Jolly Good to be Home

She's baaacckkk!! Our handful of a whippersnapper puppy came home last night after the weeklong swap. The raisers who had Cabana were gracious in their assessment of her--but I'm sure it wasn't an easy week for them. That raiser had her wisdom teeth pulled and then had final exams during the time Cabana was there--stressful even without a high-energy puppy visiting. It sounds like Cabana didn't do well on tie down, which is to be expected because we rarely put her on tie down, and then only for short periods of time. And Cabana was a little overzealous with their pet dogs who weren't enamored of Cabana's overly playful overtures.



When we got home last night, Cabana was beside herself. She could not settle down and panted constantly. I think she could smell Persia and might have thought there was still another dog in the house. Outside when relieving, she sniffed every inch of grass, wondering what the heck happened while she was not here. Not only were there Persia and Woofers' smells, but we had also ripped out our old rotten wooden deck last week, leaving a big ugly expanse of dirt and trash.

I think that maybe the stressful part of the swap for the dogs is going back home, rather than going to the new person's home. Going to the new person's home is exciting because there are new people, new toys, new smells. But it's when they go back home that they realize that the rugs were pulled out from under their feet, and who knows when it's going to happen again?! And to top it off, Cabana returns to find there was another dog here in her absence, chewing her toys and sleeping in her bed! What the heck!

But today, we dove back into our normal routine. Cabana still seemed a bit weird and wired this morning, but in the afternoon, she crashed and slept a ton. I also vacuumed and washed Cabana's toys to help remove vestiges of Persia's scent. Tonight she seems back to her normal self.

I learned a LOT from the swap, and I will be putting my new knowledge into practice. I will keep Cabana on tie down more often, just so she will know how to behave when tied down. And I am working on getting her to entertain and settle herself better. Persia is so great at that, and I now see that Cabana is so NOT! Also, I want to work on Cabana's responsiveness to commands. When I would ask Persia to sit or come, there was not a second's hesitation--she reacted immediately. Cabana is slow to respond, and I sometimes still have to do a hand-placed sit with Cabana, especially if there are distractions.

For all my concerns before the swap, I definitely got the easier end of the deal. It helped everyone become better puppy raisers, particularly me, and better puppies-in-training, too. So it WAS a good thing--but we don't want TOO much of a good thing, do we? ;)

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Tuesday Topics 13 - Luck of the Draw

When you bring a puppy into your home, whether as a family pet or a service dog in training, it's a crapshoot. You can research the breed, observe the litter, meet the sire and dam, read reports from the kennel/shelter--but who really knows what your dog is going to be like, what idiosyncracies will show up, what fears might be lurking in their heads. Puppy raisers get even less choice. At GDB, we can choose the gender and color, but the rest is left to chance. We don't even get to pick the name of the puppy!

Tonight is the end of our puppy swap. At our puppy meeting, Persia will go back to her raisers, and we'll bring Cabana back home with us. The swap was very good for our family--and for Persia, too, I think. I haven't heard anything about Cabana, so I will find out how she fared tonight. Hopefully, she didn't drive the other raisers too crazy. Cabana has the reputation of being the most difficult pup in our group, and I suppose it's an accurate one. Cabana wants to engage headlong with everyone and everything. Her personality is fun and infectious--but can also be a lot of work at times.

To say we took a liking to Persia is an understatement. My husband particularly. Persia is easygoing. She doesn't demand much attention, she willingly flops down and entertains herself, and she is super responsive to commands. Having Persia has helped me to see where we need more work with Cabana.

Seeing the differences between the two dogs makes me wonder how much of their personalities are nature vs. nurture. Of course, there's no "right" answer to this topic--it's a multi-faceted subject and a bit rambly in my mind, but it is something that I have pondered from the start of our puppy raising experience. Basically, do you "get what you get" or do you transform what you were given? And what makes you feel more connected to some dogs and not as much to others? What is the dynamic that makes some relationships between dog/human extra special?

Having no other dog experience to compare with, I naively thought my bond with Cabana was one-in-a-million--but now I see how limiting that would be. That's actually a good thing. One-in-a-million means that we would not be able to be happy with another dog and that Cabana would not be able to be happy with other humans. Now I know we can (quite easily) love and enjoy another dog, and hopefully, Cabana was as resilient as Persia this week in loving and trusting other humans. It's especially comforting, since Cabana will be going through a lot of transitions in the next year--going back to the kennels at Guide Dogs, working with trainers, and hopefully being partnered with someone who needs her. As the old song lyrics go, "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." Although not as touching as having Cabana reserve her love only us, I hope Cabana will always be able to love the ones she's with. I'm quite certain she can.

