It's been awhile since I've updated. In the past few days, we've marked four weeks since I brought Juliette home, and her three month birthday (Feb. 21).
We've had a few really big events going on here for Miss Juliette.
The first of these is that we started puppy classes on Thursday. We go to Petsmart at 10:30 a.m. and our trainer's name is Craig. There are four other dogs in the class -- a Shiba-Inu, a Poodle-Shih-Tzu, a boxer/terrier mix, and another mix rescue puppy. Juliette is easily the most talkative person in class -- I guess that's not surprising given that I'm her owner and I'm a talkative person. She really wanted to get to know all the other dogs and have lengthy conversations with them while Craig was trying to instruct us. He first tried a water bottle, which works on most of the dogs, but Juliette likes water, so she thought it was a game. His second tactic worked much better -- he has something called bitter apple spray that he sprays just on her teeth, and it is sour, so it keeps her distracted and she doesn't bark at much. When he did it, he'd say simply and firmly "Quiet." By the end of the first 20 minutes, he didn't even have to pick up the spray to say quiet, and she now does it on command, no spray needed around the house for us 80% of the time!
Craig is a really cool trainer. He himself has seventeen dogs at home, ranging from five and a half months to sixteen years. He has a full range of breeds, including several pure-bred Border Collies (another breed I love), and he brings a few dogs to each class to demonstrate and it's very, very cool. Juliette already knew how to sit, so we were a little ahead in the first class, but one skill he's teaching us is "Watch," so that whenever I call her and get her to sit, she knows she's not just sitting, but that she is to be watching me for an indication of what to do next. We practice these things outside the room through the store, and she really made improvements. I was impressed with how fast she picked it up, even though she was surrounded by aisles and aisles of treats and toys, not to mention other pet owners who wanted to meet her and other dogs outside of her class. Craig also teaches some really cool frisbee classes for dogs once they get a little older, and I'm definitely going to sign her up! She's definitely a runner and a jumper and I think she'd really benefit from it. Craig himself holds several world records for some of the sports he competes in with his dogs (mostly frisbee throwing sorts of things that would be timed, or tricks). He's very inspirational!
On Wednesday night, I gave Juliette her first bath with me. The Howells obviously bathed while she was with them, and from what I've read, I'm not supposed to give her a bath more than once every three to four weeks because her skin is still sensitive. So, a couple times a week, I freshen her up with puppy wipes and spray and brush her (her hair is so light, something I'm not used to, so I'm determined to keep her clean!). But this past week, I wanted to give her a bath before her first class (yes, friends, I am a nerd in puppy class just like I am in my own classes -- I get really excited for the first day!) and I decided to embark upon this quest -- and it was a quest -- while my mom and dad weren't home, thinking there'd be less distractions.
Initially, she was a little nervous in the bath tub, and she really couldn't figure out why I was getting her wet. Eventually, she made friends with the faucet and realized how cool it was that water was coming out and she got all wiggly and happy with it (just like she does with the vacuum, as long as it isn't on) ... But when I turned on the shower head, that was a whole different story. That scared her a bit and she really tried to get out and left me with some battle scars. But twenty minutes washing time plus an hour to really get completely dry, some shampoo, a lot of Golden hair, three towels, two t-shirts, a pair of pajama pants, some blood, gauze and Neosporin later, she was clean and fluffy!
Finally, I am proud to report that Juliette is now potty-trained -- at least I hope I am not speaking too soon. As everyone knows, when I got Juliette home, she was mostly house broken, and she really didn't have any accidents for four days. Then, on and off for the next few weeks, it became more frequent. Several times, we could tell it was out of temper -- for example, she'd been told that she couldn't chew on a person or, no, she couldn't eat my boots. Sometimes, it was out of sadness -- like when my brother went back to school. But over the past couple weeks, she's gotten very consistent in her signs and how she tells us she needs to go. Aside from one little accident yesterday, she hasn't had any accidents now in almost eight days! :)
Otherwise, I am just still so thrilled with this little girl. She is growing immensely, and I get so many compliments on how pretty she is. Of course I'm biased, but I've had lots of Golden owners come up to me at Petsmart and say she's just so pretty. And she really is a sweetheart. I'm not much of an early-bird, though she is, but she is starting to get used to coming back up in bed and just cuddling or loafing with me while I sleep.
Kyle came home this weekend, and we took tons of pictures with his fancy camera, which is a digital SLR. I will be posting them soon, but for now, here's this pic -- one of my favorites from the weekend:
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