The Adventures Of My Two Puggles: First day of School

On April 21, Milo and Pugsley set off on what they would soon learn to be, their first day of torture - I mean "school" BRB K9. This school, was referred to us by MarcAnto's co-worker.

How did the class start? As most do: orientation... with 25+ doggies, of ALL different breeds and ages. And what did Milo do? To show his respect for what Sherri Davies was saying, he decided to lift his leg on the wall...yup...mmmhmm. Considering we were away from the rest of the group - because I was scared of what my pups would do to the other dogs, I did what anyone else would do in my situation: I ignored it and hoped no one else saw. But soon, we soon felt an ease we didn't initially have when entering the classroom. You see, I was certain that my dogs (unintentionally of course) would embarrass the guts out of us. Considering the frequency at which these two went at it at home and in public, I was certain the same would occur during class.

So what put me at ease? the comfort of knowing everyone in the class was there out of desperation! They all had some less than desirable quirk/habit that they wanted their bundle of joy to kick! Some had never been trained and were now 3.5 years old and according to their owner, beyond training, you know the saying, you can't teach and old dog new tricks... yeah well WRONG! Sherri is adament that it simply takes 22 minutes to train and dog, and a lifetime to make it work... or something like that. I'm sure I butchered that.

Moving along... so after the orientation, it was down to business: walking (heeling) learning the technique of correction (with the assistance of a D-Chain), turning, sitting, learning to pay attention in the midst of distraction, commanding "off" when they become distracted (by people, dogs...poles etc) and... the dreaded "stay". It seems so simple, doesn't it?

So Marc and I agreed which dog we would start with, and then agreed to switch every week. So I was blessed with the easier of the two: Pugsley! I felt so bad having to continuously "correct" him, and had to keep telling myself that this is only temporary, and when we are through, they will be the world's greatest dogs, and I'll never have to choke 'em ever again... yeah, we'll see...

When it came to the stay, we had some issues. whether it was because Puglsey had a boney butt, or whether it was because he was scared and uneasy, I don't know. But what I did know, the more he resisted, the more I'd have to "correct"

So after some time had passed, Pugsley and Milo - along with the rest of the pups were allowed to receive praise from their owners. I thought this would be a good thing but...

Milo saw Pugs getting kisses from me, so he started to creep over. At this point, MarcAnto corrected him, but Sherri said, "no, let it happen because I want to see their interaction". And as expected from Mommy and Daddy, Milo started to grrr and show his manhood. Oh dear, if he only knew what was coming. As soon as he did this, Sherri yanked on his collar sending Milo for a little spin in the air - only to land a little dazed...but not defeated, so back he went, not learning anything from that experience. He creeped back - as if all of our eyes weren't already on him, and started to growl. Then came Sherri. She yanked him with the might of God, grabbed him by the jowls and lifted him off the ground to be directly at eye level with her. At this point, she yelled at the pudgey wrinkly face "STOP THAT!!! MIND YOUR MANNERS!!!! STOP PICKING ON YOUR BROTHER!!!!!" Funnily enough, not as embarrassing as I thought. I think it was the constant little voice saying..."this is only temporary!"

So we ended the class with this: "Put your dog in the stay position and leave the room. If the dog moves, we'll call your name, run back in, correct them and leave again". Oh my goodness! I couldn't even keep up with the number of times I ran back and forth and back and forth and back again!!!! But... alas, the 2.5 hour first class was over. PHEW! Oh! But wait! There's homework!

Your Assignment: Work with your dogs in the stay position. When you come back, they wil need to be prepared to stay for 3 minutes alone while you leave the room.

Oh my goodness! Can you get a toddler to "stay" for 3 minutes?!?!? You show me first, then I'll work on the boys! Yeah I know, it doesn't work like that... so... we'll just have to work on it and see how things go... Stay tuned!

The Adventures of My Two Puggles: Their first Month Home

So... there's definitely a difference from play fighting and real fight, right? Here are my two play fighting:

And here they are real fighting (as I snap a picture :-) )

From almost the first day we brought them home...okay maybe the second, there hasn't really been one day where these two don't fight. And 'what are they fighting about' you might ask?
Apparently, the books, people, pros etc, call it "dominance". Who's the man of our house? So, our job: to show them we are the "men" of the house!. MUCH easier said than done! ... Let me say that again...MUCH easier said than done!


We've been taught to role them and pin them on their back until they submit, which might work if they were lil pups, but not almost a year old. We've been taught time out's...uhhh...not so much. We been taught sternness... and... we're still trying.

Then my mother found this infomercial: The Perfect Dog, by the Dog Father. What won her vote was one of the testimonials from an owner of....yup...you guessed it... two Puggles. By the way, if I forgot to explain what a 'puggle' was, it's a cross between a Pug and a Beagle, very stubborn - I mean smart dogs. So she was very passionate about us getting these collars and training DVDs that would instantly change our dogs.

We ordered it...approximately $180 CDN (w/ taxes and shipping and handling) Watched the DVD that instructed us to watch it 3 times over before performing the commands, and then, on one sunday night, we said "let's do this".

You have to understand our frame of mind... at this point, it's probably early February and truly... anymore outbursts and we're sticking a stamp on them and returning to sender! So the boys get into one of their fights, we utilize the power of the collars. We go at it for 10-15 minutes and guess what! Pugsley's collar BRAKES!!!!! - along with our spirits! Can you believe this collar? It broke! Snapped! Now I'm not saying that there's no chance that this one was defunct, but seriously? We were so sad!

Anyhow, there was however, a silver lining - a very dim silver lining...maybe a light shade of grey even! MarcAnto's (my husband's) co-worker Virginia, told us of this school for dogs. She said great things - including the fact that she sent her own crazy pups there many moons ago. The school (BRB K9 in Mississauga) had a great reputation for training movie dogs, the Police's K9 Unit, and overall challenging - but loveable pups.

We called, but just missed the cut-off for the novice level for February, and the next one didn't start till April 21! So, we'd have to be patient and do our best to deal in the mean time.

The Adventures of My two Puggles: Milo and Pugsley

So after speaking to my friend, and hearing a number of my friends laugh at my boys' antics, I've decided to take everyone's advice and diarize the adventures and antics of my boys!










Background:


My husband and I had agreed that in time, we would look into adopting a dog. We both have/had dogs, my cock-a-poo Nika passed away in September after a good 16 year life. I was shell shocked and said "not now" but some time.

Then on the news, there was this big fiasco about a Puppy Mill being ransacked and over 200 small breeds of puppies were now in need of homes. So...we thought...maybe now. We looked into it, learned it would take some time but the organization referred us to other organizations that did in fact need IMMEDIATE parents. So off my husband went, on a mission. Day after day he sent me what seemed like hundreds of pups...and then in one article, we learned of the tale of these TWO puggles desperately needing a home together NOW! The "now" should've been my first clue but... I digress.


It turns out, they were rescued on opposite ends of Michigan, and have been the "best of friends" ever since, and they would be emotionally traumatized if they would be split up.

So after a lengthy application process - PAGES of information, 3 references, 1 veterinary reference, 1 telephone interview and lastly, the home inspection... they decided we were worthy!

What a CROCK!

On December 20, we were introduced to Milo and Puglsey (9 and 11 months respectively). We brought them home and it has definitely been "antics" ever since! From fighting almost non stop, to having very different personalities, we soon learned that we might've been lied to, and...two puppies were far more of a handful than originally thought!