Monday, December 20, 2010

Derby's First Road Trip

Derby had his first little road trip last week - I was the photographer for the Dalmatian club specialties in Orlando on Thursday and Friday and he came along for the ride!

He thinks hotels are awesome - the first thing he learned is that as soon as you enter your room, it is dinnertime! Then when you return later, it is dinnertime again! (He doesn't quite understand that human dinnertime is not the same as puppy dinnertime, much to his dismay). And thankfully, he seems to understand (at least for now) that hotels are also for sleeping - hooray!

On Friday morning, we took a trip over to the local Bass Pro Shop, which I had heard was very dog friendly. He got to ride around in a cart and meet lots of new people who stopped to oooh and aaah over him. He thought that was FUN!

Derby also got to meet Santa Claus and now he thinks that Santa doesn't like spotty puppies because he wouldn't hold him (even just the leash) for a picture. Something about "smelling like a dog". Humph.

At least my mom is thrilled that she now has a picture of her 30-something year old daughter sitting with Santa. :)



On the training front, I really haven't had much time to do much work with him, but he does get to go a lot of places with me and has met lots of people and kids, which I think is probably most important at this age. I do try to spend a few minutes each day working on tricks, which he loves.

Here's a little video from Saturday - this was his first time rolling over. So cute!


He really is scary smart - to the point that I think he's training me more than the other way around. :)

For the most part, he is just a really, really good puppy. Here's another video from a few weeks ago...he's definitely more "vocal" than I'm used to, but (thankfully) he doesn't have too many puppy tantrums.


Derby had his first studio photo shoot a few weeks back and I have to say that it was probably the most challenging shoot I've ever done. A 12 week old puppy that doesn't sit still for more than 2 seconds + a Santa hat = painful. I did manage to get a few good shots for my cards though!



All three spotties continue to get along fabulously! I think Indy has played more with Derby in the past month than she has ever played in her 6+ years. She acts all flirty around him - it's so cute! And Peyton thinks that he's a lot of fun too - it's really entertaining when all three of them go at it. There are spots flying everywhere!

So that's it for my long overdue pupdate! It's Indy and Peyton's turn next. :)

8 comments:

Lisa said...

Awesome videos! Such a smart puppy. I see a future obedience star! I am VERY impressed with what Derby knows at just 12 weeks old. It's funny, though, how vocal he is. I didn't think Dals had so much to say!!

Can't wait to hear what Peyton and Indy have been up to!

D.K. Wall said...

Thanks for the puppy fix. I can only imagine the stir you created in Bass Pro.

Kim said...

Thanks! He does have a lot to say...even more than Indy, which is saying (ha!) a lot! :)

Sherri said...

Ah, Kim....I don't know how to tell you this....but...you are lookin' a little..UM..Y-E-L-L-O-W!

Kim said...

Silly Sherri...don't you know that's what happens when it gets COLD down here in Florida? We turn from orange to Y-E-L-L-O-W! :)

Ruth said...

Merry Christmas!

I love the last picture of Derby... so cute!

Achieve1dream said...

I can sort of see from "Santa's" point of view why he wouldn't hold Derby. I'm sure those suits aren't machine washable for one thing and also some of the kids he sees could be allergic to dogs. I have to be careful about washing my hands after messing with customer's dogs for the reason. :) I would have been all over his spotty cuteness though.

He is sooooo cute and soooooo smart!! What method do you use for teaching the pivot? He's so good at it. I still haven't managed to teach it to Jackal. I really need to get back into training.

I loved listening to him talk. He sounds just like Jackal did at the age with the whining and barking all together. Too cute! Oh and I think Derby deserves to be on the sidebar with the others . . . :)

Kim said...

Oh I agree: although I think he could have just held the leash. It was his reaction that was so funny...let's just say he wasn't a very happy Santa. :)

The pivot happened kind of by accident. I was shaping a head turn and he rotated into my side so I just went with it. I know a lot of people train it by having them rotate around a box though.

And thanks for the reminder...I need to get him up there!