Knox Is Growing!

Knox turns 10 weeks on Sunday. It's hard to believe that he's been here for over two weeks! I didn't realize how much he has grown until I was looking back at my photos from our first few days.

These pictures range from our first couple of days until now. 
Bear with me as I learn how to take pictures. Anyone want to guess how many disastrous pictures I went through before getting these eleven ones that show up on this post? Hint: a lot.

2nd full day
Knox's soulful puppy eye on the second full day with him.
The right half of his face is in the frame, and he is looking slightly downwards.

2nd full day
Knox was so sleepy on our first few days!
He's sleeping, facing slightly left, his body is coming out the top of the frame.

2nd full day
Knox is lying down, his right paw tucked under him, his head up, and he is looking left.
A Nylabone is in the upper right corner.

3rd day
Knox's head is facing the left side of the frame, his nose down. 

Knox is an interesting puppy to work with and is full of contrast as far as his skills. He has never once barked in his crate, is amazing at "come", "okay", food refusal, and waiting for his dinner, but he so far has utterly no understanding of "sit" and is determined to lick every floor in the world. We're working on it, because right now his goal as a floor licker clearly don't align with my goals for him as a guide dog. Knox's current favorite quote is "The floor is thine Popsicle!"

3rd full day
Knox is lying down, looking right,  his right paw extended outwards 

3rd full day
Knox is lying down on a green blanket, facing left of the frame, a bone in front of him.

3rd full day
Knox is lying down on a green blanket, his chin over his bone,  looking up

My family is going on a camping trip this 4th of July weekend, so Knox is going to stay with my leader for a few days. I'm excited for him to get to spend some time with someone who knows what she's doing. (She's on #28 right now.) I hope she'll have insights on what there is to work on with Knox.

4th day
Knox is lying down, facing the top right corner, a Nylabone in his mouth.

Took me a while to get more photos... A week and a half later, he's a lot bigger.
Knox is sitting on the left side of the frame, looking up, a baby gate behind him. 

 Today we had a meeting with our CFR, (who is amazing!) and I got permission for food protocol for garbage mouth. Yay! Also for some reason, she wants us on food protocol for dog distraction, even though he showed less interest in dogs at the meeting than most of the baby puppies, and he's always been incredibly great around dogs for his age. I think that she might have gotten him mixed up with another black pup who was having some issues (which she dealt with ingeniously). I'll talk to my leader before working on that. The CFR's methods and ideas were negative punishment and and positive reinforcement based, which of course I love. I think I'm going to try to get food protocol for excitable greetings, because he has that issue with any person other than my sister (who is my coraiser), and I.

Knox's second week. Chew that rope!
Knox's head is in the upper right corner. He has a rope toy between his paws and in his mouth. 

Food protocol once was something that was once used only after many options been exhausted, but I found out today that GDB is now expecting to see food protocol used on almost every puppy at some point, and it's often the first thing that is tried when a behavior issue pops up. I think that they started noticing that dogs on food protocol for a particular weakness usually will end up making that weakness become their absolute, unfailing strongest point. The powers of positive reinforcement...

I started working on his garbage mouth and I am absolutely delighted with how quickly he is learning. It's so much more fun for me to reward him with food than to dig stuff out of his mouth. We used some dead little leaves, some hairs that we brushed out of the pet dog, a blanket, my cell phone, his tube of doggy toothpaste, a lunchbox, and then it got boring so I added a Triscuit cracker and a couple of kibbles. It's a true gift to be able to watch his little puppy mind wrap around the concept that ignoring what he sort of wants (junk on the ground) will get him what he really wants (food!)

Knox's second week. Looking very innocent, puppylike, and big.
Knox is lying down, his head in the center of the frame, looking up.