Genabee

So, I was feeling a bit more spritely earlier this morning, and the sun was out, the air was warm... so I took G for a walk to this oval we have around the corner. We are practising her off lead skills too. So while I don't remove the lead from her, I do drop it and let her run around. I go armed with a ball and treats - she does really well, normally come back when she is called, even with the other dogs around. Proud Mum moment! I was so scared to start at first, but I was told to let her do it when there are other dogs around, as she is only going to run to them! And not off down the street!! So far, so good! There was a gentleman walking two dogs - apparently he was dog sitting for his son. One was a big blind thing, the other was about the same size as G. Have no idea what breeds... Anyway, in her excitement, G jumped up at this (super tall) bloke. I reprimanded her, as we don't allow jumping on anyone!! He said to me 'You shouldn't tell her off for that! Dogs are dogs, let her be one'. I simply said to him 'We don't let her jump in our house, I am pregnant' and left it at that. Apart from the obvious, I used to HATE it (still do quite frankly) if I went to someone's house and their dog jumped on me, regardless of the size and breed. It annoys me when G does it to me, not that she does it all that often mind you. I couldn't believe this bloke said that!!!! What if he had been a little kid? G would easily be head height of a little person when she does that... So, to reiterate my comment earlier, I like socialising G with dogs and dog owners who understand and share the same basic manners!!

Thanks Ravenau1!! I started puppy school with G smack on 8 weeks (she came home on the Thursday, and we started school on the Sunday)... before then I was really only worrying about where she went to the toilet - not in my house!! Oh, and I would always make her sit and stay before receiving food. This was soooooo much easier after one lesson at puppy school though, because I had learnt a better way of getting her to sit. The first couple of times I put her on the lead to do it, because she would just run off! Since then, we have added other things into her pre-dinner exercises!! She still gets excited and tries to anticipate what I am going to ask her to do!!! Puppy school lasted 4 weeks and by the end of it, she was sitting more or less on command, staying for the length of the passage way, she would 'wait' and I could get her to drop with food! She was also excellent with name recognition and usually came when called. I had also taught her 'high five' and 'touch'... I started obedience with her at about 16 weeks (at a club, as opposed to a behaviouralist where we did puppy school). The first couple of weeks were a bit of a rehash, because she had done it all before and we had well and truly mastered it all by this point. Now that she is in Bronze (has been for a couple of months now), the anti has been upped! While it is very important to me that our dog is well behaved and has 'manners', I also do it largely for the socialisation. We don't have friends with dogs, so I believe it is good for her to see some regular faces regularly. And to play with people who understand dog behaviour and will expect from her, what I do. Drives me nuts when I walk her and people throw themselves at her and get her all worked up! I have generally found her to be better behaved at home, since we started obedience. Can't recommend it enough.

Thanks friends!! Yes KTB, Lord Wizzle is very excited! Wee Wizzle has been on the cards for a while. I think he is more excited by it than I am at the moment... the fact that he doesn't feel like death warmed up for the greater part of the day may have something to do with that! Elbster looks so cute, having a shooshie on the tuffy!!! I love how it is colour coordinated with his bed!!! That is so something we do... where possible, all Genevieve's belongings are pink!! Much to Lord Wizzle's dismay! She is known as the 'Class Prefect' at school now, for her little uniform and coordinated lead and harness!!! I'm not obsessive compulsive at all!!! These are some snaps taken just now, of G outside, trying to sneak back in with a long piece of bark. This is typical behaviour of my little diggerupperer!!! She scratches on the back door to be let out - which I obligingly do. Then about 10 minutes later she will scratch on the door to be let back in - with leaves, sticks and any other crap she finds in the garden!!! Please excuse the dirty windows - all her doing!!!

Thanks KTB. I think I might get worse before I get better somehow... It is still early days yet, but it looks like Wee Wizzle is on board! (Please if anyone is a FB friend don't mention it - we haven't told anyone yet). Ooooohhh maybe I will have to investigate one of those things!!!!

