She's home!

I returned home from Flowood in the wee hours of Monday morning and now just this evening when I got off work I got with my mum who had brought Lilly back in to town for me. Lilly looks great, she is so soft and fluffy right now. The spoiled little beastie is sporting a brand new halloween tag from Petsmart and is curled up next to me going to town on a bully stick. I'm so excited to have her home.

Which means stay tuned for your regularly scheduled broadcast to resume. ;)

Bounce, bounce, bounce

Lilly and I had a blast this past Wednesday at agility class. Lilly still isn't taking part in the class, but hopefully when I get back from Flowood she will be ready. This week I discovered that Lilly goes absolutely gaga over balogna of all things. I personally hate balogna and have only managed to eat it without gagging while I was pregnant, however little miss Lilly things it's the best thing ever. This works in my favor because regardless of my personal tastes, I now have a power treat or super treat that trumps everything else. So, armed with several slices of balogna, Lilly and I trooped out to Pets Behave for agility class. I sat off to the side and worked on her sits and she's really making progress! It's so funny to be back at ground zero with a dog after I've been working with well-trained dogs like Clue and Ice.

Lilly thinks class is great!

Not only was she sitting on command, but she was so worked up and excited that I had her on leash and was able to jog through the agility field with her running beside me! This is a big thing for her because up until this point if I moved any faster than a casual walk she would just freeze or try to run the other way. But balogna got her worked into such a tizzy that she was running and bouncing with me. I am so proud of my little black sheltie! I'm really sad that I'm leaving for two weeks on Sunday. I'm gonna miss her, but Lilly will be in excellent hands. She is staying with my good friend Jen and her herd of shelties and border collies Clue and Mindy. Since he now lives with Jen, Clue is thoroughly convinced he is also a sheltie and has picked up their habits, too. I know it will be good for Lilly to be with the other dogs while I'm gone and am not worried about her at all. Plus she will get to see her little boyfriend Remington! ;D

Baby steps

Bit by bit my little black sheltie is coming out of her shell. We keep having these "bathroom breakthroughs" where she seems to progress. Thusfar I have been rewarded with sheltie spins, a couple barks, zoomies and jumping up with her front paws on my lap. All in the bathroom. I can get her hyped up in the living room too. I'm going to be making a point of taking her EVERYWHERE. I want her used to new places and people which will be important at Petsmart.

Lilly got her first taste of agility this past Wednesday! We mostly cruised the agility field to build confidence and work on attention, but she also was happy to go over several 8 inch jumps! At home I'm working hard to find a toy she really likes so we can work on toy drive too. it may or may not work, but I don't know until I try.

Training session, round 2!

So earlier today I established that Lilly is going to take a very gentle touch and to keep things fun and very positive. Right now I'm going to just stick with some tv training... very short sessions during commercial breaks. It's plenty of time to make the point without overloading Lilly and reinforces the idea that she's not the dog that I'm going to run a training session and expect to be able to cover multiple concepts in such a short time like I used to be able to do with Clue.

Earlier I was working on touch. I tend to like to charge the clicker in two ways. First I will give several click and treats ((and I have done a couple sessions of straight charging just to get her to catch on)) but then i quickly move in to introducing a concept. My favorite thing to jump into is teaching to touch the dogs nose to the end of a target stick because you can make it easy, the clicker is your marker and then you reward. I personally have found that it speeds things along. I presented Lilly with the target and the first touches were tentative, but after that as soon as she swallowed a treat her nose went right back for that target for another click and treat! Smart girl! I ended on that good note and now that she is offering the behavior, next training session we will introduce the cue!

Day 1 observations

Today I decided to start some of Lilly's formal training seeing as she's been settling in quite nicely. These homecoming zoomies are becoming a ritual that brings a smile to my face every time. She knows that a queen's rightful place is on the bed and is not the least bit shy about settling herself there or even trying to steal your spot. So once I rounded up part of my collection of clickers, the first thing that became apparent was that natural balance a.k.a. rollover is apparently sheltie crack. I mean, I've always had dog's like it, but Lilly went from calm into overdrive mode. If she gets this excited over working for it for agility, I will have an awesome little agility dog!

This little dog is really going to have me thinking though. She is very soft and very particular. If, for example, I were to use my hand to guide her into a sit, she shuts down. So the logical thing would be to figure ways to do everything hands free, but she doesn't just throw behaviors out there either. Lilly will definitely take a lot of patience and a very light hand. For the moment I'm opting to start with teaching her to touch her nose to a target and will go from there. It's definitely a different type of dog than I've worked in the past!

Just the right thing

I'll be vague in saying that I had a really crappy day at work. Add that to the frustration of a boyfriend who really doesn't seem to be in any sort of hurry to find a vehicle ((at the moment I'm having to drive his mom's piece of crap Cavalier)) and today I received news that I'm going to miss my son's first birthday because I will be out of town because of work. Needless to say I am rather out of sorts at the moment. The only thing I want to do is come home and cuddle with Lilly for a bit. Since she has been home, she has been reserved and quiet. But today, just when I need it most, I come home to a little black sheltie who is joyously doing zoomies and bouncing off the couch. Why? Because I came home. She may or may not realize it, but that is exactly what I needed right now.

Every boy needs a dog in his life...

...and I think I've found the right one in Lilly. Young children perpetually have their volume cranked up to maximum 98% of the time and this doesn't phase my little girl in the least. I'm still diligently reinforcing "gentle" and Boogie is utterly fascinated with this dog. He enjoys her feet in particular and like to poke the bottom of her feet and the pads and between the toes. He only does this for a few minutes at a time and Lilly permits him and watches curiously. Today Boogie even found one of my pin brushes and I was showing how we gently brush out sheltie's tail. I'm so glad that my son will get to grow up with such a sweet and gentle dog.

