Puppy antics

 

Hoarding toys on the stairs is just expanding the general idea of hoarding toys.  During rainy periods, the staircase becomes an exercise venue for the puppy.

I found a human artifact, and I'm seeing if I can destroy it before Mom comes to take it away.  Mom debated over whether she even wanted to take it away.  It's an old-fashioned map on paper, of our state's highways.  How old?  Our governors serve 6-year terms, I think.  This one has the photo of the third past governor.  (It did get rescued, by the way... we can't let her learn bad habits just because I don't particularly care about this item.)

This is a level 3 food puzzle, but Mom set it up so that Ember doesn't have to "unlock", only slide the little covers.  I'm thinking that might drop it to a level 2.  

Ember figured it out and got ALL the kibble hidden within.

As long as mom puts the chair on the deck, I should be allowed to swipe it, shouldn't I?  Besides, my cousin Carl has a chair all his own on HIS deck!

All these photos were from Friday.

Saturday morning

It was raining during the midnight potty break, and Ember showed signs of not wanting to hunt for a poo spot.  Mommy did the math in her head... she had a good poo at 7:30 p.m., she would probably last the night, so we came back in and went back to bed.

Mommy did not panic in the morning, but took her shower and fed the cat in the now cleaned up laundry room before taking Ember out for her morning drill.  Ahhh! The peace of routine.  A good pee/poo, and back inside for breakfast.  We're working on "drop it" as a command, as well as continuing with "off" and "let it go".

The first successes with "drop it" started to happen from the cat tree.  Drop the toy, get a treat!  How easy is that, Little One?

They moved to the staircase, with a couple of different toys.  We are working at it.

"Leave it" seems to work OK (for now) on outside walks and in the back yard with most things.

We are starting to have little hug sessions at the end of a "sit", "down", "stand" sequence, when mom is seated in a chair or on the couch.  Ember decides that she's done all three, and she needs to set us up for the eventual "off" command.  She's so wiley!  But mom has to admit she loves these "pet the puppy all over" things.  And then the "off" gets her a treat.

When I first got her, I didn't do a lot of lap-sitting sessions, mainly due to the nipping thing.  But as she has got better at responding to "let go" of mommy's clothes (or wrist, or shoes, or ankle), she gets a little more lap time.  And mommy gets the huggles that goes with lap time.

Ember was a good girl and stayed outside of her den all the way until mommy's breakfast was cooked.  Here she is anticipating her morning blueberry!

"See what a good girl I'm being, Mom?"

Life is good!  Spark on!