Carmine and Disney adventures

Carmine and Disney had their first road trip to Rochester MN for a three day AKC agility trial.

They did very well.  Carmine has some issues with how some dogs are approaching her and she can be melodramatic when startled or scared.  She is absolutely right, dogs should not race up head-on to another dog.  However she doesn't need to be quite so dramatic by leaping in the air and screaming about it!  So we have spent that last week really working on socializing her with appropriate adult dogs of various sizes and breeds.  A student and friend has Great Danes and we spent quite a bit of time with both times visiting with one of her dogs this past weekend.  That seemed to help a lot.  We also had their expen on the edge of the field so they were able to safely watch many dogs of all shapes and sizes walk by - at a safe distance of about 10 feet.  This week Carmine visited appropriately with a large adult Collie, a Border Collie, a Sheltie, a English Toy Spaniel puppy as well as a Great Dane.  She was able to walk around the trial site by Sunday and not be too worried about all the dogs around her!  Yippee!!

Disney of course is everyone's friend and has no fear of other dogs...  However he is the vocal one in his crate at night so the pups slept in the van at night - fortunately the temperature was just fine to do that.  Sinco was there with them which helped.  We just couldn't imagine being in the hotel waiting out his 5 minute screaming fit each night.  Carmine doesn't complain about being crated.  However she can climb out of a four foot high expen!  So we have to have a lid on the expen whenever she is in it - she can climb out in mere seconds.  She also figured out how to leap into the van after watching mom "Sinco" do it. 

They both rode up and down in the elevator a few times and went up and down the stairs a few times.  No issues with either.  Then we went to a playground for socializing with kids.  There were quite a few kids and families there but not a single one came over to us!  I can't figure it out!  Two adorable puppies and no kids come over to pet them!  We had more kids and people pet them and play with them at the agility trial.  I have also taken both puppies out to the corner by the training school because there is a school bus depot across the street, an impound lout down the block and some semi-truck traffic in the area (it is an industrial complex) so it is a good place to hear and see various trucks and buses.  Disney is not fazed by any of it.  Carmine is a bit sound sensitive but she gets braver and braver each time. 

Also this weekend we found a quarry lake in Rochester where we could try swimming again.  Carmine was braver than Disney about this.  It is not too surprising since she likes to "swim" in her water bowl and she was a good swimmer in the little pool.  But the size of the lake was intimidating.  It was fun to walk them around the lake and through the woods.  Carmine also likes to grab big sticks - she is a "run with sticks" puppy - you know you have to watch out for the kids who run with scissors... well I think this is the puppy equivalent! 

We are learning a lot about the challenges of having two littermate puppies.  However both puppies are so people oriented and they seem to know who their main person is that it has not been a problem to let them play together.  If we call them they usually come running.  Carmine tries to escape out of the pen to get to me when she is in there with Disney.  They do romp and play if we stay close or have a secure lid on the pen.  But as soon as we show up they are excited to come with us.  We do a lot of things separately with them and we don't let them play together when on leash.

So that is our update of our first week with our two puppies!  It has been a fun adventure!  We both are madly in love with our puppies and we have two VERY different puppies!