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(19 Weeks 0 Days) 38.0 Lbs Gun work and marking practice continued this week. Rosie has improved her marking skills to the point that she pretty much stays in the area of the fall when she does not go directly to the bumper. Her hunts are pretty neat for a pup. Rosie again went along for the ride to a hunt test. She was not entered but did manage some good exposure to the atmosphere. Rusty's work at this test was unusually poor. Not sure why but I guess even dogs have a bad day ever now and then. Today was Rosie's introduction to the e-collar. Well, almost. She is now wearing a dummy collar. No corrections will be given with this device for some time to come. The purpose here is to acclimate Rosie to its presence and most importantly to avoid a collar wise dog. With the collar being worn at all times there is little chance that the corrections we give down the road will be associated with the collar instead of an improper action. We are laying the foundation for its use. Teething seems to be going well. Rosie now has many of her adult teeth but not all. As mentioned last week we were looking for developing problems. We found one. During our marking drills Rosie's sit commands (Voice & Whistle) began to suffer. It was expected and we did manage to recognize that we were getting a little out of balance. The problem is improving but, the correction is being done gradually. It would be completely possible to make the correction in about five minutes but that is not what we are looking for. The balance we are looking for is found by not putting a damper on her eagerness to retrieve during our marking drills. As always, we want to fix little problems more often as opposed to fixing big problems every once in a while. Cool weather is now becoming more frequent in our part of the country. Rosie's reaction to it is remarkable. Her energy level is heightened and her control and obedience skills are tested much more often. I do not look at this as a problem. It is an opportunity to implant the obedience commands to a higher level. Simple consistency in her required standard of performance should do the trick and that is what we will be doing this week. Rosie has been started on the new product "Revolution". If you don't know of it I suggest you ask your vet. This is the only product I know of that controls pests and can be used on young pups. It also takes care of heartworms. (very important in our area.) No, I am not trying to sell the product. More importantly we are going to be watching for any adverse problems that could show up. The product is systemic in nature. We are also thinking hard about starting some basic handling skills. Rosie is a little younger than we normally start this but at the moment I can't think of any reason not to start. Doing so will also give us another drill that we can use to clean up the sit commands. Our first handling command will be "over" and it will take place on our long table with a live bird. Maybe next week.................. For the next diary entry, please visit Week 20 of Rosie's Journal. |
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