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From Shanti's Mom:
Piper seems to be a different dog now that she is away from all the turmoil that a house full of people (nine of them at one time) can create. When I got her home she met Sweep and the two of them hit it off well. The two of them began chasing balls immediately. She did have to learn that you don't try to eat out of Sweep's food bowl at breakfast.
Piper met several of my male teammates on Thursday and was getting belly rubs and giving kisses to all of them. I'm thinking her shyness with men isn't as bad as we thought. One guy is 6'-7" and should have been pretty intimidating, but wasn't ... she really liked him. She got her first exposure to clicker training ... hear a click, get a treat. And her first imprinting session to recognize human bone.
She was trying to figure out the clicker and bones and really would like to be able to read the "manual" so she can understand what I'm expecting of her. Today (Friday) she appears to be getting the "touch the bone with your nose", click, and you get a yummy treat. Hmmm ... good stuff.
Today she got to go to the agility field and walk around on fun stuff. A moving plank
and a horizontal ladder.
Then there was a romp on the concrete rubble pile.
"No problem here mom ... piece of cake!"
I am thinking this little girl has a lot of potential.
...you aren't paying attention while seasoning your new cast iron skillet. Ouch.
Mom and I spent the last three days (not including two days of travel time) at the ranch where she was raised. I have lots of amazing pictures that I will share, even though I still haven't shared all of the pictures from the last week of the deployment or homecoming. But the main thing is that I did NOT bring this dog home.
Mom, however, did bring her home. She needed a new home and after a few days with her, we both knew that she needed one of us - at just about a year old she has lived in several homes and in one of them she was hit and thus is very skittish around men. She's an amazing sweetie and my cousin's wife and youngest daughter really, really wanted her to go to a good home. (Here's where the small town thing comes in - we got the dog because she was living with my cousin's youngest daughter's boyfriend's brother and they just couldn't take good care of her with the arrival of a new baby and a dog that is fearful of men.)
Mom is going to try her as a search dog, but if she doesn't work out, she'll come live with me and being my running buddy. She's a low enough drive Border Collie that she should do fine with me, but don't think I'm not aware of how much work she would be, and Stormy wouldn't be very happy either. A small part of me really does want her to come live with me.
The larger part of me says "Look, she already likes bones!" and hopes she'll work out for mom. Either way, say hello to Piper, the newest canine addition to the family.
