Field trips for the puppies

I have been assured new photos of Emma to be posted soon! Also, got some new ones of Motzi, but I'll wait.

Yesterday was another puppy adventure day. Yishai took his dog up to Santa Margarita Lake to do some scouting for our upcoming adventure race. This required some hiking on her part, but mostly it involved riding eight miles on a kayak and also swimming. When he called me after getting back, he was like, "I think Rippa hates me."

Unlike Daca, Rip's still working on getting her new puppy coat in, but she's coming out of the awkward head phase and looking damn cute, huh? And can I tell you how thrilled I am that everyone in the litter has NATURAL ideal earset? I am surprised by that one.

Anyway. . .

Rippa, like Fury, appears to begrudge the kayak . .. she'll sit there quietly, maybe she'll shiver a little because she's antsy, and as soon as shore is near, she'll jump into the water and head for it. I had to laugh. Part of what Y was doing yesterday involved a bit of bouldering (ie, semi-technical scrambling) through sandstone canyons filled with water. It turns out (which we kind of knew from her exploits at the ocean and to a pond) that she is not a big fan of water. She would NOT have it. At points, Y had to wade in water up to his chest, and he sat there wondering if he should carry her across. In a move which I approve of - he did not, and it forced her to suck it up and follow him. No coddling. These may be baby dogs, but that means they're old enough to pull this off without whining. The more she does it, the better adventure dog she'll be.

So I spent the day sitting on my couch and reading essays for the SAT. This is one of the small bonuses of holding an MA in English - you are not usually without a job when you need to find one. There's always some kinda grading/tutoring to be had. I cannot tell you how depressing it is, though. What I was grading was Early Assessment program stuff for kids intending to try to go to college. I failed about 60-65% of the essays I read. And, being a totally compassionate teacher, it broke my heart how illiterate these high school Juniors were. I literally spent four hours yesterday wondering how I was going to affect our country's education on a macro level, because, while I am helping maybe sixty students a semester, that's not a big dent. Yishai has some learning disability stuff and says, very sincerely, that he is grateful just to be able to read English. I'm grateful, too, that he finally got the right help - but he was actually in Special Ed to get it fixed. What a stigma to carry around, right? Ugh.

So feeling bad about that, and also feeling a bit sloppy from being sick for weeks and not exercising, I committed myself to hike the hardest hike in SLO. It's pretty much straight up and a major slog.

But I took all three dogs along (Fury, Daca, and roommate's dog Rex). This is always funny to me because my entire life, I've not wanted to be a Dog Lady. Three dogs is a lot of them (when Yishai and I do chores, usually all three of the dogs are in the car with us, too, and it looks like - woah - that's a lotta dogs in the car).

As I'm passing people on the trail, you can see their funny smiles at the crazy dog lady. I hate that. What I usually do when I see people coming is put Daca on a leash (because if her fear aggression turns on, it's hard to catch her - she'll run if people keep walking toward her, but otherwise, if I approach to catch her, it gives her confidence to do her buffy bluffy barking thing), tell Fury to go off-trail and lie down, and leave Rex alone. So there I am with a puppy on a lead (who is very good on a lead and quiet), Rex standing in the middle of the trail, and my yelling at Fury to lie down, "No, half way down is not good enough. Lie DOWN. Down - elbows down. Dammit Fury, down. All the way. This is not okay!" I need to work on that. She used to be crisp but I got lazy.

View at the top.

View of the Cuesta Grade. This thing is so dividing and steep that it keeps us from going north to towns ten minutes away because of its conceived ascent difficulty. San Luis is funny like that. You do NOT leave SLO if you can help it.

Daca is not one to back down from a challenge.

Not to be outdone, Fury gets in on the action. Daca's pretty big now, eh? And her coat is currently longer than the-great-hairless-Fury!

There was kind of a funny incident at the end of the trail. I was running the last half (it gets flatter and runnable) with all three dogs off lead and as I turned the corner, Rex barked in surprise, Fury kind of feinted a nip on his pants (she likes grabbing people's clothes to control them - one time she took, very gingerly, Sharon Simmons' coat in her mouth when I picked her up from the airport for a judging assignment - she laughed at it), and Daca, totally taken off guard, did nothing as we all literally ran into this 7' guy camouflaged in blues and greens in the Eucalyptus grove. I am pretty sure I screamed, too. Funny that the dogs, with all their heightened sensibilities, were surprised by him.

