Let the puppy come!

Another rather eventful weekend! I have officially started applying for jobs but as to how successful they will be that is another story! I just hope I find one that I'll enjoy. I have already got a few replies saying that I don't have the qualifications, but they were expected simply because I require 'sales experience' etc. Worth trying though, and i'll just keep applying/ calling agencies until I get a 'heads up' I guess! Not really bothered if I don't get one before xmas or a little later though.... just so long as in the near future i'll have something.

Well my bank balance is officially crying poor! I have spent until i'm blue in the face the past few weeks - mainly on puppy things that I didn't realise I needed and was shocked at how much it would have added up to! Well truth be told I did need it to do what I wanted with our yard. I put up the partitioning yesterday just to see if/how it worked and I was quite impressed with the results. It is sturdy enough given that the dogs shouldn't be jumping on the pen (they won't be popular if they do!), but if they do, or if they bang into it it should only rock a little! So everything is set up and each dog should have ample shelter, water, sleeping quaters etc,etc. Don't worry, my poor tykes will still have plenty of time to hoon and play with each other but I just want to make sure that no 'accidents' happen when no one is supervising! I am proud of it though, and glad that it works as well as I thought it would!

Didn't get to see any puppies this weekend despite trying to contact said breeder :(. Everytime I rang her - she was out and vice versa! LOL! Saturday arvo/night involved another trial for me which was unsuccessful again. I was initially really dissapointed about this because Leo works SO well in the first half and just can't hold the darn stays. I actually thought we had passed until I returned to him and realised he was a little further ahead of the start peg. This really was disheartening coz he heald a really difficult stay (dogs broke around him and got up) but that is trialling for you. On the drive home I realised that the more I dwelled on the fails and not just took them in our stride, the more I wouldn't enjoy Obedience (don't get me wrong I love it!) and the more i'd be chasing the sashes/titles rather than just going out there and having some fun..... coz afterall that is why we do it isn't it! So like I do when I train dogs I have to start looking more at the positives of our performance rather than the problems. Don't get me wrong, I need to see the problems also so that we can improve on them and make our work better, but I just shouldn't dwell on them and kick myself over them. So that is my new philosophy and all the 'bitterness' of the weekends trial has gone out of it and I still had fun!! LOL! The more I stress, the harder it would be to win I guess (my heart was in my mouth!).

So I found out some things I need to work on over the 'summer':

*heeling under heavy distraction - generally all round proofing; he does it but can tend to loose concentration so we need to work on this.

*make sure he doesn't anticipate the recall..... he almost looked like he did on Sat, so prevention is better than letting it happen!

* the drated stays. Gotta make sure he thinks stays are the best place to be EVER! This means lots of food, lots of reassurance, resistance training ('tempting' him to break and rewarding when he doesn't... ie: pressure on collar forward, he pulls back, patting leg, me crouching down and make it look like i'm about to call him.... make funny noises that entice him to come (all without saying his name) etc, etc)... all of this he has done before, but not for ages and we really need to build his confidence up that stay is exactly what I want. We did some of this on Sat/Sun and I think he'll pick this up quickly. He'll get BIG rewards for the stays also (i'm talking chicken carcasses, meaty bones, pigs ears etc) just to keep pairing stays with good things! I'll also do stays in all situations (his drop stays are excellent here) whenever we are out in busy situations etc. I'll work on both sit and drop as his drop stay is starting to get a little fidgety also!!!

I had a class again on Sunday and it was quite fun again although coz of the heat is was a little hard to keep them (owners and puppies) motivated. It didn't really help that there were two Keeshounds in the class and they were STIFLING! Poor guys! But I do like this class and they seem to enjoy it also which is the main thing!

So I'm all ready for the puppy to come whenever they are ready LOL! Hopefully i'll get to see them this weekend at some stage, so if I do you'll be hearing all about that!