March 21, 2011

Sunday Ruff had his first training day for Schutzhund! He did great. We started with some basic temperament exercises- walking over tarps, shaking coins in a bucket, opening umbrellas, walking over the a-frame wall, climbing fallen trees, and standing on a wobble board. He passed everything with flying colors, even outperforming some of the older dogs. He had a few problems with his prey-drive test, it boiled down to him only wanting to play with me, not the tester, and needing too much verbal encouragement to stay excited. So we need to work on getting him to stay excited and interested without a lot of chatter and without necessarily needing me to be involved. But everyone was impressed with him and said for his age he's doing really well and has a great temperament. I think he's going to do really well. He started showing a really strong desire to keep working and keep pleasing people as the day went on, he was always excited to come out of his crate and started looking for ways to make me and the trainers happy. It was very cute. For now we're going to be going every Sunday, eventually I'm going to start trying to make it Wednesday nights too. And Thursday he has a sheep herding instinct test- I just want to see how he does and see if it will be an option for future training. Right now I think we'll only have time for the Schutzhund, but I want to keep our options open in case he decides he's not a big fan of the Schutzhund after all.

March 20, 2011

A few days over 20 weeks / 5 months.

Ruff got his last set of puppy shots, including rabies, so he's now officially permitted to attend training and other events. And, I finally found 2 Schutzhund groups to meet up with- our first evaluation session is tomorrow (well, later today, when it stops being 2am). Weight at the vet was closing in on 44lbs, that was over a week ago, so probably past 45lbs by now. He's slowed to a nice steady pace, 3-5lbs per week, but definitely getting taller. He can get up some good speed now and he's learned to really wrestle and play with the dogs at the park. We've been visiting his cousins Lupa and Panzer more too, and he's learning to hold his own against them as well. Every day his overall training and manners improve. He's gotten very good about not putting teeth on people, even when we play. I'm excited to see how his first session goes tomorrow- Aunt Billie is supposed to be coming along to take some pictures! I'll post a good one if she makes it. :-)

March 6, 2011

Official weight: 40lbs.

I believe we're currently at 18 weeks, but honestly I'm starting to lose track. :-P

Big Ruff had his first "home alone" experience... the little boys are sick this week, so he had to stay alone one day (with 2 walks by the pet sitter, of course). He did very well and didn't appear the least bit concerned, which is reassuring. He's definitely started getting taller again, and he's got adult teeth coming in- the rows of teeth between his canines are all filled in and he's working on a few molars. He's getting much steadier and faster with his running, and much more confident in his playing. We've had some good park trips. We're working on "down", which is still one of his least favorite commands. He has good and bad days with leash manners, although even his bad days aren't horrible- not so much pulling as maintaining constant tension on the leash. I've got feelers out for Schutzhund trainers in the area- there's on in Alexandria I just located that has 3 of cousin Lupa's relatives in it. We're still working through some obstinateness, but overall he's a good pup.

February 24, 2011

We're officially over 4 months! The 16 week mark was last Friday. So I guess he's now pushing 17 weeks. Today we started some clicker training to start working on tightening up his obedience commands in preparation for real training in a few months.

His current weight is somewhere around 35lbs... I haven't tried to measure him for height yet, but I guess we should give that a shot. It looks like his colors are pretty much done. A comparison from his 7.5week shots shows little or no change. He actually brightened up his markings on his chest and throat briefly, and they now seem to be darkening in again. I think his lack of growth in height and weight recently is attributed to his general thickening- his muzzle and legs are becoming noticeably more broad than they were before. We did increase his food from 2 to 2.5lbs per day, plus extra "goodies" every day or two. He's getting more outgoing at the park, although his clumsiness and lack of speed still keep him from being a full player. It's good socialization for him though.

I've been keeping a photo album of his age progression- all but the first one are shots of him on my grooming table at work. It was the only place I could get a good shot on a regular basis.

https://picasaweb.google.com/AJScorpio1184/RuffianGrowthPhotos#

It's amazing how much he's grown already. And still so far to go!

February 14, 2011

Ruff had an exciting weekend.

Saturday he got to see all his cousins. Hamlet and Karma were suitably unimpressed, but he enjoyed Grandma's backyard and played chase with Shakespeare for a while. He was a very good boy all afternoon. Then he got to take a special trip to his aunt's house to play with her GSD Lupa. They played so hard he finally crawled up on the couch behind me and collapsed. He stayed tired all night and all the next morning. Sunday we took a trip to the dog park, and he ran around for an hour or so, and then tried to crawl into my lap to sleep. We went back home, and he chilled out the rest of the night. Today, it's BATH TIME. Someone is a smelly little puppy!!!

February 11, 2011

15 weeks today!!

While filling out the AKC papers I realized I was off a day- Ruff was born on a Friday, so Fridays are his birthdays. :-/ Oops! Anyway, he's 15 weeks exactly today. Tomorrow we're going to get him on a scale at Grandma & Grandpa's for a weight check, and then he gets a play-date with Lupa. Since he's close to half her size now, I think he's ready for a rematch. :-)

So according to the paperwork, Ruff's official name is "Raufbold von der Kleinsmit". :-) Might be a little big for him now, but he'll grow into it, I'm sure. He's not even 4 months yet and he's over 40lbs! (Weight correction: after putting him on a pet scale, we discovered he's actually around 33lbs right as of 15 weeks old.) We're currently working through a bit of a rebellious phase, but he's still fairly obedient when we get serious.

February 2, 2011

14 Weeks.