Our Agility Debut!

Savvy will be making his agility debut this Friday at On Course For Kids, in Boston, MA. It's an awesome fundraiser for the Floating Hospital's Children's Cancer Center. You can learn more about it here: Dogs Of Course We have been learning to do puppy tires and jumps and last week we learned how to do curved tunnels. He was a little scared at first, but after watching his mother go through them and then following her he decided that there was nothing to them at all.

I'm so proud of how he is growing up. He is so stable, granted he can be flaky, I found out we need to work on conditioning him around mirrors, but he is so outgoing and loveable, and willing to learn. I really need to crack down and work him every day. But I can't wait until he's old enough to compete. I think he's going to be so much fun in the ring. :-)

So much to tell...

It's been a long time since I updated this and shame on me according to Jenn. So here's what I have to say, you asked for it, you got it Jenn!

Savvy has been doing excellent. I couldn't be happier with him so far. He's a dream to work with. He is doing great in both puppy class and in Flex. He has mastered "sit" and we are beginning to add verbal cues. He was doing good with "down" as well, but didn't want to do any during class so we're not allowed to add verbal cues just yet. I think that by this Tuesday I can have him ready to graduate to Flex II. Yippee!

I took both him and Catcher to an agility trial at Gemini in August and I am so proud of how they did. Both of them loved every person they met and every dog as well. They had a wonderful 1.5 hours of socialization and I couldn't be happier with them. Savvy even had his picture taken!

On Monday Mom and I took all three of them to the Fireman's Muster in West Groton. They met so many kids and people and all of them handled it great! I was very happy with them once again. Catcher got a little stressed at the end so we ended on a happy note, but Savvy and Oliver did wonderfully. At one point they were surrounded by a bunch of kids and our neighbors that have been visiting the pups almost every day since they were 5 weeks old came over. Savvy blew past the other people over to them and went belly up, he was so happy to see someone he knew!

On Wednesday Savvy went for his overnight visit. He stayed with good friend, and former co-worker, Lisa and her family. Lisa has a smooth collie x named Boomer as well as two children, Chris and Andrea. The kids were great socialization for Savvy and by the end of the night Boomer and Savvy were best friends. Check out the pics below!

Catcher now has his own blog you can find it through the link to the right. I will be adding things to it shortly. Once we decide on Oliver's registered name he will have his own as well.

All of the boys came to daycare this week and did great playing with Zoey. They love her and Catcher LOVES Tony. He really likes men, which makes me happy because Fly doesn't.

I think that's it for now. Enjoy the pics.

Oliver

Pictures...

Here are some pictures from last week. They were taken the day that Conor left for his new home.

Fido Flex

Savvy, Oliver, and JJ went to their first obedience class last night. Savvy and Oliver did quite well, JJ was highly distracted and really didn't want to work with Sarah at all. :-( Savvy did everything I asked of him, with excellent enthusiasm, except for the recall. He STILL does not know his name. Partly I feel this is because my mother has been treating ALL of the puppies for coming when she calls Oliver, and now they all think their names are Oliver. >:-( grrr.

Anyways, Paul is my instructor, which just makes me incredibly excited because I love the way he teaches class. Besides that he has taught me about 80% of what I know about training, and I have a great repoir with him. Yesterday we worked on a ton of behaviors: sit, down, watch, touch, let's go, and come.

Today I took Savvy and Catcher to Gemini for Daycare and then they stopped by Pethingz! (my favorite store) to meet Tim and Laura! Both of them did really well, and now they're sacked out on their backs in the x-pen. Tired puppies are good puppies!

I have new pics and some videos that I'll upload tonight.

Puppy Playschool

Tonight I brought Savvy, Oliver, and JJ to their first puppy class. Catcher stayed home because he ate too much dirt today and was throwing it back up. Savvy did pretty well, he explored the room and said hi to several people. Oliver explored a little but would go running back to Mom. JJ was very overwhelmed. He tried to play by the telling the other puppies off.

We worked on sits and downs and stays while at puppy class as well.

Lots of New Places...

I brought Savvy, Catcher, Oliver, JJ, and Fly to Gemini today to play upstairs. They start puppy class tomorrow and I wanted to be sure they had seen the upstairs play room and were comfortable with it before all the other dogs were there. They did awesome! They had no fears whasoever and explored every inch of the room. After a few minutes I went downstairs and borrowed Zoey. I was a little worried that Fly might be protective of the puppies and not let Zoey in the room. However it proved the opposite was true. Fly totally forgot about the puppies and went into zoomies all over the room with Zoey. The two of them were beside themselves to see one another and actually get to play. It made me so happy that neither of them forgot the other because it's been a good 5 months since they've really had the chance to play hard. They've seen each other a few times, but while Fly was pregnant and had the pups I didn't allow her to play.

