It was a beautiful, sunny day and we took full advantage of it. And to top it off, Rosario came by for a little romp. Sia was very happy to see her...not that she has a shortage of friends or anything.
A nice distraction like a new dog in the mix is just the ticket to make sure our recalls are nice and sharp. Recalls are one of those things that you need to practice throughout a dogs' life. I can always tell when I haven't been practicing recalls with my dogs. Their recalls are just not as sharp as they should be and, when that happens, you can bet it motivates me to practice more.
Odon need not worry that Rosario was stealing all his thunder. There is enough Sia love to go around.
In fact, this picture was taken about a nanosecond before I got a big kiss on my cheek. I love her affectionate nature so a little kiss now and then suits me just fine but I do think it's important that she is aware of personal space.
She may be able to graceful navigate through a pile of dogs but there are times when she just barrels through people when she wants to get to something. This is an important lesson for her to learn in regards to her greetings too. In addition to self-control, she needs to have some respect for people's space. A lot of this can be achieved with simple body blocks or moving towards her when she is starting to take your space.
We've been practicing the behavior we would like to see instead a lot. Instead of jumping on people, please sit or lie down. She was tired of me trying to tempt her to jump on me by waving treats over her head so she just ended up lying down and losing interest (another reason to keep the training sessions short). Rosario and Sinbad, however, were trying to show me their best sits ever in the hopes of getting some tasty treats.
We, of course, continue to work on self-control and quick on and off switches. All of these are related to her excitable greetings. She may not be perfect and she may make mistakes but with consistency and maturity all of that will come together.
And speaking of maturity...she's still trying to appease Healey. Sorry Sia, it's just not going to happen. She's older and it's very common for older dogs to avoid play with younger, more energetic puppies and adolescents. Nothing personal Sia.
But Healey got her sweet revenge tonight when she swiped Sia's favorite chew toy and wouldn't give it back. Oh Healey, you don't even like that old bone.
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