Buffy is 4 months old today! She’s doing really well so far at puppy kindergarten and we’re trying to teach her new tricks all the time. So far she knows sit, lie down, and shake a paw, and she’s fairly reliable with come and no. The puppy trainer would say that no isn’t really a command … more of an interruption. Either way, she knows what it means and she stops whatever she’s doing when we say it. I hadn’t realized that dogs aren’t born knowing how to fetch, so teaching her has been a challenge! She runs after whatever object we’re throwing, grabs it in her mouth and then runs a few steps and lies down with it, but doesn’t bring it back so we can throw it again.
She’s quite good on a leash and yesterday went for her first romp off-leash in a nearby park – she had a great time running around but she got soaking wet in the long grass. She had quite a bit of energy to burn off since for the past week she’s been going to daycare (Ian was out of town and I couldn’t leave her alone for the 10+ hours I’m away from home every day). She loved playing with all the other puppies and dogs at daycare and would sleep quite well every night! We’re looking forward to having her meet Tyler and Daisy and Molly.
As it turns out, she had a nasty ear infection when we picked her up from the breeder (which we weren’t told about) but the vet here in Vancouver cleaned out her ears and prescribed some antibiotic/antifungal drops that we’ve been putting in daily. The scratching has eased up and she seems quite a bit happier. However, we can’t take her to the groomer’s for another couple of weeks, and she’s not allowed to go swimming either until the infection clears up completely.
She still needs a middle-of-the-night potty break which is quite tiring, but hopefully in a couple of months she’ll be able to go all night.
