And the plastic flew.....

I decided it was time to take the plastic disc out to see how she would react to it.  Some dogs are a little hesitant at first, not really used to the feel of the hard plastic in their mouth.  I grabbed a frisbee and headed out with her.  She was so excited to see it like she knew exactly what we were headed to play.  

We started with a game of tug just to see if the feel would turn her off.  Heck no, that was easy for Miss Daca since tugging is officially her favorite game.  So I rolled it on the ground which she happily chased, picked up but headed the opposite way.  We laughed that off.  I decided some close up work until we get a firm full retrieve was our best option. She learned what a "take" was which she enjoyed with no hesitation.

Then our big moment came.  I decided to toss one about 5 yards out just to see if she would catch it or even attempt to catch it out of the air.  WHAT WAS I THINKING...of coarse she caught it!!!!  At this point I got a little over excited and threw one just a little longer.  She did not catch it but I am VERY impressed with her tracking skills.  She gave it her all so what more could I ask on our first practice??

At this point I am thinking some observation of Ariel playing will go a LONG way.   So far she has picked up on a lot just by watching.  She is one smart little girl that is for sure!!


Once we get a full retrieve down pat she will be smokin' ;-)

Just settling in...

We have not had much exciting news the past few days.  Daca is just spending some time settling in with the family. 

Today she discovered just how fun that baby pool in the yard can be.  To this point she thought it was just a big water bowl.  Today she decided she would test the waters by slowly climbing in.  She could not stay out of it from that point on.  She would wade thru it, attacking the leaves under water then get out to roll all over the ground.  She looked rather silly with a mud mustache.  Needless to say it needed a good cleaning by the time Daca was finished.  

We love to work our trick training.  She is so fun to work with.  I can just see that little brain of hers clicking as we work.   When she arrived she knew all the basic commands.  She also knew spin but we have officially added "other way" to that so now she knows both directions.  We are working hard on "sit pretty" but it is oh so tempting at times to lift that butt off the floor when the front paws come up.  My bet is next session she will have it down.  

We have been working on our fetching skills.  I could not ask for more.  She has a super strong game of tug which we use to get the full retrieve.   She got so into the game we accidentally ripped her squirrel a little.  Guess it is time to head to the plastic soon.  She has the game of soccer down except when she decides she needs to kill the ball.  She is coming along way better in this area than I had anticipated!


We have started taking her for walks thru our neighborhood.  Our neighborhood is quiet but we usually run up on a low key stimulation to work on some focus and redirection (people mowing lawns, weeding their flower beds, dogs laying in their yard, etc.).  She has done very well with this.  It is hard for her still but she knows what I expect and has been very good to this point at obeying.  We have only had one incident but it was a super over drive stimulation but 10 feet past and we were able to focus again.  On her defense it was a puppy running toward us and a large woman running behind with her hands out to the side.   I think I would have taken defense too had I not known better.  We moved on about 10' on past to work on focus to me.  She immediately calmed again even with the people still in site and we were on our way to finish our walk.  I would say that being our only incident on all of our daily walks we are off to a great start.  My husband and I laughed about the lady/puppy incident when I got home (long story why but it was comical to us).  


While on our walk today my 9 year old son says..."This is the best dog we have ever owned."  I will leave it at that :-)

Daca's first soccer play...

We decided today was the day to start her interacting with our sons.  What a better way than a fun game of soccer!  We had to let Ariel show her at first just how fun the soccer ball was.  Once we got her started it was Ariel inside, Daca's game on!! I ran in to get the camera to take stills but there just was not enough light left for my camera.  I put it on video mode and was able to catch some at the end.  By this time she was rather tired.  She ventured away to visit my 4.5 year old just out of frame but once called back into the game it was ON again.  You can see she was very relaxed in their presence.  Yet again another success!!!  Enjoy...sorry it is so grainy....it is a still camera after all :-)

Space and rescources- Whos are they anyway?

That is a question that Daca's answer to is wrong, she thinks all of it is hers and needs guarded with all she has.  This became very clear to me yesterday.  My original plan was to keep her separate from the dogs completely until she has bonded with me.  As part of learning behaviors I took her out with my best mannered dog, Ariel.  I wanted to see exactly what I was dealing with as far as dog to dog interaction skills.  A week from now Ariel would have been old news.  As soon as we stepped outside Ariel came into my space and Daca lunged with great warning.  I stood and observed for a moment.  With her lunge Ariel had backed away.  As soon as Ariel took a step toward me again Daca lunged to back her off again.  I knew right then she was space guarding me.  


At this point I took out the treats and the behavior became worse than ever.  Right then I learned that now she not only felt she needed to guard me but also her favorite resource, food.  We then spent about 20 minutes working a few exercises trying to show her that my space is mine and any resource is mine.


