Training in the Park

Kristi finally remembered to take a camera to the park, this morning. We have two prominent goals, right now. First, get Chardonnay to down-stay with distractions and secondly, to get Zinfandel to jump-on any surface other than the floorboard of a vehicle. I have been hoping that with Chardonnay leading the way, Zinfandel would get it. Also, Chardonnay is a great heeler and I'm hoping that Zinfandel will heel better when she hears all the praise Chardonnay gets. Chardonnay gets the benefit of seeing Zinfandel do a quick sit or quick down and with that she gets lots of happy praise, (and some kibble, once in awhile), very quickly. Also, Zinfandel does a nice auto-sit at curbs so Chardonnay can learn from her. It's great having sisters to work together.

Down-stays in the cool grass after walking to the park.

On top of the picnic table after a successful jump-on, (it took a piece of kibble).

The table is metal and painted, so it's very slippery and has quarter sized holes on the top.

Chardonnay says, "So been here done this, come on!" Zinfandel says, "Am I ok? What happens next?"

Chardonnay, "I'm just gonna take a nap." Zinfandel, "O.k., so nothing awful has happened, yet."

Chardonnay jumped on the first three round steps then does a down-stay.

Chardonnay to Zinfandel, "How much longer do you think this training session will last?"

Accidentally took this while working "off"...

"Hey sis, you did it! No kibble, just followed me, good job!"

"Thanks, sis, now can you please do a down-stay so we can go home?"

Pretty girls.

A heeling we will go, a heeling we will go, hi-ho a heeling we will go.

Tired Puppies

This morning Kristi attempted to take both girls on a walk and down to the park for some training. The walk went much better than expected. The training session was short as the two girls couldn't stay focused for too long, while competing with each other. Chardonnay did great on the playground surfaces and jump-on. Zinfandel wasn't so sure about jumping on stuff that seemed too human. She does great jump-on into the car, but everything else seems foreign to her. I was hoping that with Chardonnay showing her it's ok she'd go for it, but I guess we'll need to work on that after Char-Char is back home in KC. Unfortunately, Kristi forgot the camera, again! We did do some training this afternoon, with one girl in the crate while the other worked. They did really well and were much more focused. They seem to be a bit tired this afternoon, as this video shows.

Zinfandel Invites Chardonnay to the Cabin

We took the girls to the cabin this past weekend. We are currently under contract and hope to have it sold by mid-September (please, please, please). So, we needed to get up there and start packing and hauling stuff out of there. Zinfandel loves the cabin, mostly because it's like vacation for her. Very little training and lots of running off-leash. Chardonnay wasn't so sure about the running around off-leash. But as soon as she figured out that if she kept between the humans and Zinfandel, she'd not get lost, she had a blast. We're back in Aurora and this morning Kristi took Chardonnay to the park for some training time. They have a kiddie playground and we practiced a lot of jump on and offs as well as walking on different surface types. (No photos, Kristi forgot the camera!)

Waiting for dinner!

Resting after all that running outside.

Welcoming Lee Home

Chardonnay and Lee Bond

The girls play tug.

A good nap after playing on the golf course.

Since there's not room for two to down&under Kristi's desk this is how they do it.

Bringing It Upstairs

Chardonnay in front with a green bone and Zinfandel in second place with a fire hose.

Learning the New House Rules

Zinfandel tells Chardonnay how it works in this house......

"Don't worry we don't have to pick them all up, I've trained the humans in this house to do it for us!"

Introducing Chardonnay

Chardonnay is Zinfandel's much younger sister. Zinfandel was "A" puppy and Chardonnay was "J" puppy. They get along really well and love to play and play and play. They are very different puppies, both in looks and personalities. Chardonnay is a sweet puppy and we are glad to have her for a few weeks. Once Kristi gets the hang of handling two and can add the camera she'll post more photos.

PUPS Days

What an amazing weekend. Kristi and Zinfandel traveled to Washington, KS, birthplace of Zinfandel and campus of KSDS, Inc. We learned a lot and really felt welcomed by the KSDS puppy raising family. We'll let the pictures speak for us.

Can someone get me a shade? It's a long way to KSDS.

Dried out corn crops.

What's the paw capacity in this restaurant?

A morning play in the park before PUPS days begins.

Are we ready?

You're a funny lookin' and smellin' dog....

  

Wanna make a break for it?

The reason puppy raisers do it!

Glad to have the opportunity to take this photo!

