Drama Puppy

Yesterday I finally got Scarlett to do a big dramatic death scene we've been working on. Any dog can play dead, Scarlett makes it a production! First, I point my finger at her and say "Bang!" as though I've shot her. She responds by barking in protest, as if to say, "Ahhh, you got me you evildoer!" or possibly she goes shakespearian, with "I am slain!" (I doubt it, she is more of a comedian.) Then, after finishing her final speech, she circles to find a good spot, preferably right at my feet. She lays down, puts her head on the floor, then after a moment, rolls over so her feet are in the air, like a cockaroach. It is so hysterical to see her do the whole scene, but she won't do it all the time. Hopefully a few more weeks of practice will have it perfected.

Posted by Erin Doyne at 09:31

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TP Party

Tonight Scarlett threw a TP party in the bedroom. I was on the computer while Patrick was at hockey and after playing with her for an hour, I decided that to give into her whining and barking was just going to contribute to her bad behavior in the future. I put everything away that I thought she could reach and resolved to ignore her fussing.

Turns out, she can reach a lot more than she used to! She jumped into the bathtub, then climbed out on the opposite ledge to get at the bathroom wastepaper basket. She also found the spare roll of toilet paper, in the bag from the store. Luckily there was only one in there. I took lots of pictures, so once we get them uploaded, you can see the results from there.

At least she had fun!

Posted by Erin Doyne at 21:47

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First Tooth

Scarlett lost her first tooth last night. She was playing tug with an old sock and then we noticed her coughing a little. Patrick guessed that since she's been teething, she must have just lost a tooth in the tug game and swallowed it. Since Ann said that the front teeth would do first, we checked and sure enough, one of the tiny puppy teeth was gone! We gave her a glass of water (yes, she loves drinking from a glass. ;) ) and she was fine.

Posted by Erin Doyne at 12:17

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Obedience Champ!

Scarlett was amazing in obedience class today! She was perfect for a long sit-stay where I had to walk across a room and demonstrate "come." Then, she came beautifully. Back to starting position I didn't even have to touch her lead. She just followed at a heel, then sat when I told her to. At the end of class there was a down competition. Each dog went against another dog from class, to see who would go into a "down" position the fastest after the command was given. Scarlett won! She was perfect for each of the "run-off" competitions and seemed to catch on. By the finals she was faster than she usually is, likely because we normally vary her commands, so she has to think about it. This was just "sit," "down," "sit," "down." We won a tote bag, perfect for taking her stuff to class or to the beach next week!

Posted by Erin Doyne at 22:47

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New Camera

What good would a new puppy be without a new camera? Actually, they'd be perfect. Still, though, my old digital point-and-shoot just wasn't cutting it. The week 5 pictures of Scarlett and Kaiser weren't the best ones, they were pretty much the only ones that came out. By the time my camera had acted, they were usually well out of frame or incredibly blurry. Given that, and the fact we're heading off to Jekyll Island with Scarlett next week, I decided to splurge and get a new digital SLR camera. It's *very* slick, and I'll likely be quite a shutterbug for a while, so expect plenty more Scarlett pictures soon.

Posted by Patrick McNeill at 18:56

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Meeting the Neighbors

Today Scarlett went to meet Patrick's neighbors. They had a little 2 year-old girl who was afraid of dogs. At first Scarlett was her typical enthusiastic self, licking faces and wanting to play. But she figured out really quickly that the girl, Jennifer, was frightened by that and so she settled down into her sleepy self. Jennifer became brave enough to give her some Bil Jack liver treats and after that, Jennifer wanted to keep giving her treat after treat, until Scarlett was full. They played with one of Jennifer's big inflatable balls, but Scarlett was very gentle and slow with it. She seemed to understand that Jennifer was scared and that Scarlett had to be very quiet and gentle. With Jennifer's parents, she was much more enthusiastic and gave tons of kisses. She really is fantastic with people and made a great impression with the neighbors. They were really pleased with her and were thinking of talking to the local whippet breeder in Austell about getting a pup.

Posted by Erin Doyne at 23:18

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