Jam is quite the looker. He stops traffic. Much the way I imagine Tom Cruise did after the release of Risky Business. Risky Business is, of course,the movie of a young person, played by Tom Cruise, ... I'm going to stop now because I thought the movie was about him wanting to go to a nice college but ending up in a bad situation making some bad choices for romance and perhaps risking it all, but in the end finding out that people can be manipulated for money and sex. IMDB's summary has more of a Ferris Bueller feel to it. But it all boils down to boys, hormones and doing things you shouldn't, sometimes in public.
Now, why does that concern Jam? Funny you should ask.
Jam came to us out of the box, ready to go. So to speak. The second day we had him, we let him out of the crate and he ran over to the huge Orvis dog bed we had for Willow and Berkeley and he started humping it.
There is something a bit disconcerting about a 9 week old puppy humping a dog bed. I reached over and grabbed his collar.
"Jam, NO!" Then I dragged him away with him struggling to get back to that AMAZING DOG BED!!! Fred claimed it was AMAZING because it contained Berkeley's scent from when she was in heat. OK. I'll buy that. Pretty much, I'm the most gullible person in any room. I will buy almost anything anyone is selling.
Then we went to introduce Jam to Fred's yoga teachers. (I say Fred's because I'm not regular enough to claim them as my own! 8-)
Martha and her husband Claude would love it if we brought our puppies to yoga and could get them to sleep during a class. We've tried. Bingo was a washout. Berkeley had to be taken home. Yet, they still persist in being very open to the idea. They are so optimistic. Just what you want in a yoga teacher. Only seeing the good.
So we took little Jamster in to meet them and they were delighted. Then we let Jam down to walk around.
In the photo with Jam and Martha and Claude in the back ground there are some yoga pillows. Those are the pillows that are spread out throughout the room for people to use for corpse pose at the end of class to lie down on. When we let Jam down, the first thing he did was eyeball those pillows.
"Pillows!" In his tiny dog brain I think he equated them with a small dog bed.
And you know what dog bed means.
"JAM!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!" I run in slow motion as our 9 week old puppy puts the moves on a yoga pillow.
HUH HUH HUH! Jam is having fun.
I scoop him up.
"Oh, my!" Martha says in a very soft voice. Fred swoops in and takes the pillow and moves it way down the wall to the end of the room. I'm thinking, "Yeah, that pillow can't be far enough away!"
Do you see Fred holding Jam up? We can't afford to let his little humping feet touch the floor. Too many pillows to hump. I took Jam home after that photo.
I wondered if it was a pillow fetish. So I brought down 5 different pillows from my bed and set up my video camera and was going to create a video and do some training at the same time. Each time I put a pillow down Jam would sniff it and walk away.
Performance anxiety, I thought.
I turned the video camera off. Still nothing. It's only the Orvis bed upstairs and only when he comes out of his crate.
So then I suggested that Stephanie take Jam into work with her one morning in preparation for puppy sitting him in October when we go to New York to see friends. I brought over his diaper back and one toy: a stuffed duck, which he loves to distraction. There had never been any hint of inappropriate behavior between duck and dog up to this point.
Here he is on the way to work.
Jam didn't have a problem with the statue in Stephanie's office. They could almost be twins.
He doesn't have a fear of heights or railings either. Here he is looking out a two story window and watching the guys mowing the lawn. He was great in the glass elevator as well.
Here he is in the office and you can just catch a glimpse of duck in the background.
Stephanie had his coat off and had given him duck to calm him down as he was a bit crazy. He was playing and then all of a sudden:
HUH HUH HUH!
"Oh my!" Stephanie thought.
As it turns out, we didn't know that duck had that appeal for Jam. Nor did we realize he would do it in public. But as Stephanie pointed out, his coat was off and it was in her office. That was some comfort.
The SEGD manual says that humping (they actually use the more delicate phrasing of mounting) is a problem behavior and ask that you contact your AC for advice. Our AC Judy said that removing the Orvis bed and correcting him when he attempts the behavior and then redirecting him was a good way to go for now. That he wasn't doing it often or in coat was good. She also suggested we talk with the new Puppy Dept. Field Representative, who is also a trainer, for more specific advice.
And as for duck. Well, we had to think about duck. Stephanie asked if we knew about his...fondness...for duck.
No. It was a complete surprise
She suggested a new name for duck and some leniency since it was the first time and he did have his coat off.
Since we will be supervising their playtime together, I suppose...he could keep...
Duck Buddy.
Oh Boy Jam! Your quite the charmer! :)
ReplyDeleteDave hasn't ever tried to hump anything or anyone... yet. I consider that a blessing! :)