Junkyard Dawg

Hey guys-it's Brian. Well, if you know anything about me, you know I love sports, and more than that I love Georgia football. So, we had to get Orianna started off right. The first game of the season is tomorrow, so we taught her how to call the dawgs and she's ready for tomorrow's game! GOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

Just Call her Chew-bacca

Look out world, here comes Orianna, and she's hungry for life! Ok, well, maybe not hungry, but definitely in the mood to chew...everything! You have to watch this one every minute...she like to chew anything she can get her mouth on, including flip-flops (people who come over to swim that don't know to pick them up have a surprise!) or the sides of chairs. And she's sneaky about it...she will look all sweet and innocent until you turn your head, and that's when she'll grab the chair leg. But she does know don't and will stop when corrected, it's just that she tends to go back for more if she thinks she'll get away with it...which she's not going to...sorry, Annabelle!

Annabelle has also decided that she will take up "lonely barking" as a hobby in her crate. Now, this is tough one because she never does it, even if I'm not in the room with her, if she knows I'm still CLOSE. It's when she hears me leave the next room that the "fun" starts. So, I have had to get sneaky...I PRETEND to leave the next room and then hide just beyond the doorway where she can't see or hear me, so she thinks I've gone...then, when she barks, I leap into action from behind the door with my bitter apple spray (we don't use vinegar/water because she actually seems to like the vinegar...). Point one goes to the puppy raiser!

She's doing good with command work. She is learning "Wait" and is doing very well with it. She will do a "Wait" while I place her bowl down with her food until I release her, which is great because usually this is one of the times when the pup's are LESS keen to Wait, when food is involved!

Well, that's it for now. We'll do some more updates later this week!

Nylabones are for Amateurs

Don't let that angelic face fool you...

Hey, so I know that CCI puppies are supposed to be the picture of obedience, the perfect listeners. And I can play that role...but deep down inside, I am a REBEL! I love to run, the wind blowing in my face, ears flying behind me! I love to chew everything...the chair, the rug, you name it. I get corrected, but I laugh in the face of correction. HAHA! I laugh! I spit in its face! HA! When I run, I am demon-like! Posessed! HAHAHAHA (evil laugh)! I throw off my gentle leader and stomp on it in protest!

Well, okay, okay, so maybe SOME of that was a little exaggerated, but I really do like to run and chew. But maybe I exaggerated a little about not caring about corrections...I really don't like to have my cruff shaked or chin bopped...and I didn't ever really spit. Spitting is gross. And so maybe Mom won't let me take off my gentle leader...and maybe I don't act like a demon...

LOL- you guys bought it, didn't you! With a mom that's an author, I'm learning more than sit around here, huh? Haha. Love you all! Orianna~

Breaking News

Ladies and Gentleman, this just in: Colby Atkins can now exclusively report that Orianna has done her very first "down" without help! We go to our field correspondent, Sawyer for details:

Yes, Mom, I was standing by in outside the baby gate when this incredible story took place. I had gotten out of the recliner when I smelled the hotdog, because I the smell of food could bring me from the ends of the earth. But I digress. Anyway, I saw the little black one just as she slid into the sphinx position, and it was truly marvelous. I'll send it over to Roxie now, who is standing by in the newsroom...back to my nap. Roxie?

Yes, yes, I am just overwhelmed with emotion. The mongrel layed down. Whoopie. I do it all day. What's the big deal? Talk to someone who cares...Boo?

Well, I, who am Boo, of course, realize what an accomplishment this is! Her first down! I am so proud, Mini-me! So proud! I only wish that Daddy was here to see...he's out of town for business, unfortunately, but we will surely let him know! We shall overcome! Good work, Mini-me! I know some commands are tough, but I knew you'd get it eventually...back to Mom!

As you can see, the whole family is thrilled (with the exception of Roxie) at this thrilling turn of events. More on this incredible story of triumph at 5, 6, and 11...until then, bye bye for now!

Granny Grunt

Hey everyone! Boo here. Thought I'd give all a little update on little Mini-me.

She's doing good. She's a fun little toy to have around, ya know? I like to play with her even though sometimes they put a baby gate between her and me if mom's not in the mood to referee :-) I play with her a lot, though.

They used to call me Granny Grunt before she got here, but they call her that now, because BOY does she grunt. It's so funny! She sounds funny...I laugh at her!

I get jealous when Mom trains with her sometimes because she gets to have little pieces of hotdog when she is practicing down. Mom says she has to use the hotdog because Mini-me isn't interested enough in food for it to lure her to do any commands, but that hotdog does the trick! I think Mini-me would start walking on her two hind legs like those weird PEOPLE if they gave her a piece of hotdog for it!

