Guess who is back!!! I'm so excited to have Sia back here for training! She's such a fun girl to work with. The whole pack was excited to see her and she was definitely excited to see them. We set aside plenty of time for everyone to get reacquainted. Even if dogs got along previously, it doesn't mean they will always get along. As dogs grow older, they can change quite a bit and that can translate into a little bit of grumpiness or quite a bit of joy.
Healey hasn't changed at all. Sia still finds her to be a little grumpy with puppies. Healey is grumpy in a good way. She doesn't over correct the puppies but she does set boundaries with them. Sometimes those boundaries speak much more loudly than anything humans could say or do to impart those words of wisdom on a younger dog. We call Healey the "fun police" because she feels like she needs to monitor everyone and make sure no one is having too much fun. Sia is doing an appeasement behavior with her in this photo which is a very appropriate interaction with Healey.
Sia also met some new friends. This is Thistle. She's a retired breeder for Canine Companions for Independence. I stay close at hand while they are playing so I can quickly intervene if things get too rough. But this proves to be a pretty well matched group. Everyone is playing really nicely or they are easily interrupted if it's getting too loud or rough.
I'm going to give Sia plenty of exercise, especially on day one, before we get to work. She is so excited to see everyone and is ready to romp. If I tried to work with her right off the bat I would be struggling a lot to get her attention and to reign in her energy.
This is a great way to start out any training session. It's much more pleasant for her and it makes the handlers job so much easier.
Funny girl! She had to stick her head through the railings on the deck to see what was going on in the other yard. Now that we've got some of her energy out, it's time to start checking in with one another again.
It usually takes a little bit of time for a handler and dog to check in with one another. I might need to back up a little bit in her training in the very beginning or do some basic attention work with her to remind her what we are doing. I start off slow at first and build up from there. I already know what she is capable of because of her last visit so she can't pull the wool over my eyes. Even though she's right in the middle of adolescence, I know where she should be at with her training so I know what needs more training or what needs follow through because she has temporarily forgotten it.
In no time at all she was back to her beautiful recalls, dropping shoes when requested (oh yeah, I need to close my closet door when she's here), and walking nicely on leash. I'm looking forward to this week!
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