Last night at agility practice Oz made me proud. I had taken both Oz and Happy as back up just in case Oz got a bit wild... Silly me, Oz was awesome. I think the instructor (Barbara) was a bit skeptical when we walked in... a terrier on the end of the leash pulling and flying around like a mad dog. He settled right in to with full focus once I removed the lead for his turn at the weave poles... did absolutely wonderful. we did 6 on the near side (left), treated then did 6 more the same direction then turned and did them on the far side (right) in the same manner. next was a short 10 obstacle course... jump, dog walk, jumps, table weave jumps. He did that wonderfully also... except he launched off before he hit the contacts... he just started that. Next was a tricky run with an awkward jump sequence. Rise taught me well, we handled it beautifully... We chose the more difficult handling that removed running distance for me... At the end of class someone said "you are so lucky your dogs are so confident, you don't have to deal with the issues the rest of us have" She is so right.. I do have brilliant, beautiful, confident, loving dogs. A good reason why puppy mills and some back yard breeders should be put out of business.
Puppies need certain things to become wonderful companions. If they get this while they are young and impressionable it is easy. If this doesn't happen then the rest of their lives they may be struggling. That is not to say that ALL dogs that come from puppy mills and BYB are bad or have issues or that all puppies from reputable breeders don't have problems, we all know that is not the case. However, if they have plenty of social time with other dogs and puppies, love, quality food, some kind of regimen on a day to day basis the chances of them struggling to become the dog they want to be is lessened. Furthermore, if we do our part when we take them home it furthers their education. Take them everywhere, Home Depot, Pet Smart, PetCo, malls... anywhere they can interact with other dogs and people and different floor surfaces, noises, smells. DO NOT react when something out of the ordinary happens, that will only give the puppy the OK to be fearful.
My dogs are fearless, sweet, brilliant and the best dogs in the world for me. I owe their breeders for that... I just continued the lessons. :)
ChTC (Champion of the Terminally Cute) Cairngorm Shot in the Dark CGC, RA, SE, TBAD, TDAAG1, TOTO THE MAGNIFICENT, TDI therapy dog.
ChTC Kinloch Shadowood CGC, RN, TBAD, TDAAG1
Both soon to be NAJ/NAP
