Satisfactory Sunday

I'd like to give Jasper a S for Satisfactory today. He didn't do anything special but I see him improving with attention, with the cats, and with intelligence. I don;.'t know about you guys but I think having Jasper open a crate with a rope, getting in the crate and then having him shut it takes skill for a dog. They must remember three tasks and at his age I am astounded. I am going to attend a little meeting before obedience on January 3rd. I can not wait to meet the other students participating as well as their owners. I am pretty sure he will score top of class as he did in puppy class but who knows there could be some competition.* 8 hours later from when I wrote* We are back from the dog park. We met three aussies there. And a cute guy... but we won't go into that. Anyways, Jasper is beat, and is snoring... someone is actually finally tired :P

Off to a friends house.

Oh and Jasper is learning to open crate, go in crate and shut crate door all in one command, and to walk on hind legs aww.

Titling Tuesday!

I am going to apply for Jasper's Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced Titles today. He performs about 30 tricks from a certain book to get his advanced title (ATD) I am so excited. In fact if we hurry, My dog will be the youngest Australian shepherd to have completed the Advanced Trick test. That is something special! Today me and Jasper are working on side and bow. He has been more independent lately which is great. He used to be with me every second and would whine that he wouldn't get played with that very second. I think he got the picture. Short blog today but all is well here.

I am going to pull my hair our WEDNESDAY

Jasper is not taking this transition to grandmas house lightly... at all. He is whiney, anxious and will not settle down. I am beyond stressed and I am sure he can tell I am also. When I get back home, there are going to be a few new house rules to make sure he doesn't have as many troubles as next time. He is constantly waking me up whining at 6 in the morning. He is constantly whining around the house and when he takes naps. I do not tend to his every need when he is whining but sometimes it gets out of hand and I don't want my grandparents to have to listen to it. Again, I am beyond stressed out, and it looks like I will be coming home this weekend as I am not having any fun on this "vacation." I really thought it would be nice to take the dog, but never thought he wouldn't adjust. I guess all dogs are different but sheesh I think he is a little overdoing it. When I get home, I hope to bring him back to his regular schedule and hope he will feel better and not act so crazy as he is here. Again I am really really hoping he settles back down at our house.

Rainy Mondays in Missouri

Jasper and I are settling down to watch the rain. We just went out for a run and frisbee roller game. I am bad at throwing frisbees so I roll them which ususally makes for a long run for Jasper. It is cold here, but today it isn't so bad. Tomorrow they expect flurries so I am hoping something will stay. I want Jasper to experience snow so bad! Jasper says there are a lot of fun toys here at grandmas. His favorite "toys" are plants around the house, empty juice bottles that were suppose to be for the homeless, drink coasters, and a new one, a doll sized rocking chair.
    He was really anxious when he got here. There were just too many people I guess. He is now settling in but still is not 100% settled. He tends to walk around the house instead of taking a break, but it may be because he feels better in this cooler weather. He just can not get enough of the outdoors here. Tomorrow it calls for a low of 21... I need to really bundle up for a walkies in the morning. I think Jasper is getting the concept of not jumping on people so much in the house. He actually sits for grandpa to pet him. When it comes to grandma in the morning... he falls in love with her slippers. Grandma really likes Jasper, Grandpa, well let's just say he is more of a cat person. He sorta gets irratated when Jasper comes up to say hi to him, but one could get annoyed when the dog wants to greet you about 10 times an hour. Jasper is too loving!
   Ah, finally he settled down to a lamb bone mmm! I hope I am not hurting his socialization with dogs since he will be away from them for about 2 weeks or so. I can not wait to take him back to the dog park when we head home for Dallas. Since Butler is a very small city, there isn't a dog park near by. Best bet would be to drive an hour to get to the nearest one and I really do not think grandma is going to go for that haha. I can not find many friendly dogs around here.
    I find dogs tied on ropes outside, and lost dogs everywhere though. It is a shame to have a dog tied to your house and all it does is sit outside, it is not fair for the dog to be tied up, let alone it only creates problems around here when there are so many loose dogs around. So far I have seen 3 loose dogs. Out of the three, I did manage to rescue one. This is a sad story though. My mom pointed out to me what looked to be a chow puppy outside circling around slowly and minding its own business. I always want to see how the dog reacts and see if I can help it. I went outside and called for it but it didn't really respond, it just kept circling around. I kept calling for a minute or two more until it got closer only to find out this dog was in horrible condition. This chow mix had cataracts and was completely blind. Not only that, this dog was deaf, and covered in fleas, ticks. It had half its hair missing so I expected mange. Its tail was kinked and it had several fatty growths or  massive pappilomas. Best part was... it did belong to someone.. it had a old collar on it. I picked it up and carried it to the back porch and sat it down in my lap. I then thought to myself how people can be and how people let there dogs turn into to this. This dog could of easily been saved way before any of this happened if the dog's owner had any knowledge. The dog could of been adopted to someone who could of cared for it, who had time for it, who actually loved it. Money is not an issue here. People are willing to take in dogs and this dog was a very beautiful dog. I just can not believe they would let the dog go or let it loose. The dog is blind and deaf... it can not fend for itself, the poor thing was old. I went to the small shelter here and asked about turning it in for liability issues. Before this I thought it would be best to just euthanize it but feared liability if someone were to claim ownership which is so ridiculous. The dog will be there for five days, today is day four. Tomorrow it will finally be put down out of its misery humanely and with care. This dog's last five days are the last days of its suffering. It has shelter, heat, food and water. It's cold here... that dog could of died of starvation  or freezing. I am just glad I got to help it out.
   It's weird.. I have been getting alot of dogs lately. I mean they are coming to me.. I feel so happy that I can help out. So far in my rescue journey I have rescued three shiba inus, a black lab, a border collie mix, and a chow mix since August. I have been joking to my friends that I wanted to turn my new car into a doggy rescue pickup and in fact I am going to. It sounds so silly but I will make sure it has water, food samples, extra leashes, collars and and treats, hoping I can rescue more dogs!
   Jasper is asleep now, so I am going to take a break and relax.

