Five months

With a bit of primer on his nose and paw.

Bear is now five months old.  He has been with us for three months.  Now that we are on hiatus from lessons with Kristin, we have gotten into a bit of a routine.

I’ll start at the end of the day.  About three days a week Bear sleeps with Declan.  Bear wakes Dec up around three in the morning.  I think he just wants to get up in bed with Dec, but rather than bring him up on the bed, Dec opens his door and lets Bear out.  He then ventures up to our room.  If he doesn’t settle down right away I put him in the crate and close the door.  I then lay in bed thinking about whether Dec might be low.  A few times I have actually dragged myself out of bed and went and tested him.  He has never been low.

In the morning we let Bear out to the backyard to do his business.  Before the air warms up, I go and find as many of the piles as possible to keep the flies (and spiders) at bay.  Bear chases Dec around the house a bit; the bike gang gathers at our house, giving pets to Bear and putting him through some basic obedience.  After they leave for school, I take Bear on a good walk with scent sample, vest, and dongle.

If we have time we go all the way to the park where Bear gets to run around a bit without his vest, leash, or harness.  On the walk we do a few scent trainings, a few behavior trainings and a lot of walking nice practice.  Back home he gets the weeble-wobble feeding toy to eat.

After the last kid leaves for school we do the “go to bed” and “left” and “right” drills.  Then Bear gets to settle down for his first of several two- to three-hour nap.  With any luck he completes his nap on the couch in the living room.

Some where around midday I gear back up for another round of drills with Bear.  I get the snack-pack on, place the dongle in my back pocket, get a scent sample from the freezer, and get to work.  After the training Bear settles down for his second or third nap.

While he naps, I jam a scent sample by his nose to get him to wake up and signal a low.  This has been less than stellar.  But with all of these drills, it is all about being consistent and sending the same message each time (I hope).

As the kids arrive back home, Bear greets them all with the same full body wag and a lot of licking.  Right before or after dinner I’ll gear back up and go through some more drills.  And then before bed, Bear gets one more walk, with drills along the way.  If all goes well, Bear does not leave any surprises in the basement for the girls.