First Trip to Canada AP (after puppies)

Another first in the short lives of Will and Emma. I have taken my first trip back to visit family in Canada since we have had our puppies. Since Jim wasn’t able to make the trip this time (work, work and more work), we decided to each take a puppy for the weekend. So after some discussion who was to have who, I have Will with me and Jim has Emma at home with him. He was determined to keep Will at home with him, and the reason for that finally slipped out. Emma likes to wake everyone up with her little yelps in the morning, which usually starts anywhere between 4:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. He just wanted to get some extra sleep! Will, on the other hand, is still the pee machine, and my rational to take him was that I would be more available to let him out regularly. Jim would be available on the weekends, but on Friday and Monday would only be home at lunch to let him out, which means long periods in the crate, and increased likelihood of accidents in the crate.

So needless to say, our long seven and a half hour drive went smoothly. He was quite happy to sleep in his crate, and we stopped regularly for bathroom breaks and to fill up with gas. We had a couple of longer stops, to walk around the grounds, to wake up our legs, and then got back on the road. Will slept most of the way, curled up in the corner of his crate. He would rustle around once in a while, and he’d be sitting watching me on occasion when I’d look back at him, but convinced I wasn’t going anywhere, he’d lay back down for another snooze. He was happy to get out of the van at the end of the drive though.

He explored around our townhouse, but there was no indication that he remembered being here before. It was his first home after we picked them up from the breeders just before Christmas, but we haven’t been back since then. He was up and down the stairs with me, while I carted things in from the van, and had to explore all around. I set his crate up in the kitchen area where we had it before, and put a bed outside the crate for him to rest on where I can watch him. We’ve got into the habit of crating the pups mostly when we’re not at home, and letting them sleep on their beds or play if we’re in the room with them. It seems to work all right, as long as we’re around. Eventually, they won’t need the crates, we’re hoping. But for now, there is just too many things for them to chew or break, and too many places for the pee machine to go.
Not only was this the first long trip for Will, but this is also the first time Will and Emma have been separated from each other for any length of time.


Sunday
It’s been a busy couple of days for Big Will and me. He’s been busy getting re-aquainted with some family, including people and their dogs. He’s gone for a few walks and of course drives. We saw my son, Aaron, and his girl-friend, Kendall, and his dog, Cajun. Cajun is almost ten years old, and wasn’t really impressed with Will, who really wanted to play, but didn’t know how to get Cajun motivated enough to play with him. He tried barking, which really didn’t do the trick. Will barks at Emma when he wants to get her attention, and must have thought it would work with any dog. Cajun just turned his head, and tried to ignore Will, but that didn’t work either.

We met with Aaron again this morning to check out a new conservation area near his house, which is on the Hamilton mountain. Eramosa Karst Conservation Area was recently opened, and has a huge cave which isn’t accessible at this time of year, because it’s flooded with fast running water. There’s also a series of trails, nicely groomed with screenings for the most part, so it was easy to walk at this muddy time of year. Will, however, was not behaving well during our walk. Cajun has always been an off-leash dog in this type of situation, and loves to run through the woods and ahead on the trail. This drove poor Will crazy since he wanted to run with Cajun, and at still under five months, I was not about to let him go off in unfamiliar territory. So it was tug and pull and unsuccessful attempts to correct almost the entire walk. Not the most pleasant Sunday morning walk.

He also visited Max, my parents dog, who is also about ten years old and had no interest in spending time with a bouncy young pup. Will again used his voice to try to get some play out of Max, but soon gave up on this when it was obvious he was getting nowhere. He was happy to meet my parents again, though, and loved the attention they gave him.

Jazz wants the rawhide bone
Today, my sister came to visit with her springer spaniel, Jazz, who is about a year and a half old and still has lots of puppy energy. Finally, Will met his match. At first they spent time getting to know each other, and playing together. Jazz had this way of using her body to corner him (all in play). They’d run around, and somehow they always ended in the corner, with Jazz blocking him in. They ran and played happily together for quite awhile. But again, for some reason, Will got into a barking fit with her, and didn’t want to stop. I finally remembered that if I got him to sit and calm down, and ‘look at me’ he would stop barking. This did work and we were all happy that we didn’t have to listen to all of his noise anymore. So, I’m not sure why he was barking at Jazz. My previous theory that he was trying to get some play didn’t apply this time, since Jazz loved to play and didn’t need any encouragement. I’ll have to figure this one out.