How cute is my dog?

Seriously.  How cute is my dog?

Brillo sits on the steps for a better view of his pool.  I love it when dogs sit like that.

Poor exhausted boy!

My dog displays his partisanship.  Please, don't hold it against him.  He just likes John McCain's white hair (it matches his) and Sarah Palin's lipstick (he likes hockey moms better than pitbulls).

Brillo is now 11 weeks old (birthday was Tuesday), and he is showing signs of hormonal changes mixed with puppy wild oats.  That's a bad combo.  He really, really likes to bark at his toys and other inanimate objects.  He has been doing that for at least a week or two.  One of his favorite things to bark at is my bathroom scale.  I can't say I blame him for that...  Now, though, he has started barking at me.

In the past week, he has been getting a little too rough in his puppy play.  It started with occassional nips at my legs, and barking and chasing.  Now it has escalated to grabbing onto my pants or shorts, wrapping his front legs around me, and biting.  Hard.  He thinks it's fun and hilarious.  I think it is painful and infuriating.  All my books and everything I read online says I am supposed to redirect his attention to a toy, or tell him to sit, or ignore him.  Under no circumstance am I to use negative reinforcement, lest I accidentally reinforce his bad behaviors by giving him the attention he is seeking.  THAT is easier said than done.  When a full set of needle teeth sink into your flesh, I dare you to hold still and ignore it.  It is a normal human reflex to try to separate one's leg from the vice grip of one's dog's mouth when bitten.

The problem is, the books are right.  I've tested the theory, and using one's hands to push or pry or spank or grab the dog's mouth only makes him more aggressive and determined!  It's very confusing and trying.  When I was a kid, we would grab the dog's snouth, or spank him, and it worked.  The books say negative discipline will erode our relationship, and the section I read again today says a puppy under 12 weeks completely will not get it.  It says it would be like disciplining a one-year-old human infant for pulling hair.  It wouldn't register.  Based on that, I am going to try again to use the positive techniques.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I am hoping the physical and noise discipline I used this morning when he attacked me AND HUMPED MY LEG will stick so he doesn't try again.  That was the first time he tried to establish dominance by humping my leg, or anything else.  I highly doubt it will be the last.  I am shocked that his teensie little "boys" have enough kick in them to alter his behavior already.  Seriously, they are tiny--so much so that my friend Sherri won't stop making fun of him.  Poor baby. He's probably trying to prove something...

I have noticed that most nipping assaults occur when Brillo is tired, and the books confirm that  a tired puppy is more prone to nip.  Nipping and mouthing is the pup's way of telling us he needs something.  I put him in his puppy room when he starts getting rough, and he typically goes right to sleep.  So, these issues are fixable; I just have to be patient and consistent.  Nobody said doggy mommyhood  was supposed to be easy.

Oh, I think we may have had an important breakthrough in the pottytraining today.  I was thinking it was time to take him out, and I was about to do just that.  He was free in the house, and I walked over toward the office to see what he was up to, and he started to pee on Dave's nice rug!  Impulsively, I screamed, "NO, ah, ah, ah," and scared the pee, well, into him.   He was startled and stopped midstream, and I told him, "outside!"  I opened the door (thankfully, he was right by it), and he ran out.  I asked him to go potty, and he finished his business.  Whoopee!  I hope he thinks about that the next time he needs to pee while indoors.

Brillo got into his pool by himself again this morning.  I threw the bottle in there to see if he would push it underwater with his head.  He used his paws, instead.

Here's Brillo's new squeaky toy. Several times, I have heard him whining while he squeaks his toys. I think he's talking to them.

Brillo spends time with his buddy Jake and another new friend in front of Handful of Wildflowers at Oktoberfest.

Brillo and I have been really busy, because we just finished up three days of Oktoberfest here in La Mesa. Why were we busy? Well, because we had to take our twice-daily walks through the festivities, of course. What you need to realize is that this dog is a people magnet, and it takes us 30 min to travel one block during Oktoberfest. EVERYBODY had to stop and pet him and comment on his funny/beautiful coat, and ask what breed he is.