Friday fixes

I have to make Jasper stop jumping on people. Today he jumped on my brother and his tooth punctured Blakes skin. He did not bite him but merely jumped and his tooth scraped his face. This concerns me because the jumping can hurt people. I must start tyring to improve this but others must help me.

Ok as of tonight we have all agreed to help Jasper with his jumpy problems, hopefully this lasts.
A simple solution we will do is first now get him riled up when we see him, second if he jumps we turn our backs without saying a word and then when he sits, his "reward" (which doesn't always need to be treats or toys) will be that he gets pet. We call these life rewards.
Also* Jasper has fully learned head down all the way with a verbal cue while I am standing. Yay!
signing off.

Also I forgot to remind myslef, Jasper has always had allergies... and he used to take Temaril P which is a steroid.. which is not the best choice for puppies. He has now switched to Atopica and I am hoping this helps.

Jasper the dog

First blog ever here. This is going to be just a tracking of Jasper's progression of his life.
Jasper is 33 weeks old which is hmm 8 months old wow. He is oh about 55 lbs.

• He is a constant licker.
• He whines when he wants to do something and you are not playing with him play, or can not get to something.
•  He is a pro counter surfer.
•  He barks loud at toys he wants others to throw.
•  He just started barking at strangers at the door (no where else) more of just a warning nothing aggressive.
• The vet is a nightmare specially when I leave him there. (constant scared barking)
• He occasionally chews something he is not suppose to chew on.
• He has more food drive than toy drive. His toy drive is what I would say a 4 out of 10. It used to be 0 out of 10.
• He is anxious with new people and jumps on them.

Ok that is stuff we need to work on but hey that really isn't too bad now really. It could be far worse. I do want to point out that this was my first dog ever so not only did I spoil it with toy after toy after treat after treat, I also never really worked on what seemed to be "cute" back then i.e. jumping,chewing,tablesurfing (at that time he couldnt reach te table and it was so cute to see him on his hind legs.) Unfortunately others would not contribute nor still do not help with jumping. I have one friend who constantly praises him and gets him riled up when he jumps. She may like it but others may not want a dog jumping on them. Another "problem" is that I have a brother. a 5 year old brother. He is like any other 5 year old - loud, entergetic, causes problems, and gets Jasper all hyped up. There are just some things that will not stop until I am able to get my own place and live in a more calm environment. Unfortunately that is still far away now. For now I can try my best to cope and deal with it.

Jasper is my buddy, my pal, my best friend hands down. He makes me laugh, he makes me proud, and I love him because he loves me, unconditionally pure loves me. Now I must tell you what he can do... he is a very fast learner and picks up on things pretty fast. Here are a list of things jasper "can" do.

• Sit (working on sit on command if he is very far away)
• Down
• Roll over
• Beg
• Speak
• Spin
• Twirl
• Go get leash
• Peek a boo
• Walk backwards
• Shake
• High 5
• Double high 5
• Touch
• Go to crate
• Go to mat
• Cross paws
• Bang! you're dead!
• Weave while I walk
• Swim
• dig on command (he doesn't have a problem with digging, he lives in doors)
• Fetch
• Drop it
• Leave it
• Stay (40 paces ish)
• Grrr growl
• recall is very good 8/10
• Heel is so so but he knows how to
• Wipe paws on door mat
• Working on recycling (Throwing away empty yogurt cups in the trash can)

Gosh I think that is it! We are working on putting his head down, and rocket recall with sit and down emergencies. He has learned so much and we have fixed many things he used to do.