Clicker Training

At 15 weeks, we started clicker training Gunyr. He has really taken to it and we have made some good progress in his obedience. He now knows how to sit, lay down, back to sit from lay down, shake (his paw), come, stay until recalled, and fetch! We got one of the Chuck It fetch toys that make the ball go farther and he just loves it. We are now working on standing on command, catch (a treat), and of course, heel. There is a you-tuber that I follow that teaches how to do cool dog tricks like fetching a drink from the fridge, that Gunyr will be working on soon. The page is called tab289. Check him out. I will soon post a video of Gunyr's progress on our you tube, maybe around his 20 weeks so he has some time to practice more for the camera.

14 weeks (with his baby teeth still in)

15 weeks

16 weeks

big boy teeth coming in (16 weeks here)

A bit has happened since I blogged last. Tubbles had her yearly vet check up and vaccinations. I am worried about her weight gain. She is now 9 1/2 lbs. Her vet said she has had some significant weight gain since her last check up and gave me a recommendation for feedings. I still haven't started it because I am so scared of her being hungry. She has always been on free feedings; there's always food in the bowl. Now Bunker is getting a belly and I know I need to do something.


my sleepy boy. He is nine months old this month!

..and sleepy girl. She turns seven years old this month!

Got the carrier out for Bub to go to the vet and since Bunker has not yet had a yearly vet visit, he doesn't know he will soon hate carriers. Haha.

sun bathing

Play time! I love the look in Bub's face.

working while hanging with my wonderful husband.

Todays is actually a big day for my husband! He applied for a position in the company he works for about a month ago and has done about four interviews for it within that time. It would be a wonderful promotion for him and would almost double his salary. Today is that last interviews he has with the company righter-ups (without a better term for them). Hopefully he learns if he gets the promotion today but there are other candidates so who knows when we find out. If he doesn't get selected, he has decided to leave the company to join me in working from home but he will be doing it full time. Its near the same pay as the promotion he is working towards so either way, he will be moving on from what he is doing now. We prayed together before he left for work this morning and what happens next is all in God's hands.

Later that day: My husband called and he nailed his interviews! He got his promotion and is going to be the "Boss Man"! After a few weeks of training in Pennsylvania, he will be the boss! Wow, words go beyond how proud of him I am. He has only worked there a year and is going to be above those who trained him. He is such a hard working man, there is no better hands for this sort of responsibility to be in. I am just so proud of him, I am beaming!

Puppy-hood

You know your a dog owner when you know the names of other dogs (and owners) that come to your dog park on a regular basis.

Today Gunyr is eleven weeks old! I have been trying to get my hands all things dog training and puppy-hood whether it be information online or books and magazines (Dog Fancy and Ceaser's Way are my favorites). I am so worried of not doing something right. I want him to be well rounded and sociable to both other animals and people as well as listen and obey. I am trying to get him to experience everything so he is not afraid of anything. I make it a point to take him to the dog park at least twice a week, walk him next to cars (on the sidewalk), doing multiple command training sessions a day, have him walk near water to start getting comfortable around it, bathing/grooming, etc. I still need to start brushing his teeth, clip his nails as well as a few other things I would like him to get used to while his mind is still open to new things.

I think he is teething because he loves to chew. We don't let our home be bone-less. He always has a bone in his bed, our bed and probably under our bed somewhere. I tried my best to puppy proof our home but I slacked last night and plugged my tablet in to the wall outlet to only find out 10 minutes later he chewed through the cord. Thank goodness we have extras... now its charging in the kitchen on the counter.. I learned my lesson.

When it comes to housebreaking, I take Gunyr out to potty every hour and if I don't watch the clock, he goes inside but happily on the puppy training pads then take him outside with the puppy pad to let him smell it out there as well as reward him when he goes potty outside. He is doing well with it.

Bunker has become pretty comfortable around Gunyr but Tubbles still wont come down from her cat tree unless its morning and she knows he is still asleep, then its prime time for play with Bunker. I have noticed she is less fearful with him but she still doesn't appreciate him coming near her.

I have no idea when he went from shelter pup to having horrible separation anxiety with us. We have to take him everywhere (which was great, he loves car rides) and if I need to go somewhere not dog friendly, I have to wait until Steve is home to stay with him. The first time (and currently only time) I had to leave him alone was when I let him stay in the car so I could run in to the library super fast. I gave him a bone to occupy him but I could hear him crying and screaming even at the entrance of the library.. and I parked a ways away to keep him in the shade. I tried my best to hurry and when I walked out, I could still hear him. He was so upset.This is something we are going to work on. I have done a lot of studying on the best way to overcome separation anxiety so its important to us for him to know we are coming back.

We were taking him to the Brandywine dog park until we learned about the Talley Day Bark Park. That is now our dog park. Its the only one in the state of Delaware that has a fenced in play area for both small and large dogs. We have been socializing him in the small dog park but since he is a growing boy, I can see he will soon be meeting friends in the large dog park. I met a woman with a large yellow lab and she said he was eight months old. My goodness. That is right around the corner for Gunyr. He is already bigger then when we adopted him up... such a good growing healthy boy.

Hope you enjoy a few photos of his first adventures at the Bark Park, lazy mornings at home, and a few from our walks together..

