This Blog is about over....

When I started this blog I thought there would be a lot to blog about on our journey with Daiquiri.  As it turns out she is not the project that I thought she would be.  On the contrary she is rather easy to live with.  She has been here for just over nine weeks now.  In those weeks I did not "fix" her, I am not a miracle trainer as all of you know training takes lots of time and 9 weeks is not even close to enough time to do much in.  I attribute a lot of what she has become to three things....

1.  Our family is full of strong leaders, ones that Daiquiri can respect.
2.  She has grown up a lot just with time alone.  
3.  We accept her for who she is and do not try to change what is in her, just manage it.

She has learned more self control which I think has come with age.  She thinks before she reacts now and even has a nice call off.  She is just doing as her instincts tell her....to protect her family and home.  She is still working to perfect on how to do that but I know she will get it in no time as I see it with this new self control.  

She is doing great at living peacefully with another dog.  We have only had one fight in which her call off went completely away.  I learned a great deal from the fight which gave me the tools to understand her even more.  I can see when the girls need a break from each other.  When Ariel has had enough of Daiquiri's puppy tactics and when Ariel's challenge gets under Daiquiri's skin.  We let them cool off apart for a bit then all is back to normal.  Daiquiri has already taken on the lead dog role.  Ariel knows it and accepts it without much of a fuss.  Ariel acts more of the nurturing role with Daiquiri.  Just this morning Ariel was back to trying to teach Daiquiri how to share a toy in a fun way.  It was so cool to watch them interact and see Daiquiri getting it.  I am so blessed to have such a patient dog as Ariel.  She plays a huge role helping me show new dogs how things can work peacefully (she was raised with a bunch of fosters that always needed a little help in one area or another).  

I was going to list some of the little things that I cherish about her but that could turn into a book because she is so close to perfect in our family. So just to list a couple...I love how in the morning when she hears me stir she lets out her "get up" grunt and when I tell her not yet the big huge sigh she lets out as she lays back down.  I love the way she patiently waits for my oldest to climb all the way down from his bed so she does not make him fall before tackling him for loves.  I love how she will come up from behind to nudge me as if to say "hey take a love break there."  I love to watch her entertain herself with a toy, especially a ball.  She will roll it so it hits the wall to come back to her...playing fetch all by herself.  I love to watch her interact with the boys, she knows they are hers.  And most of all I love the way that she looks at each one of us like we are the light making her world shine.  


So not really much to blog about at this time.  I am headed to watch a lady work her BC herding.  I know that it is totally different than an Aussie but I am told the lady that she works with also does Aussies.  I am going so that I can talk with the lady for myself to get a feel if I think she knows Aussie (of coarse I will have to come home and e-mail Kristin to actually know if she does).  Until we start that or get to the point we start competing in frisbee there is not enough publicly interesting stuff to talk about.  I am sure I will put an update on here from time to time.  


Lets end this last one with some pictures....

 I love this one.  It cracks me up every time she pants hard!!

See she can lay with Ariel while Ariel chews the toy that she wants.  It took a bit to get to this point but finally SUCCESS!!

I am sure many of you saw this one on Kristin's blog but my all time favorite!!

As usual she does whatever the boys do!!


Of coarse the boys love this short video.  She did this over and over with the biggest grin on her face.  When it was time to go in she stood by one of the leaf piles with the smashed ball in her mouth hoping for one last toss!!!

Last I want to thank Kristin once again for choosing our family for Daiquiri.  We know that she was taking a chance flying her all the way here.  No one could ask for more dedication and faith than Kristin gave to this puppy!!  We are also thankful for the immediate trust and faith she had in our family.  Daiquiri is definitely where she is meant to be. 

Until another time..........