Ludo Is Eight Months and Went On His First Vacation!

Wow! It's been a long time since I last wrote a blog on Ludo.

In some ways, a lot has happened, but it's mostly been normal, day-to-day stuff.

Vacation:

The most exciting thing is that Ludo took his first trip to the beach at the end of March. We stayed in Seagrove Beach, FL and while the area was quite dog friendly, dogs weren't technically allowed on the beach. Normally a rule follower, I did bring Ludo out on the beach a few times after seeing countless families with their dogs. I tried to be respectful and only have him out in the mornings and evenings when the beach was pretty empty. Eventually, a code enforcer spotted us and very nicely said I couldn't bring him back, but it was the end of the vacation anyway.

I was truly impressed with how well Ludo did. I bought him an Adaptil collar since he's been going through a bit of a fear period over the last month or so and while I didn't notice any significant change in him, he was an awesome traveler and aside from barking at one person, he was a perfect gentledood the whole time. The trip (after stops and a long nap for my dad, who was driving) the trip was about 15 hours and Ludo slept (literally) almost the whole time. I requested not to stop at rest stops, but rather at fast food places or shopping areas with green space, hoping to find some areas with less dog traffic. We did stop about half way and I walked Ludo around a shopping center for about 30 minutes... then he was dragging me back to the car, ready for his next nap.

I can't say that I think he enjoyed the vacation any more than he enjoys being at home... probably less, actually. He was somewhat restless at night with new noises and I had to play music and keep a light on in order for him to settle down and sleep. He was afraid of the water, but truly loved the sand. I think it was very diggable (and I don't let him dig at home, so it was extra special). I kept him on a 6 foot leash the whole time (I had packed a 50 foot lead, just in case) because the longer lead didn't feel appropriate for the area. He was happy to spend the mornings on the beach, then head back up to his crate for a 3 or so hour nap. On our last day (after we got kicked off the beach), he had only gotten about a half mile walk and that wasn't enough to tire him out and he barked in a panicked way when I tried to put him in his cage. I waited outside our condo door for about 10 minutes to see if he stopped, but this mama had tears in her eyes listening to him and I couldn't leave him. We elected to take a longer walk (about 3 miles) and rest in the condo for a little while before giving it another go.

I found, for me, that I didn't really enjoy vacation the same way with a dog. Normally, I'm all about trying new places to eat and staying at the beach all day, every day. This time, I didn't want to leave Ludo alone-- I worried that he would be afraid. My sister and I switched off, where one of us would stay home with my niece and Ludo while the other went out. I set up a FaceTime when I put him in his cage in the afternoons to go to the beach and kept checking to make sure he wasn't panicking. After an hour, my sister convinced me it was ok to turn the FaceTime off. In other words, I was a bit of a hovering, overprotective doodle owner.

One thing that was great was how many people he greeted nicely. We navigated some pretty crowded areas and he stayed with me, never pulling or hiding as bicycles (SO.MANY.BICYCLES) rode by and family after family stopped to pet him. He knows the cue "Ludo, do you want to say hi?" as his OK to greet people. I'm always in awe of how gentle he is. More than once, someone asked if they could have him. Everyone was surprised to learn that he is still a puppy. He is so low-key, it's amazing.

The drive home was equally as easy. Again, he slept the whole time-- stopping 3 times for potty breaks. What was amazing was that when we got home, he wanted to go straight to bed. It hit me that while he slept so much, he probably never truly felt rested outside of his own my bed.

If I take him on another vacation, I found that there is a place called St. George's Island in the Florida panhandle, only about 60 miles east of where we were, that is completely dog friendly and well-behaved, leashed dogs are freely allowed on the beaches. However, I think I may consider boarding him at his daycare if I go on another vacation. It would just be like going to school for him and they actually have beds for the dogs to sleep in, rather than kennels. I could also watch him play on webcam all day and I know and trust the staff. Orrrr, I'll be a super crazy doodle mom and never go on vacation again :p It remains to be seen.

Training:

Ludo is a fantastically well-mannered dog. But having said that, we have been really lax in our training and I can tell. He comes when he is called about 90% of the time on the first call, which is great, but his "stay" is off, and he's somehow forgotten how to lie down on a verbal command. We're starting a CGC class at the end of this month and we're really going to be in training mode to get him ready for that.

I also ended our private training for now. I no longer had a lot of questions for her, and it felt more like sitting around talking about dog training, in general. She agreed that it was no longer needed and was not at all pushy to continue.

I'm also really happy to report, after a cold winter of dealing with some autoimmune stuff when it was easy to just say "let's just play inside" and "you can go to daycare," Ludo seems to have forgotten that he was afraid to walk around the neighborhood. We worked, in December, on clicking and treating our way around the block and got him to the point where he no longer needed a lure. He was just walking. On warm days, we would go to local nature areas, but we had completely stopped neighborhood walks. He is now walking around our neighborhood without any trouble whatsoever. We even saw the scary, giant St. Bernard that initially scared him and Ludo just wagged his tail and kept walking. I credit his daycare for that. He is still primarily with the small dogs (that's where his BFF's are) but he has been introduced to lots of big dogs successfully and is no longer afraid of them. It's truly been amazing to see.

Counter surfing has also nearly completely stopped. We implemented the "it's yer choice" exercise into the real life situation and it clicked basically immediately. It took probably about 4-6 weeks for the issue to basically resolve, but I'd say aside from a stray incident (like this past week, when he REALLY wanted the butter that was left on the counter), we've pretty much solved the problem. I'm proud of him :)

The only other thing is that he has started occasionally jumping on people. I'm pretty sure this came from day care and he is modeling it. The problem is that he doesn't do it often enough for me to effectively correct and have it stick. Once every few weeks? Because it's so infrequent, it's not too big of a deal, but I'd like to be able to correct it now, before it BECOMES a frequent issue.

Grooming:

Ludo's coat has, so far, been a dream and I'm pretty sure we've hit the coat change... He's *knock on wood* never had a mat, but I've noticed he get's slightly tangly after his baths. Every time I groom him, it costs about $80 and I usually take him a few times in between groomings for sanitary trims and nail trims, but I was encouraged by the owner of Ludo's older brother to give home grooming a try. Well, today, I gave it a try. I bathed and brushed him really well yesterday and today I trimmed around his eyes, under his ears, the base of his tail (which often looks like a hula skirt), under his tail and the pads of his feet. I used blending shears for the majority of it and I was truly surprised by how tolerant he was! My plan is to learn how to groom him as he grows out and cut a little at a time. I also plan to take him to the vet every couple months for a vet tech visit to get his ears super cleaned and has his glands expressed. I have to say I'm also proud of myself for not ruining him, as my mom suggested I would.

That's really all we've been up to. He's really been such a dream of a dog. It's not been without challenges and hard work, but he really has become a wonderful little guy.

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