A Very Unusual Incident

Shawnee apparently had an "accident" in her crate overnight. She was in bed with us much of the night, so it must have been sometime between when DH left for work a little after 5 and when I let her out at 8:45. What makes this especially odd is that I was awake from 7 until 7:45 and don't recall having heard any whining or anything. Usually she will start whining if she needs out while crated or Molly will know somehow and act like she needs out until I get up and let them both out.

So not only am I shocked by this, but I am worried about her. An accident like that can be a sign that she has a health problem. Especially when it happened in such a short time frame. I will be keeping a good eye on her.

Her crate is too big for her, but it has been that way for several months now without incident. I am now concerned that if she isn't sick, we may need to put a divider in the crate again.

I managed to get it outside without spilling it, but it was quite hard on my back. Because of the baby gate in the kitchen door, I had to carefully lift it there and slide it over the gate. But then I was able to put it back on the floor and drag it out into the lawn. I have now tipped it over and sprayed it well with clean water. I am wondering if it might need more effective cleaning to be sure nothing is left, but that will have to wait for DH. No way I can handle that. I am exhausted as it is.

Shawnee Is Growing Up

I am quite shocked by how long it has been since I last updated this blog. I know I had started blog entry several times, but I must not have finished them.

I have not been doing a lot of concentrated training with either of the girls. Actually, I've barely been doing any. I am struggling a lot with my health issues and have been dealing with a migraine for about two weeks now. I am also trying to do more housework and other things, which makes me too tired to blog or train.

It's hard to believe how much Shawnee has grown. It seems like only yesterday that she was the little puppy that I picked up in the room in the barn where they were born and had snuggle up and lick my neck. Now she lives here and she's quite a big girl. She still loves to snuggle.

At this point, Shawnee is rarely tethered while in the house. I think it has been weeks since she has had an accident here home. Although DH is quite sure that she will never be as easy to keep clean as Molly. She had some other odds potty incidents, such as peeing in the house at my in-laws while saying hello to my mother-in-law and peeing while walking on their terrace, leaving the semicircular trail behind her. A few days ago she went on our terrace here at home. DH told her to go out in the fence and potty but she went before she got into the fence.

Overall, Shawnee is now very reliable at pottying on command in the fence. We take her out and tell her to potty and she goes out in the end of the area the fence and does her business. She then runs eagerly back for praise. She also seems to be better able to understand the concept of going while out before coming in. She is often out of fence for several hours with Molly when the weather is nice.

She is still very odd when she poos and often walks while going or goes several different places. But at least she goes outside.

Shawnee still thinks that the best game in the world is jumping on furniture. DH has started letting her in the bedroom once in a while, usually while I'm still in bed. She thinks there is nothing better in the world than to jump on the bed. However, she's also learning to settle down and snuggle with me. She usually likes to lie down and have her belly rubbed, usually while covering my face with kisses.

In terms of training and behavior, she is showing an increase in her solidness in basic behaviors. This is despite a lack of actual training. However, she is much better at remembering to sit before talking to people instead of jumping. Her sit and lie down on command a very strong. We haven't been practicing rollover or flop. She is extremely quiet and well behaved in her crate and goes in on command.

Although I'm not training the girls still get plenty of playtime. Shawnee low longer relies 100% on Molly to return to the toys to us. She has not yet learned to give in to is in our hands, but she drops them reliably at our feet. If we do not quickly pick it up and throw it for them, she repeats until we respond.

Molly is definitely much happier with Shawnee's company. This is despite the fact that Shawnee is a toy and bone hoard. Shawnee is so possessive that she often growls at Molly if she approaches. We are working on living this behavior and on encouraging Molly to stand up to Shawnee and put her into place.

A Very Overdue Update

I'm sorry I haven't been able to to keep this blog up to date lately. The pain in my hands has become come unbearable, so I'm no longer able to type. But fortunately I just got a copy of Dragon naturally speaking, so I am able to update with voice. Some words may show up at the wrong word a little bit complicated, but hopefully you'll be able to figure out what I mean.

Despite me being sick and us having a number of family emergencies, the girls have continued well in their training. Shawnee is doing well with learning sit-stay. She is able to hold a stay for about a meter while we walk away and back to her. Molly's training is on break at the moment
because she's in heat.

Shawnee has learned to eat and is now eating consistently every time she is fed. Unfortunately, Molly has been going on intermittent hunger strikes. It may be related to her season, but for now we are putting her back on the strict eating plan.

