Monday, April 9, 2012

#SAGApupVolt At 23 Weeks Old Already

And he's been living with us for fifteen and a half weeks! It sounds like so little time and it has gone by so fast!
Volt watching me go upstairs at home
Volt is now eating 230g of puppy food three times a day (there's roughly a month left of his eating three times a day and then he will be fed twice a day), and for the last week he has been eating a full serving for breakfast even if we are going in the car. We have had no instances of nausea or car sickness so far which I am very chuffed about.
With all the Easter weekend public holidays I didn't get Volt to the vet to weigh him but I am sure I can see him growing! Volt's father, Timba, weighs over 40kg so they anticipate Volt and his brothers will be big boys!

We had a fairly quiet week last week, we spent Tuesday at SAGA for the first of this year's Packing Days and I dropped off two big black bags of empty 2L Coke bottles at SAGA that we've been collecting at home and from friends, and there were a couple of remote controls and such in the bags as well which are used to train the service dogs.
On Wednesday morning I went to the dentist. My horrendous phobia for a dentist's chair means I have to take Dormicum for my appointment, and it knocks me out cold for a good 5 hours or so. We didn't have any real training sessions that day but we did have a good long walk in the wonderfully cool evening.
Volt is getting really good at ignoring other dogs and people when we're out walking, but not yet without me prompting him with "leave it". As for walking in general, he is starting to react to even slight changes in tension on the leash which is fantastic as he is not supposed to pull me around at all.
On Thursday morning I woke up feeling like I had flu, which is not the way I want to start the winter so I stayed in bed as much as possible, though I did have a cupcake order that was being collected and a birthday cake to bake for my son. This meant no walk or real training for Volt so we had a very bored pup on our hands- but even then he is really well behaved!
He still loves to be outside, but he's paying less and less attention to Thelma and Louise's barking when he's inside which is very good.

Volt's grown-up teeth are coming in fast and I think he now only has one upper puppy canine left! I had hoped to "catch" one when they came out but I wasn't fast enough.
:-P
And now the silly puppy has taken to chasing his tail! Literally! I think its like his scratching in that he does it when he's bored, but I can't let him keep doing it.
Volt is also more vocal when he's outside with Thelma and Louise, but he stops almost as soon as I shout "quiet", which is the same instruction they use at kennels.
We continue to work on how Volt greets guests, and he is getting better at it, but he is such a people-pup and he loves visitors!
He also loves to snuggle and cuddle and if he can, he sleeps on the floor under our feet, using a foot as a pillow if he can get away with it.


We are also putting in a little more work on the "stand" command and we are still practising recall at every opportunity and it has definitely improved.
This Friday April 13th, Volt will be going to SAGA to spend his first full week at kennels with the other dogs in training!! Its going to be very strange indeed not to have him home with us for a whole week- but I must be honest when I say that my hubby and I are looking forward to a bit of a break! I think I've spoken before about how important kennel time is? Let me know if I need to explain about it some more.
:-D
Ooh, before I forget, Volt also recently acquired a new "jacket" to wear when we're out in public! He outgrew the first little one we had very quickly and his new one should fit him for a while.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, some new Volt photos!

 




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1 comments:

Gill said...

He is growing so incredibly fast. Such a gorgeous boy!