Birdie turned 22 months on May 2nd and we are approaching the home stretch with her. She has passed most of the breeding assessment clearances and will probably go into heat later in June, so she will most likely be heading off to Burnaby within the next month to start her breeding career.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve had her for almost 2 years (21 months) already. She has grown into quite the adaptable and dependable pup. She loves putting on her cape and is calm while out in public, be it at the grocery store, a restaurant, a coffee shop, a winery, puppy classes, the chiropractor, the passport office, or wherever.
Reading with the kids at the local Elementary School has been a success. She loves the kids and knows exactly which classroom she needs to go to. She readily settles on the floor in the library while the kids read aloud to her one by one. We both look forward to this weekly outing.
She absolutely loves our grandson Heath, who turned 14 months in May and is now walking, albeit a bit shakily. She is gentle with him but does occasionally knock him over since he’s not too steady on his feet yet. Heath loves to play in Birdie’s kennel and doesn’t mind if she accompanies him in it! Heath also loves to read, and if that’s while sitting on top of Birdie, all the better!
Birdie also gets along very well with other dogs. She’s great with our grand-pup Jeff and they love to play together and are great on walks on leash or running loose through the wooded trails. She’s excellent on the trails and never goes too far ahead of me. Her recall is on target, and she’s always checking in for a reward.
Birdie loves her off-leash hikes on the local trails in the mountains. This month we visited Evelyn Falls and Margaret Falls, which are here in the Shuswap. The spring run-off was quite impressive at Margaret Falls this time of year.
Birdie continues to participate in weekly puppy classes. This month we had a few visitors: Tamara, our trainer, brought her aunt and her niece, her dog Oscar and an actual PADS service dog, Tonka. These all were great for practicing dog/human distraction. We were also visited by released PADS breeding dog Strudel and released PADS dog Jax.
I will surely miss her helicopter stunt where she goes round and round in tight circles like a bucking bronco! So, in the meantime, we’ll go about our daily routines and cherish our time together with this wonderful dog.
Submitted by: Chris Buitinga
