Thinking pups - gotta' love 'em!

I'm so impressed with how smart these puppies are!  I love hearing about how well all of them are doing. 

For me this whole puppy raising thing was a HUGE learning experience.  I learned so much and now I am enjoying my own puppy so much.  For me the point of doing this breeding was to provide Pam and Myra with Sinco puppies.  I was supposed to wait awhile for my own Sinco puppy.  When I learned there would be nine of them I just thought it would be really hard to pass on keeping one for myself. 

What I wanted in my own personal Sinco puppy was a pup with a bit more of an "edge" than Sinco has - meaning one that is a little less sensitive than she is.  I still wanted a "thinker" and I wanted the speed.  Structurally I didn't want to have pups that were any smaller than Sinco and they needed to be sound.

The whole time I was raising these puppies I was impressed with how much they learned, how well they used their bodies and the boldness they had.  Carmine, my pup, is amazing in how well she uses her body.  She is just 12 weeks old and  she is amazing.

Today we took Disney and Carmine to Taylors Falls to walk them over and around the rock formations.  We climbed over some steep inclines.  Carmine (on leash) charged ahead and ran up the rocks and in many cases leaped up and over.  She was bold and agile.  Disney had trouble at a couple of very steep points.  I had Pam take Carmine on ahead in hopes of showing Disney how to do it but he couldn't figure it out.  I had to give him a bit of a boost.  Then we had a narrow path around a "pothole" full of stagnant water.  I kept telling Pam (who went first) to watch Disney to be sure he didn't fall in.  Well he did but he was on leash so Pam was able to rescue him.  He didn't seem to fazed even though he is not a fan of water.  He sat and licked himself off.  However Carmine saw what happened.  All of a sudden my bold puppy became very afraid to walk past this pothole.  I didn't have a treat good enough to help her so I had to finally carry her past it.  Then on the other side she was feeling better and wanted to go over and take a closer look at it. It was clear she was affected by having seen Disney fall in.  Unlike Disney she is not as afraid of water so it wasn't the sight of the water.  Before this we had taken all the pups into the river.  After that she was a bit jumpy and startled easily for a couple of minutes.  Then we got back on to a sidewalk and she started to bounce back.

Anyway I've mentioned before how she has watched Sinco and learned from her.  She was clearly watching Disney and learned that something scary happened to him.  I love a thinking dog and I've heard of dogs who learn a lot by watching but I've never seen so much of it up close and in person!  I've decided she won't be watching any more agility lest she sees something she shouldn't!  I will also be careful what she sees with herding and obedience too. 

Now Disney is a "thinking-doer" and so he "does" things a bit more impulsively than Carmine.  But he thinks too - he is careful about getting into the water.  He quickly learned to offer a sit before the doors and the crate door so he is a thinker.  But he doesn't stop to observe things the way his sister does and often does things without concern for the consequences.  He is a fun blend of thinking and doing which I really like in a dog.

As for Carmine she is a serious thinking dog but she has speed and drive so she doesn't ponder things too long - she can make quick assessments and then moves into action at full tilt.  When she commits to something it is hard to dissuade her!  She is also very creative and a "think outside the box" girl.  Already at 12 weeks in doing puppy recalls she will go right to Pam for a treat but she will run past me, do a big loop behind me and then stop about four feet in front of me with a glint in her eye!  Oh boy!  I have my work cut out for me! 

She is very high energy but she is so good about going in her crate and being quiet and calm any time of the day or night when I ask her to do that.  It is wonderful!  It is so important for these high energy dogs to learn how to turn it off and on because that is how life is.  If I just tried to wear her down all I'd do is get her in better and better shape and it would be harder and harder to wear her down.  She needs to learn how to turn herself off and chill when I have other things to do and can't supervise her.   This will help in a couple of years when we are trialing in agility and she will be able to hangout in her crate calmly between runs and then she will be mentally and physically fresh for our runs.   I want her to be fresh for our training sessions too.  She doesn't complain in her crate and she rests.  Then she is ready to go full tilt when I let her out!  Disney has a harder time with this concept but he is getting better all the time.  He has had tantrums about going in his crate.  It is important to get through these first few weeks of crate training and not let their tantrums get the best of us!  Sinco was very hard to crate train and she spent quite a few nights in her crate in the van or garage because she had stamina with her tantrums.  Now Sinco is very good in her crate (especially now that the maternal hormones are gone and she has returned to her usual self!)

Both Disney and Carmine are learning things so incredibly fast - it just blows me away!  While I hesitate that either one really understands a clicker, they do understand positive reinforcement!  Pam has taught Disney so many more things than I've taught Carmine and she loves how fast he learns even though he has the attention span of a gnat still.

I have taught Carmine a few things and she learns them so fast.  I spend most of my training sessions with her doing things with her toy - she loves toys more than food right now so I'm taking full advantage by playing "ready steady" and "two toy" games with her.    I'm also doing the "hands-on" exercise from Rachel Sanders and rewarding with the toy.  She hates to be held so using a toy as a reward is bound to help with that!