I got some good bites on Daca. I need to take some photos and Yishai and I have to go up north on Tuesday to do an errand and we'll stop off in Atascadero at the always-wonderful Sandy Ogg's to expose her to sheep for a video for her possible buyers. I have one person in mind that I think will be perfect for her both with the behavior issues and for what I bred her for. A couple other people are waiting. It feels like I am cheating on them all - dating multiple people at once, but that's what you gotta do to find the perfect home. I have been more than honored by the people that have been interested in my puppies and for the reasons. Lots of compliments on my choice of linebreeding - in fact most of the homes are ONLY interested because of who the dogs are that are involved. It's not just a question of wanting "a puppy" or a "working puppy" or "a bitch." But specifically what I did. That's cool.

So, with any luck, Miss Daca will have a confirmed new home next week one way or the other. (Dear readers, I'm still taking requests, even better homes could come along.) I will miss her terribly.

Housebreaking

Is it sick that I am totally stoked that Daca just went over to the door and barked to be let out?

YAY FOR HOUSEBROKENNESS! One of life's many pleasure that folks take for granted.

Finding the Right Homes

This whole episode with Daca has really taught me a lot about who I am and what I want from the dogs in my life. I can't remember if I shared this with you or not, so you know, skip ahead if so: the day after I decided to place Moto on the east coast (through a referral from Daca's owner, actually), I found out Daca was coming back. Can you imagine what that feels like?

I initially had rejected Moto's owner because she was a first-time dog owner, but after having Moto an extra month, I decided that a first-timer was going to handle him well. Alina is a very conscientious person who assured me she knew what she was getting into and was up for the challenge, and so far she's proven to be right. He's going to a stockdog fun day this weekend - we'll see how that lazy baby dog does. :)

Heck, that happened with Emma, too. Laura's parents were begging for a puppy and I kept saying, "No, no no" because they were not Aussie-experienced. Now Emma's a therapy dog and just graduated as "Best Puppy in Class" in her puppy class. People are asking the Flowers where they can get a puppy just like her. :)

And then to find out that a puppy that I was totally sure had been placed in the right home, who had experience with Aussies (maybe not hard-line working lines, but Aussies) didn't even make it five weeks? I was terrorized that it was something I had produced.

Now, after having had her for about a month, I am quite sure it was just a bad match after all. Live and learn, right? All of the other homes make me ridiculously proud of the puppies I've made. Daca herself makes me proud.

So a couple days ago I sat on the couch all day grading papers and hanging out with her. Could/should I keep her? She is so fun, great to train, neat attitude, love her looks . . . but this is the same thing I went through with Moto, and it was hard letting him go, but I am so happy he's not here and he's somewhere so appropriate for him.

The same is going to be true of Daca - so I listed her for sale a couple days through some stockdog resources. And wow - the responses are the highest caliber I could ask for. But how to decide this time which is the best fit for her? I've spent so many years thinking about structure, theory, breeding, talent, etc, but not much about home placement. How do you screen a cattle rancher who just says he's been working with mixed breeds and wants an Aussie before he dies? He doesn't speak my crazy dog-fancy language - he just knows instinctually what he wants. How do I know that whatever home lands with her is going to be her forever home - and she won't get bounced around for whatever reason?

You do that by going to "dog fancy" homes - people for whom the dogs are pets. People like me. All three of my Aussies have had their flaws, but I was committed to them. With Fury, I wanted a possible conformation prospect along with a stockdog and the two things I couldn't have guessed at happened: she's way too small and her nose didn't fill in. Not such a successful combination. My prior dog didn't have stockdog instinct or drive to perform at all. My dog before that was actually pretty awesome all around - but he died too soon to get everything out of him, and I was so young that I didn't really know how to manage him.

But I did this breeding not for dog fancy homes. I did this to perpetuate talent in the stock arena. So that's either a trialling home or a ranch home as my priority. And both of those homes will send back a dog that doesn't fit.

I was talking to Yishai about the bites I got and he had a hard time imagining any dog living primarily in a kennel."But," he said, "I come from a different place in my heart." Which is true. You should see him with Rippa, "I schmove you, Ripples, I schmove you so much. Look Kristin, she's looking at us from the car!" Waving, "Hi Rips!"

It's hard not being a sap when you spend your life with that. :) Sap's pretty good. But it makes it hard to make realistic, healthy decisions sometimes.

What I do know is that what's supposed to happen will happen. Getting her back has taught me a lot about breeding, placement, what I do right and what I could improve upon, and if the right home doesn't come along (or if it does, and God forbid, it doesn't work out), then I'll have an awesome dog to work with in the future. Fury Two-Point-Oh.

Oh, these dogs just don't like people.

So Yishai and I have been socializing the puppies by pretty much just taking them everywhere, and lately that's been the SLO Op, our climbing gym. We put on a competition last weekend, which meant we spent about four straight days there taking holds off the wall and then putting them back up. There were probably 10 people there at most times, and even for Miss Daca, who is worried a bit about people, this was a decent amount to tolerate for an almost-five-month-old puppy.

