Having a brother & sister is GREAT!!!!!! I am so glad you suggested it! If I am busy, they entertain each other really well. Ruby is definitely the 'Beta' (she can't really be the 'Alpha', that title belongs to me! ), but Dash defers to her. He is by far the more obedient - when you give him a command, he responds instantly. Ruby, on the other hand, always responds, but she exerts her independence by walking in circles a few times before following instructions! They are both really good at 'sit' & 'stay'; they don't do 'come' at all. Instead, I call their names and snap my fingers or clap my hands and they come. Not quite sure how I managed to train them that way, but it works! Now, if I could just get the other members of my family to realize that is how they are trained....
Since it is Spring, they love to be outside. Their little noses are never idle. All the neighbors love it when we take walks, and the little girls in the neighborhood are absolutely in love with the puppies - if we go walkabout when they are out, Dash & Ruby don't have time to do their business, they are to busy receiving attention from the girls!
They are both house-trained, but we had a time getting them to let us know when they needed to go out. They would go sit by the door, but they never barked or whined, so if we didn't notice they were sitting by the door, eventually, they would give up and 'make' in the house. Our solution was bells. I have some large jingle bells on a ribbon, hanging from the door handle, and when they need to go out, Ruby rings the bells. It's very interesting, Dash doesn't ring the bells, he waits for Ruby, but he always goes when she does, so they must have their own method of communication. This was such a simple solution, and it only took a day or two for Ruby to understand what the bells meant. She is incredibly smart! Now, she rings the bells, and if I don't acknowledge it, at least verbally, she comes looking for me, sits down in front of me and gives me her "OK, I rang the bells" look. If I say "I'll be right there, Ruby", both pups wait patiently by the door.
They are truly good communicators. If they want food or water and the dish is empty, they start moving whichever dish needs filling. Ruby is more likely to move the dishes; Dash tends to have his own method - he will go to the dishes, take a look, and if I am sitting down, he comes and sits by my chair. Mind you, he sits at my feet a lot, but when he wants/needs something, he has a different expression. We were at the dinner table the other night and he came to my chair, and I could tell by his look he wanted fresh water. Sure enough, as soon as I refilled the bowl, he went in to take a drink. We have multiple bowls of water in the house - so they keep me busy making sure the water is fresh.
This week I started mixing small amounts of the Nutri-Source 'Adult' in with their puppy food, so I think they will be off the puppy formula entirely by the time they are a little over one year. In April, I tried the vitamin powder you recommended again (you may not rememember, but it gave Ruby diarrea when they were little) and they are both fine with it now. Their coats are SO soft! We groom them regularly, but we have to brush Dast a little more often; Ruby has had her adult coat for a long time, but little Dash still has some puppy fur, so we try to brush him more frequently to remove his 'fuzzies' as we call them.
As you can probably tell, I am totally in love with both of them. My favorite time of day is what I refer to as 'puppy time'. After they've been outside, played for a while, and I have a few minutes to sit down, they both hop on my lap for a nap. It is always the best part of my day!
Hope you enjoy the pictures - we did a 'photo shoot' this week; personally, I think some of them are contest winners!!!!
Kathryn