Diamonds Are Furever

Ralphie

Just thought I'd give you an update on Ralphie. We've had him for four months now, and he is 9 months old! At least I think so. In February we started Jump Start Obedience at the Red River North Dog Obedience Club. We have been having so much fun! He loves to meet all the other dogs and people, and his cute face gets him tons of treats. He likes to sit right in front of them with one ear up and the other flopped down and treats rain from the sky! He has been a bit excitable (not in a bad way, just a high-energy puppy) since we adopted him, but as he has grown older and we've worked with him his responsiveness has increased tremendously. Once his little mind matures, he will have incredible focus! Right now we are dealing with a "hormone surge," so it's been both frustrating and amusing at the same time. He likes to mark every upright structure, and he likes to mount the neighbor's dog. But, this too shall pass, lol! I'm not too worried about it, we just can't take him to any dog parks until his 'inappropriate' behavior goes away haha! The next class I am attending with Ralphie is Beginning Obedience, and after that I hope to start agility with him. We get to use some of the agility equipment in his current class, and he is so brave going through the tunnels and jumping through hoops! In the times we are listening to the instructor or waiting our turn for the obstacles he likes to bark and try to go say hi to everybody (also slowly getting better) but when we are working he focusses on the next obstacle or the next trick. I have high hopes for him! I have been getting Ralphie used to the bicycles as well. He wasn't sure about them at first, but now he doesn't really care what I do with them as long as he is getting treats. We have a bit before he is mature enough to go for rides with us, so I've been using that time to make sure he is completely comfortable with the bikes and each of us riding them. He doesn't like it when Chris gets on his bike and starts to ride away, or when Chris is loading a bike into the pickup for some reason, but I'm pretty sure it can be solved with lots of treats, haha! Ralphie also enjoys playing with his best friend Marco, one of the other neighbor dogs. She is a 5 month old spaniel of some sort, and they both have tons of energy so they get to play for an hour after everyone gets home from work. They poop each other out! Its a wonderful setup, haha. I will try to send some pictures later, but apparently they are not syncing from my phone to my computer! Thanks, Kelsey Neisen