Stuff

We have been in the "city" for over a week now. Elsie has adjusted very well to life down here. We have walked a lot down here and she has different reactions to different things. With dogs or people she is either aggressive or frightened (typically of the people).

Choke Chain

Elsie, like when she is brushed and when she gets her toenails clipped, doesn't really like the choke chain. One trainer suggest that you don't use a pinch collar (which has added spikes, our German Shepherds do best with these) as this can cause a Border Collie to avoid training sessions. Elsie is like that with the choke chain.

First point: Create a positive influence. Making this a unpleasant thing doesn't help. Elsie needs now to be trained that the choke chain means you get rewards.

How to do this: The choke chain is only on when she can be promptly rewarded with something. At meal times she wears it and on sessions with some of her favorite dog food. I just jingle the chain around or let it alone for a few minutes. I also make her put it one by making her put her head through it to get treats.

Bath Time

Second bath. Elsie and Poimien were playing outside... she was rolling in the dirt. (As far as playing, I don't know how playful Poimien is actually). So she locked outside, and then I gave her a bath. The new house's bathroom is a lot smaller. It is nice because the water adjusts well and I can change the temp. pretty easily. I use some kind of natural oatmeal mix on her. It works real well and doesn't bother her skin.

I place a towel in the bottom of the tub, so she is more secure. I don't fill the bath tub full of water. It just has a little in the bottom. I wet Elsie's back with a cup full of water, cup at a time. Once she is damp enough, I put about a tablespoon of soap on my hands and rub it on her back. I soap and wet most of her body (definetly excluding her head and ears.) Once she is soaped up enough, I rinse her off with the cup again. Just make sure all the soap is rinsed out. Then I dry her off. Elsie does not take very long to dry. I left the collar of until the next morning.

Crate Training

Elsie has done so super in the kennel lately. She seems to have resigned to being left in the kennel. She still is excited to be let out, though.

I also took a few photos of Elsie. She is much bigger now.

~Western Belle

Sunday Update

This past week has been full enough and we have a few updates for Elsie, including surgery and tricks.

Vet Visit (Surgery)

Elsie visited the vet again this week. Instead of shots this time though, she had to have her rear dew claws removed. Dew claws might cause issues in agility and activities like search and rescue and hunting. So, to be safe, we had them removed. The front dew claws normal are not an issue, but Elsie was born with rare-ish rear dew claws.

Happily, the surgery went well. Elsie came out of it and is just as playful as ever!

Tricks and Basic Commands (Little Improvements)

I can happily say now, Elsie has mastered sit and down to almost perfection (not so much on the down, and she already knew sit.) Along with common commands, Elsie is learning to shake hands. She has almost got this all good and will lift her paw (sometimes accompanied with a bite..... OW!) Coming is getting much better. Sometimes a chicken or something else distracts Elsie, but she is doing very well with it.

Crating

YAY!!!! Elsie rarely whines now. She is still crated at night and on Sunday morning (and evenings sometimes). Her whining has gotten very minimal and only comes occasionally in circumstances like time to get up or go out.

Feeding

We have upped her to about 1 1/2 quarter cups of food a day and at 7, 1, and 6 or 7, feeding times. She has such an appetite since not eating for almost 1 1/2 days due to surgery.

~Western Belle

Sunday Afternoon Report!

We have almost owned Elsie for two weeks! And she is a super dog. Super in energy, smartness, and just being Elsie.

CRATE TRAINING!

She is getting very crate trained and will enter her own crate (she does not mind at all sharing it with Skia. Skia does.) Yesterday was very busy and she had to spend part of the day in it. Skia and her were both lying in it (not really locked in) and I tried to get a pictures but I was not able to and Skia got tired of it. She did not howl at all really.

This morning, we had to go to meeting, so she was locked in there another 3-4 hours. She had not made a single mess (YAY!), or at least I did not find one, and she was very calm. Of course she was thrilled to see us all. But we cannot be super excited with her when we let her out.... It can cause negative affects on crate training.

She is doing so well! Which is a huge relief from hours on end of barking! YAY! I was also pleased that she slept from 9 PM (with a potty break at 10:30 PM) to 6:30 in the morning. She is soo good!

WALKING!

Walking... and walking. WE talked to a friend today that owns a poodle, and has some dog knowledge. We know we have an extra hyper dog and we also know that she needs long walks. The friend's way of saying that was: "Walk a Border Collie one mile one day, and it will want to walk 2 miles the next day." It was something along those lines and yes, Elsie has energy.

At only eight or nine weeks old, Elsie walks 1 to 3 miles a day (besides playing a bunch as well). OH! You can already imagine how many miles she will be walking (maybe) in the future!

Today I walked/ran her up and down one of our lanes. She whines a little (she has a tendency to whine when she does not want to do something), so to help make her walk I carry kibble and a couple of extra dogs. (Seriously, Poimein and Skia both enjoy and should have the exercise). She also graduated from a piece of twine for a leash to a leather leash (only when the big dogs don't need them).