Brillo is the most popular dog I know, besides his Uncle Bentley (the Newfoundland). Most people freely admit they've never heard of a wirehaired pointing griffon, and the few who say they've heard of him have never seen one except in televised dog shows. One lady sort of pissed me off by pretending to know exactly what breed he is. I thought she asked what he is, and I started to answer, and she said, "No, I know what breed he is, I mean, what's his name?" And I was like, "You do? Nobody does." And she pretended to know, but she wanted to call him a German something or other. People often think he is a German wirehaired pointer, or a German shorthair pointer mix. She never did admit she had no idea what a WHPG is, but she sure did like Brillo. We walked by her every day, and she always came out to love on him. Another lady asked me what he was, and I told her, and she said, "What a lovely mix." What? He is such an anomaly that people completely lose their minds over him. Another lady walked toward him and said, "Is he wearing a sweater?" And I thought she was kidding, so I said, "Yeah," in my best "yeah, right" voice. When she got closer, she was seriously bewildered to realize it wasn't a sweater but was really his fur. I can't believe she actually thought he was wearing a furry sweater in mid-70-degree weather. HA!

Let's see....what else do I have to talk about? OH! I know:

Brillo is hoping for a future career in the pool care industry.

A few days ago, I mowed the lawn and used the leaf blower. Brillo's pool was already full of bugs and stuff, and then I filled it with leaves and dust doing the yard work. So, I emptied the pool and refilled it. Brillo had fun playing with the hose while I filled his pool, but that was nothing compared to the fun he had "helping" me put a tarp over it to keep junk out.

Brillo attacked the tarp with gusto, growling and barking and biting it. He continued his attack even after I had finally gotten it into position covering the pool. He eventually crawled onto it, rolling around like a kid on a water bed. It was sooo funny, and it looked like loads of fun.

In other news, Admiral Brillo is proud to have you know he has learned another trick! He was getting really good at "come" and "sit," so I decided to add another word to his vocabulary: "lie down." Well, technically, that is two words. It took a few minutes to teach him how to do it, and ever since I switched from store-bought treats to sliced roasted chicken from my own refrigerator, he is eager to do what it takes for a reward. The books all say to use "down," but my dad always taught "lie down," and old habits are hard to break. You can't teach an old dog owner new tricks. So, even though he learned "down" the first day, he didn't miss a beat when I accidentally switched to the longer version.

He is so cute the way he lies down, too.  Brillo has a mind of his own, and he always acts like he is exhasperated when I ask him to come, and then sit, and then lie down.  It's like he can't really be bothered.  He looks at me as if to say, "I know you have the chicken, lady.  Just give me some, already.  How about if I just sort of do a little twirl and then almost lie down and then jump up?" And even though I'm not supposed to, I tell him, again, to "Lie down!"  And he does another little twirl and gives me a little "Get on with it, chicken lady," and then plops down on my feet. It's sloppy, but he gets there.  I promise you, his come and sit are quick, to the point, and approaching 100%.  Tonight, after talking to a new lady friend who was walking by and had to pet him, he took off to follow her.  I said, "Brillo, come!"  And lo and behold...He DID IT!  My neighbors across the street laughed but agreed with me as I shouted, "He's a genius!" and cuddled him unreservedly. 

In other news, today Brillo met my grandma, his great-grandma.  He piled into his crate, and we drove to Carlsbad for a visit.  She's not a huge dog person, but she couldn't help but admit he is awfully cute.  I think his long coat gave her some concern, but she agreed he is a keeper.  Brillo expressed his deep affection for her by dropping a runny poop right in the middle of her patio rug. To be fair, it wasn't his fault.  We were eating inside at the table, so I made him stay outside on the patio.  We had just returned from a walk, but, true to form, he didn't do more than pee.  I should have thought about that.  He was whining and barking, and I thought it was just because he was pissed he wasn't invited inside.  Then I saw him squatting.  Poor little boy.  He tried to tell me, and I just wasn't catching on. Grandma was good natured about it, but I was fairly mortified.  

Brillo loves the fishy his grandma sent him!

