Zach is going camping

Packing the Motorhome is still a challenge. Not a much as when he was little but still a challenge. We want to be with him while in the yard, and that is where the motorhome is parked. But it is hard to bring things out and watch him too while going in and out of house and RV. We will be bring in the New Year with RV friends tonight. Hope no one has fireworks, our Westie does not like loud noises.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie"

More loose puppy teeth

Zachary lost his one tooth and has another one loose. I remember our former Westie having a tooth lost on him when playing with another dog. We noticed blood on him and looked all over him for a cut, then turned to the other dog. His mouth had blood and had just lost a puppy tooth. Guess he was cutting his tooth on our Westie.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie"

Zachary's tooth is loose

Noticed Zachary's front tooth is loose tonight. He seemed to want to chew more than normal today and just would not settle down. We would play, go out, come in, nothing would calm him. I finally just held him and he settled down. I then laid him above me and he laid as close to me head as he could lay. Finally he fell asleep. I think now all that rowdiness was out of tooth pain.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie"

Westies can jump

Zachary has been trying for some time now, but he has now figured out how to jump on things. As you can see there is no stopping him now.

Fascination with Doorstop

Today Zachary went into the bedroom and discovered the spring doorstop. I was putting away clothes and kept hearing bong, bong. I turned and saw Zachary hitting the spring doorstop with his paw repeatedly. He kept tilting his head and wiggling his ears. I could not help but laugh. Every corner has a new adventure for a puppy.

Day after Christmas

If you are like Zachary you are tired after Christmas. Actually Zach helped in the yard most of the morning. When he came in he fell fast asleep. The pic where his head is hanging off the couch was taken late Christmas Day. Zachary is a tired little Westie.

Merry Christmas

Zachary's 1st Christmas was one adventure after another. Grandpa and Grandma came over and saw a wired for sound Westie puppy. Zach was active today to say the least. Wanted to share some pics of the day.
Merry Christmas!!!

Our Westie has two houses

Our Westie Zachary has two houses where he lives. He has been mostly at the one with tile floor while we have been potting training our Westie. Since Zach has figured out potting outside for the most part, we are going to his other house which has carpet and a newly fenced back yard. It will be interesting to see how he behaves.
Tomorrow will be a new experience for him as well. It will be his first Christmas. Merry Christmas!

More Zachary Pics

Christmas Lights fieldtrip

We went to look at Christmas lights tonight. One area that was written up in the newspaper had several streets where every house had lights. Zachary had a good time looking out the window. He finally fell asleep and snored on the way home.

Chasing vacuums cleaners

I do not know what it is with vacuums and dogs. You can have a quiet dog playing by himself, but turn on a vacuum and the scene changes. Chasing the vacuum seems to come so naturally to dogs. Our last Westie did not mind vacuum cleaners, he chased brooms. It took patients and training for our last Westie. We know Zachary will eventually co-exist with the vacuum, just not today.

Haircut pictures

Before haircut

After haircut

Zachary went visiting

This afternoon Zachary went to see his Grandma, Grandpa and his Uncle Victor. He was so excited since he was the only doggie there he got lots on love and attention. Zach's Grandma and Uncle Victor also did a sit and down with him do so that he would get used to others giving him commands. He did well even when they were getting the cues and hand signals mixed up.

My training partner and I got together

Both my training partner and I have been working with Zachary separately. Some of the behaviors are the same and some were different. We noticed that his roll behavior had about stopped. We got together and watched each other train. It became very obvious a slight variation in our hand signals for his roll conflicted. As soon as my partner did the same hand signal for the roll as I did, Zach rolled on cue. It helps sometimes to make sure everyone in training the same way.
For more info:
Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit
Karen Pryor Clickertraining

Increasing Sit-Stay time

Zachary is fun to train, because you never know what he will accomplish in a training session. He has done well when I walked side to side and forward and back. Zach kept his eyes on me, watching every move I made. Today I tried on a whim to walk in a circle around him. I had to keep from laughing as his eyes stayed glued to me as I walked around. I was smiling big time, Wow, that my boy! I walked around him several times so it was not just a fluke.

