Our vocal, energetic Bear

This last week I had an appointment to take Jack to the clinic to get neutered.  I did one more burst of research on the topic:

• Top 10 reasons to neuter your dog

• Top 10 reasons to NOT neuter your dog

I found the reasons FOR rather weak.  While I don't plan on studding Jack, I haven't noticed any aggression on his part, nor a desire for him to break out of the yard.  He can't stand not being in the same room as me.  The medical reasons for neutering didn't out the medical risks that seem to be listed for dogs that are neutered.  

So Cathi and I discussed it and we cancelled that appointment.  We are going to let Jack keep his manhood until we see any real reasons to consider otherwise.

Our little Bear has had another week at the Gridley house.  He's got sit down really well, just as good as Jack.  We are working on "Lay down".  He gets it pretty well if I bring the treat down to floor level, but I'm trying to get him to lay without having to bend all the way down to touch the ground.  That's the next step.  He's more vocal about things. He barks more than Jack ever did as a puppy. Not an annoying constant barking, but when he wants a treat after sitting for a while and you are too slow giving it to him.  Or when he hears another dog in a yard barking while we are on a walk, he will answer with a single bark which is cute.  

He also is more whiny at night than Jack ever was too.  He's having a hard time staying asleep throughout the night on a consistent basis.

Bear, enjoying a beef steak bone

I've been spending the nights on the main floor in the front room with Jack and Bear.  Some nights he whines and we take him out and he gets a drink and goes to the bathroom, only to have him struggle getting back to sleep.  Which affects my sleep too.

Bear does really good on a leash
and stays with us, whereas Jack
is high energy and wants to go!

I need to make sure he gets a decent drink later in the evening and then put the bowl up high so he doesn't get any more middle of the night drinks. I'd like him to be able to sleep through the night without having to go out, or to wake up for whatever reason.  He sleeps alot during the day, but he also gets a lot of exercise playing with Jack in the back.  

Jack and Bear do a lot of playing together and it's fun to see that.  Jack is getting way more steps in a day the past couple weeks since we got Bear. And I can tell he greatly enjoys the company.

Updated Stats:

	Jack (12/6/2019)	Bear (9/18/2020)
Weight	45 pounds	20 pounds
Neck circumference	15.5 inches	12 inches
Chest circumference	26 inches	20 inches
Body (Neck to tail base)	24 inches	16 inches
Age in weeks	50 weeks (11.5 months)	9 weeks (2.25 months)

The cat from day 1 hasn't had a single issue with Bear. She hasn't even arched her back once.  It's nice that he's coming in to our family as a puppy, because I don't think she'd be like that if he came in as an adult.  It would take her a long time to warm up to him.

Jack's little brown furry brother, Bear

Isaac, probably the least dog-loving
boy in the family enjoyed a moment
of Moose sleeping on his lap.

 So yesterday evening we went down to Orem and picked up our new family member.  Bear is what we are calling him. It's funny how Mom and Dad have a name, and the kids override simply by calling him that and forcing us to go with it for the sake of the puppy to not get him confused with two names.  

Jack did just as I thought, he was overly excited about the whole situation.  To the point of probably overwhelming the little guy.  Jack is so happy, and little rough in his play.  Before we know it Jack will be the smaller of the two.  

Here are some pics and vids:

Chasing Jack around the back yard.

It has begun. His poop is already
bigger than Jack's!

Jack constantly sniffing, and playing with his little
brother.  It's like teaching a toddler to be gentle
with a newborn.  It's a struggle to make it clear
that he isn't really a peer just yet. Got to be
a little respectful of the little guy's space.

Jack's expecting a baby brother

 So I've caught Cathi on the internet looking at things behind my back.  I came up behind her and saw her on KSL Classifieds looking at puppies.  Not just any kind of puppy, but Newfoundland/Poodle mixes: Newfypoos.

After several days of talking with her about it, I did some researching on my own as well and found a new litter in Orem that got posted.  I found one with a very cute white section from head to tail along his front, named "Steve". 

"Steve" has such cute white markings
but notice how thick his fur is?
That's fine and all, but I can't see
his eyes.

I texted the breeder and paid a $200 deposit. 

We went down the next day to check him out. On the drive down to see the puppies we were coming up with names:

• Bear
• Chewie
• Moose
• Gus

One thing I discovered about physical qualities in a dog that I love, in addition to a long tail, is their eyes.  Nothing beats that intense eye contact you can get from a dog.  To me it means they trust you when your eyes lock, and that they give a crap about you (unlike a cat).

