Category: dogs

Lily and Orion

It was unseasonably warm here in Colorado today. I took Orion to play with my trainer’s rat terrier Cheney while I rode Lily in a lesson. I had planned to ride yesterday, but after longing Lily for a while, I didn’t see a horse I wanted to ride. (In middle-age, I’ve become a lot more conservative about when I get on a horse. Of course, the first four or five years I had Hap, I would have rarely ridden if I’d waited for him to calm down.) Today, although it was no warmer and even a little more windy, Lily was much calmer on the longe line, and almost perfect under saddle. She seems remember all the stuff we were working on last fall, although she is not quite as strong.

Afterward, my trainer and I took Cheney and Orion for a short walk. Cheney, who D got from the shelter at around 18 months of age, has issues and has apparently hated being taken for walks off her property with other dogs. D was hoping that Cheney would enjoy a walk if his best-friend-forever Orion was along. I was astonished when it worked. Orion trotted along cheerfully checking out everything he could find, and Cheney followed him almost as happily.

Puppy Class

Orion started out very intimidated by the store.  He wouldn’t follow me in on the lead, so I had to pick him up and carry his trembling body into the corner where class was held.  4PAWS Rescue had a bunch of dogs for placement in another part of the store, and he was flinching when the dogs in that area barked. 

Then he discovered that whatever we were doing involved food.  Life started looking up.  When he discovered that the nice lady in the middle of the class area had something called Bil-Jac Pet Treats, we had 100% of his attention.  He stopped trembling, stopped wanting to hide behind me or between my legs, and paid no attention to the dogs and noises in the rest of the store. 

He even played with the nice lady’s one year old Malamute after class.  Kodiak is a gorgeous dog, also a rescue, and managed to restrain his exuberance sufficiently that he was able to play with Orion without scaring him.

Orion received lots of complements on his cuteness.  And on the way out of the store, he wanted to visit with the other dogs, rather than acting shy of them.  

State of Orion

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Orion is 16 weeks old today.  He is a very friendly puppy, and likes meeting people.  He is starting to learn to be gentle with his mouth though he has a ways to go yet.  He is getting the concept that when I say “Ouch” I am warning him that I am going to stop playing with him if he doesn’t lighten up.  (The last time we had puppies, they learned bite inhibition from each other, and I hadn’t realized how lucky we were.)  A couple of weeks ago we went through a period when stroking or cuddling Orion was like trying to stroke or cuddle a piranha, but we seem to be past that now.  

Orion is very good in his crate, and gets his meals there so he continues to think that the crate is a Good Thing.  When I take him places, he goes into his crate quite willingly, and is quiet as long as he is in it. 

At night he has graduated to a large corner of the bedroom which includes the attached bathroom and is fenced by a puppy pen.  It contains a dog pillow and his crate and all his toys. He sleeps or rests quietly from seven pm to five am.  I only take him out in the middle of the night if I have a very bad night, and want to try to sleep past five. During the day I open up the panels to include more of the bedroom and my office.  He is housebroken in this area as long as he goes outside every three hours.  The rest of the house:  not so much.   

Everything is a toy.  Fortunately he likes his dedicated toys, but even so I have to redirect him multiple times during the day from “my toys” to his toys.  We play a form of fetch with his soft toys but he loses interest quickly if I use a ball instead.  He likes to chew on marrow bones:  unfortunately, the sound is the same as the noise when he chews on wood furniture, so I have to check when I hear him chewing.  He also likes ice cubes, and I give him one when he seems particularly mouthy.

I try always to be aware of what he is doing, and when I check on him he usually decides that I want to play.  I try to check on him by sneaking up on him but he is a very alert puppy so that seldom works.  For a while I was sure he slept with his eyes open:  with that face fluff it is hard to tell.

He is apparently convinced that he shares my air supply, and throws a fit if he realizes I am leaving him.  Recently, I’ve been giving him a few treats in a Kong in his pen before  I quietly leave the house for two or three hours and that seems to be working.  Although he comes when I call now, I don’t expect this to last through adolescence so I put him on a lead whenever we are outside of contained areas.  He sits on command and is learning “leave it.”

I’d love to be able to groom him better, but he still wants to play with the grooming tools.  At least he now allows me to pick debris out of his coat, which is a major victory since most Colorado vegetation wants to come home with you.  Despite his disreputable looks, his coat has a nice feel and is softer than it looks.

Today he met a friend’s six month old Collie puppy.  Orion was quite concerned when she bounced at him, and spent a lot of time watching her from behind me and my friend.  River was actually quite gentle considering she is used to playing with puppies her own size.  She finally resorted to laying down in an effort to reassure Orion.  We’ll try introducing them again in a week or so when the weather is better.  I thought he would be a little bolder with River considering how he torments our elderly Collie.

BFF Taking a Break

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Cheney, my friend’s rat terrier, and Orion are best friends forever! It is so entertaining to watch them play together, and they will do so for hours. I took this photo from below as they took a break from the chase, so the dogs look taller than they are.  Cheney is probably less than a foot at the shoulder, and Rion is a little taller. Hard to believe that Rion was shorter than Cheney six weeks ago.  (And yes, Cheney is named after He Who Must Not Be Named.)

(Not!) Puppy Toys

I just found Orion chewing on the cover of one of those cute little mending kits  high class hotels provide for their guests.  Fortunately, I found the intact insides, complete with needle and thread, before I had a chance to panic.  In other news, Sheila is visiting for a week, and is not amused by the puppy.  She has started to come around when the puppy is in his play-pen, probably because she became bored sulking downstairs.