I had been having some trouble with Shawnee on the tether and in her crate. She is no longer throwing herself to the end of the tether. I followed a friends advice and put some mentholatum on her leash and now she's not chewing on it anymore either. Her calmness in the crate has also improved dramatically.

Fortunately, she's almost completely housebroken now. Her accidents are very rare and very small despite increased time off tether. Additionally, she is alerting to her need to go out by going to the door. We are thinking of adding a bell but have not had the chance to create one yet.

I haven't learned how to put pictures in with the text yet. So for now you are stuck with text updates, but that's probably better than nothing.

Shawnee Reports on True Color Thursday: Black

Mommy sez dat I get ta help wif da blog now dat Im gettin ta be a big gurl n past Level 1 af da trainin program. So dese are my BLAK piks!

Mommy sez dat Im sposed ta say tanks ta Blue fur da idea.

Dis iz me n Molly. Weer tricullur border colliez, so dat meanz we r BLAK n wite n tan. But mostlee we r blak.

Molly iznt vewy happee wif me in dis piktshur cuz Im steelin da bone frum her.










Dis is Molly wif owr blak kong. Sumtimz Mommy puts yummy stuff in da kong fer os, lik peenut budder or pattay.


Molly liks da kong lots, but sumtimz she lets me play wif it too.


She iznt happy wif me if I take it frum her, but uzuly she lets me haf it if i wunt it.

Heer I am sayin, "Pleeze Molly, kan I haf da kong?"





Da krate iz blak. Dis iz me sittin in it. Wen I gets bord, I try ta let me out. Uzuly I'm stuk til Mommy or Daddy cumz, but wonce I got out on my own.

If I haz ta pottee, I wine n cry til dey kom n take me out. Sumtimz I try dat too if Im bord.

Da krat is big nuff fur wen Im big lik Molly, but it haz a wall in it now.


Da next pik iz af me n Molly playin wif da BLAK klude we had urlier. Mommy sez ta tell uz dat "klude" meenz rag ur sumtin lik dat.

Weev playd sa hard wif kluden dat it wuz fallin part. So Daddy gaf us a nu won taday. Itz blak too.


Mommy dropt her fone taday. Molly wuz busy playin soz I pikt it up n gave it ta Daddy. Dey didnt beleef I'd dun it, so dey dropt it igin n took a piktshure da secund time. Mommyz fone iz BLAK too, so heer I am pikken it up.

The Great Crate Escape, Caviar, and Other Babblings

We should have named Shawnee Houdini. She's a 4-legged escape artist. We've been having trouble for a while with her finding ways out of the fence. The mask in the fence is too big and she can go right through it. So DH spent hours putting net up and other things to keep her in. We thought we had all the holes blocked, but she keeps finding ways out. We've found and secured a few more of her escape spots but we don't always see how she gets out. So going out in the fence does not mean she is very safe and I have to keep an eye on her anyway (Molly is fine and stays in even when the little one is running around outside teasing her).

This morning she really proved her escape skills. I had to go pour jugs of water into the horse's trough because we still had -10C at 10am this morning. No way we will get the garden pump supplying them water today. Shawnee had been crated for an hour and a half to two hours before I went out. I'd been napping myself for that time. So when I woke up and she was still pretty quiet, I headed straight out to the horses without getting her out to potty first. To make as little noise as possible, I'd left the door to the hallway and the bedroom open--I didn't want to wake her up and make her think she'd get to go out.

When I came back from the horses (who were VERY thirsty and will need more water before DH is home from work), I saw Shawnee come running out of the bedroom when I got in. I took a quick glance at her crate, which appeared to be covered as it was when I left, then hurried to get her out for a potty walk. Good thing, too, because she was in a hurry to go.

When we got in, I shut the dogs in the kitchen properly and inspected for accidents. Nothing! I have no idea how long she'd been out--I was gone 15-20 mins--but she hadn't pottied anywhere. A few minutes later, I had to take her out for more walk, because I'd hurried in too much to check for trouble and didn't give her a chance to poo the first time. This is a great sign of the progress of her housebreaking that she'd been out long enough to go in the bedroom but hadn't left any puddles anywhere.

As my faithful readers have probably realized long ago, we have pretty spoiled dogs. One of Molly's main training treats has been canned shrimp from the start. They got some fresh shrimp a few days ago when we couldn't eat all of the container we opened (DH reports that Shawnee likes shrimp). Last night they got a further luxury when they got to share a small glass of red caviar. DH had gotten it in his Christmas present from work and finally decided he really didn't feel like eating it (I wasn't about to help, that's for sure! I tasted caviar once in my life years ago at a cousin's wedding and it was YUCKY!). So last night he gave it to the girls. Molly got the larger share. Shawnee wasn't quite as keen on it. They didn't eat all of it then and the rest was mixed in their food today. I made them share it. They're spoiled and they probably don't even know it!

