Themes of the month:
– changing things up (walking to a dog park, but not entering it; driving to PADS campus, but staying in the car; seeing a perch pot or a yellow cape in front of us, but hearing “kennel” or “bed”, for example…)
– wherever we went, we tried to stop and watch (from a car trunk, a bench, a tree stump)
– sometimes, we tried to do less (not go for a walk, not go to a public place, etc.)
– we walked in the rain, on different surfaces, early in the morning and late in the evening…
– with growth and developing vision, came wariness of novelty (but not only), of sudden environmental changes (especially sounds), but we try to stay optimistic (we sleep if and when we can, and we exercise our body – we run, we climb, and we will try to be careful with slippery surfaces)
work: 5 days with an unfamiliar sitter in a completely new environment (travelled on ferry, met an older cat in the house), PADS in-person and zoom classes; a field trip to Vancouver Aquarium (more people than fish, and a hangry sea lion!)
places we visited: Home Depot, a gym, local ice arena, local indoors swimming pool (and shower rooms), elementary and middle school playgrounds (lots of running and screaming kids); ocean beach (sand smelled so good, but water was undrinkable); Stanley park (geese droppings everywhere!); ICBC; unfamiliar animal hospital (checked weight – 22 kg; upgraded to a bigger size yellow cape); an unfamiliar pet store (and its dog washing area) – with a scary bird talking like human!
rest/decompression: multiple harness/long line and off-leash walks on different trails and in parks, a couple of visits to a local dog park, meetup with PADS breeding dog Fernie; daily sniffing, licking, chewing, occasional shredding, and rare digging (not to mention playing – with dogs, humans and just by herself – with toys)
skills we worked on: settling, loose leash walking, go in, DMT, default leave it, body handling/husbandry…
things we saw: different types of loud trains in motion (in daytime and in the evening); quiet fire engine at a local fire station; Canada Post truck and a mail person delivering packages in the neighbourhood; skateboarders, bikers, a basketball game at a local park; heavy equipment in action on a road reconstruction site…
things we smelled: raiser visited PADS breeding dog Morena to wash her 8-week-old pups and brought home new scents; raiser also had a walk with PADS breeding dog Pear and brought home her scent too (along with some new training ideas) π
things we heard: outdoor musical instruments in a park, classical music and nature sounds (desert, ocean, and so on) at daytime kenneling
fun: “freework” in the backyard, interesting massage techniques, cognitive tests, new toys, new slow feeder
Thank you to all the kind people and dogs we met this month!
Submitted by: Ella
Photo below…
Submitted by: Penny, PADS Puppy in Training Sitter