So, they spent most of the time either running around, chasing eachother in the parking lot or on the padded floor, checking out what was happening, or sleeping. But very little of the latter.

Why? Because people cannot help themselves with the poking. SLO Op is big enough for the puppies to get space, unless people follow them.

At one point, poor Rippa was sacked out on the futon we have:

It's probably 10 or 11 at night. She's been there for 10 hours, at least. So, rather than let her alone, someone plops down next to her and pokes her. Poor Rippa, probably in REM sleep, leaps off the futon and barks at the guy, shocked out of sleep. This same guy has been trying to get Daca, whom I've explained to him he needs to just ignore and she'll come see him in her own good time, to play the entire night - and now she hates him.

"I guess these dogs of yours don't like people."

UGH. These are baby dogs who cannot spend every moment of every day as your plaything, thank you very much.

At some point each day I could tell the pups had had enough and put them into the truck for a break. No sense in putting undue stress on them. Daca typically tires faster, but Rips has her days. I remember when we came back the next day after a midnight session, and Rips was all friendly. The people were like, "Oh, she's so much better today." DUDE, she's a baby. She was TIRED. You would not leave her alone!

 Does this look like a dog that doesn't like people?

I need to get a photo of Daca rolling all over photographer friend Chris whenever she sees him. The puppies like people fine, so long as they (people) don't get all up in their biznass.

So this defines the difference between what people think "dog" looks like and what "dog" looks like to afficianados of my type of Australian Shepherd.

Yes, I like those dogs you meet who are all about getting loved up on and sit right in your lap and give you a nice playbow before tearing around the house/yard playing with you. That's totally fun, yup. There are plenty of Aussies like that and I dig them. They're fun, friendly, and easy to get through life with.

But when my dogs opt not to lick your face, and instead when non-dog people offer a hand for smelling (and seriously, both puppies, Fury, and my roommate's dog all go, "What's with the hand, yo? Pet or do not pet. I don't need the hand"), they turn away, I get, "Oh, she's shy."

No, she is not shy. Shy is a display of lack of confidence. It's a withdrawal of personality and openness, it's hiding from the world and avoiding it. Dogs who are shy are afraid. Daca has some fear aggression issues, as we've said - so, yes, sometimes she's shy. But as soon as she finds out that she's not going to get eaten or whatever it is she is sure will happen when dogs or people come up to her, her personality resumes: sometimes it's friendly and she'll play with the thing that made her shy, sometimes she goes about her business. But she no longer hides behind her family for protection - it's turning back into healthy puppy reserve.

 I have tried to explain reserve to people before: How would you, as a person, like it if someone came up to you and started huggin' up on you and giving you noogies all up in your space? And some people get that. Other people go, "How good looking is this person?" Even that is sort of a valid question. There are people Fury instantly loves. Rippa will go run up to randoms who have that "good looking" vibe, and others, she'll just tolerate. 

But seriously, most people need some time before you get into the other person's lap, right?

That's reserve. I like to think of smart dogs as having reserve. They're employing some intelligence to determine whether this person is friend or foe or worth their time. Fury, I always think, goes like this, "Do I know you? Then hot damn, great to see you, wanna play ball? Wait, who are you? Well, you can go to hell." 

I bet you know people like this, too. I always wonder if I appreciate this quality in my dogs because I am reserved, too. I mistrust men who greet me by kissing me on the cheek (those who come from cultures where this is accepted are exempted), overly effusive people (once, when I was kinda famous for my writing, someone recognized me and started squealing and took a photo with me - yeah, scary), and people who are overly familiar right away. For good reason. People like this end up being crazy. Seriously. Try it. As someone who guards her world so that it is mostly positive, loving, and supportive, it's important to keep the crazies away.

Is there any reason why I respect dogs who also would rather focus on the known relationships they have built?

Moreover, having had friendly dogs in competition, it's NICE to go into an agility ring (typically only roped off with a ribbon, not a fence) and KNOW your dog is going to be so focused on you, that she will not run off to go lick a child ringside (yes, that happened to me, sweet, but goodbye hard-earned $20 and how embarrassing!). One of Fury's littermates was actually returned to her breeder for being TOO friendly, if you can believe that. She was more interested in what people were doing than the stock.

This is not to say that a friendly dog can't be successful in a working environment - of course it can. If it has the drive, talent, and ability, yes, absolutely. But as I said, I appreciate a dog that's more focused on the people that matter. They're easier to live with - if you're not looking to take your dog to kindergartens and Alzheimer's facilities (homage to Miss Emma, our litter therapy puppy, and Reid, our elementary school outreach puppy - both of whom I think will make nice stockdogs, too). Why? I remember in a discussion about a widely publicized Aussie that mysteriously disappeared, my mentor, Terry Martin of Slash V aussies, said, "I would not be happy with a dog who let itself get stolen."

