Saturday, May 14, 2011

Performance Puppy class

May 11, 2011

Cheers had her first day of group class at 9 1/2 weeks old. This is the ideal time to start working on life skills and build a good foundation for a future performance dog. While I've always taught my puppies the basics such as sit and down, I've never held a standard for the mechanics of it. Cheers's mom, Gemma is extremely intelligent; she is a wonderful pet however not a great working dog. I know that this is because I didn't set the bar high for how she performed as long as she got the job done. I want to be sure that Cheers has a better work ethic than her mother.

This puppy class is by "invite only" and consists of my Cheers, Nancy's golden puppy Reason, a frenchie owned by Karen Carlin, and a Bernese Mountain Dog owned by Alise Burbridge. Nancy's pup is the oldest, just one day older than Cheers.

We worked on several basics...
  • Puppy play
  • Sphinx down
    • I taught this to her about a week or so ago. I no longer need to lure her with a treat and have begun to use the down command. She really gets this. I am working on having her stay in a down until released (to a touch).
  • Tuck up sit
    • I have a feeling we're going to have trouble with this one. Of course she can sit...but she doesn't automatically tuck her feet under her.  I keep having to fix it. Once she is in position and I pull the lure forward, she will keep her feet tucked for the most part. This will be a work in progress.
  • Name recognition
    • I'm not sure if she quite knows her name yet, however she is very responsive to my tone, so I'm sure she will catch on quickly. 
  • Puppy recalls
    • Poor girl was all confused. Karen held her as I ran backwards making noises and getting her jazzed up. When I  called her and Karen released her, she just stood there looking around. So we moved in much closer, legs legnth apart, and I she came charging.
Needless to say, after class my puppy was exhausted! I'm really looking forward to next week's class. She's like a sponge right now and is picking everything up so quickly.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Introducing...

CHEERS
Chipstone Hip Hip Hooray
CH Venture What Becomes a Legend x Braeside Moonstone RA  CGC TDI
DOB March 5, 2011

Cheers is the pick puppy from my Spring 2011 litter, Tiger x Gemma. She is a very bright puppy with a true Golden temperment. I have high hopes for this pup, the sky is the limit. I will be using this blog to chart her training and development.