After this bit of learning about Daca I have decided that Ariel will need to be a part of her training right from the beginning.  Only about an hour or so a day learning about resources/space.  I still will not allow much fun interaction as this is all about learning who rules the roost around here.  


Daca is getting it already.  Our session this afternoon in the yard went much better than I could have expected.  We only worked on space (I left the treats inside).  I won't bore you with details but here is how things were going by the middle of our session....

When Ariel would come to me for pets Daca would not come over unless I invited her.  She never lunged at Ariel.  She did try to give Ariel "the eye" a couple times.  Since I would not allow that in my space or allow her to be in my space anymore when she acted that way she quickly knocked it off.  I think that since I was able to pick up on her guarding in the very beginning that we will kick that in the bud easier.  I do not unrealistically think that I will make it go away but she will not guard against anyone that is part of our family.  Now outside the family will be a different story but we will tackle that one when we get there.  


I did allow them just hang together for few minutes.  Ariel is a people dog and really could care less about play with another dog.   Daca initiated a play bow to Ariel and took off running.  Ariel gladly chased her around one loop of the yard.  But that was enough play for the day for Ariel.  Daca would walk over to Ariel to give her kisses and she got a "good girl" from me every time.  Ariel only felt the need to correct Daca once and I was so very proud that Daca took the correction and went on with herself.  


I know it is not fixed by any stretch with a long road ahead of us but I am once again so proud of the progress she is making.  She is so very smart and gets things so easily.  I can not imagine it being a rough road at all.

I already love her dearly.  So far she is everything that I love about an aussie.  She is so smart, a great problem solver, very dedicated, a quick learner, tough, challenging, just to name a few....everything I LOVE. She has some funny behaviors and some silly noises too.  She is just a joy to be around. 


Let's finish with a pic....here she is resting next to me while I typed this....

Daca Arrives.....

Since I have some time this morning I thought I would start with this blog.  This is a completely new concept to me so bare with me.  I sent Krisitn so many updates yesterday that I am going to share some of them here.  

Daiquiri arrives.....

You can see she was really stressed when we arrived at Delta to pick her up.  But by the time we arrived home she was already starting to calm a little.....

She was scared but not carrying herself as overly stressed.  She had shut down, which I expected.  She did not growl or bark at me yet she did not want me to touch her.  So I took her down to the semi-finished part of the basement where there is no chance of escape yet a large area and opened the crate door.  I sat on the floor with treats in hand.  We sat together for about a half hour.  I laid treats on me in different areas each time asking for her to invade my space more and more, all without me attempting to touch her to gain her trust.   We went thru her commands all of which she did wonderfully, even "down" within inches of me.  She also gave me her paw which I liked to see happen already.  I put her back into her crate for more decompressing after the flight.  Then I went back down with her dog food in hand this time.  I fed her a few pieces at a time while I used my other hand to softly touch her while still crated.  Then I moved her collar around to where I could attach the leach easily.  So now we were on leash and headed outside.  She pottied and walked around with me, coming over for food and some command work.  I released her in the fence with leash in tow and she did well, she never tried to hide nor did she feel a need to keep a constant eye on me.  So after some time I took her back to her crate for more decompressing.  She had been thru a lot the past few hours.  She still did not want me to touch her at this point bit I let her have that.  I knew she would come around all in good time.

I got Daca back out to meet the husband for the first time outside.  He had sat on the ground about 10 feet from the door we would be coming out.  Daca surprisingly started wiggling her butt all over him and giving him kisses like it was her long lost friend.  He did not even have a treat in hand!!  She was still hesitant with us but getting better by the minute.  At this point we brought her squirrel out for some play.  She brought on a killer game of tug and even played a light game of fetch for me.  

So after so more playtime I needed to work my other dogs then take time out for some updates to CA.  The entire time Daca was pitching a fit in her crate so I headed down to get her.  I did my routine of getting food and offering prior to opening the crate door.  She turned her head like "no thank you".  I though oh crap, set back.  I went ahead and opened the door held the treats in one hand while I hooked her to the lead with the other.  She came out of that crate like never before.  I do believe I was officially licked to death!!  Then she started pushing her head on the ground rooting, smiling away all while wiggling all over.  She finally flipped completely over on her back all happy with the world.   I could not stop laughing at her tactics.  At this point I knew that she was my friend!!!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  We spent time just sitting observing my sons so that she can learn that they are no harm to her.   She is doing very well in that area too, as good as can be expected really.  She does not want to be their friend yet but is being very respectful of them.  She takes treats every no nicely and even does her commands for my oldest.   My sons are accustom to having to work with pups like this so it is not new to them.  However this time they know it is for a dog that is theirs forever!!!  

To sum it up 24 hours into our "Daca Adventures" and I feel we have been very successful to this point!!  It is going much better than I ever anticipated!!  Updates from here may be slow coming as I do not expect much more to happen the next week or so.  Here is a happy face at the end of the day...