Last week was very different for me! Mom dropped me off at a different house. I stayed there all week while Mom was away on vacation. At first I missed Mom, the sitter told her I cried a bit the first night. Its true I did miss my Mom! I did have a lot of fun though, there was a little boy that played with me and 3 other dogs! Sometimes there were a few extra dogs too. I stayed with SSD Ben who is a golden retriever, I think he is 9 or 10 months old! We are great friends.
I even went to puppy class without Mom. That was weird. I was good and worked for our trainer. She did some strange things while asking for me to sit. At one point she was standing on a chair, doing jumping jacks, and the strangest one was behind a door. I didn't really do well with her being behind the door, she had to open the door slightly and then I did it. I heard that since Mom is back she will have to try it with me.
I was so happy to see my Mom when she came to pick me up. Since that first night I was having so much fun, I didn't realize how much I missed her. The whole next day I cuddled with her. Mom says she likes the new cuddle bug Lewey! I have to say I like it more too!
I was very tired after spending a week at the sitters and Burnaby was too. She stayed at a different sitter and I missed her too! But guess what! I am just about the same size as Burnaby! Yep and here is the proof!



Flood!

This past week there was a terrible flood where we live. Fortunately we live so far in the middle of nowhere that we were not effected by the major river floods. We were cut off from the rest of the world because of all the little streams and creeks flooding so I didn't get to go to puppy class this past week.

 Mom and I held our own puppy class, where I worked really hard on my self control around dog food. First Mom started out with some easy stuff. She put some kibble on the shelf of a bookcase. Then she moved in down one shelf, once she found that to be too easy for me Mom upped her game. Next there was a pile of kibble on the floor. I had to leave that pile alone while we did some loose leash walking without the leash! That too was pretty easy. Next came a down stay across the room with recalls past the pile of kibble. Again I rocked it like a rock star! Mom then thought she would try dropping food next to me while I stayed in a down. This was a little tricky! I wanted to get that food so badly but I never got up, I just looked like I was going to. After some practice Mom moved to some harder stuff. She tried THROWING the kibble at me! How dare she! It was too hard and I moved every time. To end our training session Mom went back to some easier stuff, she always ends on a happy note. Again I was put in a down stay and each time Mom walked away she put kibble in different stops of the room. She then called me, and guess what I ignored the food! Mom tried pushing it to me to let me have it but I would not eat it. Mom then picked it up and dropped in on the floor as a big jackpot for being such a good boy!

After all the rain stopped I went outside to play in the giant puddle in my backyard! It was awesome, I love to play in water (unless its a bath). I quickly noticed that there was water bubbling up from the ground! This freaked me out at first so I barked at it. Later I was curious on where this water was coming from and well you can see what happened:



Mom wasn't too happy that I was all muddy and that I got my big sister Burnaby muddy too! Its Burns fault for standing behind me.

In other news I have outgrown the other puppy harness! Also Mom has been weening me off of my special diet, as a puppy I was always sick to my stomach and had to eat special food. So far I have been doing great on normal dog food.

The baseball game and a visitor!

We went on our monthly outing as a group for puppy class. We went to go see the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Yankees play. I was excited to see my first baseball game, but I quickly figured out that its quite boring! At the last minute the team annuonced that Alex Rodriguiz of the New York Yankees was coming to play while recovering from surgery. The stadium had over 10,000 people there! The place was crazy.

We had a visitor in our yard! It was a turtle! It was so cool seeing something new. Burnaby just barked at it, I eventually joined in on the barking! It didn't stay long. Turtles can move quickly when they want too!



So Mom got a new camera this week and all she has been doing is taking my picture! I really don't mind, I like all the extra attention.







This week at puppy class I had my puppy 2 evaluation. It was two weeks early but Mom was pretty sure I could handle it. I'm pretty sure I did great. I know I am young and need work perfecting things but it still was a good start. Our trainer taped a lot of my eval and Mom is hoping to get the videos to share.

For those of you who don't know but I also have a page on Facebook. Mom updates that a lot more often. Here is the link so you can check me out and "like" me!http://www.facebook.com/ssdlewey

Its been a while since my last post but things have been so busy. Lets think I've been real busy playing with Burnaby, sleeping, eating, getting into to trouble occasionally, and of course training. I went with Mom to a trainers round table about shaping. We should people who haven't used shaping how it works with clipping nails, teaching heel, and how to get dressed, which is me putting on my harness. I was wonderful and let two strange people cut my nails. At puppy class we had a scary night. Mom was to bring things that could possibly scare a dog. She brought a witches hat and big stuffed Tigger. Neither of these things bothered me. The other dogs moms also brought in strange things but I was brave and kept all of my attention on Mom, see the photo below. I even made a new friend that night. She is a doberman and she had some funny white stuff wrapped around her ears.

Last week at puppy class we practiced stays. Mom was walking pretty far away from me and at first I was a little confused and thought that I should follow her. I quickly learned I got treats for staying where I was. Then they started to add in some distractions. I could handle people and dogs but the tennis ball rolling past was just too much. After some practice I was better but its still really hard to sit still when I love tennis balls so much. Here is a video of me practicing stay while Ben and Cassie play

Hillside Farms

Last weeks puppy class was so much fun! I really can't wait to go back to Hillside Farms. There were these things that Mom called chickens roaming free but I didn't see them! I did see some in a giant kennel thing. There were some sheep too but they didn't bother me. The best part about the whole trip was swimming! There was a little creek that turned into a big one and I had a blast playing in the water. Afterwards Mom got an ice cream cone and she even got me a little bit of ice cream too! That was the second best part and it didn't upset my stomach later.

On Saturday I turned 4 months old! Mom says I'm growing up too fast. I even out grew my little puppy harness! Mom says I weight over 30 pounds now. I'm getting too big for her to carry me, which makes me a little sad because I love when Mom carries me around. I can almost jump on the couch too! Last night Mom decided that I was ready to sleep on the dog bed instead of in my crate. I wanted to show Mom that I was more than ready and I slept all night without getting into any trouble. It was a little hard at first because Burnaby was laying under the bed teasing me. She wanted to play, and so did I, but I had to be good so I can sleep there again tonight.

What chicken?

I love water!

So that's what a chicken is

Look I give great attention even in water

Mom and I

SSD Picnic and swimming

This past Saturday Mom and I went down to the kennels for an SSD puppy picnic! There were a lot of dogs there but only one other small puppy to play with. SSD Parks and I had a blast playing in the yard. She was shorter than me and her sister SSD Hale, who I play with at puppy class. After playing Mom went to eat lunch and I was a very good boy and sat under the table quietly. While at the kennel I got to play on the obstacle course. Mom took a picture of me going up the big ramp which I was a little nervous on but I was following my new friend. She is a little girl who kept playing with me and would give me some treats. I really enjoyed her.

Walking up the big ramp

Just chillin

On Sunday I went swimming! That was a big surprise to Mom. She seemed very excited that I willingly went into the water. I guess I should explain why. Last week when I went to work with Mom she took me into the fenced in area with the in-ground swimming pool to see if I was interested in going for a swim. While she wasn't looking I decided to check the area out. I had no idea what an in-ground pool was and I'm all brave and don't need Mom to be everywhere, so I was walking and sniffing and the next thing I knew I was in water! A lot of water! I fell head first into the pool, I still had my harness and collar on. Luckily Mom fished me out. After that I was not thrilled to go into the pool. Mom even got her swim suit on and carried me out into the water and I just swam to the steps and got out as fast as possible. After all this I really did enjoy playing in the pool with Burnaby.

Tomorrow for puppy class we are going to a farm! I'm really excited.