Overall things are going well with htem. Molly has been getting more focused and responsive to commands despite Shawnee's presence and attempted interference. When I was lying on the floor with Shawnee this morning, Molly retrieved my blanket off the couch and brought it to me. Shawnee tried to attack her as she handed it over, but once I got the little one under control, she completed the retrieve with grace and eagerness.

Shawnee has been learning both lie down and sit very quickly. She also potties on command and tries to head for the door when she needs out (she is often prevented from going TO the door because she is leashed whenever out of the kitchen). I've also done two types of zen training with her--Molly Zen and Hand Zen.

Molly zen is the fine art of being in the same room as her sister without starting a war by attacking Molly constantly. Molly is fine with leaving Shawnee alone when we ask her to, but Shawnee doesn't have enough "leave it" yet, so has to learn. So far I have mostly done this by giving Molly a mat command into a corner of the kitchen. Then Shawnee gets to wander around and I click and treat for doing things other than attacking Molly. I keep the sessions short, but it is going well and she is less aggressive when not training as well. Every time Shawnee gets a treat for not attacking Molly, Molly gets a treat for staying on the mat and I repeat the mat command. I don't want her to think the clicker releases her and get into trouble and I also don't want her feeling left out. Staying quiet on the mat despite the Shawnee temptation is really a big deal these days.

While I did the dishes in the kitchen today, I had the crate open. Shawnee went in and out several times, often settling down in her crate for a few minutes. This is a good thing, because I haven't been crate training her properly. We just put her in and shut the door, ignoring whines and screams if she is well-pottied first. So I am very glad to see that she isn't hating the crate. I've also decided to do a better job of giving her a chew toy in the crate with her so she has somehting to do if she isn't sleepy and it seems a little more fun. When I put her down a little bit ago, she got a teeth-cleaning chew stick. Molly got one too but didn't get crated.

Molly is resting in the sun at the end of the sofa being a very beautiful and quiet girl.

Okay, my arm and hands hurt from typing so much, so that's it for today!

Playing Together

With my DH off work and doing much of the housework, Molly is mostly off-duty as SD. This is great because it is giving her plenty of time to adjust to her added role of big sister. Here are some pictures of the twosome playing in the fence outside.














Overall, things are going well with Shawnee. She is having fewer accidents and getting better at pottying more-or-less on command outside. She and Molly are pretty inseparable with Molly taking a very serious protective role with her little sister. Shawnee has passed L1 sit but nothing more on the levels training. We're having trouble luring a down, so we'll have to capture it. She definitely understands the clicker though.

Initially Shawnee was very quiet in her crate, but she is in a screaming and trying to dig her way out phase. We are trying to be strong and hopign it will pass soon.

Pictureless Travel Report

If I took the time to download and put in pictures, I wouldn't have time to tell you anything about our trip. So I will do the trip report now and see about pictures later.

Let's see... we arrived on the 3rd in the evening. I told you that already. Thursday the 4th we mostly just chilled out at my parents' place, adjusting to the time difference. We got a walk out back and got all those nice pictures of Molly in the grass and my Mom gave Molly permission to play with Dumbo's bunny, which she loved. Thursday night we crated Molly while we went out to eat with my brother and his girlfriend at a Mexican place. Molly did fine in her crate and got a doggy bag of goodies from the restaurant.

Friday was a more hectic day. I had a doctor appointment and started by taking Molly in with me. But she had trouble settling down--there were a couple kids sitting and talking in the office and people moving around and I think she was just too excited about being in a new country. So my DH took her back out to the car while I got examined.

From there we went to Walmart, where she did really well working for me. I was in my wheelchair at that point and she is comfortable working with that now thanks to all those practice rolls at home on the bike path. My mom finds it odd that so many people look at her in her vest then talk to her saying, "You're working. I'm not allowed to talk to you. But you're a nice puppy" or something like that. I appreciate that they at least aren't walking up and handling her without asking, but it is a little distracting and she'll sometimes start her butt wiggle and jack-in-the-box spring butt effect. She's getting better though.

Friday night we went to my grandmother's. Molly got to be in the car part of the time while I greeted my grandmother's dog Jenny, who has always loved me. Then later we brought Molly in and tried to put the two together. It sorta worked but both were a bit edgy--neither has a reputation for being good with other dogs. So they took turns for the rest of the evening. Molly dug out 4 of Jenny's tennis balls that were hidden around the room and engaged everyone in play. She likes to make sure that everyone in the room is involved.

