Audry's antics :)

[Irena]

Often times, when I touch Audry, she will start "looking for fleas" in that area. It is funny, because she follows me with her teeth wherever I touch her!!! I tell her "let me help you catch those fleas" and she starts working even harder, and not just one spot but all over her legs, tail, or back, or even shoulders. ;D
Something else she does is take her leg or paw in the mouth and pretend she wants to bite it off, or just holds it there while looking at me. LMAO, she is SO funny.

[marjolein]

Isn't it great, to enjoy all these tiny little things they do???

[moonbeam]

Whisper sometimes lays with a back paw in his mouth, like he went to scratch when his mouth was open. He always does it after his nails are clipped too.

Mariy

[Alkemist]

Irena - how's Audry doing - I know you are busy at the moment so post when you can, but would love to hear how she is

Nina

[Irena]

Hi Nina,

YUP, was terribly busy until May 26 when the deadline for submitting my Master's paper was. I don't know HOW we did it, but I guess we did, although I have no idea what the opponent will think of my paper. I guess I will hear that at the defence in a week or so.
Audry was with me all the time, because I had to go get online at my Dad's office and couldn't leave her alone at home for 15 hours. Not that she would mind but it would have been downright cruel, so she went with me. She was an absolutely GOLDEN girl during that mad week. The only thing she would ask for is sleep on top of me a little, while I was sitting at the computer with my legs resting on another chair. She is getting BIG, and it was hilarious to have her try to get into my lap and end up stretching along my legs and then miraculously curling up somehow , sighing and going to sleep. I mean, I'm not THAT comfortably fat for her to be able to do that, but she did! ;D And looked so serious at that, LMAO, as if it was the usual thing for her to do. She is absolutely superb on public transport (I got rid of my car a while ago) - she puts big smiles on everyone's faces when she curls up and goes to sleep on a bus or tram. She also carries my purse for me sometimes now, and looks so proud doing that, with her head and tail up, prancing and showing off! ;D

Sorry this is long, and thanks for asking, I could go on and on. I seriously can't understand how people complain they can't manage their Weimaraners. Audry is REALLY easy to live with, and it saddens me that some people blacken the reputation of this breed by telling all those horror stories and not doing anything about it.

[marjolein]

Oh wow Irena, good that you've managed to finish your papers!!! Congrats!!!!

[Irena]

Yes Mar, we DID it, it looks like, but wait with the congrats till the oral defence is over. (Some time after I return from the Euro Dog Show.)
I must say I am VERY thankful to Mr Wetdog for supporting me through all this. If it wasn't for him, I would have never done it.

[Irena]

Audry and I went by the bank today to do the usual stuff. I thought it would be quick, even though there was a short line/queue, so I figured Audry could practice the down stay in a very relaxed atmosphere meanwhile. She doesn't mind going public places AT ALL, so she wasn't surprised or anything and just lay down under a table, and I put my bag next to her. I then pretended to be looking at the notices on the walls, going further away from her, disappearing from the sight and then coming back again. The line, however, seemed to not move AT ALL. They were dealing with this one customer and in the end I had been at the bank for 1 hour 15 minutes!! Audry was being REALLY good meanwhile, although after a while she did start trying to get up to go explore the surroundings, getting tired of laying in one place for so long. (She is ONLY 6.5 months old, after all!) Anyway, she did agree to curl up again and wait for me some more, and JUST as I was putting my stuff in the bag at the window, I heard a loud OUUUUUUUOOOOAAAALLL!!!! across the room. Poor little Audry had REALLY lost her patience and knowing she wasn't allowed to get up, was calling me back!!!! She is pretty amazing!!!

[marjolein]

Wow, she's very good for her age Irena!! You certainly must be doing something very right! Keep up the good work!

[Irena]

Had a big laugh at Audry just 5 minutes ago. She was sitting on her blanket, and a large mosquito landed on the wall above her. And what did our Audry do? She sat there and impatiently "danced" with her front legs, as if inviting the mosquito to play with her!!! LMAO!!!

[Irena]

Also, she pointed a hedgehog again on our walk tonight. Not that it is a great thing to do, but to see her point again was absolutely awesome. We really only have stray cats and "city" pidgeons around here, it seems like, so not many opportunities to point. But when she does, it is a truly beautiful sight.

[Irena]

I just realized what a gentle puppy I have. I had papers all over my bed, and Audry climbed up to lay down on the bed. She sat in the only spot free from papers, and then lowered her front carefully, folding her front legs underneath her to avoid putting them on the documents. I am stunned.

[marjolein]

Ohhh, she is fab Irena!!! It seems like she's the winning lotery ticket for you!!

[Irena]

Yes she is!

Audry protected me last night! I took her outside at 2 a.m. and as we were already heading back home, a guy followed us upstairs (probably a neighbour, I couldn't see him well because we were already on the 3rd floor). Audry however made a little WOOF! looking down the stairs, then followed me a little, then looked back and said WOOF! again, and kept doing that until we got to our apartment. The amazing thing is she NEVER barks at anyone in ordinary situations and usually the greatest threat is that she will lick and slobber you to death. However in this situation (2 a.m. and a strange man in the stairwell) she decided she needed to be protective! I realize she was probably mostly protecting her own behind ;D but it still felt great.

[marjolein]

Hehehe, fab!!!

