Visiting and Socializing Dog Show Style

Ever wonder what it is like to go to go to a dog show WITHOUT dogs? Well check back later and I will fill you in.

We are off to the Woodstock, Ontario show. I will fill you in as if you were there.

For now - Wasabi is waiting till her next heat - coming soon and we will breed her many days so we make sure she has a crew come spring. Just think - we will have water puppies as they will all get their chance in the pool and videos to show - fun!

Be sure to watch Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday. It starts on Monday with those OTHER dogs. Rockhurst who Treasure and Abigail are from will have 2 dogs in the show. Exciting times!

Havanese in Obedience Class

We attended Obedience training last night in this little town in the middle of nowhere called Blackstock, about an hour from our home.

Treasure was a bit worn out yesterday from non-stop playing with Abigail that starts from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed. However, Fiona is also an equal opportunity gal and will take a time out from playing with Abigail to play with Fiona, Shoshi, Terra or anyone else with a heartbeat. And they all seem to prefer to be outside where the temperatures yesterday were ridiculous.

Anyway, the Instructor came to me and said that one of the other participants in the class mentioned that her friend was going to be showing a Havanese at Westminster. So I went right over to her and asked if that friend was Kim and that dog Gina. It was. She had seen Kim and Gina (Rockhurst’s Oh La La) at the Vet’s getting their shots the other day. Small world. I proudly explained that Gina and Treasure both come from the wonderful Rockhurst Havanese.

Of course the entire class loves Treasure. Last night one of the things we practiced was the recall. I put Treasure in a stay at one end of the room. The rest of the dogs are lined up along the sides all the way down the room. There is a standard collie, two border collies, and a golden retriever. They all want to play with Treasure. So I placed her in a stand stay and walked to the other side of the room. Then I called Treasure ...... COME accompanied by the standard hand signal and that little munchkin came barreling towards me like she got shot out of a cannon.

In spite of all Darlah’s best and continuing efforts to steal her away from me I am managing to establish a bond. The rest of the class were in awe of her cuteness and of course she is the smartest dog in the room and no, I have no bias whatsoever.

Then we practiced behaviour shaping. In this case we wanted the dogs to understand when we wanted them to go to their bed. We brought in the donut bed from the car. Naturally as soon as I placed it on the ground Treasure trotted over and crawled into it. The rest of the class spent 5 minutes trying to get their dogs onto a mat or whatever on their own volition. They would reward when they figured out to go to their mat. Treasure just watched me for treats from the bed.

She heels. Tail is always up, in motion. When one of the large dogs get in her face the tail might droop for a few seconds and then it is right back up again. She is learning good coping skills.

Next week is our last Obedience class. Then she needs to start Handling classes. She is getting more comfortable on the table but is not yet entirely comfortable and will be worse in a strange place with strange people. I have to work on that. And that is your reading for the morning.

Excuse the darkness of the photos - Darlah just hasn't figured out how to create the proper light in this type of room that doesn't lend brightness in any setting. She thinks she needs a flash that she can bounce of the ceiling. This camera addiction is costly. Where's that lottery ticket?

We are off to Woodstock tomorrow to watch lots of Havanese. Will have camera - will travel and we are not showing but one wonders why we aren't. Oh well - Markham is next.

Recliner Love Fest Havanese Style

Hey - the camera is back. Today we picked up the camera and took Fiona into Home Depot. Yes you CAN take your dog into Home Depot. How cool is that? Well we do it to condition them to the noise and boy was it noisy today. The tail went down slightly then back up and down slightly - never quite making it to half mast but you realized the noise was not a familiar one so this slow conditioning is a GOOD thing. So are visits to Petsmart.

Well tonight Treasure goes to her obedience class - only tonight and next week to go. It's far for us but well worth it. Tonight we are going to learn - 'go to your bed' and we have to take our bed to class. This is great for those big dogs that hog the couch but we don't have that problem. Nathan sits down and watches TV and they don't do that couch thing but instead join him on the recliner quite literally but Nathan is a good egg and as you can see - he laughs about it. What's even more of a riot is that's not all the dogs. Do you think our dogs will benefit from a 'go to your bed' training session? You tell me.

Was hoping to do another level class but no next level so maybe it is time to get her into handling class especially if she is making her debut in April. Still - if Teddy had a class - I would go.

Camera's in Shop: Poor Havanese or Me?

Well, the digital camera is in the shop to get fixed. It can take up to 6 weeks. Can you hear that primal scream. I may have to borrow a camera for Markham especially for the Best of the Best. I wanted to take photos at Woodstock this weekend but can I - nah. Do you know how many Havanese photos I take a day? Nah - you don't want to know.

