Lyra - Week 1

Her lungs won't stop and her bladder wont' start.

Well, that's not exactly true.  But last night...that was a long night.  As far as pee, she goes several hours between.  I've never had a puppy like that, but it's only day 2.

She can climb out of an ex-pen in two seconds; this morning that landed her on my pool table.  So....back in the crate:(.  I havent' given up on the ex-pen but maybe she needs more time to settle before she'll be ready for it.

Interesting training observation; now that she's learning that her name and coming when called leads to a cookie, she's staring at my hands when she comes instead of interacting with me directly.  So, no more cookies on recalls unless she's "earned" it by coming away from something interesting.  If she'll come regardless, then I'll use play and praise,with the occasional surprise cookies.  I don't want to remove her pleasure in earning my enthusiastic praise, which she obviously values at this point.

When my kids call her, they give her cookies.  Seems like a good idea.

I've also noticed that "whining" is a very clear early indicator of stress.  Good.  I hope she keeps that, because it will help me guage her readiness for training at any given time or place.

Her attention span is about two or three minutes, and for that time she is brilliant. She can fetch objects, make tons of eye contact and happy smiles, and follow me just about anywhere.  After that she gets a bit overwhelmed and heads off to explore, or she starts to whine.  Mostly she follows closely.  You can see today's training session here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pC8V2E4180

She is done working for today.  The rest of her time will be exploring the house and yard, and heading out for another walk to take a look at the world.  Tonight I'm having people for dinner, and she'll have plenty of socializing then.  '

Now, if she'd only take that nap.