When we got there I noticed the texture of Steve's hair was curly and long, and I couldn't see his eyes very well.  Whereas the brown puppy, Vegas, had fur that was much smoother and not curly.  I could see his eyes very clearly.  

Here is our boy. His fur is
softer to the touch, not curly
but soft like a bear.  I can see his eyes
clearly and cuter than ever.

As soon as we saw Vegas, the brown pup, his personality and physical appearance appealed to us.  He played with Sam, and Oliver while Cathi just admired the whole crew of puppies.  She was just "ewwing" the whole time, melting over the brood of cuteness.  She even asked "could we get a 'two-for..." deal?"  I stopped her there, "Cathi!".  No way are we gonna get two puppies at the same time.  

Oh my gosh, Jack is gonna over-
exert his tail when he see's his
baby brother waddle into the room.

When we go Jack there was a time when I got permission from Cathi to proceed getting Jack's sister, "Georgia".  I brought her over and after seeing them interact for about an hour realized the complexity of trying to train two puppies at the same time.  Their attention would be on each other rather than the me as the trainer. So getting two of these pups just isn't gonna happen.

At any rate, we all discussed it and decided to go with this brown puppy instead of the original pup we were coming down to see.  "Steve" had such beautiful markings, I'm sure he will go quick.  But for me the hair texture and color was the thing that got me willing to switch.

We get to go pick him up on Friday afternoon!  We are so excited.

1 day old

This newborn dog is cuter than
most newborn humans, IMO.

We've had a lot of discussion in the family on his name.  Hopefully we get that figured out before we pick him up.  

Jack, the cat lover

 Another word that Jack recognizes and reacts to is "Kittie".  We have a cat that we've creatively named "Kittie".  She has been in our family since 2008. So when Jack hears us say "Kittie" he perks right up, ready to do some butt sniffing. 

Here she is when she was a kitten pawing at a mouse on the computer screen.

Jack loves this cat, and honestly I think the love is reciprocated. But to watch that cat interact with Jack is simply hilarious.  At first we were concerned, but now we know better.  Jack is a little over the top with his sniffing and kissing of the cat at first and she didn't like it.  But over time she's learned to tolerate it, and now I think she actually likes it, and pretends to hate it by clawing, biting, and whining.  Jack's tail is going 100 miles an hour the whole time so her clawing and biting obviously doesn't hurt him.  He seems to enjoy it immensely.

Jack is good to hang out in the front
yard with us when we do
yard work. Here the boys helped me 
prune the front bushes while
Jack just walks on by.

Sometimes he is a bit much. I'll let her out the back door and she will sprint for the tree and climb it only to have Jack chase her and not be able to climb up and after a couple minutes will go look for something else to do.  

Me and Jack hanging out on the tramp again.

Kittie is a hunter.  I've seen her with dozens of mice and birds over the years. And she will eat them completely.  Once she brought an injured mouse home and played with it on the back patio for about a half hour before putting it out of its misery and eating it whole.

Here's some video of the relatively light play Jack and the Kittie go through.  I need to capture some of the more intense bitey scratchy stuff.  It's pretty dang funny.

"Roll Over" and "Stay"

 So our training has kind of leveled off.  He's good at the following commands:

• Sit - Hand held in a fist lifted up in front of you.
  
  

  

  I love taking a short break
  during my work day to
  just chill on the 
  tramp with Jack. Throw the ball
  a few time, and take a quick
  pee break and get back to work.

