More Pandemic Puppy Prep

Pandemic Puppy Prep was productive over the weekend.

I have exterior doors to paint but I am terrible at selecting colors — all those choices paralyze me! I blame this on Catholic schools, which were great for a lot of things but I never learned the art of making choices — I just put on my green plaid uniform everyday.

Luckily, I now have Friend Suzanne. Armed with her handy Sherman-Williams paint wheel thing, Friend Suzanne can find the perfect color for anything.

So far she has selected the correct blue for my office at the university (with perfectly coordinated trim, mind you), and the perfect color and trim color for the remodeled kitchen and dining area (and because it all flows together — the entry, living room and hall).

I sent out a Color S.O.S. with photos of the roof to assist and had the two color choices for the exterior doors within the hour. Suzanne is like a Magic Eight Ball for color selection!

Since I was in the painting mood, I decided the whelping box needed an update. Yes, I am nesting.

I called around to find a paint store where the employees were wearing masks and Sherman-Williams in Missoula was the winner.

I am a bit obsessive about toxic things and so the poor sales guy was prompted to call a manager to discuss which of their paints was lowest in the VOC department and so on — they were all so nice and helpful (and masked).

While he did that, I stood in front of the approximately 14 bazillion paint chips and tried to pick a color for the whelping box. I looked automatically for the familiar green plaid of my uniform but nope — I was forced to channel my Inner Suzanne and make a different choice.

It wasn’t pretty but in the end, I did it.

Well, I actually did it about ten times but I finally just handed the guy a chip and said, “this one.”

Later — when asked what color I selected — I could not remember. It turned out to be this kind of a teal/green/blue color. Not plaid but I like it!

And so the whelping box was painted and after a few stressful hours searching for the pins that hold the corners together (life in a construction zone is messy), we were able to set it all up.

There is a cushioning mat under the vinyl floor, and that all sits on top of the living room floor.

I have some touch-up painting to do, more linens to wash, hemostats to sterilize, and so on — this is quite a production and very exciting.

We expect to see a drop in Daisy’s body temperature when she is within 24 hours of whelping. I started documenting her temperature this morning to establish a baseline -- it was 100.6. I will check her temperature four times each day at roughly the same times.

The soonest we would expect puppies is Friday but the actual due date is Saturday/Sunday. I am confident she will honor my request to deliver at least some of the 47 puppies that appear to be inside her on Sunday so that the litter birthday can be the same as mine. I have also requested a daytime delivery — good thing days are long this time of year and Daisy is such a Cooperator!

And that is the latest from Puppy Central.

Engagement & Puppy U

This is a training post, prompted by questions about focus asked on one of our Facebook training sites — but it is also a post with relevance to the upcoming K Litter.

The questions were about what to do when a dog loses focus and what to do when there is focus and one wants to keep it. Great questions!

As I thought about it, I decided focus sounds like a one-way street — dog must be attentive to me at all times regardless of my potentially boring or obnoxious or terrifying behavior. That is not sustainable or fair in any relationship.

What we want is not so much focus but engagement, and that requires things from both partners in the relationship. This matters.

Claire at the 2019 Specialty

If we blame the dog for lack of focus, the solution is more/different training of the dog.

If the issue is lack of engagement, the solution is in the relationship.

This is not about blame — it is about context. Engagement is gained or lost in the context of relationship.

Training — or showing — should not exceed the limits of a dog or human. If the human has disengaged — and you will know this because she will be chatting with a friend or watching another team or having an emotional meltdown or in some way no longer paying attention to her connection with the dog — we know her capacity for engagement has been exceeded.

Therefore, the answer to the first question (what to do when focus is lost) is pretty straight-forward — don’t lose it. Train only to the edge of the relationship’s ability to maintain engagement.

So what should one do when engagement capacity has been exceeded?

Take note so it can be avoided in the future. Build engagement capacity over time with play, fun, connection, intention, and yes — treats. Be more interesting than dirt. In other words, train/play and strengthen engagement capacity in a variety of settings and circumstances over a period of time — engagement is the foundation of everything else we do with our dogs.

Also, pay attention to your emotional state when considering disengagement behaviors. Are you nervous? Angry? Worried? Disappointed? Depressed? Those are “check-out” cues to a dog. If emotional stuff is getting in the way, address it with a competent, trained professional. Mental health matters in all things, including Life with Dogs.

Harper at the 2019 Specialty

What you do not want to do when engagement capacity has been exceeded for whatever reason is run after the dog and beg her to pay attention, waving a cookie in front of her face — that simply rewards a behavior chain that started with disengagement. It is also unfair to berate a dog who disengages since it was probably the human’s fault anyway.

Just quit the session, or you can wait until the dog offers to engage again and carry on a bit, ending the session happily. Do, however, note you pushed things too far, too soon in the engagement capacity department so that you can adjust during the next session.

Don’t beat yourself up about it — nobody is perfect, after all.

If you find yourself falling into despair over things like a dog who is off snacking on deer poop instead of happily engaged with you, take a break and take care of your mental health.

When a dog — or human — is engaging in ways we want (another of the questions that prompted this post), we need to take notice and thank them.

A lot.

Dogs tends to chew up thank you cards and so skip those and instead tell them with smiles, play, treats, and your complete happy, silly, joyful attention.

Make sure to end the session on a good note — all great parties get long and boring after too much time.

And how is all this related to the upcoming litter?

Daisy last night.

Don’t think for one minute those first weeks with the breeder do not matter — they are pretty darn significant in laying foundational capacity.

We have always raised litters in an “enriched” way — but because I have the time and interest, I am using my research access/skills and existing expertise to formulate a structured (and documented) program for the litter; I am calling this program Puppy U.

The goal of Puppy U is to produce confident, engaged, happy, and intelligent canine partners for confident, engaged, happy, intelligent — and kind — humans (within the limits, moods, and imperfections of being human, of course).

Based on developmental realities and always with positive methods, puppies will be learning and growing and mastering key competencies in the weeks they are with us — and beyond. Puppy U will continue remotely — within the new litter community — for an additional ten weeks.

I am super excited to do this. I will be creating my own future Rock Star Puppy — and some additional ones for Rock Star Humans. You are, of course, invited to follow the journey and see what is possible in those early weeks.

Engagement is only the start.

Masking Love

Pandemic Puppy Prep is complicated — and thank goodness for Amazon. Every day feels like Christmas around here, with daily packages arriving filled with such exciting things as bulb syringes and hemostats.

Yesterday was especially thrilling — the puppy collars arrived!

Sparkle’s mom and Daisy’s grandfather are littermates and so that means Daisy’s puppies will be Sparkle’s something-cousins…

We raise our litters in the house, OF COURSE, and so last week I went to Home Depot to purchase a piece of vinyl to cover the living room floor -- the whelping box will sit on it.

The parking lot was packed and mask-less people streamed in and out of the store.

I was dumfounded. And irate.

I called Dear Husband as I drove off and it went like this: @#$%& *&%#$

Lowe’s was the same.

And so was the next phone call to Dear Husband.

I went to the flooring store — no masks but also very few people.

I needed that vinyl! It had to air out before it could come in the house and so I put my own mask on and went inside.

I got my piece of vinyl — a remnant — FOR FREE! #score

I cannot afford to get sick for all kinds of reasons but especially because we have puppies arriving next weekend. Montana has low rates BUT the tourists are arriving and careless people are congregating again — I am worried about June.

I am now unwilling to go into places that do not require masks and in a Red State like this, those places are far and few between. Costco and the Good Food Store in Missoula — those are my Peeps.

Masks — the new symbol of Love Your Neighbor.