Two totallycute critters.

Cool frisbee!!!

When we returned home from Grandma's, there was a special package of a different sort waiting for us on our porch.  My mom, Brillo's grandma, had sent him a package!  He had a lot of fun opening up the big envelope, with a tiny bit of help from me, and he probably would have been pretty happy even if it had been empty!  But it wasn't empty!  It had two super-awesome goodies inside.  He loved the tiny red-and-white stuffed fishy immediately, and, after a toss or two, he fell deeply in love with his canvas frisbee.  With one toss, he even ran all the way back to me with it!  He might just learn "bring" or "fetch," afterall!  Thanks, Grandma!  Arf, arf!

Well, with that, I think I'll wrap it up.  It's gonna take a while to upload all the photos and videos, and I'm feeling sleepy.  Thanks for tuning in!

Another new toy.  I had to have this.  The fur is tipped, like Brillo's.  Except for the color difference, their coats are very similar!

Handsome boy!

Cosmo's, the Kiddie Pool, and a Stroll

Brillo poses with a couple of our good friends: his clicker and my Cosmos latte. See the slideshow in the sidebar for images of him barking at the latte...

Two fools in a pool.

My little drowned rat.

It's a lot easier to take a self-picture of two people. A dog and a person takes more finesse, but I really love this one.

Brillo loves his mama.

Brillo and I had a pretty big day today, and it started early, thanks to the short, four-legged one. B-man got up around 0600, and he was feeling pretty lively. We played for a while, and he ate, and then we walked down to Cosmo's for a coffee and a leg stretch. Brillo was very good on the way there and back, stopping to sit at each intersection and settling down very quickly while his new lady friends admired him over a latte and talked to me about the wirehaired pointing griffon breed.

A couple of times today, some people who had met him a couple of weeks ago remarked on how much he has grown. A few days after his 8-week birthday, Brillo was 11.3 lbs. A week later he was 13 lbs. Today, one day after his 10-week birthday, the big guy weighed in at 17 lbs! Holy cow! Mama's little baby is growing up overnight! He has a doctor's appointment October 9th, so I'll let you know what he weighs in at then. We're both very excited, because he's getting his second round of puppy shots. Pretty soon, his immunities will be up, and he'll get to sniff (meet) the neighborhood dogs! Better still, we'll finally get to go to Dog Beach! YAY!

After Cosmo's, Brillo helped me roll up the hose and put it on its new hanger. He did a very good job attacking, biting, and barking at the hose while I tried to untwist it. He was indefatigable and didn't stop attacking it until it was completely put away. Brillo loves the hose, and he always has fun biting it and drinking out of it when we're playing in the front yard.

Brillo gets seizes an afternoon power nap. He doesn't often get to use his big-boy bed.

After all that excitement, Brillo and I practiced using our drag leash (I leash him to my belt and make him follow me around the house so I can keep an eye on him), and just before he peed on his big-boy bed in the living room (he slipped out of sight behind the sofa for a SPLIT SECOND), the party boy took a little nap.

Brillio shows some interest in his pool toy. I predict he'll be sticking his head under water in a few months.

In the early afternoon, we both decided it was time to play in the backyard. Because of the heatwave we've been experiencing this week, we agreed to take a dip in the pool. I give him props for getting in for a minute or two and playing with his float toy, but he didn't really feel like staying in long enough to turn into a prune. Pruny paws freak him out, apparently. I suspect he'll embrace his inner water dog pretty soon.

After he got out of the pool the first time, he wasn't so sure he wanted back in...even to attack his mini dodge ball.

Brills (that's his British name) slept for a little while in the afternoon, after his swim, but not for as long as usual. He seemed pretty lively at around 6-ish, so we walked through La Mesa Village in the relative cool of the evening. He was hesitant, at first, to leave the yard, but he warmed up to the walk within the first half a block. Again, he sat at each intersection before crossing the street, and he walked without too many sniff-pauses. (Oh, and we FINALLY met someone who has heard of the WPG breed! She owns a kennel and has seen on or two griffs.) In the downtown blocks, he raced along like a big boy, prancing and smiling. We stopped to talk to a new friend, a nice lady named Nanette who lives a couple of blocks away. She was looking for her kitties when she spied the cutest doggie on the planet and had to meet and greet us. She was really cool, and we look forward to seeing her again. Of course, Brillo wasn't psyched about having to wait while we yucked it up for, like, a 1/2 hour, but he was really well behaved and enjoyed lying on the grass and chewing on his squeaky duck. He also didn't mind showing off a couple of sits for her.

