It’s the stage of the funny ears! Sheltie puppy ears are so funny, and Jazzy’s are no exception. Sometimes they are both straight up. Sometimes they are tipped perfectly. Other times they are laying down heavy on the top of her head. And still other times, they are each doing something different from the other! She looks leggy as she is growing in spurts now. And she is losing her puppy teeth.
Jasmine is doing well with housetraining again now that her UTI has cleared up. She will run wildly to the door when she needs to go, but I have to hurry to be right behind her because she can’t always hold it once she gets there! But she makes the effort. For the most part she goes out on everyone else’s schedule now. She really fits in comfortably here. She knows the routine.
She enjoys her lesson time each evening. She knows the sit signal very well and will actually offer sits for anything and everything she wants, even without a signal! It’s really cute to see her plop her butt down on the floor and wait for whatever it is that caught her attention. She is doing much better with lying down. That seemed to be a difficult concept for her for several weeks, but now she is doing it more fluidly – from a sit still. She comes when I beckon and is learning to go out the door or into her crate when I point. She went through another avoidance stage where she didn’t want me touching her collar, or even her for that matter, but that seems to have subsided. We practice collar grabs every day for goodies. She walks well on a leash and knows how to spin right and left. Tonight she started to learn how to shake hands.
As Jasmine is getting bigger, it makes her eyes look even smaller. Sometimes it is very obvious that she can see, but I am seeing signs that perhaps her eyesight is getting worse. She has been running head on into the open door on her way into the house, but I think she has now started to slow down and pay more attention. She seems to lose track of the other dogs more easily when they are playing. If Brinks jumps away from her when they are playing, she will stop and look all around for him, even if he is only a few feet away. Then she goes off to find him, unless he comes back to her first. Sometimes it seems like she is surprised when she approaches one of the dogs. It seems to me like she thinks it is one dog, gets there, and is surprised when it is a different dog than who she thought it was! I see this especially with Grace and Treasure who are both white and about the same size. She seems to be able to pick out Brinks pretty easily if he is moving or close enough, but he is darker than everybody else.
I notice her bumping into things the most when it is dark, or even in the evenings in the house with the lights on. But it’s still darker with the lights on than it is during the day when the sun is out and the room is bright. She can do steps in the daylight but she is a bit slow and likes for me to go first and then she follows me. She is also starting to follow us much more closely, as in we can feel her walking almost on our heels. Is this because she can see us better when she is very close? This is a new behavior for her.
She is starting to jump up more now. She jumps up on me, or the side of my chair, or puts her front feet onto the couch or coffee table. So she is learning the sign for “off.” I’m also starting to teach “leave it” because she is suddenly very interested in any food we may have nearby! She is such a happy girl and I’ve made an effort to take her out and about with me to continue to let her meet people and dogs and to see new sights.
I think Jazzy has been talking to Grace too much! Keeping Jasmine clean is impossible! She is so very white when she’s clean, but it doesn’t take her long after a bath to be dirty and muddy again. She loves to run and roll around in the yard. Right now it’s pretty easy to give her a bath because she’s small and has very little hair! But one day soon she will have a full sheltie coat like Grace has, and it won’t be worth giving her a full bath every day …or several times each day!
It’s fun to see her having fun out there though. She squints outside when it’s sunny. She tends to stay to the shady parts of the yard when it’s bright out. But the shady parts are also the parts where the ground does not dry up … hence the mud! She loves to chase Brinks and Grace and they all wrestle and roll each other around. She has learned to follow them through the big agility tunnel. If they go slow enough she can keep up with them. If not, she tends to follow them in, then gets lost, stops and slowly finds her way out. Because it’s darker in there it might be harder for her to see. But I’ve seen her wander in and out on her own too.
Jasmine is just a joy. It makes me smile to see her playing, or sleeping, or just chewing on a bone. When I pick her up, she will poke the air near my face with her nose until she makes contact with me and then she will give me tiny little sheltie kisses. Jazzy is growing up!
