Today we finally sent the remaining pups to their new homes. I was the last one to get my pup so to speak….. since I could not really spend time with her individually because of the demands of the litter (and the 8 other dogs on the property…hehe).
Right after the last pup left the house around 12:30pm— I ran around the yard with just Proton outside spewing girly squeaking inviting noises….. real alpha…ha! She chased me around for a minute or two then she latched onto my pant leg and with that she was growling and tugging intensely. I told her “good girl!” in a high pitched tone that would maintain her excited state for awhile. After a minute or two I picked her up and blew her kisses in her face and she licked me back over and over….. and over and over….. and over and over as we walked down to the house.
Mid-day today we hung out in the house for awhile and she ate a chicken thigh for lunch with a little ground beef. Around 2pm we went over to hang out with grandpa for an hour or so. The ride is about 15 minutes and she got to ride shotgun. I also brought Maya, Quax and Xila along for the ride. My grandfather and I hung out in the back yard talking about dogs and pigeons while Maya, Quax, Xila and Proton ran around the with Sumo (my grandparents GSD from our last litter— Quax & Lee). They all had a blast running around 2 acres. Proton then collapsed at my feet for the last 20 minutes of the visit.
We then loaded up in the truck and headed down the road a piece to one of my dog hiking/search training locations. I took all of my GSDs and went for a 20 minute walk through the woods. The three adults were running and romping all over the the place having a grand time. My attitude on the walk was that everything is cool and Proton was along for the ride, not the center of attention. Every so often I’d bend down and give her encouragement with a few pats on her side and continue our walk. She stayed next to me the entire time and thought about drifting off with Maya and Xila ahead a few times but didn’t.
She happily trotted along with me over minor natural obstacles such as— very shallow drainages, quarry mounds and downed trees 18 inches in diameter. When we went over the trees I never helped her per say. The more the dog does on their own the more confident and independent the dog will become in a good day. The way that I would assist Proton, was if she was trying to climb over a tree and it was just too big for her to get over physically then I’d post my hand rigidly, acting as a branch for her to push off of so essentially from her perspective she did it herself. I did not lift her up at all or give tons of encouragement to coax her over. As she was successfully conquering each new thing I would praise her very much but only when she was completing her challenge, not during. The timing of this praise promotes independent thinking and decision-making confidence in the pup. I remember with Proton’s mother, Maya, the first time we were in the woods on a hike and we came across this 2 foot high ledge that she was apprehensive about jumping down. It was a long ledge so she really could not avoid it. I hopped down off the ledge and she was teetering on the edge for a good long minute making every kind of vocalization know to dog…..worried, frustrated, scared, angry, you name it. She finally just did it and I praised her tremendously. You have to be able to read your dog. These mental/physical challenges will stress your dog but you do not want the stress to last long nor the challenge too ridiculous a request either. While Maya was having a cow, over her proposed “little” jump, I was sitting about 3 feet away from the ledge below just hanging out looking all around in a totally calm absorbing state. After she did it and was rewarded, she acted as if she had always been doing jumping like that. You have to sometimes put the dog in a position that will force it to make a decision and depending on the degree of training, a bond with the handler and ability to independently think will increase it’s cavalier personality.
Once we arrived back at the truck, we play musical doggy chairs and I placed Proton in the crate behind my seat in the truck. This is the first time that she has ever been closed in the crate by me and left there. She screamed for about the first 7 minutes of a 15 minute car ride back home.
When we got home she hung out in the yard with the other 8 dogs playing for around 30 minutes then she went inside and took a nap for a bit. When she awoke I fed her (and everyone else there dinner). She got one chicken thigh and a bit of ground beef.
After dinner— Proton ran around the pigeon coops while I was cleaning, feeding and watering my birds. From now until we went to bed she was just hung out with Jana and I. When she has to eliminate she has been vocalizing and starts dancing around so anticipating her makes it pretty easy at this time.
We are concluding our night on our Swedish Tempurpedic bed to watch our first of many movies together before going to bed.
