Bad Mama...

I find that I'm not very good at updating Leo's blog. Part of that right now is that we aren't in any classes. I haven't been able to find a single trainer whose schedule for the classes we need works for us. I'm starting to get worried as summer is nearly upon us and Zach and Kane won't be home as much to take him to class. Debating on whether I should enroll him and take him anyway...except I want him to work with the kids. It's a real catch-22 for sure and especially since Leo seems to be confused about "sit" versus "down." I'm not sure why but he wants to down more often than anything and getting him to sit is a real challenge. He instantly goes into a down. At first we struggled to get him to sit from a down and now the only time he seems to really just go into a sit without a down and stay that way is at feeding time and, in particular, when Big Sis is being told to sit and he copies her. Something which is really cute, by the way, if not annoying that he follows her instead of when we tell him to.

That said, that is where things are at right now. His healing and leash walking still needs work. He resists when I want him to walk close and tends to just want to pull out about 5 feet away, nearly at the end of his leash, but to the side. He also has a bad habit of going back and forth around you instead of staying put on one side and I discovered his concern over walking across grates and metal in the sidewalk.

Here are some pictures I've taken of the cute boy over the last couple of weeks. One thing is for sure - Leo is a complete joy and a wonderful addition to our family. It's like he's always been here. In fact, I was told in no uncertain terms that he now needs to come to work on Wednesday, too, or his PPL (paid personal leave) will be docked.

Hanging out with Big Sis....

Not concerned about her size i close confines. 

At work...sleeping on Simba whom he is often mistaken for when lying in the doorway to my office.

Leo with Godzilla...Godzilla, believe it or not, provides a great training opportunity for "leave it" because Leo would really like to play rough. 

Pre-Agility

This is some video I took last week while starting to work with Leo on pre-agility moves. I figured it was a good way to gain focus, burn some energy, and keep him relaxed by doing things at home. Very simple, nothing fancy, and as you can see, he's highly cooperative. This is just a short snippet from quite a bit of practice and footage we got.

Coughing, hacking wierdness

Leo has had an interesting week. It started earlier in the week with a strange hacking sound he was making. It wasn't a reverse sneeze. It wasn't a cough, per se. It was just a strange noise like something was stuck in his throat. He would stand with his hand hanging just so slightly and hack and snarfle and make these strange guttural noises and then be done with it. A little while he might do it again. The first night it happened, I was obviously concerned. It was just about bedtime and I was debating on taking him to the emergency room. I checked his color and it was fine. He kept breathing and, while he was hacking like something was wrong, he acted fine otherwise. He was playful, ornery, chewing on stuff, drinking, and happy. So, I ended up going to bed and just checked on him a couple times during the night (He sleeps on the bed so easy enough to do.). He was fine but this strange behavior continued. Finally yesterday I decided he should see the vet. I was becoming concerned about collapsing trachea, although nothing had happened to traumatize him and he's never worn a collar as long as I've known him.

Off to the vet we went around mid-morning. Fortunately they are a walk-in clinic and were able to get us in right away. The doctor examined Leo and, amidst comments and exclamations about how sweet, well-behaved and a-typical he is for a Pomeranian, she explained a bit more about collapsing trachea. It wasn't quite what I thought so it was good to learn more. She tried pressing on his trachea a bit and wasn't able to get a response and send him into a 'fit.' She said it was possible it was collapsing trachea but they really struggle to try to get dogs to exhibit the behavior at the clinic. Plus, she said even when they x-ray, unless the trachea is actively collapsing, they cannot definitely determine that's it. She said they would do the x-ray if I wanted though, but she said it might be a mild case of kennel cough. Based upon the discussion we were having and knowing Leo has not had a kennel cough vaccine yet, I decided it was worth trying the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory to see if we saw a change.

