Maine Millers

This is the most pitiful dog you’ve ever seen. Scout had a little rougher surgery than most due to Cryptorchidism so he has a second incision in the abdomen. He took a trip to the emergency vet Sunday night, Christmas Eve, due to the fact that this second incision was very red and swollen. The vet did a good cleaning and dried it with Gold Bond Medicated Powder and sent us home with antibiotics. He is just starting to show some energy today, I think he is getting bored and wants to play but that is hard with an e-collar on your head. He just moves from the bed to the dog bed to the couch to the other end of the couch and repeats the process with some whining. I imagine that standing is hurting or pulling on the incision since every time he is up it’s a frantic attempt to lick the area. Hopefully this week will go quickly and he can get back to normal soon. Staples come out Tuesday Jan. 2.

He came home this afternoon and is pretty heavily drugged.  I was making dinner and he was just laying on the floor behind me and not moving, not normal.  He is getting spooked by simple things like a piece of cheese I tried to give him.  I guess he really is out of it and the smell “woke” him up, but he did startle.  It should be fun trying to keep him calm for the next 10 days.

Ok, day one went pretty well. I had some success with the basics. Sit and come are going pretty well. Down is a 50%-50% deal at best right now. I really want a quick down. Kind of a drop where you are. Patch used to do that, but Scout will only do it if there is food involved right now. I need to ween him off the food and have more success with the verbal/hand signals.

It’s the start of Doggie Boot Camp on Monday. I am off work until Jan. 8th and it’s getting time to get really serious with the training. Some days Scout can be so good and other days he will drive us up the wall. My goal is to try to do at least three 10-15 minute sessions a day. Starting over from the beginning. Tomorrow is come, sit, & down. I am thinking that if I can get his mind really working instead of being in the kennel when we are at work he will learn faster. I am going to try to take him when ever I go out on short trips and hang out downtown so he can see people and other dogs in a setting that isn’t class or playing out in the fields at Bowdoin.

In a perfect world this will make the perfect puppy, we don’t live in the perfect world so hopefully my goal of a livable companion will pay off. He is smart enough to take anything we throw at him, it seems as if his problem is the lack of focus. Pam, my obedience teacher called him a ADD dog, is there such a thing? I think Casco Bay Dog Training is offering a CGC, Canine Good Citizen, class in January and I want to take it and pass.

Wish us luck! 🙂