Molly impressed everyone, including me, with how quickly she learned to identify people by name. She already knew my parents as grandmom and granddad but by the end of the evening she was also delivering the ball on command to my aunt and uncle by name and getting better at IDing my grandmother.

The weather ruined our original plans for Saturday--the Green Lane border collie trial. But my old friend from high school was in the area for the weekend, so we changed our plans to spend the day with her. She has a small car, so Molly got to spend the afternoon with my parents' without me and DH. She did very well with that too and my dad got her out for a bit of a walk.

Saturday night my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and Molly got to help pick things up off the floor as needed, play with everyone with Dumbo's bunny, and just generally be a cute little lovebug.

Sunday was a big day. The weather had cleared, so we headed for the Endless Mountains Fiber Fest. As well as having sheep and llamas and other fiber animals, they had a sheepdog demonstration. A lot of people there knew or suspected that she was a BC and she got a lot of praise by knowledgable people. Several people did ask whether she was a mix or something because they weren't used to the smooth coats. I found it pretty odd when we got to the sheepdog demonstration when all the dogs there were smooths as well.

The demo was really neat and Molly was totally fascinated. We stayed through most of it and Molly got a little introduction to the crowd as a BC doing another job. I will try to get the pictures up eventually. When they started working a less trained puppy, we had to go because Molly was just whining like crazy in jealousy. She wanted to get out there and work the sheep.

When we left the festival, we took a very scenic drive home along the Delaware River from the Delaware Water Gap down to the New Hope area. Molly and I were tired and did some napping.

Monday was another busy day. We went to the college I graduated from (Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA) and visited the people I knew in the library. Molly came in as a working dog and met some people and spent some time chilling on the floor. Then she waited in the car while DH and I got a tour of the horse barns. We met two clicker trained horses, one of which was trained to pick up a toy from the floor. That was really cool!

Then Molly and I waited while DH checked out the dairy barn and some other stuff.

Finally we went to visit my mom's coworkers in the admissions department and Molly came in and made a great impression. She worked well and behaved nicely and it turned out that my mother's boss has BCs and his wife works with a rescue. So he really enjoyed her visit and it was nice talking to someone knowledgable.

Much of Monday evening we spent packing for the road trip. Tuesday was a hectic day with packing and errands. Molly had to stay home when we went to the grocery store because the car was packed with my chair. But she got to come later to Walmart and impress people again with her demeanor and skills. We met more of those people who say "you're working so I can't talk to you" in silly voices.

Wednesday morning bright and early we hit the road for Virginia, our first overnight stop. Molly camped out between me and DH in the back seats and we tucked her in under the blanket when she looked cold. Molly came to breakfast with us and lay down nicely under the table at Perkins. We were really proud of her for settling so well and being so quiet. DH sneaked her a few goodies as a reward. She also got to work while we toured a museum around the middle of the day. She again behaved well and made a good impression on everyone we met.

At the hotel Wednesday night, we put her crate on the bed because there wasn't any floor space. She settled happily into it on her mat. She was too tired when we arrived to eat, but got up and ate at 11pm after a potty walk. She got us up again at 1 for another walk.

Thursday we let her stay in the car during breakfast because we ate in a Waffle House and the space is limited. She also had such a big day ahead of her. Lunch we had in a park in Spartanburg, NC, and she got to come out on a long line tied to the picnic table.

After that, we had to Erin and Z at the Good Dog Academy for a training session. Erin has given us several tips before on our training and we thought it would be a good idea to see her while we were in the area so she could check out Molly for herself. Molly did really really well. We started by working on teaching her not to jump on people. Erin made some progress with her in a short training session and gave us a lot of ideas for working further on the problem.

Another big problem was Molly's tendency to be noisy while working. We have a good idea for that one now--having my DH do Molly's job if Molly is noisy because Molly _hates_ for someone else to do her job.

Then we worked on some socialization with Erin's dog Z and that went really well. Molly started settling down around Z and wagging with a loose tail. She got lots of clicks and treats for short and prolonged looks at Z.

We had a few play breaks in all this when DH played with her with her kong. We ended the session with some mat work. I've had trouble getting Molly to find her mat from a longer distance. Amazingly she did great and was even able to pick her own mat out at about 10 feet with a choice of 3 mats. Wow. We'd been doing some training there, so it doesn't count as a levels test.