But let's say that our dogs now freeze at times as if to say - okay take a photo now. One has to laugh. I will have to go back to using Nathan's Nikon Coolpix and just coping.

Well, Abigail got a present today from Beth of pink long johns. I can't wait to get them on and click a photo but who has a camera. Okay - as soon as Nathan comes home - I will point and click and post a photo of the darling in these pinkie things for you to see. This is to help protect her coat.

Abigail is blowing her coat BIG TIME. But good news - is if I didn't have to deal with the shows - it means her adult coat is coming in and then we will be done with it. Blowing ones coat usually just happens once.

Oh and did I tell you Treasure created a slide off the deck so she doesn't want to walk down the stairs. Oh my gad is it funny.

Havanese Sharing B-Day Moments

The crew at Talemaker wants to send a Havanese fun day to Dima Kondratuk (Jazzy's dad) as it's his birthday. May it be a great day!

How do you test your dog's intelligence? One of the ways is to see how it problem solves. For instance, today I threw a toy for the crew to get. Treasure got to it first. So, I threw another so someone else could get it. Faster than the others could get to it, Treasure had two toys in her mouth and was running.

She problem solves very fast. Some would say that was a tad crafty but she did figure out how to get to it first and how to have both at the same time. One has to love such a competitive soul.

Havanese: The Teething Stage

As a Breeder typically our puppies are already in their new homes, loving their new families, long before serious teething stage.

It has been some time since the last little devil actually lived here.

For example, I remember when Fiona ate most of the way through half the wiring in my office. No worries, Treasure took care of the rest of it.

Make no mistake, we love her to pieces BUT I think there should have been a clause in our sales contract holding Beth responsible for all damages incurred during and throughout the teething stage. What am I saying? Never mind. It is on us.

What caused me to take pen in hand today, you ask? The usual thing, spotting some kind of foreign object in Treasure’s mouth. Acting swiftly I caught her and removed it. Hmm, I thought, this looks like a piece of screening. A quick glance at the screen door, unused all winter, confirmed that Treasure has managed to create jagged edges and ripped out sections of a foot of it.

Plants on the floor, no problem, she eats them. Shoes left at the back door, fair game. The wicker basket at the back door filled with dog clothes, a tasty snack.

Stooping over to pick something up off the floor in our bedroom I noticed little specks of something, pieces of wood it turns out. A closer examination made me realize that the little wooden knob, the one matching all the other wooden knobs on my wife’s dresser, was seriously chewed on and partially gone.

I could spend days tracking down a replacement knob for a solid wood dresser we bought 20 years ago. They must exist somewhere. But I’m sure, in time, Treasure will ensure they all match again.

I commented to Darlah about Treasure’s latest antic and she reminded me of our late German Shepherd, Lacie, who once ate a few feet of baseboard. Treasure overheard Darlah’s comment and went right to it. Matching baseboard and then painting it to the correct stain shouldn’t be as hard as finding those knobs.

As many of you know that follow Darlah’s blog, she has been known to sit and watch TV in the evening with a dog in her lap brushing them while she watches. Treasure takes that as an opportunity, of course, to quickly grab, sneak away and eat any brush or comb left unattended for longer than a split second and she doesn’t care whatsoever how much it costs!

Believe it or not the teeth do eventually grow in and they stop eating everything in sight. I’m sure all of you have a similar story. Please share them with us.

Nathan

Socializing Your Havanese

Has your Havanese started to shake, yawn and/or growl when it was in a situation it is not used to? Perhaps it was meeting a strange dog or going to a new place or getting into a car. These are only a few ways that tell you that your dog hasn't figured out how to cope with a given situation.

Do not jump to the conclusion that there is anything wrong with your Havanese.

Coping skills either come easily or most likely through slow conditioning. That well behaved dog doesn't happen magically. From the moment a pup is mobile, the canine mom is showing her little ones how the world works.

How can you turn this around? Do you even have to worry about it?

Anything that is not corrected can escalate. But slow conditioning, positive training and showing your Havanese how to gain its coping skills will help with a number of situations in the future.

Now one would think with all the dogs we have and those that visit, socialization is unnecessary. That is not true. So we do obedience classes, train and take trips even when not buying anything to Petsmart - to Global - wherever and in the spring we will be hiking in hopes that we will meet others.

Socialization can make all the difference in the world. get out - say hello to people and bring your little one.

Oh and you single guys - Havanese are amazing 'chick magnets' hahahaha