Clocks, snow, and walking to heel

Clocks going back

It is now the 5th morning since the clocks went back and I am yet to be successful in my bid to persuade Inko that she needs to stay in her crate a bit longer in the morning because her body clock is still clearly on British Summer Time? Unfortunately my body clock has now adjusted to the new time so each day the pre-6am starts feel earlier so I feel it's more of a strain getting up (on Sunday and Monday it wasn't too bad as it still felt like BST to me too!). As I still hadn't fully adjusted to getting up some time between 6 and 6.45, this is even more painful!! Although it does give me plenty of time to write this update before I even need to think about getting ready for work!

"I like snow!"

On Tuesday evening we got snow!! Inko seemed to quite like it, trying to eat lumps of it off the ground (she must have thought it was great - liking having one big ice cube to play with!!). Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a decent photo of her outside as it was coming down because I only had my phone camera with me and despite it being a reasonably good camera for one on a phone it was just too dark to get a good pic without a decent camera. I did, however get this picture of her looking like she had rather a bad case of dandruff when we finally got her in!!




On Wednesday morning much of the snow was still on the ground but it had turned rather icy over night so Inko had the very strange experience of the ground crunching under her feet so it was quite slow walk around initially until she got used to it...she quickly discovered that this weird new crunchy stuff also tasted like ice cube so had fun eating some more!! She was rather confused when she wandered over to the lid of her sand pit to have her usual drink out of the swirly grooves in the top which collect rain water (which she likes to use as a nice outdoor drink bowl!) to find that the grooves has disappeared and had been replaced by more cold stuff - rather like a long swirly ice cube!! So she had a lick!

Training update

I was very pleased with Inko's 'stays' last night at training class even with all the distractions of the other dogs who, despite her reluctance to interact with them in the first couple of weeks, are now great fun to play with she thinks!

Our main issue now is walking to heel, or even just consistent loose lease walking - we need to be much better at investing more time in this than we have...we've been too lazy and not always doing as instructed, such as changing direction or stopping every time she pulls. She's quickly learning to walk how she wants, not how we want! We need to get this right, or at least vastly improved on what we've got now if we are going to get the KC puppy foundation certificate at the end of the training class. It would be such a shame not to get this when her other stuff is coming along so well.

I have found that on some walks having a small amount of food in my left hand while walking along helps keep her pretty close to me as long as I am regularly giving her the treats along the way so that she doesn't feel like she's just being teased. I find that when I have done that for bit she will walk with just my left had down at my side without a treat for a little while too so I need to make sure we do more of that, as this seems to show that she is starting to work out that my hand at the side and walking near it is a good thing. Other times she pulls either to the front or occasionally to the back, or weaves in front of me or behind me, nearly tripping me up on occasions. And then other times, when she's really not up for doing as she's told she just won't walk without jumping, barking and chewing at my ankles. I've tried pulling her away with the lead but this is tricky if I want her walking on my left and have the lead in my right so that I can have the treat in my left hand! All very confusing!

I'm wondering whether she is doing this is she needs to go to the loo when she's out. She's really reluctant to poo or wee when out on a walk around the roads. She'll do both fine when off lead (or on lead for that matter) when out in a field or woods as grass is definitely her preferred place to go. I've started taking her out for a short walk up the road as soon as I get her out of her crate so that I know it's a time she'll be desperate to go. I've managed to get her to do a wee on the pavement (well actually in the gutter each time so far - she just steps off the kerb to wee!) but still haven't manage to get her to do a poo. It's after the wee that she actually starts her jumping and nipping. I always take her into the garden when we get back and she usually then does her poo, which does suggest to me that maybe that's a big issue here. Just don't know how to make her do it outside. It's hard to just stand around to allow time for her to give in and just do it on the pavement when she's yapping and barking because I'm not sure it'll endear me to the neighbours having her do that at 5.30am!!!

Paula

New fave snoozing spot

Inko has discovered that a very comfy place to snooze is on top of the cushions of the sofa!

You will have to forgive the utter un-tidiness of our lounge which is revealed in this shot below, but as you can see, she's happy to be sat up on top of the cushions on either sofa!!