• Lay Down - arm lifted up with hand held out laying flat. Give the command while lowering the hand.
• When ever we work on "Bring it" after he gives it to me, I make him "Lay Down" in order to throw it again.  Now I don't even have to issue that command, he knows that's the next step and will often go straight to a laying down position so he can go run for his ball/toy again.
• Go get it - Given when throwing a toy/ball for him to go get.  As soon as he gets it in his mouth, issue the Bring it command:
• Bring it - Issue this command if he has something in his mouth. To get him to bring it to you.
• Same as "fetch". I just prefer the word Bring it.
• Drop it
• Circling pointed finger at the location below you where you want him to put it.
• Hands - Hand held out flat ready to accept the ball/toy to be placed there.
•  When I want him to put the ball in my hands instead of drop it.
• Find it
• I'll use this on a variety of objects which I'm getting him to associate the various scents with. He will go into high alert with this command and go find the ball/bird/toy he may think you mean (unless you show him prior to hiding it).
• Where's your duck?
• His tail and his ears will perk up. He could be dead asleep and if he hears this, he's instantly alert and runs around looking for his duck toy.
• Get in your bedroom
• Signal to go get in his little bedroom hidden near my office.
• Let's go on a walk
• I do this one right before going on a walk mostly for me to see him get all excited right before we go.
• Go Pee
• He's still working on this one.  If it's late at night and dark out back, I'll go show him what I mean. He'll give my mark a good sniff and leave his own right there too.  What a good boy.
• Come, Wait, Stay
• Sometimes I'll let him come with me out the front porch.  As soon as I open the door and walk out, I'll hold it open and say "Come" and he'll come out.  As soon as he actually gets through the door I'll say "Wait!".  He'll wait at the top of the stairs while I shut the door behid him.  Then I'll go down the stair while he waits.  
• I'll walk away form the porch and turn around, point at him and sternly say "Stay!".  At which point I'll go get the mail and watch behind me to make sure he isn't getting naughty. Which he's been naughty his first 5 or so sessions.  But he's to the point now where he will stay while I walk all the way to the mailbox, get the mail and come back. 
• Come!
• I will then reward his patience with a very encouraging from, while I pat my knee getting him excited to come to me after he was so disciplined. I'll give him all the love in the world for doing that flawlessly which he is getting much more consistent at.

I figured it would be nice to teach him a new skill, even if it's not super useful.  So I thought we'd work on "Roll Over".

I showed the boys what kind of build up we needed to get to that point.

He ran this trail with so much energy. It was nice
to let him just go.  He did good about 

1. Sit - Fist held up with a bent elbow 
2. Lay down - flat hand motioning downward
3. Roll Over - Make a fist and roll it in a clockwise circle.  

He will only roll to his left, which is the direction I'm rolling with my hand. I'm ok with that.  I'll make sure that when we start the series of commands that he's in a position where he can roll to his left without any obstructions.  It only took a couple days of practice before he's pretty good at it.  

Jack enjoying the little bear river trail in Mendon

I think he's pretty stubborn at times because he knows what he needs to do, but sometimes will hesitate.  So I won't give him his treat unless he complies.  He needs to know that he won't get his way doing a "half butt" job.

Jack joined me and the boys at the aid station
for the Logan Marathon which Cathi ran.
Jack loved the Little Bear River Site we were
stationed at.

Limber Tail Syndrome

 So this past month we went up to Logan for supporting Cathi at the Logan Marathon. We took Jack with us and he enjoyed the Logan river.  There are occasionally birds along the waters edge and he'll love chasing them trying to catch them.  He'll wade in the water and he seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.  

Jack giving Sam some love

The day after coming back I noticed his tail tucked under his legs almost all the time, even when we would play fetch, etc.  It was as if he had damaged his tail somehow, like it was seriously limp and wasn't wagging at all, even when it should be going nuts normally for something fun we would do.

I was getting worried.  I texted Makenzie about it and she had no idea.  I was on the verge of calling the vet for an appointment.  But I thought I'd do some google searching.  Sure enough I got the right keywords and found this:

Limber Tail Syndrome

Just look at that tail. He's on high alert
trying to catch those birds.

J

Oh my gosh! This makes so much sense! It's caused by cold water.  Cold water that damages the muscle/nerves in the tail which is temporary.  We just got back from Logan, and he got his tail under the water a few times. And that was some cold water.  I know cause I was gonna go for a swim actually.  I'm pretty
cold water tolerant, but when I got up to my waist I realized it wasn't gonna be a long swim, maybe a couple minutes.  It was in the high 40's I'm guessing.  

Sure enough about 4 days later his tail was back to normal. But it was quite troubling seeing him in that state.  A dog without a tail (to me), just isn't a dog.  I've had a Bulldog and a Cocker Spaniel before with little knobs for tails.  They just aren't the same.

Jack has a Fitbark device on
his collar that tracks how 
many steps he takes.
This little guy got in over nearly
15 miles of running on Satuday
when we were in Logan.

Jack, the fisherdog

 I've gone fishing a few times this month with Jack along with me.  I once caught a good sized catfish in Willard Bay and it was fun to see him excited as I reeled it in.  We've done more hiking this month as well. 

Jack and I fishing at Willard Bay

Jack and his Dad, Timber. Chilling out in the back.

Cathi took this pic, after Jack and I called it a night.
She's like, "Um Jack, you're in my spot!"

More fishing with my best bud.