Tag Archives: dog training

The power of time

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The weekends usually fly by anymore and its sad when i look at how little i accomplish sometimes.  This weekend however was not like that. Friday brought some training time and getting the house in order and paperwork set.  Raina had her first demo which will be in detail in the next post. Saturday morning Raina and I left the house at 430 am to head to Kingston NY for a search.  We spent the weekend looking for a missing man, I in the field and Raina back at the firehouse base socializing and learning how her future years will be spent as a SAR dog.  We spent saturday night at a team mates house and raina was great even sleeping in a strange crate in a strange room with new dogs coming in and out of the room all night. The importance of exposing your dogs to these new things are so important especially if you are raising a social working dog!!

Sunday night brought a few quick search problems for Raina in which she did amazing.  She is excellent at using her nose and not her eyes despite doing a run away or two first. Her drive is high and right now she works for food and ball play once shes cleaned her plate!

 

Monday is our in town day, eme and raina both get obedience, socilization, and work some new place in town. This week we did Home depot and Eme we worked her focus and attention to mom. We also built her play drive and then moved inside and worked some obedience around the new machines, all the people and carts ect.  Raina we worked on her focus and obedience and did a lot with her socialization. She also got to work 2 problems inside the garden center of the store!

Once finished there i met Kara at the state land up by me and we worked Eme on a few short problems. She did great came right back to me, wouldn’t take the toy, barked, went right back to kara did a second refind to me where i was finally able to reward her at me for the whole sequence!! We did it one more time with kara going a little further away and i got two refind sequences before rewarding her at me. A few more times like this and we will be on the road to a SOLID refind!!! Now just gotta get the bark automatic as soon as she is on her way back to me.

We finished up our weekend by relaxing at home and cuddling on the couch.  It was a great weekend and i was not only proud of my dogs but the teamwork that i experienced and the friendships i have developed just over one common love, the canine!

 

Pack visiting hours

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Life Long Tails had a small meeting/get together sunday to go over some grant options and new programs we need to start. The pack was beyond thrilled to have an extra 8 laps to sit on. The advantage to being a dog behaviorist and owning a pack of 11 dogs most all from rescue situations is that i had the ability to mold and train them to enjoy the company of strangers in the house and still keep that calm air about them.  Its rare that you will find a pack of this many dogs in size and breed range of ours that can achieve the state of balance we have gotten.

We have just met you and WE LOVE YOU!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say our guests were wonderful sports about the barrage of dogs that tackle you with kisses and barks when you walk in the door!! It can be very overwhelming if you do not have trust that I have a controlled pack.

 

Fugly!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The experience for both dogs and humans is great and from the feedback of the day i believe this will be at least a monthly occurrence. If interested in joining us and either helping with the rescue, hiding for the search dogs, or just gaining some confidence around a large pack of dogs this is your place!! Keep an eye on my blog and website http://www.eliteinstinctcanine.com for the schedule of events!

One cute cuddle session

Raina’s day

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I love all my dogs, and i appreciate them all for each of there specific traits and behaviors even if it is the smelly farts my english bulldog gives off on a daily basis.   But my time spent with miss Raina is so much fun, she is so sweet and photogenic as well!

 

We took a hike alone to work on her focus and play and to test her dedication to over coming obstacles in her way. Her intensity was great and she always looks right at me when i ask for her focus.

What ma i'm balancing on top of the dirt mountain!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After mastering the dirt piles and range on the property we moved on to huge downed tree piles from the last logging.

Why are you on the other side of this??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a crazed look, then countless whines and barks growing louder and louder as i moved on and left her behind. 20 seconds later i turn around and capture this

Got it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not gonna let anything hold her down! Now thats a SAR dog

This was it

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My emotional release each day is when i step out the front door with the woooosh of four paws thundering all around me as i head up the trail into the woods out our front door. Sometimes i take most of the dogs, sometimes i take them 1 at a time if we are working obedience without distractions but no matter what i need that time.

The other day i took eme and raina out separate to get some obedience, focus and drive training in with each of them.  When raina first came to us she was fiercely independent and could care less how close or far i was to her.  The last few weeks that has changed 10 fold and she always checks in, doesn’t get further then 15 feet ahead or behind me and if i stop moving and try to hide she whips around and looks for me……gotta love it.  So the only way to play hide games with raina is to take her out with Eme where she gets distracted, strays further from me but is the first to come flying back using her nose and crash into me with a happy grunt.

Two cute GSD butts

Today we went out before sun set and trekked down off our hill onto the flat land below our property the girls happily playing in the new snow and responding to obedience commands when ordered.  I wasn’t equipped with any lights so we headed back up the hill and reached the peak of our property just as the sun was beginning to fall. I have to admit with the leaves off the trees and the reflection coming down over the other hills in the distance it looked breathtaking. I believe i found where our new house will be built.

We hiked back down to the house in time for dinner and a nap and here we sit now all digesting as i sift through pictures to place in the blog and go through the ever growing list of emails of animals in need. No matter where i am in my house i can always reach down and touch fur, the soothing feeling caresses my fingertips and i know that for another night I’m happy and content.

Oh how the weeks have flown

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Raina or rainy or raina braina as she is called has been with us now for almost a month. Hard to believe she is already 12 weeks old 22 pounds and defiantly a member of our pack.  She loves her hikes and play time with mom, her cuddle on the couch football time with dad and her romp and play and chew bones with her siblings.

My ears are floppy!

She has learned the manners and rules in the house, and challenged quite a few of them for such a young pup too! Shes a handful but has calmed down a lot with the training we have done. She is doing great with her obedience and can sit and come under distraction already.

Halfway there!!!

I’m always amazed at the raw natural abilities that dogs can poses when you take genetically sound dogs and mate them in a stable environment to be raised in.  Raina has the innate ability to love people, use her nose to find anyone, play with her tug all day long, and focus on mom with a one word command. Every day she does something else that just makes me stop and think   wow if all dogs could be like this!!!

They made it!!!!!!!!

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2011 and the whole Canine Copilot pack has lots of new years resolutions they will achieve!!!