I love her but...

I know I know, never a good way to start a blog post.  I adore Avi, I really do, but this fear barking is too much sometimes.  It's like having Beezer all over again.  Now, Beezer has turned into a WONDERFUL dog, perfect really.  And he started off bad, he came home a nervous wreck! But with a lot of time and A LOT of patience, he is really a pleasure to live and work with.

But Avi is different.  She started off super confident.  And now anything or anyone she deems out of place she barks her arse off.  She runs towards barking with her hackles up, and I'm afraid she'll get so scared she bites.  The only good thing is her recall is awesome.  So I can call her off and treat her while we move along.  She also barks at the same people she sees everyday.  Like Auntie Emma.  Or Tina. Or my mom. She will approach them barking and then the light bulb goes off,  "oh yes, I know you!"

At French Ring practice a few weeks back, I was in tears.  She was barking at EVERYONE.  These are people she's known from day one.  She really doesn't like kids.  She snaps at them if they get too close. Everyone said to send her back to the breeder.  I refuse.  I will do everything in my power to help her through it or at least get her to the point where she can ignore people.  She doesn't have to be the social butterfly Reckon is, just don't bark!

I will continue working on it throughout the summer and see how she does.  I love her so much, and even though she's a bitch in a little body, I'm not giving up.  Plus she has energy and drive to die for.  What I expected out of a Malinois (hint hint Reckon...)  She is a lot of fun to train, as she wants to!
What's interesting is she may be afraid/nervous of the Decoy, but will still engage with him and play tug. She only gets uncomfortable if he gets too touchy with her.  Then she will growl and warn him it's too much. But still better than letting go of the tug and biting his arm!

Enough negative stuff for one post.

R is doing well in Nose Work and Ring training, and when I can get him to Beezer's agility class he does well there too.

Beezer is a superstar in agility.  We have Regionals next month...

Amigo is the perfect little good child as always. I still love her the most.

I've been gardening a lot lately.  Everyone is very helpful.  Except their not.  At all. Beezer and Avion love the hose.

Amigo plants a tennis ball wherever you may be working.

 Or sitting.

And Avion is now obsessed with water buckets.  They're fun to splash around it!

It's very cute watching her place her ball (or toy) in the bucket.  She sinks it with her foot and puts her whole muzzle in the water.  She likes to place both front feet in and if there's room, scoop all the water out.
Plus she does cute things like this:

How can you give up on that adorable face?

18 months and Nosework class

Reckon turned 18 month this week. Time to mature into a polite young man. Or try.

I signed up the boys for Nosework class. Always something I wanted to do with the dogs, but classes were always held waayyy out in the Valley. These ones are only in North Burnaby, so I jumped at the opportunity.

We have had 2 classes so far, and both boys are doing great. It's interesting to see how different they work. Since Beezer has done a lot of shaping, he started offering behaviours instead of smelling the dozen or so boxes for treats. It didn't take him long to get what the game was though!

I had no idea what to expect with Reck. Half of me feared he would go visit everyone or just eat the boxes. Well, that boy doesn't have a big nose for no reason. He NAILED it! It's like he had been taught in a past life. I couldn't believe how fast he learned the game. "I search these boxes for da cookies"

Everyone was very impressed, even our instructor Eileen. Unfortunately I didn't get any video of our first session, but here is a video of this weeks class. Remember he has only done this once before.




And here is the Beez Knees, so polite and methodical. When we first started class he would shape a leg lift or stand on the boxes. "I offer dis trick. Nope. Dis one? Nope. Oh yes, look for cookies in box"
But after he figured out the game, he did beautifully:

Spring has sprung

At least for a few days. This long weekend had picture perfect weather.

It was nice to just take my 4 dogs for a little outing to the river.

It wasn't so easy trying to capture everyone in one shot however. Beezer was on squirrel patrol as usual, but he did take a quick break to swim in the river for the first time this year.

Reckon was just pacing along as usual. And then he found his own version of a stick.

Amigo was up for a game of fetch, but no swimming for her.

