Christmas cheer

Another nice things about puppies: they don't find men in red suits with giant white things covering the bottom of their faces to be terrifying.  So many little kids do.

Here's Darby and Santa (one of the many cute scenes at the recent Christmas party at CCI's Oceanside headquarters). But SHE would snuggle up next to anyone!

What WAS she thinking...

...when she peed in the middle of the living room this morning?  I didn't catch her in the act, only the unmistakably hued puddle. But it had to have been Darby. Tucker would no sooner pee in the living room than he would catch and eat a baby.  Can it be that she simply forgot to pee on the walk that we had concluded only 5 minutes before?  That she forgot to check the back door for egress?  (It was open.) She's eleven and a half months old and hasn't had this kind of accident in months.

Surely, the ways of puppies are inscrutable.  (Mercifully, the pee was on the wood floor, and not the rug...)

Christmas Drill

The big news about this La Jolla Christmas Parade was not that it was charming.  It usually is, and the sunny skies and warm afternoon drew a big crowd, which made the whole event even more festive. No, it was that the CCI Puppy Drill Team looked far sharper and more disciplined than it did at the Coronado Fourth of July Parade. Darby didn't have much of a clue as to what was going on. But if she had, she would have been proud.

I credit Pattie Urie, the team founder and brains of our operation. It was Pattie who organized extra practice sessions throughout the fall, and she who found the snowflake "crowns" worn by the pups this year and their sparkly blue capes. She also alerted the pup handlers to white scarves available from Walmart that definitely made us look more professional.  It paid off.  Our lines were more or less crisp. We moved more or less in unison. The crowd oohed.

Darby, on the other hand, seemed to take it all with a grain of salt. There's always a long wait before our group gets to line up and march, which must feel agonizing if you're young and furry and fired with desire to do nothing more than play with all the other pups assembled. But Darby patiently endured the wait until we got to stand.

Marching down Girard Street, she seemed exceptionally well-behaved to me (though perhaps the drums and bagpipes and Clydesdales had put a dent in her normal exuberance.) One thing for sure: she stood out, being the only black pup among the drillers.

Another thing for sure: if Darby didn't think the drill team was the most fun she'd ever had, Tucker looked happy enough for the two of them. He didn't drill, being long ago released from puppy servitude. He just trotted along in the team's wake and wagged his tail and smiled and smiled.

Murderess

Considering how many puppies we've had, it's somewhat surprising that we haven't had any huge Christmas tree disasters ( i.e. one in which the puppy brought the entire gigantic tree crashing down.) Most of the dogs have been very good.  But Darby's making us more nervous. Already she has murdered one of my oldest ornaments, part of a set of Japanese paper figures that I brought back from my very first trip to Japan, in 1979. Here you see the attack, before...

 and after.

She also has liberated several other adornments from the tree but without destroying them.  We're trying to fight back with much closer supervision. 



Update

I need to update this blog more frequently.  I've failed to note that weeks ago, Darby began swimming daily, sometimes twice a day.  The plummeting temperatures in our pool haven't deterred her in the least.  Note the white object in the lower left corner is the nose of Tucker, who never joins Darby in water, but often hovers nearby, watching her with a mixture of horror and fascination (and sometimes enjoying games of trying to snatch the chicken from her sodden jaws.)

The trick for us is preventing her from dashing into the house, dripping wet.  Sometimes I towel her off, but usually she just air dries.  In a dry moment yesterday, Darby (and Tucker) switched to their festive red colors, in honor of the holiday season.  Sunday Darby, at least, will march with the CCI Drill Team in the LJ Christmas Parade!

Attention-getting

Steve and I continue to be amazed by the ways in which puppies can differ.  Darby, for example, tries to get our attention in a way that no puppy has before. Usually, she's very good and sits quietly within her kennel.  But at times she cannot resist communicating how badly she wants to be released. Then she'll pace, bone in mouth,  moaning elaborately and bashing her tail against the kennel walls.  It's really quite difficult to ignore.  Here's a sample:

Water genes

Since I posted my report about Darby's recent plunge into recreational swimming, Darby remains someone hesitant about taking a dip. She has shoved off and cruised around once or twice, but more often, she's been content to go onto the steps and just paw at the water. 

