Category Archives: Euka II

A toddler says No

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

(Social media disclaimer. As I talk about Eukanuba, it is as an employee of P&G Pet Care. However, anything I say in praise of Eukanuba supports my personal belief that we make some great pet food now. No kidding, y’all. It’s totally true)

A question for you. So, what does a puppy experiencing the canine equivalent of the Terrible Twos do?

Whatever she wants, of course.

We’re going through a phase here at the Sword House. Where the word No happens a lot. Oh, but even that is in competition with the puppy raiser. Like a toddler, Miss Euka is becoming aware of her ability to make her own decisions. Events where the otherwise solid recall, Euka! Here! is met with a passive-aggressive response of I don’t know what that annoying buzzing sound is, but this blade of grass is worth a leisurely snort. And our Euka is a clever girl, right? If she finds me in a distracted state, she’ll ensure that I’ll repeat a command once or twice just to watch me do it.

This is a behavioral period where a puppy raiser needs to stay focused. If the pup’s rewarded with getting away with a delayed response to a command, by having me repeat it, this will be a beast to fix later. So Sit means Sit, little missy. I’m only gonna say it once, then me and you are gonna have a stare down. A raised eyebrow and head tilt from the puppy raiser, then Oh! You mean Sit! I know that one. This whole que pasa thing from the puppy isn’t fooling me. At five months old, she’s aware of proper behavior.

Yeah, we had one of those weeks.

Euka is with me during the workday; most days you’ll find us at the P&G office where Eukanuba is headquartered. And many times, the mighty Micron, an office veteran, is with us as well. So Euka’s been getting rather comfortable down here on the cube farm and makes herself at home. Which means she’s been taking on a rather casual attitude lately. You know what, Food Lady? she tells me. I feel like barking at Micron. He’s just laying there and it’s really annoying me. woof woof bawoof rawr . . .

Euka! Quiet! I say. Use your inside voice, girl. Ah, but this is a reminder that she’s just a pup and so we’ll be heading out to the play park at lunch where I’ll run the snot out of her for a while with a yellow tennis ball. With luck, we’ll meet another pup out there and they can detox together.

For an extra adventure this past week, we moved some folk around to different desks and we are enjoying a new cube neighbor, Gail. Euka likes our new neighbor and finds her very interesting. She want to spend more time with Gail and is vexed to find herself ignored when the rest of us are deep in the throes of getting work done.

Euka is tethered to my desk, compliant with our office pet policy. A generous range, however, with two leashes connected to give her a wide area to command. Ah, but not wide enough. Euka can’t reach around the cubicle wall to see Gail. What’s a girl to do about this? Right, you know the answer.

Whatever she wants.

If you can’t go around the cube wall and you can’t go under, there’s nothing to do about it but try going over. I see a flash of yellow head appear in my peripheral vision. A moment of denial – no, that couldn’t be – but the sound of puppy claws trying to gain purchase on the cubicle panel on her way back down brings me back to reality.

Familiar with the term Prairie Dogging? It’s when your co-workers’ heads pop up collectively from all over the office to see what that sound was. It’s like a flippin’ gopher field in here. Witnesses always make these things better.

Holy sh. . . really, Euka? Dang it, ok now we’re gonna see how long you can hold a Down. No, no, right here. On the bed under my desk. Yep, that’ll do for a bit. Self-control, my love. It’ll do you good in life.

At five months old, we know this is an important time to start proofing the basics too. We’ll be hitting the public venues now. Euka’s sporting her big girl cape while we visit the library and make quick stops at Starbucks, like we did yesterday.

We meet a family, a mom and her two young girls, just outside the library. Is she working? asks the mom. She is, I said. But she’s here to learn proper greetings, too. Let’s have her sit and then she can be petted.

Sit, Euka. Holy cow, she does. Huh. Well, this is going quite well. This is Euka, I say. She’s a puppy in training to . . . Ack! Euka! Off!

Euka has had enough of this sitting nonsense and jumps up to lick one of the girls on the lips. Well, crapola. I’m sorely embarrassed, but not yet defeated.

Ok, I say to the girl as she uses the back of her hand to swipe away the puppy french kiss. You can help me train her, right? Let’s have Euka sit again. If she tries to jump up, just put your hands behind your back until she sits back down. She only gets petted if her butt is on the ground.