So far so good. Although when we walked out of the clinic Leo immediately went into a fit and then just a short while down the road when we got out at the outlet mall to walk a bit he had the same thing happen again, he went through all of today without a single fit. He's only three doses into the antibiotic but I have a feeling that was what he had going on. I hope Vegas stays well, and it looks like Leo is on his way to kicking this little bug that attacked him.

Basic Obedience Graduation!

Leo has graduated from Petsmart's Basic Obedience class! On Monday night Zach and Leo finished their eighth week of class and graduated. They will be moving on to another obedience class and we now have a goal ahead of us. Leo is an attentive learner who really wants to please. While he could definitely do with less desire to be with "the mom" and focus on his current handler, he is trying and starting to come around.

A Fun Day at the Dog Park

Leo can run! During baseball practice yesterday evening and during a several hour stretch without rain (Yay!), the dogs, Zach, and I headed to the dog park. Leo loves the park and spends time alternately chasing the big dogs and just sniffing around the perimeter independently. Yesterday a lot of people took advantage of the temporary reprieve in rain and dogs came and went the whole time we were at the park. Leo hung around with Zach and I quite a bit, intermittently meeting and checking out new dogs.

When Omar showed up, a Bulldog, he and Leo took an interest in each other. Before I knew it, this is what was going on:



One would have thought Leo would have been tired last night. Of course being the little "midgey" dog that he is, that wasn't the case. Nonetheless, he ate a good dinner after having so much fun.

In addition to his crazy zoomies, we spent some time doing some obedience work in the park. We're fortunate Leo is so good about behind handler focused. We worked on sits, downs, staying, and coming. People in the park were pretty impressed - as was I - that he could focus at all in such an environment.

Very pleased

Last night Vegas and I went to practice agility and I left Leo at home. I didn't want him in the dirt in the arena potentially getting his neuter site all dirty and germy. I had gotten home from work and let him out to go potty so I knew he was "emtpy." It was a gamble to leave him loose in the house for several hours but knowing he's small I figured I would try it. I came home about 2.25 hours later and Vegas and I entered through the garage. As soon as he heard me he was barking - something we'll be working on. I told him to quiet down and thankfully he listens well so did. Boy oh boy was he excited to see us. He was doing the Pom dance wiggling from stem to stern and dancing, prancing, and just generally being a hoot. Boy do I love this little boy. So cute and funny. He is just happy, plain and simple a very happy "kid." Anyway, I got him to settle down and checked out the house and he had not done anything. No accident, nothing chewed, nothing. I be he just lay on Vegas' bed the whole time we were gone. Great job, Leo!

Week 4 Class

We hit the halfway point on Monday. The kids are with their dad for the week so I had the pleasure of taking Leo to class. The focus of the week for class was stay, come, and dental health. We practiced stay a few times just for  few seconds with the goal of being able to get the dog to sit and stay in position as you gave them the treat after a count to three or so. That mean no lifting the front feet off the ground for the treat, etc. Leo did really well! We have actually worked on stay a bit at home because he tends to follow me everywhere and I hate tripping over him on the stairs etc at night in the dark. Sooo, still work to do but it was a great start.

Then we went and loosh leash walked around the store while the instructor took turns with the students and working on coming when called. I had to roll my eyes at this one because that is one thing that drives me absolutely batty with Leo. I can have the tastiest treat (except raw for meals) and call him and he will not come. He sits and stares at me. We thought perhaps he was associating "come" as negative so we tried "here" but that did not work either. Surprisingly though, in class, he did it really well when it was our turn. Now it could have been that the instructor was holding his leash and he wanted to go back to me, but nonetheless, I was able to reward him for coming right away. I also started using the clicker. We hadn't initally as he was jumpy with the clicker sound but now he seems desensitized to it.

At the halfway point, I must say I am excited for us to continue Leo's training. In fact, I think that after we get toward the end of the second series of classes, we may start looking for some competitive obedience matches to enter. I think he'd be really good. He is flashy and moves well and is learning very quickly. Leo is one eager to please little guy and I am so excited he is a part of our family.