Amen.

As a funny sidenote to this - while the Flowers LOVE Baby Emma (that's what they call her), my roommate Laura reports her mother gets jealous when Emma displays affection to other members of the family - she was hoping for a bit more reserved puppy - one that was totally devoted to her and no one else. Laura's dog (she wanted an Aussie, but did a favor to her mother's co-worker and got a little mutt instead) is super reserved and Laura was bummed about that and had to work with him - but that's what her mother wanted! And instead,  Emma's okay spreading the love. Isn't it funny how things like that happen?

Gaining your adventure wings

So I wondered if I should have brought a camera but opted not to because the goal was to hike forty pounds of gear (bolt kit, power tools, ropes) up a wooded hill and cut a path through chapperel to create a rappel site for Yishai's adventure race. Sounds awful, doesn't it?

Except, here's the kicker: I LOVE THIS STUFF.

Anyway, Yishai had already taken Rippa out to scout the location and he was quite proud of his puppy being able to push through the brush without complaint, so yesterday I went with him to help the trail cutting, etc and we took Rips, Fury, and Daca - who despite being a very agile, energetic puppy, has not been benefitting from the daily 5 mile runs that Rips gets so she's a little out of shape (did I mention I was sick for two weeks? Yuck). It was adorable having her walk up the hill and plop down in a perfect, pert little sit every few minutes and wait for me to catch up (I got saddled with the drill and bolt kit which was probably too heavy for my first time out after the illness and was slow).

Power tools did not phase them. Cliffs made them cautious, but they were brave. They took good little nappies as we did our work, and then the Fury taught them her favorite thing ever - which is to chew/destroy sticks. Handy, since that is what we were doing, so the dogs all earned their stripes yesterday. I have yet to try the puppies out on the johnboat, but I am sure that's coming.

Daca's getting her adult coat in and it looks exactly like Fury's. Rippa says she still working on it. I am still blown that as far as I know, all the puppies have forward break ears - with no taping. Was not expecting that!

Bekka's challenging me with Daca in the training/tricks department so I guess I need to up the ante. As I posted, it took me all of five minutes to give me a paw so I think I have the edge here.

I think next post, when I get time, is gonna be about reserve. I got REALLY tired of having people say the puppies "didn't like people" because they spent two 11-hour days at SLO Op getting poked and they were just trying to find a place to take a nap without being disturbed. I mean, really.

More tricks

We are learning how to do lots of tricks because Piper's challenging us. This took about half a hot dog and five minutes. And then it's off to do adventure puppy stuff - Yishai, I, and the puppies/Fury are going out to cut poison oak in the backcountry for an adventure race (that's why the hideous outfit).

Daca's paltry three tricks

I told you I thought she had awesome drive/biddability, so I just made a video. Stay tuned for when I pet her and she does a 360 roll. She's funny!

Fury loves her kids still.

So a couple people have been asking how Fury's relating to the puppies now that they are older. I have to say, Fury is an amazing momma. I guess lots of people were expecting her to get tired of them and want them to ship out, but this could not be further from the truth.

All the pups are sacked out all over the living room. Rippa made her debut as a true adventure puppy today - hiking through backcountry brush with Yishai to scout a new rappel site for our upcoming Adventure Race in may, and then she and Daca got to go to SLO Op, where they socialized with our friends and tore around the parking lot and gym for about four hours before coming back home to eat and tear around the house again.

I just watch Fury get up from her nappy spot on the couch and go over and lick Daca's ears, eyes, and paw where she has a cut from being a reckless puppy. For a good ten minutes. She alternates between gestures like that and strong corrections for bad behavior - if Daca or Rippa get too far out of line with her, or each other, she kind of mouths/gnaws their head and will escalate it as far as they want to go, and as soon as they back off, she follows them around, licking them and rebonding.

Fury has been an only child since I've had her. I've always wondered what would happen if I introduced a puppy into the mix. She's had to share living space with other people's dogs for four out of her seven years, but she's always been a bit of a tyrant with them. If they go near her food, she corrects, if they let her hump them, she will. But she's done no such thing with the puppies. Aside from an early overcorrection, Fury rules her puppies benevolently, doesn't mind sharing lap, couch, crate, or bed space with them - should the situation arise, and one of the most endearing things is that in the mornings, I kick out Daca to the backyard while I finish sleeping (she gets up around 7). She and Rippa will be out there all day if I'm busy and Yishai drops his puppy out, and Fury will beg at the door to go be with them. She hasn't tried escaping once from the backyard while they're out there. It's pretty cool.

