Porch Puppies

Another doggone post.

Picture below: we were working on recall and Hannah comes to me when I bend down and whistle or clap my hands.

She knows that 2 out of 3 times there is a kibble in my hand for her when she gets to me. She has to sit for it [I don't do that on command, we start with positioning the kibble above her nose. She sits and she gets it. I am starting to add the vocal 'sit' but she won't get it for a while yet.]

 

Recall is one of the most important things to teach a dog. It literally saved the life of Missy who was a Lab X Samoyed dog I had when my kids were very young. We'd just moved to a farm with a busy highway. Missy saw kids in the yard across the highway and went to greet them just as a Kemps Semi was barreling down the road.

I called out her name and yelled the only thing that came to mind. "Down!" Missy dropped to her chest mid stride and lay in the ditch as the semi blew its horn as it passed.

"Free!" and "Come" were my next commands and she ran as hard as she could to me and sat on my left side. 

She was an incredible dog. I had taken a 10 week course in Obedience with her in the 1980's. Training methods were much different then.

When I got my first Terrier [Fiest], I had no clue as to how to train something that was only 10 inches tall and full of crazy and attitude.

Xena had her own mind and was aggressive and nuts. She hunted on her own once in a while and would return to our place when she felt like it. She was beautiful and loyal to me. She definitely had a mind of her own though.

She was the longest lived of her litter mates who were all extremely aggressive. Her temperament with me was fine. She didn't tolerate other humans even though I tried socializing her. 

She lived until she was 4. We surmise that she got into a barn and ate rats that had been poisoned.

Xena, the warrior princess. 

Morris was the next Terrier I got in 2005. Crazy us, we decided to try again....

He came from very quiet and well behaved Jack Russell parents. 

He was so easy to be with, it was insane.

He went to work with me often and was the official patient greeter.

He literally would do anything for anyone. His biggest love was riding with Badger and I on adventures.

He followed the grandkids around like a little protector. We were so lucky to have him for nearly 15 years.

When he died, I couldn't bare to try another Jack Russell. I came home with Charlie [Daschsund X Pekinese]. He is totally different in temperament and demeanor. He is reserved, stoic, gentle, and is a Velcro dog. 

He's never met a person he didn't love through and through.

So .. I strayed quite a bit. Hannah Belle. 

So far she is a quick study. She is afraid of noises, a me too dog, and energetic.

I hope I can maintain her recall and continue to work on her manners along with all the other things she needs to learn. 

Yesterday, she and Charlie were porch puppies. She was content to be tied up to stay on the porch while I cleaned mule tails and groomed them.

When I put her up on the bench with Charlie later on, this happened:

Being a 3 month old [on the 24th] is hard work. So much to learn and absorb!

I went back to a Terrier mix [Terror Mix] because they are so high energy. Now the challenge is to see if I can work with her and we can become a dynamic trio.

So far. So good.