Fitz loved his treat from Erica (my office mate at work). Frozen peanut butter with yogurt, evidently peanut butter is a win for Fitzy now 🙂
Category: Dogs
Happy Easter
No pictures from this weekend unfortunately but we did get some small things done and we had lots of family up to visit.
Friday night Mom and Dad came up for dinner. Fitz was mostly the topic of conversation and attention.
Saturday morning we got a few small things done around the house. Ryan hung the tv in the gym. Dad fixed the bathroom door latch so it would close (deja vu), then he also chiseled out the door frame of the gym so that door would latch shut as well. So we had some fully functional doors for the weekend!
Aimee and Jason came at lunch time (although both have a very bad cold right now) and we had lunch. Fitz and Jovi got to meet and kind of play (Fitz wanted to play, Jovi not so much). They were good though. PJ and Erica came a little later and after everyone settled in we headed over to my uncle’s for easter dinner.
Dinner was wonderful and it’s always great hanging out with the whole extended family. Fitz did great (although he stayed on the leash, mostly laying under the table). It was a little loud for him and I didn’t want him to mark anyplace in the house so we kept him close. Aimee was really looking miserable so she and I headed back a little earlier than everyone else. Of course on the drive home my check engine light came on (yup, could have checked it at my uncle’s if it came on during the drive there instead of home!).
Sunday was a relaxed day, after a big breakfast everyone headed home and we relaxed for the day, although Fitz did get a nice long walk too (he gets about 2 a day on average). Unfortunately sitting around watching movies all day gave me a migraine so it was an early bedtime for me and Fitz (he was tuckered out for sure).
Not going to be a lot of house progress the next 2 weeks, since we’re away both weekends and I have some sewing for my soon-to-be nephew that I need to get cracking on, plus a dog bed to make. I anticipate more house progress in May though 🙂
Deck stained
I was in charge of drop off for doggy daycare today, which means I couldn’t leave too early (we drop him off around 8:15). So i had some time to kill this morning and with nice weather forcasted for today and tomorrow I decided to get the deck stained! Wasn’t hard since it was already sanded, just a vacuum, then stain it.
Fitz is at daycare for the day, hopefully getting tired out and a bit more house trained (it’s hard to house train a dog that doesn’t go in our house but does in other people’s houses) 🙂 This is the first week that Fitz had his new schedule, tues and wed he had the dog walker come over to play for an hour and thurs he goes to daycare. Fridays i work from home so he should be good, i can take him out at lunch time to play and every other week his trainer will come over.
Family weekend coming up! I can’t wait to see everyone and have Jovi meet Fitz finally. Going to be interesting 🙂
April Vacation catch up
The week has just flown by! But not without some house progress to show however. Thursday was a day of errands, Ryan had his leadership thing in the morning so I ran errands. At lunch time we went over and picked up more decking now that it was in. Then we took Fitz to the vet (while he seems house broken at our house, he certainly still marks at other places – he peed twice at the vet) 🙂
Then we packed up and headed down to uncle mark’s for a sleepover (with Fitz). He got to meet Buddy and we kept a very close eye on him so he wouldn’t pee in the house (he did lift his leg once the rascal). He was very good however and even the car ride back didn’t seem too scary for him.
Home friday, Ryan got to work laying the new decking!
While he worked on that, I puttered around the house, doing some small drywall patches in the bathroom and gym so those could be really finished. And I finished stripping the first side of the gym door, vacuumed, did laundry etc. At 1pm the trainer came over to discuss our contract and to do some training.
For the first two weeks we are working on sit, stay, come as well as how to walk on a leash properly and some relationship building (humans lead the way out of (and into) the house, he sits for food and basically anything and he only has 15 minutes to eat in the morning and night or else he doesn’t get his food. Also eye contact, we need to build his confidence by making him look at us more. We were working on most of these things already so we have seen some progress and hopefully in 2 weeks we’ll be ready for some more advanced training (sitting while there are distractions around etc), staying for longer, laying down.
The training session was very good and now I know how we should be walking him and I’m more comfortable with our long walks. Speaking of walks, the spoiled boy gets 2 long walks a day during vacation. During the week he’ll have the trainer come by twice a week to walk him as well and one day a week we’ll try out doggie day care. Spoiled! We’ll see how this goes throughout the 12 weeks of training and then re-evaluate his needs.
Anyway, today Ryan is back to the decking, I’m painting touchups and the trim around the gym door (wanted to wait until the treadmill was in). We have company coming today, Sarah is coming up and Uncle Pete is going to stop by with the Georgia to meet Fitz and see the progress. Too bad it’s cold out today 🙁 Well I’m going to run down to the corner store quick before Sarah comes, then finish my painting. I plan to get some stitching time today for sure!
Happy Birthday Ryan (day 4)
Poor Ryan woke up coming down with a cold on his birthday 🙁 We still got up early and did some work (finished leveling the porch) while Maribeth and I worked on making a new compost bin that i’ve had planned since last summer. We got the bin part done, just need to make a top for it now.
The porch is all level, we bought some decking but they didn’t have enough when we were at the lumber yard so we’ll have to go back later this week to see if their shipment comes in.
After Mark and Maribeth left, Ryan and I took a little break to watch a movie (ryan’s head was really pounding), so we watched Date Night which was okay.
Fitz was pretty stinky (really he needs his teeth brushed) but we’ve been meaning to give him a bath since we got him so I took him out and washed him (he wasn’t loving it but did okay). Here he is all fluffy and clean (smells like oatmeal!)