When we arrived back home, neighbor Catherine was out in her yard and weilding a hose, so Brillo got another wild burst of energy and played rambunctiously for a while. He showed her a couple of sits, but they were imperfect and reluctant. He has trouble practicing his lessons when there are distractions, so I won't ask him to do that again until he gets a little older and more polished. I was hoping he'd be as excited to show her his new tricks as I was, but the hose was just so much more fun!

I expected the little fellow to crash out as soon as we got back inside, but he was squirley and needed more time to unwind. I suspected he'd need a good poop before his evening nap (he doesn't poop on walks and saves it, like most of us, for the comfort of his own home), and he did. After all that business, he ate, rested briefly, and was awake again! He started getting cranky around 8:30, so I gave him a potty break and put him in his room. He was out like a light before his head hit his pillow...err...towel. I hope he sleeps well, and I especially hope he sleeps LATE. We're both pretty exhausted.

Somebody, and I'm not naming names, has had too much to drink.

The Pool Boy

Somebody looks guilty...

Look who went in the pool!  

Guess what!??  My dog is now a swimmer.  Well, technically, he is a wader.  I was able to coax him into a pool after a hot and tiring walk, and then he decided he sort of liked it!  He even jumped in by himself!  In fact, after we'd played a while and I was on my way in, I looked back and saw Brillo run and jump into the pool and then get out again. HA!  He's a WATER DOG!

Here he goes again...

Today was an excellent learning day for my little student.  I have been reading some new puppy books, and each of them talks about clicker training.  This is when a little handheld thumb clicker (noise maker) is used to reinforce desireable behaviors.  Whenever Brillo does something I ask him to do, or whenever he engages in behaviors I like and want to see again, I click the clicker and give him a tiny training treat (tasty food tidbit).  It took all of about two clicks before he learned "sit," and it took another two clicks or so to learn "come."  I even give him clicks if he is just playing quietly, or acknowleges me when I call his name, or walks over to say hello, or gets into the pool, etc., etc.  When he does something I don't like, like bark or run around like a mad man, I turn my back and ignore him.  So far, we are making loads of progress.

Attack from the sea...our dog is a SEAL!

When we are walking, I have him stop and sit at each intersection.  He's so good at it!  He's even getting good at walking by my left leg and ignoring and/or quickly recovering from distractions. He's such a good boy!

Another training tool I am trying out istying him during the day.  What this means is, instead of putting him in his room or his playpen when we are inside, I leash him to me.  That way, I always have my eye on him, and he can't go in another room and chew or potty.  Today, he was very good and just laid on the floor while I watched Fox News!

Oh, before I sign off, I have to tell you what happened to him the night before last.  We were up at around 0300 for a potty break when he decided to play with a bug.  He always plays with the doodle bugs, so I didn't pay much attention.  Well, sharp and pitiful yelps and cries alerted me to the fact that the bug was no roly-poly, but a BEE!!!  Poor brillo was stung in the foot, and it HURT.  The poor little guy didn't know what to do and didn't know what had happened to him.  He ran to me, and cried and limped and bit his foot.  I grabbed my puppy book to see if there was anything I needed to do (there's not, unless he's allergic, which he isn't).  I picked up the little guy and sat with him in his room.  He was crying like a little baby, and I just massaged him until he was able to go to sleep.  Pitiful little poochie!  I felt so sorry for him, but there was nothing to do for the pain.  Maybe next time he'll leave bees alone.  I'm just glad it got him in the paw and not the nose, considering he had stuck both of them in the bee's business. 

A trip to the vet and other adventures.