Sheltie Social Hour

...or at least that what it seemed like last night. I ended up tagging along with mum to agility class because people were excited to meet the new addition. Lilly got to wander around off leash in the agility yard and when Jen got there it was a herd of shelties with some border collies thrown in for flavor. Lilly must be farther in season than I initially thought because both Clue ((like we need a litter of Border Shelties! lol!)) and Remy thought she smelled yummy-scrumptious and were being pretty flirty. So back on with the britches and everyone went back into their expens during class anyways. But afterwards everyone was back out and Lilly was ready to wander and play and it was so cute to watch her playing with the other dogs. Looking at her on her own I keep thinking "Well she's not THAT small" ... until we put her shoulder to shoulder with Monet and they're the same height! Ok... maybe Lilly is pretty small. But I love it all the same.

Lilly in the expen with Clue and Ice

All in all, last night was excellent and when bedtime rolled around, a certain little black sheltie was told she was always welcome on the bed... and was still there when I woke up this morning!

Today feels like the time is right. Little Lilly looks to me frequently and I'm doing all I can to bond with her. Throughout the day I'm working on charging the clicker since that is going to be so key to our training. She's smart, there's no doubt about it. She already hears the click and I can see the spark of recognition. This one's gonna be great one day, I just know it!

Life with Lilly

First off, I want to blame ((which coincidently is also a big thank you)) Jennifer K. for starting this. It all started after class when she said something to the effect of "I know someone who has a dog available". Well the more she talked, the more this little dog interested me and sounded like she might fit what I was looking for in a dog. ((The only thing I had never considered in all my searching was a female as I've always gravitated toward male animals)).

Before I launch much farther into this tale I also want to extend the biggest of thank yous to Neal S. and Emily L., Lilly's breeders, for giving me the chance to share my life with such a neat little dog.

So after talking to Brian ((my boyfriend)) I spent the next day deep in thought. I ended up making the phone call. I was amazed that this little dog sounded exactly like what I was looking for. And the best part? She was my favorite color of sheltie... black tri! I decided to not hold the fact she was female against her and give her fair consideration and I was truly blown away when I met her. My last dog was fearful and shy and that's what I was most concerned about ending up with again. And I told myself over and over that with an older dog ((Lilly is almost 15 months)) I can't necessarily expect her to jump into my lap the minute I meet her. Come Saturday, when I did finally meet her, she didn't jump into my lap but she was certainly curious about me. She came up for treats and let me pet her. There was something about the way she looked at me that really clicked. From what I was being told and what I could see, I knew I couldn't walk away.

Needless to say, Lilly came home with me. We detoured by Petsmart ((where I work back in the Salon and soon will be teaching classes again)) to pick up some of the basics like a sheltie sized crate, a bag of food and a few other necessities that were funded by the tips I have been making since I started. That really felt good. The more she has settle in, the more of a spring in her step I see. She is already Queen of the Couch and even as I type this she is sitting next to me and beign the recipient of random petting and treats. She's great with the cats but my biggest concern was how she would react to my 11 month old son. I don't let him terrorize animals, but small kids seem to always have the volume turned all the way up. Plus as far as we knew, Lilly hasn't been around small kids. My concern was blown away completely yesterday morning when Boogie was crying and I laid him on his big cushion on the floor to change his diaper. Lilly came out of her crate and over onto Boogie's cushion to sniff him and make sure he's ok. We're reinforcing "gentle" with the boy and nothing he does phases her at all. Laughing, crying, screeching and even his "growling" and regarded with interest and not the first bit of fear. All I can say is "What a special little dog!"

Yesterday was also my first adventure with my little black sheltie. Since it was my day off, we went in to work to use the facilities to clean her up. Lilly got a flea bath ((I could go on forever about how much I love the Sentry tropical breeze flea shampoo)) and then got a second shampooing in a Ultra Shine ((a brightening shampoo)) and then conditioner. Then I set up shop on one of the tables in the back and went to town brushing and trimming. Mostly linebrushing to work out some of the undercoat she's blowing because she is just coming into season. Go figure, my first intact female and the first thing she does is come into heat. Trial by fire, haha! A pair of bitchy britches is saving my couch cushions and I'm otherwise not worried about it. Her trip to the salon has left her so silky soft and smelling good that I can barely keep my hands off of her. We opted to swing by the barn and return my mum's scissors that I had borrowed because mine are in dire need of sharpening. Not only did Lilly meet Ice the border collie, she came face to face with Cajun the horse! Cajun thought little Lilly was pretty neat and she watched him curiously but didn't bat much of an eye. Once again I repeat "What a special little dog!"

I can't wait to travel down the road with this little black dog. Right now we're working on her basic obedience and going to get her more and more comfortable going out and being in places like Petsmart because down the road she will go with me to work to be my demo dog when I'm teaching! This fall when the weather cools off we will be starting agility. After years of running 16"/20"/22"/24" dogs, I will have a 12" dog! That blows my mind. Lilly is smart as can be and I'm certain she can excel in tracking too. I thoroughly believe there is nothing that can truly hold this little girl back and the sky is the limit. She will let me know if she is unhappy doing something and then we will find something else to try.

Lilly has been here for several days and I'm still on cloud 9 with no signs of ever coming down. She has a home where she will be the center of attention and spoiled and will always have a place on the couch. And she has a future where she will be able to shine and turn heads and be a Superdog. So here's to putting the best foot forward as I embark on a grand adventure with this amazing little black sheltie at my side.