Zenny's new friend Otto

I have been lax in introducing Zenny and Lucy's new friend Otto. Otto is a german shepherd who came to one of our puppy k classes. Otto has the best of all worlds in our minds, he gets to walk out of his back yard into my favorite hiking place, Bolton Notch. We are lucky enough to have become friends with Joanne and Ron, Otto's parents - and get to hike from their house quite a bit. What a treat.

Pip's First Night (NOT New Years Eve!)

Last night was Pip's First Night at class. I am fortunate to have a job teaching family dog and puppy classes at Tails U Win Canine Center in Manchester, CT. Classes consist of 8 1 hr sessions, with the "first" night ( or session) an informative one with just owners, no dogs. But we as instructors bring a dog or dogs if we want. I like to bring a dog or 2 to show what I love to do with positive reinforcement training and to talk about how I have incorporated it into my many different dog personalities. Pip has never been to first night. She is rather impulsive and I've always been concerned about how she would reflect on the training. Its always been my goal so I took the plunge and went for it. I have been working on having her lie down on a grooming table. Gives her a "place to be" and being up high which she lives, also keeps her from getting to enthusiastic with folks. Between that and tired Lucy we had a pretty successful evening. More things to work on for the next time.

Our Tracking Weekend - Zenny and Tessie and Welcome Izzy!

Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this, but Zenny and Tessie, his favorite golden retriever friend, attended a tracking seminar in NH this weekend. It was awesome - the weather could not have been better and the instructors were great. Both Tessie and Zenny were upbeat and interested both days, ready to go. You could tell they understood the game and liked it. Definitely I will do more with Zenny on this in hopes of getting his TD title.

The Monadnock Humane Society in NH is awesome. This is the 3rd time I have been there for an event and each time I have threatended to bring home a kitten. Well this time I did! Welcome Izzy (short for Isabelle), a 6 month old kitten. Right now she is being introduced to the dogs by hanging out in the bathroom with the expen up so they can all see and smell each other. I don't think Wookie, the basement cat (her choice not mine!) knows she is here yet. A couple more days perhaps of this and we will go for the gusto. She is very cute, petite and hopefully she will stay that way. We could not believe that she never made a peep the entire 2 hr ride home. Didn't start talking until she go into the house and the dogs were sniffing the box.

Its Official!

We received Zenny's therapy dog information in the mail. A slight correction was needed, they had him listed as a chocolate lab! An identity crisis for sure - mostly because the picture taken was pretty off in the color. We have that all corrected and are now waiting for our first surpervised visit with Christine.

Therapy - Its Zenny for Sure!

Zenny, he's my only boy dog. Zen goes to the beat of a different drum. He's the best house/pet dog a person could have. If he lived in a different house and was the only dog, I'll bet he would be very different. But with the 3 girls ahead of him and then Lucy after, he's pretty much the mellow boy. Zenny is 3 and is a wonderful dog to hike with and hang out with. My husband and Zenny hang together a lot, Zenny likes to supervise while Al works around the house. And sometimes they just hang out on the couch together.

I had hoped to do obedience or at least Rally with him but it does not seem to be his cup of tea at all. I decided a couple of months ago to try Therapy, we went thru the training at Bolton Vet and he passed the test in August. We are still awaiting his vest and official information so that we can begin our trial/supervised visits. Meanwhile I have been taking him to the various pet stores and other places where we can continue to work on distraction and meet new people.

Zenny also has a wonderful nose! We have signed up for a Tracking Clinic in a couple of weeks - and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. Its a full 2 days which can sometimes be a little taxing for his brain.

More to come on all of that - and pictures too!

We are back,.....

Well, been quite a slacker with my blog. I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything since May. I went into heaving training mode for Pip's Excellent Rally title, then did no training at all - went thru a slight rough patch but hope to be back on target now.

Pip did receive her Excellent Title for AKC Rally in July. She did a nice job, and I know works really hard.

Now we have started training for her WC (Working Certificate). This is a certificate offered specifically for labradors. Similar to a Hunt Test but with less criteria somewhat. Pip is a hot ticket with this - it certainly feeds into her prey drive thats for sure. We have only done land work so far. I don't think that she will have any issue with water but will need to get a couple of tries in. I am also going to give my Lucy another shot at the WC. Lucy received her WC last year - but I am currently working on her "visiting" social piece of the retrieve - so am repeating before I move onto bigger better things. I haven't quite figured out how to stop the visiting,.....

I've also decided to make this blog about my dogs in general - not just Pip. My oldest Sarah, who is almost 14 is struggling with many things - and everyone in my house has a story at one time or another. It will be fun to write about them and I think soothing to me also.

Activity Update!

We have been busy the last couple of weeks.

Pip was successful in getting her Rally Advanced title 3 for 3. As I had begun to work on heeling with her quite diligently, the heeling for the last trial was much better then the first 2. We even survived a very excited dog barking in the next ring that totally blew Pippi's mind. Just as we approached the first station, your basic Sit, Down, Sit - the dog started barking and Pip lost her focus. I had quite a time getting her focused and on task, we reapproached the station and we got threw it. Pip even started barking herself, I think she thought it was play time or something. In the end, we had a score in the 90's - that first station was our only blip. Getting her back on task after that is such a big achievement and by far the best thing we did that day! Now onto the Excellent level. Many of the shows now are outside and we are not ready as a team to have that experience. I'll wait for inside trials and start heeling work and attention work outside now.

We've also done quite a bit of USDAA Agility. Pip was able to get her P1 level titles in JWW, STD, Gambler and Snookers - over the course of about 4 or 5 trials. We have moved up to the P2 level and ran for the first time at that level this past weekend. The courses really become quite a bit more challenging. We managed to do 7 runs in 2 days - needless to say both of us were tired by the end of the weekend.

Our hiking needs some additional work - while she is very aware of where I am, when that nose gets to the ground she is like a blood hound or something. I still get nervous when hiking her because of this and I just need to trust my dog! That will be my goal for tomorrows hike.

I've been a slacker in the picture taking department. Need to get on the stick with that. Thats all for now - not to exciting.