they can share the bed!

Learning to Stack