More Abbey week ending 30 May 10

Abbey is growing rapidly and has moved out of the baby phase into puppyhood. She now weighs almost 6 lbs and just finished her last shots yesterday. She is all teeth and gangly legs. Always ready to play.

She started puppy kindergarten (her recess video below) and I must admit she is not the star but a winning second (did I mention there are only two in the class?). However number one is a fluffy lap dog breed that sits around and looks cute. MY dog however has a veritable ocean of untapped skills and abilities. If you need any badgers or rabbits hunted, just call on her. No badgers around you say? Well, she could follow a days old underground maze to locate a trapped rat. Not high on my list of desirable traits but it is apparently very highly thought of in the the working dog world. I'm considering training her to do some agility trials with those very high 4" gates. But, she is alert, inquisitive, interested in everything and fearless. Besides that, she has the cutest face you could ever want to see. Unfortunately, interested and fearless makes training a tinsy tiny bit harder. At the "watch me" command she pretty much responds with "why should I, I see you all the time and look at all these other interesting things to explore.". She has "leave it" down cold but once she stops the undesirable action and gobbles the training treats down, she turns right around and goes back to that action. Not what was supposed to happen. She is a champion at the "sit" command however. "Come" and "stay" are not yet registering as any known word, or are merely being cheerfully ignored. Abbey does have a new fun game though. We call it elevator. She has learned to go up the stairs all by herself and is justifiably proud of this accomplishment. Unfortunately, she has not achieved the going down yet. She can manage one stair leading to flat ground by launching herself off of it with all fours going airborne, but this method does not work on more than one or even two stairs. So, she manages to get to the stairway landings just before the larger stair runs and then sits down and barks for us to come get her, private elevator service! She thinks this is so great a game that she will do it several times in a row after finding some minor excuse to go up the stairs, such as making sure the closet door containing the contraband shoes is still closed, or making sure her bed and night time toys are still safely upstairs. Sometimes Bill and I will hear the "elevator call bark" and wait to see if the other one of us responds :-) She has also discovered the game beloved by every dog I have ever known. When she is happily sitting on the couch or bed next to us, chewing busily on a bone or toy, she will move slowly towards the edge until "plop", said toy goes over onto the floor. Then she stares mournfully at you until you stop what you were doing (like writing this blog) and pick it up for her for the 19th time. That game never seems to loose its appeal!

Abbey 13 Weeks

Pictures above---with other dogs at a pet shop in Annapolis--outside picture with big dog is at Port Annapolis Boat yard----

Well, Abbey Xandria is now 13 weeks old, just past the 3 month mark. Boy, she has really grown in this past month. She now weighs 5 lbs 3 ozs and is skinny, skinny, skinny. We feed her but she only eats what she wants and then burns it all off at play. We are trying to guess how big she will get, our best guess is now about 10-11 pounds.

She is a full puppy now, playing, running, jumping, nipping at toes and fingers, and still eating every stick, twig and clump of grass that comes to her notice. She is always running with her nose to the ground following some scent only she detects.

She is still just as adorable as ever, even with the almost daily changes to her features and coloring. The black on her face is now receeding back on her forehead leaving only red behind. But, she still has her little cowlick on the top of her head! The rest of her body is still mostly black. Her legs oversize the rest of her body and she has that awkward puppy look.

She is just a joy to me (and Bill too!) but boy can she exhaust me in a day. We don't have anywhere to let her loose to just run so mostly it is me running behind her flying ears at the end of the leash! I try to give her a chance to burn off her energy. Usually we both collapse for the afternoon nap together :-). (A time I really love!)

Everyone still stops to admire and adore her. We even had a car driving on the road stop dead in the road, roll down the window and ask how old our "baby" was. What fun. She still loves everyone, young children, old people and all other dogs. She is getting better and better going out with me for social outings. We went to the Eastern Shore last week to stroll through a lovely old town and have lunch. I can't say Abbey "strolled" but she certainly sniffed, ran, tugged and chewed her way through town. She went into several stores along the main street and was a perfect lady, never chewing up the merchandise. I confess, I did pick her up in the glass giftware store though!

We try to get out to a town environment about 2 times a week, often ending with lunch at an outdoor cafe. The rest of the time we explore our neighborhood and get to know the dogs here.

She is still a little snuggle puppy when she is tired and I like those times most of all, when it is just her and me bonding together.

We started puppy kindergarten training today; boy, do we have some work to do!

Abbey in the movies at a Pet Fair in Deale, MD.