We're going back to the vet today at 1:45 because he's still really loose. All others factors seem normal though- still eating (a lot!), drinking and playing. Sleeping times have gotten shorter too. I'm going to have them do bloodwork (if he doesn't suggest it) and I saved what I could of his "pile" this morning to do another stool check.
Last night, he woke me up with whining at 3:30 and 6:30- I put him out the dog door and thankfully he prefers the gravel right outside the door, so it's easy to watch him and give him praise/treats through the door. He peed and at 6:30 also left the very loose pile. I didn't want to reward him by "waking up" (moving) while he was whining, so I waited for several seconds of silence before I moved and opened the crate. I like that he whines to let me know, but I don't want him to get the idea that whining gets him out of the crate.
At 6:30, he was ready to play, but I got him back inside and put him back in the crate. A bit of quiet fussing and flopping and he went back to sleep till I got up at almost 9.
Yesterday we did a lot of training practice in short bursts. Some in the yard, some in the main house (with the others "helping") and some in the basement training room. I got a little bit of video from the basement session. The obedience video was our last session and he was getting tired, but I pushed his limits and got a few more behaviors. I was kind of all over the map on what I was clicking: recall, eye contact, sit, sit-up, etc. The thumping sounds near the end is Mike tossing carrots to the other dogs upstairs. I LOVE the front paws up during the sit-up. I plan to focus on getting that and putting it on a "gun hand" cue so I can call it "stick em" up" or "you're under arrest."
I also found out he won't have any trouble putting metal in his mouth! See the video about him helping me clean the yard below.
I also uploaded some video of him at the K-9 event.
Here's the obedience video:
We also did some work with the "A-frame" he didn't want to get on before. I had already gotten him over it once the day before with a trail of treats and it took a bit of cautious investigating. This time, he went right over it, several times!
A-Frame:
I introduced him to the "wiggle ball" and he loved it! I don't think it will be long before I wouldn't be able to let him play with it because it would get destroyed in two seconds flat! But at this age, it's a cool new thing to explore.
Wiggle Ball. It's set to music (pizzicato canon)...
Here he is at the K-9 demo. Much better reaction to applause this time than during his first exposure at the TV studio. He did bark once, but then gave me eye contact, which I rewarded. I think you can see, when I pan to the left, the helicopter on the field that landed and took off while we were there. The police car parade, including sirens, went by at the base of the hill to our right. He watched it the same way, cocking his head at the sirens, but I didn't get it on video.
K-9 demo applause:
Short video clip of his first walk, set to music:
2 clips that follow: I think he wants to learn how to clean up the yard! No problem with metal or over-sized objects in his mouth. Before I went to get to get the camera, he actually carried it most of the way across the yard! He had it right in the middle and it was well balanced in his mouth.
Metal Mouth 1:
Metal mouth 2:
Stay tuned for more!
