Havanese Roadkill?

Okay, did we get your attention with that title? Our human mommy was at Globals in Richmond Hill and Eva - quite the nice lady gave us a toy that she fondly called roadkill. Some of you will remember that this past summer, our Havanese mommy was sprayed by a skunk and human daddy had to sleep with her outside.

Well, in that honor, we get to play with a flattened skunk that has a squeak in each end. Can you even see it among us? We just adore it and she's getting more - skunks, squirrels, foxes, rabbits etc all flattened out. Best part is we don't have to deal with stuffings coming out and have a roaring good time playing tug - yes, we now play tug. Mommy has to get a picture of it but with human daddy gone, she sort of has been doing cleanup, playing - tons with us and dogs, dogs, dogs and well, this is the first time she sat down today and guests are coming (Helen and her son) shortly with rumoured giggling vegetables that we can play with - wow. That ought to be fun. Right now though we are snoozing and mommy is going to take a quick nap so more later. if you go get this roadkill toy - tell Eva we sent you. She's getting more in this week.

Havanese Pups Playing Recovery

Well, we had a really full day yesterday. Many human adults came to visit, a few Havanese as well and wow a full day. We were actually quite characters last night as we were overtired but this fine morning after human daddy left and human mommy fed us, well we mostly all crashed. Not that we didn't sleep last night - but we did. We just took longer to calm down. We find an active play session before bedtime helps the deep sleep and this crew has been easy.

Human mommy says the best part of this crew is even when they are in an overtired state, not a whiner in the crew. They find things to amuse themselves (it helps to rotate toys and give them things to do) but also they can see us walk past their room and they are a patient crew but once you step in, they know its time to come downstairs and they rather like that and are WAY excited.

We are going to miss the human daddy these next few days but mommy has a lot of fun things planned for us. We are going to test each on the receptiveness of commands. It's a tad early but it's good to expose them. We will see how they do. Then if the weather cooperates, we will be taking them outside for a romp each day, into the kitchen and into the hallway and family room to give them a different environment.

Then who knows, we will watch some TV and get snuggles and brushes and everything will be right in the world. Ah - to be a Havanese puppy...human mommy wishes!

Long Havanese Day

We had a long day today but a fun one. The dogs are starting to eat Fromm's canned food with Fromm's Dry food softened and they LOVE it. The Chicken Thighs Entrée had them smacking their lips. They adore it. They are starting to eat more and less from mom.

Human mommy is tired so she will fill you in more tomorrow and human daddy is out of town till Sunday.

More tomorrow...when we get our rest...

Havanese Planning

Well, another day down and we were snoozing but mommy and daddy took us upstairs so they can clean out the pen. This is something they do daily completely and partially throughout the day. It gives them a chance to mix it up and give us new toys - fun. Best toy they love so far is that play center, the cat toy with the ball and the tunnels - grand fun indeed!

We listened to dog sounds today - all sorts. the only one that reacted was the retrievers. We go for our baer test next week and our shots, microchip and wellness. it will be a busy 2 days then.

Tomorrow we have our Havanese daddy's human mom coming Beth Obrecht from Rockhurst Kennels to visit and Sonrisa's Havanese Rita Thomas so we are resting up so we can really show them what we are made of.

Human daddy had mommy hold us today while he did nails. The gal was the absolutely squirmiest and most vocal about such an act. Still, it was done and we moved on to playing and snuggling.

The crew went out again today and only the double mask is shivering but no one lasts as long as the guy we call Tux. He just adores the outside and gad he just snuggled and snuggled tonight.

Well, human mommy had a very busy day with work so she's calling it a night too. Have-a-neese night! Yeah the rest of them except for the pups sleep with us. Great fun!

Havanese Puppy Games at 7 Weeks Old

Wasabi's pups are loving playing games with their psuedo auntie, Shoshi, uncle Katsuro, auntie Terra - all of the canine persuasion. They have such a zest for life. It's amazing to watch!

Havanese Noisy Days

This morning we are doing traffic noise conditioning. We started out awake and look at how we ended up listening to all this bloody noise. Human mommy is going crazy listening to it but us - we said fu-get-about-it! Every now a loud horn blares, a dog barks etc and one or the other lifts their head to look but traffic and all the noises in the background including people, horns, crashes etc seem to give us a yawn! heh

We had more of a reaction to storms yesterday but even that was just a - what was that look especially on the loud sounds of thunder or wind.

Maybe we will do wildlife soon.

Today, the double mask and Tux played with Terra and she played back. Where's your camera when you see these moments - argh...we will be doing one on one with the others. We also watch TV cuddling one or another, looking in ears, between toes, rubbing bellies and just loving being the one selected and oh they do...look where I am but all get a turn so they are also learning patience. :-)

More later...

Sound Conditioning

We condition our dogs by playing realistic sound bytes that simulate anything from a roaring thunderstorm, to rain to street noise, to traffic and much more.

Tonight we are concentrating on the sounds of storms. We will change the sounds and vary the level of the sound throughout this process. This way when your puppy hears his first real noisy traffic or a roaring storm, they will be less apt to react to noise as it will be familiar.

Each day, from now until they go to their new homes, they will experience sound conditioning in a place - their xpen next to my desk where they feel secure. At times Wasabi (Havanese mom) may be feeding them, others we will be playing with them and at times they will just be sleeping or playing with the guys. By associating sounds with various 'good memories' we attempt to minimize the startling effect that we all have from a loud sound.

Our oldest golden retreiver was a rescue and a prisoner of her fear till we did slow conditioning with her. No one and nothing should be a prisoner of their fears.

By practicing positive slow conditioning, we hope to eliminate these common fears that occur with loud noises in 'some' dogs.

We fear what we don't know.

The Start:Housebreaking Your Havanese Puppy

We do everything possible to get your little one to start the journey of housebreaking by starting them in a secure small area and increasing their awareness by introducing them to a larger area - our kitchen and the outside. This way they become aware of the smell and where you want them to eliminate.

In our x-pen, they are getting really accurate but in our kitchen area, they still have some accidents as the area is large and we are now finding that if we bring a pad already used into the kitchen area, they find the pad easier. It's one of the tricks that you learn by trying and seeing what works. They seem to be rather good at going outside as cold often gets their bladders to empty (bonus the wintertime) but you must go out with them at first.

Check out our housebreaking tips file. You'll be able to find it by a menu on the left hand part of the screen under food for thought or linked here.

More About Today
Our pups had a rather busy weekend and was very tuckered out. They slept in till 7amish after going to bed a tad after 10pm. That tells me that with a lot of activity, they are already able to sleep for a chunk of time. That's great news but we will continue to strive to get them sleeping through the night every night. A change in environment may throw them off at first but they will be on their way to getting to be all they can be.

Today they had a visitor (Audrey) our groomer who loves the pups. She was here to do our goldens. We usually bath all of ours but every now and then we have her visit us to trim nails, clean up the pads, and just give human mom a break from cleaning so many. The adult Havanese have been having such a roaring good time with frozen bones human mommy put out back that they gave managed to look a tad wet and droopy from all the wet snow. Still, a good brush will take care of that. We are working on a grooming file so look for it soon.

Then we had a grand play session in the kitchen where they munched on Terra's (goldens) legs - all 6 at once - oh my but that was fine. When Terra had enough she went outside after saying enough with a correction growl. Shoshi played great with them, Kat played some and now they are all fast asleep.

They are now starting to eat more solid food. Ah - to be Havanese...nothing better. Catch you tomorrow!

Solitary Havanese Play

Havanese are highly sociable and love people but they can also amuse themselves. Watch this little guy play with this toy while his siblings are snoozing this fine early morning.