# Nice day with Peeves today!



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

So after a clunker of a week for my big boy, I am happy to report that Peeves and I had a special and fun outing today.

The Canine Cognition Center at Yale has just gotten approval to hold studies that involve two dogs together. Additionally they have been able to drop their prohibition against unaltered dogs. So I signed Peeves up to be a participant with and without Lily. 

We left our house just before 9:00 this morning and drove out to where we could pick up a ferry to Connecticut. Since it was a very nice day here we sat out on the aft deck to enjoy the air. There were three other dogs aboard: a small mix of some sort that got carried around the little we saw of it, a golden retreiver who spent most of the trip on the upper deck out of sighy and a chow chow sitting with a man and his elderly mother (my guess). The chow chow was sitting on the aft deck with us for the whole trip. Well I couldn't be prouder of Peeves. He can be dog reactive, but after I made it clear to him that I just was not going to permit him to stare at this dog, he just settled down and ignored it with his back turned to it. He was giving great calming, disengaging signals and the chow chow spent the whole time staring at Peeves and barking at him every time he changed position. Peeves just left it all alone. Usually I would have expected he would have barked at the other dog at the beginning, but he never did. Two young kids went over to the people with the chow to ask to say hello to the dog. Thankfully the man said that it wasn't a good time. They ended up sitting on the deck of the ferry with Peeves lying between them getting very nice gentle scratches behind the ears. Other people also said hello once they saw how good he was with the children. Eventually the older woman got up and went in the cabin for a few minutes when she came bad the chow snarled at and tried to bite her. Obviously this is a dog with some problems so I was really very proud of Peeves for being so disengaged.

We got to Yale right on time for our initial pre-study visit. The purpose of this visit is to evaluate the dog's temperament, the dog ability to follow directions in an unfamiliar setting and to be able to capture video of the dogs face so that the researchers can see that they will be able to read the dog's eye movements from video in their evaluations of the studies to come. Peeves did great with all of it. The evaluator knows Lily so he and I had a nice conversation after we finished about their personality differences (mind you with Peeves half asleep on the floor, not something Lily would do!).

We took a short walk around Yale and I tried to take some pictures, but Peeves was acting like the camera was going to steal his soul if he looked at it. It is very interesting how different people's responses to Lily and Peeves are. Almost everyone wants to say hello to Lily, but far fewer ask to pet Peeves. I did have a conversation with two Yale maintenance workers who thought he was a fabulously handsome boy. One of them commented that having grown up in the south his family and all those around him always kept a shepherd and he commented on how much Peeves reminded him of one of his childhood dogs.

Here is a link to the lab's facebook page with a picture of my handsome smiling boy. https://www.facebook.com/yaledoglab


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

gives new meaning to the phrase "you handsome dog, you." so glad he is doing well. keep it going, peeves!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

There is a funny comment with his FB picture about the owner having to refer to him as "my pet Peeves!" It is exactly right that that is what BF was thinking when he picked that for his house/call name.

We really did have a wonderful time and after all the messy last week with multiple vets visits and so forth it was a pleasure to just have some bonding time with him. I should add that Lily was very good being home alone. It is so rare that she is the only one left behind that I was worried about what kind of silly nonsense she might pull off, but everything was right where it should have been when I got home. Good girl Lily.


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## Muggles (Mar 14, 2015)

Sounds like a great time was had by all. Go Peeves! He looks soooo handsome in that pic.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

awwww! Peeves looks very content being an 'only child' for the day! He sounds like he was really 'chill' for the day! How nice for both of you! He even passed the Chow test LOL! The Vet I worked for refused to take Chows as patients........he said they were too unpredictable and give absolutely no warning before biting...........Glad you went home and found Lily was a good girl too! Good Lily!


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Good boy, Peeves. That is a real test to ignore a reactive chow. When you started writing about the chow, I thought this is going to be about one of the few exceptional chows that is friendly... hah! When I worked with a vet, as part of an ROP program, we used to joke that chows were never bred to have a good temperament... they were just bred to taste good. Anyhow, I am glad that Peeves is going to be a Yale "graduate" too. Oh, and seeing his photo, I can certainly see why his breeder wants him in her program. Peeves' offspring will be very handsome.


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Two Yale Graduates in the one family! You must hang their credentials on your wall for all to see!
Peeves is better than you thought? Lily is a queen like Grace. Wherever she goes she knows she will be given adoration and expects all to bow to her especially other dogs. She will not play with small dogs. Too yappy? She likes them big!! Bigger the better. Whenever she sees another poodle she goes ballistic. Poodle play is different. All aerial gymnastics and speed.
Eric.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I'm glad you had such a nice one-on-one day with Peeves. Congratulations on his Yale acceptance too! Some sweet elderly neighbors of mine have an equally elderly Chow minus the sweet. They're English and call her a "bad lot". Maybe that's her call name!


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## marialydia (Nov 23, 2013)

What a gorgeous photo! Handsome he is!

Now, what is this? Two Yalies? My goodness, not only beautiful but smart. Well done all.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Yes, two Yalies and at least one more in the pipeline! I sort of wish we were near Cornell and they had a similar lab since my Ph.D is from Cornell. I feel a bit like an Ivy home school betrayer, but it is Yale and Columbia that are near and they both have dog research labs. I've signed Lily up for the Columbia lab, but haven't been able to hook into a study there yet.

My boy is very handsome isn't he? I was glad to have the chance to show him off. I was also so incredibly proud of him for ignoring the nutty chow on the ferry. I wasn't sure how he would do on the boat since we've never taken him that way before.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

the good thing about yale from a dog's point of view is skull and bones, isn't it? is that a crunch i hear in the background? :biggrin1:


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

You are so funny on that skull and bones thing patk! When we were on our way out the door Friday morning BF had a serious talk with Peeves about finding the skull and bringing it home...maybe next time.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

nothing better than a bf with his priorities straight! yes, peeves, find that skull!


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## mashaphan (Sep 4, 2014)

Nice to see Peeves ! He sounds like he had a wonderful day :adore:

Martha & the Charming Che,aka the whippet on Poodle Forum


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