Happy Birthday KumaAkita!!! I hope you are spoilt! Sorry I haven't been around the last couple of days. I haven't been feeling to crash hot and have spent most of my time on the couch. Crazy puppy: aka Genevieve, thinks that jumping on Mummy will help Mummy's cause... ahhh NO!!!. I have taken to snoozing with the squirter bottle in my hand, warning her off me. Apart from the fact that such behaviour is far from lady like, I don't think it is physically that good for me! I do feel guilty though, because she isn't being walked as often as she was. I did however manage to pull myself together long enough to take her to school yesterday. She was a PITA!!!! I was running late, so we didn't have any socialising time before the class started. BIG MISTAKE. I felt so bad because she kept distracting the other dogs. Normally she is pretty good. Does anyone else's dog like to dig at the grass??? I swear she thinks she is going to find buried treasure or something! KTB - I hate dog poop too. And I am always finding hair in Genevieve's!!! I mault like you wouldn't believe (I am constantly vacuuming - with my miele - sorry to ruin the dyson run!), but so does she, so who's hair she manages to consume I am not really sure! I can't really help you with the flea treatment stuff. I use Advantage on G - same as what you are using in that it is a squirt on the back of the neck - G just sits there and munches on her treat while I do it! She is like that with jabs at the vet too, doesn't seem to notice too much. I can't believe Ruby ATE A MOUSE!!!!! That jsut makes me feel sick thinking about it!!!! Ewww so so so wrong. I have had to replace four toys in as many days, because she has bitten them to pieces! One was brand new and within half an hour of her knawing on it, it was in half!!!!!!! Crazy! I don't know why I bother replacing them, she just eats them!!! She has also managed to destroy a USB and another phone charger this weekend.... This is becoming an expensive habit. I think I will have to see about getting her a part time job after school to contribute to the toys she likes to consume!!! ;) RE drying: It takes me about half an hour to bath and dry G. She loves having a bath, nice and warm... She usually rests her chin on the laundry trough and looks like she nods off to sleep!! I have to 'wake her up' to move her from the trough to the bench!! I dry her with the hair dryer, which she isn't so keen on but tolerates - anything to get a treat!! If I hold it far enough away from her she just sits and waits for me to finish!!! The look on her face is priceless!!!! I don't know what her problem is though, she lies directly beneath me on the bathroom floor most days when I am drying my hair. :p As for walking... I normally take her out around 10amish... We go for about an hour, then I come home and get ready for work while she passes out for the afternoon! She has me up about 7am, but I am in no way ready to face the world that early. At the moment, it is all I can do to get in the shower to get ready for work, so walks have been few and far between. Hubby walked and *ahem* skate boarded with her a fair bit while he was home! She also watches TV. Sometimes she stars intently at it, like she really understands whatever is on! I am often reading but will have it on for back ground noise... well, Genevieve really!!! If a dog barks though, she will stop whatever she is doing and comes running to watch - and gives me that look that says 'What'd I miss???'!! Of late, she spends her mornings sitting in the front windows of the lounge room, looking out on to the street. It looks cute, because from behind I can see her little ears twitching, head tiling and her tail lying perfectly flat along the floor!

Poor Elberino....

Just warn her of OCD and other behavioural issues..... seems to be the thing among cross breeds, particularly the smaller dogs. I was most educated about the pure breed vs cross breed debate when I read a blurb here on DOL, about 'Why Buy a Purebreed'... send her the link. Don't get her off side, but just provide her with all the information.

KTB - I think you should go into legal aid for dogs!!! You might starve, but your heart would be in the right place!!

How do you have part time cats?

KTB - That new toy looks awesome! We play Simon Says alot with G... that might have something to do with the fact that Hubby's name is Simon though! So it is more like 'Daddy says'! Except she doesn't listen to him, only me!

I am sooooo bad!!! I have just read 4 pages worth and I have forgotten everything I was going to say!! I can't keep up. I will have to teach 'Lady Genevieve' how to sit like a lady if she is to participate in KTB's photo shoot! This party sounds like fun! Genevieve would love to send a present! I am sorry to hear about Puppy... ;) :D I am sure he is having fun on the other side. I think I have been converted to wanting a black Lab!!! If lab puppies stayed puppies, I would OSSSSSSSOooooooo have one!!! But they just get too big for me! But those puppy pics are devine! I have had to throw out three of G's toys in the last day!!! She has chewed them into pieces, so I bin them. I am no toy surgeon!!! I can't even sew buttons!!!!!! ;) I plan to pop past the pet shop this weekend and replace them. One of them was her favourite too. I just worry she will choke on some small little piece that she insists on chewing. Oh, and any dog can do obedience!! You don't have to take it that seriously if you don't want to. I do it to get G out of the house, interaction with other dogs and to mentally wear her out... not so she becomes some great champion. God knows she won't ever be that!!! Anyway, Little G is snoring on my lap and I am not far behind her. I am sorry I haven't addressed everyone and everything!!!

How NOT to keep your puppy calm: She was wound up like a two bob watch for ages after that!!!!

Oh, PS. Genevieve likes to lick the top of the wine bottles that are waiting to go into recycling... apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Clearly she knows a good white when she tastes one!