[Irena]

Some new things Audry has come up with recently... ;D

She demonstrated aggression to my older dog over her food for the first time. ;D Knowing that she had NEVER even remotely suggested she was protective of her food, and that ANYONE could take it away from her, it was really interesting to see her growl at my old Ruffie who wanted to steal Audry's dinner. I can't for the life of me remember what Audry was having though. A minute later I took it away from her and gave it back to her and of course she had no problem whatsoever with that. Kind of interesting to see her mature like that though!

She is so great at "responding" when I talk to her. As a puppy, she wouldn't always look into my eyes etc, and I have been constantly working on her focus from the day I got her - play tug, then when she lets go of the toy/stick, I hide it behind my back and wait till she looks right into my eyes. So at first she would look around, look at the skies and then at me, but now I notice she looks into my eyes IMMEDIATELY after the toy is gone behind my back. She know exactly now what she is supposed to do to get her toy back, she does not wonder. Like, "Come on, get it out and let's continue playing!" Now I need to get her to keep her eyes on me for longer periods. I also love it how she tilts her head now when I say things like "Would you like to.....?" or "Wanna go......?" As a puppy she would have no clue what I was talking about (of course I also blame that on not speaking with proper Aussie accent!!! ;D ), but she has been with me for long enough to know what I'm asking her, LOL.

I have also discovered how valuable repetition is, meaning if you do the same thing with the dog for even 5 seconds EVERY day, it will sink in without any stress and remain there. This is how Audry can remain stacked for ages now, and I intend to practise a lot more things like this. Just started doing down stays officially with her (until now it was more like occasionally), and I think if I do that at least once a day, there shouldn't be any stress left when she has to do it in an Obedience competition. Of course, going to work with distractions including other dogs too. This is sort of new to me (taking time to teach something) because with my old dog (GSD) I always rushed, I think, and expected her to do something because I wanted her to, but here I want to assure Audry that down stays are not something I demand of her and she hates but will sit for those 5 minutes, looking around anxiously, but rather something that is just natural and has happened 100 times and I have returned to her each one of them. So far it is going great and I am taking care not to try more before I see she is absolutely comfortable with the current level of difficulty, so to say. She is however already pretty good at it - Mom and I went into a little cafe to have some pancakes and shoved Audry under a table (she knows to go "kennel" there PERFECTLY, she "kennels" under the seats on the bus etc etc etc), and she remained there watching us while we were getting food at the counter.

She has also learned to "give paw", something my Dad thinks is A MUST KNOW for every dog! ;D He tried to teach her back in August by telling her "paw", picking up her paw, shaking it and giving her cheese, and then by just trying to prompt her to give her paw to him. Always worked with any dogs I've known, but Audry I think was only taking the cheese he offered in order not to offend him. ;D We gave up on it that time as there was seemingly no result, she just wouldn't give "paw". Well, I tried about a week ago, just for the fun of it sat her and asked her to "give paw", and what do you know, she literally slammed her pretty paw into my hand!! So I learned that even though sometimes it seems she is not learning, in fact she IS!!

[Irena]

And just so I wouldn't assume she ran out of things to amuse me with...... A few minutes ago, I had just changed the sheets on the bed and put the blanket/duvet over the pillow so Audry wouldn't lay on it (the pillow) while I go take a shower. Well, here I was sitting by my laptop, when Audry jumped on the bed, headed STRAIGHT to my pillow, lay down on it, and got up again immediately because it didn't seem comfy enough. So she did a couple of circles on it, but since that obviously didn't help, she started digging at the duvet and pulling it by one of the corners to uncover the pillow. I was literally . The expression on her face - this concerned look, like "something just isn't right with this stupid bed" was absolutely priceless. Well, she did uncover the pillow, plopped her behind on it and curled up nicely to go to sleep. ;D ;D She sure is the clown in this house.

[marjolein]

Aww, bless!!

[Irena]

Well, Audry has finally learned to drool and beg for food!!! She had never been interested in anything I eat, and had always been a good girl, at least around me , but yesterday I sat down to have something (having fed her and Ruffie their evening meal, a substantious portion of chicken + rice). Well, as I was watching a movie and having some milk, I felt DROOL running DOWN MY LEG. I looked to the left and there she was, looking as innocent as possible, having seated herself quietly by my bed, drooling as all normal dogs do.

And I THINK I know who I can blame for teaching her these manners , because tonight I was staring at my laptop screen again while waiting for their food to be ready, and I was REMINDED it was FEEDING TIME by Audry's soft wimpering. (I never pay attention when Ruffie whines, it has become part and parcel of my life, but when Audry does, it means something.) I raised my eyes and Ruffie and Audry were both sitting in front of me, side by side, giving me the sorriest looks possible. ANYONE could unmistakeably tell it was a conspiracy!!!, ;D the way these two were sitting side by side and looking at me: "Are you going to feed us tonight, Mom?"

Actually, Audry is amazing, because she only "asks" me for something when she really needs it. I can pretty much trust her and know that e.g. if she won't settle down for the night, there is most probably a problem with an upset tummy or something and it's not that she just wants to bug me. And she is great at poking her nose into my arm and letting me know it is time to take her outside or feed her or just play some, and I absolutely respect that because she REALLY only asks when she NEEDS something.

On the other hand, I can also know for sure when she does NOT want something - like if I'm getting ready to take her somewhere and worry about her having to go potty before we go, but she just stands there and doesn't go, 99.9% it means she really, really does not need to, and not that she is distracted or anything.

I am blessed with this little girl.

[marjolein]

Little gem she is!!!