{10nov2011: smart}

Thank goodness, Darwin isn't this smart:

You can view it here if the video doesn't work.


A few things regarding Darwin's daycare entry video yesterday, she always enters that way. If no one is sitting at the front desk when she walks in she won't bark til they come out from the back. One time she walked in and the guy called her another dog's name (there are a couple blue Dane's that go there) and as soon as she "talked" to him and he knew it was her. hahaha While she's totally fine going into daycare (no pulling, resisting, etc), when we watch the webcam she always looks so unhappy. Every once in a blue moon she'll play with another dog for a few minutes, but most of the time she stands facing the door waiting to get picked up; head low, just standing. I wonder sometimes if she should get put in another area (they have multiple rooms). One camera shows a room with far less dogs and I think maybe she'd feel more relaxed with less dogs. 
Nala and Tanner, Darwin's been going to The Barking Lounge the last year or so. I like that they have a webcam. I don't like that the big dog area is always PACKED. 
Ollie, she goes almost once a week. Even with wogs (walk+jog) and big weekend park outings she still has a ton of energy during the week. We figure a day of day care is good for her.

{09nov2011: wordless Wednesday}

Darwin's arrival to daycare edition:



if the video isn't loading, you can watch it here.

{19april2011: daycare update}

More updates on daycare!

Slowly but surely it seems like Darwin is settling into the daycare routine.

She is complacent walking in, but still a nut when it's time to leave.

A couple times Jason had noticed that when we picked her up she was panting a lot (probably some from nerves) and that her tongue seemed almost purple.

We were concerned that she wasn't potty-ing during the day (we don't think she'd go on the main play floor) and she wasn't drinking the water from the communal dish.

So we made arrangements for them to take her out for a potty break and give her a time out so she can drink water in a kennel.

It seems to have maybe helped a little as I caught her sniffing/almost playing with another dog and laying down on the floor again. Woo hoo!  Or maybe it's just that she's still tired from our 9 mile hike this weekend (post to come on that).




p.s. On another note, any advice on how to work with her reactivity to other dogs on leash? Sometimes she's fine, other times she barks/snarls at the other dog like she's out of control (Remi has been witness to it). We ran into a dog this weekend (a little Pomeranian) and she was fine greeting it (then it nipped at her and she was still fine). Then a few hours later we saw Friday and Friday's Aunty (Robin's mom's dog), Coco, and Darwin went crazy barking at Coco. So embarrassing.

{02april2011: daycare update}

We caught Darwin on the day care camera LAYING DOWN!  For an extended period of time (at least 5 minutes)!  Woo hoo!

I know some of you may be thinking "big whoop",  but for us this was momentous!  Darwin never seems to relax when she's at day care.  She usually stands around waiting til we come and pick her up.  (I question if she even goes potty during the day at day care because she doesn't really pee right where she plays.)  So for her to lay down and actually relax with the other dogs moving around her for a short period of time is great!  Maybe one day she'll live out my dream for her to lay down and cuddle with the English Bulldog that goes to day care too!  hahahah

{03feb2011: back in action}

After Boo's tennis balls incident he had his surgery, healed up, and is back in action!  Darwin spent the day at his house for a play date today.  Lots of tug and lots of chase!

Boo and Seamus make off with the toys while Darwin and Gino are left behind.  (It's sibling play dates... Boo and Darwin and Gino and Seamus)

Nothing like a good day of sibling rivalry!

An update and an answer to questions we've gotten... 

Many about Darwin's ear which was bandaged in the last Wordless Wednesday post.  Darwin had an ear infection and a little cut on the tip of her ear, we've managed to clear up the infection (we go back in to check it out at the vet tomorrow morning) and the cut has mostly healed up but every so often pops back open so we've been back and forth between unbandaged and bandaged.