Here are some pictures of the porch all leveled out!
I can’t believe the rain has held off this long, we really have had some wonderful weather to start off our vacation. I think it’s going to be raining tomorrow, if ryan is feeling better maybe we’ll do some indoor projects or just relax for the day.
Thursday Fitz goes to the Vet and Friday he has a trainer. So tomorrow is our last completely free day!
Working from home
Fitz likes work from home days, no kennel for him, he can wander around, play with toys and sleep wherever he wants…
Morning…
And lunch time…
This little guy has no idea what the next week brings. First the weekend, a much more active day than he’s used to currently (maybe he’ll sleep all night!) and very little kennel time. Then we’re on vacation next week – that will be a real treat for him.
Come friday he starts his first real training session (we are hiring someone that will help us with 1-on-1 training for 6 sessions). In the mean time we are still working on ‘come’ and ‘sit’ and he’s definitely making progress. He met the trainer today and really liked her (and her dog). He wasn’t scared at all which is a great sign. He wasn’t as happy about the furnace cleaning guy who came up from the basement and made lots of noise down there 🙂
And back to work (for me), back to sleep time (for Fitz), wish I could join him in an afternoon nap!
Buddy
Buddy came to work with me today which meant he mostly did this…
The little walks he had and two flights of stairs each way really tuckered him out.
Tonight I’ll be missing my Fitz (and Ryan of course) but I will have a lap dog for comfort.
Playing
Fitz got some new toys today (I stopped on the way home from work to pick him up some things, since he is obviously into toys now that he’s not so nervous and quiet all the time). His main gift was a stuffed duck with a rope neck and he really likes that one. Here are some pics of him playing – he can throw the duck in the air and then chase it 🙂
This is a special week, it’s his first week here so I’ve been coming home early and letting him play while I work from home. Unfortunately this won’t continue for long. Next week we have a vacation though so he’ll get a lot of time to be more active during the day. Then the following week we’ll see what we can set up with a dog walker during the day so he can handle the long day in the kennel (I normally get home around 6/6:30).
Fitz Update
The work week has started and Fitz is doing great so far. Sunday night was rough, he slept from 7-10 pm and then didnt’ sleep a wink all night, which kept us up as he paced around the bedroom, licked himself and shook himself (collar jingles). He whined a few times, we walked him (just in case) but he was just awake.
So Monday we changed it up as best we could. I got a few hints from friends and here is what we learned about Fitzwilliam:
- – Chicken broth (just a little) mixed with his dog food means he’ll eat it when we feed him instead of hours later – yeah – he’s eating on a schedule now!
- – Plain chicken cut up is tempting enough to work on training with him- we’re working on ‘come’ and he’s definitely learning
- – He does play with his toys now – he will throw around his rope bone and a stuffed animal I gave him for 20 minutes straight if he’s in the mood. He’s not into the tennis ball and only chewed the kong once for a minute. He won’t ‘fetch’ but he’ll run and get something I throw and go chew it happily. If I go to take it he instantly leaves it for me, he’s very submissive. Tonight i will buy him a few more toys to see what he likes.
- – A piece of cheese in the kennel and he goes in no problem, he seems to be okay in there for 8 hours straight, just sleeping probably. And he was just fine when i got home. So we’ll keep this up for the week and then look into a dog walker for after our vacation when his kennel stays will be closer to 10 hours (I have to leave work at 2 in order to keep it down to 8 hours)!
- – If we work on keeping him more awake in the evening (when he wants to sleep) he will sleep from 10-12 or so (which allows us to at least fall asleep).
- – If we open up the rest of the upstairs for him to wander in at night and take his collar off he doesn’t whine and he just wanders which is quiet enough to let us sleep.
- – He can definitely go all day and all night without having to go out, he was in no rush at 6am to even go. He doesn’t like the wet ground as much and it’s a rainy week 🙂
So we are learning and he’s being such a good boy. He’s definitely got a lot more personality now and is testing his boundaries, trying to get into things etc. I finally had to dog proof some of the rooms he has free range in and he seems happy. He gets lots of praise and petting and still loves to follow us around. He’s not happy when we’re in different rooms or on different floors, he has to check on both of us constantly 🙂
And two benefits:
- – The exercise! I am going to get in great shape with this routine! We do some sprints every morning (I like to get him exercised a bit before a day in the kennel). And walks in the evening. If the weather is nice we do long walks (3 walks this past weekend alone).
- – The extra time in the day! Contrary to previous habits, I actually enjoy getting up at 6am (if I can get to bed by 10:30 and actually sleep at night). My day is so much longer and I get so much more done. I’m also a morning person so I’m more productive when I get in to work at 8 rather than 10 🙂
Painting
Yesterday I got a coat of paint on the trim, today I sanded that coat lightly then painted the walls.
I’ll get the second coat on the trim tonight probably and the final coat on the walls tomorrow night if I can. We bought the gym floor mats we wanted today, 3 4×6′ mats. We’ll probably end up with a 4th, maybe 3’x6′ once we see how much of the floor these cover. The gym is almost done!
Mr. Fitz tired me right out today, after painting I could tell he was tired of laying around while I painted (he followed me around continuously while I cleaned today). So we went for a nice long walk which is a lot of work on my end since he’s not trained at all, he pulls and he tries to mark EVERYTHING. I’m going to look up some training classes now 🙂