Recall, grooming and Vivian

I am constantly amazed at how quickly Vivian learns things.  This week she learned recall.  Of course she is not perfect yet, but she does come when called and will also go to Greg when he calls her.  She runs like the devil to get to me and then takes a little “jump” and plop she is sitting in front of me.  What can I say?  This girl likes to stick her landings!   She also learned how to climb on the couch (poor Ike, his safe place is gone) and she finally has the “off” command concept.  So at lunch she ran to me when I called; sat and recieved a  treat.  Ran back to Greg, then turned around and waited for me to call her again.  Poodles are smart.   So now we are going to have to work on coming when called for praise and no treats or at least no treats everytime.   This weekend we are venturing into the grooming arena…tackling my very first puppy nose and paws clip.  We shall see how it goes.   I bought new grooming posts for the table so she won’t be able to get away from me and hurt herself…they are pink; no surprise there.  Well maybe I was a bit surprised that you can buy grooming posts in pink….what isn’t surprising is that I bought them but I had to, they match my pink clippers.  

Drying off on Dad's chair

Teething

Little Vivian is teething and therefore has had a tough few nights.  Friday and Saturday nights she has woken up at 3:30 AM and found it hard to go back to sleep.  When Vivian is not sleeping, nobody is sleeping!   When Greg and Ike were up with her, she got to rest on the couch next to Ike and that seemed to calm her down.   While up with me she just wanted to play; I must say Greg is definitely the dog whisperer in our household!   One of my poodle friends, actually a human owner of a poodle not one of the poodles, told me about freezing a wet dishcloth and giving it to the puppy to chew on.   This seemed to work well, except that Ike is convinced it is a “treat” and takes it away from Vivian to chew on himself!  So now I am freezing two dishcloths!  Yesterday Viv slept quite a bit and I found myself waking her up to go outside and play puppy games.  Seems a shame to wake a sleeping puppy, but it worked as last night we were only up once with her.  I am proud to say that she is learning “come” and when I say “kennel up” she runs to her crate in the bedroom, jumps in (literally, this girl has gymnast in her pedigree) and looks at me expectantly.  Crate training is your friend, really. 

I need a trim and a brush out

 

13 weeks and growing

Vivian is 13 weeks old today.  She went to the Veterinarian on Tuesday and was amazingly good…I don’t know why I was amazed, she is a poodle after all!  She is 19 lbs…I swear this girl grows before my eyes!  Pretty soon I won’t be able to scoop her up when she decides she just isn’t going to come in when I call her, so this week we are focusing on recall.    Last night Vivian experienced the garbage man bark.  Yes, Gentle Ike who really is quite quiet absolutely hates the garbage truck and when it is still up the road he begins to bark at it; a loud deep bark that always surprises me!   Last night he took Vivian by surprise, she jumped up ran across the living room floor jumped up onto the ottoman and immediately took another leap onto my shoulder.  If it had been a gymnastics meet she would have won a gold medal for execution and difficulty!   I don’t know who was more surprised by her jumping ability; Greg, Vivian or me!  Ike didn’t notice, he was too busy barking at the garbage men!

In Aunt Julie's garden

 

A fun week!

Might be time for a swim!

Vivian had a week of fun and learning and meeting new people.  Grandma came and Vivian decided that hanging out under Grandma’s chair was  a good place to be.  Both she and Ike liked  having someone with them 24/7, so Monday may come as a bit of a shock when it is time to go back to the old routine.  Aunt Dr. Nan visited too and brought treats of both the puppy, adult dog and people kind.  She has a magic laundry basket that always comes carrying goodies.  Friday we loaded up puppies and people and headed to Nisswa MN.  Yes, that is where we picked up Vivian just a month ago, but it also happens to be the home of Cousin Jane and her people and we needed to deliver Mom to my brother’s house.  Viv continues to be a good car rider and Ike rode as close to Grandma as he could get all the way there…wasn’t until the ride home that I realized we have a seat divider in the back that would have helped out Mom a bit.  Am hoping she has feeling back in her arm by now!  Cousin Jane is a tiny little thing, but fierce.  She showed Vivian how to manuever stairs, and how to play in the water feature.  Viv and Ike now want a water feature in their yard.

Grandma’s coming!

Vivian and Ike resting up for visitors!

This week is all about preparing for Grandma and Aunt Dr. Nancy coming to visit the pups.   Nan is a veterinarian so Vivian I am sure will get the once over and no doubt be declared perfect.  My mom loves standard poodles and was pretty much owned by a poodle from around 1965 until 2007 when her beloved Emma died.  Emma was Mom and Dad’s retirement poodle and went from motorhome, to house in the country, to Arizona, to cabin, to house in town with equal parts of ease and charm.  As long as she had her ball and blanket she was a happy girl.  I really do think that is the charm of a standard poodle; as long as their people are happy and they are with their people, they are happy.  Not to mention they are attention hounds and love to be looked at and petted by all they meet.  Vivian isn’t old enough yet to go out in public, but she is learning how to walk on a leash so that she is prepared for her first walk in town.   In the meantime, I see some Grandma lap sitting in her future!