Then from Erin's we drove to another Internet BC friend, Brenda with her boys Jake and JJ. Brenda did great helping us work more on the not jumping thing and Molly really seemed to get the rules. Then we introduced her to JJ. It took some slow work, but Molly was soon wagging at JJ with a loose tail. We let the two of them loose and Molly ran after him all over Brenda's fenced back yard.

It was going so well that we added Jake to the mix. By then Molly was playing like a dog and it was a beautiful sight. They ran up and down the steps to the deck and chased balls and frisbees and just played like dogs do. She also was quite comfortable drinking their water with them around. I didn't do any training in the backyard then successfully recalled Molly at 40' or so through the other two dogs... So that's a recall pass for my levels tests! YAY!

Then we headed for the hotel and another night's sleep. She behaved well all night. I have determined that my body is not happy about picking up after her when she potties. My DH had done it at the earlier stops, but this time there was a grassy patch right outside our door so I took her out myself. It is a little backwards to have an SD that has a primary job of keeping me from bending over then to have to bend over to pick up after her... Hmmm...

Now my family is itching to hit the road, so I want to get this posted. We had breakfast here at the hotel and let Molly stay in the car. Now we're heading for a few scenic stops before we spend the weekend at my brother's with my family.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with Robin at Shoofly Farms for a herding lesson! We're so excited!

Crate in the Car--Lots of Rides Lately

Life hasn't been so exciting for Molly lately. Thursday we had to go for a long drive to a treatment for me and she had to wait in the car during it. Today was another long drive to a meeting with people setting up a service dog organization here in Denmark. It should work out really well, but the host's dog has recently had surgery in her knee, so guest dogs had to stay in their vehicles for the duration. It isn't how host or host dog had hoped to do things, but was essential under the situation. With the host dog in training and so newly operated, vistors would just have been too risky.

It's been really hot lately so we replaced Molly's car basket with a wire crate. We'd tried before without much success but now we have a plan to make it more comfortable. We also got an extra crate free from a friend, so we are able to make a permanent stable setup in the back of my car and still have her home crate undisturbed. That's a big help.

Now some people would say that a plastic crate owuld be sturdier and more comfortable for transport. The reason we want wire is to increase the air circulation. It isn't possible to open the windows in the back of the car and there aren't air vents there. So the only way we get air to her in hot weather is from the front, either the vents or the windows. She needs a wire crate so it can be open as much as possible.

The first thing we did to make the crate comfortable was to position it well and tie it down securely. It does not move at all when we are driving now. DH took care of that. Only the door in the short side is accessible, but we have that turned towards the back and positioned so that she jumps up onto the car then goes into the crate. This should prevent injury and make entry and exit more comfortable for her. She can sit in the crate to wait to get harness and leash put on and removed. We don't want to leave the leash on her when crated and the front lead harness isn't a big deal either way, but it is easy to remove, so we usually do just to make her more comfortable. Once her vest is here, she will also need to have it taken off when in the car for her comfort.


The next thing is to make the bottom comfortable. I took an old blanket and cut it in half. Then I made each half into a crate pad with four layers of blanket and quilted it by sewing it on the sewing machine. With two of them, they can be washed or I can have one inside and one outside. If I want to, I can cover the pads with old comforter covers. As soon as I get time, I will probably take an old comforter cover and turn it into two crate pad covers for warm weather so it is cooler to lie on and can be washed even more often.

Another big problem with the crate is that it gives her no support to lie up against when we drive. That's what she likes best about a basket--she can curl up against it and be supported in curves and stops. Our ultimate plan is to make a curve inside with a strip of foam about the same height as a basket. We can make comfortable curves in the corners by holding the foam in place with cable strips. We'll also put a piece of carpet on the bottom of the crate to make sure her crate pad can't slip, although it doesn't seem to. We haven't had time to do that yet, but as a temporary measure we put a blanket up against the end with extra in the corners to give the curves. It does the job and gives Molly support when we drive.

We've always had sun shades in the two back windows to keep the worst of the sun off her, but it isn't enough. So for this really hot weather, we've also covered her crate in the sun's direction with a white cotton sheet. It reflects the sun so it won't bake on her black coat or the black bottom of the crate, but breathes enough to still allow air flow.

So Molly was able to enjoy today's trip despite the heat and the time in the car. DH parked in the shade and moved the car as necessary to keep her in it. We kept tabs on her condition throughout and gave her plenty of cold water.

After the meeting, we found a shady place to stop and eat our sandwiches where Molly could come out on her leash and be a dog for a while. She found sticks to chew on and pine cones to play with and a walk with DH let her stretch her legs.