For our future selves

If we remember Luna as being a good* puppy, let this serve as a reminder that memory is fallible:
Today Tom gave Luna a dousing bath, which involved scrubbing her face underwater, after she carried a piece of poop into the house from the yard (Tom suspects cat poop, but possibly only because the other alternatives are too horrible to contemplate) and then rolled in it - in front of him - on the carpet.
Rolled so hard that I could hear them both yelling from the bathroom during the de-poop-ifying process.

*Ha ha - I had to go back and edit this post because I forgot the word "good".

Luna fun facts

Here are some fun facts about Luna (formerly Miss Pink.)

She weighed 28.5 pounds a week ago, so she's probably over 30 by now.

She is absolutely fearless when it comes to: loud noises (jackhammers, loud cars, sonic booms (!!), vacuum cleaners, leaf blowers, heights, cars, water, aluminum cans with rocks in them (more on this later), verbal corrections. When our great dane alert-barks, she does run away at first, but then stops and is curious as to what is going on. I'm sure she will outgrow this as she's already realizing that there isn't anything to fear.

She is food motivated to the extreme, and will eat ANYTHING we are eating - carrots, french fries, jalapeno peppers (seriously), and loves, loves, LOVES salmon. Mostly dog treats.

She loves the water, in almost any form. Coming out of the hose, down a stream, she loves ice cubes, sprinklers, standing water in nasty puddles - anything.

It took her 2 days to figure out the cat doors, 2 weeks to outgrow them, and is still figuring out how she got through the doors before and not now.

She demands three walks a day, of at least 30 minutes in duration. Preferably longer.

She prefers to sleep under the bed.

She likes to chase our cats, but treats them as pack members. We've tried to correct this behavior, but the cats have resigned themselves to their fate, and we're close behind.

She loves to dig.

She has started trying to 'bury' her bones in the furniture. Gromit was an expert at this, and would routinely bloody the tip of his nose trying to move cushions.

When we go for walks, she'll elect to walk 'through' interesting obstacles like signboards, instead of walking around these. In the house, if the dog gate is leaning against a wall, she'll walk 'under' the leaning gate if she is bored. Walking around Capitol Lake, she will walk along the edge of the lake which is an elevated concrete retaining wall with about 5 feet of exposure to the water, and about 18 inches off of the ground. She has no fear of heights at all. I've never seen anything like it - it's like a child that will walk along the elevated rail just for fun.

We walked next to a jackhammer and she completely ignored it. No reaction.

Her manners with other dogs are universally submissive and interested when first meeting them, and warming up to them immediately. Her hackles are up but her tail is between her legs, ears back, and very deferential. Then the alpha-dog in her then comes out, and she likes to play. She doesn't cower - she approaches the other dogs submissively but very forward-acting.

Regarding training - negative reinforcement does not work with her! Only positive reinforcement seems to have any effect, and I really have to elevate negative corrections to 'get through' to her, but my gut tells me this isn't the right way to go with her, so we're going the positive reinforcement-clicker-training route to modify her behavior. Rewarding her for stopping bad behavior seems to be working quite well. The rocks in the can trick didn't work - she has no fear at all. None. I'm thinking of possible search and rescue training because she is so unflappable. Or agility training, or herding. Or all three.

Here is a video of Luna from about a month ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tORMHjQFV5M This is a representative sample of her reaction to water in any form.

Flashback to tinier Luna

Luna and Stampy .... Playing!