Expanding - Plus 4

2016 is my year to expand. Expand my knowledge, growing and always learning. Expanding personally and building new skill sets and life directions. And Expanding our family by one more set of 4 paws!

10 Weeks

Introducing Tana! Tana is 10 weeks old now and she's a Flat Coated Retriever from Saskatchewan, Canada. She's from the same breeder as Rosey, Prairielight Kennels.

"Remus" Rainesgift Over the Moon

"Splash" Ch Prairielight Truth or Dare CDX, WCI, JH 

8.5 Weeks

We chose the name Tana after the shocking and powerful spring/summer in Northern Alberta with the Fort McMurray fire. The name Tana, "Fire Goddess," has it's origins in Greek (thanks google!), but has been adopted by Faery Traditions and its definition is so fitting for who she's turning out to be.

"She appears as liquid fire, sometimes molten magma, but at others simply plasma in a liquid-like form. Sometimes she appears as lightning, arcing from the sky and into the earth. She is often dancing wild, ecstatic, sparks and flames jumping from her burning aura as she moves. She is the explosive power of all fire, whether that be in the smallest candle flame, or in a raging inferno, or the nuclear processes in the heart of every star. She is the geo-thermal power in the center of the earth, as well as the heat and adrenaline in our bodies. She brings both change, and destruction, as heat can cause chemical changes in objects (as in food being cooked, or stones changing characteristics when exposed to higher temperatures while forming) or even completely obliterate them (a forest or building burning to the ground in a raging fire)." 

9 Weeks - On our way home

Our little fire goddess has kept us on our toes and is always happy to try something new! She is amazingly respectful of Rosey and Sam, not once jumping on them or grabbing at them (yet!). She has amazing self-control already (sits before exiting her crate, quickly learning to wait for her bowl to get to the floor before eating, It's Your Choice game was very quick!), and loves to run. 

So much to learn! So much to teach! I'm so grateful for all the amazing resources online, I feel like I can pick and choose to make the exact right training plan for this puppy. And so many great trainers out there to go to for help when I get stuck! 

Some of my resources so far:

Sophia Yin and her checklist

Chris Puls and her amazing training plans 

Julie Daniels and AG160 at FDSA

Sylvia Trkman and Puppy Class (and amazing student videos)

Plus all the great classes I've taken at Fenzi (Nosework, Focus, Play, Behavior management/rehab) and everything I've learned trying to build a relationship with Rosey and Sam!

Nosework - Continuing having fun

Over the spring and first part of this summer I took Nosework 101 and 120 from Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and Loved it! I did the first class with Sam and the second with Rosey. They both learn so differently and it was interesting to see how different their drive is for the game! Sam is so timid and so worried about doing the right thing that she will try and mark every box and forget the game is about sniffing. Rosey on the other hand is so driven to find the scent that she forgets to mark a the scent and would rather just destroy what ever is holding the scent to get closer. For entirely different reasons, I think these classes were perfect for them!

The second class started putting different search elements and moving the learned behavior outside. I found that I was having trouble remembering to keep things simple. The goal at this point, and like any new behavior, is to keep reinforcements high and encourage drive. I kept wanting to make the scent harder to find to really see her work and have fun finding it. Keep it simple and fun!

This is something we say all the time in foundation agility courses, Simple and Fun. I don't know how many times I've had to remind students to keep the reinforcements high, especially when adding a new distraction. Interesting that I'm having the same exactly problem when I start something new. Its just so fun! :)

NoseWork - first day

Last night Samantha and I did our first lesson with nose work 101. I set up in our dining room to reduce the amount of distractions, but maybe the location isn't ideal because Rosey was separated only by a baby gate and made Samantha nervous. In the video you can see Sam looking back towards Rosey to make sure she was ok.

Even with the distraction, I'm super excited with how well Sam did! I think all the clicker training I did with her helped immensely and she quickly would try new things if she got "stuck" (first few seconds of video). She ended with some real commitment to sticking with the scent rather than look at me for a treat (very end of the video). Here's the video, compiled from 3 different sessions:

Just for fun I introduced Rosey to the Birch and she did really awesome! We played the first game and she didn't even bother with any treat hands and went strait for the scent. After a few clicks, I put her up and placed the box in a corner of the room (jumped ahead). When I let her out and told her to find it, she went to work and found it right away. :) Makes me glad I chose Sam to do the class, I would never learn how to really teach/do some of the lessons with Ro!! Maybe I'll try her tonight outside, that will be the real test!