A blog to track the training and activities of my border collie, Jedi.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
7 Months Old! And a new addition
Jedi turned 7 months old yesterday! I'm a day late in posting due to something else going on here right now, but more about that in a minute. On Tuesday I ended up taking Jedi to class with me. It was the second week of classes so I thought maybe he might come in handy for demoing stuff to the advanced group. I also felt bad because Tuesday is an office day and he'd already spent half the day in his crate. I figured even if he was crated at class, at least it was a different location with stuff going on. I spent some time before class working on Jedi's heeling skills, something we haven't touched since our Silvia Trkman class. We were still working when the advanced students started to arrive, so this was a good opportunity to work through distraction. Jedi reacted towards the pitty types in the class -- I corrected him and he was easily redirected, but that was naughty. He did well in his crate during class and came out to demo some tricks at the very end. I ended up putting him in the van for puppy class so he wouldn't be disruptive -- I'm sure the puppies would have been super exciting for him.
Jedi didn't get to do anything super exciting to celebrate this 7th month on this planet. I consider it a pretty great achievement that we've made it this long without him breaking (badly, at least). Knock wood... Jedi was the 3rd to wear the super special sparkly seven hat. It was originally purchased for Kaiser's 7th birthday, then Secret wore it last month, and now it signifies 7 months for Jedi. I suppose now I need to put it away for a couple of years until Kizzy turns 7! That thing gets around. As usual, Jedi was a champ about posing with crap on his head. He's such a good sport.
I knew that my evening was going to be devoted to other things, so I opted to take Jedi out for a play session at lunch time to wear him out a bit. It's been a while since I've taken video of one of our training sessions, so I set the camera on a fence post and recorded it. I really couldn't be more pleased of Jedi's progress. He has picked up some fairly complex skills so quickly -- honestly, I'm pretty sure he's got a better understanding of some cues than my "trained" dogs. :o) I tried to include as much of the stuff we've been working on in this session as I could remember. I'm so amazingly proud of his ability to leave his toy on the ground while he works -- and not even lose any speed! All it really took was that one session and he's been great about it ever since. Jedi is showing an amazing understanding of check-check and na-na, allowing me to get the backside from a bit of a distance. He has a great understanding of a backside push and can flip out around the wing. His ability to work and move away from me is phenomenal, at least with these simple pinwheel exercises. And the best part is that to Jedi this is all just play! He loves it so much.
My big plans for last night involved driving down to Madison to pick up a visitor. We have another Klee Kai in the house for a bit, which Jedi thinks is the best thing ever because, you know, he's a Klee Kai, too. They are his kin. Link is an older fellow, around 10 we've discovered, so he's not super into playing with Jedi, but they are doing well together. If anything, the new arrival is making Kaiser and Kizzy more playful and Jedi is benefiting from this. Kaiser was playing with Jedi right in front of me outside today! This is usually reserved for their secret one-on-one sessions when they are outside alone. Jedi was in heaven!
Jedi didn't get a play session today because I had a meeting immediately after getting home from work and then took Link to the vet this afternoon. We were outside for probably 4-5 hours this afternoon, though, so I figure it's all good. Link should be settled enough that tomorrow we can resume Jedi's normal schedule of playing while all of the other dogs mill around the yard. Due to our change in circumstances I'm going to guess that we will not be making it to Madison this weekend for the Pier Pups event. I'm really hoping we can get back up to Lake Wazee for a swim while the weather is warm enough. Maybe that's an option for this weekend? We'll see.
Jedi turned 7 months old yesterday! I'm a day late in posting due to something else going on here right now, but more about that in a minute. On Tuesday I ended up taking Jedi to class with me. It was the second week of classes so I thought maybe he might come in handy for demoing stuff to the advanced group. I also felt bad because Tuesday is an office day and he'd already spent half the day in his crate. I figured even if he was crated at class, at least it was a different location with stuff going on. I spent some time before class working on Jedi's heeling skills, something we haven't touched since our Silvia Trkman class. We were still working when the advanced students started to arrive, so this was a good opportunity to work through distraction. Jedi reacted towards the pitty types in the class -- I corrected him and he was easily redirected, but that was naughty. He did well in his crate during class and came out to demo some tricks at the very end. I ended up putting him in the van for puppy class so he wouldn't be disruptive -- I'm sure the puppies would have been super exciting for him.
Jedi didn't get to do anything super exciting to celebrate this 7th month on this planet. I consider it a pretty great achievement that we've made it this long without him breaking (badly, at least). Knock wood... Jedi was the 3rd to wear the super special sparkly seven hat. It was originally purchased for Kaiser's 7th birthday, then Secret wore it last month, and now it signifies 7 months for Jedi. I suppose now I need to put it away for a couple of years until Kizzy turns 7! That thing gets around. As usual, Jedi was a champ about posing with crap on his head. He's such a good sport.
I knew that my evening was going to be devoted to other things, so I opted to take Jedi out for a play session at lunch time to wear him out a bit. It's been a while since I've taken video of one of our training sessions, so I set the camera on a fence post and recorded it. I really couldn't be more pleased of Jedi's progress. He has picked up some fairly complex skills so quickly -- honestly, I'm pretty sure he's got a better understanding of some cues than my "trained" dogs. :o) I tried to include as much of the stuff we've been working on in this session as I could remember. I'm so amazingly proud of his ability to leave his toy on the ground while he works -- and not even lose any speed! All it really took was that one session and he's been great about it ever since. Jedi is showing an amazing understanding of check-check and na-na, allowing me to get the backside from a bit of a distance. He has a great understanding of a backside push and can flip out around the wing. His ability to work and move away from me is phenomenal, at least with these simple pinwheel exercises. And the best part is that to Jedi this is all just play! He loves it so much.
My big plans for last night involved driving down to Madison to pick up a visitor. We have another Klee Kai in the house for a bit, which Jedi thinks is the best thing ever because, you know, he's a Klee Kai, too. They are his kin. Link is an older fellow, around 10 we've discovered, so he's not super into playing with Jedi, but they are doing well together. If anything, the new arrival is making Kaiser and Kizzy more playful and Jedi is benefiting from this. Kaiser was playing with Jedi right in front of me outside today! This is usually reserved for their secret one-on-one sessions when they are outside alone. Jedi was in heaven!
Jedi didn't get a play session today because I had a meeting immediately after getting home from work and then took Link to the vet this afternoon. We were outside for probably 4-5 hours this afternoon, though, so I figure it's all good. Link should be settled enough that tomorrow we can resume Jedi's normal schedule of playing while all of the other dogs mill around the yard. Due to our change in circumstances I'm going to guess that we will not be making it to Madison this weekend for the Pier Pups event. I'm really hoping we can get back up to Lake Wazee for a swim while the weather is warm enough. Maybe that's an option for this weekend? We'll see.
Jedi looks so cute in that hat. Like he's humoring you, but he's so good about it!
ReplyDeleteHe is a good boy. :o) He's never even tried to brush it off. He just accepts it as one of the weird things I do to him. lol
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