We bought another house last month in Salmon Arm, so we spent the first part of September cleaning floors and painting the inside of the house to prepare it to move in. Finna was patient with all the extra downtime and enjoyed the freedom of open patio doors and free access from the house to the fenced backyard or the upper balcony.
We went van camping one last time this month with the kids near the Sun Peaks/Adam’s Lake area. At night in the van, Finna slept on a dog mat on the floor with no issues.
We hiked at Ellison Provincial Park in Vernon this month, where we saw an old rusty Fargo truck from the 1930-40’s. Then, one day on a hiking trail in Vernon, we encountered a female deer and her two offspring. Finna was very curious about these new creatures whom she had never seen. We stayed a far distance from them and watched as they cautiously crossed our path and carried on their way. It was a valuable lesson for Finna to learn that the deer are to be observed from a distance, left alone and not be chased. We did two other hikes through the neighbourhood forest trails with our friend and her dog Norma, and another hike with a neighbour and her small dog Mira. Part of these hikes is on leash, practising loose leash walking and part off-leash so the dogs could run and play and practise their recall skills. Finna gets along very well with these two dogs, including our grand pup Jeff, whom she sees regularly.
We’ve been spending more time babysitting our 18-month-old grandson Heath this month while his mom is doing a 2-month nursing placement. Heath came to Kelowna with us one day as we went to the chiropractor and afterwards shopped at Costco, where we encountered a 7-foot-tall, animated, howling werewolf with glowing eyes. It certainly got Finna aroused, who barked at it! Shoppers came over to see what the noise was all about. We didn’t hang around too long and moved on so as not to get Finna too flustered. Good practice for what she might meet up with during her GD Bart assessment in a few weeks.
We’ve been also going to playgrounds with Heath, where Finna is tethered and waits while Heath has a go at the slides and swings that he loves so much. Heath also loves to practice on his junior, wooden balance bike. You can tell that Finna is infatuated with Heath. What a great duo!
Finna attended PADS puppy class four times this month, where we practiced various forms of dog distraction. Ghost handling on a long leash. Two rows of perch pots: where dogs lined up on one side and a single dog perched on each pot down the row on the opposite side. Then we replaced the row of dogs with toys, treats, and even bacon, fries and popcorn instead. We fine-tuned our Heels and Sides against the wall, breaking it down into small increments.
At the end of the month, Finna and I went to Kamloops, where we met some friends to go geocaching, and we stayed in a hotel overnight. I did not bring her kennel and hoped for the best. Finna had her dog mat and did manage to sleep on it, on the floor, all night, even though I did hear her burrow around on the carpet with her mat and wound up sleeping further away from the bed with the mat bunched up beneath her. Only in the morning, did she finally come to the bedside to investigate where I was. What a good girl, and no accidents in the hotel, either.
Submitted by: Chris Buitinga
