"The Big Bed"

This weekend, Secret discovered the magic of "The Big Bed," -- and decided that she quite liked it up there! I broke my "no puppies on the bed" rule a little early... But only briefly, and she was back into her crate again last night.

Sunday morning I woke up around 5:30 and decided to take the dogs outside, hoping that this would buy me time to be lazy and sleep in a bit. On a whim, I decided to let Secret come into bed with me & the boys, figuring that she'd just learn the whole, "you move, you go back in your crate" lesson.

Well, she totally surprised me by immediately sacking out next to me and didn't move for over two hours! Who would have thought I'd be able to sleep in until quarter to nine with a 14 week old puppy in the house? ;o) What a good girl -- she obviously appreciates the comfort of the bed. That said, she will continue to stay in her crate overnight for a while, until the night time routine is more ingrained. We have only recently begun to sleep all the way through the night, so that is a start!

This was our first weekend staying home and I wondered how difficult it would be to keep Secret entertained. We went through several chewies, but she was a very good girl and we didn't have an accident all weekend long! We had several short outside play sessions per day, where Secret finally showed some interest in the little fabric frisbee -- I think she found it much easier to pick up, and therefore more fun to chase.

We did noon-time training sessions to give her a mid-day meal. We did plank work on Saturday and had big improvements! Secret is confidently going up and down the angled board now and performing a very nice two-on/two-off position (still with a little bit of luring). We also worked on her "wait" command, which is also improving.

Our trick work on Sunday was basically review of previous tricks. The bow is *really* coming along, to the point where I'm able to start fading the lure a bit. She's also made great strides in "roll over," but she definitely prefers to roll to the right! Spins to the left and right no longer have to be lured around, but they could be a little faster. :o)

One "trick" Secret picked up over the weekend that I'd rather she hadn't is jumping off the back of the couch... She decided that was a fun game to play while chasing after Kaiser yesterday, so I had to put an end to that. This morning while getting ready for work, though, she went off the back and onto the linoleum in the kitchen -- not as nice as landing on the carpet, she found. Sigh. It likely didn't feel great and she sulked over to me for cuddles. Hopefully it made an impression on her, but I doubt it!

Secret got bath number three with the Ketochlor yesterday. She continues to be such a good girl in the tub! Her skin is really clearing up now and the corn oil I've started to add to her meals is helping with her dry skin issues. She'll be gleaming in no time.

My agility class is tonight, so I plan to do more playing in the arena and some foundation skills. I'll have hoops out that we can play with, and I will likely compress a tunnel for her to explore.