Home Sappho's Training Begins
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| The Chronicle of Sappho, from Puppy to Mission Ready | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| As you can see these Ponderosa babies get very stressed at the thought of being chosen as a search dog | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I have greatly appreciated the many websites with mountains of valuable information. I am grateful as well for the people (Kris Lesperance) I have been so fortunate to know who have helped me on my way as a search dog trainer. I feel that the least I can do is to add to the pool of information. I hope that my own experiences, which will be detailed in these pages, will help others. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Choosing Sappho | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The process of picking a puppy is closing in (about 2 weeks to go) and on May 27th we will bring her home. I decided to go with a yellow lab as I love labs and know that they can make great search dogs. Labs also make great family pets which is equally as important to me. After a lot of searching on the internet and getting some good advice, I decided to go with Ponderosa Labs. I spoke with several breeders. Some had puppies ready and some were waiting for puppies to be born. My gut told me that Mary was the breeder I should give a deposit to and I did. I lucked out and found that my gut instincts have proven to be correct. Mary is a great breeder who cares a great deal for her dogs, and her puppies. From the announcement of their birth, I have received lots of updates and lots of pictures. May 1, 2004 I got to go down and visit the puppies for the first time. Unfortunately, finding the right breeder often doesn't mean finding the closest breeder, but hey, at least she is in the same state (I lucked out). People often purchase puppies sight unseen and once the are ready have them flown in. With a search dog I really wouldn't advise this. Furthermore, I think it is important to visit the the litter you intend to chose a puppy from even before it is time to actually choose the puppy. I feel that it gives you a better all around pictures of the puppies as you can see them developing and how their personalities are shaping. There are lots of great breeders out there but as I said, try not to choose one so far away that you can't see the puppies at least a couple of times before you bring one home. Just my opinion. |
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| Good working dogs require a certain temperment and degree of drive. Dogs with high pack and prey drive make the best search dog. Dogs with too high defense drive can be either aggressive (fight drive) or very afraid of new situations (flight drive). In preparation of chosing my SAR puppy I have studied up on Volhard's Puppy Aptitude Test (links below) and found another great series of tests on Absaroka's webpage called PAWS Working Dog Evaluation written by Jona Decker. Both are excellent and can be used in conjunction with one another. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Volhard's Puppy Aptitude Test | PAWS Working Dog Evaluation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Will the Real Sappho Please Stand Up? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sappho is one of these Ponderosa puppies, just don't know which one yet they are all very cute. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This puppy "Mighty Dog" named because she was the smallest and very determined to make it, she stole my heart when I met her! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Three of the girls at about 3 weeks old. Hard to imagine possible but they are so much cuter in person. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| When Sappho arrives she will be 50 days old (7 weeks +1 day). It is said that the 49th day (give or take a day or two) is the ideal time for a puppy to leave it's mom. During the 8th week, new and potentially scary experiences can have life long effects so the experts have deemed day 49 as optimal. Sappho will begin her life here with lots of love and some very basic obedience training. I will also introduce as many new situations as I can to her to encourage good socialization. All behavioral reinforcement with Sappho will be positive. Once step one (picking her and bringing her home) is complete, we will begin step two: Home Sappho's Training Begins |
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