Some days you make a plan, and it goes perfectly… And then there are others where you are surprised by how things turn out. Today is one of those surprise days for me.
Peaceful Morning
It’s a beautiful morning and with a Baileys and coffee in hand I sat out on the patio watching The Heroes have fun in the outdoor Playtopia. Puppy Culture concepts include different equipment presented differently in environments to encourage engagement and exploration. This helps the puppies learn to be adventurous and resilient as they experience an unpredictable life. The video is a little more than 2 minutes however I love how relaxed and peaceful they are as they can just “be” without expectation.
I managed to capture Peter demonstrating my moving floor custom built piece of puppy equipment. It is meant to offer them practice with proprioception while giving away to build strength and coordination. He uses it beautifully! And you’ll notice that he is not the least bit phased by the movements… Just calmly coping along.
Puppy Paperwork
After a little bit of clicker training, and a late breakfast, I moved on to my big task today, which was to prepare the final edits for my puppy packages. It took a lot longer than I expected but the outcome is better than I imagined. It is a vinyl 10 pocket folder, stuffed with all things Reel ACD. It has a quick reference of contact info and registration numbers for me/CKC’s/CanadaCHIP, along with purchase agreement, parental pedigrees/litter registration, breeder health record, nomograph/vaxx/vet visits, health test results, and so much more. It is intended to be helpful and informative for every new ACD Owner & be a means to stay organized as new documents filter in. I hope it works out well for Barry’s new family and the rest of the heroes when they find theirs.
Training for Rain
And the second unexpected outcome today was all about Shazam. I set up the sprinkler, expecting it to be nothing but exciting and fun in 25°C weather. And it was for three of the four puppies however, Shazam had a great deal of uncertainty around being pelted with raindrops on his head and back. There were moments where he seemed more like a WWII vet having a flashback to mortar shell attack as he hunkered down and scuttled off like a cockroach. The video I have attached is largely showing us working through it as I fed cookies to distract from the water as the sprinkler came and went. He had some really good moments of working through his anxiety. The last moments of the video are rather humorous, as they reminded me of Monty Python’s Holy Grail “Run away! Run away!” Not to worry, we did not leave him there in the training but we ended shortly after. One way or another we will sort it out as we do not have control of the weather… So coping with rain, wind, snow, etc. is a necessity, not optional.
The surprise to me came in that he has risen to the challenge in so many more adverse situation’s than water falling from the sky. But I guess each puppy has had their uncertain moment… Peter & the noisy plastic sheet; Tony & the sheep last week; and Barry with the unknowns of Volhard testing. None of them, including Shazam showed me full on fear. It has all been about uncertainty and my role being to support and hold a paw to get through it. I’m sure we will be dancing in the rain soon enough!
And with that, I will sign off as I still have many chores to do. Happy Purebred Dog Day! I’ll be sure to give each one an extra cuddle tonight because soon there will be only six.