Ears To You

These next few weeks (10-13 weeks) are probably my favorite period of early puppyhood. Ember is now almost 11 weeks old, and has grown and changed so much since I brought her home at 7.5 weeks. She is getting more leggy, a bit more independent, has figured out the household routine (including house and crate training) and... my FAVORITE part, is starting to get the wonky ears! People that tape or glue ears to get the shape they want (stupid, IMO) are totally missing out on this part of their puppy's development. I love not knowing how their ears will end up until they get through teething :P

Right now, Ember's ears are looking really cute. I hope they stay something like this in maturity.


They seem a bit more, er, symmetrical than Moss's did at 11 weeks, hehe:



Who knows what Ember's are going to do. Her father has prick ears, and her mother has big, heavy rose ears, so it's not clear genetically what will happen :P

I do know that she'll be damned cute, whatever her ears end up looking like.




Ember is continuing to do well with her training. Most recently, we have been working on back up (using the Susan Garrett method she talks about in Shaping Success), pivots on the plank, targeting with both front and rear feet, mat work, and going to a "mark" on the floor (a dog bowl right now, will transition to an "X" of tape soon and offering behaviors. She's a smart little cookie!





Right now, she and Moss (and Scully, kinda LOL) are outside running around like mad. Ember is getting a lot more confident and strong with the other dogs now that she's not so tiny. I can feel that her strength as increased when we play tug. She now pulls a lot stronger against my hand. I need to work on retrieving and getting a more consistent "out" command.




I should have a new video up tomorrow. I just realized I forgot to post her 10 week video on the blog. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.... ;)



Cheers!