4 months... 42 pounds... lots of adventures!

It's true.  Hamlet weighed 42 pounds at 4 months 11 days.  He's huge!! My last dog, Lois, was 45 pounds when she went to advanced training at 14 months.  Hamlet will pass that before he makes it to 5 months.  He already seems big...  I just feel lucky that he's such a sweet, amenable puppy.  He's so easy to handle!

All dogs should have some self control, but it's especially important for a service dog, and even more so for a massive service dog.  That's why we teach him things like the command 'leave it'.  First, we tempt him with something he wants, like kibble.  Then, when he shows that he can resist temptation we reward him with something even better - like cheese!  He prefers sharp cheddar, just like his mama...

Hamlet looks tortured as he resists the temptation of treats on his toes

The Leave it challenge complete!

We've been working with kibble and dog treats for a while, but recently Hamlet has been acing these distractions.  It was time for something bigger... the leave it challenge.  In this challenge, I tell Hamlet to  'leave it', and then I use kibble to spell his name on the ground.  At first, I could only spell Ham.  Then Haml, Hamle, and finally...  Hamlet!  He did it!  And here's the evidence.

Steady Hamlet... you can do it!

Of course, we haven't just been practicing leave it for the last little bit... Hamlet grew so much he needs an EXTRA large crate.  That means I can fit in there too (I being Daisy).  It's cozy!

 Hamlet has also been getting his share of hikes in.  The ticks have been awful, but luckily he's so white that we can see them easily.  His tick repellent makes him smell like a cinnamon roll, but he still hates it.  He loves running outside though!

Hikes!

Hamlet in Rothrock.

Hamlet gets his exercise. Beyond walking a few miles each day to get to school and back, we routinely take him on walks on weekday evenings, and longer hikes on the weekends. These longer hikes are great -- we're out in the woods by ourselves and we let him off leash to explore the world a little more freely. Most of the time we head to our local state forest, Rothrock, which has a large variety of hiking trails. (It is also great for biking, by the way...)

Since he is still a puppy (and in general) we don't let him off leash without a back-up plan! Our strategy: always be equipped with chicken. If we need him to "come" in any situation chicken is his reward -- and he definitely responds! However, we don't really need it on hikes, because he stays pretty close of his own accord. I take that as a sign that he likes us. ;)

(Drinking, err...) Playing in the water

Fall is here, and the ferns are changing color!

Hide & seek

Happiness

More happiness

Tired? ... nah.

Sometimes he'll pretend to be tired. At that point he'll lay down in the middle of the path and kick out his hind legs to rest his full underbelly on the ground. Of course, as soon as we offer a few words of encouragement or praise he is back up and running along!

Super-puppy ears.

Stairs and Sleeping

Hamlet learning the stairs. At first he would sit down
awkwardly and look sad when he got nervous.

The first few weeks we had Hamlet he didn't like stairs. He was small and they were big and steep. We'd just carry him so he didn't hurt himself.

Gradually he became more comfortable, and we carried him down all but the last two or three -- then left some food at the bottom to give him an incentive. We slowly worked our way up to the whole flight in our house.

Now he can handle their size fine, and I think he doesn't mind them so much. However, I think he does take advantage of us a little -- instead of coming down the stairs he will just sit at the top and wait for you to offer a treat. After you put a piece of food at the bottom of the stairs he'll come right down. (He does this, ummm, every morning... haha. I guess that is what you get some times when you use a food-reward system.)

"Do I have to come down?"

Sleeping, on the other hand, was always Hamlet's strong suit. From the first day we had him he always tended to be calm. I know that puppies tend to sleep a lot and there are always cute puppy photos of them sleeping next to cats and such. However, I didn't think that Hamlet would sleep in such strange positions. (And, how often the same strange positions would repeat themselves.) Here is one of my favorites...

The upside-down sleeping puppy trick.

 No one can say he doesn't find his crate comfortable!

The story of the missing bone

Once upon a time there was a marrow bone that Hamlet loved to chew...

And for some reason it had been a couple days since Daisy or I had seen it anywhere! At first I'm never  concerned about his 'missing' toys, as often they migrate from home to school to the car or get left in the backpack. However, for his bone, I was kind of wondering where it went.

This bone was very useful because if we wanted a few minutes to just relax, we stuck some peanut butter in it and let Hamlet have at it. He would lick and lick until he got as much of the peanut butter as he could - and in the process not chew any furniture, carpet, etc.

It was early morning one day, before 7:30 AM, when Daisy felt a strange sensation on her feet. She was standing in the kitchen, starting to make coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. It felt like something bit her, and she rubbed her foot. I heard her make some noise as I was walking down the stairs. And then, to our surprise, she discovered that she was standing in a trail of black ants that crossed our kitchen!

After grabbing some slippers, for limited protection, we took a look under the stove -- and found the bone covered in ants!! Apparently Hamlet had knocked the bone under the stove (hence it went missing) and now two days later we had a sizable trail of ants from our back door through the kitchen. :). We got out the broom to sweep out the ants, and we tossed the bone outside for them as well. Cheers!

Ants found the peanut butter bone.

4 month [1/3]-birthday for Hamlet

Today Hamlet is 4 months old! Daisy and I have had him for almost two months, and my how he has grown! Beyond just growing in size, he has learned so many behaviors and cues. By my count he's almost half way there to the 26 cues that SSD desires on [verbal] cue by the time he goes back to advanced training. Granted, this is the 'easy' half... but he still has made a lot of progress.

In celebration, I'm going to start posting a little more regularly. After some fun photos and stories, I'll write a few posts about clicker training and what commands he is learning. ... I hope you enjoy!

16 Weeks Old!

Wow, I can't believe he is already 16 weeks old! This past Tuesday we took him to the vet for a few shots, including rabies. (He weighed 35.6 lbs! Oh, he is going to be a big one.) After the vet we had a couple hours before the ESC weekly beginner puppy class so we had a puppy playdate with his brother, Shakespeare. Shakespeare's family has a fenced in tennis court-type area, so they got to run around and wrestle and get tired! (When they are tired, puppy class is a lot easier and more calm...)

Here are a few photos from their wrasslin' times:

I think they're sharing!

In other news, there has been a very notable improvement in his house behavior! At first, he wanted to chew on any variety of things. Now, he mostly chews on his 'toys' and spends a little more time just chillin'. (It helps that he walks 3-5 miles a day...)

Hamlet being cute.

Hamlet cuddles with Jason for a nap on the floor.

One of many awkward sleep positions.