Still, I wouldn't say that they are overly bonded to her, either. I have Rippa on my couch, Daca on another, and still Fury on another. They all retreat to their corners and they all look to me or Yishai for guidance over each other. It's a good balance.

The only thing I have to be careful about is that if one of the puppies keys up (more specifically Daca, because pretty much nothing phases Rippa for long, if at all), she keys up, too. It's something I don't like, but I do think that over time as Daca learns to chill over situations that make her uncomfortable, Fury will chill, too. It's like when one cries after an accidental injury or something - she always goes over, whining, to see what she can do about it.

I remember Yishai being kind of annoyed at Fury's obsessive licking while she was pregnant and I told him to just wait and see, and it became apparent that the obsessive licking does have a nice trait along with it - she got to do it to the puppies (and now dumb ol' Lil Rippa dog has it - Daca is more the fall onto the ground and rub all over it while you rub her belly type).

I can't really describe it, but in all her currently naked splendor (but the new stuff is coming in and she's even softer than the puppies now), Fury's gotten sort of holy to me. She went from my dog, albeit a quite awesome dog for my purposes, to something with a higher calling - and one that hasn't gone away yet. It may still one of these days, and for now I'll appreciate it. I was expecting Fury to want to teach them to back off of her, but she still regularly engages them in play and grooming sessions and it's done HER a world of good, too. She's younger acting and more fun and happy all the time. When she was pregnant, she was anything but. Poor girl.

And when they leave, I can't say she clearly misses them - with Reid she was a bit confused and searched the house for him, and then got over it, but she is loving to them when they are around. :)

Daca is so cute.

It's so funny. When you breed, you're supposed to improve on the dogs you use. I can't speak for Ben, but Daca (or Fury 2.0) did that. Basically, what, she looks like Fury, right? But her color is better. Her head is, dare I say it? Cuter. She is friendlier. She has more bone. I still think she may be small (please just be bigger than Fury!). But she has everything I love about Fury, too. That work ethic. That agility. That edge. But she's so much easier and quieter than Fury ever was.

It's very cool.

I am still super bummed that she had to come back, but everything happens for a reason. I hope her next home is as stoked on her as I am. I really wish I had the time, money, and inclination to keep her. She's awesome.  I need to get someone to take a video of her awesome "down."

Trip to the dog beach and, dang, I am happy with this litter

Yesterday I hosted a party at my house for a friend and both puppies had full lay of the land. Daca did great. Yishai and I were beside ourselves when she picked people to go over to and play with - get belly scratches, play bitey-games (not nipping), and get pet. There were a couple dog-stalkers who would NOT leave her alone despite my telling them it was not going to work, and so . . . it never worked. But if she's allowed to come up on her own volition, she is a pretty friendly little gal. More so than the other puppies that spent time here, even Emma.

Yishai has a friend in town who has a little chihuahua-something, and initially Daca did her fear aggressive thing until Greta (the dog) went, "Seriously? Knock it off." Important lesson learned. So we went to the dog beach today. I wasn't sure this was a good idea for her, but Yishai has been really good in guiding her and he thought it would be good, so I decided to go for it. Glad I did. She mostly didn't try her crap at all, but when she did, the dogs would just ignore her and it extinguished the behavior. More dog park visits, for sure.

Daca and Patty. Yishai and the other dogs in the background.

When Daca got here, this scene was not possible. She's not even worried about the other dogs.

Pretty girl.

Rippa demonstrates my particularly favorite Rippa-quirk - horizontal hoppage.

Dang it. If she did it, I guess I will do it. But I do not like.

Rippa luvs her daddy.

So, we're pretty close to conquering the fear aggression that must have gotten impressed upon her between leaving here and coming back. She is a wonderful puppy. She is also totally a water hound - swimming around and thinking it's all good. Rarely do I see an Aussie puppy do that of her own volition.

Which makes me feel pretty darn good.

When I finally made the decision to send Mr. Moto out to Pennsylvania, it was almost the same day that I found out Daca was coming back. I was literally terrorized to be sending Moto out there - after all, how did my super friendly, brave puppy, turn into a fear aggressive monster? What if he did it? He was going to a first-time dog home - what if my puppies were wired poorly despite everything I had done to make sure they were solid puppies?

At this point, I am pretty confident in saying that what happened to Daca was just a perfect storm. She is a cool dog, she is the same puppy I sent away, and I love living with her. At first Yishai and I were really angsty about dealing with her - but she fits in now, she's a nice puppy, and everyone who meets her adores her, even if she's not ready to get touched by them. I am pretty confident she's gonna grow out of this with time, patience, and effort, and I can safely say that I am damn proud of my litter.

