Thursday, November 15, 2012

Photo Flood.

    We didn't have enough time for Ember to explore the tub today.  It was a busier day than normal with routine doctor visits for both of the humans in the house, as well as dentist appointments, along with all the other things we do throughout the day like work, horse visits, family visits, and work around the house budgeting time for Ember is a delicate business.  Weimaraners are very susceptible to seperation anxiety so we find ourselves making sure Ember has enough time by herself to develop in a balanced way.  Today she was in the house in her crate without us for nearly 3 hours.  The past couple days we have been increasing the time slowly from 30 minutes to an hour and so on.  This is different from when we crate her at home and we are there walking around. She was home alone and she will need to be.

    Now this may seem like a no-brainer. Folks leave there dogs home alone all the time.  But this is not the kind of dog you just leave home alone for extended periods of time.  Once you dig in and do the research you start to see that these dogs are sensitive and you have to consider these sensitivities and needs when you decide on the particular dog that will work well for you.  As fate would have it, a stay at home job and our lifestyle happens to fit perfectly with Embers needs.  Perhaps even a little "too" perfectly with her "wants" for attention.  We actually have to set time throughout the day where we are "separated".  If you scour the internet as we have, you will find loads of stories of Weims who were aquired because of how "adorable" or "cute" they were and they quickly find themselves in a shelter or a rescue because these would-be owners had no idea what they were getting into.  The dogs become difficult and develop many major issues without proper forethought and planning. We do not intend to help Ember develop any major issues besides a spunky additude and a presence in competition that is hard to match... at least we hope we will =D

    We did what we could to give her a good chance in what might look like solitary confinement to most folks.  We made sure she was well fed before we left, and that she had "emptied herself" as much as we felt she could.  Then we played with her until she was satisfied and just a tad sleepy.  Next we smeared peanut butter into the grooves of her favorite chew toy and chucked that into the crate.  Ember chased it inside and the cold bars of incarceration slammed shut.  ;)  we joke... but shes growing rather fond of her crate... albeit slowly.  Today was the least amount of protest so far.

We came home to a silent dog.

So we fed her and played with her with lots of praise.  Working in some more fetching games Ember had a ball, go figure.

    Then Ember suited up and went with us to the home improvement store.  We had her in arm the entire time and folks couldn't help themselves.  In a strange way Ember is like a car wreck, when you see her you just can't look away. The most serious man in the store with a look on his face like he was about to tackle some monumental home repair emergency would stop dead in his tracks at the sight of Ember, forgetting about his plumbing nightmare or his family in peril and spend a moment with our little Grayhart pup.  This girl just has gravity.  I am about to make my case to the United Nations about carrying Weimaraner pups into hostile negotiations between warring city states and nations. Moments later diplomats from both sides would have cigars, smiling faces, shaking each others hands and a Weim pup hoisted in the air.

    Ember was curious and took to her doting public quite well, and then we went home.  She was sporting a little black hoodie that she is just about too big for.  Luckily the co-owner Linda has let us borrow a puppy coat or two for her next stage in growth. This way we can save our money for dressing her up in all sorts of tacky Christmas garb. =D




Ember knows how to make her self comfortable.  Judging by the look on her face, this was apparently the best spot in the house.  This is not our bed, this is downstairs in the den where we take in some TV.


Just look at her.  Yesss... stare into those baby blues and find yourself transfixed and hypnotized into doing her bidding.  There is no escape. 

Content with her human slaves. ;)

She almost looks like an older dog right here!  A glimpse into the future perhaps?




Playing coy.


She's a ham... stuffed into the barrel of a gun that shoots cute'splosions.



2 comments:

  1. Ember is quieting down in her crate faster with each day. By the end of the night she was acting like she got it. We'll see how the morning goes, i just think she was getting tired.

    If current events tell us anything... Ember is going to be a highly trainable dog, with plenty of energy. We better get into better shape... cause this girl will be putting us thorugh our paces one day!

    no direct cat socialization today. Lunch was a little late because of all the apointments, so we pushed dinner up a little as well.

    going to bed and she barely made any noise... first time we didnt carry her down the hall into the bedroom. just called her down a strange hallway, into a room she never stood in before and told her to go to her crate. and thats basically what she did minus a couple momentary pit-stops.

    No accidents in the house, we haven't even had to rush her outside while she was in the process. Chalk it up to helicopter parents, or just great use of the crate schedule.

    We put a lil more emphasis on some retrieving games today and let other training wait for another day. At one point Ember anticipated that the object was about to be thrown and looked bristling with anticipation. she prefers to retrieve crumpled up paper as opposed to her chew toys.

    did not weigh her again today.

    Did not introduce her to water today.

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  2. Oh, Jaimee!!! I can tell I am going to LOOOOOOOVE this blog with each new post. to the point of stalking LOL. You are fantastic at describing every little weim moment, glance, peep, and activity. And I eat that stuff up!!!! :-) If you need some hand me downs while she is growing, let me know. I have lots of dog clothes (and access to some at a discount!) And....I can't wait for the tacky Christmas garb LOL
    oh, the glimpse into the future photo? love it. Reminds me of Savi when she was about a year.
    Funny about liking to retreive the crumpled paper; that is what Gayle started out with and I think she liked it best during the evals too.
    I could stare into her eyes all day, but I have to check put the other Grayhart blogs and get back to work...
    ~Auntie Kel

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