Beginning to Look More Dog than Pup

Vinson continues to grow at a steady pace and has recently begun noticeably filling out. As much as he looks more like a dog than a puppy, when it comes to energy and attitude, he's still all puppy.

Here's a photo of Vinson laying in the morning sun on the path at The Seeing Eye this morning.

Enjoying the early morning sun, resting like a big boy

The Perfect Storm

Like a growing child, Vinson continues to move through phases of his puppy-hood. Last week he was suddenly more whiny and vocal than he'd been.

At the same time, Vinson began to really test me on the leash, refusing to move in the direction I wanted to go or using his newly-discovered strength to act like a ship's anchor and refuse to go anywhere.

As you can imagine, these two developments combined made for quite a change (and probably some smirking staff during our daily trips outside!).

It is quite common for puppy development to include what may seem like backward steps - but they are really points on the path of growing up. How many graph's have you seen that don't show both ups and down's on the line to success?

Working at a place full of puppy experts, I spoke to many who confirmed what I expected - Vinson's six-month age is right on schedule for acting out and testing the limits. When the training situation changes and what you were doing stops working, it's time to reevaluate and try a new approach. This is what led to the introduction of the martingale collar, which Vinson is doing very well with.

I suspected the whining might be related to the process of losing puppy teeth. Further examination showed that Vinson had broken off his last remaining puppy canine, but the root is still intact. A staff member here has been checking his tooth daily and expects the remainder to be pushed out shortly by the adult canine.

Finally, we weighed Vinson and his weight-gain compared to previous weeks had increased, cluing me in that he is likely also in a growth spurt and probably hungry.

Lessons learned? Growth spurt + sore teeth & gums + 6-months-old = changes!

After a challenging week, Vinson's behavior has noticeably improved... until the next change!

Growing Up, But Still a Pup!

Getting Big, But Still a Puppy!

Vinson has recently exhibited some nice "grown-up" behaviors - resting more quietly both at home and at the office, greatly reduced barking and nipping since we began working with the spray bottle, etc. He's still just a puppy, but it is really neat to witness what can be daily developments in behavior and learning.

In the photo on the right, Vinson is happily sleeping on my office floor, the blue rug a sharp contrast with his light caramel coat. He's curled into a crescent shape with his head resting on a big soft bone toy, and his hind quarters resting on his favorite red, yellow and blue "key chain" toy.

The Shuffling O' the Crates

Today, Vinson took a day off from the office to spend some bonding time with Sarah at home. While he's doing that, I'm swapping crates.

With Vinson now weighing more than 26 pounds, the smallest crate that was in my car is now too small; it will be returned to it's owner here at The Seeing Eye where it will await the next puppy on campus. The medium crate that was in the office is now in my car, and I'm setting up a new larger crate in the office that will work for some time to come.