It’s been an emotional couple of days preparing for the first Hero to take the leap into his new life. We had one last training session, some family portraits and a final play with everyone all before 9am today!
Our training was all about tricks motivated by foundation puppy strengthening:
- CRAWL: strengthens glutes, hamstrings & abs while stretching out the hip flexors and releasing the back
- SPIN: left & right spinning strengthens & stretches the oblique abdominals as well as the thorax plus it builds proprioception
- ROLL-OVER: builds core strength and should be trained both directions over time
All the puppies have struggled with the rollover… likely because I’ve taught a fold-back sphinx down. None of them want to slide to a hip on their down which is necessary to lead the nose to the shoulder for the trick. We’ve been trying for some time now and today we had success with Tony & Barry! A nice note for Barry to leave on today! Each puppy has mastered the spin and are getting closer to a reliable signal instead of a lure. And we started on the crawl today and Shazam knocked that one out of the park.
Our last Family Portrait was on my agenda for the last 65 days — I just never got to it. I have been storing my family’s rocker cradle that has seen at least 6 generations and dates back at least 125 years. It seemed like a fitting prop for some last photos of this band of brothers. While I got a few nice shots, the process was clearly entertaining as demonstrated by the blooper real at the end!
There was also an opportunity for Barry to have a last sweet play with the family, burning off some energy before being confined in his travel bag for the flight.
Thibault & Sophie arrived midday yesterday and spent the rest of the day & evening getting to know “Kiba”(aka Barry) and his Superhero brothers. It was time well spent as the first part of his transition has gone very well as a result of Kiba/Barry feeling safe with them. Though it was a long day of traveling, he did very well and arrived at his new home in Montreal with lots of energy to burn. Thibault & Sophie are the perfect fit for Kiba/Barry and I’m confident they will thrive together as they’re quickly bonding.
The rest of our day was pretty subdued. It felt like everyone’s energy was low as the family dynamic shifted. I questioned whether this was true or my imagination until I started editing video. The volume was up as I played a video clip of Barry chirping — I was surprised to see Tony jump up out of what I thought was a dead sleep and race out of the house through the dog door to find him. It was sweet and sad all at the same time as the puppies had been napping after their morning play together and missed Kiba/Barry’s actual departure.
The other component of my own upheaval was my truck unexpectedly dying yesterday after a sniff walk with the dogs. And I mean it is D.E.A.D. where we may need a tombstone. There were some challenges with getting it towed for repair today as it was in the middle of a field at Y-Knott Ranch and apparently Good Sam support staff don’t know what to do with GPS coordinates.
I actually had to explain that the string of two sets of numbers were longitude & latitude meridians on the earth that intersect exactly where my truck was. “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” comes to mind.
It eventually landed at the dealership in High River but they’re swamped so I am likely in limbo without answers for a few days yet. So grateful to my friend Billie for the loaner car in the meantime… but something tells me the outcome of this calamity won’t be good.