Me and my sister have made a habit to walk about 5/8th a mile every day with the three dogs and Elsie has always done well on these little trips.

That is her walking update!

FEEDING!

We also changed our feeding times for Elsie.

5-6 AM (First feeding).

1 PM (Second feeding).

8 PM (Third feeding).

Our schedule of 5, 11, 5, and 8 was not working very well (ending up in a dog that needed coaxing to eat) so we will see (maybe) if this will work!

~Western Belle

One Week Update!

~We Have Owned Elsie for One Whole Week~

This Monday, approximately at about four-thirty PM, we owned Elise for a whole week! YEAH!!!!!!!!! Along with that she has made some major improvements.

To start with, Elsie now sleeps the night mostly through! Which is good news. We had to adjust her schedule a lot.

1. We had to make sure she was fed and sent to bed by 9 o' clock.
2. We adjusted bedtime schedule. Bed at nine, up at five - five thirty. Sleep till about six - six- thirty after a little play and food and water.
3. And she only needs to get up once or twice a night. Normally.

It has been some major improvement and much to our relief.

Elsie has been taking 2 to 3 long to small walks a day. On Monday she walked about 5/8 a mile all the way through and came in fresh. And earlier, she walked a lot too. So, she is doing well in walking. She has a huge amount of energy, but has learned that if we don't play, to lie down and fall asleep or amuse herself.

~Western Belle

Teaching to Walk/Re-Crate Training

Awww... After a perfect night on Thursday night, I cant say Friday night was great. Elsie barked. And she practically barked about 3 and 1/2 hours this morning. So we are back to step one.

CRATE TIME IS FUN TIME. Not a punishment.

Mom and I both looked up stuff on crate training. We finally decided to introduce her to the kennel as a fun place she goes for safety, protection, peace etc. We take a treat or kibble, toss it into the kennel, and coax Elsie into the kennel. Every few tries, we close the kennel door, and feed Elsie kibble through the kennel door. But only for about five seconds. Then the door pops open and out comes Elsie. Here are the steps we take to this "nice time is crate time".

1. Have LOTS of kibble and treats. DO NOT give big treats just little bits to coax and please your puppy.
2. Toss the kibble into and clean and nice kennel. Coax your puppy to get towards the crate. DO NOT put her in. She needs to get in on her own free will.
3. As soon as she takes steps in and gets in praise her. Call her a good girl and dont say a bland "Good Girl....". Say an enthusiastic "GOOOD GIRL!!!!!"
4. Ignore her when she gets out. Dont punish her. Just do not praise her for exiting the kennel.
5. After a few tries, close the kennel door for 2-5 seconds or longer. Praise her, give her a treat, and let her out.

Another thing we have been working on is walking her. Elsie has lots of energy when she should be sleeping and when she wakes up... so we need to get as much energy out in the day time as possible. Which means when she wakes up, play and play and play. And take her for long (for a puppy) walks. I use a piece of twine to walk Elsie. It is not a very heavy leash and works very well.

Today I walked her most of the way down a lane, part of the way up a circle, and back up most of the lane. Plus we walked up part of my Grandmother's property. She gets very muddy and dirty. Remember to put that on your check list if you buy a white dog.

Well, now she is awake. Play time!

~Western Belle

No Crying Out!

I was totally thrilled last night that Elsie did not cry out once! I normally am aware that it probably does not work if the theory of promoting sleep in a puppy is in a story book, but, after so much loss of sleep, I decided to try another way... And I admit, I actually put a hot water bottle in the cage (wrapped in a towel) and a tick-tock clock by her kennel... ermm..... Anyways, I actually got a little concerned Elsie was not all right because her lack of crying out. But two checks with the light on and all, allowed me to know that Elsie was not only all right, but had woken up several times and hadn't cried out!!! YAY!!!! That means I dont have to hear her for three hours on end barking...maybe.

~Western Belle

Crying Out

Naturally, after leaving your sister and mom, dad, and older brother, you might have a disagreeable perspective to sleeping in your crate alone. This disagreeable taste is let out by howling, whining, and barking.

The first night Elsie sleep very well, with a few barks and whines every time she had finished going out. I simply had to just learn to pull the covers over my head and wait it out. I am not able to let her out, since we don't want her to develop bad habits.

The second night, Elsie howled a lot and kept part the household up. But since she got no results, she should soon, LORD willing, grow out of this habit and into a calmer one.

Last night I am not sure how long she actually howled, because I was so out of it, and my older brother let her out a lot.

But here are some pointers:

1. Do NOT ever let her get her way.
2. Ignore her. Talking to her might just make her worse.
3. Train her in the day time to sit in her kennel nicely, awake or asleep.
4. Be patient.