Both Inks and I spent quite a bit of time curled up on here this afternoon having a nap after a great walk this morning with some friends, two sprocker spaniels and a labrador! She had sooo much fun running round with the other dogs - she can definitely hold her own with the bigger dogs now - no fear whatsoever!! She had a great time running, or should I say bouncing, though some tall ferns - you could just see this ball of black, white and tan fluff jumping up out of the ferns ever now and then!!

It was somewhat damp this on the walk this morning so I came back with a punk, spiky lappy puppy!! Soon sorted that out with Inko's first experience of the hairdryer!! She was a bit wary at first but soon seemed to get used to it and actually quite enjoyed it on her back (though was less keen when I tried to dry the front of her chest - don't think she liked it blowing in her face!) - soon had a nice dry and fluffy lappy again!!

Sorry...have been very lazy with updates!!

Inko is thoroughly enjoying getting her daily walks now she's had both her jabs. She's been out and about on and off lead and is doing really well with both. She met a Newfoundland the other day but, despite him really wanting to play, she was a bit wary. However she had a great time playing with our friend's sprocker spaniel and our other friend's labrador. She also had an absolutely fantastic time on the lappy walk - it was so hard to keep hold of her to stop her walking - I reckon she'd have kept going for hours if I let her!

She's also still enjoying her training...although 'stay' has definitely been the hardest command so far!! She managed it a few times in the class but something that involves staying still was never going to be Little Miss Inko's best training performance!! Having said that she actually did some VERY good stays this evening...possibly aided by the lack of distractions here at home! So there's hope yet!

Here's a few new photos of the hooligan!

"Yes, this is still my favourite bush in the garden!!"

Inko caught mid-woof!!

"Ok, I'm sitting...can I have the bit of chicken now?

Inko - where's your body gone?!

Cows and helicoptors

We took Inko for a walk down by the Blackwater river a couple of evenings ago. It was a chance to do our first bit of off lead practice as it's a really nice big expanse of meadow (it is a flood plain for the river so a nice big space). We weren't brave enough to have her fully off lead the first time so clipped a 5 metre lead onto her collar and let it trail on the ground while she was wandering around so we could easily step on the end if we had to go after her.

In part of the meadow we had to pop her on the shorter lead again as one section is used as grazing for a few cows! Inko spotted them from a way back and stood staring at them woofing quietly half under her breath - not sure she was quite sure what to make of them!! When we walked past them she was really good and apart from a small amount of tugging on the lead at one point she was very good. Unfortunately, having cows, also meant there was cow poo everywhere and, like all lappys who have gone before her, Inko seemed to think this was quite the delicacy and we spent quite a bit of time pulling her away from the piles so she didn't eat them!!

As we were walking back towards the car we noticed up on the road ahead that it looked like rather a nasty accident had taken place. There were lots of cars stopped and several police cars and an ambulance. The next thing we knew, an air ambulance was landing in the field that we were just walking out of. We thought that this might startle Inko a bit as it was very noisy and there was lots of dust being blown about but she didn't seem even the littlest bit phased by it, which was good, and she just continued pottering around on her lead sniffing interesting things on the floor. Unfortunately we very sadly found out on the local news later that the air ambulance hadn't been able to help - a man on his motorbike had been killed when he rode into the back of a car :(

We are very much looking forward to the lappy walk up near Bath tomorrow morning - it will be great for us, and Inko, to catch up with loads of lappys, especially as it's going to be somewhat of a litter reunion!!

Inko has been having a good week so far.

She's putting on weight really well which is good - weighed her yesterday and she'd gone up from 4.8kg last Thursday to 6.4kg!! No wonder she's feeling so much heavier when we pick her up!!

She's also been getting good at having longer and longer on her own which is such a relief for when we are both back at work in a week and half so that I know she'll be happy after we leave her until I get back at lunch to see her.

Adam has been doing lots of training with her whilst he's been off work the last few days - practising 'watch', 'sit', 'down', 'stand', 'paw' and 'come' and she's doing really well with these...although 'come' could still do with some improvement as it falls on somewhat deaf ears if there is anything even marginally interesting around!! LOL!! We had a chance to show off her progress at training this evening - she did all perfectly!! The new things we learnt at training this evening were some of the basics around walking to heel. She did really well, even with the distraction of the other puppies (who she took much more interest in this week than last week which was really good to see considering her slight hesitance last week).