This is FINE with us (less water in the house if there's less water on the dog), but it seems clear that more swimming is in her future. Rick Spicer, half of the breeder/caretaker team who helped usher Darby into the world, reports that the other day Darby's sister, Dovie, could scarcely stay out of the pool while visiting another CCI puppy raiser -- including taking one dip at 6:30 a.m.

Also, Darby's mother, Ina, just had her second litter last Wednesday, and Rick says she would periodically take breaks to relieve herself and then "WALK THROUGH the water dish in the kitchen enroute back to the whelping pool?!?"  When he changed the water in the wading pool on his back deck, "guess who just couldn't wait to belly-flop in the pool?!  I didn't have time to take a picture - she jumped in, laid down, got soaking wet, looked up at me, smiled, ran to the back door, shook off & went right back into the whelping pool with her 6 kids - soaking wet, of course, but very, very happy!" 

Here's Darby's mom, Ina, with her five males and one female -- all of whom will get names starting with the letter "P."

No water in this pool yet.  But Ina would be happy if there was.

A Pup Amidst the Putters

Miss Darby loves balls.  Maybe not as much as the most ball-obsessed retrievers I've ever heard of. But still -- a LOT.  So it was a wonderful challenge to take her on the outing to the Pelly's miniature golf course (just across from the Del Mar Racetrack) organized by CCI puppy master and Mentor Supreme LeAnn Buchanan.

Darby with LeAnn

Around a dozen past and present puppy raisers and several pups were in attendance. I wound up in one of the groups playing on the surf-themed course, and it was lovely to be able to hand Darby over to other experienced hands every time it was my turn to play. By the end, I was even able to order her to stay while I putted my ball into the hole (all too often after 5 or 6 strokes).

As for Darby, she managed to deposit a truly gargantuan pile of puppy poop just off the 11th hole. But that was easily cleaned up (by me).  And to her credit, she never once disgraced herself in the presence of all those tempting little balls.

This is as close as she got to an attack.

Uh-oh!

Months ago, I thought Darby might turn out to be a swimmer.  Her digging in her water bowl made me think this.  But instead of extending that enthusiasm for water to the pool, she instead morphed it into a daily attack on her water bowl -- first the digging and then a wild flipping of the bowl and chasing of it around the patio. This has looked something like this:

 

This has brought only pleasure to Darby, who also taught herself how to drink from the doggy hose big.  But poor Mr. Tucker has never felt comfortable drinking from it, so every day after she attacks the bowl, he has to drink from the pool. (Until we remember to fill the bowl again.)

Still, she has shown no interest in REAL swimming, even at the big 4th of July  party in Coronado, where there was some wild canine pool action.  And then all of a sudden today, she started digging at the water from the top step of the pool. Steve called me and I saw her make a decision: to launch herself into the water.  This is what we saw then:

She cruised around for a while and seemed to be trying to get the hang of making turns.  After a while, she got out.  But hours later, we heard a splash and there she was again.

It's been 30 years since we had a swimming dog.
Yikes!

Darby's Eight!

Eight months old, that is -- today.  And I'm taking a pledge to be more consistent about reporting her progress. 

Like all of our puppies have done, she's succeeding well in puppy school.  She just completed the "puppy kindergarten" section two weeks ago, so next week we'll begin the "Basic" instruction (already she knows about 20 commands).