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Settling In

After 3 days, I think I've finally gotten used to Persia. I still miss Cabana, but I'm able to relax into our newly established relationship with Persia. At first, I felt like Persia didn't really like me. She didn't dislike me either, but she was neutral or ambivalent. Today, I feel like we've got a bond of sorts.

On the other hand, Persia has liked my husband from the start. She is always SO excited to see him (a bit too excited actually), jumping to greet him and waggling her tail furiously. I think Persia's usual dad must romp around with her, so she associates men with playtime and perhaps rough-housing.

The weather today is gorgeous, a "no-temp" day, meaning it's so pleasant you don't feel too hot or too cold--you don't even notice the temperature, hence "no-temp". Persia and I sat outside in our backyard while I replaced some buttons on a shirt, and it was so relaxing! Persia didn't try to chew anything, and she sat so calmly on the deck with me. Maybe this is her inner "slug" showing itself? Cabana is always busy, sniffing here, tasting there, so relaxing isn't a word I'd use to describe our outdoor time.

But I'm still counting down the days until we get Cabana back...4 more days. I hope she's doing okay and not driving the other raisers too crazy. She's a whippersnapper, that one.

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Persia-nality

Persia is a sweet dog, and our time with her has been very smooth. I don't see much "slug" in her, though! She has a different kind of energy than Cabana, but she still seems plenty rambunctious and playful.

Persia's raisers told us to limit her water intake because she will drink and drink and drink, which can lead to accidents. And sure enough, Persia will drink every last drop I put in her bowl. She checks her water bowl often during the day, wanting more--and it's hard not to give it to her because I hate to think that she's thirsty. So I give her just a couple inches of water to drink at a time, rather than filling the bowl like I would with Cabana--and then I remind myself to take her out to relieve within the next half hour or so. And we've had no accidents thus far.

But talk about a fast eater--holy guacamole! I wouldn't have called Cabana a slow eater--Cabana eats her 1.5 cups of food in about a minute or so. But Persia eats her 2 cups of food in about 3 seconds. She doesn't seem to chew at all--she just inhales it.

Persia is quick--she can dash out the door in a millisecond. And she goes after flying insects and catches them in her mouth! Who needs a fly swatter with Persia around!

Another fun difference I've noticed is that Cabana will only lay on soft surfaces, while Persia doesn't seem to care what kind of surface she's on. When I'm showering, Cabana comes and lays on the bathmat in front of the shower. When I'm in the kitchen, Cabana comes and lays on the rug in front of the kitchen sink. But Persia will flop down on the tile or the wood.

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Ours for a Week - Persia

Last night, we brought home Persia! She is a 6 1/2 month old lab/golden cross. So far, she has been doing very well. I haven't seen much evidence of sluggishness yet (her raiser calls her a slug, not me), but we'll see what I think after we go for a walk.

It's so interesting to see the little ways that Persia is different from and also similar to Cabana. Since we haven't had a dog previously, I finally have something to compare against.

And I'm so surprised at how much I miss Cabana! But because she's been with me almost every waking moment since December, I guess it's to be expected--even though I somehow didn't expect it! Still, it IS nice to get an opportunity to miss her--like they say, you don't realize what you've got until you don't have it anymore. Last night, we handed Cabana over to Cherish's raisers, and she sat there with them like it was the most normal thing in the world. She's so resilient, I think she'll have no problems with the adjustment. And Cherish's raisers have raised a handful of dogs, so they know what they're doing a lot better than we do. I told them to fix all her problems this week and give us back a perfect dog!

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Tuesday Topics 12 - Puppy Swap!

Tonight at our puppy meeting, we will be starting a puppy swap. For GDB raisers, this is when you go home with a different puppy, in our case, for a full week. This exposes our puppies to a variety of people, lifestyles, routines, and outings. It will help us to see where our puppies need more work and will also probably point out where the raisers need more work, too.

This will be our first swap, and I have to say it's a bit nerve racking. A couple of days wouldn't be so tough, but a whole week is daunting. It feels a bit like airing your dirty laundry--who knows what issues will be brought to light?! But it's all in the name of learning and growing, and it will be good for Cabana, and unfortunately, good for me, too. (Just because it's good for me doesn't mean I have to like it, kind of like brussels sprouts--although I actually DO like brussels sprouts.)

Morrissey, the golden retriever in our group, has been career changed, so he will not be part of the swap. And Poppy isn't allowed to swap yet, being a recent transfer. So, the swap will consist of Cabana, Persia, Hamlin, Tara and Cherish. Wonder who we'll get. Our group seems so small suddenly!

Any tips for puppy swapping? I know I'm going to need all the help we can get!!

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