Darwin at daycare... We had a pretty good week!   I was watching their webcam and got a little nervous when I didn't see Darwin on camera for a while and called them up to make sure she was okay (yes I'm THAT mom).  It turned out one of the workers at the day care brought her Great Dane in and they took him and Darwin and a few other dogs (around 10-12 of them) into another area for play time.  We all agreed we think Darwin liked that set up better being in a smaller group.  When we went to pick her up though she was in a back kennel for a break because she still gets a little worked up at going home time and starts barking which riles up the other dogs.  After she dragged the worker out front with her I made her relax and calm down before letting her outside to the car.  The worker said she's very vocal but not aggressive at the gate like some other dogs are, but she does get very loud.

Darwin turns 2 on Monday and I can't believe it!!!  Trying to think of what her special birthday meal should be!  Any suggestions?

{14dec2010: FINALLY!!!}

I caught Darwin playing at daycare!!!! For real this time!
It's been raining like crazy here in the PNW and the last few days Darwin has been cooped up inside since she hates the rain.  We decided last night we'd take her to daycare today since she's been a couch potato since Friday.  
She was acting funny over the night/early this morning and we weren't sure if she was restless because of the weather, or because she was bored, or if it was something more serious.  We quickly Googled the symptoms of bloat just in case, but didn't think she had the symptoms of bloat.  We took a chance and took her to daycare and asked them to keep an extra close eye on her because we weren't sure if something was wrong.  
So I was watching the webcam like a hawk in case I could spot my doggy in distress and had to rush over.  As I was watching I noticed her tail was up and higher than it had been during previous daycare visits and then I noticed a brown dog go over to her, sniff her and then... THEY PLAYED.  Nothing big, just a few play bows and a couple of swats by Darwin and I think even a little bitey face!
Here's some still shots I took... you can be the judge.

{07nov2010: daycare}

I was watching the webcam at Doggy day care today and thought I saw Darwin playing.  I quickly messaged Jason "I THINK SHE'S PLAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (yes with caps lock and exclamation points), but as we watched the camera we realized it was probably the other blue Dane.  

It'd be easier to tell if we remembered to switch out her fancy Greenbelts collar with her cheapy hot pink quick release collar.  I think the day care must have taken off her pink buckle collar and put on a quick release collar because I see two Danes and neither have a pink collar. 
This is about the fourth time to day care and we have yet to see her do much more than stand in the middle of the floor panting or going over to the workers to get petted.  Oh well, at least she can handle standing around with the big dogs.  When we were at the park this past weekend we saw the big blue Dane boy we'd seen once before.  We over heard his owner telling some other people that he "doesn't know how big he is" and has to be in the small/shy dog group at day care (I don't think that has to do with him not knowing how big he is, but that he's very shy and insecure - this is the dog that won't pee anywhere but his own yard).  Poor guy.  

{07oct2010: amazing}

Vinny is an amazing dog!  


ps. still keeping an eye on Darwin and it's been a full day of her standing around waiting to be picked up.  She would sit/lay down for a couple minutes, and then get up and stand around the middle of the floor staring at the gate.  Poor girl.  At one point I thought I saw her playing with another dog, but I think I may have been mistaken and it may not have been playing...

{07oct2010: adventures in daycare continue}

It's been a while since we've talked about Darwin and daycare.  Well, we continued to take her every so often, and every time we picked her up she was always very anxious.  I recently decided to try and switch daycares to see if it was the facility or if it's just daycare in general she doesn't like.  
Today is her first day at the new daycare.  They have a webcam on their website so you can see the action on the floor.  So of course as soon as I get into work I bring up the webcam to see how Dar is doing and I see a blue Dane on the floor!  Woo! And she's playing with a Boxer!  Double woo!  

