Soleil will turn six months old this week. Hard to imagine how quickly the months have flown by. She is filling out and getting her adult coat. She is looking like a big-girl-sheltie now. She is still under 14" - it will be interesting to see how tall she ends up. She's got a lot of leg though and her groundspeed is amazing!
She has been on many off leash hikes now and her recall has been 100 percent (so far). She hikes with Sage or Summit and a friend's BC's (including her 8 month old BC puppy, Meg). She has a lot of her adult teeth in now. I am impatiently waiting for the time I can stop gluing her ears.
She's attended several foundation seminars and her focus has been very good. Happy to tug and work with me with the distraction of other puppies nearby. She's been to every agility trial (including a National event) since she was eight weeks old. She tugs ringside and is getting used to seeing dogs running in the rings without screaming. She is very good with other dogs and although very confident when meeting a strange dog, is very appropriate. She is a bit standoffish with people she meets for the first time but interesting enough, she adores children and gravitates towards them - her whole body wiggling.
Our training sessions mostly consist of sits, downs, backing up, stays, hand touches, target touches, going around a cone and jump wing, flatwork (which includes all crosses on the flat, pushes, pulls, and circle work). She is learning that reinforcement always comes from my side and she's getting better about not crossing behind me. Now that she has a stay with enough duration for me to lead out ten feet or so, we are starting the foundation recalls to heel on the flat. Her issue with the teeter board (see earlier post) is gone and she is happily playing the Bang Game. Other than the teeter game and tugging on the pause table, she hasn't been exposed to any agility equipment. I will however begin plank work with her the end of next Month (when she turns 7 mos. old) for running contacts.
Here are a few (ok more than a few) pictures I took of her last night. The last picture is of her Daddy on the podium at Grand Prix Finals - 3rd place (not sure what year this was taken). I think she looks a lot like him.
9 comments:
Soleils face really looks like it has matured just lately, she is sooo beautiful and it really looks like she is getting a lot more coat-I am still waiting for Cricket to get more coat, maybe that will not happen, LOL. Soleil sounds like she is getting such a fatastic foundation, she is/is going to be such a fantastic dog. HOORAY for you setting her up to have a 100% recall, guess that means you don't put her in situations that were too much for her, the sign of a great trainer. CONGRATS ON THE SIXTH MONTH BDAY, hard to believe how the time passes so quickly-seems like yesterday you were bringing her home
I love her face, its just beautiful! A friend of ming said to me once, "I dont think you have to worry about Miley leaving the ring. She doesnt like other dogs and she doesnt like other people". Shelties! LOL Diana
@Kathy, the perfect place to practice recalls is on hikes. I am always scanning ahead and when I see another hiker with a dog, before Soleil can see them, I recall her (always rewarding with treats). If ever I am not sure if she will come, I use "pup-pup" instead of her name; then I'll follow that with her name if she does come back. But she has been amazing so far... of course, we haven't totally gone through that adolescent period yet ;-)
@Diana, thanks for the compliment. I think she is beautiful too! And yes, I don't think I will need to worry about her visiting jump stewards!
No way, Soleil can't be 6 months old already! Sounds like she is learning a lot and doing so well. Her 100% recall rate is amazing!!
Happy 6 months Birthday. She is a beauty and smart too
Good girl Soleil! Her 100% recall made me decide to work harder with Eva as her recall is so unpredictable.
Soleil is so beautiful, it's so amazing that she has already learned so many things and she does look like a little young lady now.
I sure hope it did not sound like Soleil's recall is not amazing...BECAUSE IT SURE IS, (I realized after it sort of sounds like I was discounting her part in it) but before Cricket I had not understood how to get that close to perfect recall when you start when they are small, dont contaminate your recall cue and start from the start making sure they only practice good choices.... the results you get are just exciting I think AND it sure sounds like you have done that so well ad Soleil is amazing to make such good choices. I bet even in adolescence Soleil will be pretty much perfect. I kept waitig for the time to hit when Cricket to hit adolescence and have everything fall apart like people talk about.. but raised like Soleil has been raised it just did not happen. It is just sooo neat to have a puppy that considers it second nature to come and boy now seeing pups raised like that, I would not do it any other way ;-). It is just so fun to hear how you are raising Soleil!
Soleil is SO pretty! Wow. I just love Shelties. She really does look more mature. Isn't it crazy how fast they grow?
Crikey six months already;-)
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