Sunday, we finished our errands, got the house ready for company and completed our puppy preparations. Nancy's flight from Chicago arrived a little late but I successfully collected her at the airport and we headed home. We talked about my wants and needs for my next service dog candidate, what works with Laurel and Hardy and what isn't perfect. I would say that I want Laurel's drive with some measure of natural self-control (of which Laurel has none; all of hers is learned which means it can be unlearned pretty quickly and needs to keep being taught and reminded) or that I'd like Hardy's level of natural self-control with some level of drive. Although he shows persistence in some situations, he really has no drive. Obviously, finding the right puppy is much more complicated than this but this is a good place to start. Nancy seemed to understand what I was saying and asking for. Then we released the hounds so that she could meet Laurel and Hardy. I liked Nancy very much based on her understanding of Laurel - she seemed to think she was a great dog despite her tendency towards obnoxiousness and failure to respect anyone's personal space! She also seemed to recognize that although Hardy is a really great, special dog, he isn't necessarily the perfect dog for me and why I find him difficult. Although Hardy is biddable and wants me to be happy with him, he is so laid back that he requires a lot of cheerleading and I find that exhausting. Although some people claim that their boy dogs will "walk through fire for them" while their girl dogs won't, I absolutely believe that Laurel would walk through fire for me while Hardy might if he happened to be going in the same direction anyway (although if there was smoke involved, he would head in the other direction)! He would be the child whose big ambition was to hang out with his friends at the Mall on the weekend - I wouldn't have known what to do if one of my children had been like that either; luckily, they had dreams and ambitions that kept them motivated and driven! Without a doubt, Hardy was a perfect service dog candidate, just maybe not the right one for me. In all fairness, of course, we don't know for sure how much Hardy's heart condition has affected his energy level his entire life. Anyway, I felt very relieved that Nancy understood that and that she was willing to consider all my other activities in finding the next puppy for me.
The 9 year old from Kentucky and his mother arrived shortly after Nancy and I finished my evaluation; he is a totally delightful young man and his mom is terrific as well. They did their interview with Nancy while we got dinner ready. When we finished dinner, we let Hardy out to visit; he and the little boy fell in love! He told us that "he would take Hardy home if we would let him". Nancy assured him that she was looking for a puppy just like Hardy for him! After a great visit, we went to bed anxious for the next morning!
Unfortunately, when we woke up at about 6:00, we found out that the little boy had had a very rough night and that he and his mom were headed to Hillcrest Hospital's ER. About 8:00, we headed off to Donna's. My friend, Mary Berr, owner of Canine Affair met us there to help with the testing. The weather was wet and miserable so we had to stay inside the house. It was very interesting to see the tests and to realize that although there were differences among all the puppies, there weren't any real extremes. I think Nancy was very impressed with the entire litter. In the end, Nancy found a different girl and boy prospect for the 9 year old and me. I was amazed and delighted to realize that my female prospect was the little girl that was so connected to me when I visited and the male was the big boy I had fallen in love with! Donna and I were pretty impressed that Nancy had chosen the same two puppies we had thought might be right for me!
We took all four puppies to Tractor Supply with about five people to keep track of them! We had put little collars on them for the first time ever and then added a leash when we got to the store. All of them walked through the parking lot without any problem. We noticed that my girl prospect was following the other female puppy instead of moving around on her own. The boy puppy handled everything calmly and confidently. That was the deciding factor for Nancy (and me as well). Nancy also thought the other male prospect was the better fit for the little boy and Donna promised to hold him until we heard how the boy was doing and arrangements could be made to pick him up!
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| Chaplin & Pitch during part of the CARAT evaluation |
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| Mary Berr holding Chaplin while he visits with Pitch |
Chaplin and I took Nancy to the airport yesterday afternoon - we were having thunderstorms and Nancy needed to get home since she is leaving for Japan today. Chaplin rode quietly in his crate all the way there and back - of course, it was an exhausting day! We introduced him to Laurel and Hardy in the back yard at first and then everyone came indoors together. Neither of the adult Labs seemed really thrilled to have a new puppy. Although they love puppies, they didn't seem delighted to have a new one moving in with them. I'll be using food to train Chaplin and I'll give some to Laurel and Hardy at the same time which should make the idea of having a puppy around much more positive! You have to love food motivated Labs - it's much easier to bribe them that way!
We spent the rest of the day letting Chaplin settle in a little. We Skyped with our daughter so she could see him and we could see our "GrandPointer", Soapy! When we went to bed, I had Chaplin's crate up on a table right next to my bed so that he could see us and I could put some fingers inside the wire if I needed to. He went quickly and quietly to sleep, woke at about 4:00 to go potty and then right back to sleep. We all woke up for the day at about 6:30 in the morning. Good little Labrador!
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| Chaplin |
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| Chaplin playing with fleece toy first day home |
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| Chaplin sleeping on the sofa first day home |
A couple times today, I took some of Chaplin's food and worked on some very basic behaviors with him (sit, touch, down, stand). I let Laurel and Hardy participate as well and paid them liberally with treats. Chaplin is already becoming much more popular!
I made the X-pen smaller by half since Chaplin was going to the back of the space and urinating there. Now that it is 2 X 2 instead of 4 X 4, he's letting us know when he needs to go out. He also screams when he wants out of his pen which makes knowing which is which more difficult. If he's yelling because he wants out, we don't want to respond but if it's because he needs to go, we want to take him out. Knowing which is which will be the key!
This evening, we have Chaplin's first puppy class at Cleveland All Breed Training Club. Our friend, Ann, did it recently with her young dog, Hartley and recommended it. There is some time for socialization and then working on basic skills leading to the AKC Puppy STAR designation. This is the second week of the session so we'll have a little catching up to do! Obviously, since so many things have happened to Chaplin since yesterday morning and developmentally, there's a fear period about now, we will be very careful not to overwhelm him tonight!
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