Emma Puppy Play Date with 6 of her siblings and mother

Yesterday was a puppy play day for Emma’s brothers and sisters at Copper Ridge Rhodesians Kennels. Lin Hainlen and her daughter Aura, hosted a play day, and seven of the eleven puppies showed up. Emma is on the left, walking with her brother, also a light colored Ridgeback. Notice the pronounced ridge down their back, thus their name, and the light areas on their neck and shoulder.

The puppies enjoyed the trampoline with those who joined in the fun. Lin had her acre-sized yard prepared for the party with pull and chew toys, a tire to jump through, the swimming pool, an in-ground trampoline, and nylon cloth tunnels for puppy enjoyment. Also present were Reese, the puppy’s mother, and ladies in waiting, Whisper and Varoshka.

Emma and her siblings enjoyed the agility practice tube. Emma is the one just exiting the tube. Notice her big, bright white tooth, the first of the big dog teeth to help her eat. She is teething, and having some real discomfort with the process. Our dog trainer from Kokopelli Dog Training, suggested freezing a Kong or freeze a terry cloth rag for her to chew. I do some T-Touch circles on her mouth before she goes to sleep in the evening, and she seems to sleep better. Only a few more weeks, and her adult teeth should be through the gum and she will feel better.

The group enjoyed resting under the shade on the cool grass. Emma is second on the left. Reese, their mother, is the furthest away on the gravel. Notice how much lighter color Emma is compared with the others.

After the play time, Aura took Emma on her first show training walk. It was so very hot, Emma had little enthusiasm for the exercise.

Emma's Routine

The past couple of days have been pure joy watching Emma and her housemates work through their differences and establish the new group ranking. Emma still has that wonderful puppy smell that just makes me swoon every time I smell it, and seems to cause the others to excuse some of her behavior. The cats even excuse her cold nose and Emma walking behind them with their tail hanging out of her mouth.

The cats are both ten year old Abyssinians, brother and sister. The brother loves our dogs, and parades proudly when one of the dogs licks him to the point of being sticky coated. The sister is less patient than her brother. So, it was a head turner when I saw the sister walk across the living room floor, Emma slowly advance behind her, take the cat’s tail in her mouth, and carry it as the cat walked away. All the cat did was twist her ears backward.

Emma has been sleeping eight hours through the night. She plays for about two hours, running, bouncing, climbing and generally pestering everyone after breakfast. She becomes so tired, she either drops in place or glides into a laying position on the floor. When she sleeps, she really sleeps. The loud sounds of our small coffee grinder doesn’t even rouse her. She sleeps until lunch-time, when she awakens enough to go outside for chores, then inside for lunch. She plays small games with us, tug of war, catch or just petting, then she returns to sleep. Mid afternoon Emma awakens again, drinks water and does outside chores again. Dinner at 6:00 p.m. is the beginning of her evening energy burst. She plays and runs for two or more hours and by 9:30 p.m. she is ready for deep sleep. When I am ready to retire, I take Emma outside one last time, give her a chicken strip, and put her into her kennel.

Emma’s kennel is next to a reclining chair on my side of the master bed. If she whimpers in the night, I move to the recliner and dangle my fingers into the kennel. She sniffs my fingers, collapses next to my side of the kennel and returns to sleep for a few more hours. I treat her the way I did my children when they were infants. I really don’t want her to learn to fuss, I want her to feel like her needs will be met with small gestures on her part.

It is time to play with Emma. …