Monday, May 31, 2010

Car rides

Megan doesn't like car rides. She doesn't HATE them, but she doesn't like them either. She won't voluntarily jump  in the car. I don't have to lift her in but she won't go unless I put a leash on her and lead her to the door. The moment she gets in the car she starts frothing at the mouth. She doesn't whine or throw up. She lies on the backseat quietly. Maybe this isn't too big of a problem but the frothing bothers me

Friday, May 28, 2010

What a way to cool off!

We took Megan for a long walk and she got really hot. When I let her off the leash, instead of going to the back door as usual, she ended up in the middle of our garden pond!



First obedience class

I don't mean to brag (or maybe I do) but she was definitely the smartest dog there. They gave us clickers to use and it's obvious that this is going to be a really good training method for her. We worked on sit, down, not jumping up, name recognition, leash manners and handler focus. She gets all of this. After three or four repetitions of a behavior she got a little bored. Maybe it's the owner focus we need to work on then. All in all,, though, I think it's a good experience for both of us. If nothing else, the clicker training was a revelations. It is also great to her to be exposed to a variety of people and dogs. She was pretty worn out afterward.

On a side note.. At first the trainer greeted Megan by saying, "Oh! I have a BC at home." I didn't bother to correct her. She looked at the attendance list though then turned to me and exclaimed, "THAT is an English Shepherd? I didn't know they came in black and white."

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Megan's (hopefully, one-time) bad thing

Last night I heard this weird sound at the foot of my bed. I got up to investigate and Megan was chewing on the bed leg! She has never done anything like that before. When I told her no she stopped immediately. This is certainly not a habit I want her to acquire! Also, one more funny story. We were watching TV in the living room on Saturday when I heard this ruckus coming from the pantry. I went in to see the treats I had bought for obedience class all over the floor and Megan with the lid in her mouth. They were stored in a sealed plastic tub in a closed pantry cupboard. She had opened both the cupboard and the container to get to them. They are now out of her reach. Obedience class starts Thursday so I'll find the proper use for those treats soon.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Megan's big day

I dropped Megan off around 7:00AM this morning for her first day of daycare. I was really anxious about it, but she just trotted away without looking back. I was able to see her on the webcam and she seems to be doing just fine.


Sometime today she will go for a bath and a nail trim. Hope that goes smoothly as well.

Megan is exhausted but cute with a dragonfly bandana. She is also shiny and fluffy and clean.  Here is her report card:

And her official first day photo:

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Megan 2, Obliging Relative 0

Well, we went on an all day outing today and asked my sister-in-law to let Megan out around noon. Megan has been to her house several time and knows her quite well. When we got home, we found the following (paraphrased) note:

"12:00 Megan would not stop barking or growling. She refused a treat and would not come outside when I called her. I will try again later...2:00 Megan didn't bark this time but refused to move from her chair"

What a stinker! She really needs to learn to listen to someone other than Pam or myself. The SIL added that she didn't feel threatened by Megan's vocalizations.

She is going to her first day of daycare on Tuesday and will start obedience school in a couple of weeks. Hopefully one or both the these things will help.