I picked Ben because I wanted him to compliment Fury. I wanted very consistent puppies so I didn't want to outcross, and I think I did get very consistent puppies in type and basic temperament. I don't think I've written about this, but I am shocked at how CALM they are (well, except for Piper, but Bekka likes it and probably encourages it). Rippa and Daca have chewed nothing up, they just sit around watching things, and then when the time is right, they play with each other. But not spazzy or even puppy-zoomy. Just kind of mature, healthy puppies. Maybe that's why EVERYONE and their brother keeps asking me and Yishai if they are minis. (Grr)

I love the looks of all the puppies. Every time I get a photo, I think, "Dang, good work." I think Daca will end up small like Fury, but all of them have decent bone, good basic pigmentation, and just really neat, responsive temperaments. In fact, none of them are that chewy (although Patrick says Reid is an alligator - but I am guessing, again, that they don't mind it) - I warned Yishai that his pants would have holes - no. They've NEVER tried to bite or pull on our clothes. I've never quite had puppies like this. It's very cool.

So yes, I am very proud that my research and experience made these little guys.

And here's some updates from other homes:

Mr. Moto - who writes me emails every couple days!

And Emma:

So, basically, that's Miss Piggy, who lives at the Alzheimer's Facility. When Emma comes in to "work" - Piggy babysits her. They love eachother so much that Piggy cries when she goes home with Lena at the end of the day. Awwww.

Just some photos

I found these off of Yishai's iPhone.

Aww, Motorbear. 

And this is why I found these - he took a photo of Rippa yesterday on his bed. Sadly, it's all out of focus, but:

Who is a sexy puppy?

Sick day

I have something that kinda feels like chronic fatigue syndrome from what I've heard of it, and have for about five days. I'm quite sure it will blow over, but I pretty much crashed after the 10k and here I am in bed. Yishai's been taking Daca out with him to SLO Op and she's learning to negotiate strangers in that environment pretty well. He also wanted to take Fury to the dog park for some exercise (since I'm not getting out with her while sick) and i went along with Daca in the car so she could look at dogs. This went really well so I came out and stood with Yishai holding her until she decided to play "chase Mamma" and did a really nice job of ignoring dogs. She even did a little playing with an old schipperke ( I love that breed).

Rippa and Daca were fighting pretty consistently for a while but now that's calmed down and they're buddies. We've all figured out what our roles are. Daca is actively seeking out new visitors to love on and get pets from, and I do think that shortly enough, she'll have unlearned her fear aggression - though of course not shortly enough for her previous owner or for me and Yishai (who all are heartbroken over this).

Reid's doing well in his home, still a tank, going into schools as a show-and-tell outreach with Kathryn who brings in animals. Emma's apparently also becoming a tank. Piper has learned SO many tricks and Bekka is in love. Rippa's awesome - she has all these funny little Rippa quirks but is one heck of a solid pupppy. And Moto's still sending me emails!

All legs! I love him in contrast to that rug.

Rippa looking a bit awkward at the 10k:

Socializing Working Aussie Puppies

Before I write this, I want to acknowledge to my audience that (a) I am not an expert on this and (b) I am generalizing a LOT. This is obvious enough in my own litter about personality ranges.

But I wanted to respond to the comments from a couple of days ago, mostly the questions Anniken raised, which were good. Being my first litter, I made assumptions with Daca that I'm not going to do again - that people knew to do what I do, or what the Aussie culture I live in does. We live and we learn, right?

Anniken described her own experience with her dog who went through a fear period like Daca's but eventually became the perfect dog for her. And she asked, "Do you think that socialization is different for Aussies?"

I want to refine this question a bit - for "working" Aussies. Fact of the matter is that "Aussies" encompasses a lot of components. First, we have two basic strains: working and conformation. There is certainly intermixing, but most dogs fall under one of two categories. Some argue they are entirely different breeds in terms of temperament and even looks (after all, one thing I've noticed is how FUZZY the conformation puppies are that are the same age as mine - my puppies just look like small adults with the level of coat they have). And I probably align with the "some" people. At this point I do have a fair share of experience with both types that I feel pretty confident in saying so.

Here's my case in point: I had two conformation bred Aussies before Fury. So, Fury's about six months old and I go back to grad school at Cal Poly, which has a lot of ag land. I'm running through these fields where there's a lot of Jersey cows who are friendly - and one comes up and I pet her. Then she puts her nose down to say hello to Fury, which I think is sweet as hell until - - snap!

Fury nailed her on the nose! The horror!

