Yesterday following a puppy party the newest litter of Grayhart pups left the Hartheimer nest and headed out to begin life in their new homes. The Fast Times litter, by Savi and Parker, look to be as adventurous, confident and lovely as the last litter and they will be fun to watch as they grow, develop and learn. Rigby and I want to wish all the pups and their families the best of luck and tons of fun over the coming months and years!
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| The loot for the gift bags that were given out to the new owners of the puppies at the puppy party. |
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| Miss Pink heads for home after the puppy party. |
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| Mr. Blue stacks up nicely at the puppy evaluation. Now known as Grayhart's Show Me The Money or Cruise. |
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| KellyAnn and Chris with their new puppy CeCe, Grayhart's Almost Famous, formerly known as Miss Pink. |
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| The puppies get some exercise the day of their temperament testing. |
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| Mr. Black is especially excited to be out on a new adventure. Now known as Ice. |
This video shows a portion of the temperament testing of Miss Teal, now known as Mica. The temperament testing puts the pups in a new environment with a strange person and allows a chance to see how they adapt to different situations presented to them. The retrieving this pup did was pretty great and it's nice to see how happy the pup was in what can be a stressful situation.
Sometimes You Just Have to Go it Alone!
I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee Friday, the 5th of July, to repair a torn meniscus and to, hopefully, soon get my leg back to its normal strength and mobility.
Since I had missed several weeks of tracking training with Rigby due to a variety of reasons, I wanted to get her out tracking the Saturday before my surgery, in hopes that she might better retain what she had learned since it would be a few more weeks before I'd be up to working with her after the surgery. I knew that one of my tracking partners would not be able to attend that day, but, as I had worked late the night before, I missed the email that would have alerted me that at least one other person would not be attending, and the snowball effect that I was the only one planning to show up that morning.
Rigby and I were up and about early and at the park by 7:00 a.m., waiting for the other trackers to arrive. We waited an hour, until 8:00, thinking maybe they decided to start later, since there would be fewer dogs to track. Then we drove through the park to make sure they didn't meet at another location where the grass was not so high and the tracking would be easier.
Finally I decided it was just Rigby and I that day and it was up to me to give Rigby a bit of a tracking experience to keep her training going. This was the first time that I laid track for her and it was a bit odd, as she waited in the car while I prepared her tracks, rather than stand and watch the tracks go in. It also aged her tracks a bit longer, as it took more time for me to walk back from the track, get her out of the car and prepare to start the tracks. She did both her tracks like a star, showing all the same motivation, enjoyment and skill. She found the glove both times and we played some fun retrieve games once she did locate the glove.
I'll be anxious to get back to tracking with Rigby, but I don't think either of us will mind missing some of the hot weather tracking that the next few weeks are sure to bring.
Growing Up More and More
At almost 10 months old Rigby has been showing more and more signs of maturity as the months go on. The fact that she has learned not to jump on people has pleased us very much and has been especially nice since I had my surgery. She has also had to sleep in a crate at night again and not in bed with me, to ensure that she not hurt my leg during the night, and she has quickly adapted to that change in her sleeping arrangements.
One of the biggest changes we have seen in Rigby in the past few weeks is that she will finally rest and sleep while out of her crate and loose in the house. Yes, it has taken her this long to be able to relax and learn that she can quit playing with toys or bugging Rocky and just take a break. We would always end up putting her in her crate to give us or Rocky a break from her constant playing, exploring and general nosiness. As I write, she is in the kitchen looking to get into something as Dan, Rocky and I rest quietly on the couch. Saturday afternoon the four of us took a nap on the couch and it was so nice to have Rigby join us in our family relaxation.
This morning I took time to spend a bit of time training Rigby, as it has been several days since we had done anything. We played some glove fetch, dumbbell retrieve and just some basic training commands. I'll be anxious to get her back into full training once my leg permits. In the meantime, Rigby is fully enjoying being a silly, happy puppy!
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