Day 1 – Out and About w/Jake

I woke up about 4am to hear a little whining from his crate which was right next to me and said to myself… “that’s right… I have a puppy now”…  so I crated Brita, picked him up, went to the back door from the porch and tossed him out… not too far ..just enough that I could get the door closed before he came back in.  So I watched him for a minute… he did his thing and I opened the door and in in came and we went back to bed until… are you ready… 9am!  Brita knows to sleep in if I do and he was just doing what he saw!!

Took him to Petco today for a harness and some window shopping.  He was amazing… no problem with the automatic doors, slippery floor and people who went goggles over a puppy.   Then to my office where he sat on the counter for everyone to see and let snuggle.  He really is a snuggler and will let me carry him around and just watches the world from a higher vantage point.  Thought I better do it now because soon I won’t be able to.  Then to the vet to weigh him (22 pounds) where he did the counter thing again.

He looks so much like Brita did as a pup that I am referring to him as her.   We went to the dog club for a puppy class tonight and I found out he’ll do anything for chicken.  Circle right, spin left for a warm up – no problem.  Sit in front and watch – ok.   Platz… on a grooming table.. sit on a box..  walk on a wobbly board… walk beside me looking up..  no problem~  Sure you can hand me off to whomever wants to hold me.. amazing!  He did look at the white fuzzy puppies as if they were from another planet but didn’t bark consistently like Brita did for the whole first session that I took her to class!  Will this mean that I have a dog now WITHOUT the “German shepherd whine”!!  The photo on the left (or first one depending on your browser) was taken with Jason’s phone at the class..  the hoop on the floor in the background is a nice touch…  looks like a halo if you look just right.  The picture on the right is Brita… she does have the pencil lines on her toes which he doesn’t have.

    

Brita is being the best big sister.  She treats him much like Teddy treated her but with much more gentleness.  He follows her outside and learned last night that you can go from the van in the garage to the yard through a dog door or go downstairs to the basement through another dog door and then through the basement and up the stairs and be in the kitchen area!  Didn’t take him long to figure things out!  I just observed Brita get a toy, tease him with it and then hand it off to him when he reached for it!!  How cool is that!

Here is Jake’s YouTube account!   http://www.youtube.com/lstonejake