Update...Finally...

Wow, so I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up on this site! Well, what can I say since my boyfriend graduated fire academy and is now a fulltime career firefighter. We definitely had to celebrate his graduation this past weekend.

But now on to Boscoe! He's doing great. Finished his last round of shots last week. He weighed in at 17lbs. at the vets last Wednesday. He may be 18 or 19 by now, not sure. He doesn't eat a lot when it's hot out. He's doing great though. Loves the water, loves retrieving. He can pretty much handle the big dog bumpers now lol. His obedience is going well also. Come is getting solidified. He will come to my whistle, I need to get him on the real whistle for it though. We're still working on heel but he pretty much sets himself up sitting at my side to wait for his retrieves now. So I'm using that to my advantage. He knows "off" as well. I release him for retrieves on his name. I tell him "fetch it up" if he drops the bumper on the way back, it's starting to sink in. He's definitely not a dog to hold items when he gets to you though, he tends to drop his retrieves when he gets to me. Plenty of time to deal with that later though, I just want him to want to retrieve now. The greatest thing though is that he has started looking out waiting for me to throw the mark. It's awesome, I really think he'll be a super marking dog. He makes himself wait until the bumper is almost on the ground before he wants to go.

Well, I guess that's all the updates I have so far. He's a little terror. He's had so much energy lately it seems nothing I do can alleviate any of it. He played with everyone at the firehouse though tonight so hopefully he will be a little tired out. He's a great pup and I'm please with him for being around 14 wks. I will get some more pictures and try to keep everything updated more often.

Swimming Finally

Boscoe swam for the first time today finally. We went for a walk and he was getting hot so I stopped to let him drink out of a little creek off another road. It was deeper in the middle and I don't think he meant to end up swimming, but he did. And he didn't freak out when he realized his feet weren't touching anymore. Hopefully he'll do it again now. He was hilarious in the water, biting at the droplets he splashed up. He also found something to be scary (I could not for the life of me figure out what) because he was barking and half growling with his little hackles up. It was the first time he'd ever done that. But again, a fearless little guy he is.

So today was the day for firsts I guess. He found the big dog bumpers in the house when I was cleaning and wanted to play with them. I figured he was about big enough to start carrying them so we went outside and did a little bit. The grass was too tall in the field (guess I gotta get mowing!) so I went to the driveway so he could see and so it was easier to pick up the bumper. We did a few marks then I threw a little puppy double, no more than 10 feet, most likely less, on either one. He did awesome! He had a hard enough time trying to get a good hold on the bumper so he didn't switch or anything. He was rearing to go too. He loved it, he's such a great pup. I only did two or three I think and then threw him a few fun bumpers and put him up. He was jumping for the bumpers in my hands as we walked back to the house.

It's hard because I want to take pictures of him but I'm the only one out there to throw and hold him so the pictures must be sacrificed now and then lol. But he's coming along great, I'm very pleased. We will probably do a little heel work in the house tonight - partly just to keep him occupied and stimulated as he just keeps oin going - he's been doing great at it already.

Here's the little devil finally. Right around 12 weeks old. His favorite spot to sleep is on the brick, must be cooler. I tried to get a good picture of him standing so it would show how much bigger he has gotten, but yeah right, like he would stand still. Just a little while before this we did only our second session of teaching sitting heel to date. He did great. I kept is short to avoid him getting too distracted. He needs some help getting into the right position but I'm trying to bait and lure him with the treat rather than physically manipulating him. We'll keep going and see how he does, so far so good though. We also did some "retrieving" in the house since I haven't been feeling too well. I've been doing some fun stuff with him like throwing the bumper over his head and leaving my hand up like how you teach a back cast. Also doing the same to the side. I've started throwing it then holding him, getting him to look at me, and putting my hand back up or out and letting him go so he'll associate my hand with going in a certain direction. So today, for the heck of it, I put the toy/bumper out when he wasn't looking. Then I sat him in front of it, got him looking at me, and put my hand up. He got it! He did it a couple times and then I stopped and just played with him. Not that this is by any means an indication of things to come, I still think he's incredibly smart and am excited.

Ok, so I'm still working on the new pictures...but things are going well with the little squirt. I did one heel session with him a couple days ago, it went very well, I was pleased. I used the treats, no leash, and he caught on easily. Every now and then he'd sit off to the side too far but hey, he's 12 wks.! I'll get some pictures up soon hopefully, he's certainly grown since those last ones!

Boscoe wants to be really clean...

So Monday night Boscoe decided it would be a great idea to taste test the mop water that was left out. It contained an unknown concentration of lysol...bad idea puppy! So we made a surprise visit to the vet's on Tuesday (also read expensive - but well worth it lol). We got some meds that he hates taking and some prescription canned food (probably the most expensive part of the visit). He was lethargic on Tuesday and wouldn't eat or drink at all. By Tuesday night, after some meds, water, and canned food, he was rearing to go! He's pretty much his normal self today, very bouncy. He got to retrieve his goose wings today and loved it! Doing well with the retrieving, his distances are about 10yds right now, I don't want to push it. He weighed in at 14lbs. at the vets, still growing like crazy. I will get some new pics and put them up after the wedding this weekend probably. He's doing great though, sit is awesome and he will come to a whistle now too. I think he's getting started off right so I'm very happy and can't wait to see what he can do. So, just a word to the wise, they can get into worse things than you can imagine when they're out of sight for even 5 seconds!!

Another update...pictures to come soon!

Last Wednesday Boscoe got to go out to the store and hang out. It was too hot and he doesn't like to swim yet but he was active so we had to do something. I put him on the scale and he weighed in at exactly 13lbs. I'm sure he's 14 now. He's doing well, still a little monster and full of energy! Retrieving is going well too. I have increased the distances some and he doesn't even care. He's pretty steady for a pup, waits until the object is almost down before he wants to go. I hold him just a little and let him go just after he wants to. A friend was playing fetch with him and was holding him too long and he started to whine. It just served as a reminder why we don't steady them young, I don't want to create any bad habits. He's a good pup though and I'm looking forward to seeing him progress. I have a wedding to attend this weekend so after I recover I will be doing some check cord work and teaching heel. I'm excited, it should go well. I kind of heel him already but haven't started attaching a command to the action. It should be fine though, he should breeze through it.