New Year

Well I've been really remiss in tracking Chiclet progress. We had so much going on the last 3 months and she had to settle in I decided to wait on her agility training until after the first of the year.

So here's our summary for last year & now I'll try to do a better job on keeping up here.

The first 2-3 weeks were spent getting used to the routine. All 3 dogs go to work with me every day. Her life changed literally overnight from being an outdoor dog to having 2 strange housemates Pav - 5 1/2 and Zarr who is exactly 4 months younger than Chiclet. Zarr and Chiclet sleep in crates at night, Pav has a crate with an open door bed inside & bed outside. And then having 10 new people around giving her attention inside during the day.

My hopes were that she & Zarr would bond and be playmates as Zarr is my crazy young boy, referred to as a "mosquito on a string" for his first 6 months of leash training.

SHE HATED HIM !! Growled, snarled if he came within 5 feet of her. Oh my...

Pav on the other hand she seemd to like so for about 6 weeks Chiclet & Zarr were never together. Walks were separate, play was separate..... everything. Somewhere around 4 weeks I could have her in a crate in the same room as Pav & Zarr watching them play. In all honesty I think she simply didn't understand their rules of engagement. ZZ is very vocal, Pav has raised him since 8 weeks, he does things like grab a cheek & shake & growl, What fun !! and Pav doesn't mind. Chiclet on the other hand would have shown ZZ the error of his ways if given 1/2 a chance.

For the good news, Chiclet was wonderful with people, & I was HER people. Within 30 days she passed her CGC test and charmed everyone she came in touch with. Clearly she wanted to work for me, I knew it was just a matter of time.

By the end of October Chiclet was trying to kiss ZZ through her crate door so I threw caution to the wind & let her loose with him. What fun they had !! Patience was well worth it, today they are the best of friends, sleep together at work, wrestle all the normal stuff, like she'd been here forever. Oh yes, she has moved up in the pack to #2, ZZ is pretty much a bottom dog & Pav is pretty much an Alpha boy so her position makes sense and she doesn't seem to want to challenge Pav at all.

In retrospect other things likely were going on, she blew her coat completely in November. My understanding is that this follows a heat cycle by about 4 weeks. Well she didn't have a visible heat cycle in October but that was when she was pretty b****y with ZZ. I suspect the big move caused a silent heat...... The changes in her life were huge & overall she was a super girl.

So what have we been doing with training ? Basics, basics... having run 2 Siberians in agility and working on training a 3rd (ZZ) it it so clear that before I started anything with her I wanted 2 things 1) a drop dead recall..... and 2) a "wait" that could handle any distraction at 30 feet.

yeah right you think..... she's not a German Shepherd you know.......

OH I Know !!!! well 3 1/2 months later we have that drop dead recall close to 98% of the time, we may lose it off & on over time but I don't think so. Yesterday she & ZZ were off chasing gopers at a friends house on the acre of land & every time I called, she came, didn't matter whether she was out of site she came. What a girl !! The wait's are a work in process... I'd honestly say 25% of the time at 30 feet but we do have them at important places like open doors, house & car.

Onto agility foundation.......

Day 2

Yesterday was Day One, alittle rough around the edges. Mostly related to meeting her 2 new brothers. I think she was very jet lagged, and a bit traumatized, well who wouldn't be so I decided to give her a break.

She met 7 new humans & was little Miss Princess just the cutest thing sround. She caught on real quick who controls the cookies.

So Tuesday morning arrives and right on time Chcilet, who maybe changing her call name, was ready to go to the office. Big accomplishments today, big !!! owndering who she is trying to impress.

Stopped snarfing at brothers
Goes on walks with brothers
Plays... yes plays with Zarr, still concerned about Pav.

Plays with toys??? ... you betcha... terrorizes toys... will be toy restricted when alone... much too likely to kill & eat...lol.. I had to retrieve a piece of a soft toy from her throat. But she will be a dream playing tug with me for agility ....yahoo

Already working on sit, off, stay, wait, come, quiet, get-in(the crate) ok and my favorite.. "knock it off". that one is for trying to intimidate me for taking a toy away from her. One more - "hurry up" for pee & poop on command, that's going to be easy she already makes sure she tries to do both when we go outside.