America's funniest home video:  This one takes the cake.  Brillo was scratching his tail when I noticed him do a somersault, and then another, and then another.  I ran in and grabbed the camera in time to capture this portion of his monkey act.  HILARIOUS.

Well, it has been a few days since I blogged, and Brillo has had several adventures in that time.

First, I'd like to mention that he had his well-puppy visit to the veterinarian's.  He sees Dr. McKitteridge at Eastridge Veterinary in La Mesa.  He and his staff are AWESOME, including wife Theresa and assistant Becky.  Thanks for taking such good care of my little guy!  The doctor checked him over and explained some hazards we might find on the trails around here.  The biggest are the foxtails, which are little plant pods that can hook into the dog's coat, expecially between his toenails, and find their way up his nose.  They work their way up into the animal's insides and wreak havoc, often requiring surgery and sometimes leading to death!  Another hazard is rattlesnakes, but I know about those.  I've seen them while mtn biking.  What I didn't know is that there is a vaccine that helps in recovery from a bite.  We'll be getting one of those... This was Brillo's second visit to the vet.  The first one was when my mom was in town a couple of days after we brought him home from the breeder.  He had been scratching a lot because something in my grass had bitten him.  The dr. was kind enough to see him when we dropped in unexpectedly.  Brillo seems to be healing from those bites pretty well.  My mom and I sprayed the lawn for bugs, and I had Corky's Pest Control come and spray for fleas and spiders.

The vet trip was productive and informative, but it wasn't much fun for Brillo.  For fun and exercise, we have walked downtown almost every day, and it is pretty exciting.  We're trying to learn how to properly walk on a leash, but we're still not very good at "heel."  Brillo likes to tript me up and switch from the left to the right unexpectedly.  Sometimes he lags behind, and at other times runs ahead.  I'm tring to keep it fun while insisting he heel properly at my left leg.  Since he's not yet 10 weeks, I'll take it easy on him.  I just hope one day he'll decide to take it easy on me.  

Brillo isn't so sure he likes his new swimming pool...

Brillo got pretty hot on a couple of our walks, so I decided to buy him a swimming pool.  It's hard to find a good kiddie pool this time of year, and I couldn't locate a hard plastic one.  Instead, I bought a collapsible pool with a blowup edge.  I think it ought to do the trick.  The only problem is, Brillo is afraid of it.  I tried to coax him in by putting on my bathing suit and getting into the pool myself, but he wasn't falling for it.  I held him in my lap in about three inches of water, and he cried, so I let him escape.  I've no doubt he will learn to enoy the pool in his own time.  Right now, I have to be careful not to spook him.

One of the reasons Brillo isn't thrilled about his swimming pool is that he knows how silly he looks half-soaked.  He asks that you don't stare at his skinny legs.

    

Gillian holds the baby.  He can barely keep his little eyes open.

Wednesday evening, Brillo was invited to Gillian's for a garden party.  I brought his kennel, food, water, and some toys (his chicken is his favorite), and we drove out to Point Loma to play.  Brillo had a lot of fun exploring the yard, playing in the grass, and eating Gillian's parsley plant.  Later, after we had all eaten, he took a long nap on my lap, feet straight up in the air.  It was a lot of fun, and I know he is looking forward to our next visit with Auntie Gillian.

Awwww.  Poor little baby had too many margaritas and passed out.

Because he was so good at Gillian's, I decided he'd be ok accompanying me to Por Favor, a Mexican restaurant down the street in La Mesa Village.  Again, I brought his food and water, and I brought his little bed.  He did great walking over, and as per usual, we were stopped by everybody we passed along the way so they could admite him and enquire about his breed.  Because of that, we were about 20 minutes late meeting friends Sherri and Chris.  Oh well.  They server was very kind to allow Brillo to sit with us, and he had fun sleeping on my lap, again. 

Brillo is pretty proud of his new Republican neckerchief...

None of his admirers seemed to mind Brillo's display of partisanship.

