Those Special Moments.

[Better Late]

I haven't been well at all lately and have been mostly bedridden. Today, albeit with some effort, I managed to join my partner and Bonnie for a walk at our local showgrounds.

We've been working on her recall every day inside as well as outside on walks (on a long line), but this is the first time I've been able to see her off-leash as the oval is fully enclosed.

Well, I was in for a treat. Not only did she nail a 50m away 30second sit-stay, off leash, but she was off chasing a magpie which was about 250m away, she got 200m away at full stretch and I called her back. She spun on a twenty cent piece and came galloping straight to me and we had a party.

I cant stop thinking about it! I was grinning from ear to ear and am so, so proud of her. These past few months have been such a big learning experience for us as she's our first dog, but its moments like these that I absolutely treasure. She's now conked out on my lap, which is only a recent development.

Tell me about your favourite doggy moments!

[VizslaMomma]

Does involve recall.....

Years ago, when Tibor was not more than 10 weeks old, I looked out the kitchen window to observe this beautiful russet gold dog frolicking in the rear paddock near horses.

A light bulb moment happened when I realised said dog was mine & just escaped from the back yard. ( by digging a hole).

Went outside, down the steps and called him in that excited tone that asked to come to Momma (and now). He acted on the first call. I was thrilled to see hiss wee head reappear thro' the new hole in the fence.

But I was even more thrilled as he appeared to be smiling as he ran towards me. Instead of stopping at my feet, hr jumped into my arms. I was rewarded with licks and kisses.

I never forgot that moment. Recall was one of the first commands I ever asked of him. In so many other things he did, Tibor got the hang of requests and was a loving and much loved Vizsla.

I even recall the time of day and date when he did that

:)

Edited May 26, 2015 by VizslaMomma

[CHA]

Well tonight I took my anxious over hyper girl to the vets, where she would usually scream at all the dogs - she whined at the first dog and then when she saw dog number 2 she settled and ignored. All my hard work is paying off! I was soooo proud of her. As we walked into the vet she saw a dog on lead and instead of her usual screaming, she turned and ignored

[VizslaMomma]

Love major milestones like that, Cha

[BarbedWire]

What a lovely thread. For me it would be recalls too. At the dog park my dog would also turn instantly she heard me call even though she would be in full flight after a ball. I felt proud and I thought I must be a good trainer in spite of all my doubts. Thank you my little girl.

[Little Gifts]

My wonderful but naughty sbt girl who has a long history of eating things she shouldn't is a star with the 'leave' command. Even at training the trainers were shocked when she would ignore even the most delicious of treats when I gave her that command. It has come in very handy over the years when I discover her chomping on something she shouldn't or obsessing about something to the point of crazy face.

As for her recall, well lets just say we trained one of the other dogs to round her up if she goes too far away as her hearing gets quite selective the faster she is running!

[Dory the Doted One]

I canz Heel WITH attention. (Willow is easily distracted)

But I'm also pleased at her happiness to recall. We might almost be ready for off lead at the beach. :)

ETA: Damn you autocorrect.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Dory the Doted One

[grumpette]

One of the best moments was when Dee happily went kayaking for the first time, indicating that her confidence was at an all time high. This is a dog that would not swim confidently until she was 4 years old.

[grumpette]

And an absolute dream come true, Dee retrieving a dumbbell, in open. Two miracles in the one event. Despite the horrendous Adelaide weather. Never thought that she would get a CCD pass, nor that she would fetch the dumbbell. She has extremely high prey drive, but once it stops moving she could not care less.

[grumpette]

With respect to the ability to recall under distraction, especially moving distraction, not a hope in hell. I can only dream Ladies.

Lovely focus and position there DDO with Willow.

[denali]

Everyday there is something- be it an excellent recall with a smiling face, or a naughty shredding of a packet of pom poms (yesterdays endeavour- thanks Hen..)

Today- i am sitting outside watching Kokoda fish in my pond

A tad naughty, but he is so happy! (and the fish are safely at the bottom.)

while Henry lies at my feet and Deniki sits with me on the chair. I am thankful for today.

[denali]

Well done with all your training acyhievements everyone!

Kokodas recall can be hit and miss, Henry never leaves the others- just plods along, Deniki's is great but he is a sook and doesnt let me out of his sight, so i barely trained that and wont take credit for it.

Edited May 28, 2015 by denali

[Arlizng]

Great topic!

The other night, my friends who are dog minding brought the maltese/pomeranian (?) puppy over to my place. Pagan was chewing her new rawhide bone, puppy wandered right up and started chewing it alongside her and it didn't phase her at all!

She has never shown any aggression towards other dogs, but she was so gentle with this tiny puppy. I'm so impressed with her. Proud parent moment, other half was overheard lavishing praise on her after they left. :D

[Little Gifts]

Well done with all your training acyhievements everyone!

Kokodas recall can be hit and miss, Henry never leaves the others- just plods along, Deniki's is great but he is a sook and doesnt let me out of his sight, so i barely trained that and wont take credit for it.

This is Tempeh. She is like a kid that turns around and can't find it's mum and has an immediate melt down. She just stands there and wails until she hears my voice and gets a bead on me again. Stussy is like that dog on the movie Up - SQUIRREL! - and she's off! While Wolf just rolls her eyes at the other two's undignified behaviour and thinks it is her job to keep them in line. I love that they are all different and have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I often have a funny visual in my head of what ifs. If I left the front door and the front verandah gate wide open and left for the day I reckon I'd come home and find:

Tempeh sitting just inside the front door on the mat exhausted from a day full of worrying that a stranger might visit while I was out and she would have to deal with it. (If she was able to work out how to shut the front door I'm sure she would.) Stussy would be fast asleep on my bed after wandering the streets and local school grounds all day and saying hello to every dog, cat and human she could, checking out any bins she came across, only coming home because she'd done the full circuit and needed a drink. Wolf would have the shits and be in the spare room refusing to interact with me for leaving her to deal with the other two all day (I'm sure she'd follow Stussy for a bit trying to steer her back home but would return before losing sight of the house and Tempeh's wails).