Along with being great with Fly, Zoey once again proved how awesome she is and played beautifully with the puppies! She rolled right over with them and let everyone sniff her and run all over her.

After playing for a good hour we packed up the gang and headed to Pethingz! where Savvy and Oliver got to go in and see Craig and Tom. Both of them did very well and I'm very happy with that. While we were waiting to pay for everything we bought Mom poked me and pointed to the doorway where I saw a little Aussie looking at me...it was Deja and Nancy! I wish I had the boys with me at that point so they could play in the store, but they were already in the car.

Tonight I trained Savvy some more and he did awesome, again! I didn't need to charge the clicker, as soon as we were in the living room he sat in front of me! No luring, nothing, he simply offered the behavior and continued to offer it about 20 times. Then we worked on down, and hand targeting! He did very well with both. Then I started to work on targeting to the mat. He did it a couple times, but either got stuck or bored because he just curled up and went to sleep. So I baited him to wake him up and as soon as he touched the mat I clicked, fed, and released him. I can't believe how easily he's catching on to everything. I think it's a combination of a lot of things that is making him so mch easier than Fly to train for puppy class. Here are my thoughts:
1) I'm actually working with him
2) He's wicked smart (not that Fly isn't, but she didn't really want to work for me as a pup)
3) He's wicked food and toy motivated
4) I'm a better/more experienced trainer than I was when Fly was a pup
5) I've had a ton of practice AIT'ing for Level 1 so I know to wait them out and am not making rookie mistakes
6) I love shaping and think it's the greatest way of teaching everything!

Anyways, I've got new pictures and videos but I have to edit and then upload them. Hopefully I will get that done soon so I can spruce up this blog with some pics of the little devil!

Daycare Days 2&3

Yesterday Savvy spent the whole day with me at work. He was a good boy, for the most part. I mean he was very well behaved with the exception of barking whenever I would leave him. He did good with the dogs that he met, Fenway and Baylee, and was pretty comfortable in the yard. After he played outside for a little while I took him upstairs and he met Deja, Nancy's Aussie puppy that is 12 days older than him. They were very cute together, but didn't really play. They mainly ignored one another.

The only problem that Savvy had today was his crate time. He's never been locked in a crate except for in the car so he wasn't too happy. He screamed for quite a while, and then nicely wore himself out and fell asleep for a long time. He woke up when Tony got there and played with him for a while. It was adorable to see the two of them interact. If there's one thing I have to say I admire about Tony it's the way he interacts with the dogs. He's so good at getting them to play, and he really worked at getting Savvy to loosen up. Later in the afternoon Savvy was outside and I caught a glimpse of Tony shuffling past the window with Savvy chasing him. :-)

Last night I trained Savvy for a few minutes. We worked on charging the clicker, sits, and Gotcha! He did really well with the Gotcha! and moderately well with the sits. He gave me quite a few repetitions but is still not quite sure about offering the behavior and really thinking about what I want. But what can I really expect from him, he's only 9 weeks old!

Today both Savvy and Catcher came to work with me. When I got there I brought Savvy in first and Tony immediately held his arms out and took him from me. When i came back with Catcher Zoey was in the office checking out Savvy. So we put both of them down and the three of them played quite well. Once Zoey settled down she laid down and did quite well rolling around with them. Tony got on the floor as well and the 4 of them wrestled and rolled all over the floor. At one point Zoey rolled on her back and both boys tackled her trying to nurse. Then she curled up with a bone and Catcher laid down in between her front legs and chewed on the bone with her. :-) While Tony was playing with them Catcher walked over and stole his hat and started chewing on it, and his tail was going, and both of them were pouncing Tony and biting him. It made me so happy to see them having fun and enjoying another person that my eyes actually teared up a bit.

I was also extremely proud that they both got to the point today that when I left them in a run outside they would go explore the run and not scream at the gate for me to come back! YAY!!!!

Both of them met a ton of new people when I walked through all the classes today. Everyone ooh'ed and aww'ed over them and Savvy soaked up every moment. Catcher was a little more reserved, but it was still a good experience for him. What really suprised me was that both of them LOVED Kendra. I didn't think that Catcher would really like her because he's always so nervous, but Savvy loved her. He went running up to her and jumped up with his tail and butt wagging and his tongue going, and pretty soon Catcher did the same.

