PUPPY TRAIN BLOG

Well I kind of dreaded the thought of tracking with Brena….she is a pup that is not food driven, which just the thought of that made me kind of cringed at the thought of tracking.  The days have been great conditions for tracking, so I decided to see just what I was dealing with on Brena….and because she is not what I would call food driven I did decide to track her in the morning before she was to be fed.  To me a GSD should be a natural tracker, and with Brena 7 months old already and never tracked, I decided to find out just what I was dealing with, really expecting the full thing to be a flop.  I chose purposely not to go by the book for tracking.  I have watched this pup outside, she appeared to be a natural tracker just in seeing her play, run and investigate things the way she did.  Was I right or wrong.. that was more what I was out to see, I wanted to know if I knew what I was seeing in my pup. I purchased a dog food roll of what looked like bologna and cut it into pieces… now with Brena I gave her and the other dogs a piece first to make sure she would even eat it… knowing it was something totally different than anything I tossed them before… all the dogs caught the food, but immediately spit it on the floor… and investigated it first with their nose before consuming it the first time.  Once they ate that piece… it was toss, catch, and eat.  Brena of course does that with everything … even if the others are chowing it down because they know by the smell what it is before it is even tossed.  I was wondering if I would be dealing with my first pup to have to be taught to track with a ball or toy, if she wouldn’t track food.

As I said, I put this pup to the test doing nothing the way it should be…  I laid a choo choo type track dropping the food… did put her tug at the end just beyond the jackpot as an added reward should she get there.  You are supposed to lay a track into the wind, so basically the smell is always being blown in their face..  I purposely used a cross wind with any smell being blown across the track to the right.  I walked back to the house and got Brena… so a bit of an aging of the track as well and walked her out on the farm to the fields of about 8″ high grasses this time of year, where I laid the track.

Keeping a short leash I pointed to the start pad…telling her to track… then helped her understand by slowly moving my finger forward on the track for about 3′ and bam… she was off and tracking… the cross winds didn’t seem to bother her much at all.. and down to the jackpot and wow play tug to boot… she was one happy camper.  I was pleased, shocked and had to repeat the exercise this morning to make sure I saw what I saw…  and yep, this morning all I had to do was start her… same cross winds but she tracked on her own to the jackpot and toy!!   Wheeewwwwwww  I was happy and even more than that is the knowing that what should just be naturally there in her genetics is there!  So Brena is off and running with tracking.  I will get video soon of it, but I need less wind to be able to use my tripod for the camera, it has been to windy the last couple mornings.

German Shepherd Puppy Kentucky:  Brena is now 7 months old, she is a Parker x Candy pup.  Brena continues her training and is doing well.  Brena has a lot of energy for a German Shepherd puppy, but is willing to please for training tugs.  I just baught a ball launcher to start playing more ball with her.  My arm just can’t take it, so these cool slingshot type ball launchers are great.  Brena is good about going to get the ball…she just doesn’t always bring it back.  I am hoping that with several balls as this ball launcher holds 4 balls, that this German Shepherd puppy will learn to start bringing the ball back.  I will start working with her and see just how far I get.  Brena does love to run, and also loves something in her mouth while running… so those are good things.

I am looking forward to some new German Shepherd puppy litters as we move towards the summer, make sure and check the puppies tab and also our up and coming breedings.

Well I had wondered just how Lily was doing with her travel training.  Lily is becoming the best little mascot for Harris Plumbing.  haha  That is what I call her anyway.  That pup is on the go all the time, but then my sister and her husband are on the go all the time with their business:

Harris Services Unlimited dba Harris Plumbing since 1993 has been providing full service professional plumbing for new and remodeling construction work for commercial remodeling-new construction and residential customers from Tampa to Lakeland, Orlando and north to Jacksonville, Florida. Harris Plumbing has done work for some of the biggest names in business, Sears, Radio Shack, Lowes, Chucky Cheese and WalMart. Yet they have continued offering quality plumbing service and repair to local area residential and commercial customers, in Dade City, Zephyrhills, Ridge Manor, and Brooksville and the surrounding area since opening in 1993. They are licensed, bonded and insured.  They are licensed in several states Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Ohio.

That pup just doesn’t know how lucky she is to get to travel as she does!!

Thor starts his training next week.  Thor is the call name for (Buck) in the last Candy X Parker litter, videos of that litter are still on my website.  Thor was the largest pup in the litter and from the size of him I am expecting him to be about the size of Parker.  Thor is Brena’s brother and will get to start seeing his sister at group training.  Thor will be heading in the direction of schutzhund training.  I was able to view some testing of Thor and it won’t take Thor long to know the game.  It all seems to be fun and games to pups for sure.  I hope to get video of Thor with his training.  It always is exciting to be able to watch training progress of pups, especially when you own sire and mother.  I was pleased with the litter and will be glad to see some of the pups being trained.  These training sessions help with obedience, socialization and confidence building.

Well I took Brena (pup) and Candy (mom) to training yesterday and both did well.  I still need to bring my camera and get video of Candy… she has matured since her litter and I am believing I will be able to get her titled if she continues to do well with me.  I have been very pleased with how her protection work is coming along.

Well being a General Contractors pup, you are often on the go with owners to check jobs on the weekends.  This is a travel training weekend in Florida, often leading to the big cities as Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.  I am waiting for new pictures of my sister and her pup with their travels this weekend.  I can’t wait to see little Lily, her travels should bring her up to Kentucky in the spring. If you are in need of some good General Contractors in Florida check their website and get a free estimate. http://harrisserviceinc.com

General Contractors in Florida have long hours.  I talked to my sister, Connie Harris, this morning and little Lily will be going into the office today.  Lily loves to travel and makes herself at home in the offices of Harris Service Unlimited (visit their website).  I asked how training is going and was told I would get some new puppy pictures of this pup who thinks she one special General Contractors pup in Florida.  They are preparing for a big trip, Lily will soon experience some Florida General Contractors travel this weekend. I look forward to new pictures.  This training will help in areas of socialization and travel training.

My sister in Florida is also in the puppy training mode.  Their business is plumbing, remodeling in Florida, being licsened in several other states.  Yes even plumbing & general contractors get puppies and start into the puppy training mode.  haha    Little Lily is a Yorkie, and cute as a button, has started her travel training, being an office pup in plumbing, remodeling in Florida.  Little Lily thinks she should be in charge.  Here is a picture of the pup.

Visit their website: http://harrisserviceinc.com

Brena has started to a little more consistent training the last couple weeks.  Candy (Brena’s mom) has also started back to training.  Candy has matured a bit and I am planning to continue her training towards titling her.  They share their time in the training.  Some of the things Candy will need to overcome is leaving me to do her tasks.  Candy tends to want to stay by me, which she even does at home.  For Candy being with me 24/7 would be a perfect life for her, one of the things I really love about her.  She is no farm dog unless I am out on the farm, unlike the rest of the pack of dogs.  You need good trainers to help overcome these type things and lucky for me, I have such a trainer.  I see improvement in Candy each time we train, our next step when we have nice weather, is to see if we then can move that to an outside setting.  On video she would look great which I plan to get some at next training.

Brena is being worked more with food training to get more precision work in a calmer state.  She is also worked a bit in a more excited state with her tug play.  Brena has finally just lost the last puppy tooth, so in a couple of weeks she will have a bit more fun with tug play, her favorite thing.

A great video clip of the journey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfXGD4hP1Ro