Well, gotta run. Mom's coming and can't let her catch me on the 'puter or it'd give away my secret...that I can read! If she ever found out, she'd probably start making me edit her book for her...

The Casual Diner

Hello, hello! Orianna is doing great, and this week we've made some progress. She is finally not pawing at her gentle leader so badly, although I can tell she still loathes it deeply (which I think you can tell by the picture). We've made a lot of progress on wait, and she will do a "wait" when I put down her food bowl before I say "release" when she goes to eat. She is still a casual diner, and is eating only about two cups a day, but this is better than when she first arrived, when she was only eating about a handful of food a day.

The fact that she's not so interested in food is a bit challenging, because it's hard to lure a pup to do a command if she's not interested in the lure! So, I've been experimenting with treats to find something she'll really be interested in and "follow" the down. She is good at sit, but when I try to get her to follow a treat to do a down, once the treat goes down, she just stops worrying about it. So, I've tried several brands of treats, but I think I may have to bring out the big guns: the hot dogs. I had some success with this with Rogue by putting some kibble in a baggie with a few hotdog pieces just enough to give the kibble an extra yummy flavor. So, I think that may be where I'm headed with Annabelle.

So, I'm off for now...see you soon!

The Dreaded "Down"

Hey! It's me, Orianna! I have just finished breakfast about a half an hour ago and I got on to let y'all (yes, "y'all"...I live in Georgia now!) what I've been up to!

I am starting to think these people I live with are a little bit crazy. They try to get me to DO things when they say certain words (yeah, I know it's weird...). But they just seem so happy when I actually do it, so sometimes I humor them. I mean, it takes so little to make them thrilled, who am I to deny them the pleasure of watching me put my tush on the ground? And who would have thought that people would CHEER when I PEE???? It is so weird!

But there is this one thing they keep doing that doesn't make sense to me: they will take a piece of food and put it at my nose and then between my paws like they want me to follow it. Well, obviously if it is between my paws, I can't get it, so I just ignore them. But the fact that I don't follow it just doesn't seem to make them happy the way it does when I put my tush on the floor...so I am still trying to figure out exactly what they are wanting me to do. I'll let you know how it goes...I mean, if any of YOU know what the heck is going on, please let me know because I am clueless!

And another weird thing they do is put this blue thing on my nose sometimes (I like to think of it as the Nosinator, because like the Terminator, I am at its mercy)...well, frankly, it's quite itchy and uncomfortable, but they correct me if I try to scratch it and tell me how good I am when I don't, so I have to leave the Nosinator on until one of the people decides they've seen me wear it long enough.

Well, I better go. Time to play with Sonic, my squeaky hedgehog!

Daddy's Little Girl

Hey Guys, it's Brian. So, I'm finally getting on here to post about Orianna (yeah, I know, it's about time!). I have to say she's a cutie. It's so much fun having a puppy in the apartment again. Most people know this, but in case you don't, Boo is a Daddy's girl. Well, Annabelle is, too (Colby would probably argue with this, but I'm right, trust me).

Annabelle reminds me a lot of Boo when she was a puppy. She acts a lot like her. The thing that reminds me most of Boo that she does though is how she grunts when she sleeps! It cracks me up! Boo has always done that, and me and Colby have always joked and laughed about it, and when Anna started doing it, it was just hilarious. She really is a mini-me for Kekah! Well, that's about all I've got. I don't write as much as Colb, sorry!

Sits and Hurries and Downs, Oh My!

Hello, all!

Well, little Annabelle has had a good week! Command wise, she has hurry, sit, and kennel down pretty well. She does hurry for pee extremely well, the second she is told the word...the poop hurry takes a bit longer, but I can tell she understands it because if I tell her hurry she does immediately start SNIFFING to find a spot, so that's something anyway. We are working on down now, which is proving to be not as simple as sit was, but it's still very early :-) She is still so young, so her attention span isn't that long, so obviously we keep the training sessions short, usually ten minutes or so at a time. I'm doing mealtimes mostly since she eats best by hand.

She got to meet my freelance editor's kids today (2 girls), and she did very well with them. She kept all four feet on the ground while greeting them, so I was quite proud. She even performed a sit for one of the girls, which was good.

She is still as precious as ever...she gets the hiccups a lot, and I tell her that if its true that the hiccups means you are growing that she is going to be the size of an elephant! But so far she's not a very large elephant...