But in some ways, Darby is uniquely Darby.  Let me count them:

-- She's the retrievingest retriever I've ever lived with.  She pretty much can't go outside without snatching up something -- a toy or a ball or a flower or a stone or a twig or whatever's on the ground nearby -- and carrying it with her. I've had more ball-obsessed CCI pups (Brando first and foremost), but no dog who seemed to have more of a need to pick things up at random.  Often she'll bring them to me, and if I don't notice what she's got, she'll circle around and around, occasionally moaning softly.  She seems to want me to take whatever she's got.

-- She's the biggest barker of any CCI pup we've had.  The strange thing is she only barks at Tucker, trying to get him to play with her.  While Tucker once in a while can be provoked in this way, mostly he just looks morose at having his eardrums shattered yet again. Annoyingly, we have not yet succeeded in teaching Darby to Speak.

-- She's the only puppy we've had who every morning delights in pouncing upon her water bowl and digging wildly at it, spilling all the water and then attacking the bowl insanely.

At eight months, her worst habits are jumping up on us (and others) -- and baiting Tucker with that high-decibel barking. Like most of our CCI pups, she hasn't yet learned to verbally alert us when she needs to go out to urinate or defecate.  So although she's 95% reliable about toileting outside, we still find the occasional pile in a corner or puddle near the door.

But she's a sweet and charming girl and a champion snuggler who's easy to live with. We're looking forward to the next 8 months with her.
 

Graduation Day

Steve commented this morning on how different it was to participate in a CCI graduation ceremony with a graduating dog (rather than a puppy being placed). In the past, when we turned in Tucker and then Yuli and then Brando, we'd seen the little video presentation introducing the graduates (the dog recipients), and we'd been touched by their stories and warmed by the thought of how the dogs would be improving their lives. But yesterday, the persistent thoughts that assailed both Steve and me were: Who are these people who'll be taking Brando? Are they responsible? Will they treat him well? Will they love him?

The Sun-Times reports about Aimee and Yuliy's saga made it more than obvious that if anyone deserved a break, it was them. Bur deserving a break after suffering terrible reversals is not the same as loving a dog. So almost as soon as I was introduced to Aimee and Yuriy and Amy's mother Debbie (who came along from their home on the south side of Chicago and also learned how to work with Brando), I asked Aimee how they had learned about CCI and decided to apply for a canine companion. She told me they had long wanted a dog. Yuliy's childhood pet had been killed shortly after he had his accident, and that had come as one more bitter blow. But they hadn't had the time to train a puppy; to teach it to behave well. Recently, they'd gotten a house with a nice yard. And when they learned about CCI, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

What a great response, I thought. These are folks who realize that dogs need training and safe quarters. And in the conversation that flowed among us in the hour that followed, Aimee and Debbie sounded like they were enchanted by Brando -- charmed by his passion for balls and love of the fluffy toy they'd given him; warmed by his capacity for melting into you and suffusing you with his cuddly love. Yuriy can't say very much, but he made it clear he wanted to give me a hug. And his wife told me he had also insisted on giving at least a few verbal commands to Brando himself. She said Yuriy sometimes became very anxious, but when soft, soft Brando climbed into his lap or snuggled up against him in bed, Yuliy calmed. He seemed happier than she had seen him in years, she told me.

By the time the brunch ended, Steve and I were convinced that these were wonderful people -- the best anyone could want for the puppy they had raised.  And our reunion with Brando a little later reminded us of what a lovely soul they were getting.  I could see him recognize us and explode with happy tail-wagging wiggliness.  He looked ecstatic, laying on this back, getting his belly rubbed and his nose caressed.  He was the puppy I had loved for 16 months -- but also a calmer, obviously more mature and solid animal.

We got to walk him over to the mission and hang out with him till noon, when the graduation ceremony began.  He sat with us during most of the ceremony, laying calmly at my feet.  I barely registered most of what was going on.  I felt magnetized by Brando, who's made me laugh more and charmed me more than maybe any dog I've ever had.  I felt the moments slipping by, and I didn't dread the thought of giving him away forever, because I'd become convinced it truly WAS his mission to bring more love and joy into the home of Aimee and Yuriy (where great love is already clearly present).  But I still felt transfixed by the enormity of the moment bearing down on me -- like standing on shore as a cruise ship approaches to dock.