Earlier in the day Friday, we walked through the La Mesa Farmer's Market.  Again, Brillo met dozens of new admirers.  I bought him a Republican scarf for his collar, in honor of the day's impending presidential debates, and he met an artist who wants to give him some bling for his collar.  We'll go visit her in a couple of weeks to visit her again and see if he'll wear it.  La Mesa residents/businesses are awesome!

Brillo is NOT a chow hound.  It's hard to get him to eat.  If I can get somebody to film us, I'll post a video of me spoon feeding him.  Yeah, that's right.  Admittedly, I spoon feed him.  It's often the only way he'll eat!  I use a gold plastic spoon from The Golden Spoon yogurt shop...Sick, aren't I?

We have just started some formal lessons, using food rewards as a motivator.  The problem is, Brillo is not very food motivated.  It did seem to work pretty well for a while, though, until he lost interest.  He is starting to get the hang of "come" and "sit."  Sort of.  In other news, he is still having a little trouble with peeing, although he hasn't peed in my house in about a week.  He has, however, peed in Handful of Wildflowers and Maxwell's House of Books, on more than one occassion.  Woops.  I hope to achieve better results in the next few weeks.

Until next time, the Brill Man will be here, patiently holding down the fort.

First Successful Leash Walk

Brillo, like most dogs, loves plastic bottles.  He likes chasing this water bottle around the yard.

Today was a pretty big day for the Brillomeister.  He had fun this morning, playing in the back yard, chasing a water bottle, and playing in the hose out front.  His most exciting adventure, though, was his trip to downtown La Mesa (about 3-4 blocks) on his leash.  I've put the leash on him before, but he couldn't be convinced to walk anywhere.  All he would do was bite it and pull on it.  Today, however, he decided he might as well cooperate so I can take him more places.  He walked with me all the way to my friend Sherri's shop (A Handful of Wildflowers), and he barely stopped or had to be carried at all!  When we got there, he had fun saying hi to Sherri and her customers, and he even went with me to Cosmo's Coffee Cafe across the street.  He did get a little bored and restless there, but he did pretty well!  Later, he fell asleep on the floor at Sherri's.  He was tired from being admired by so man people all morning.  He really draws a crowd and can't go anywhere without everybody wanting to pet him.  I have to answer, "What kind of dog is he?" zillions of times a day, and my answer, "Wirehaired pointing griffon," isn't much help.  Nobody has heard of that breed.  Have you heard of that breed?

When we got home, the tired boy slept for a few hours.  He was so sleepy!  At a little after 6 pm, whe woke up from a nap and peed on the floor.  OOPS!  I don't know why he did that.  He got some on his coat, so I gave him a bath in the new flea shampoo I bought.  The F'ing neighbors' cats are all infested and have spread them to our yard, I think.  Brillo is on Advantix and is flea-free, but I found one on my stomach.  I haven't found any since, but the exterminator is coming tomorrow, anyway.  He wasn't happy about his bath, so I made it up to him by playing with him with a big towel.  He LOVES towels, and he had fun being rubbed down and getting covered up.  He loves being covered with towels.  He was all spun up after that, so we took another walk.  This time, we went to El Guapo's in La Mesa Village, where I knew a lot of my local friends would be congregated for Taco Tuesday.  Brillo had fun talking to all his new admirers down there, but he was ready to go home by the time I finished my beer.  I think he's going to sleep well tonight!

Brillo also loves the hose.  Look how he uses his paws.  He uses them alot, to hold things and investigate things.  I think that is evidence of his extreme genius.

!!!VIDEOS!!!

Brillo loves to play with the frisbee his grandma gave him.  He does better when it is flipped over, but it's more fun to watch when it's like this.  Check it out.

In this one, the opening is the gem.  Check out what happens when a puppy gets overzealous with a frisbee attack.

Sunday, Brillo and I wnet to Lake Murray, which is right down the road from my house.  He had fun exploring, bu he wasn't as interested in the water or the birds/ducks as I thought he'd be.  Everything is a little overwhelming for this little guy.  Here's his first view of the water and the ducks.

When I beckoned for him to come into the water, he didn't hesitate.  Once there, however, he got a little nervous and bailed on the idea.  Poor little guy was a little confused.