When we got home Fly was so happy to see them all 3 of them did zoomies all around the house.

So what we need to work on: going in the crate! both of them are charging out of it. I've been giving them a handful of RedBarn every time they go in, but it's still a challenge to get them both in.

Daycare!

Tonight I had to fill in for a few hours at work with the boarding dogs so I brought Savvy with me. We had the whole place to ourselves and he explored every inch of it. He was a little unsure at first but after a few minutes he was running all over the place. He was introduced to a couple little dogs and at the end of the night Sadie, the Great Dane. Now that was cute! Neither one knew what to think of each other. :-)

Anyways, I didn't get a chance to train him tonight, but I figure we worked on a whole bunch of behaviors while he was following me around. I am very proud of how he did, and I can't wait to bring him back tomorrow so he can meet Zoey and Deja.

Click and Treat...

The past two days have been a little hard on Savvy. Last night I loaded him, his brothers, and Fly into the car and drove to Townsend Veterinary Hospital for their first puppy shots. I was very proud of all of the puppies. They did excellent. Savvy was stolen for a few minutes and made the rounds in the back of the hospital saying hi to everyone.

Then we came back to the house with Neva Gronert and her friend Carmen. Neva had flown all the way from Denver to meet Martin and see the litter. None of the pups let me down. They were happy and friendly just like I knew they would be. :-) Neva came back today and took Martin home with her. The boys are acting great, they don't seem too upset that he's gone, although I noticed that they've been a little more ornary than normal tonight.

So onto the training part of tonight's entry. I started working with Savvy a couple nights ago charging the clicker. He wasn't too in to it at first. He was highly distracted by everything in the living room. So the second night I put a leash on him and he did okay. I started luring and shaping the sit with him and got a few repetitions but nothing too big. Tonight he had his first introduction to Red Barn treats, ooh yummy! He was VERY into it. I began by charging the clicker and got his attention very quickly. Then I worked on the sits. I lured him 3 times and they waited him out to begin shaping the behavior. He was distracted but if I teased him with the treats he would come right back. I think I probably got about 5 sits from him without luring, which I consider pretty good for only having been trained three times plus he has the attention span of a gnat. :-) Afterwards I also worked on the gotcha exercise with him and he did wonderfully. Of course he's used to being grabbed by me constantly so I didn't expect too much of an issue with him.

So I'm quite happy with how things are going with him so far. He is enrolled in Puppy class starting next Monday and Flex class at Gemini starting on Tuesday night. He is officially starting Daycare next week, but I think I'll bring him with me on Saturday because I have to work 7-3. Then he can get a head start on getting used to the place.

7 Week Pictures

Here he is with his bone...

Here he is beating up his brother, Catcher.

Doesn't he have the cutest eyes?

An agility dog already...

Savvy and Reed...

Cooling off...

With all of his brothers.

Savvy

So I guess I should start off by introducing Savvy. Savvy is Taklimakan Capt Jack Sparrow. He is a black and white Border Collie dog born June 12, 2006. He by ADCH MACH2 Ch Pikkupaimenen Dream Catcher CD ROMX out of BonniDune's Wanna Fly By Dawn RN CGC HIC. He is the puppy I kept from Fly's first litter.

Savvy obviously derives his name from Johnny Depp's character in Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates is one of my favorite movies. I think front to back it is one of the best movies ever created. Needless to say that when the sequel, Dead Man's Chest, came out I was in line to see it opening night. The puppies were almost 4 weeks old and Savvy, who was then known as Clint, was rapidly growing on me. As I was sitting in the theater with my best friend, Kelly, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. He is totally Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy is the trouble maker of the litter. He's always the one getting into things, investigating, beating his brothers up, and growling constantly. To top it off he has a black spot in the middle of his white collar, making him a "marked man". :-)

Via pictures he was a lot of people's favorites, mostly because his markings are atypical. After meeting him in person he won a lot more people over. Savvy has a very outgoing temperament. He has some structure faults, but conformation will not be my main focus with him. I want a good performance dog and he has the personality for it. I truly believe that in part you don't choose the dog, the dog chooses you. I was horrified by his markings when he was born. I wanted puppies with a lot of white on them. However, after his eyes opened his personality began to show through and I started to fall hard for him. At the same time he started to fall for me as well. It is to the point now that he screams when I am holding one of his brothers. He is the first one to the box when I come home from work. He wants to be with me, even though he is incredibly independent and strong-willed.

Here are some pictures of Savvy as a baby.

6 weeks old

4 weeks old

Tony and Savvy - 9 Days Old

Savvy - 1 week old

Savvy - 12 hours old