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!
Tag Archives: puppy
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
Not spring thats for sure
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…………..
Family time
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
The holy day of the week
My girls
Sundays are another good training day with the co pilot pack. This weekend we headed down to ritas with the girls all in tow to work some of the regular obedience, socialization, and of course SAR.
hanging at the school
Raina spent some time at the school, in the gym working on recall obedience then just hanging out with the kids. We practiced her commands with a lot more distractions present and upped the requirements a little. We also did her short problems with a refind back to mom. Raina has A LOT of subject loyalty and while her indication (a bark and hold to mom) is coming along great we need to stop the game at mom for awhile to get the fast bounce back for refind.
With my ball after the find
We set up a short problem for Eme to see how her refind and indication would hold up. It turned into a bit of a mess but she found the subject, came back, indicated upon asking, and did a good show me! We solidified it with a few more short drills and let her take her prize to the top of the mountain of snow!
Both girls did great and enjoyed playing with Mika and Tank who is Raina’s brother. Another wonderful training with my good friends.
The heart swells with pride
When owning dogs you have good days and bad days, especially when you have a large pack to manage and most are working dogs that are on the path to certification. Today was a great day, a day that makes me realize that all the time, effort, love, and discipline i put into my dogs everyday is worth it. A day that makes me realize that what i do, what i teach, and what i know really is amazing.
Emeline and Raina and i started the morning out meeting Amigo SAR dog team members at Cole park. I worked eme first on a short snow burial, her first ever with a nice quick refind to remind her what we have been practicing the last few months. Then i took the plunge, i knew the last few weeks she was getting the whole concept of refind and it had been forever since the girl had a LONG problem where she had to work out scent. She was first up with an off trail problem over a mile long. As we were working she stayed close and checked back at me often, sometimes with bits of frustration, probably wondering why all of a sudden she was working so long to find her toy!
I was not sure where the subject was and only had man tracking to try to tell me when we were getting close. I wanted to make sure Eme had a successful find since it had been so long but i was worried her refind and indication would drop out like it had been a few months back. Through the first 1/2 mile i had head pops across the water towards the subject so i knew she was working good. Once we got about 250 feet down the trail prior to the subject i noticed a body language change and a pep in her step! I was about to comment i thought we were close when she head popped right and took off up the hill, after working the cone back in to the subject so got him perfect, turned around came back to me as i gave her words of encouragement, sat in front of me barked and with a “show me” we were off to the subject! PERFECT!!! We ended the problem with a 20 minute play session on the way back to the truck. We tugged, we fetched, we lost the toy a few times and found it again. It was a great mesh of working dog and working handler. I love it when all the work pays off!
We worked Raina on some small short problems and now that she knows the game we are incorporating a refind back to me starting now. Her loyalty to the subject is already unwavering so bringing it back to mom now will help any hesitation later on in training.
Pull mom PULL
After training we hit the town and made rounds to Gander Mountain, the pet store and home depot for some in store work and out of store work. My emphasis with Raina is focus in public places and work on obedience commands with distractions. She is great at tuning out any noise but kids playing in the snow was just to much so we distanced ourselves and worked our obedience at Home Depot.
FOCUS
The girls all did great and Emeline and Raina shared their truck so nicely with Bonsai and Mika during the trip. All 4 girls worked obedience for a few hours and even made some new friends and impressed some complete strangers with their obedience!
A weekend of Raina’s firsts
The weekend had a bunch of raina’s firsts!!! Friday brought her first demo for a preschool class. She practiced a runaway, did some obedience, and socialized with the 3 year olds.
Practice makes perfect
She did wonderful and all the kids loved her and parents highly impressed with her obedience! At 13 weeks old raina is an amazing girl and her rock solid nerves are shining through!
Saturday brought raina’s first search experience where she was able to socialize, practice her focus and obedience, do some short search problems, and experience 2 huge fire trucks leave the fire house lights and sirens!
Resting in the fire house
Sunday after we were done searching raina got to run some live search problems, two run aways and 1 short problem. Then we headed back home. Monday brought our first store visit where we went to home depot and practiced obedience, focus, (these are so important as you can tell!!) and just plain meeting everyone!! Raina did great and made me so proud.
Shopping at home depot
All in all it was a good weekend. Raina got a lot of exposure and socialization, experience in new places and with new people. All of this goes such a long way to making her a good balanced adult dog.
Raina’s day
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
Oh how the weeks have flown
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!!!
Elite Instinct K9 Training 