For more info:
Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit

Zachary's Blue hat

Teaching Leave It

Zachary is very comfortable with the command Take It, so Leave IT is our next step. I started teaching this and Zach is catching on fast. I am placing a treat on the floor and if Zach turns his head away or ignores the treat he receives a click and the I give the Take It command so he may eat the treat he ignored. If he tries to take the treat, I cover it with my foot.
For more info:
Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit">Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit

Teaching Take It

I started teaching the command Take It. This is easy to teach and Zachary loves having permission to take treats. Zachary's next step will be to learn Leave It.
These two commands go hand in hand. Take it gives our little Westie permission to have something he wants. Leave it will help us let him know that he may not have something such as socks, shoes. Both of these are important to know for any dog.
For more info:
Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit">Getting Started Clicker Training for Dogs Kit

Getting Started with Clicker Training

I have been asked how I got started with Clicker Training. Karen Pryor Clickertraining">Karen Pryor Clicker Training has a wealth of info as well as books and DVD's. My training with Zachary went to a new level after I found her website.

Home from RV trip

We are home from our RV rally and all of us are tired, we played and relaxed hard. Zachary was such a good boy and he recieved lots of attention being not only a puppy, but a Westie. Unloading the motorhome is always fun with a puppy, because they want to help with everything.

RV Doggie day care pics

Thought I would post pictures of the doggie day I mentioned a couple days ago. Every day we were RVing and had a break to just relax, we put Zach and Roxie in to play. As you can see, others joined in on the play time. All the dogs play well together. They are playing in a double excercise pen between Zachary's motorhome and Roxie's motorhome.

Training in the motorhome

It was tough doing training in the motorhome, for Zach it was a new environment. Zachary had to go back to step one, on the roll and the down-stay. I was able to move fast to where we were prior to coming. That is one thing that all of us need to keep in mind when we change training environments. I have now started moving side-to-side and back and forth 3 steps, while he is in the down-stay position. So far all of the down-stays have been inside to keep distractions to a minimum.

Play fix for Zachary

It rained most of the day yesterday and finally cleared up last night. It was dark when Zachary and Roxie got their play fix. The rain finally quit and the doggies had cabin fever. We turned on the outside lights and let the puppies play. Both Roxie and Zachary slept well. It has been a challenge to walk the dogs in the rain and keep them out of the mud. This morning is sunny and the puddles are drying. The puppies will have lots of playtime today.

Zach is in heaven when camping

Yesterday Zachary played 3 times with Roxie, his girlfriend. We placed a double outside exercise area in between our motorhome and Roxie’s so we could have a safe area for the dogs to play. At one point we had 5 dogs in the exercise area and all were getting along. Zach had to come out twice because his tongue was hanging out and cool down. Zachary loves camping where he gets lots of attention and sees other doggies.

Zach is going RVing again

We are loading the motorhome to head out for a couple days with our RV club. Zach as usual wanted to be in the middle and was concerned on whether he was going. Zach loves the motorhome and adjusts well to camping. He will get to play with Roxie, although Zach is bigger than he was last month when they played.
I hope to be able to keep up my blog via a modem at campground.

Zachary is now 10 pounds 2 oz

Zachary went to the vet today to get his final set of puppy shots, including Rabies. He is now able to use the big scale, up until now they have been using the baby scale.
Our Westie puppy is now 10 pounds 2 oz, he is 4 months old.

Teaching the down-stay continues

Zachary is now doing the down-stay for 5 seconds. Our next step will be to start moving one step at a time away from him as the time increases. It is funny to see him actually plop down as fast as he can when given the down hand cue. I love training this little boy.

Tired from visiting

Zachary was so tired today, he slept most of the day. I guess his visit to see Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle wore him out.
Also trained stay in the down position. After three sessions he is holding down-stay for a count of 3.

Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa's

Today we went over to Zachary's grandparents house. We had a celebration of my birthday, but Zachary was not left out as you can see from the pictures. He had biscuits stuffed inside a tissue roll and wrapped. Our former Westie loved presents and our new Westie seems to enjoy them also. Zach also met his doggie cousins, and all will sleep well tonight. Zach was falling asleep on the way home. Ah! the life of a pup.

Adding a stay to sit and down commands

Zachary is sitting to a count of 5 without any concern. The plan has always been to add the stay when we were able to get the count of five. We will start out with a count of one for the stay. Our previous West Highland Terrier would stay for many minutes at a time. We increased his stay time slowly over several months. We look forward to Zachary being able to follow the same pattern.

Teaching targeting

Zach started learning how to target today. This morning it took a long time before he figured out what I wanted. I worked with him this afternoon and he seem to finally get what I was asking. Zachary must touch his nose to the target stick to earn a click. Clicker training is being used to train this behavior.