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.......