Progress

Piper returned home after two days with Jenny, the breeder, and apparently "got religion", in terms of ratcheting down her contrary behavior. She was taught there by dogs and humans alike that biting and/or mouthing humans is not allowed under any circumstances, that her owners can remove her toys from her mouth whenever they want, and that she needs to play nice and respect her elders. This doesn't mean that she doesn't revert to her old ways at times, because she is still, after all, an eleven-week-old puppy ... but clearly she has made some significant changes in terms of how she relates to humans.

The challenge for us now is to reinforce consistently the reality that we are "alpha", which she understands most of the time. Just like a two-year-old child, she feels the urge to test the order of things every now and then, as well as the temptation just to regard us as her playmates. But generally she is sweet and playful, and especially enjoys it when we pull a couple of patio chairs into the shade so she can lie down under them and munch on a stick -- which is wonderful for us, because she used to enjoy munching on our toes!

While we were having breakfast on the patio this morning, she did something that surprised us. Ordinarily she is very careful, even hesitant, about going down the steps from the first level to the ground level. But after resting for awhile, she jumped up and ran full tilt in a large circle around the yard, returned to the patio and leapt up to the first level and then back down, taking two steps at a time. Did it again, then fell in a heap at the top. Her mother is the athlete, so this may be a harbinger of things to come.

Raising this puppy, at least in the way that we have chosen to do so, is hard work and time-consuming. She is smart, confident, and very high-energy, while we are smart, confident, but in our sixties. She also knows innately how to be a puppy, while we are having to apply our intelligence to learning how to raise her. This Saturday we start Puppy Kindergarten at Happy-Go-Lucky Dog Training -- just parents, not puppies for the first session. We'll give you a report as her education progresses.