Saying hello to people and puppies

Yesterday afternoon Inko and I had our visit over to Reading University. The friend I was meeting up with completely fell in love with her and Inko was really good sitting in her office while we had a catch up. I had been a bit worried that she have an accident on the floor so went armed with cleaning products but she was really good. I took some of her toys with me and she sat on the floor playing with them. My friend also gave her a small penguin toy that had been sat in one of her filing cabinets for ages - Inko loved this!

Playing with the Penguin back at home - "I like my new penguin!"

When it looked like Inko needed a wee I took her downstairs and then we wandered around the department so she could meet lots of new people. She met several lecturers and support staff and also several students who were wandering around. She also met a lady with a toddler and a baby in a pushchair and very gently said hello to them. I was walking her around on her lead to continue getting her used to it and she was doing really well on it.

Then yesterday evening Inko, Adam and I went to our first puppy training class. She was the youngest one there but definitely not the smallest - that prize has to go to a teeny tiny 14 week old cavalier king charles spaniel, closely followed by a very small black and tan terrier of some sort! On the other extreme there was also a 5 month old german shepherd who was huge (with a very big woof!)!! We covered 'watch' (getting her to look up at our face when we say the word and gesture upwards), 'sit', 'down' and 'stand'. Most of the time she did all of these fine, although she was definitely tiring towards the end of the course. Next week may be tougher as it is going to be some heel work - not her strength at the moment, but something we really want to work on as we don't want to have a dog that is dragging us down the road.

Inko did not seem overly keen to go over to see the other dogs, but she didn't seem particularly nervous - she was just lying down by our feet. It was almost as if she just wasn't really interested. We are really hoping that it is not that she is nervous of other dogs. As we were finishing up at the end she wandered nearer a couple of the dogs and had a bit of a sniff. Hopefully the puppy party we're going to on Sunday will help increase her liking of other dogs, and we'll also probably have another visit over to see our friends with Sammy, the sprocker spaniel this weekend to see if they will have a play this time. We really want a dog who is happy and comfortable around other dogs so if anyone can give any tips on what else we could try that'd be great - thanks.

This morning Inko is going to the vets for her second injection and to be micro chipped. I'll be interested to see what she weighs now as she definitely feels bigger and heavier and she's been eating well. Not sure she's going to be fitting under the sofa much longer - she'll be gutted because she loves sleeping under there at the moment! Will report back on the weigh in later!

Inko in one of her angellic moments...normally followed by running round chewing things she shouldn't be chewing! LOL

One of the things that Inko has started doing, which I know she shouldn't be doing, is climbing. When we first got her she thought she loved crawling along on her belly under small spaces and squeezing through small gaps - she would choose a tight gap over the normal route any time. She still likes this but as there seem to be slightly fewer places she can fit now, she has now taken to trying to climb on things too. This morning I turned my back for a second and when I turned back she had climbed on top of a filing box we have behind one of our sofas and her paws and head were suddenly peeping up over the top of the sofa where she was standing up on the box on her back legs!! As she discovers each of these things to climb on I'm trying to move them so that she can't get on them (our upstairs is going to get very full of things as that is one place she isn't allowed and can't get too because of a stair gate - although that doesn't stop her trying!!).

Two things that we can't move are the sofas, and she has started running at them at full speed and trying to jump on them - she can launch herself with quite a bit of force. She can't get up yet but I'm very aware of the fact that the jumping can't be good for her legs. I guess maybe this may be our fault as we do allow her up on the sofa but we have deliberately only been lifting her up to join us when she is sitting calmly in front of us, and not jumping up...but maybe she doesn't understand this distinction. We have consistently been using the word 'off', pushing her down, and then trying to distract her with one of her toys if she is jumping up (I think our neighbours must be sick of hearing this is they can hear it through the walls!! LOL) but I think this command is going to take quite a while to learn - she's definitely not got it yet - or maybe she understands and chooses not to follow it LOL!! We will keep persisting but any tips gratefully received in the meantime!!