I'm so proud of her and start telling my coworkers and friends on Facebook, "Hey, look at Darwin at daycare!"  I was wondering where her collar was, but then thought, maybe they took it off because we forgot to put on her quick release collar before we left the house and they didn't want her buckle one on the floor.  
I keep watching and after a while I notice a blue Dane with a pink collar, so I think oh they must be okay with her wearing her collar now.  That's cool.  And then I realize, I was watching the WRONG DOG!  There are actually two blue Danes at daycare, and Darwin was not the one I first was watching and so proud and boastful of.  As I'm watching the right dog, I realize Darwin isn't having much fun.  Most of the times I check out the camera, she's in the middle of the floor, just standing there.  The other blue Dane is playing and having fun, and Darwin just stands there watching all the other dogs run around her.  

When a staff member comes on the floor, Darwin will go over to the person for pets and lean time, but doesn't seem interested in playing.  She'll occasionally sniff another dog, but so far no playing.  

When I realized there was a second Dane there, I was hoping Darwin would play with him, but so far no luck.  He's having a blast, and Darwin... not so much.
I know it's her first day at a new place, but is it possible she's just not a daycare doggy?  Is it possible that because we fostered her from such a young age (5days old) and she spent so much time in the office around people that she's more of a people dog than a dog dog?  Am I just being a crazy over-thinking dog mom and just need to take a chill pill?  
It's only lunch time, so I'll keep an eye on her and maybe by the end of the day she'll loosen up a bit.  We're approaching fall, and the nights get darker a lot quicker, so dog parks after work are going to be out of the question soon, so she'll have to suck it up and just learn to tolerate day care.  

{14jan2010: doggy daycare status}

Just a quick update on our doggy day care adventures.  Since we've gotten back from the Christmas/New Year holiday, we've been back to taking Darwin to daycare at least once a week.  This week since it's been raining, she didn't have a playdate with her brother so she got dropped off for a second day of daycare.  When we dropped her off on Tuesday, she was better about quickly getting out of the car, going into the daycare, and not getting too anxious when we left.  When Jason picked her up that night they said she was still pretty jumpy/anxious at the end of the day.  
Today we dropped her off in the morning and OMG my little girl is growing up (at least for the morning anyway)!  We got her inside and into the "air gate" area that leads to the play area, and for the first time EVER she did not jump up at the door for us or whine and instead calmly walked to the back area to go in the play area.  I WAS SO PROUD!  I was so shocked at how this puppy who was so scared to be left there for the day was now totally cool with it.  We'll see what the report is when we pick her up, but I say that's a good sign of her finally settling into the daycare routine.  WOO HOO!

{18dec2009: update!}

So we took Darwin to daycare today, the second time for the week.  Tuesday's report was that she was pretty much fine til the end of the day, then started getting anxious and stressed out when the other dogs started to leave.  Today we pick her up and the girl sitting at the front said she was a lot better.  Still a bit anxious at the end of the day, but doing better listening to commands.  They had said before they would tell her to sit and she'd run away before coming back to sit.  Today they had someone new in to interview, and she was told to sit and sat right away.  Then a different girl brought Darwin out from the back and was asked us if Darwin listens well to commands.  She said that Darwin hurt her running into her when she told her to sit and that since she's a bigger dog we need to work on that more.  She said that Darwin has done that to multiple people. 
OI.  Darwin.  We know she's a big dog.  We know that she gets very amped up when she goes to daycare.  We know we need to get her to listen consistently when we give her a command.  We've been working on doing short training sessions daily, even with the basic stuff.  But how do we get her to listen to other people consistently?  If they have a treat in their hand of course she'll listen, but when they don't she usually isn't interested. More training.  


In other news.  A big THANK YOU to Remi!  Darwin got a package in the mail today, and so we opened it when we got home.

She could smell something really good in there and was excited to get in there!

There were 2 wrapped packages as well as another bag of cookies and chicken!

Darwin could not wait to get her mouth on the initial treat she smelled though.

It took her a good 15 minutes, and it's gone already.  haha.  The other gifts are under the tree waiting til Christmas to be opened!  Thank you Remi!  Hopefully soon we'll get a playdate in!