Ok, so I am going to try and remember all the important things I was planning to comment on!!! Firstly, names. Genevieve got her name after the dog in the kids series 'Madeleine'. We want to name our daughter Madeleine, so we figured she would need a Genevieve dog! ;) Unlike your OH KTB, mine was insistent that she had a 'real name'. Otherwise she would have been Coco (if I had my way)... If she was a boy... he wanted Sebastian ( needless to say, she was going to be a girl! I really detest that name... no offense to anyone with that name, or a child or pet with that name. I just have bad memories...). Originally he suggested Valerie for her. Once I suggested Genevieve though, he got all excited (for a split second wanted that for a potential daughter's name and I was like "How many daughters are we going to have!!!???") and we have never looked back. Needless to say, we have never some across another Genevieve dog! OH is a cat person - left behind two cats with his parents, Harry and Colin. Prior to that he had Hamish, Marlon and another one I can't remember the name of. I am allergic to cats in a BIG way (and I will be honest, I don't like them), so we will never have one. I had to beg for a while to be allowed a dog! Like all good wives though, I won the battle and got my way eventually! Yes KTB, when we received that pic of G from the breeder, I knew I was going to have my hands full!!! She looked cheeky in that pic then and nothing has changed, 6 months later! And what is it with dogs wanted to empty the contents of their houses!!!??? Genevieve drags her bedding all over the house, all the time, usually while doing zoomies. We have a toy basket for her her now, to put her toys in. It's funny, she won't go and get toys out herself, she stands there and barks at it until I remove one! This is helping prevent Mummy from tripping over all the dog toys, because I only give her one or two at a time! Sometimes she stands there in this room of disarray, crap everywhere, looking all innocent and I yell at her 'How many times do I have to tell you to pack your bloody toys away when you have finished playing!!?'. She is worse than a toddler! Unfortuantely, she hasn't learned to read yet, so labeling her toy basket hasn't seemed to help. I think maybe I should reassess the school she attends... :D KumaAkita - I keep wanting to refer to you as 'Akunamatata' from the Lion King! Slightly dyslexic, so don't mind me! That doggy birthday cake looks way better than mine!!! I think I got ripped off! I especially love the birthday party hats! I want to know what were in the treat bags????? And how cute were those little ears! The one of Asti in the bath was especially cute... James is a big boy!!! He gives me a run for my money on the scales! Poor Litte G is weighing in at about 5kgs. I don't weigh her all that often anymore. I used to weigh myself, then pick her up and stand on the scales, so I had a rough idea of what she was. But that method isn't quite so effective at the moment. Besides, I don't want her to have a complex about her size. I would love to come to a doggy partay (as I sure my deliquent of a dog would), but Canberra is just that little bit too far to get there and back in one day! Oh, Genevieve is confined to the laundry when we go out. She is usually asleep in her house when I open the door to let her out.... or wagging her tail at the door waiting for me! On a couple of occasions, I have come home to find her standing on top of her house (with a towel that she had pulled down from the bench!); on the laundry bench; and shredding/shredded the washing basket. So now, the washing basket (EMPTY) sits on the bench, so she isn't able to get up there. If she is stupid enough to get on top of her house, she can jump off it herself now! There is no way I would leave her to roam free in the house!!!!!

That is toooo cute!!!!

Speak to them slowly, move slowly, do everything really slowly.... Think like you are 99 years old on a zimmer frame, teaching your puppy!

Baby Genevieve... We picked Genevieve out when she was three weeks old, after taking a drive to our lovely breeder's home and visiting the litter. We took heaps of pics that day! From then on, our breeder would send me a weekly pic update (which most of these baby photos of her are). Then of course, I took stacks of photos the day we bought her home!!! With Auntie Lori, while Mummy drove... She loved the car!!! Nothing like a snooze on the way home!

I want to live in Canberra!!!! You could name the little guy 'Sausage' and serve little sausages!!!!!! I know. Lame. What name options have you got? ** Wizzle gets baby name book out**

OMG KTB those puppies are just devine!!!!!!! I think I am getting clucky!!!!!! (Bad, Bad Wizzle!). So, I have finally uploaded some pics to photo bucket. Check out G's first taste of ice cream (yes KTB, snobby ice crea for snobby dog!!!! ) and her first trip to the beach. Please excuse my whiteness - it was the first day of sun I've seen in MONTHS!!!!! I have some baby shots of her somewhere. I will load those too!

What an awesome suggestion!

OMG they are the most adorable photos! What a precious puppy!

I love all the stories and annotations to the pictures!!! The poor headless teddies!!!! We don't have headless things in our house... yet! Sorry to dash in and out, we have so much going on at the moment. But, not to deprive you all of Genevieve's latest antics, check out the following links - only if you promise to please not dob me in to the RSPCA!!! I can assure you she was not harmed and in fact instigated such outings herself!. Hubby was out the front and she wanted in on the action!

Daylight savings has been a blessing for us too... I have got an extra hour out of her roughly each morning so far. Which I will take!!!! Bring it on! I feel bad for everyone with early rising puppies who doesn't have daylight savings...

Wouldn't be so geeky if you set them up to look like he was dancing to Brittney or Beyonce!!!!! "All the single doggies, all the single doggies... now put your paws up, up in the club doing my own little thing..." Elbie will be generating his own income soon!

Genevieve always waits for me to get out of the shower so she can cop a lick of the leg... I HATE it!!!!!! I feel like I need to shower all over again. But by far, her worst hobbie.... is jumping into my lap and trying to stick her nose down my top and lick my non-existent cleavage!!!!!!!