Really good when cookies are being passed out, the boys sit and wait, she's watching them & is offering the sit. He who sits first gets the first cookie. She's learning darn quick !!!

Met 7 new humans yesterday & was a kissing fool, schmoozing each and every one of them. Tonight is agility class, first one I've attended in almost 8 weeks, but I'm just watching. A friend is going to run Pav. my thoughts are that she'll spend the evening in her wire crate in the car, where she can see & smell, but I'm not going to expose her to other dogs for awhile.

Loves traveling in the car, has a view as we go to work & thinks a van is the way to travel, beats running...lol..

She's already learned not to dash out a door, Mom must go first while she patiently waits for the ok. Not enforcing a sit stay.. yet. I'm amazed how quickly she's learning or trying to impress me. May not ever want a puppy again !

Finally - Her Arrival

Today was finally The Day !! What a long day for my girl. She must have started out in the middle of the night getting rudely awakened for the drive to the Edmonton airport. She finally landed in Los Angeles about 4 pm where it took us another hour to bail her out of customs. Poor thing..

So about 5 pm Chiclet met her new mom & dad (Steve) for the first time. She was very happy to get out of the crate, tail wagging voraciously. Big kisses for both of us too, for some reason I was under the impressions she wasn't a kisser... au contrare ( or she's learned the fine art of Siberian Manipulation very well) What a girl immediately relieved herself outside, had some roasted chicken as a treat from Dad(thinks he's going to bond quicker than me) & back into the crate for the 2+ hr drive to San Diego, quiet & sleepy the whole trip.

We did introduce her briefly to her 2 new brothers & she wasn't thrilled. In all honesty she was trashed from the trip, so I kept the meeting to a very brief encounter. They all had to travel in the van from the office(where we had left the boys in the a/c for the day) to our house & yep she growled & snarled the whole 30 minutes. At the house Chiclet & Pav met face to face where they had a brief "discussion" . I decided against a face to face meeting with Zarr, maybe I'm pampering her a bit but I think she needed some space to take in her whole new world.

She spent the evening schmoozing Steve, oh yes you'll love this one; she raided the toy box & claimed 3 stuff toys as hers. So after play with the humans where we have absolutley fallen in love, she's off to sleep in her crate with her claimed trophies form the boys toy box. She is sleeping in the same room where the boys sleep, but to help her get rest I covered her crate like a bird. She's currently snoring & sleeping in the dead bug posiiton.

I'm confident when she gets some deparately needed rest and has a chance to catalog all the noises, smells & activities in her new world she'll decide the boys are going to be great new buddies. Too much for 1 day, not at all surprised.

Pictures ? hopefully tomorrow.....

Arrival Postponed

Well August 1st was supposed to be our big day, but clumsy Mom managed to break her wrist in 4 places the night before Chiclet was to arrive. We've postponed a couple more weeks due to a second surgery & a little healing time. Without even knowing her, I miss her at this time. I know it would be a bit hard taking care of 3 dogs 1-handed & I certainly want her training to not be hindered by my silly hand issues, so I will be patient.

Many thanks to Karen R. for keeping her a bit longer for me. The boys keep looking at that 3rd crate next to the bed, wondering why we needed an extra table in the room. Soon enough guys, the mystery will end and we'll all enjoy her in our family.

Be patient dear Chiclet, a couple more weeks & your new adventures will begin.
We love you.

Saturday & a New Home

August 1st is the first day of a new adventure for North Wapiti's Chiclet. Chiclet is a 22 month old Black & White Siberian husky who is moving to San Diego from North Wapiti Kennels in Alberta Canada. Both her Mom & Dad are multi-Iditarod Race Veterans, Daddy is a breed Champion.

Somewhere along the line Chiclet decided she really didn't want to be an Iditarod dog so she was made available for adoption. Lucky Karen(that's me) is adding Chiclet to a family of 2 male Siberians, Pav & Zarr. Pav is 5 and Zarr is 19 months.

I do Canine agility with the boys, we're hoping Chiclet decides working one on one will be more fun that in a big team.

This Blog is dedicated to tracking her progress in her new home & hopefully documenting how all of her training is going. The changes in lifestyle will be dramatic starting with being an outside dog and now she will be indoors most of the time.

Feel free to ask questions or make comments as we go along. This is going to be great journey full of learning and fun for Siberian owners.