On Wednesday before Thanksgiving Proton lacerated her right hind leg requiring 10 stitches. This is the following morning, where Maya is comforting her daughter letting her know that she is there for her. She is truly a wonderful mom….. 9 months later.
Safe Mountain’s most recent branch off the family tree— from left to right: Sisters- Ice and Proton with mother Maya.
This photo is from this past week’s group class with all the students half way through their hike all staying together on a rock in the middle of nowheres as a happy pack of friends under a unified command. I love working with dogs in the woods, it’s where they belong.
Proton watches her pack mates stay, while she ponders if she’ll someday have to do the same.
Today was a great day at Karen’s. We worked all the dogs from 6am to 12pm then took the whole crew down to the creek for a swim. Proton has been in water a lot but not deep enough to swim in yet. We got her wet and swimming around but was not too enthused with it. Bob’s pup Sage was a little motor boat.
This morning Proton and I headed out to Kingston to get new tires on the truck before our work day started around 11:30am. Good thing we got there at 7:00am! We had to wait at the tire shop for 3.5 hours! For the first 30 minutes I decided to take Proton for a walk along 9W, which is a major highway. I wanted to see what her reaction would be to traffic of that volume and she was completely unphased. I had brought her tug rag along in case she seemed comfortable enough to try it. She was very playful with it but due to it being a completely new environment with all the new things to check out her focus was on and off, as to be expected for a near 10 week old pup of course. We ran on the leash back on forth on the grassy shoulders of the road. Even met a few friendly strangers. After that we went in the office and sat and wait for the truck to be done….and waited…..and waited…..and waited….. ugh! But the good thing was once we were in there for 15 minutes she laid down and passed out for the entire time, so that part was painless. It was good— she was totally chill with all the strangers coming in and going out and the air compressor in the garage next door. Just taking advantage of a napping moment.
Once finished we stopped by my grandparents where Xila and Proton got to play with Sumo, my grandparents’ GSD from my first litter. Sumo is a half brother to Proton (Quax is the dad to both). After hanging out there for 20 minutes we had to dart off to our first lesson of the day, which she had to stay in the truck for. I kept her in the front seat for this one, she (knock on wood) has not been destructive at all in the front of the truck. The second lesson of the day was her favorite! She got to play with her brother Zeus, who looks great and was happy to romp with his sister. My dog student, Athena and Xila played with everyone as well. After that party I placed her in the crate in the truck where she stayed for the following lesson. On our way to our last lesson of the day it started to down-poor we did a U-turn and went home to tend to the rest of the pack for the evening.
Proton greeted her family with a full smile, tail wag and teeth! …… and that’s where we are at right now at 6:15pm 
From bed I hear Proton scratching at the door to go out after having slept for 6.5 hours. So I spring up and run to the door to let her out. She runs across the driveway to pee and poop. She immediately runs back inside to me where the little vice grip latches onto my ankle and nearly takes me down. Being the proud working line GSD owner, I say with a painful grin— “that’da girl!” in a high pitched encouraging tone as I hop over to my rag on a string. We played Catch the Chippie if you can for about 5 minutes. Thus far she has been developing a nice solid grip.
About six months before I bred Maya and Quax I was driving home from a training and just thinking proud thoughts of my dogs for who they are (that’s so much of my identity as a human being, since they are such a true extension of myself)— and the word proton popped into my head and it seemed just so fitting for these high octane, fast moving, fast thinking, ramming, jamming dogs. …..and sure enough— it is.
This afternoon my friend, Jasen and I went out to the back 40 and shot our .22 long rifles for 2 hours. I had brought Proton along for the ride to see how she would response to a lower level gun shot. Well we were shooting from a picnic table in the back field and she ran around chasing butterflies for a little while and then curled up next to my feet and was completely unphased by the entire shooting experience. So thus far certainly noises have not intimidated her at all and it’s business as usual for her.
Today was a lovely home day with all the pooches. We dissembled the whelping box that has been living in the bedroom since March 1st and cleaned up the kennel where the pups had been living for the last 2.5 weeks they were here. So the kennel is set up for adults hang out once again.
Proton was in the middle of all the action while I was using the power drill on the whelping box and the vacuum to clean up the shavings. She was interested and never flinched at any of the noise either made.
This late afternoon we had our first building drive and focus session with the little piece of cloth tied to a cord and bamboo stick, until the pup is really obsessed with it I soak half the cloth in some chicken or beef juice. She was super interested for the entire 5 minutes that I played with her. This is a method that was long invented before I was born— the trick is do you know how to make that little piece of cloth make chipmunk-like movements, make the right noises, and know how to give and take when the pup is tugging on the cloth and know when to quit on a high note— that’s the where the art is.
5 minutes of this primal play and she slept for 2.5 hours!
