Today was a busy day for our “poo-vasz”. Yes… our new nickname for her is “poo-vasz” (or “poovasz”, however you want to spell it) since our little Kuvasz seems to think the cat litter box is the dessert tray. 😉

School

Started the day at doggie school. Brought her bed with us so she could start to learn “place”. We started on the basics of introducing the “place” to her last week, but today we wanted to put the command with the bed. We also worked on “sit” and “down”. While Sasha knows these commands already, she needs more discipline with them. For instance, I should be able to say “sit” and leave the room, come back 5 minutes later and she’s still sitting. We’re a ways from that… I can get her to sit, she’ll stay there, but if I get too far away she will want to get up. So we’re working on things.

We also worked on getting the trainer closer to us. He kept throwing food down on the ground, letting her know that he’s a source of good things. Eventually she was sitting on my left, Abel would come up on my right and shake my hand. We’d chat for a moment, good dog, and life was good. Sasha was pretty well-behaved, even with lots of other people and dogs working in the same building/room.

We also received a complement from Abel, that we’re one of his best clients. Why? Because it’s obvious we’re working with the dog. We do work with her every day, a couple of times a day. I mean, why wouldn’t we? We’re paying money for this. We want the dog to be well-mannered. Why would you NOT work with the dog? Why would you NOT do your homework? But I guess most people don’t. Geez.. I’d love to have money and time to waste like they have….

Anyways, I’m pleased with her progress. We’ll be working more on “place”, “sit”, “down”, and introductions with people in the coming week.

But the interesting thing is how well-timed this session was because….

The Vet

….Sasha needed her first trip to our veterinarian.

We’ve had this vet for many years, taken care of all our cats. We didn’t want to go the moment we got home because well… we knew she was a handful and the vet would have to do things like touch her. We just didn’t want to deal with it. But the goal was to have the visit done before the end of the month. So here we are, mission accomplished.

The trip went amazingly smooth. She was cool and mellow for the most part. Alert sure, but didn’t get all crazy or anything. New place, new people, a few other animals, but no big deal. She didn’t want to get on the scale, but I used the technique for introducing her to the “place” and found out she’s gained some weight (good!) and is at 71 lbs.

The first odd sign? When the assistant was moving around getting us into the exam room, she had to walk right by Sasha, even brushed up against her. Sasha didn’t flinch. Awesome! Now, I figure part of that is due to being on neutral ground (no need to protect the area), but still… before she would have had a fit. When the vet came in, she almost took food from his hand.. didn’t like his biscuits.

Here’s the impressive thing. We needed to do a blood draw. Took her in the back, put a muzzle on her to be safe. I’m holding her so Doc can take her front leg and do a blood draw. I’m watching and I see the needle go in, Doc pops a few things off the syringe, then suddenly Sasha jumped. Doc’s eyes were wide open… but not because he got bit or hurt or was afraid. No, he was impressed. You see, when I thought he had stuck her? He hadn’t yet. When she jumped? That’s when he stuck her. What impressed him was her reaction time. He said that in his 40+ years of being a vet, he has seen few dogs with reaction time like that. He was impressed. 🙂

Anyways, we got the blood draw, we got her microchipped. Talked about a few other things with the vet. During the final talk, Sasha did unleash towards one of the assistants. She came into the room quickly, reached over her head towards me to hand me something. Sasha didn’t like that, but the reason is simple: fast, swift, towards me… she was defending me. Good girl. 🙂  You could even see her reaction time there… instant on.

All in all, it was a good trip. Yes, expectation was that it was going to be a difficult visit. But I just kept using all the stuff we’ve been learning at Triple Crown. I had my treat pouch, I used the techniques, I kept the positive reinforcement flowing. It went very well!

We’ll get test results tomorrow.

Sasha is doing well. 🙂