So yesterday, we took all three ladies with us to help cut some poison oak on a trail for next week's 24-hour adventure race. Yes, I said 24-hours. Yes, I think it's nuts, too.
Rippa and Daca have both earned their adventure puppy wings at this point as they both tromped/swam/waded through water effortlessly and careened across the rocks. At just under six months (yes, I am doing math properly again), I'm pretty happy with their progress. I've not put a lot of formal training on either dog, but they're functional members of society at this point and worth their kibble.
In fact, Yishai cannot stop complimenting me on the breeding. It's pretty cute. I have to say, again, that I definitely lucked out. Emma's owners report she won the sit-stay contest (I might have threatened violence on owners if she didn't) in her puppy obedience graduation. All the puppies are doing phenomenal in their homes - smart, active, cool puppies.
Daca had another play date with her prospective local owners and they are talking about taking her for an afternoon this weekend. I really like the way they interact with her. Very doggy people, they are. Better than I am, even. I'll be disappointed to see her not go to an agility/stock home if they choose to take her, but given that her days here involve sleeping on the bed, going for huge treks, etc, and that won't change with them (very outdoorsy people, they are), she'll be happy.
I got to talking to a couple breeders yesterday because I have been wondering if I should be managing the puppies differently. They do still get into brawls maybe once every other day (a lot of spit, but not much more). Neither one wants to submit is the problem. Rippa's clearly stronger and more wily at the fighting than Daca is,but when Rippa dominates her and walks off, Daca asks for more. She definitely needs a home where the dogs won't let her do that. (or no dogs) She's fine with Fury and 15-lb Rex because both of them don't tolerate her crap. This is pretty unfortunate to me because from what I understand, she was allowed to dominate the adult dogs in her former home and I think the pattern started there.
Anyway, the breeders I talked to admitted to failings in their own programs, why they rehomed certain dogs, etc, etc and it seems like getting a puppy back that's a management issue is pretty par for the course - it's just that no one tells you these things. It made me feel a lot better about what has transpired here.
I would seriously consider keeping Daca permanently if not for the major sibling rivalry between she and Rips. I worry that it will only get worse and I am just not prepared to have her be an "outside" dog or whatever it takes to manage their relationship. They play all the time and love on each other, but then something sets them off and . . . as I've said, when I was younger I'd seen the results of sibling rivalry and it is not awesome.
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Hey Kristin,
ReplyDeleteIve had this problem with my corgi's it took quite a while for them to have extremely minimal aggression towards each other. When one was much bigger than the other, it always seemed to of ended in that one overpowering the other one.
It could be a different case for you because mine was mainly because of an alpha dominance issue and a food aggression. When I had first talked to their trainer about this she was telling me that; (a) both dogs are shown time again that they can't be alpha (b) one of them is designated alpha while the other understands.
Also when ever they fought, I had sprayed both of their mouths with bitter apple each time an incident happened. This actually got them to stop fighting for the most part. Now they play like normal, but if a situation arises they usually think about it and then decide that one of them is right. Also spotting a situation that is going to run bad and preventing is one of the things I ended up learning.
Anyways... I kind of ranted on about this and I don't know how much of this is really useful to yeah.
I tend to agree that spotting the situation before it happens is good. Also having the two dogs sitting helps. We had a potential situation yesterday with 3 females and the puppies on the lawn together. When play got out of hand the adults were put on down stays. I am trying to be the alpha; not any of them. My Chula is just over a year old so she is only playing but the 7 year old doesn't see it that way and tries to intervene causing the other bitch to chime in. We are working on getting them all to be friends. We use the words "be nice" which help somewhat. Repetition is helping and the more they are all together the better the situation. Sorry to be rambling.
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