An Avion was circling and trotting around everybody constantly. With something in her mouth of course.

We then went for a little stroll along the trail. 3 brown dogs in front.

And a little black one behind me.

My dogs are so good looking. If they didn't have drool and green stuff all over their face...

Hope this good weather continues!

4 months

Here we are at 4 months already. I can hardly believe it. She weighed 21.6 pounds as of March 27th. Which is approx 3-4 pounds more than Beezer was at the same age. So I'm guessing she'll be around 55 pounds full grown.

Her fear stage (I'm still calling it that) is improving. She will still bark, but not for nearly as long. I can tell her to go greet anyone and she does. She will take a treat and stand there patiently while being petted.

Her thing now is to carry something in her mouth. It can be a ball, a small tug, anything. It seems to soothe her. And it's pretty darn cute.

She's teething and has a slight overbite, and her legs won't stop growing. Awkward...

I love her dearly, and she makes me laugh every day, but I am still worried about her.  She just seems to have this "edge" about her. I hope that socializing and learning to be calm will help her learn to cope in what she would consider a stressful situation.

Why do all my dogs make me cry at some point during their life?!?! Not fair.

In other positive news, Reckon has started his 2x2 weave pole training and is doing stellar!  When the weather allows we practice, and I think it's going very well.

I signed up the Beezer Skedeezer for Regionals this coming June. This boy is kicking ass. I am above and beyond impressed with him. He is fast and happy and just so much fun to run.

This is the first time I've tried to get a family photo. Fail.

Playing in the backyard

This is how she helps with gardening.

This is what she does when she gets put in her x pen when I'm gardening or sweeping or hosing or wiping anything. She screams blood murder and will escape if she can. I'm sure her motto is "if it moves, get it"

She is going to be a little B*tch

At least that's what I see now. At 14 weeks and 18.4 pounds she is really coming into her own.

She also hit a fear stage late Feb, just before I left town for a week.  I HATE fear periods, and I am really really hoping this is what it is.  She is barking at everyone, especially men.  She's gone from a confident happy social pup to a fearful barking lunatic.  I HATE IT.

Make it stop.

I'm trying to be patient and take her out every day.  I try getting people to feed her if they are interested, but she is hesitant to approach them.  She is much better with women than with men.  If we can't get anybody to stop and feed her, I'll do the look at that game.  Problem is, people are usually walking, so she can still be barking when they leave.  Grrrrrrr.   I'm afraid she thinks barking makes them leave!

We will get through this.  We will get through this.  We will get through this.  Successfully.

Good thing she is still cute and tugs like a maniac.  And I may be bias, but smart as a freaking whip.

She has learned sit, down, wave, head nod, and we are now shaping scooting backwards on her butt.

Stationary commands are becoming difficult though, as she wants to offer the last trick she learned.

She still plays with Reckon all the time.  And she still looses her temper.  Poor R.  She gets a lot of time outs in her x pen for taking things too far.

But I love her.  

They won't stop playing

Seriously. They can now be out together and play for HOURS. It makes me so so happy, especially since I wasn't too sure what Reck would do with a puppy. He even lets her take toys and bones out of his mouth!

Now the problem is keeping them quiet. The only way to do that is to keep them separated, which I do for my sanity.

They even share the tunnel :)

Seriously they won't stop playing.



I can't tell you enough how good R is with little Avi. The only time I stop their play, is when Avi gets too rough. She can throw quite the temper tantrum. R is so patient. She can hump his head, and pull of his lips and he doesn't do a darn thing :)

They love each other

They can play for HOURS on either side of the xpen. Which is loud and distracting, but it makes me so happy :)

They can play with each other face to face, but only if I hold Reck by the collar and he is in a down. Otherwise, if she runs, he pounces. He's not being mean, but his full mouth chomp devourers her whole body. Not that she cares, she can dish it out right back. He is so good with her. He just lays there, rolling around as Avi climbs on him and bites his neck. It's interesting to watch how similar they play.

They will be a good match when she's a little bigger


Videos to come.