Ah, lovely. That goes much better. We enter the library where they have no idea of my first name, but still ask about Puppy #1 Inga. And Puppies #2 and #3. And things go well here on our first walk through. We greet adults, children and a babe in arms. A pretty Sit, no jumping and the occasional Shake. Good girl, Euka, I say each time. Well done.

I know these puppy terrible two’s won’t last. I just gotta stay strong. Keep focused and pay attention to reinforce the good stuff.

Because after this, we’re going into the puppy tween period.

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Growing room

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

Euka II, a beauty in the making at five months old

Ready? Ok, here goes.

Two truths and a lie, y’all.

1. My sister is fifteen months older than me.

2. I’m the quiet, reserved one and she’s the outgoing one ready to spill every embarrassing story of our growing up together. To anyone really, but especially to people we’ve just met.

Ours was blue. And ate
orange traffic cones for lunch.

3. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18. Which is kind of embarrassing when said sister discloses during first impression events. But to my defense, it’s really hard to pass the Maneuverability test with a ’68 Buick Wildcat. The flippin’ thing was the size of a tug boat. You could host a Pampered Chef party in the trunk alone and still have room for a wet bar.

So yeah, I made it easy for you. I’m actually the older sister. Heh, but you know what’s funny? After she tells people we’re sisters, I immediately declare her the eldest. We look nothing alike, so folk will look from me to her and do a vague head tilt while they process this. Oh, but the best part is when she vehemently denies this, which of course makes her look totally guilty. You know? She doeth protesteth too much. Hahahaha, good times.

Except for the pesky age thing, it’s good to be the eldest sibling. I didn’t have to fuss with the hand-me-down tradition, for one. I’m thinking about this with Euka II this week. As CCI puppy #4 for us, this little girl is not so lucky in avoiding hand-me-downs from the pups before her.

The E Litter reached their five month birthday on Valentine’s Day, February 14. A milestone age as this is when the pups transition from their puppy capes to their big dog training capes.

By this age, it’s starting to get tricky to tie a neat little granny knot in the belly straps on the puppy cape. So I’m ready for the larger cape with the snap buckles. A seemingly little detail that actually makes life just one step easier with the puppies.

From Left: Euka II, Emma and Everett at eight weeks

Here’s a shot of three of the E’s from last November when they’d just reached Ohio soil. Brand new puppy capes covering withers to butt secured with cute bow ties under their bellies. Adorable.

Ok, now let’s take a look at our five month old Euka in that same cape today.

Is it even possible to get a belly wedgie?

Yowza. Well, it was hard to breathe with that cape. I mean me, I couldn’t breathe while bending over trying to tie that cape under her belly. It’s same reason I get professional pedicures. I can’t hold my breath that long bending over to reach my toes.

Anyway, it looks kinda silly too, that cape. Like little kid flood pants after a growth spurt. I pull out Yaxley’s old training cape, a hand-me-down for Miss Euka. We’re both ready for the next step up in the pup-in-training fashion department.

Huh. Well, maybe.

Sure, I know what you’re thinking. Just tighten up the straps, dummy. They are tightened, people. That’s it, nothing left to cinch up there on our pale petite beauty. See that ten inches of strap hanging below the svelte waist? Our baby still has some growing to do.

Ah, no worries though. We’ll get our girl looking snappy and professional, ready to meet her public. Off to find some Velcro strips.

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As a comparison, I went back to look at the post we did for Yaxley’s Five for Five and see that the fella had some growing room at five months old too. Yax was 41 pounds at this mark, Euka II is 36. Then check out the photo at Micron at end of the Yaxley post. Fifty three pounds of fluffy yellow puppy. What a moose.

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Wordless Wednesday: Euka II wants to be your Valentine

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

Euka II wants to know if you’ll be her valentine.

Aww, that’s sweet. But she also wants to know if she can get off this frozen chair. She’s losing feeling in her nether regions.

It’s 29 degrees on this winter morn. The metal lawn chair is glittery with a coating of frost. And Euka II is sitting nicely while wearing her Eukanuba pink scarf like a rock star.

Single handed – by myself, y’all – I managed get the pup on the chair, next to a heart pillow and to wear a scarf long enough to get some photos.

If I achieve nothing else with this puppy over the next year, I got this.

