Monday, August 16, 2010

Another fun weekend and socialization continues

We had a busy weekend and will have an even busier week. Saturday and Sunday morning I had the best trail runs with Sage and Summit. The weather has been on the cool side (67 in the morning) and perfect for running on the forest trails. Soleil got to visit a DOCNA trial on Saturday where she met lot's of new people and their kids and friends' dogs. I was very pleased with her focus in a very distracting environment. She performed sits and hand touches on cue. She also got to play with Jackie's BC puppy, Nova, who is the same age. Later Jackie and I walked down to the creek and Soleil had fun jumping into the water (yes! she loved the water). I brought home a wet, dirty, and very tired puppy.

Sunday I took her to a friend's house where she met Sage's littermate brother, Taz, and the other BC's including 6 mos. old Meg. Soleil was her usual confident self and although she was keen to play with Meg, the size difference was too great. Soleil will have to grow a little bigger first.

The training challenge continues and Soleil is now offering all four feet in the tuperware lid. At first, I found that although I clicked for all four feet, by the time I offered the reward, she had already moved her two front feet out of the lid. So once she was offering walking onto the lid with all four feet, I started to anticipate and click sooner so was able to reward for the correct position.

Currently on cue:
Nose touch (to my hand)
Sit (still fading the hand signal)
Down
Recall (pretty reliable in most cases. I use her name when I know she will come. If I'm not sure, then I use Pup Pup).
Ready (drop the tug and get ready for another game)
Go Potty

This afternoon I will be auditing a half day running contacts session taught by Daisy Peel. I would like to do running contacts with Soleil.

Thursday is the all day handling session and Friday we leave for Laramie, Wyoming. This will be the first trial I will travel to with three dogs. Luckily one is only 5 1/2 lbs.

6 comments:

Diana said...

Wow, she is going to be little if she is only 5 1/2 lbs right now. She sounds like she is just wonderful. Diana

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

I can not imagine how small Solei must be if she is that small now. I know all my bC were over ten pounds by the time I brought them home. She sounds like she is getting a first rate, A+ education!!!! What a smartie!
Have fun, it sounds like a very busy week, but fun!

Chris and Ricky said...

Another great socialization weekend for Soleil and a very good training challenge with 4 feet on the lid! Good job! We tried again to shape me putting my feet in a bowl - I can do my front two feet and then always move them out to put in a back foot. We'll keep trying!

I was 3 1/2 lbs at 8 weeks.

Unknown said...

Soleil is doing oh so very well!!!!
I do wish now that we had started doing more than just sit and down to Eva when she was that young!
She's going to be a little fireball when she's older :D

Patti and DeBoys said...

It defiantly is going to be a busy week for you and the kids...don't forget to take a few deep breaths and relax for a minute...And have FUN!!

Morganne said...

Diana, I think she is lean and leggy. I'm thinking she may be at least 15".