Coach's First Report Card

Fred with Coach in front of Coach's sign at IFT.

Coach's first report card came back yesterday.  While Coach has been a good boy at his commands, his behavior in the kennel needs some work.  It seems that there is a roommate problem.  We are not sure, but there seems to be some problem with food.  Perhaps the roommate is throwing food around and Coach is getting a little irritated and making his irritation known?

"Hey, dude, this is my side of the kennel.  Keep your dang treats over there.  Just for that, I'm going to eat this treat!"

Or maybe it went like this

"Dude," (I don't know why Coach calls all his roommates Dude, but he does) "Look, if you aren't going to eat fast enough, then I'm going to help you out and finish your bowl.  Shove over slow poke."

Now, admittedly, in the first scenario, Coach is a bit of a neatnik, obnoxious type and I would be mad at him too.  And he doesn't really come off better in the second scenario either.  Kind of a bully at worst and a little piggy at best.  But they said they have a new roommate that he seems to like.  And frankly,  who hasn't gone through college and had a bad spell with roommates?

Sometimes, you just get a bad roommate.  Sometimes, you just need to change to a new roommate.  Someone who can be your friend.

They also said that Coach is "very sweet" and "loves to work".  We hope that means that once his roommate situation calms down, he can settle in and really wow them with his command knowledge.  

Food, Glorious Food

Jammy has always been food obsessed.  We have him eat out of a special slow down bowl, which Stephanie said she didn't use during his stint with her because of the behavior you will see in the video below.

We have had some success in dealing with his separation anxiety because we were given permission to use kongs stuffed with peanut butter (or moistened dog food).  He LOVES them.  In fact, today, as I walked in Fred had just shut him up in the crate with a kong stuffed with kibble.  Jam complained until I opened the crate door and then he stayed in the crate with the door open while he tried to take the kibble out of the kong.

He can be a weird dude.

But one of the more charming things he does is when he is through with his meal.  He's never, ever, really satisfied with what he has received.

Honestly, his name should be Oliver.

Well, you watch and decide.

Magic Man

Vets are special people. They are the ones you go to for the health and care of your pets. They generally have a tough job to do. Many days are spent as grief counselors or helping their patients get through very serious illnesses. So, I am sure when a puppy arrives, there is great joy in the building.



Our Vet, Dr. Don Woodman, is not only a good vet for his patients, but he also donates his time and services to Southeastern Guide Dogs (he has raised two puppies for them as well). So, he is Jam's SEGD Vet as well as our personal Vet.

Jam has been eating all of his meals quite rapidly and energetically. He looks forward to each meal and in fact about an hour before each mealtime can usually be found, if circumstances permit, staring at the magic door willing it to open and food to appear in his bowl.

Any slight jostle to his metal bowl will bring him racing to the kitchen, wild eyed and ears flapping crazily. Skidding around the corner, he will lunge into the kitchen and dive for the bowl, only to realize that I have mistakenly kicked it and have effectively done the doggie equivalent of

"Psych!"

He will look from bowl to me and then turn around. Disgust rolls off him in waves.

For the past three out of four nights something unusual has happened. Since we had a visit to Dr. Woodman this morning for the last of Jam's 12-week old shots, I thought perhaps I should mention it. So when Dr. Woodman asked if everything was ok, I said,

"Well, for the past three out of four nights, he has woken up about 2 or 3 in the morning and vomited."

Dr. Woodman explained that with some dogs, it upsets their tummy to go so long without any food in their tummy. This might be Jam's problem as his last meal is between 5-6. So we are going to try a small amount of food right before bed and see if that settles his stomach.

I glanced down at Jam. I sensed a secret smile. It was as if, like the Grinch's heart, his heart had just grown three sizes too big and was in danger of bursting from happiness.

He gazed up at Dr. Woodman. Forget the magic door. This was the Magic Man!



Here is Jam with Kayce, a student intern from the UF Vet program.


It looks like the real world and Jam's world are starting to merge!

Table Manners

Jam is something of a glutton. If he could, he would eat all day like Augustus Gloop of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.



Of course, we don't allow unlimited eating. He gets fed three times a day. You can imagine that his internal food clock is very accurate, but a bit fast. At around 4 am, he will start to cry (he gets fed between 5:30 and 6 am). At 11 am if he is downstairs he will go to the end of the tie-down and stair at the magic door, convinced that sheer will can make it give up the kibble. And at 4 pm, again, the magic door stare down.

We usually move him to some other place in the house and try to distract him from his internal food clock. But you can see it in his eyes that he knows what we are doing. Soon, the magic door will open and kibble will be given out.

That is why we are working hard on table manners. Right now, we are just doing a sit-stay. It used to be that when we brought out his bowl with kibble, he used to go into fits. Now we can get him to sit and calm down. We've now progressed to making him sit until we actually put the bowl on the ground and say "Take a Break!"

With a puppy, we kind of do this at the same time as Jam is doing pretty good just to sit patiently. It took him a couple of days to even do this. Getting him to understand the concept of sitting before food was a chore. That boy wanted to EAT!

But is he now a very polite little sitter. I'm proud of him. When he is older, we will progress to a down stay and then leave the food bowls down and walk out of the room and come back and do a release. That day is a long way off.

Until then, please enjoy watching this one hungry pup vibrate with happiness at the sight of his kibble.