Meet Sophia
Everyone meet Sophia. This delightful poodle is such a love! Sophia came through training with The Ruff Life a few years back, and her mom and dad thought that we could help with a little one on one time. Some of you may recognize her, as she is always out and about around town, walking with her mommy.
Sophia is a very stable, confident and independent girl. She is going through the Excel your dogs training program to work on her recalls. Sophia only comes when she feels that there is nothing better to do. We know most of the people reading this can relate ;) We also wanted to work on 'grasping her mind' with things like confidence boosting drills, fun games and perhaps even some tricks! We want Sophia to think that we are exciting, interesting and we want to challenge her mind so she is always looking to us (and her mom and dad too ...of course) for what we are going to do next.
Session 1 of 3
(Thursday, January. 30th 2014)
Today we picked Sophia up from 'her' work! ;) and talked to her mom and dad about everything that they wanted us to work on. Sophia is a pretty well rounded girl... other then the not listening. ;) We think this girl thinks she is a human... and an independent one at that.
When we got Sophia into the truck, she wanted to be right up front with us. So that was the first thing that we worked on! We wanted her to know that she had to stay in the back of the truck... as dogs up front can be distracting, dangerous and can impair vision. Sophia is a smart girl... so she picked this up very quickly.
Once we got to the dog park, we finally realize how independent Sophia really was. She would go up to dogs to sniff and meet them... but didn't really seem like she wanted to play or interact with them any further.
After being in the park for about 30 min, we noticed that Miss Sophia was extremely pre-occupied with scents and smells.. birds in the tree's.. water in the creek, snow on the ground, clouds in the sky... but she had no idea that we existed. (or at least she pretended that we didn't) It didn't matter if we jumped up and down, called exciting until we were blue in the face, ran around like a wild and crazy person, or waved a treat in her direction. (We even tried dehydrated liver, rabbit, pork and peanut butter treats!) It was very clear that this girl was going to make us work for her attention. lol But we were up for the challenge.
By the end of the class, Sophia was right by our side and doing lots of fun drills! Slowly but surely this girl was letting us into her world.
We can't wait to see her come out of her shell, have fun, and act more like a dog again.
Check out her video below! and keep checking back for more updates on the adventures of Sophia!
(A Big THANKS to Ricki with Little, Tammy & Hank and Kona & Yoko for their puppy support)
Session 2 of 3
(Thursday, February. 6th 2014)
Oh Sophia! You do know we exist... and you like us! YAY! Sophia has come a long way in one week! Last week she could really care less about us and the dogs at the park. She seemed sooooo independent. Nothing seemed to really amp her up, not even if we jumped up and down until we were blue in the face..... but that all changed.
Miss Sophia played with several dogs, and the ones that wouldn't play with her...she tried her best to make them like her. Tons of kisses and loves! She is such a sweetie! She also ran back to us with tons of enthusiasm today, we would like to think that was because she is soooo in LOVE with us...but we think it MIGHT (lol) have something to do with the steak her mommy sent. yummy!
We literally saw a huge change in her demeanour and her facial expressions! She was having a ton of fun, and loved doing the confidence boosting drills! We can't wait to watch this girl grow!!! Its all about finding what makes a pooch tick. ;)
Check out the smile on this beauty! Her video is below.
Session 3 of 3
(Thursday, February. 13th 2014)
Sophia... you are just so sweet! This pretty girl was a little subdued today! You could tell something was a little off about her..but half way through the class she seemed to let what ever was bugging her go.
Sophia's mommy went out of town for a few days, so we eventually put 2 and 2 together. We tried to combat her uncertainty with being super exciting, using yummy treats (her dad sent he with Steak again...mmmmmm), giving her tons of jobs to do, and playing fun games.
This pretty girl really came out of her shell in 3 short weeks! She went from being very uninterested in dogs, most people (when she was pre-occupied with scents and smells), and not caring about doing anything to being a smiling beauty...excited about what we were going to do next, and playing with other pooches. We are so proud of her progress!!!
Sophia's mommy and daddy will have to make sure they continue to use yummy treats for a while, and to do fun games with her so she wants to use her mind and work. She absolutely LOVES doing a good job. <3 We can't wait to meet with Sophia's parents to give them the run down on how to grasp this girls mind. (and keep her happy)
Check out her final video <3
(A Big THANKS to Heather with Bane & Luna, Carmin with Cabella, and Kona & Yoko for their puppy support)
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