Monday, August 6, 2012

New Graduate!

Today Nika graduated from puppy play school.  We're sending her paper work in, and she'll be an AKC Puppy Star.  Yay!

She was generally very good tonight.  There were fewer dogs this week, which was quite nice. She played beautifully with all the other dogs.  Her training was excellent.  She's growing up!

The one issue was that one puppy came and crawled in my lap while I was holding a big piece of cheese.  She saw this and came and let out a quick snarky noise.  She didn't really go at the puppy, but it was a clear, "I don't like that.  Go away."  It worked, and the puppy left.  She was fine after that.

After class, our teacher said that we're really going to want to watch that.  It, of course, really stresses me out because I really don't want her to be reactive.  The teacher says it may be more of a resource guarding thing than typical reactivity, as she plays great and meets other dogs really nicely.  Anyway, she recommended "MINE!" the book, which I just downloaded.

I hate having these 'problems' that are difficult to train.  I think I'm a pretty good trainer when it comes to tricks, agility, etc.  When Jonah just won't run at trials, though, and when the puppy snarks when another puppy tries to steal her cheese, it's hard to regularly recreate these situations.  I want a quick fix, but there isn't one.

This morning we went to Beaver Brook and she was very good with lots of other dogs.  She's never showed any unkind behavior anywhere except at Gemini.  She's usually just a little shy.  I guess it will be interesting to see if she grows less shy as she gets bigger, and if that corresponds with her getting a little more rude.  We'll just have to keep on top of it.  For now, she's still my good girlie, and a Puppy Star!

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