Kia had a little nap in her crate in the car on the way from Snohomish to Monroe. She is very much like a human toddler right now in that she needs to rest in between all the fun stuff. If she doesn't take a rest she seems to get what I called (my daughter had this same behavior when she was a girl), being "over -tired". When Kia gets over -tired she gets wound up and has a hard time holding it together, she might bark more, or bite at the leash, or try to bug the other dogs. It is like she doesn't know what she wants. When she gets like this I have learned that if I just give her something to chew or a kong and a little crate time she will settle right down and take nap. So it was good that she had some down time in between our activities on her big day out. We didn't have any tantrums the whole day!
Tim does pretty good at this park now, he will still be a little nervous but he is getting much more confident with being here. Kia was pretty confident, it was quiet but there were a few people milling around and kids on bikes and a few dogs being walked and she did pretty well with it all.
We put her on the bleachers to see what she would do. She was fine with it.
She walked right over this thing which was brave.
She stopped to watch what this man was doing out in the field.
Tim was getting spun up as there was a dog in the distance so I had to stop the photo taking so I could tend to him. Next stop Tolt River!
After our walk in the town of Snohomish we headed over to a small family run hardware store. Dave had something to get for a job he was working on and so Kia and I used the time for some more socializing opportunities.
Kia who is a pretty confident puppy was not doing her usual wanting to get down and explore routine, she was being a little more cautious with this new place and when I look at this photo from her point of view I think I am a little overwhelmed too. That is a lot of stuff!
Kia is an intense dog and in this case her being intense was about taking everything in, rather than wanting to get down and rock and roll.
She was pretty reserved while foster dad looked over the lag bolts. But she spied someone walking down the aisle....
...so she had to break from her supervising position to check out this new person coming toward us...
...more things happening down at the other end of the store....
...what is going on over there?...
"Hi again foster dad!"
"Could I offer you some help there?"
"I better sniff that to make sure it is the right thing that you need."
"I will just stay here where I am safe."
One of our clients happened to see us and stopped to chat with Dave. Kia went right up to sniff him. He didn't pay much attention to her which was fine with me, it gave her a chance to get to know him without feeling too much pressure.
I had to laugh at this, once she realized he meant us no harm, she gave him a "sit" and "eye contact". "Mister might you have any treats for a cute little doggie who is learning manners?" Nope he didn't have anything but that is ok, we had other things to check out.
"Foster dad, foster mom and I are going to check out the store while you chat."
"Hi foster mom, I can do my sit and eye contact in this store with you...do you have any treats?" Yup I did and she got a couple!
This nice young employee was just smitten with Kia and I gave her a treat to offer her as we headed back to the car, ending this activity on a really positive note.
With Kia post spay surgery and with her second round of puppy vaccinations fully on board it was finally time to get off the property and have a puppy's day out. And what a day we had. We made each stop short and then Kia had time in the car to rest while we drove to the next stop. We had some errands to run and also a few fun adventures planned. We also made sure each stop started and ended on a good note. It worked out great!
Because we decided to take Birdie and Liza to spend the day with their beloved petsitter we had to go to the town of Snohomish where we dropped them off. We went early in the morning, before the shops opened, so it was a nice quiet time for Kia, Skip, (and Tim) to get to do a walk-through town.
Off we go walking along the small trail that runs along the Snohomish River
Kia says, "Come on Tim, there isn't anything to be afraid of".
The Snohomish River Bridge. What you can't tell is how loud it is right here. Tim has a tough time with this whole river walkway because there is a lumber mill that operates just across the river and it is really loud and clangy. Kia didn't seem to be worried about it at all, which is so great for her.
We made a u-turn and now we are off that noisy walk and on the sidewalk in the main part of Snohomish. Tim gets very worried on this street and in the past he would pancake right in the middle of the sidewalk and Dave or I would have to carry him most of the short way back to the car. He didn't do that this time, he was concerned about some of the trucks that went by but he made it the whole way. Tim and Skip stayed back by me so didn't get in too many photos.
Here you can see Tim and his worry, compared to Kia who is just taking everything in, sniffing the ground and exploring. Poor Tim.
Kia stopped here for a long time, she was watching a man who was unloading a large truck for the fish cafe just to the left of us.
Kia does her "water-fountain" interpretation.
Another person to stop and check out. Very interesting indeed...
Tim still nervous but motoring along.
Tim didn't care for this place. Kia wanted to check it all out. There was loud festive latin music coming from the building as the sous chefs prepared for the lunch crowd. Mmmmm smelled really good of Mexican Food. Tim stayed back and was ready to move on.
Another long sniff of this plant. Some pee-mail was left there no doubt.
Yikes Kia!!!! Be careful of that Eagle!!!!!!!!
This is a real dog that was barking at us from inside the door.
So Kia went up to the adjoining window to bark back at him, lol
"I wonder if anyone spilled any frozen yogurt on these things".