She's also been good with letting us brush her, check her teeth, handle her ears, face and feet, and she has also started having her teeth cleaned every few days. We are using a small child's toothbrush and poultry flavoured dog toothpaste. She seems to enjoy it. I don't know if I'm doing it right or not but I'm kind of just rubbing it around a bit while she has a bit of a chew!! Reckon it's doing the job reasonably ok! Managed to get a quick video of a toothbrushing session!

Puppy Parties & Re-unions

In a bid to try and keep up the all important socialisation we decided to go to a puppy party organised by the people who run the training we go to. So on Sunday morning we headed to the village hall hoping that Inko would relish the chance to play with other puppies.

The guys that ran the party were really good and didn't just let the pups run around like hooligans, we did alot of introductions on leads and they talked to us about the responsibilities we have as dog owners, not only to look after our little bundles of joy, but also to ensure they are properly socialised.

There were six pups in total; A 22-month St Bernard (Benny), who towered above all the others, but still had an awful lot more growing to do! A beautiful 14 week old West Highland Terrier (Flora), a complete nutter of a 16 week old Cocker Spaniel (Chester), an incredibly tiny, but amazingly confident Pug cross (Wellington), the trainer's Czechoslovakian Wolf Dog (Maya) and our little Inko.

Inko wasn't scared of any of them, which is good, but she also wasn't really interested in playing. She was more than happy exploring the hall on her own, sqeezing through tiny gaps between chairs as she likes to do! By the end of the session she had decided that now was the time to play and proceeded to introduce everyone there to the Lapphund's unique bark!! She spent the last 5 minutes barking at the others asking to be chased...maybe next time she might decide to play a little earlier.

At lunchtime we had Paula's sister Michelle over and she bought her boyfriend's 9 year old daughter Rhianna with her, Inko loved having her here and she was definately a big hit with Rhianna.

Later in the afternoon we went over to visit Liz, her family and her TabanyaRuu lappies and Zinty of course...not only did Inko get to meet Liz's Tuuka, Sisko, Smuu & Zinty, but Jennifer and Jay came over as they were visiting family and bought Inko's sister Maija with them. It was really great to see Jennifer and Jay, they live down in Devon, so we don't get to see them as much as we'd like.

It really was a houseful as Liz had a couple over who are beginning their search for their own Lappy, all I can say is good luck Rachel and partner (sorry, I forgot your name) they are definitely worth the wait!

Inko & Maija had the best time playing in Liz's garden, we really don't know how they kept going so long...

All in all it was a lovely afternoon spent in the sunshine, relaxing and chatting, it was also great to meet Liz's daughter Rell, if you haven't heard her sing, you really should!

Adam

Where's the off switch?!

Wow...Inko had a lot of energy yesterday afternoon and evening!!


She has often had the normal puppy crazy half hours where she runs round like mad, but yesterday this lasted all afternoon and all evening, with maybe only a total of an hours peace in several hours of craziness!! We tried tiring her out with some training, playing with toys, and puppy ping pong, but none of it worked so we just had to keep a real eye on her as she was into everything!! We had visitors over last night to meet her and they were introduced to her full level of energy with her pouncing, running, woofing and chewing!! Luckily they still seemed to like her LOL!!


We thought she'd never settle in her crate last night, but actually she was very good and was very quiet and then when I woke at 6.30 this morning she still wasn't making a sound...I think she had completely tired herself out!!


She has been much calmer today! I went out and left her in her secure area for nearly three hours this morning while I did some shopping and she was completely settled in there when I came back, which is great.


Because she has been chewing so much I bought her a new spiky chew toy and a new bone to chew on while I was out shopping, which she seems to like. Guess she might be starting to teeth (? not sure what time this happens really). I also bought a football shaped cushion for her to play with! It's nearly as tall as she is but she has been having great fun dragging it round and shaking it!! Hopefully she'll be able to use up some of her excess energy on all her new toys, rather than on furniture and visitors LOL!! It seems to have worked so far as she is currently curled up quietly at my feet!