Loft bed

I purchased a loft bed when I moved into my current place, as it's a tiny apartment. Chimera quickly adjusted to being carried up and down the ladder. Sometimes I put him up on the bed when I have boarding dogs that he doesn't want to be around, and he just chills.

There's a ceiling fan that is positioned halfway over the bottom side of the bed. It's a very good thing that Cai is short. I have gotten my head and shoulders whacked multiple times when I wasn't being careful.

Larger than life

Sherry knew that despite our twice-yearly trips to dog events plus 1-2 family vacations each year, I've never bothered to buy my own luggage. I've always just borrowed from other friends and family. For my birthday/puppy/house warming party, she surprised me (and boy was I surprised!) with personalized hard-sided luggage!

It's a picture of Chimera from when we were waiting our turn at our first TDAA trial. Practical AND sentimental; it's a wonderful gift. Thank you, Sherry!

How did Cai react? He sniffed it, suddenly jumped back when he recognized the face of a dog, then realized that it wasn't real and ignored it.

Success with vet training

I am SO proud of Chimera. At our last training session at the vet's, he held still with the chin target while getting his temperature taken in his ear - a first! Then he did the same while the tech shined a bright light in his eyes - another first!





Next items to work on:
- More with blood draws; we're to the point that we need 3-4 hands to draw blood from a front leg so I'm not sure how often we'll be able to practice this. (It was explained to me that one hand needs to roll off the vein and the other needs to gently pull the paw forward in order for the vein to be in the right spot. And then of course you need at least one more hand to work the syringe.)
- Teeth/mouth examinations. (He currently allows this and is fairly relaxed but I'd like a stronger +CER.)
- Settling onto his side and staying, for examination of his side or belly, or for getting an ultrasound or x-ray done.  (I need to do more work with this at home as well.)
- Getting poked with a needle for a vaccine. (I'm not totally sure which party of the body various vaccines are given in, d'oh.)

Giant little sister

Even though I have a Papillon now, and had another Papillon before that, and a 20 lb mutt before that, I have long been lusting after a giant breed dog. I love that Cai is drivey and energetic, but I wanted to enjoy having a big, cuddly doofus at home as well. This past weekend, my dream came true, and Cai met his new giant little sister. Her name is Terra, and she is a 14 week old Irish Wolfhound.

I had expected Cai to be very annoyed with her and to have to keep them separate most of the time. However Terra is (so far) very sleepy and mellow, and so Cai ignores her except when he is guarding something or she comes close to knocking into him. The guarding is a problem, as it has always been when I have other dogs around. He guards his crate. He guards his preferred toys. He guards food. He guards me when he's on my lap or getting petting. I'm working on it by preempting the guarding and praising him when Terra approaches, interrupting the moment I see a stare or lip curl, and giving him a time out if I don't catch it and he snarks at her. We are practicing taking turns for petting, play time, and training. I also encourage him to move away and hang out in his crate if Terra is playing with the current boarding dog and he's getting annoyed. (He also often goes into his crate on his own to avoid the mayhem.)

Photobomb

 
So far Terra respects him and gives him space, but is not afraid of him, which is perfect. I will be watching carefully in case she gets too assertive as she enters adolescence and feels like she can throw her weight around. I am prepared to keep them separated when unsupervised for their whole lives. Terra should be at least 120 lbs when full grown and Chimera is 9 lbs. Accidents happen between dogs and I have to keep my little guy safe.

In lighter news, Cai is actually getting MORE attention and training time this week because I want to make it up to him that I brought this puppy home. We are super rusty in our Rally-FrEe skills and I want to fix those up and get back to competing. Our new weekly agility class is helping with that sport, and we're slowly getting back in sync. Hopefully we'll return to agility trials by the end of the year.

Cai enjoying Terra's puppy party

Vet training

I've been doing weekly training sessions for Chimera at our awesome Fear Free vet clinic, Happy Tails Animal Hospital. Cai is always happy to present his front legs and do a chin target. Sometimes he offers them even when we don't want it. It's always funny when we're working with a new person and he leans over and puts his chin or nose on their hand and just freezes. They're always confused.

He's still sometimes upset when his back legs are handled around the iliopsoas, but it's very hit or miss. Mostly I'm having people avoid that area, or we do very careful desensitization.

Mostly we're working on:
1. Bringing a thermometer to his ear. (He doesn't like this big object coming toward his head, but after a warm up he'll allow it.)
2. Blood draws. (Rolling off and bandaging are not a problem, alcohol swab is nearly good to go, syringes are next.)
3. Rolling onto his side for belly exam, ultrasound, or x-ray. (Still at beginning.)

Putting thermometer in his ear.

Rubbing right leg with alcohol swab.

Chin rest plus handling his ear.

Once we're done with those goals, I'll ask the vet what else she would recommend training.