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A belly rub with fame

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

As I listen to a presentation on Different Thinking Styles, I’m reminded of a story from a few years ago when I was working for a construction contractor. We brought in a business consultant; an expert in planning. He handed out sketch paper to the leadership team and asked them to create a picture of where they envision the company to be in ten years.

The construction managers, those who had oversight over the making of Dayton skyscrapers as they were, drew pictures of high rise buildings and cranes. Drawings of cities being reborn.

The Finance guy made an organization chart.

I have no language-based thoughts at all. My thoughts are in pictures, like videotapes in my mind. When I recall something from my memory, I see only pictures. I used to think that everybody thought this way until I started talking to people on how they thought. I learned that there is a whole continuum of thinking styles, from totally visual thinkers like me, to the totally verbal thinkers. Artists, engineers, and good animal trainers are often highly visual thinkers, and accountants, bankers, and people who trade in the futures market tend to be highly verbal thinkers with few pictures in their minds. (excerpt from Thinking the Way Animals Do, by Temple Grandin, Ph.D., Dept. of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Western Horseman, Nov. 1997, pp.140-145

For anyone unfamiliar with the name Temple Grandin, a very nice bio can be found on Wikipedia, which is well worth the time to explore. Briefly, here’s a summarizing statement of Dr. Grandin from the Wikipedia website.

Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, autism activist, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. She also created the “hug box“, a device to calm autistic children. The subject of an award-winning biographical film, Temple Grandin, in 2010, she was listed in the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in the “Heroes” category.^[2]

What’s missing from that first Wikipedia paragraph is that Dr. Grandin was diagnosed with autism at age two. At a time when autism diagnoses were uncommon and resources available to families were frustratingly few. Temple Grandin is a woman commited to breaking through barriers for people with autism. She is an fierce advocate, speaking out to raise awareness and understanding. At the presentation I attended last week, she focused on how some of our visual thinking youth are being overlooked for employment in big business.

Euka II gets a belly rub from Dr. Grandin

Society must recognize that different people think in different ways, Dr. Grandin tells us. She believes that all minds, no matter how different, have something to contribute to society. And if different minds are nurtured and brought together, they should be able to solve new and complex problems.

In the business world, verbal thinking is not better than visual. Just as visual thinking is not better than analytical. We need to understand how each person’s view is critical to the success of a business.

Temple Grandin is a much sought after speaker and I was jazzed to be able to attend her presentation. Her website has a schedule of her upcoming presentations. I encourage anyone who wants to understand more about Autism and Asperger’s to attend one of her talks.

So, speaking of different ways of thinking. You know I’ve never been the kind of girl to shy away from a bad decision. So it seemed reasonable to me that I would take Euka II with me to the talk. Sure, I knew it’d be about two hours or so. But Euka’s a good girl, so mature for her four months. Whenever she’s in the office, the pup sleeps much of the time. She’ll be fine.

In hindsight, I recall that while she does get some solid nap time in during the day, it’s only in the afternoons. This, after she’s spent all her energy in the morning being a four month old puppy.

Criminy, was she fidgety. In an auditorium of four hundred folk, she was happiest when reclining in the aisle way. Little Miss Curious, she wanted to check out every one of the faces behind us. At one point, I looked down to check on her and see her on her back, legs spread wide like the girly goods needed a close inspection. Oh my.

A reenactment of her behavior in the auditorium

On the plus side, I see that relaxed posture as some serious confidence in the pup. I mean, really, who does that? In a filled auditorium, with the occasional outburst of robust applause, she’s got her soft belly exposed to all in a cocky bring-it-on attitude.

Dang, girl. Ok, so duly noted and now let’s see how well you can do an Under, Euka. I bring her closer to my chair and under the table top. A service pup in training must be invisible at these events, I tell her.

To be honest, it was a struggle. The pup is convinced all these folk are here to observe the ethereal pale beauty that is Euka II. And to see the view from all possible angles. But after two hours of negating exhibitionist behavior, at least I’ve got a clear idea of what to work on next with the princess.

And like the parents who give their kids raisins at church to keep them still, I’m offering up dog biscuits as bribery. Euka!, I whisper to her. If you put your legs together and lie down over here, there’s a cookie in it for you.

After the presentation, Euka worked on her calm greetings with folk passing by. She was so good!, they said, offering a palm up for a Shake. You wouldn’t believe she’s just four months old.

Huh. Well, I say. She does have her moments. I just hope the next presentation we go to is in the afternoon.