OH!  and a big woo hoo and thanks to Juno and Loki over at Wild Dingo.  We were the winner of their contest for guessing they were moving to Switzerland!  How exciting for them!  And the most exciting part for Darwin, she won a pair of Juno Belle jodhpurs!

I think she looks pretty good with jodhpurs.

{09dec2009: Christmas decoration

Here's a peek at our Christmas decorations for Darwin's first Christmas!

I went to a couple stores looking for a cute stocking for Darwin.  Couldn't find one that didn't have a brown or white puppy on it, and that just wouldn't do.  I was torn on what to do and then I saw the perfect stocking hanger!

A silver Christmas doggy!  The only one left on the shelf!  It was meant to be!  Here's the end result:

And here's our tiny tree!  So far Darwin has been pretty good about leaving it alone.  She makes attempts at taking a snowflake off, but for the most part leaves it be.  During the days shes contained to the kitchen, but at night she has access to the whole house, and yet once we say it's bedtime she usually just sleeps... on the couch where she's not supposed to.  But the tree is always in one piece in the morning!  Knock on wood that it stays that way!

An update on the doggy day care:
We took her last week, and she was much better about going in, but again when we picked her up she was in a kennel because she was getting anxious when other dogs started leaving.  Come to yesterday.  We dropped her off, and she was pretty good about getting dropped off.  When we picked her up though, the staff said she had a "bad" day.  Apparently she seemed stressed out so they tried to get her to go to into a kennel for a rest time, but they would call her over and she'd bark at them and then run away. Not horrible bad, but she is not listening to commands as well.  Is this part of her 10month old adolescent phase?  She was also very hyper and anxious when we picked her up, and was jumping up and putting her feet on their counter, and she doesn't usually jump up like that.  We're going to try this place out a few more times, but if things don't improve I may look into trying some place new.

{17nov2009: daycare adventures continue}

It's Tuesday, which means another day of daycare for Darwin.  Today I went prepared, loaded with her favorite treats to lure her out of the car (didn't really work).  I parked down the block from the daycare, but she could still hear some barking and was hesitant to get out.  I finally got her out and she seemed excited and willing to walk to daycare and even into the building.  It took a little coaxing with treats to get her to go to the play area, but she did it after only a minute.  Today's drop off took half the time as last week.  Success!  Sort of.
I refrained from being the crazy overly concerned mom and didn't call at lunch time today.  But I did rush out after work to pick her up.  She was in a kennel again when I got there... anxiety when other dogs started leaving... again so they wanted to calm her down by kenneling her.  
So step forward in the morning... step back at the end of the day.  But it's some progress!  

{10nov2009: she survived}

Thanks for everyone's advice on day care.  Darwin survived another day.  They said it took a while for her to calm down, but she eventually did and had fun with the other dogs, and the machine they use to clean the floors.  We're going to keep taking her in and hope she gets used to this routine.  
I think I'll make more of an effort to take her out exploring new places and things, besides the dog park.  Hopefully that helps a bit with her being a scaredy cat.  As I was dropping her off this morning I was trying to keep in mind the whole, don't reinforce it or say "it's okay" as it tends to just encourage that behavior.  I am confused as to what is coddling and babying and what is ok to say.  I kept telling her, let's go play.  Is that an ok thing to say?

Anyhow.  I was over at Mango's blog and he mentioned his friend Guinness had a run in with a rodent and needed some good vibes sent his way.  So I went over to visit, but wasn't prepared for what I saw.  If you have a weak stomach, don't go visit him, or go and visit, but scroll down really quick.  It's not really THAT bad, but not a pretty sight at all.  If you do pay him a visit, don't blame the vet (or his mom) as it wasn't a life or death situation. 

