Dear Poppy

Poppy right in the middle of the fray, as usual!

Dear Family,

Hi all!  My trainers tell me that I’ve completed my first set of tests wearing my harness.  I helped guide my trainer while they were wearing a blindfold and it was fun!

I know I still have a lot to learn and soon we will be taught how to guide on stairs, elevators and even escalators!

We have fun when we are not working too.  The kennel staff gives us toys and we get to run around in a big group.  It’s a blast!   

Take care.

Wiggles and wags,

Poppy

Poppy's Counter Surfing

Who's down with OPB? (Other People's Breakfast)

Poppy has become a fiendish counter surfer. Haley's crepes. Dean's bacon and eggs. I turn my back for a second and they are GONE.

The solution? 8 pennies in a thoroughly dry soda can. Tape up the top and tie a kite string to the tab. Set a trap with a delicious piece of string cheese as bait and when she grabs the cheese the can comes tumbling down, making a terrible loud noise which frightens her and puts a stop to all this nonsense.

 

I thought we would get a good laugh, watching Poppy get her well deserved comeuppance. But the laughs were on us. The can met it's match. It fell off the counter and made a huge rattly sound just like we wanted it to.

Poppy couldn't have cared less. She didn't even startle. Just wolfed that string cheese down like a hungry Miami street dog. (shout out to Sam)

Sigh.

What now?

Six Months of Poppy

Lisa with Sally, Poppy and Buddy

My sister Andrea came to stay with us for a while and brought her dog Sam. I'll let her tell you how it worked out:

Sam the handsome newcomer

A d j u s t m e n t  T i m e  !!
Sam does NOT like Poppy!!! All her jumping, frolicking and ROUGH N' READY puppy-play chaps his alpha-male heiney! 

She's a handful under normal circumstances, and Lisa has a lot to do today. So now she's out doing it and my job is to just take care of all  4 dogs. Sally,  the would-be alpha who with her diminutive size cannot achieve dominance over Poppy, but remains vigilant nonetheless.  Buddy, who good-naturedly submits to Poppy's endless shenanigans, though he usually just lays there like a punching bag, letting her bite him to her hearts' content. 
Patience. We all have a lot of adjusting to do.  I'm staying in a really nice room!  Baby gated so that Sam can be segregated.

Ouch! Poppy has no mercy for Buddy

Life is all about change when it isn't about maintenance.

Buddy doing his level best

We cracked the code. 
Alone with these 4 dogs, including "new-comer," Sam, used to being the Alpha at home;  completely intolerant to 8 month-old Poppy, how to make them into a pack that can co-exist peacefully,   if not happily?   Poppy's style of play wasn't at all agreeing with Sam.

Poppy's style of play is pretty obnoxious

I kept doing "group" activities with all 4 for about 30 mins.  Running around the yard.  Coming back and and "sitting" for treats. Again and again.  Poppy just kept on trying to puppy-style play with Sam and he just grrrrowled and got all hateful - but I wouldn't let him go full-force.  But she is HARD-headed.  Finally I took them all to the front door, like, "what we gonna do now??" And poppy did her usual try at grabbing at Sam.  He'd had enough of her just gave her an unequivocal response semi- attack that shocked her out of her innocence. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to clearly state his boundary.  The light bulb went ON.  She backed OFF.   She steers Clear of him now.
I wanna see if Lisa notices when she gets back.

Lol. That picture says it allllll! Crammed in next to security blanket Buddy.....he's all wagging, she's all inhibited and embarrassed, once bitten twice shy no joyous tail waggin. Good, she needed that dose!

PS. Lisa noticed right away when she walked in the door.  "What happened??"  she exclaimed when she saw all the dogs gathered together by the front door to greet her and Haley when they got home.  The change was evident.   Poppy was keeping a respectful distance,  and Sam wasn't bristling.   A knew understanding had been found.  Although Poppy snuck in a few hopeful kisses while taking their evening walk...she hasn't completely given up! 

Surprise! In the end Sam couldn't resist Poppy's charms.

"Someday I will be a real guide dog." - Poppy

Kennel Camp at GDA

Poppy went to "day camp" at Guide Dogs of America today. It looks like jail but the kennel director promised me that the puppies have a great time playing with each other. Then when they come for guide dog boot camp at 16 months of age adjustment is a breeze for them. One of the problems GDA encountered was that many dogs were dropped from the program because of "kennel stress". Since they started the "doggy day camps" the kennel stress has decreased substantially!!

Five Months of Poppy

First time at the beach

Poppy went to the beach and experienced the ocean for the very first time. It was HEAVEN for Poppy. She loved the sand and the smells, the waves. We walked for 2 hours in the surf and if I had unhooked the leash I think she would have thanked me in English. The experience was so magical for her.

Perfectly matched playmates

A lot of love

Poppy requires a LOT of exercise and a LOT of play. She doesn't even notice when a dog tries to dominate her. I don't think she realizes how aggressive she is. Her BFF is a pitbull named Lucy who is the only dog who can match her energy. They have a ball together.

Dean and Poppy at Poquito Mas

Thank God we started taking Poppy to restaurants early on because she really absorbed good restaurant behavior.

Lindsey took Poppy to school with her

Lindsey took her to Chaminade High School and Poppy went to class with her. I was prepared to go pick Poppy up if she was distracting or unruly but she surprised us all with absolutely PERFECT behavior.

Pretty Poppy

Poppy is TERRIFIC at riding in the car

Not allowed on the couch

Poppy and Buddy L O V E

Four Months of Poppy

Happy Half Birthday Poppy

Poppy is six months old and growing up to be a strong healthy young lady.

She is curious about everyone and everything. The most important thing to her is love. In the morning she wants hugs first, not food or to go outside. She follows me from room to room in the house and goes with me everywhere. Except the mall, she is puppy non grata at the mall until she learns to go pee pee and poo poo BEFORE we hit those marble floors.

