Rochester & Ollie

My new septic system installation was completed on Saturday!  Yay!  So my whole day Sunday was spent grading and seeding my lawn.  Hopefully that means by the end of this month I'll be able to give the dogs their outdoor play space back.  Sunday was a beautiful day, so I left the backdoor open so the dogs could go in and out as they pleased.  Everything was going well until around 1 or 2.  I was doing a final raking of the grass seed when Rocky came running up to me.  Not far behind him was Ollie.  Figuring they had finally found the gap in the fence where I had a rock pile, I fixed up the fence a bit and took them around to the front door and let them back in.  I went back out to my raking, and Rocky was already there waiting for me.  Confused, because I knew he couldn't have gotten back out by the rock pile that quickly, I walked him (and Ollie again of course) back around to the front.  This time I watched them to see where they were getting out.  The little smarties had figured out they could fit through the bars in the stair handrail!  Since I didn't have anything handy to block it, I had to shut the boys in the house for the rest of my work.  I don't think they were particularly pleased about that.  And now every time I let them out, I have to sit in front of the stairs to block them.  This morning Rocky got out before I did.  But I called him and he came right back.  Unfortunately he couldn't jump back through the posts, so I got Ollie and Hardy in the house and then went to the front door and called Rocky around.  He came running right over and back in the house.  1st thing on the to-do-list tonight: blocking the gaps in the stair handrail.  I think a spare piece of plywood and some potted plants will do the trick.

Night time crate training is making significant improvements.  Rocky goes in the crate on his own now and is silent.  Ollie still needs a little work getting in the crate, and then he whines for about 30 minutes and then is also silent for the rest of the night.  They still feel the need to bark and howl at 5am though.  I don't know if they can hear my alarm go off or if their internal clocks are that precise.  Either way, it's something I want to work on.  I have an old citronella collar I used when I was training Hardy not to bark that I think I'll try on Ollie.

An exciting announcement: I'm 100% comfortable saying that Rocky is housebroken.  I can't even remember the last time he had an accident in the house.  I let the dogs out often enough that he doesn't really need to let me know when he needs to go out, but every once in awhile he will hover near the door and that's when I know he needs to go out.

I am not so comfortable saying Ollie is housebroken.  While he is getting there, and he also hovers around the door when he needs to go out, this weekend we took a couple steps back.  Yesterday, after I had finished all the yardwork and came back inside, Ollie looked right at me and peed on the floor.  I think this was his way of punishing me for closing the door, preventing him from going outside at his leisure.  (Even though it was maybe 45 minutes from when he had last been outside to when I came back inside.)  I'm hoping that's all it was, and we can get back on track this week.

I didn't get any good pictures this last week.  My inside pictures don't turn out very well (especially on Ollie because he's so dark), and I was so busy doing yard work that I didn't get any good outdoor pictures either.  But I did take a video of Rocky playing fetch that I thought was pretty cute and shows his personality!

Novelle, Rochester, & Ollie

It's been a week since my sweet girl was adopted.  I received an update from her family last week, and it sounds like she's doing very well!  They've renamed her Dixie after her Alabama roots.  I think that's a great name for her.  She's also been coming out of her shell a lot with them, which is so wonderful because she's such a good dog she really deserves all the attention she gets when she's not being shy.

I'm starting to think that Dixie may have been the secret troublemaker in my house (which means she was even more like me than I realized!).  While Rocky & Ollie are still high energy, they seem to be less attached to me than they were with Dixie around.  Maybe they're just sad she left, or maybe she was the ringleader.  I don't know.  But it seems to have worked out great for all of us, so I'm not complaining!

Housebreaking has been going so great since I put up the fence.  I'm sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again: training a dog is 10% actually training the dog and 90% training the human.  I'm much more willing to just let the boys run outside when they're fenced in than I ever was when I had to put them on leashes.  It was just such a hassle keeping the leashes untangled that I didn't want to deal with it.  But now that they're fenced in and I can just let them go, we all spend more time outside.  I tore up a patio this weekend and Rocky & Ollie hung out outside with me.  I had to rearrange the fence at one point because my septic system is being replaced and they need access to the old tank today, but I didn't want to just take it down and restrict the boys to their leashes again.  So I put up a new temporary fence, and since I only plan on it being up for this week didn't worry too much about making it look good.  Well, at some point while I was loading the patio pavers into the cart I noticed Rocky hanging around with me (I was outside the fence at this point).  That little sneak had found the one high point in the fence and crawled under it.  But he was just staying near me like a good dog.  When I was finished loading the pavers, I convinced him to go back inside the fenced area and then fixed up the hole so it wouldn't happen again.  But since I didn't securely attach the fence, I'm going to have to keep an eye on all of them this week to make sure we don't have any real escapees.

