Tag Archives: binghamton

Update on the dogs

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Well so far everyone is hanging in there pretty good. Its been a long winter and while the dogs enjoy playing in the snow i know they are ready for spring just like us. Valentine is doing good, her leg is still in rough shape and I will never go back to colonial in Ithaca NY for an orthopedic surgery again. I have always seen Dr. Ross do great work but Val would have been better off if left to heal without a $4000 surgery.  We are slowly trying to continue her recovery even with her turned out leg that just refuses to build muscle. While opening her up again to fix any possible meniscus tears he may have caused during surgery may be in order i do not think we will put her back under for it. She developed some extreme anxiety over her months spent in a kennel rehabbing including severe skin breakouts and anxiety inside kennels. She is now living in a crate free environment and is doing much better after some calming exercises and rehabilitation work to the mind.

Olive is doing good but is slowing down in her old age. Her hips and knees are getting worse which after the xrays we took last year i’m not surprised. She has  hip dysplasia and DJD so we are going to make her comfortable and  happy. She enjoys laying around on her orthopedic bed chewing on kongs and peanut butter filled bones and that is what she shall get!

Snoopy is his grumpy old self but doing well. He has his moments of puppy like play but it lasts only a minute or two and then hes curled up on the couch again sleeping. He’s almost 12 and besides some arthritis we are doing well medically.

Everyone else is doing great. Kendal is my current demo dog going to all my training sessions, working with some dog aggressive dogs and passing her calm stoic mentality to all who she meets.

 

I cannot complain, it has been another great start to the year and all the dogs are doing wonderful.  Going to bed every night and waking up every morning to a slobbery batch of kisses and anticipated tail wags for the adventures we will enter that day is a blessing!

Everyone looking like stars

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As always the girls impress me when day after day i ask so much of them! Just a short video clip of last weekends fun time after of course a day of work. More updates to follow!

 

 

And then there was thaw

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This weekend was a busy eventful one! Saturday I brought my girls and the Family Foundtion School Dog Corp Kids helping Canines first dog down. Delilah will live in one of the dorms with 10 of the dog corps kids and they will be responsible for training and raising her until Life Long Tails places  her into a home. The boys were very excited when we got there and sweet shy delilah took right to them. It’ll be a long road but i know this will be a great program for the boys and the dogs!

 

The girls got some work that afternoon and each performed a great moving subject problem with multiple refinds. I’m stoked, they are doing so good!!  We spent the night at Ritas and got a few hours of sleep after much talking. Sunday morning brought our meeting to discuss the Comfed we are hosting in September with Amigo and NJ Sar. The girls were patient and new their time would come!

I did it!

 

Eme got a nice 35 minute long problem with 2 subjects hiding together. It was the longest she had ever done and despite being very tired, and the subjects not being were they had been marked on my GPS I was able to follow my dog and her alerts and find the boys. She was exhausted but did a perfect refind and indication with a long bark and victoriously got her ball! The problem had been worked 20 minutes prior by another k9 team so she had to work out their scent and the subjects scent which made it even more difficult!

 

Raina got a short demo problem for a few new people who had come to check out the team. She of course showed off her perfect scent work and full refind. I wanted to set up a longer problem with her so we can start to build some nose time, she can be certified by a year old and i’m sure she will be ready. I set up a good problem which lasted 15 minutes the longest she has worked so far. She preformed great and maintained her refind and indication giving me 2 before i reached the subject.

playing with her subject

We finished the day with 2 HR hides including one that was up about 3 feet.  Both girls did great and are ready to move on in their HR training. Next we will put in the indication using boxes that deliver their toy. This allows the dog to sit and wait for the ball while focusing on the source and not on me!

Its amazing how quick my girls are growing up. Eme turned 1 on friday and i just don’t know where the year went! The next few months are going to be hard, we will be doing a lot of nose building long problems and drilling in obedience. Certifications will start soon and mom will need to learn not to be a nervous wreck! Off to get re packed and ready to work the girls again later today!

All done

 

 

Not spring thats for sure

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Woke up at 6am this morning (got to sleep in whooo hoooo) to a whoping 2 feet of snow. I couldn’t even open the back door, had to slip out and shovel off the back porch so the door could open and dogs could get out. Most didn’t want to go it was over their head but the shepherds couldn’t wait and took off clearing paths for the smaller dogs. Poor Fugly got lost in the snow banks!

 

With a state of emergeny in Broome County plans of in town training was demolished. Instead we played in the backyard, went on a short but tiring hike and did some small scent problems. The girls were still happy.

 

 

All in all not a bad hang around the house snow day. Man and we could see green grass yesterday…………..

 

Get out and train!!

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With spring coming, the snow melting and the days getting longer I cannot help but get excited about getting out there and training even more this year!!! You will find the pack and I all over Binghamton and surrounding counties starting now, every weekend. We will be practicing obedience, Search and Rescue, basic manners, agility, and working on some problem behaviors.  If interested in attending any working session to learn the Elite Instinct Canine way please email us EliteInstinctCanine@gmail.com and keep an eye on our website http://www.EliteInstinctCanine.com   Times, locations, and days vary so please keep an eye on our calendar.

The shining stars

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The weekend was great, and the girls really really made me proud. We hit up walton with Amigo SAR dogs saturday and did a great training with live, snow burial and some HR.  It was some great new land and the dogs got plenty of exposure to snowmobiles and people all around.

