Puppy raising has to be one of the biggest roller coasters of emotions ever! Churry has always been an absolutely incredible puppy when in public. She is calm, walks obediently beside me, does not jump on her admirers, etc. Everything one would look for in an assistance dog. However, she has a downfall. Other dogs. She can't handle herself. She wants to play with them SOOOO badly! It worries me that when she goes back to KSDS she won't be able to focus on her daily training because she will be trying to play with her classmates. She demonstrated this weakness of hers tonight in front of all of the KSDS trainers, other puppy raisers, and the public. :( Embarassing! I wanted to cry.
Tonight was a very wonderful event put on by some very special people. It is called Cabernet for a Cause. It's an evening of wine tasting, silent auction bidding, dressed up people, and seemingly everyone else's puppy but mine behaving beautifully. From the moment we walked in all Churry wanted to do was play with the other puppies or JUMP on and play with her puppy raiser "substitute when I'm not able", Mandi. It was embarassing! As the night went on she settled in and showed some of the good manners I know she has. But, she simply cannot behave like that if she intends to be an assistance dog someday! Sigh! I've got a lot of work to do in the next few months. But, where, I don't know. I take her everywhere I can think of and she is spot on good as gold. Where does one go where we will encounter other dogs?
Here are a few pictures of the moments where she was remembering her manners.
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| Maybe when she realized she was the spokesdog for the event she decided she should settle down and represent herself like a good puppy. |
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| My dear friend, Sheila, attended the event with me. |
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| Flat Stanley was visiting from New Jersey. He had traveled to Kansas with her brother, Marco's, raiser. Unfortunately, Marco didn't get to come. But, we heard he's doing well. |
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| No, she's not embarrassed about her behavior here, she's just doing a down under like I asked. We've been working on eating establishments and she's doing really well. |
She did great last night. It was great to be at the same table with her (and you and Sheila too).
ReplyDeleteYou are doig a great job with her.
Hang in there! I don't know how old she is but she could just be acting her age. I'm raising one with the same trouble but I'm being told that since she settles later on in the evening that she will be okay. Just another phase to go through and challenge we need to meet. Hang in there, I say again!
ReplyDeleteI thought she did great last night. Don't worry she wasn't the only one getting excited to see her friends...Hepa, Cabernet, and Merlot were doing it too!
ReplyDeleteSpark was very distracted by dogs too. But after going on multiple outings with other puppy raisers and their dogs, he got over it (or at least behaved better when he was around other dogs!)
Madison's right, Hepa, Cabernet, and Merlot were all doing it too. And so was Zin, Chardonnay, Blizzard and I could name off a bunch of others. She looked great when I saw her, until I backed up and accidentally stepped on her tail! Oooops!
ReplyDeleteMore practice will make everything better. At least it gives you something to work towards! It would be boring if she were perfectly perfect! :)
One thing I know from raising and working at KSDS, time, maturity, and training all kick in and its usually when they are turned in at KSDS lol! Keep up the good work and her light will kick on soon :)
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