Finna had her first birthday on July 30th. She has adjusted quite well to our daily routine. She’s quiet in her kennel in the mornings even though she was used to getting up a lot earlier with her previous raiser. Once her heat wrapped up, she eagerly accompanied me on outings in cape to the grocery store, Costco, various medical appointments, and to our weekly dinner out for chicken wings. She settles well under the table while out for dinner or when visiting a cidery or brewery.
She gets along well with our cat Max and our grand pup Jeff as well. Finna has good house manners, no chasing or rough housing with the other animals in the house. She accompanied me to the vet with Max who was not feeling well. She’s also very gentle with our 16-month-old grandson whom we see quite regularly since they live nearby.
At first, she needed some leash correction with her loose leash walking but has settled down and is walking much better. We slowly eased her into off leash walks along the trails as well. Her recall is excellent, she does not go too far away and of course there is always a treat involved when she responds favourably. We also worked on roll, heel and side.
We went on a hike to BX Creek in Vernon with released PADS dogs Jax and Doppler and young puppy Lucy. The pups enjoyed splashing and cooling off in the creek on a hot summer day. On another walk at the same creek, she showed us that she had no problem with an open grate staircase. On one of our walks on a trail near our house there was posted a “Caution Bear & Cubs in Area” sign. We wisely stayed on leash, and luckily, we did not encounter any such critters.
On three Thursdays this month, we enjoyed some outdoor music at “Evening by the Bay” in Blind Bay. There was lots of loud music, food smells, people, kids running around, other dogs and market vendors. It’s an excellent outdoor exposure venue for a PADS puppy in training and a good place to pass the good word about PADS to the locals.
Finna attended 2 PADS classes this month where she met more of the PADS puppy clan, from a distance, of course. At our indoors class she responded well on long leash recalls, passing through tight spaces of 4 chairs lined up in pairs. At our outdoor class in a park in Kelowna, she did well walking past the group of pups lined up at a slow pace and then at a faster pace, and lastly, walking past another pup on the outside of the two raisers and then on the inside. After class Finna and Jax had a nice walk and play in the water at Mill Creek in Kelowna.
At the end of the month, we attended 3 days of the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival as volunteers. We helped at the Red Barn Pub set up and had one shift of ticket selling so that we could have access to the Festival. Then we spent a couple of afternoons & evenings listening to great music, including superstars Amanda Marshall and Sarah McLachlan, among other lesser-known musicians. So many food smells to explore and crowds of people to ignore! Finna was calm and well-behaved with it all. She greeted some people that approached us calmly and settled nicely at our feet as we enjoyed the music.
Submitted by: Chris Buitinga
