Week Two is Complete

Hi all,

Not much to write, I suppose.  Leeta's fitting in fine around the house.  Pretty comfortable with the set-up.  Likes the bed in front of the fireplace, just fine and doesn't mind the holiday tree near her.  She keeps looking at me while I decorate and fix up lights and stuff for the outside.

Thanksgiving saw us having six guests at varying times of the afternoon and evening.  All of them did well when it came to Leeta and she acted just the way she was supposed to.  She was quite comfortable on her bed while we all ate our fill of maple syrup-glazed turkey with "roasted roots" (carrots, beets and parsnips with pecans) homemade gravy, a wonderful mixed greens/veggies/fruit salad, great rolls. and for dessert a sweet potato concoction.  Simple but satisfying.

But I digress.

A good description of puppy raising

I wanted to share another blog with you.

It details the raising of the puppy from the time he gets separated from his mom until the day he headed to advanced training.  It'll give you the other side of Leeta's story.

The following link has the index of all the blog posts:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/family/14095199/detail.html

Pre-Thanksgiving Post

I just talked with Leeta's mom's (Koala) caretaker tonight.  She's very nice.  She was also Koala's puppy raiser and gave her up for her to go into advanced training.  Somewhere along the way, she was chosen to become a breeder and she eventually had 4 litters before she "retired" from being a breeder.  that was when her puppy raiser got her back for keeps.

While she was in the breeding program, she lived with another family who would take care of her while preggers as well as the puppies for the first 8 weeks of their lives.  Leeta was in the last litter for Koala.

I also found out that Leeta was a "light pink" pup.

There's a whole language to the CCI world.  Other than the commands for the dogs, I'm still really a newbie in this world.  I can read Dwarfish language in J.R.R. Tolkein's world though!

Anyway - a light pink pup in CCI terms would have a birth order of number 7.  When the pups are born they get marked two ways to keep them from getting mixed up.  This is important because temperament testing begins even before they get sent to separate puppy raisers.  The two ways are a simple collar of colored yarn and a splash of non-toxic paint just north of the tail.

The color/birth order goes: red, blue, purple, neon green, neon pink, brown, light pink, turquoise, orange, dark green, rainbow, rainbow, rainbow, and no color.

So Leeta was number seven in a litter of eight.  

And the "rainbow, rainbow, rainbow?"  Well each of the rainbow strings is reported to have a dominant color as in mostly blue, or a whole lot of yellow, etc.

Fascinating huh?

Leeta and the Kitten

OK, OK . . .

I'll tell THE STORY.

Why I didn't tell it the day it happened?  Well it was a busy day and I can't vouch for my intelligence level.  It was around the time I was seriously doubting my level of intelligence compared to Miss Leeta's

This happened the day we went to Olive Garden for lunch - our 3rd "real world" trip.  Here we were, feeling pretty good about going out with Leeta.  Days 1 & 2 went quite well and this should be pretty good considering much of the O.G. outing required Leeta to be sedate under the dinner table for an extended length of time and except for her occasional vocalizing, she was (and is) really good at that.

By the way it's 10PM as I write and she's dozing and snoring a couple feet away on her bed.  What do dogs dream of that makes them move their legs while they're asleep?

. . . but I digress.

So we're heading to O.G. and we're the first team to pull in and get one of the close handicapped parking spaces.  As I'm pulling in, I look towards the entrance door and see two CCI staffers sitting there waiting for us.  And in front of the door, on the sidewalk, is . . . wait for it . . . a kitten.  Not a nearly full-grown kitten.  A ball of fur size that I could hold without too much problem in one hand.

Now a quick bit of background info.  During Team Training, we had been told of a really useful tool that is used to get the dogs used to certain situations called a "set-up."  A set-up is sort of a controlled situation.  For example, say your dog snarfs some food dropped on the floor in a restaurant and you miss the opportunity to correct her.  Later, at home, you can recreate the situation and correct her if she does the no-no again.  Do that enough times and she'll learn.

So anyway, We're parked and I see the kitten.  I roll down the window and call outto  the CCI folks - "Hey, is this a set-up?!?"

Of course they swear it wasn't but I still don't know for sure.

So we get out of the car.  Remember we're the first ones there.  We're all supposed to line up to the side of the entrance and that would put Leeta within about 5 feet of the kitten.

Great.

Really - here we are getting the extra-special situation.  But as you can guess from the digging the kibble out of Leeta's throat event, I was not about to show weakness.  We strolled right up to the right spot while I was quietly hoping that the ktten would get a look at Leeta and run for the hills.

No such luck.  We get up to the assigned spot and I said "Leeta down" and Leeta hit the concrete.  I don't know if she just didn't notice the kitten or really had no interest in it whatsoever, but regardless, Leeta was a champ.  She didn't pay it any mind, even when the kitten decided to get it's fur up, arch its back and hiss.

I didn't know what to do, but Leeta wasn't doing anything so I figured that was a safe activity.  I'd say long story short at this point, but it's a bit too late.

So the kitten hissed and arched and backed up a bit because of Leeta's proximity.  I don't remember how long it was, but pretty soon, the kitten realized that the world in front of the O.G was becoming lousy with dogs and people, and it took off and went around the corner.

Leeta did exactly what we hoped she'd do in that situation though from that point on, I never really trusted the trainers ever again.

Kidding.  I'm kidding.

The little dog in the stroller that came up in Macy's while we were waiting for our elevator test however, was almost too much.

First Sunday at Church

Leeta did just fine today at church.  Susan sings in the choir, and I'm helping the choir out with a gospel song for next Sunday, so we were rehearsing before the service today and Leeta came along for moral support.

She did great and didn't even make any comments about the quality of the music!

The service was next and she was nice and quiet through it as well.  Only yawned a couple times and I'm sure Rev. Jay didn't mind.  He's got a black lab named Scooby at home.

And the best was yet to come.  Leeta rocked coffee hour.  All those tempting smells, the noise and the people wanting to be able to make a fuss over her.  We're so proud.  Tuckered her out though, as it did Susan.  They're both napping right now while I get stuff prepared for holiday decorations.