Edna enters the “teen” months

It’s time for an Edna update!

She has been busy, these two months she has been a Landis household member. After three weeks living here, it was time for family vacation. She traveled with us to Blanchard, Washington which is near my family and at the border near northern Idaho.

We had a layover at SeaTac airport long enough that my daughter, Claire and I picked her up at the Alaska Air counter and took her out for a little break near the miserable “dog area” outside the terminal. We found some shade near a strip of shrubs above the area, and even better, an adorable 8-week old boxer puppy that was on its way to Anchorage with a friend of her new mom’s.

Edna was unimpressed with the puppy. I have found, since, that she will bare her teeth at puppies after the first 30 seconds or so of greeting, and even at some adult dogs she meets. That is something I am working on.

My latest idea, to remedy this unfriendliness, is to use one of her favorite noisy toys, like a squeaky or plastic bottle, to distract her from her ugly thoughts and channel her energy positively. That has worked with my older search dog, Levi, who also has feelings about new dogs that aren’t all happiness and butterflies. 🙂

We lived for two weeks in our vacation rental and Edna really was delighted with the resident ranch dogs, German shepherd Ivan and Boston terrier mix, Cruiser. She also really liked Luke, my brother’s young Doberman pinscher, which he just adopted last spring.

Most of our training has not been too fancy. My strongest priority has been to finish up potty training! That is my least favorite task with a new dog. Once she hit 16 weeks, it seemed like she began to be capable of more awareness and focus and began to go to the door when she needed to go out.

Nevertheless: there still are accidents when I am not vigilant enough. It’s just the way puppy raising goes. 🙂

She has gotten very good at a few obedience exercises though. She can bark on command, which is critical for our SAR training. She also has a good start on competition-obedience-style heeling, a quick, clean drop on command, walking backwards, staying in a given position for 15 seconds or so at a time, “shake” paw/hand, “come,” sit and stay for dinner and we are starting on the “stand stay.”

I am using clicker training for many tasks, but not all. The worst thing about using a clicker is that I often don’t have it with me when I need it!

We also are practicing loose-leash walking.

One of her more annoying traits is that she submissively pees when meeting new people. I have noticed that in the last week this is lessening, which is great. I’ve just ignored it, feeling pretty sure it would fade as she gained maturity and confidence. Even more annoying is that she loves to exuberantly greet our two cats while peeing and swishing her tail through the puddles. Oh, the joys of a puppy!

Since returning home, Edna has been meeting many new people, puppies, dogs and training a little bit every day. I have introduced her to many different types of toys, so I can decide which type will motivate her the most when we begin search problems.

We take at least a one-hour hike each day, and I am focused on getting to know her so I can be the best handler for her when we are ready to hit the woods for some real work!