Tuesday, April 9, 2024 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
The Magnificent Mercedes has got a job as a Hearing Dog! We couldn’t be more proud of her and her village: Breeder-Caretakers: The Polman Family and the Wiens Family Puppy-Raiser: Emily Nelson Advanced Sitters: Stephanie Hu & Paul Yi, and Pattie Sanderson...
Monday, April 1, 2024 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
More wonderful news from Miss Mercedes! She has been successfully matched with a client! We can’t share a lot of details. However, we can say that her handler is in on Vancouver Island and is very excited to be matched with Mercedes! While Mercedes was prepping a new...
Friday, March 1, 2024 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Wonderful news! Mercedes’ pre-placement testing was marked, and she has officially passed! Now that that step is done, Mercedes is practising working on her obedience with different handlers as well as with other handlers and dogs working at the same time. This...
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
This month, Mercedes spent time brushing up all her hearing and public access skills so she could take her pre-placement testing. She did an especially excellent job of making her alert bumps extra strong and clear! Mercedes also did a great job of holding her “wait”...
Monday, January 1, 2024 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes spent most of December getting to train offsite with her advanced sitter. She enjoyed lots of outings to many different types of places and did really well settling in for her long-duration go-ins. We are looking forward to continuing to brush up on all her...
Friday, December 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
In November, Mercedes spent some time in the kennel to train and work on her specialized skills, as well as out and about working with her sitter on real-life scenarios. Mercedes is polishing up her sound skills, public access, and obedience skills in hopes of looking...
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes got to spend parts of October enjoying her passion of squirrel watching. She has been practising keeping her cool and can now redirect back to her special skills work easily! She’s gone on field trips to various environments to refine her obedience and public...
Sunday, October 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
In September, Mercedes practiced working on her usual challenges of ignoring finding food on the floor and squirrels. She is getting better and better at leaving those surprise snacks on the ground alone! Squirrels will take a bit more time not to be so interesting,...
Friday, September 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes has been getting out and about to practise her public access skills some more this month. She’s been focusing on really polishing up her “leave-it” for food on the floor and for fun critters like squirrels. She is doing a great job of...
Tuesday, August 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes has been working hard on all aspects of her job. She’s getting better at really checking out where the sound is coming from to improve her accuracy, and her bumps in different scenarios are getting clearer. On a recent field trip, we discovered that Mercedes...
Saturday, July 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
This month Mercedes took some time to relax and rest with her advanced sitter to recover from her kennel cough. Once she was better, she was very keen to get back at it! Mercedes has been working away on her sound work and practicing all the practical portions of her...
Thursday, June 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes has been working on her sound alerts and continuing to space them out. She is also trying out working on some sound alerts outside or in a public space. She is really enjoying the work and getting the hang of things! Overall she has a generally calm demeanour...
Monday, May 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Mercedes has gotten some really good strength behind her nose bump this month! Now she is working on alerts when her handler is in different positions and spacing out the times between sounds. Mercedes has also been working on brushing up on leave it for tempting food...
Saturday, April 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Pupdates
Mercedes has been having a blast this month working on sound work! She has already learned 4 sounds and loves using her nose to boop for an alert. One challenge for Mercedes is that she’s very interested in the food on the floor. She has been working on strengthening...
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | Advanced Dogs, Pupdates
Mercedes has been a very fun addition to the campus this month. She has been bunking with her sister Malibu, and they get along well. Mercedes is having a great time with all her friends. She loves to play with Malibu, Maggie II and Quinn. They all match each other’s...
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Good news friends, this month, the human and I had to go on a walk-and-talk test with the trainer. She was holding a clipboard and writing down a bunch of things. At first, I thought she was drawing me a picture, but then she said something even better was happening...
Sunday, January 1, 2023 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Snow much fun was had this December! The human and I were focused on our regular routine until the school winter break. We switched gears, and I accompanied the medium-sized humans on all our camp adventures. In order to enjoy the fun, I needed to travel in transit,...
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Somehow this month had more summer weather so we spent tons of time outside like nice long days at local parks or the pumpkin patch. I helped pick out a pumpkin but was disappointed to learn that it was not for eating but for carving. How silly are hoomans wasting...
Saturday, October 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
It wasn’t much of an exciting month, but it was filled with lots of the basics. The hooman noticed I was having some selective hearing issues so we stripped back some of my cues and worked on offering and shaping games. Once we built it back up, we tried adding...
Thursday, September 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
This month hooman upgraded my title from just being a puppy in training to adding a mentor to my title. We had the pleasure of hosting not one but two new PADS puppies in our home until their raisers were ready to take on the task. Much of that time was spent working...
Monday, August 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
We are one month into our summer vacation and I am loving every minute of my down time. As my main hooman is busy running summer camps with the kiddos, I am busy at home polishing up on my skills and working on some much needed kennel time alone. While it is important...
Friday, July 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
Well, that is a wrap on my adventures with hooman at school as we celebrated all of the 2022 CYC Grads! Hooman and I walked the stage and into our next adventures together. Grad wasn’t our only celebration this month because it was also our 1-year gotcha day! 12 whole...
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
With school officially wrapped up and work slowing down, hooman and I took a trip to Vancouver Island exploring the east coast. On one of the stops, hooman said we were going to see Comox but instead of it being my brother it was the place he was named after. While we...
Sunday, May 1, 2022 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
It’s the end of the school year and the end of the same routines. Hooman and I wrapped up our time on campus with classes, exams, and practicum days. While I won’t miss much of the school life I will miss all the medium-sized hoomans I got to hang out with along...