Happy New Year!

Well it has been a while since my last post but I have been busy. Christmas, the holidays etc. I have had some time off and have really started training Archer even more in the last few weeks. We are working on teeter positions, touch targeting and I have set up a pvc box to work on running A frame contacts. Baby steps for everything but I want a strong foundation for the best results! He is a hoot. We have a large snow storm about 2 weeks ago. 24 + inches. The dogs loved it. But Archer also found his love of mountain climbing. We have a large snow pile by our fence, I know it would be an issue and I tried to make it too steep to climb but clearing I failed. I let the dogs out and went back inside for about 5 minutes. When I came back, no Archer! at this point we had over 20 inches of snow on the ground. I called his name and he barked back! I followed his back to my neighbor's driveway. Quite a walk he took himself on considering the snow. Still not sure how he got that far that fast but as I should have named him bounce I guess I could guess.

Sheep

Archer had a chance to herd some sheep today, it was just for exposure as I had him on a long line but let him decide how he wanted to handle it. He enjoyed himself on both duck and sheep!

Archer's Growing up

Archer is really growing up. He is a little over 6 months old now and 13 3/4" tall. We have been taking obedience classes and he is always the smallest and youngest in the class but he his happy to be friends with the biggest dogs there. We have started doing a little bit of agility obstacle work, the table and the tunnel. He loves them both and goes down on the table right away, I am so happy! Today is Halloween and I dug out Sisko's old costume for Archer. It is a Star Trek Uniform, silly I know, but cute.

A puppy keeps you busy

It is really hard to post often with such a busy puppy. We have been to a friends house that has Shelties to have our ears done. We have been to the beach. We have found out we like to sing and we like herding Ducks and Chickens! Below are two videos of Archer howling to my son's recorder and tonight a chicken got out of the chicken yard and Archer decided it was time to herd the little girl. Some real talent is brewing here.

The Training begins

It is so hard to post when you have a 10 week old puppy. It is like having a 18 month old child, they are everywhere at all times. But I will try. I have started some very light training with Archer, sit, down and a recall. Recall is mainly for this week. I am doing some clicker training and some positive but traditional training. We will see... On Tuesday Archer gets his ears fixed, hopefully he will have proper sheltie ears with out too much trouble.

Archer's Outings

As I try to socialize Archer correctly I am trying to take Archer to a new place each day or for him to experience something new each day. His first big outing was a walk around our neighborhood and it was a long walk. I did carry him for a small part of the time but for the most part he did walk. He met young children, a dog I know and a man with a lawn mower. He saw and heard cars and motorcycles. There were a few things that bothered him but all in all he took everything in stride and had a good time. The next day he went to Ben's violin class and to several stores. He met a number of people along the way. Tonight fe will go to Kamin's agility class and hopefully have a blast.

Size does not matter

We brought Archer home yesterday and he was a very good travel dog for the 6.5 hour ride home. He sat in the back seat with Ben watching him. When we got home he met Kamin and Jeff. Kamin as taken to him fine but is mostly ignoring Archer for now. Archer was a bit scared of Kamin when we first got home but now is curious and is try to politely get Kamin to play with him from time to time. The cutest thing I was able to watch yesterday and there we many was Archer drinking water out of Kamin's bowl. Kamin bowl is on a platform about 9 inches off the ground; I have a bowl at a height set for Archer but he thought this one would do just fine. He did this multiple times and just loved it.