When they finally called our names, I was happy that the entire assembly rose to their feet and cheered for Yuriy as least as loudly as they had for the other veterans receiving dogs. Or was it louder? (or was that only in my imagination?)  When we handed over Brando's leash, he climbed up on Yuriy's lap and nuzzled his face and wagged his tail.  Clearly, he was in a place that made him happy.

It was a deeply emotional experience about which I could write much more.  But I won't.  I'll only mention the other most persistent realization we both took from the experience.  Over and over in the past few weeks, people have complimented Steve and me and told us how noble and virtuous and selfless we are to raise these puppies to give away to someone else whose life will be enriched. This has long seemed like a sham to us. The truth is that we raise the puppies because doing so gives us endless pleasure and entertainment, and also because we cherish the community of fine people who get involved with CCI. 

But it's also true that it IS difficult to say goodbye to a fabulous dog that you love a lot.  Now that we've gone the whole distance, I can testify that knowing that the dog is going to someone extraordinary, someone who will love the dog even more than we would, goes a long, long way to making it easier.    

Aimee's thank you note to us.

Brando's new family

We learned something about Brando's new family from this article in the Chicago Sun-Times:

They sound pretty special.  We'll meet them Friday.

A Good Match!

We got another call from Stu at CCI this morning, informing us that Brando's "pre-match" with Yuriy and Aimee has been confirmed.  He is definitely set to graduate Friday.

Seasoned CCI puppyraisers do talk about at least one dog who made it all the way to the day of graduation, only to bolt at a cat -- and be summarily released.  But I can't imagine Brando doing something like that. 

I also cannot wait to see him again after the brunch Friday morning that will introduce us to his new owners.  Once it's over, we'll get to spend about 20 final minutes playing with him and once again stroking his velvety, velvety fur.  And taking pictures that will assuredly be posted here.

Pre-matched!!!!!!

We got the call this morning that we've never gotten before.  It was Stu Wahrenbrock, letting us know that Brando has been "pre-matched" to Yuri Zmysly, a 27-year-old young man from Illinois.  Yuri, Brando, and Yuri's wife Aimee will spend a lot of time together in the next few days. In fact, kennel life for Brando ends today. He'll spend tonight in Yuri and Aimee's room. If they click well over the next few days, Stu will let us know next Tuesday. Then it's graduation here we all come (barring some catastrophic bad behavior on Brando's part.)

Stu didn't know any details about the injury that disabled Yuri, but the fact that his dog would be classed as a skilled companion (rather than a service dog) suggests that it was severe enough to rob Yuri of the physical and/or manual dexterity necessary to control a dog. (Aimee will help him with that.) We'll learn much more next week, assuming all goes well, when the puppy raisers meet the folks who'll be receiving their dogs at a brunch (on the morning of Friday, August 12.)

In the meantime, I've put together a "baby book" to share with Yuri and Aimee some of Brando's journey on the way to them.  To check it out, click here. (If you click on the square with the arrows in the lower right-hand corner, you can view it full-screen and advance by clicking on the arrow to the right of the main image.)

Countdown to Graduation?

There's less than one month remaining before the next class of dogs will be graduating up in Oceanside, and we have reason to hope our beloved Mr. Brando will be among them. This is unprecedented (for us!), and it feels like a very big deal.

We received our last report on him on July 1, and it seemed to indicate he was doing well at just about everything, with one exception.  His trainer reported that he "had a fearful reaction to an auditory event and had difficulty recovering."

But she continued, "He has proven to be a willing worker and executes commands nicely. His overall confidence level has continued to improve, but he can still become insecure and shut down after being unsuccessful at a command. The majority of the time, he is able to recover quickly with only a small amount of motivation from the handler. Overall, Brando is progressing nicely with his skill work. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Brando will be rotating through the August Team Training class."   (Emphasis mine!)