Two beautiful ladies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was a great training day at ritas and the girls both had good long problems. They ranged beautifully once they were in scent, scoured through a passel of pine trees, found the subjects and headed straight back to me!

Geared up and ready to work

 

We also did some good HR work which neither girl had worked in a while. Our focus was getting our airscent and refind and indication set but with that all in place we are getting back into doing HR. Both girls did great and stayed on task. Video’s to follow!!!

Mission accomplished

Family time

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Waking up to half a foot of snow at 5:45am i was torn to whether it was going to be a good day or a bad day. My focus this morning was getting some work done around the house, updating some logs, trying to stay off my sore knee and then taking to the backyard for some pictures of the pups. What may be our last big snow fall was enjoyed thoroughly by my canine companions.

snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

crazy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really do love winter, the snow is great, the lack of mud is even better, and its a different experience to get out there and train your dog in the winter.  The chihuahua’s could do without the cold weather and the snow up past their little heads but the big dogs are pretty good at giving them worn down paths all around the back yard. We spend just as much time outside in the winter as we do in the summer and the change of seasons is always a relief.  Thank you 2011 for a fun winter experience, here is to a nice dry mild temperature summer!!!!!

Strike a pose

I think i’m sore!!

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Another good weekend done, and boy did this one leave us sore. We headed down to Tech city again in Kingston to work some building stuff. The snow that melted re froze as ice and it is rough out in the woods for the pups paws! The building work was great, it gives a good tight area to work quick refinds and some really weird scent pictures.   I was able to run all the “pups” and younger dogs multiple times on problems of varying length depending on their skill level. The girls blew me away like usual. Eme worked some longer hard blind problems and even with other dogs off leash distracting her work still came back and indicated like she should.

Raina off working the scent

Raina did some great blind problems and it was amazing to watch  her work the scent.  She worked it perfectly with no bad habits in place, you could really tell where the scent was being carried and where it wasn’t.  She had some great head pops into rooms and even the stairwell the subject was in.

I got my toy

One of the hardest problems of the day was up on the 4th floor which was essentially the roof. Due to the nature of the building as an old IBM plant the huge cooling fans and big metal fan rooms where a perfect creepy place to train the dogs. Eme worked a great blind problem up there and after climbing 4 huge flights of stairs (perfectly with no hesitation, mom on the other hand had some burning legs!) she was unfazed by the huge metal air ducts she had to search and the bomb shelter like rooms! Once she found the subject she gave a few whines before actually jumping into the airduct but then did a perfect refind, with her machine gun bark!

Dark dark room

It was also mr felix bleu’s first time doing building work and he did great. The boy was knocking down doors to get to his subject and we even incorporated a recall back to Kara during this training. From here on out his find will now end at kara after he has found his subject.  She is working on his bark indication and we should be able to put that in pretty quickly. An amazing boy that felix bleu!

I LOVE my ball!!!

It was a great day and the dogs love the building work.  Thank you tech city and we will be back!!!!

Tech City Kingston NY

A little of this a little of that

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The weekend was busy and the girls didn’t get work everyday like they are used to. Snoopy had surgery on friday and came through it like a champ. He is recovering and doing well. This old man won’t have to worry about any more surgery for a LONG time to come.

Saturday kendal and I headed down to work with a few clients and to get her service dog “test” completed. She passed with flying colors and is just a true testament to what a rescue dog can turn into. She also spent the weekend as Life Long Tails donation dog raising money and raising awareness to what it is we do for helpless animals!!

YAY Kendal!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday the girls finally got there day. Kara and Mika jumped in the car and we headed down to the school for some work for the girls and some good dog teaching for the kids.   The kids had built a snow cave last week and we were able to get Mika and Eme on the first snow cave ever!  Eme did amazing, worked the scent out great, stayed committed, and crawled all the way into the cave to find her subject. We worked on her recall, indication and refind with the snow cave as it gave a different scent picture and environment which always challenges the puppies!

 

My butts sticking out of the cave!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She worked a total of almost an hour and still had to play ball all the way back to the truck with the boys.  We got our excercise in walking in snow shoes the whole time!!! It was better then falling 2 feet deep into the snow drifts though!

Off to work we go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course Raina needs her time too and she wow’d us all with how well she works!!! She knows her job and she knows when its about to start. I just introduced her vest in and she gets so excited to get dressed.

back talk to mom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raina has been lucky enough to get the perfect flawless training method where mom makes no mistakes (yet) and she has yet to have a big hang up. I know its coming, shes only 4 months old, but her nose work is natural and amazing, and her refind and indication to me is phenomenal. Of course shes pretty crazy too!!

mom mom mom i know where he is!!! mom mom mom!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day was a good one. Mr felix blue the newest shepherd that we took in was introduced to cadaver and we did a few short runaways with him as well. He loves food, and loves to play ball, and loves to search!!!

Hello working world!!!

A busy weekend for us all

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Friday saturday and sunday brought the Petsmart adoption even where people get to meet and great all our wonderful animals and talk with volunteers about us and what we do.  Thanks to a grant from Greg Biffle the nascar driver we were able to order some great tshirts,  banner, new business cards, and other vital items to use at our fundraisers!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We managed to get some applications and do a few adoptions too! The ferrets where a hit and the dogs all did great. We were able to make some new friends and meet some potential new adopters!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful weekend and we were able to help even more animals!! Thank you to the support from the community!!