I'm struggling to stay afloat this month. We had the swine flu, mostly recovered, but now have a cold that is hitting us all (except Katie) a good bit harder than usual. Jake had his quarterly cystic fibrosis checkup yesterday, and he did fairly well, but they're concerned about his weight, so we have to feed him up and go back in two months. He was up to 67 pounds when school started, but lost a couple just from not having free range access to food all day long in a more unstructured environment. While he has access to food always at school, he's often so busy that I don't think he eats unless it is at snack or lunch. So he had been down to 65, which they would have been happy with, but the swine flu knocked off a couple more, and he looks thin and they want him fattened up. So, more cases of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to buy, more ice cream, heavy Jersey cream for his oatmeal in the mornings.
Burke is doing amazing, and we tried our first venture into a Staples yesterday with the harness and two leads - one for Jake and one for me. Well, hm. Didn't go so well. Within a few feet, Burke was so excited he was standing on his hind legs! Silly poodlehead. He is such a prancer that way. I got really embarrassed and shuffled him to the car, although the woman at the checkout was very supportive and I think I could definitely have just worked through it with him. I think he was mostly blown away by the hugeness of the space, and overexcited since he had spent the previous several hours in the car waiting for us.
That's been my main obstacle with public access training: he goes with us somewhere, then is hyped up by the long car ride or having to wait while we do something else first. It is also more work than I thought to manage both the dog and Jake, although I got really excited about the prospect of Jake holding Burke's leash while I hold the other one - it felt more "normal" for Jake in a way, than me holding his hand when he's nine years old (and if I don't hold his hand, he runs up and down the aisles). I could see Jake being regulated in a way, by the presence of the dog and holding his leash. So that was pretty cool despite Burke's antics.
It just seems that practicing in public areas is going to take a lot of time and patience. We'll get there. We also need to work more on leash, and I think I said that before. I'm sort of daunted by how much time and energy it all takes. Maybe I've bitten off too much, and need to relegate Burke to companion dog status and consider a trained service dog. I don't know. Right now, today, I'm tired and sick, and it feels like an unachievable goal. Then again, he's a five-month-old puppy.
We have found that he's terrified - I do mean terrified - of bubbles, and it's rather hysterical. It started when the kids got a couple of little containers of bubbles for Halloween. As soon as Katie blew them, his eyes went wide and he ran upstairs and hid behind Jake's bed. Now all you have to do is say the word "bubbles" and his eyes get all wide and scared. Then we hadn't blown them in a few days, so the word "bubbles" wasn't having much effect. I'd grab the bottle and - yep that did it. Upstairs he goes.
I'm trying not to overuse it or terrify him, but I've tried to desensitize him and that hasn't worked. We had a sudsy sink full of dishes and Katie took some of the suds on her finger and put it near his face - that terrified him too! It's kind of funny to have this seemingly unflappable dog who has this unexplainable fear.
Back to Jake, his newest obsession is numbers. Counting, or just saying "seventeen," which is his favorite (eighteen follows close behind!). I found a talking calculator that I had gotten from Southpaw this summer, and forgotten to give him for his birthday. He loves it! He has been pressing numbers then the "repeat" button which will read them to you as numbers versus digits (so if you punch in 123 it will say "one hundred twenty-three," although you can have it read "one two three" also if you prefer).
He's been doing really well overall, and his relationship with Burke is developing nicely, too. He loves to play with him, and when they were in the car yesterday he was tickling his chin and petting him. I think he likes that in the car, Burke can't get mouthy. I think he will like Burke even more when he no longer mouths at all. Soon. Right?
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