Flying Puppy Goes to México: ¡olé!

Neko's greatest adventure yet: flying to Sayulita to visit my parents as a Service Dog (in training)!  Wow.  I need a vacation to recover from all of the nerves and anxiety I had with taking her out on such public display, but (as has become usual for Neko), she pleasantly surprised me the whole way!

Waiting in the terminal is boring for humans and Setters

Due to my nervousness (and lightness of pocket book), we had a connecting flight.  We started off pretty rough in Seattle with Neko piddling and pooping in the terminal even though I had taken her for a run and not given her any breakfast (we got to the airport at 3:45am for our 5:15am flight).  I gave Neko "Calm Dog" supplements (a mixture of valerian, tryptophen, ginger) and once we got on the plane she was out like a light!

During our layover in Phoenix, she was pretty talkative (I really, really, want the barking to stop!) and we were warned by the customer service agent that the flight crew would kick us off the plane if she was barking:  

By the time we arrived in PVR, I thought we were home free!  We deplaned (she piddled on the ramp, but not on the plane, thankfully!) and *STOP* there was a 2+ hour line at customs!!  I have been flying to PVR/Sayulita for almost 30 years and I have never seen it like this!  By this time, the humans were all frustrated and totally bummed that their vacations hadn't started yet so I just released Neko and let her charm everyone in line.  Miraculously, there was zero barking during this wait and everyone wanted to take her home with them!

I have never been so happy to see my dad patiently waiting for us!  Once we finally got out of the airport (no problems in customs/immigration - they just asked for Neko's health certificate, made me sign a register/book, and we were on our way) we were home-free to the best "doggie disneyland" experience Neko has ever had:

"smile pretty!"

Being such a good girl in the restaurant

Baby's first haircut (I know, you can't really tell)!

Mexican living is exhausting (notice Tav, the Irish Setter in the background)

Ball, ball, ballllll - don't wash away!

During the trip we gave Neko her first haircut, she learned to get along with Tav (the very alpha Irish Setter) and continued to practice her skills in public: greeting people, waiting in restaurants, "stay" - she was awesome!

The trip home was fairly similar to the trip down: she was much better behaved once inside the aircraft than she was in the terminals.  I, of course, was a nervous wreck until we got picked up in Seattle because I didn't want any negative attention and I wanted to be sure my precious Neko had a positive experience!

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this course (especially not if you have a social anxiety disorder), but now that it's over I'm glad we did it!

This week's challenge is trying to decide what to do with the Lady while I'm in Colorado next week.  I would just take her with me except my sister is going to give birth any day and she has her own pack (2) of Setters to take care of and introduce to a new baby - we don't need to disrupt their lives unnecessarily!

I'm hoping for a call back from a trainer who could board Neko for the 10 days.  Otherwise, she's off to a trusted friend for another week of "vacation"...

Graduation Day

Hopefully the first of many! Neko graduated from puppy kindergarden tonight!

The growing collection of Neko bragging rights on my office door!

I got my questions answered about the strategies for her sudden inability to sleep through the night (if you know she doesn't have to go to the bathroom, isn't sick, etc: ignore), "counter surfing" (clean off the counters, she will eventually stop the behavior when she doesn't find anything up there), drawing invisible "do not cross" lines in the house (be consistent, get up in their personal space without saying anything, they will back off and eventually realize you have claimed that space as yours)!  So much good information I wish this wasn't our last night of class!

There will be many more classes to come in Neko's training and we're about to have quite the experience to write about: she will be accompanying me to Sayulita this coming week to meet her Irish Setter "Aunt" Tav and be a beach bum!  I'm nervous because I have connections in the airline industry so we got approval for her to ride in cabin with me to practice her skills but there's a lot of pressure (I feel) for her to behave well because we certainly do not want to ruin airline travel for those who really need their dogs to be on the plane with them!  I am taking the advice of our wise trainer and have her travel kit ready (she would not be thrilled that we are doing this so early, I don't think), we're testing out some herbal "calm dog" supplements at work tomorrow, and we will definitely be writing about the experience.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Wish Neko luck on her travels :-)

A little "fear period" example

Neko is doing really well with her training.  She is extremely smart/quick and I have an easy time teaching her new things.  "Leave it", "Shake", and "Stay" are her latest learnings and they went very well.  She learned "Leave it" in class with the trainer who asked, "have you guys already worked on this at home?" making me smile because we had not.

The fear/anxiety stuff has been rough, however.  Her one bad habit (barking) is taking forever to improve (hopefully stop), but we do have some funny moments like this morning with a dolphin hand puppet:

Ah, Neko!

This is our last week of puppy class and we're getting ready for our first plane flight.  So much to learn!  We'll keep you posted.

Too many privileges too quickly...

My sweet Neko just keeps proving what a smart lady she is...and I've allowed that to be taken too far, I think.  Even in my small apartment I think I've given her too much license to run free and get into trouble - that ends today.  I can't let her get up to the bathroom door, on my bed, to the laundry pile (basically have to keep her out of the bedroom area of my studio/loft apartment).  She got into the cat food for the umpteenth time yesterday and she is sick, sick, sick today.  Totally my fault.  Also taking the blame for her piddling (again, this is the second time) on my bed!  I think she needs to stick to the "livingroom" and kitchen and be where I can see her 100% of the time.  I bought a baby gate and will install it when I get home today.

Plus, this will give Moose a dog-free zone in the house (poor old kitty - he seems stressed and bummed so maybe this will help!)!

Moose looks down on the dog shenanigans. He disapproves.

What a week!

Neko is 4 months old today (but 17 weeks, 4 days due to a few long months in there)!  Oh, what a week it's been:

Monday she was able to be in the office a total of 4 hours - I was so proud of her!
Tuesday was similar, but she had a bit of an iffy night because I went to do laundry across from the local pub, it was raining that day, etc so she didn't get as much time with me or as much time off-leash as seems to make her happy.  It tends to be rough on her if I do too much humans-only activity.
Wednesday was absolutely the worst day at work we've had in a long time!  There was piddling on her bed in my office, barking, people at work complaining, she was jumping all over me getting my favorite sweater dirty (not to mention almost unraveling it several times) - I cried.  And then, we went to puppy school, spent an hour on her stuff, played with puppies, worked really hard and she slept through the night from 9:30p until 5:30a!!!!!
Thursday was better - back to about 4 hours total in the office, walk at lunch, off-leash time after work!  We're continuing at-home training on sit, down, loose-leash walking, "settle" and she is definitely getting better!
Friday is always nice, right?  Everyone's more mellow (including Neko), work people commented on how much calmer/better she's doing and she again slept through the night until 5am *I let her into the bed at 5 and woke up to my alarm at 6 with a cat on one side of my pillow and a Setter on the other - bliss!

Why sleep ON your comfy dog bed when you can use it as a body pillow?!

Happy Birthday, Neko-neko chan!
Love you.

Kibble Nibble Update

Took a little video of Neko with her food puzzle last night.  Sorry it's so dark:

We had our second class session and Neko did really well (after having a very rough day at work it was nice for her to be so successful in class)!  She demo'd the "down" for class and the resident "teacher's pet" dog had a #2 accident on the floor during puppy-play-time, so all in all it was pretty funny in puppy school this week!

Neko also made a playdate with her new friend 'Sparkles' the English Mastiff puppy - they are incredibly cute playing together!! Hope to have some video of that soon.

Overall Neko is incredibly smart and willing to work - she improves every day and is spending more and more time with me in my office and other public places.  I'm very encouraged by her progress!