Fugly and Val relaxing at work.
Tag Archives: elite instinct canine training
The last of the winter play time
Cosmic girls
My cosmic girls, that has a ring to it doesn’t it? Well they know they are cosmic, i mean they save lives right? And to make it better they are so gosh darn cute doing it!
Cosmic. Relaxing after the find
Last weekend was great, the girls worked problems 5 days out of the week and i really saw good progress with the quick refind and fast long barking. Whew i think my hand hurts from writing so many training log entries!
Epic
My girls are truly truly cosmic.
Update on the dogs
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
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!
St Pattys day parade
Binghamton had a huge st pattys day parade a few weeks ago on the 7th and Kara and i took the girls down to experience the mayham. The girls did wonderful, stayed focused on us through all the people, kids, other dogs, drunks, cars and floats and things being thrown in the air! It was great to see such level headed focused canines in such a high intensity environment. It was a true testament to all the de sensitizing work i’ve done in town and in stores.
Focus is the key
Eme did great with working with Kara while her mother was right behind her. She is such a flexible dog and that is a great quality if its ever necessary someone else works her or takes care of her. She was un-fazed by anything that went by and listened well to kara’s commands.
Having hard working, high drive search dogs are great, but the key is also teaching them how to “turn off” inside and how to be calm, front brained, and focused in public.
And then there was thaw
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
Get out and train!!
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
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
Elite Instinct K9 Training 