Well, little Evee is growing big. She’s going to be 15 weeks old on Saturday. Almost 4 months old now! She’s really getting tall. She has these long gangly legs right now and the rest of her doesn’t quite match.

She’s a smart little cookie, and relentless! She doesn’t give up without a fight for the most part and is getting good at spreading mayham and terror through the house. (haha) She’s a wild lass, there’s no doubt. It’s become apparent that we need to step up some training with her. Some of her cute “puppy” behaviors and becoming more annoying young adult behaviors!

I have to say, though, the biggest issue at hand is her total lack of an outside recall. Once she’s out, it’s forget about you and she’s off for big adventure. And if you chase after her? She is very fast and thinks it’s a game and trust me, very annoying.

We put up a little temporary fence to help with potty training, so that we could get her out the door quickly and regularly to help establish a good routine. Well, that worked for a while, but in the last day or two, she’s figgered out at least 3 different ways to get out! (Hence the need to chase her!) We reenforced the fence a bit, and she’s never left out alone at all, but I don’t think the fence is going to work for much longer. I hate to immediately have to put her on a leash or line out in the yard, she needs time to run free and have puppy time. I think we’ll be readjusting our fence a bit and see if we can’t gain another few weeks of a safe spot for her.

We’re not allowed to have “real fences” so that’s not an option at the moment. Maybe some day if we ever get the chance to move the moby to a bit of land, that won’t be a problem, but that’s not going to be any time soon. So, we have to work on some alternatives.

I think that readjusting the fence to a long narrow run and making it a little sturdier will help for awhile. In the meanwhile, we’re going to be working on outside recall on a leash line. If Jessy wants to compete with Evee in agility, then she has to have a decent recall. There’s nothing worse in a competition than a dog that can’t be trusted off leash to stay focused and with her companion. Granted, she’s a pup and pup’s are great for being all willy nilly and excited about the world, but still, she’s a herd dog breed and they are also known for their focus and attention to their owner.

We’ve also noticed that she’s entering a bit of stranger fear, which is very common at this age. So we’re going to have to up the “out in public” time, to get her a little more comfortable with lots of people and situations. We have several nice dog parks around, and some nice community parks that we can start to practice walking on the lead (which she’s still not too great at) Lots of training to do!

But she’s got such a fun personality and she’s eager and willing to learn tricks and other little behaviors so I know that she’ll be great with stepping up things a bit. I really want her to be a great companion to Jessy, and for them to have years of fun and wonderful times together. An out of control crazy dog is no fun. It’s best for both of them to start having these times to learn and train each other. Everyone wins!

As you can see, she is getting bigger! Evee and Luna are becoming buddies. Evee would really like to play a lot more with the cat, but Luna only plays with her outside in the yard. It’s pretty funny to watch. Luna pretty much stays in one place and the pup races around and around her, trying to herd her this way or that. Luna will walk a few steps and stop, and spin to try and get the pup with a slap paw shot, but Evee is fast. Especially after feeling the sting of a kitty claw a time or two! Great encouragement to stay clear of the sharp kitty!

Funny thing though, this morning… Evee had escaped and I was in hot pursuit. I was doing my very best moves, like “I’m not chasing you, I’m going this way and it’s more fun” and “Oh look at this stick I have FUN FUN FUN” and of course the favorite… “hurt puppy noise and crouch down” which normally works but she’s getting wise to that one… I hate to yell at her and act like an insane woman and make it worse… but I was getting pretty annoyed. All the while, Luna is trotting after us, meowing pitifully. A couple times the puppy dashed over to check on the kitty and I was ALMOST fast enough to grab her, but missed. When I finally got the little wort, she did get a paddling and a stern scoulding and Luna about went nuts! She was meowing so loudly and was jumping at my leg as if to save her little crazy dog friend from a beating! Made me laugh, and of course, how could you be mad at a goofball puppy. As we were walking back, Luna was trotting along perfectly at my heel. If we could only train the dog to act like the cat!!!

Well, I fixed the problem with an old training trick a friend taught me. She was a great dog trainer, had her own place and did some wonderful stuff with really hard luck cases. She would take a short piece of leash, about 3 to 4 feet long. Cut off the handle part and knot it a time or two. Nothing heavy, but dangly. Now, when Evee is out in the yard, she has this leash clipped on her. Doesn’t interfere with playing and running for the most part, but it gives us something longer to grab if she gets away, or to step on if she’s running off. And you can use it as a short lead when you first go out in the yard, to reinforce the whole stick around me thing. We’ll see if it helps.

Wow, well, it’s getting late and didn’t mean to start a whole dog training post. Just tired and rambling on a bit! Been working hard and then went to practice at 8 PM! We’ve got a little festival this weekend and we had to run through a few things. Didn’t get home till almost 11 and then had emails to get through and of course, had to check my facebook thingy and of course, my Mafia wars game! (yeah, I’m hooked… always did like the Godfather movies… )

Oh, by the way, if you want to be my friend on Facebook… look me up. Sherri Chekal is my name… and when you see a banjo picking gal, it’s me. I think I’m probably the only Sherri Chekal on there. Chekal’s not that common a last name!!!

Well off to bed! Hope all is well with you all!