Of course, I did go out and get myself a high-octane stockdog puppy that isn't worth her salt if she doesn't grip a nose when it puts pressure on her. You have to rethink these things with a stockdog. My conformation dogs, who did not have instinct to work livestock, would have just smelled back, maybe even licked the cow.

Side note, here's a photo Yishai sent me on that same run with Rippa encountering the same cows. She was a bit intimidated, as you can imagine. I was proud to hear later that she did try to turn back a calf that ventured too close. :)

Anyway, so in response to Anniken's comment/question, yes, I think working Aussie puppies can need different socialization. One of the things that I have encountered through all this is that EVERY knowledgeable Aussie person/trainer I've talked to about Daca's fear aggression says the same thing, "Sounds like they tried to play 'pass the puppy.'"

I did that to Fury. Here's what pass the puppy is: your young puppy seems a little adverse to handling by strangers. What do you do? Common dog training lore says you hand the puppy to as many strangers as possible to socialize them. So when I got Fury, she didn't like it so I did that. She didn't even really like me when I came to get her. Her breeder was like, "She'll bond." And she did, but that's because Fury is a classic reserved Aussie. And what did I do? I put pressure on her to like everyone by giving her to strangers. Which she hated. And now Fury doesn't like a lot of handling from strangers.

Why is that? The breed standard for Aussies (in ASCA) says that they should be reserved. Reserved is not "shy" as in scared. It is "ehh, you're a stranger and I could care less. I'd rather you not touch me, thank you." The AKC standard actually changed this because they added something in about a "keen but friendly gaze."

A dog that inherently doesn't want to be loved by strangers is not going to love having handling forced on them. Think about a reserved person - do you think making that person go to parties is really going to work to make them socialites? No. That's not how they're wired.

Reserved is good - it keeps dogs out of trouble and if you're interested in competition or real work, it keeps your dog focused on you and not on other distractions.

So, if you know your dog isn't going to love everyone and everything it meets, you have to let it be itself. With these kinds of dogs, you don't allow people to force their way into the Aussie's world, you let them find their way into the stranger's. Reserved puppies need the ability to have an out - if they are uncomfortable with a dog or person in their face, shoving it closer is not such a good idea - let them get space. This goes doubly on a lead, or else you get leash aggression along with dogs frantically trying to protect their personal space.

If you are used to a dog that's bred primarily for show or for what many breeders like to call "for temperament" (and what they mean is friendly and tractable), a working Aussie's a whole new ball game and you have to rethink your strategies. Show dogs have to be friendly - they have to ADORE showing to really get an edge in that venue. They have to say, "Look at me! Put your hands on me! Adore me!" Same with a "for temperament" dog - only in this case it's less about showing and more about, "Poke me, prod me, I don't care, I love you anyway!"

The funny thing is, having come from the former's background, and having a reserved Aussie now, the reserved Aussie temperament makes so much more sense - is so much more smart. I remember Terry Martin once saying something about "No dog of mine will ever let himself get stolen." Exactly. My dogs, and working dogs, know their owners. They aren't going to be all thrilled about the dude next door. It's good.

But it's not so good when you don't expect it.

I was watching Rippa this week at a meeting at Yishai's house: people were calling her to come over and play and she was like, "Mmmm, nah." She came over in her own good time. When I got there she was all excited and ready to party and got a little more outgoing with everyone else, before she decided to go back under the desk and take a nap. Folks picked her up and she tolerated it, but she clearly didn't *like* it. And I keep thinking that if we had played "pass the puppy" with her - she very likely could have ended up the same way as Daca. Who knows?

All I do know is that it's not that the puppies weren't handled enough. ALL of my puppies are relatively calm, respectful, and well bonded to their owners. They all liked handling and playing with strangers in their early puppyhood, and they were well socialized to all types of people. Pass the puppy is NOT the solution here - we're dealing with something entirely different.

But, as I say with generalizations, that's all this is - Emma in my litter is absolutely a little show dog. Adore me! Look at me! Touch me! It's too bad her angulation is so straight.

10k Puppies

So the big goal for Yishai with his dog is that he wanted an "Adventure Puppy" - one he could take mountain biking, backpacking, and to events. Rippa's been under training for this for a bit, she attended a social function at our climbing gym, a triathlon, and now she was the main event at his San Luis Mountain run 10k today. The day before we took both puppies to set up, but I didn't think I could manage my job and also Daca's social issues so she stayed home today (and is happy as a clam sleeping on a couch pillow next to me while big, scary stranger house guests move around and she could care less - improvement!)

Rippa did a solid job as an event puppy. She wandered the grounds and checked in with Yishai and I, and then would camp out at my feet while I timed. And then go venturing forth, but then come back when it gets crowded and hectic (ie, race meetings and finishes). Yishai's appreciating that while she's tolerant of people poking at her, she's also reserved - she stays close, ignores stuff, and doesn't get herself into trouble. There was one incident with a strange dog that she got into and started tearing around the field with this poor dog on a leash wanting to charge after her. Cute, but poor other dog!