For several reasons (late night accidents, jumping on my bed, playing all night, etc) I decided to start crating the dogs at night.  I wanted to start on a weekend because I figured they wouldn't like it at first and would keep me up.  Not the best idea when I have to work the next morning.  So I started on Friday.  They didn't make a peep.  I was shocked!  Of course, as soon as 5am rolled around (our usual wake up time), they were barking away, ready for their morning potty break.  Saturday went the same way.  Silent when I put them in, barking away at 5am.  But for some strange reason, last night did not go well.  I don't think I did anything different...maybe went to bed earlier, but nothing else that I can think of.  But Ollie did not have a good night.  He whined all night.  It wasn't so bad because it wasn't barking, but I still felt terrible.  He'd whine for half an hour or so, then be silent for an hour.  Enough time for me to fall asleep.  Then I'd wake up and hear him whining again.  So it was a long night.  But I really think it's the best plan to get them over this last hump of housebreaking that I'm going to stick with it.

I also decided I need to start brushing their teeth.  So I'm starting slow, just putting the toothpaste on my finger and rubbing it on their teeth.  Just to get them used to the taste of the toothpaste and the feel of something on their teeth.  Once I think they're comfortable with that (maybe by the end of this week?) I'll step up to a real toothbrush.  Rocky & Ollie love it so far (the taste of the toothpaste, I mean).  As soon as they see me get the tube, they're all over me.  They try to lick it off my fingers before I even get in their mouths.  I think it's chicken or bacon flavored, so I can't really blame them.  But it makes me laugh.  And then yesterday I caught Ollie with the whole tube of toothpaste...chewing on it.  I thought that I had safely stored it away, but apparently these boys are sneaker than I thought!  So now I store it inside my dog grooming kit.  I also bought some dental chew sticks for them (normally I buy greenies, but I had a coupon for a different brand last week).  So I gave each dog a chew stick.  Rocky had his gone in 2 minutes flat.  Ollie took about 5 minutes.  Hardy took about half an hour, and you can see from the picture below that Rocky & Ollie were very interested to see if he'd share.

Hardy finishing his treat with a watch crew.

Novelle

It's a happy/sad day.  My sweet Novelle was adopted yesterday.  I'm so happy for her.  Her new family seems very nice, and I'm sure she'll be very comfortable with them after her initial warming up period.  But she was such a good girl that I'm certainly going to miss her.  And now I'm stuck with 3 rowdy boys!

 One last picture of Novelle in the tiny bed.

Novelle giving me kisses.

Novelle, Rochester, & Ollie

Well the dogs finally managed to outsmart me.  I make it a rule that they aren't allowed to sleep in bed with me.  So every night when Ollie & Rocky jump up (Novelle is a good girl and listens when I say no), I would push them back down again and make them sleep on the floor.  Well, they realized if they wait until I'm asleep, I won't push them off the bed.  So for the last couple days I've been waking up with them in bed with me.  The little stinkers.  It is partly my fault...I have a small bed for Hardy on the other side of my nightstand.  Lately, Novelle has been sleeping in it (even though this bed is made for a small cat)...which is absolutely adorable, but Hardy refuses to sleep anywhere except his bed or mine.  So since Novelle is in his bed, I let him sleep in my bed.  And that's where Ollie and Rocky got jealous I guess.  Maybe I'll have to start crating them at night.  We'll see.

In other exciting news...

I put up a fence this weekend!  Just something temporary until I can save up a bit and do some landscaping and then put up a real fence.  Probably next year.  But until then, this fence will do.  My puppies didn't understand it at first.  They stayed within their leash radii until I walked out to the fence line.  But now they go all over.  There are some dogs around the corner from us, behind some woods so they can't see each other, but within hearing range.  So my puppies sit at the corner of the fence and they bark back and forth.  I have to say, putting the fence up was one of the best things I have done.  No more dogs jumping on me while I put on leashes, no more untangling leashes on a daily basis...it's heaven.  My next goal is getting all that landscaping out of there and seeding the whole thing with grass so they can really run around and play.

Novelle, Rochester, & Ollie sleeping (on the floor...yay!)

Rochester, Novelle, and Ollie getting a drink

Novelle sleeping in Hardy's tiny bed, and Rochester sleeping in my nightstand.

 A cute picture of Ollie laying on my lap.

Ollie, Rochester, and Novelle

General Housebreaking Update: I was extremely excited to write a blog today so I could announce that there had been no accidents for 24 hours...but then Rocky went and ruined that this morning.  Oh well, only 3 accidents since Friday!  So that is still something to be proud of!  And all 3 of my fosters have been going near the back door when they need to go outside.  They aren't making any noises or ringing the bells though, so I still have to be alert.  Hopefully I can get them ringing the bells before too long.

