August 19, 2008 - And Sadie Makes Three

Here are the first images of Sadie who has joined the Team Wells Training Team.

Today was all about easing Sadie into her new environment. I ended up getting to work her more than I expected. At first she didn't want to take treats from me at all. At lunch time I went and got some chicken and fed her bits while working on sits and downs. Initially I didn't think she'd be ready for anything more than just checking out the new environment.

We also worked on "climb." She understands the action of getting up on the bench but doesn't fully understand that she needs to stay until she is given a command to climb down. She tends to climb down to follow me if I move to the opposite end of the room.

Working on the climb command today proved to be too much too soon. My repeated correction for breaking the climb freaked her out a bit. I tried to do too much too soon without building a rapport with her. If I were working her with a pinch collar or e-collar a positive relationship might not be so important. But my hope is to use Sadie to earn my motivationally taught Canine Good Citizen requirement so I have to use treats and sometimes a mild amount of directional pressure. It is pretty much impossible to motivate a dog who doesn't trust you.

Tonight's set back working on "climb" was a lesson in 1.) the difference between training a puppy and an adult dog, and 2.) that Malinois dogs like Mika are really a different breed. They are really forgiving to a lot of mistakes. You can screw them up and fix the problem all in the same day. But not all dogs are built this way. So the lessons I am learning with Sadie will teach me a whole new skill set. Her needs and her drives are different than Mika and I have to figure out what makes her want to work and tap into it.

For now we are becoming buddies again and I plan to reintroduce the climb bench when she is ready. In the mean time we still have our sits and downs to perfect. She really is a smart, exceptionally attentive dog so I have no doubt she will settle into and enjoy working. I believe she will excel at retrievals because she has the softest mouth I've ever encountered and because she watches and assesses everything around her. She is something special.