Lemme off lead, dad! OFF OFF OFF!

Yishai proudly displaying his puppy - which makes all the other event folks happy, too.

Yesterday was kinda funny in a couple ways - when we got there, there was a big social picnic in our spot we had reserved. I had both puppies on leashes while Yishai unloaded his truck. As per the plan with Daca, I carry around a lot of chicken to reinforce good behavior. The problem with this is that Rippa is very food protective - if I feed the two puppies together, I keep their bowl separate, and Rippa will actually leave her food to go try to take Daca's (so I loom over her and threaten bodily harm and she quits). She and Daca have gotten into some good brawls over food situations, but we're learning how to manage the dogs all together right now.  Anyway, so I am sitting there with the puppies and this group of ladies asks me what kind of dogs I have. I proudly (knowing my puppies are adorable) say, "Australian Shepherds!" and not ten seconds later they tear into each other over chicken that has fallen out of my pocket. Nice breed, right? Four month old puppies going at it? I am trying to separate them by holding their leashes way out and someone asks if they're playing - this guy trots over to try to help me, but with Daca's fear of strangers I was like, "No no" and finally Yishai came and picked up his dog and we chilled again. They were back to playing. Yes, I, Kristin McNamara, provide excellent ambassadorship to the breed.

Other than that, it was a nice day. I let both puppies roam freely all day, and Daca got to learn that she can avoid strange dogs and people without incident and my friends came over to feed her chicken and she quickly let them pet her. It is such a heart breaker right now. Everyone who meets her says they can tell she's clearly friendly, but she just can't take the petting. She runs up to people and gets in their laps happily, but hands come out and it's all over. Oh well, she's better than she was. I'm gonna have to figure out how to work stuff out around strange dogs, too.

She really is going to make someone a wonderful dog. She is just really nice, very calm, very sweet. She's super biddable, whip smart, and is always asking where the party's at. I keep looking at her as the total objective of my breeding - take all the good in Fury and improve it and you have Daca - better coat coloration, cuter (although her muzzle's kinda short for the standard, it is also ADORABLE), all the drive, none of the sass, all the intelligence and spunk. And, as I said, I actually think she's underneath it all very friendly (which she was when she left here, too - which is precisely why I sent her to the home I did). She really wants to meet people, but I think she's afraid they'll grab her and not let go or something. It's really a weird thing going on for her. Hope she grows out of it, but all of my friends are on board with helping, and I even have a bunch of business acquaintances encouraging me to take her on rounds to their offices for socialization. I have to say, my network is amazing.

Puppy photos!

Moto sent me another email yesterday - he's got all kinds of cute quirks that he's trying out on the Groblickas. He also sounds like he's still lazy as all heck. Boy dogs!

But he finally learned how to smile for photos and stop looking sad!

Also, where'd his ears go?

No new photos from anyone else, but I did take a couple of the kids here:

Rippa shows off one of her tricks/quirks - she likes to get up on Yishai and ride him while he does pushups.

Daca and Fury - twinsies.

Couch tussel - Rippa's looking pretty awkward these days.

Eatin' the front yard grass.

Approving the new patio furniture.

Dog couch - which is actually the nicest couch I have. The woman sold it to me for $100 because she was having a baby and "we only allow microfiber in this house for babies." Okaaaay.

Have I told you lately how squishably adorable I am?

So Daca's coming right along. She is much calmer than when she got here. She's no longer freaking out about strangers. Yishai and I spend a lot of time evaluating our approach to her. She is so cute, and so nice, and damn amazing in every way that it's heart breaking to see her react the way she does when she's intimidated. But progress is happening. In a little over a week here, she's a much better dog and we're finding our rhythm. Yishai's currently got her on errands and I have Rippa at home. SHe's wandering around our climbing gym and looking at people and totally cool with it. So, yay. Perhaps she can be brought back to be a good wittle dog. 

After all, dogs like Daca are why I bred Fury. I didn't do it to keep a dog for myself, I did it to propagate talent, drive, biddability, loyalty, beauty, and most of all - intelligence. She's all these things and more. She's going to be someone's amazing heart dog that can do anything that person wants her to do and do it well. They just have to accept that she needs her space and doesn't necessarily need to be touched/held/whatever by everyone who wants to do it. I was watching Rippa at a meeting Yishai had at his house. She's very tractable, tolerates all kinds of shenanigans, but she also is allowed to do what she wants - if she's not feeling it, she leaves. I think that's all Daca needs to learn how to do.