General Crate Training Update: We've hit a snag on the crate training.  Ollie is still hesitant. I still have to catch him, carry him to the crate, and then push him in.  And he still barks.  But not much.  Rocky and Novelle have backtracked slightly.  For some reason when I say it's time to go in the crate, they both get sad looks on their faces and they roll over like they want their bellies rubbed.  This morning I had to carry both of them over to their crates as well, but they went in on their own from there.

Novelle met a family on Saturday.  They were very nice, and I think they liked her.  But she was very shy, and so they chose to adopt another dog who I'm sure showed her personality much better than Novelle did.  That's going to be my real challenge with both Novelle and Rochester...getting them to be comfortable enough around new people that they don't just hide behind me the whole time.  P.S. Ollie does not have this problem...he wasn't even in consideration with this family, and he was still all over them.  Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get Novelle and Rochester to be more extroverted, I'd love to hear it.  I've already had them meet everyone I know, and after a while they're perfectly fine with them.  It's just that initial meeting (which is crucial for a potential adoptive family) that they aren't excelling at right now.

Ollie and Rocky cuddling on the couch.  These two really are best friends.

Novelle after I woke her up from a nap.  I combed out all the tangles in her hair on Saturday, so she is fluffy and soft!

All of my fosters cuddling with me.  Ollie on top, Rocky in front, and Novelle by my feet.

Ollie, Rochester, & Novelle

General housebreaking update: Housebreaking seems to be going well.  We have good days and bad days, but lately there seem to be more good days.  Nights are still the biggest problem, but they've stopped having accidents in the bedroom and instead have moved to the entryway (which is linoleum, so much easier for me to clean up) which is right next to the door to the backyard.  We have almost completely eliminated pee accidents (none at night all week!).  All three have been hovering near the back door when they need to go out, too.

General crate training update: Crate training is also going well.  I'm feeding them by putting a bowl of food in each of their crates, so that gets them used to going in without me shutting the door behind them.  Novelle was fine with her crate almost the minute I brought her home, so no major updates there.  Rocky was a little more difficult, but he's at the point now where I can call him over to the crate and just give him a gentle nudge to go in on his own.  Ollie was the most difficult, and I still have to carry him to the crate, but once we get there he goes in on his own.  Ollie is the only one who barks once he's in, but he's down to only barking for about a minute before he calms down.

Ollie is such a doll.  My dad, stepmom, and sister came to visit me on Monday, and they just loved him.  I think they would have tried to take him home if they didn't already have a dog of their own back at home.  Ollie tried to go with them.  He followed them out of the house and over to their car.  I had to scoop him up before he tried to jump in.  But he played with my stepmom and sister for a couple hours, and my sister even ended up taking him for a walk, which he did very well at.  He was so worn out, he was asleep within 15 minutes of them leaving.

 

Ollie taking a nap.

Novelle is my sweet little girl.  She's so calm and friendly, any family will be lucky to have her.  She loves to play with Ollie, but in the evenings she just finds herself a comfortable place to relax and she just lays there.  She usually lays down on the back of the couch, until Rocky and Ollie jump up and bother her, then she'll find a comfy spot on the floor.  She's very good at night: doesn't make any noise and doesn't try to jump up on my bed.  One gripe I have with her is that she likes to steal my crafting supplies.  I've been crafting in the living room, and I keep all my supplies on the end table where I thought they were safe.  Yesterday I found my spool of thread covered in slobber on the floor (I didn't actually catch Novelle in the act, but Rocky and Ollie were with me in the bedroom when it happened).  Today I caught her with a bag of sequins.  Maybe she just likes crafting as much as I do.  :-)  Novelle is also getting better around people.  When my family came up on Monday, it didn't take her long at all to warm up to them.  My stepmom was playing with Ollie, so maybe a little too high energy for Novelle, but she went right up to my dad and let him pet her.  She also sat next to my sister on the couch for a bit.

 

Novelle getting ready to play.

Rocky is my little troublemaker, but he's so cute I can't get mad at him.  He likes to be close to me at all times.  And if I don't want him close and tell him "no," he gives me his little smile and I just have to laugh.  He was still afraid of my family, and just hid behind me the whole time.  He would growl a bit when anyone would enter the room, but once I told him it was ok he would calm down.  He did eventually sit on the couch with my sister, so I would say there is some improvement there.

 

Rocky taking a nap.

And here's a video of all 4 of my pups standing on the back of the couch, letting me know the school bus was there to pick up the boy across the street.