Haley walks Poppy around the golf course

Poppy takes takes a 3 mile walk with me most mornings around Balboa Park. She likes romping through the grass and is fascinated by the geese, ducks and swans.

Poppy faces off with a swan hopping like a kangaroo

Her favorite dog training class is Sha Newman's class on Sunday mornings and she is actually pretty good in it. Sometimes we put the dogs in a sit and walk away, humans walking around the circle. So far Poppy hasn't been the one to break the stay. After class the dogs have an off-leash romp and get all their energy out.

Poppy and Danny romp after class

We went to the GDA Puppy group this month and Poppy did their skill course, which had several different stations where the puppies demonstrated their ability to listen, wait and understand.

Poppy's A+ report card from GDA ;)

The great thing about these GDA meetings is that we get to see all of Poppy's litter mates. Cute cute cute puppies.

What happened to her leash?

Poppy's favorite thing to do it CHEW. Dean's classic car, the rugs, the walls, my flip flops, yoga block, many leashes and hundreds of chew toys. At some point during this short car ride Poppy managed to turn her leash into a useless pendant.

Poppy Got Spayed

Awww, my sweet Poppy girl having one new experience after the other. Just spent three days in the hospital kennel and is coming home with stitches.

Poppy got spayed! They don't wait around at GDA. The lady who grooms my other dog told me that when you spay a dog this young their head doesn't grow anymore so they end up having a small head and fat body. The girls at GDA laughed out loud when I told them that. I really hope that's not true. The dogs I saw at graduation looked like they had normal heads.

Poppy is accepting of the cone. She has no expectations that life is supposed to be cone free so she has no resentment about wearing it. But she doesn't like it. She won't go on the grass with the cone on so she is pooping and peeing in all the wrong spots, like the living room, the flower beds, or right in the middle of the walkway.

She's on drugs too, Rimadyl, which is an anti-inflamatory. I think it makes her loopy.

The cone has turned her into Puppy-non-grata. It hurts like hell when she runs into your shins! I saw Buddy finally growl menacingly at her. He has to let her know that she is hurting him. She followed me around the backyard where I was gardening and each time she sniffed a newly planted flower the cone dug it right back up. Sigh.

Is this what recovery is going to be like?

Ahhhh, much better!

Bad Girl Bad Girl, Whatcha Gonna Do?

I knew I put three blueberry muffins on that countertop. So when I came back and there were only two I figured that Dean ate one. Then I realized that Poppy was no where to be found. She had scurried upstairs and was busy wolfing down that muffin, paper and all.

"NO POPPY!"

likely to re-offend

Poppy Goes To The Store

We took Poppy to Target. She found a toy dog that barks and moves.

Why is she so obsessed with corners?

 

Poppy Sitters

Babysitter needed

Dean and I attended a heating and air conditioning convention in Las Vegas for Kilowatt. (I bet you didn't even know there were such things ;)

Thankfully GDA gave me a phone list of people willing to puppysit and Debi and her husband Ken were available. Debi and Ken had raised Jazzy for GDA so they knew all the Do's and Don'ts of puppy raising.

Debi with Poppy and Jazzy

Poppy became fast friends with Jazzy and got to meet all the the people at the Harley Davidson store where Debi works.

Home again with Haley

Poppy reunited with Buddy and Sally. There were lots of kisses, jumping and chasing.

Home again home again...

Thanks Debi & Ken for taking care of Poppy!

One Month of Poppy

POPPY

Poppy has been with us exactly one month today and she seems to have tripled in size. She is too cute in her little GDA cape. Everyone who sees her has to stop and adore her. Many times the first words people say when they see her are, "I love you."

Chillin' in Lisa's arms

I think that by taking Poppy around with me in my life I am teaching her that the world is a friendly place but actually I am learning how much love people are walking around with in their heart.

Our waiter fell in love with Poppy

We have two twelve year old dogs. A lab named Buddy who is a puppy at heart but is crippled by hip problems. Sally is a territorial Maltese- poodle mix.

Three way tug-o-war with Buddy and Sally

Buddy and Poppy

The first thing Poppy learned when she came to our house was to respect Sally's food and toys. Sally gave poppy the most hostile cold shoulder for about a week until she realized that poppy liked to play. Slowly Sally accepted Poppy as part of the family. Buddy was easy. He accepted Poppy right away even though Sally was thoroughly pissed off at him for it. I'm so grateful because when Poppy wakes up at 5:30am she has too much energy. Buddy and Sally play with her for hours.

 My living room is covered with dozens of dog toys. I'm hoping my rugs, furniture and shoes will be spared if I give Poppy enough distractions. She has already chewed the corners of two rugs. :-(
Her favorite thing to chew is Buddy's tail. She is either wrestling with Buddy or rampaging through the living room playing tug-o-war with Sally. They both like to chase Cuddles, our bunny, who lives in the yard. Luckily there is a pen that he can run to which is safe from the dogs.

So far Poppy hasn't shown any interest in the pool. The shower is a different story. She jumped right in the shower with my husband her first day here and she has been curious about it ever since. Luckily she seems to understand what "No" means.

Poppy is cooperative about riding in the car. Sometimes.

 Already Poppy is an experienced car rider. She goes with me to drop Haley off for school and to pick her up and many errands in between.  Our family goes to restaurants often and Poppy is great about resting under the table while we eat.

Lisa

Dean

Haley

Lindsey

Poppy sat in this planter without peeing for a good 5 minutes before I took her into Whole Foods where she promptly "got busy" in the bread isle.

Poppy is good at keeping pace with your stride when out for a walk.

Poppy's restaurant behavior.

Sleepy Baby