Gunyr and Pepper

Making new friends

A puppy just as old as him

silly Gunyr

taking up my side of the bed

Sleepy after a morning at the Bark Park

Growing boy and our apartment garden

Seven months and he is already taller than Tubbles (look at those long legs of his!). He is so fun and is such a baby. He still suckles my shirts and loves to vocalize his opinion about everything. You should check out a few of our home videos we have taken of him. He is so fast in play and he sure keeps Tubbles on her toes. I think she has lost a bit of weight since she has him to play with all day now. They sure sleep good at night.

We recently planted some flowers and a few vegetables (apartment gardening is a little experiment we are doing) and since they need to stay indoors for the first six weeks, the kittens love to smell the dirt and hang around the kitchen where I keep the pots. We also got some balcony furniture so it should be nice this Summer to sit outside with my family and smell our blooming flowers and yummy veggies. So excited for the warm season coming up.

Valentines Day

I woke up before dawn like I always do and I walked out in to the living room and started walking in a bunch of hard objects that hurt my feet. I had to keep walking on them to get to the kitchen to get to the light switch to find out that my wonderful husband traveled Hersey kisses from the bedrooom to the entertainment center where sat a heart box of Hersey truffles, a dozen roses, a beautiful card with a hand written poem in it, a small box of chocolate that was from the babies (Tubbles and Bunker) as well as a stuffed dog that is now Bunker's cuddle buddy.

How sweet is that?

The set up I woke up to. He is such a charmer when he wants to be.

Beautiful Tubbles

Truffles!

To Steve from the kittens. I also got him some chocolate and a card.

To Mommy from the kittens

Dinner at Tasti Thai

Six weeks with Bunker

Its been about six weeks since we adopted Bunker from the shelter. He has been such a blessing but also a terrorist to the efforts of a clean home. He jumps on to anything and everything, he gets in to everything, eats everything, chews on anything that fits in his little lion mouth, but is the sweetest cuddle bug. He is growing like a weed and I can already feel that he is much heavier when I pick him up. His overly large tail and paws are signs he is going to be a huge cat. He is already as big as Tubbles at only five months old. They say he wont stop growing until he is one. We are in for a big cat, I'm eager to see how big he does get. 

His favorite place to nap; in the warm pile of clothes after his Momma does laundry.

Watching the printer as I print off coupons. So interesting, right?

Kisses for Daddy to welcome him home after work.

Being a naughty boy. Look how big he is now.

Cuddle bugs with Daddy.

Baby paws.

Remember how I told you that I had to move the Christmas cards so Bunker wouldn't knock them down? Well now He is big enough to jump up and knock them down from the floor, and he can now jump from the table to the top of the fridge to have easier access to the cards that way as well. I just can't win.
I also have a video on our YouTube of him playing with water. So cute. Check it out.

Homemade Cat Treats

I have a whole fun day of free time before I start my new job. So I am going to spend it getting some housework and laundry done, and make some treats. This is the first time I have ever made any so it will be fun. I am excited for them to try it. I got my Dunkin Donuts coffee and about to head to Path Mark for my ingredients. Oh, and I just wanted to mention something I noticed. In Washington and Idaho, where we grew up, there are Starbucks on every corner. Here, you have to go out of your way for Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts is on every corner. We noticed that and thought it was funny.

 Tuna Tidbits

6 ounce can of tuna

1/4 cup water drained from tuna

3 T cooked egg white, chopped

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine tuna, egg white and water. Add cornmeal and flour and blend to form a dough. Knead into a ball and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into one-inch sized pieces. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

Bunker could not get enough of them but Tubbles wasn't too much of a fan of Mommas home cookin'. Next time I will add some Chicken Broth. I like to think Bunker eats them because he likes them but there is also the possibility that he eats them because he is a bottomless pit. He eats everything, french fries, cream cheese, coffee, soda, bread, etc. Of course I don't give him these things, he steals from my plate and cup when I am not looking.

 Steve also had a sample and said they were sort of bland so I am for sure going to add some other stuff in there in the next batch.

Christmas time fun

The kids are starting to get along so well now, FINALLY! I was having such a hard time with Tubbles not adjusting well to Bunker. But now they are playing and cuddling all day long. Its great to see. Sorry for the overload of photos.

Notice there is no snow? So nice, we are having beautiful warm sunny cloudless days here in Delaware! Stay in Germany, Snow! We are liking this.

Exploring the balcony for the first time.

Bunker loved the balcony so much he tried everything to get back out there.



Our tree and stockings

Christmas cards in colorful envelops. We sent one to Faithful Friends (the shelter) so Bunker could say thanks for taking care of him and also one to our Vet so Tubbles could also say thanks for helping her mouth.



The cool cat!




Helping Momma put dishes in the dishwasher



Tubbles relaxing her bed with her blanket I made her

Sweet Boy!

He loves carrying stuff around in his mouth just like his new big sister.

Steve woke me up at 4 in the morning to show me this photo. They were cuddling for the first time! Melted my heart.

I think he is really enjoying his forever home. No more cages or tons of stranger animals. He has a family, finally. We love him and Tubbles is enjoying her new little brother.

Missing teef-ers

It has been one week since her surgery and she is a whole different cat. She is grooming herself, running around, eating more, looking out the window, and enjoying her life again. Such a change from sitting in one place for days at a time, not eating, and drooling. Those are such horrible memories. I am so glad it is over, and to think if we had to wait until her original appointment, she would still be in pain to this moment. I am so glad we were able to get the money. Thank you to everyone who has been worried for her, prayed for her, and sent positive vibes our way.

Kinda blurry but you can kinda see her holes where her K9s should be.

Just loving her grooming time

Her shaved spot

Tubbles and Steve Face-Timing while in different rooms, Haha.