Long Weekend - Cottage Puppy Madness

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin weathered his first long weekend at the cottage. He shall sleep for the next three days I am sure! A continuous parade of new people, dogs, woodland animals, birds, new rules and of course the water! We had a couple of mishaps: he was tethered on the back deck and broke his collar in order to visit a Shepard mix puppy that was next door; he also broke through his electronic boundary to chase seagulls and play in the water (no shock due to a loose connection on the battery) and although I was not happy he did this, I couldn’t help but smile at the joyfulness of him (so much so, I let him do it again a couple of days later in a more controlled setting with us giving him “permission”.

Overall however, Gavin did very well given the chaos around him and I think the continuous exposure to new people (no less than 16 different people came and went, including 8 overnighters, plus all of people and dogs we met walking was a real benefit. Lessons learned:

1) always have a spare collar (I did, thanks to a tip from Debbie)

2) have a quiet place for your dog to get away from the crowd (I did, again thanks to Debbie)

3) keep lots of metal bowls around for water

4) remember he is a PUPPY and thus he does not know when it’s time to take a rest in a quiet place, so you have to make this decision for him at least a couple times a day (I got my act together by Sunday on this point)

5) I also had to be diligent about structuring his eating, as if I did not settle him and prompt him, he would forget all about eating

6) even though he has an electronic boundary, that does not mean that I want him to go everywhere within that boundary unsupervised, so I needed a light 20 foot lead attached to him so that I could catch him and pull him back to me when his recall was shaky

And for those who have been following my discussions:

1) We put him out the front door instead of the back and he found his way to a wooded area on our property to do his business (the same spot each and every time!) instead of our neighbour’s yard (who said he didn’t mind anyway).

2) Despite all of the planning, Gavin met “the Queen” by accident, after a walk while he was still on lead and she was not. He tried over and over most of the weekend to club her head with his giant paw, she squealed and warned him over and over and he seemed to find the whole thing amusing. They were fine once we settled Gavin and were often laying side by each. He was very good with her indoors. And Maryann, the tennis ball fetch distraction worked great!

Thanks everyone for all of you help!!!

[Kathie and the gang]

Sounds like everyone had a great time. I'm in Bend, Oregon for the long weekend and I'm hoping it get warm enough for the dogs to go swimming. We just had a big hail storm pass through, but now the sun is peaking out. There is always hope for tomorrow. Both my dogs’ love the river, but it is ice cold-comes off the mountain, which is still covered in snow.

[Adina P]

Sounds like a wonderful time and that you've got things all squared away for a safe and fun cottage experience every time!

[Sandy]

Debbie - Toby has only had one opportunity to be near open water (on a hike, in a place we have since found out is "on leash only". Rats.). However, when we WERE off leash (apparently illegally) and came across this large pond, he made a beeline for the water and would have just kept on swimming! He loves it too!

[Debbie and Thomas]

We were up at our cottage on Nottawasaga Bay (Georgian Bay) also this weekend. Thomas has slept since he got home. He just wants to be in the water ALL THE TIME. We are one cottage away from the water so we can't just let him go by himself so we took him to the beach about 100 times. We were sitting onthe deck relaxing with my neice and her boyfriend and friends and he was whining agian at the gate to go to the beach. We all were ignoring him...then he ran over and head butted my neice in the thigh and ran to the gate and sat there looking at her....she then got up and took the spoiled doggie down to the beach. I couldn't believe he did that...to get her attention and tell her what he wanted! Wasn't the weather fabulous?? Better than last year or even the year before.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Glad to hear your cottage adventure was a sucess, if a little hectic. Glad the tennis ball worked.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Gavin, Can I come spend the summer with you? XOX Harlow

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Sounds like a fantastic weekend for the dogs...and their humans.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all.