We know that unforeseen circumstances can arise, and he could still be released right up to graduation day (Friday, August 12).  But he's one of the most charming and lovable dogs I've ever known; it's getting harder and harder for me to imagine CCI would ever let go of him.

Stay tuned.

Another ecstatic outing

Better late than never: the CCI Puppy Precision Drill Team performed this year on the Fourth of July, Darby's 6-month birthday. This meant she was eligible to participate on what turned out to be a picture-perfect Independence Day. Drill team founder and organizer Pattie Urie created stylish patriotic toppers for all the dogs, and if our moves weren't quite as synchronized as we all would have liked, the huge crowd still seemed dazzled by the pups.

Still, that was work, for the dogs.  But the party that followed at puppy-raiser Jeep Rice's house was pure ecstasy.  Darby couldn't believe her eyes: at least a dozen pups to romp with, most of whom dove into Jeep's pool with gusto. To my surprise, Darby wasn't tempted to join them, so maybe she won't be a water dog after all (following in the footsteps of Tucker, Yuli, and Brando.) I know that's a good thing; having her taking dips in our pool at will would definitely complicate the already daunting task of keeping the house from descending into chaos.  But it looked like SO much fun!

Puppy play

Today Darby had the best day of her young (almost 6-month-old) life so far, thanks to puppy-raiser Linda Dreyfuss and her daughter Shana, who hosted a puppy play party at their home.  Located just 15 minutes from our house, it's the first CCI-related puppy play session we've been able to attend.  The morning was glorious, and a happy pack of pups turned out, racing around the yard at 60 mph and burning about 2000 calories per minute. Darby looked ecstatic to be in the midst of the action.

Fun activities included towering over 9-week-old Horizon (who still has those sharp baby teeth!)

A piece of an antler also won Darby's heart (at least that's what Linda said it was.  She says they don't splinter.)  Darby found it particularly fun to try to keep it away from the rest of the pack.

By noon, she was a tired but very, very, very happy girl.

A happy note

This past week, we received a happy piece of mail.  It was a note, signed by Brando!

"Dear Family," it began. "Hello from CCI! The other day we had group pictures taken. As you can see, we are all very well behaved. The food is good, the training is a lot of fun, but playtime is my very favorite activity. Well, Sarah and I are off to the training room now! Hope you are doing well! Puppy kisses."

If all continues to go well, we should get another report this coming Friday.  We'll pass it on!

What BIG teeth she has!

 Just one week shy of her five-month birthday, Darby appears to have just one puppy tooth left -- the upper canine on her right side.  All the other sharp little nippers have been replaced by beautiful white Big Dog teeth. 

On her right side, the emerging adult canine has pushed out the baby tooth.

This makes Mr. Tucker very happy, as Miss Darby is fond of biting the thick folds of skin and fur around his neck.  That's never pleasant, but baby teeth hurt most!

A Bath for Darby

We were probably remiss in waiting so long, but we only gave Darby her first bath today. 

Although she looks a little nervous in the photo, she was actually very calm and didn't seem to mind it much at all.  (Another clue that she may be a water dog?)

Brando News!

We got Brando's second "professional training report" Friday, and we felt encouraged.  His trainer, Sarah, reported, "Brando has been making significant progress in his confidence level and overall demeanor during training. He has become more willing to work and has been staying engaged with his handler when learning a new command. While out in public, Brando is alert and somewhat cautious for unfamiliar noises or stimuli that may startle him. However, when he does become startled, he is able to maintain position and recover quickly. Overall, Brando continues to learn at a slower rate but is progressing quite nicely with his skill work. His confidence level is something we will continue to build upon throughout training."

Will he remain in training long enough for us to get a third report (one month from now?)  No previous pup of ours has ever made it that far.

Stay tuned.

Four Months Old!