Kia says "Words to live by". I love this photo of her.
And we're back to where we parked the car. That was a fun jaunt. She didn't get up on this wonderful tree on her own. Dave put her up to see what she would do. Kia decided she could check stuff out even better from this vantage point.
All my posts about Kia so far have shown what a busy puppy girl she is. So the question I bet you are asking is, "Does Kia have the typical rattie off switch?". The answer is YES she does! But because she is a puppy, and on the active side of the spectrum, she needs help to get there right now.
How do we achieve this? Mainly we do a lot of little things that all add up to her little self getting tired and taking naps throughout the day. I call them "snacks". Here are some examples of the snacks she gets every day which help to foster her mind and body to be able to get to the point where she will chillax.
*Short training sessions, with part of her meal and or treats throughout the day, like 1-3 minutes tops each session, "sit", "bump", "collar", "look", "mat", "drop"
*Playing fetch and working on her bringing the egg baby or ball back and "dropping" it near me for another throw.
*Practicing recall whenever possible
*Walks on leash
*Tail teaser, (but not just chasing and tugging), instead I have her "drop" the tail and then she gets to have it again to shake and tug, repeat, and now she is offering to drop it on her own, which is super!
*Socializing field trips to Indie pet friendly stores, small city parks, early morning small town walks.
*Stuffed kongs and marrow bones, trachea chips to keep her busy when she is in her crate.
*Playing hide the toy in a blanket
*Playing with the resident dogs
*And in the near future I will be starting to work with her on Nosework! No doubt she will be a rock star.
Here are some adorable photos of Kia demonstrating her
Rattie Off Switch :)
Kia loves Dave, she will get in my lap but if there is a choice she likes to be in his lap for napping.
Checking out the camera...
Foster mom do you mind.... we are trying to relax here...
Kia loves to learn things. She is so darn smart! I honestly have to think of things to do with her every day, every hour, sometimes minute to minute, to keep her enriched and her mind occupied. Because Kia is so smart she is like a really super smart human child where a lot of the time the child is bored because the usual things don't always inspire and stimulate their brains, and we all know what happens when children who need a challenge are not challenged enough, usually it manifests as the child finding their own ways to challenge their selves much to their parents displeasure <smile>.
Some of the behaviors Kia does when she needs more mental/physical enrichment:
Barks at me to let me know she is frustrated
Can't decide if she wants to be in or outside.
Barks at the other dogs in the house to get them to play
Goes over threshold when playing a game of tug or other game with her human or other dog.
None if this means she is a "bad puppy", and the truth is she is an awesome puppy, she is just a wicked smart lil girl who requires mental and physical exercise to reach her full potential. And yes she does have an off switch, but she needs some help to get there.
Kia is a terrier, she has been bred to be a working dog and she wants and needs to work. She has some impulse control deficits that require the humans in her life to get creative and work around, and I am positive with the right adopter she will flourish and be an awesome companion!
You know the dog Eddie on Frasier show? I read that Moose (aka Eddie) as a puppy was impossible! He was hyper and destructive, then he got a spot on the show Frasier and all the training he had to do to be Eddie gave him a wonderful outlet to use his high intelligence and to feed his working dog brain.
Kia is not an Eddie, BUT she is highly intelligent, and active. So yes she can be challenging. The cool thing is she is super duper fun to work with and she LOVES to train!
These videos are in order of the very first training session we played around with. I simply was reinforcing her to go to a mat in the bathroom and in short order she wasn't just going and standing on the mat, she was sitting on the mat and giving me eye contact. This took her about 5 minutes to figure out.
In this first video I was working on shaping her to go to the mat and stand or sit on it. She wasn't sure what I was wanting yet so she gives a little bark to tell me she was frustrated or confused.
In this video you can see how shaping is working. I quietly wait for her to go stand all fours on the mat and when she does I say "yip" (her bridge word), then I toss her a treat.
This next video she gives me a sit on the mat for the first time and I was so excited! She got a jack pot for that and this will reinforce her to want to try that move again.
Here she does give the sit again. And now we go for eye contact with the sit.
And this was our last try before ending the training. I could tell she was getting tired, and training like this really is a mind work out for her.
You can see how she wants to work. She is very intent on giving me eye contact and sitting on the mat.
Kia still wanting to train even after the other dogs were let in the bathroom.
Still sitting there and she and I are now working on a "that's all" cue so she knows when we are done.
She was still trying so hard to get me to continue our session. Birdie smells the treats that I had up on the bathroom sink.
She had gotten off the mat and then was headed back in case I didn't know what a good girl she was being.
This is a close up of the first pic, she is adorable and can't you just see the intelligence in those eyes?
Kia is an amazing dog! She is all of 12-14 weeks old and is ready for college! Since this first training session she is learning to sit for her meals, sit to come in the house, sit to get a treat, sit after she goes potty and comes for her treat. She has a few other things she is learning too and you will have to keep watch to see her in action.
