Skilled Companion Normandy

Skilled Companion Normandy

Monday, November 7, 2011

Halloween

Its been almost a week since Normandy got neutered and he is recovering well. He has been going to watch my lacrosse games on Sundays and to work during the week. We had a CCI puppy class the day before Halloween and some of the dog dressed up. We bought Normandy some Halloween pajamas which probably wont fit him next week! He was weighed last Tuesday when we brought him in for his surgery and he was 41 pounds. He still has lots of growing to do even though he is past the 6 month mark now.


Monday, October 24, 2011

Fall

It is getting colder here and Normandy has never experienced anything but warm sunny Florida! He almost 6 months now and probably a little more than 40 pounds. He is sporting his new Villanova University collar. Its a large but he is wearing it as small as it goes. Starting this week he will be going down to two meals a day instead of three (same amount of food just split differently). You know what else happens at 6 months?? Neutering! Normandy is scheduled for neutering the morning of November 1st.  It is a quick procedure so we will be picking him up after school that day. He has been spending the day at my mom's office 3-4 times a week. He practices holding "down" or spending time in the kennel at the office. Our Jax puppy group recently went to a fire station. The dogs get to see the firefighters in uniform, hear the siren up close, walk through the truck, etc. None of the dogs were fearful of anything and had a great time!
Sloppy Sit  (5 months)

raising awareness at the market

Inside the ambulance

Listening to the siren of the truck driving by

Meeting the firefighter



New Collar and Pumpkin (taken today)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Let's Go Places

 It is less than a month till Normandy will officially be going out in public with us! He received his rabies shot/ final rounds of puppy shots and state license at the vet this week. At a little over 4 months old he weighed 31 pounds! We have gone to Petsupermarket and Petsmart this weekend for outings. These places are ok after the puppy is fully vaccinated. In our Jax CCI group a family is expecting another male lab/golden next week! Our group is growing and planning more group outings. We also drove downtown and walked along river at the Jacksonville Landing last weekend. Normandy is now noticing/ chasing small animals like lizards, frogs, and a mini snake (picture below). He loves his new kennel and playing fetch in the backyard. Our last puppy last is next Saturday and there will be a graduation! So after next weekend Normandy will now just go to the CCI puppy classes with the big dogs.


Downtown Jacksonville


Another new kennel

 a baby snake

Sunday, August 28, 2011

4 Month Mark

Normandy hit 4 months this past Thursday! We will be able to start taking him out in public starting October 5th. School has started so Normandy is spending his lunch break with our neighbor. The lunch break will be temporary since my mom is planning to take him to her office. He will start going to the office during the day after his last set of shots around Sept. 8th. In recent news Normandy threw up his lunch today because he has been eating his meals too fast. :( We are currently fixing the problem and will be calling our puppy manager tomorrow. Otherwise Normandy is doing great and learning his manners everyday.
Normandy in the cradle position





Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Going to the Pool

This weekend like all the other weekends we went to puppy class. We started learning here, side, heel, and staying calm during excitable greetings. Normandy visited the vet for more shots and threw up his new heartworm medicine. We took Normandy to a pool on Sunday. He loved it and wanted to go deeper so i let him doggie paddle as i was holding him. Normandy has lost another persons toes to lick in the house because Will went off to college this morning.

In his big boy Kennel


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Doggie Wash

It has been a doggie fun filled weekend! On Friday Normandy had a play date with Jack (11 month old beagle) and he ran his little heart out. He was extremely tired and sluggish that night and Saturday morning. We had puppy class the next day and all went well. We met the cutest Golden Retriever puppy who was so fluffly. I am definitely going to take a picture next time! That afternoon we visited the self service doggie wash. It was a nice place and Normandy was very cooperative when we bathed him like always. Sunday was also filled with more doggie training! So Sundays are the specific CCI training classes with all aged CCI dogs not just puppies (these take place about once a month) and Saturdays are general puppy classes with non CCI dogs(every week for six weeks). During the Sunday class you work on your own commands because all of the dogs are at different levels in training. All in all it was a tiring doggie weekend and we can't wait for more training next weekend!
The doggie wash!

new duck toy

At puppy class

We are on the far left

Sunday, July 31, 2011

3 months!!!

 This past weekend Normandy hit the three month mark!! Tonight I filled out his first monthly progress report which is given to the puppy manager in Orlando. It tells them how the puppy is progressing in socialization, grooming, vet care, and training. We went to the first of six puppy classes on Saturday. The class is a puppy kindergarten class for puppies under 6 months.  For the first class we were instructed to not bring our dogs. The instructor wanted the owners to learn and take notes during her informational seminar and video. For the first week our homework is to focus on house training, socialization, and bite inhibition. So to work on socializing Normandy we took him to a frozen yogurt store and we sat outside on a bench to watch people, cars, kids running, etc.