Ditto!

  

A great photo of Zinfandel, but she should be paying attention to her handler!

A Quick Update Before We Leave for PUPS Days

Well, it's official, Zinfandel is a teenager. While her six month birthday isn't until Sunday, she is already there! She has become increasingly stubborn and challenges Kristi often and at the most inopportune times. We did a KSDS presentation on Monday night. Zinfandel acted like she'd never heard the words sit or down, let alone what to do when given those commands. Then, today on our outings she acted the same way. Although her down stay was good and she came when called. So who knows. Kristi is looking forward to PUPS days and learning lots. We will miss Lee!

But I'm So Cute!

Challenged

We were challenged, today, to spell out Zinfandel's name in kibble, while she was in a down-stay, then take a picture before releasing her. She did very well, her PR on the other hand, didn't do so well with the letter making out of kibble. HA!

Is that really a "Z"?

My name is long enough to use my measured amount of kibble!

Update

Zinfandel was spayed, yesterday. We will be lying low for a week. Look for updates after PUPS (preparing useful pups for service) days, (Aug. 17th-19th). We'll also be revealing a new member to the blog!! Can you guess who?

Zinfandel Flies From MN to CO

Zinfandel had her first, taxi, TSA, electric hand dryer, plane, hurry up in an airport approved lot, etc. experience, on Monday. She did well and it appears it was harder for the PRs than for the pup! Good girl, Zinfandel. TSA was the worst of it. Kristi asked the man how he wanted to proceed, he asked that Zinfandel's leash be removed, but her collar and GL to stay on. Kristi put Zinfandel in a sit-stay and proceeded through the metal detector, without Zinfandel. She turned around and called Zinfandel through. Zinfandel did great, but of course the detector went off since both her collar and GL have metal rings. We went back through, removed those, returned to a sit-stay. Kristi went through again and then called Zinfandel through. This time no alarm, so Kristi thinks, whew got through that, off to the plane now. But as she reached for the collar and GL from the TSA agent, another agent came over and said Kristi had been randomly selected and needed to follow him, without getting the leash out of the bin. Oh boy!

Off we went, no collar, no GL and no leash. Thank goodness for the cape! Zinfandel did as well as can be expected in the circumstances, although there was definitely not a heel! Once Kristi's hands were tested she grabbed the collar and GL and got them on Zinfandel. Since we had to cross two lanes of passengers, bags, kids, strollers, TSA agents and who knows what else. Kristi grabbed Zinfandel's collar to walk to our far, far away end. Not an ideal situation at all, but what's one to do? Upon getting to Kristi's bin, she grabbed the leash and snapped in on Zinfandel, WHEW!!!! But wait, now another TSA agent wants to test Kristi's shoes. REALLY!!!!??????!!!! Ok, fine, Kristi will get her stuff back in her purse while you do that. Thankfully, Lee was traveling with us, (this is not normal), he grabbed his bag and laptop bag and was going to grab Kristi's, but couldn't find it. YET ANOTHER TSA agent had grabbed it and was going through it. It mostly had Zinfandel's stuff in it, and it was amusing to the lady behind us. She asked, "Is the pink bra one of her squeaky toys too?" After 15 minutes, they determined it was the Coleman bag tag on the front pocket. (I could not make this stuff up!) At this point they have no idea of how to repack Zinfandel's suitcase that is inside Kristi's and make Kristi's stuff fit in around it. We were taken to another area where Kristi repacked. And you thought this was going to be about an airplane ride. HA! We just hope that no disabled person would ever have to go through this situation!

Once in the boarding area, we got seats together and went to the restroom. There Zinfandel encountered her first Dyson high-speed hand dryer. She wasn't to sure about it, but by the time we used our third one, in Denver she was completely oblivious to them.

Zinfandel slept most of the flight, except when the flight attendants would come to say hi to her and give kisses.

Once in Denver we needed to use the escalators to get down to the train to go to the main terminal. She wasn't so sure about them but went with it pretty well and did even better on the way up after the train ride, which also went ok. She did break her sit-stay when the train lurched.

By the time we got to the passenger pick-up to wait for Aunt Ally, Zinfandel was done with this training moment! She would not hold a sit or down-stay for very long. Apparently 5 hours is enough for a 5 month old puppy!

Waiting as TSA unpacks every item!

Waiting in the boarding area.

Is it time to get on the plane yet?

Colorado bound.