{10nov2009: adventures in doggy daycare continue}

OMG.  We're horrible puppy parents!  We take our dog to doggy daycare AND SHE HATES IT!!!  Is this normal?  Did we start taking her too late (at 8.5 months)?  Now that it gets dark at 5 (and she's scared of the dark) and it's been raining for the past week (which she hates) our best option to get her exercise and tire her out is doggy daycare at least once a week.
I dropped her off this morning and she did not want to get out of the car.  Other dogs came and she got excited to see them, but as soon as they went inside she sat down in the car almost shaking.  I literally had to drag her out of the car.  When we get inside, she does not want to go back to where the dogs are.  Owners can only go into the airlock gate and not in the actual play area, so we get her in the airlock gate and I step out and she starts crying and barking not wanting to go in any further.  The guy working there had to put a leash on her to get her to walk in further.  I don't get why.  They say she had fun last time playing with the other dogs, and it was only when it was time for dogs to get picked up that she freaked out.  
I know danes are very attached to their people, but daycare can't be that horrible can it?  I don't think it's the daycare itself, I think she's just a scaredy cat.  How do we fix this?  She needs to go, but we can't have her having a hissy fit everytime.  I imagine this is like having a child who doesn't want to go to school and throws a tantrum outside the school doors. 
Any advice out there?

***update: After 2 calls to the daycare to check on Darwin (one by me at 1030, one by Jason - that I told him to make so I didn't look like the crazy overconcerned mom - at 130), it seems like Darwin is enjoying herself.  She was a little stressed out for the first couple hours and had to be kenneled to calm her down, but she's now walking the grounds with a pack and having fun.  Let's hope she doesn't have a 5:00 panic attack like last week.
I'm still debating if I should switch daycares and try another one, or keep taking her to this one.  We paid for a 4 visit a month package so maybe we'll do the 4 and then re-evaluate. 

{03nov2009: doggy day care Tuesday}

As soon as the weather went from hot summer to cool/cold fall, Darwin's energy level shot up.  We could do a dog park or play date every other day and she'd be mellow on the in between days.  Now she's ready to go regardless if we had just spent 3 hours at the dog park the day before.  And now with this stinking daylight saving by the time we get home from work the sun's already down meaning no quick trips to unlit dog parks on the weekdays.  
So we've decided to start taking her to doggy day care in hopes that a full day of play on Tuesday's will burn off some of that energy (either that or we turn up the heat at home so its a nice toasty 90 degrees at all time).  Today was the first day back to day care after having not gone for a month or so (we've only gone twice before).  When we drop her off it's always the same, eager to go in, but cries and panics as soon as she has to go to the doggy area without us.  We've learned to drop her off and run in hopes that her short attention span will kick in and she'll get distracted by the other dogs around her.
Me being crazy new "mom" was tempted to call at lunch time to check up on her, but I didn't want to be "that mom" and I figured even if they said she was sitting in a corner crying it's not like I would go pick her up.  So we waited til the end of the day and headed over to pick her up.  When we pulled up we didn't see her at the door with the other dogs and I jokingly said to Jason, "maybe she's on time out" (aka in a kennel).  We get in, and I was right. Turns out about an hour before we got there other dogs started getting picked up, and she noticed and had a panic attack.  She started jumping up and putting her paws on the window sills and banging her feet against the windows.  In an attempt to calm her down they put her in a kennel and she laid right down and was fine.  When they brought her to the front and she saw Jason she started shaking like crazy, so scared that we were going to leave her there.  I had to ask the guy working if that was normal for her to freak out so much and he said yes, because she doesn't go often she just isn't used to the routine.  We felt so bad!  But what can we do, it gets dark too early and we don't have a yard for her to run around in, and running in the garage at night isn't really the best option.  
We're going to keep taking her in on Tuesday's and hopefully she accepts this new routine and gets used to it.  Remi is lucky he's starting daycare early and can get used to it at a young age so he doesn't freak out like Darwin.  
We brought her home and in an effort to say "sorry for stressing you out Dar" we gave her a new raw bone, which she is thoroughly enjoying.