Today Darby is four months old, and to celebrate, she's moved into a big-girl collar -- hot pink because that was the color of the yarn placed around her neck shortly after she was born. I recently learned from the March CCI Southwest Regional newsletter that the colors always correspond to the pups' birth order.  In Darby's case, she was the fifth born (and the #5 pups are always hot pink).  In our hearts, though, she's #1  (or at at least our #1 household pup.  Mr. Tucker is #1 resident dog!)

Although we don't have any exciting activities planned to celebrate this little milestone, Darby enjoyed an exciting weekend as the guest of Susan Miller and Frank Novick. (Steve and I were up in Los Angeles attending the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. It's not a very doggy event!)  With Susan and Frank, Darby even ventured to a movie matinee.  Reportedly, she behaved like a little angel.  Not bad for a 4-month-old pup!

Darby with friends Susan and Frank.

What's Prettier...

...than a very, very shiny black puppy, lying in the sunshine?

Beats me!

Darby Performs with Drill Team!

Here's the CCI Southwest Regional Puppy Precision Drill Team performing at Balboa Barks yesterday, and there's Darby in the stroller at the back. So she's not exactly performing.  But at least she got to participate, thanks to Patty Urie, the drill team founder and organizer and owner of the puppy stroller, which she very generously has loaned to us.

We otherwise would not have been able to participate, as Darby is only 13 weeks old -- far too young, by CCI standards, to go out to so busy and dog-dense an event.  (CCI says that the pups' immunity isn't fully developed until they have finished all their initial shots, between 4 and 5 months of age. And the stimulation and intensity of large public events are considered to be unsuitable for the wee ones.)

But in the stroller, Darby was protected from most of the excitement.  I learned that she was even capable of sitting and staying nicely when I put the stroller top down.  This made it seem more like she was drilling with the team.  Darby says, however, that she's looking forward to the day when she can participate like a big girl. 

Three months and thriving!

Darby is three months old today and all is going well.  She had a very busy week, as Steve and I made a four-day trip to Phoenix and Darby stayed with veteran puppy master Connie Gonczy and her husband Steve. We were barely back for two days when Darby spent the weekend with puppy-sitters Susan Miller and Frank Novick (while Steve and I attended an all-day gardening seminar Saturday.)

We haven't been back to the vet's in a while, other than to receive her second round of puppy shots.  We're taking the advice of CCI's vet in Northern California and figuring if Darby doesn't have any symptoms of urinary distress, all's probably well.  She's sleeping through the night with no problems, and she's having practically no accidents in the house.  When she's out of her kennel and the door is open, as it is increasingly since it's spring, she will spontaneously go out to urinate and defecate.  The only recent accidents have come when a visitor arrives and excitement causes her to pee.  So life is vastly smoother than it was when she was a brand-new arrival, just a month ago.

She does appear to be getting more mischievous, whenever we turn our back on her.  Steve found her chewing a corner of a rug this morning, and she's discovered the joys of digging.  But every time she misbehaves in one of these ways, we invariably conclude that WE failed to provide proper supervision.  We constantly think of some words of Val Valentine, when we got our first puppy.  Something to the effect of: "Puppies are constantly learning, and they can either learn bad habits or good ones."

Here Darby attempts to murder my newly planted garlic chives.  Delicious!

Once, this was the plug on the end of the lamp in my office.  Then someone chewed it off.  (Fortunately, it was not plugged in!)  Who could the culprit be?





News of Mr. Brando!

The week ended with our first report card for Brando, who began his advanced training up in Oceanside in mid-February.  We were delighted to hear that he's in good health, but we were a bit dismayed to hear that, "Brando has shown to have a slower learning rate and typically requires extra repetitions. When unsure, he will shut down and become immobile. This behavior is directly related to his confidence level, which we will continue to try and build throughout training."

He always seemed bright and eager to please, to us!  We're hoping as he becomes more at home there, his true colors will show through and he will strut his stuff, as our mentor LeAnn always says.