Buns of Steel

We haven't worked on much new this past week.  I need to do more leash work with her, so I have been working on that.  I get lazy with leash work because of where I live, and do all my training without a leash.  Then of course when I do have to put her on a leash  she pulls.  After a couple sessions she is better already!  Sunny learns stuff really fast :-)  I have also been working on her stay.  I don't do a lot of stationary exercises in the beginning, preferring to build toy drive first.  Now that she is teething it is the perfect time to work on the obedience, and she is almost five months old too!  So she has the training thing figured out and the attention span is getting better.  She is doing great in all her training and she loves to work for me.

About 10 days ago when I took her in for her last shot she weighed 25.5 lbs.  - growing up so fast.  Right now her rear end is bigger than the front and what a rear end!  I call her my Sunny buns of steel LOL!!!  I am so impressed with how athletic and strong she is for her age.  She doesn't even run like a pup, this girl can move.  There haven't been any potty accidents in the house in a few weeks - yeah! She has quit trying to use the  lamp shades for toys, another yeah!   Taking off with my shoes is her current most fun thing to do.  Oh, and my glasses - she loves those.  She has a favorite stash spot in the geraniums so if something is missing I check there.  She loves to bury stuff - anything.  And she loves the water.  Lately I am glad her ears are hanging right because she dunks her head in the water buckets - so keeping tape on has been a challenge!  She is so much fun and keeps me laughing at her antics.

Sneak Peak

Easter Photo Shoot Day!  See the gallery here http://stardogs.smugmug.com/My-Dogs/Holidays/Easter

Denise and I got together for an Easter photo shoot today.  And yes, complete with outfits :-D  These are just a couple from today.  I am sure it will take me till Easter to get them all processed!  Sunny was a good little model.  

She is 19 weeks old now.  I can never keep track of weeks and have to go back and count them.  Just a little over 4 1/2 months.  And she looks like she has hit that mark.  Her beautiful fluffy puppy  fur is now bleached out and she looks like she is molting.  There is dark shiny hair coming in.  She is getting quite a rear end on her - such a powerful little thing she is too.  Right now her rear end is a little taller than her front end.  The nose grew longer.  Front legs don't look like like tree trunks anymore, she has sprouted long legs, and boy can she ever use them!  She is growing and changing really fast.  I love her more every day and am just having so much fun with her.

Ears

Sunny looked like this all week - ears taped with the under the chin method.

She got used to it - I think it was harder on me :-D

After 6 days she was out of bondage today!

Perfect ears

Yippeeeee!!!!

 

Teaching Get Out and Go

I started Sunny on a jump grid a couple weeks ago and of course she caught on quickly to the game.  I started with a toy, but she was too wild driving to it.  I wanted her to think about where her feet were and how to negotiate the bumps.  That wasn't happening with the toy!  She was wildly blasting and twisting through the grid instead of being thoughtful.  So I put the table there and a couple cookies on it.  That worked perfect and she started thinking about what she was doing then.  This exercise is so good for a puppy.  It teaches them how to regulate their stride and develop rhythm in their stride also.  It also teaches them to drive ahead and GO.  As she matures and gets confidence with her body I will make the grid more challenging.

The out around a barrel I started just a few days ago.  I am still using a clicker with her on this project, but when she gets really good  and is sending a good distance,  I will start to use a toy reward.  This is a good exercise to get the pup to think about staying on either one hand or the other - not crossing in front of me to go another direction.  The next step will be to add another barrel.  When I get her figure eighting with another barrel I will get another video. This is also a great way to exercise dogs and warm them up at a trial.  Once they learn to get out around an object then you can send them around trees, bushes, chairs - just about anything you can find.  I use this exercise to teach OUT - lateral movement away from me.

Sisters

Halle
http://stardogs.smugmug.com/Photo-Sessions/The-Gordons 

Halle

Halle

Sunny and Halle

There was a lot of tumbling!

Halle trotting next to Marlene

Wild eyed and crazy girls!

There was a lot of this too - they played tough!

Halle

Halle

Sunny with slobber head

Halle

Sunny and Halle got to meet up at the ASCA trial last weekend.  We found a fenced field and turned the sisters loose to run and play.  They sure had fun!  It wasn't easy getting pictures of them flying around the field, in and out of shade and the low morning sunlight.  I did manage to get a few decent ones though.  I will post them in a gallery on smug mug  when I get more time.  I tried to get more pictures of Halle since I have a lot of Sunny!  I took Sunny's ears out of the tape before the trial and they sprung right back into doing the rose ear thing - DARN!  So all the conformation people at the show told me to do the under the chin method with her.  I came home and taped them down.  I don't like the look at all.............sigh..............but I will follow instructions and keep them that way.  It is really messing with my cute puppy pictures!  Of course she is still adorable, but now she has a bonnet head.  I love to see those ears flying, and tongues wagging. 

The sisters are a lot alike in many ways.  Running and playing together, you can hardly tell the difference in them.  They are like two peas in a pod.  Even their white markings on their legs are the same.  They are very similar in personality also.  Both of them like people, although I think Halle loves people even more than Sunny.  They are both losing their teeth right now also.  I thought Halle had way more focus on Marlene than Sunny had on me at the trial.  I was very impressed with the obedience work they were doing around all those distractions.  Sunny was just "out there" and interested in everything around her except me LOL!!!  Sunny is very good around other dogs too, even showing some respect LOL!!  Marlene says that Halle is a little more reserved with other dogs.  It is really fun to see them together and watch how they interact with their world.  Every time they saw each other they pulled together like magnets - couldn't wait to play and roll on the ground biting each other :-)

I have been so busy lately, and have gotten behind with my blog.  Hope to catch up soon.  I want to get some videos of Sunny doing her puppy jump grid - Susan Salo style with the jump bumps.  And I have new pictures too - just need to get them processed.