Thursday 20 January 2011

small dog syndrome

I have been involved in traning now for 15 years, doesnt feel like it!! Im very passionate about my dogs, and those of my friends, and those i have bred, I love the way they learn and how they can pick up such a variety of tricks and behaviours!
I have been looking into doing behavioural courses and the like, but my word, the price!! wow! Considering you don't actually 'need' any qualifications to train dogs, its no wonder so many people dont have any! So it means i am re-thinking my plans for myself this year, as i was hoping to get some qualifications behind me!
With this in mind, i think of the spiderman quote!

-with great power, comes great responsibility!

ok so maybe it didnt come from spiderman first, but its what i think of! This also applies with dog training, we have the power to teach people to teach their dogs, its a great power to have you know, people come to us to help them learn, I remember my first puppy class with Jak 13 years ago, i remember going to agility for the first time to watch the dogs that had so much control and ability, and thinking wow, those trainers know their stuff! Training has evolved into so many methods, we can now find ones to suit almost every dog we see, how wonderful is THAT!

I started off training borrowed dogs, then i finally got my own dog aged 18, and havent looked back since, I have personally owned border collies and a golden retreiver, and a cross breed bewtween the 2 then more collies.... stage right and enter my new challenge

LOKI!

She was born on 1st October 2010, she is out of a JRT mum Freebie, and her dad is Horace, a JRT x Chi.

hmmm small!!
after owning and breeding larger dogs for the last few years, a small dog is somewhat a whole new ball game! She is feisty, stubborn, cuddly and sweet and very manipulative! All of those describe her well!

I am determined she will not be a small dog with small dog syndrome thinking she is better than everything else! At the moment, she has my other 8 dogs exactly where she wants them! they give up toys, she uses them to springboard onto the sofa! At feeding time she has sussed if she doesnt eat, she will get nicer food put in it, so sometimes will just sit and stare at her bowl willing it to change! She also decides if hers isnt any good she'll sample what everyone else has! of course their dry adult food is FAR superior to her warm meat and biscuit! arrrrgh!
dont even get me started on crate games with a tiny dog - yes she has a tiny cage, yes she likes food, and YES she throws a princess hissy fit as soon as you walk out of the room! Shreds the paper and throws her toys about in a paddy!

SO, after 15 years of training, im back to learning all over again i reckon!
Here are some pics of my 'princess'







1 comment:

bbes tribe said...

Oh yes!! She is beautiful. Our Chica is like that Very Sweet BUT thinks she is in charge of the other dogs. Even over Sasha who is MANY times bigger also very mellow. M & D had bigger dogs until they got her. It is a new ballgame so to speak.
Good luck. M & D can learn from you & how you handle it.
Tailwags
Ernie,Sasha, & of course Chica