Friday, October 14, 2011

After the honeymoon...

We've had Devin a little over a week.  For the most part he has been a really good dog with a great disposition.  But, the thrill of a new pup is now over.  Not only has Devin gotten used to his new family and living arrangements, but we are so over his high activity.
He has discovered squirrels.  He runs from window to window looking for them, which gets him overly excited.
1. Work on being calm in the house/RV.
When we first got him, he actually didn't pull too badly.  He had a taught leash, but didn't drag us down the road.  But now that he's discovered squirrels and all the new daily smells, he has become quite the puller.  We are now using the gentle leader which works wonders.  Devin must has been trained on this by his previous family, because he seems to know to slip his nose into it and doesn't fight to get it off until he is back inside.  Even though the gentle leader works great, I feel we are not teaching him to heel.
2. Teach to heal.
After letting Devin run around the dog park and then also bringing him to the pond and jump through the pond and run around it for an hour, I thought he'd be calm enough to start "heel" training.  Got some yummy, smelling, bad for you treats, but Devin is so distracted by squirrels, that he pays no attention to me nor the treats.  He's going to be a tough one to train.
He also wouldn't come to me while at the pond.  I don't want to say "come" and have him disobey, so I just wait for him to get close to me.  I pet him, let him go. I do that a couple of times, so he doesn't associate coming to me with being leashed up. When I was ready to leave, he of course, wasn't.  So I took Lyla and walked down the path hoping he'd be worried we left. It took about 10 minutes and he finally was concerned that we were gone.  I was finally able to leash him.
3. Train recall.
So after 1/2 hour at dog park, 1 hour at pond and then another hour at the dog park, he FINALLY calmed down enough to walk nicely on a leash.
4. DRINKS LOTS OF WINE!
I am drinking a glass right now as I type.  I'm feeling much better.
Lyla is sleeping, Devin is sleeping and Debbie is drinking.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Devin is officially a Buskirk.

Breslin is fitting in EXTREMELY well!   He was an owner turn in to Above & Beyond English Setter Rescue via Bonnie from Magnolia Setter Rescue. We were intending to adopt him, but if he turned out to be a "crazy" pup, we'd just foster and adopt him to someone that was willing to work very hard with him. But he has turned out to be a better pup than we could have anticipated. To make him officially a Buskirk, we've renamed him Devin. Also we believe our beloved recently deceased Irish Setter, Ryley gave us his blessing to pass on his Celtic collar to Devin.
Devin is a great tempered 10 month old pup. I think his former owner was very loving and knew the best thing for him was to give him up. She seemed to have worked with him.  He knows sit, stay (somewhat), he's crate trained, house trained. I'm amazed that he goes to the door to let us know he needs to go out.  He's great with strangers & other dogs. Very very sweet.
Lyla & Devin participated in the Weiner bobbing contest at Four Paws Kingdom Campground. Lyla won her round, but beaten in the winner's round. (She came in 2nd last week).
Lyla listening to the bobbing rules

GO LYLA!
Now Devin LOOKED like he'd be a winner.  I had to hold him back like you do for flyball. He had no problem dunking his nose in the water to get the weiners, but he has to thoroughly get the full effect of the weiner. He picks it up, rolls it around in his mouth, drops it, picks it up again, bites off a little piece of the already small 1/2" round piece, roll round in his mouth and then decide he likes it and eats it. Do this times 3 pieces and no way could he have won, but, I don't think he was last either.
Don't rush me, I want to savor this treat!

Monday, October 3, 2011

The Storm

Referring to our 10/3/11 RV blog post..."The Calm before the Storm", below is what could potentially be "the Storm". We hope he'll be just a little Tropical Storm and not a Florida hurricane!


Initial thoughts from his temporary foster Mom:
He's a sweetie.  Needs to put on weight!  I doubt very much that he's even close to 50 lbs. yet.  He's very much puppy but very very cute.

He's neutered, chipped, has all vaccs, was on Iverhart. 

He's very good...watched the guys use the dog door once and in and out he goes.  No barking.  Loves to run....playing with the Lab today.  He's out and running and then comes back in the pet door to see what I'm doing.  He was respectful when Rosie growled when he tried to lick her face.  He cowered away.


Crates good and was quiet.  We all went to my bedroom a little while ago to rest.I put him in a crate in my bedroom and he went to sleep...no barking or whining.

We are considering changing Breslin's name. We like that it is Irish, but don't like the name itself.
PLEASE LIST ANY NAME SUGGESTIONS IN THE 
COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!!!!! 
We'd like it to rhyme with Breslin, so he's not too confused.