Today we check in with Kadi (formerly Mariposa) — Eden sends us this report:
“Kadi is a typical 4 month old puppy. She is 38.6 lbs and about 19” at the shoulder. House training is going well and she will either bark at the front door to go out or head out the dog doors to the back yard by herself. Of course we would like her to head to the back yard without any prompting but there haven’t been any accidents for a few weeks.
She generally sleeps 7 to 8 hours but she is not quite up to retirement hours of sleeping yet. We enjoy training times and continue to work on the foundation for a variety of sports. Our morning heeling training, which is used as a redirected activity instead of her biting at my ankles and feet, is coming along well.
There is one more puppy kindergarten class but she is signed up for a puppy agility class next month. Tracking class is on Thursday.
This is Kadi finding the sock at the end of a 100 yd track first time in high field grass.
We are in the honeymoon part of puppyhood; the puppy is basically housetrained, sleeping through the night, tiger shark has become mostly a kitten, and still very attentive to us. However this is a fleeting time, as the puppy coat and teeth fall out we will be heading into the juvenile delinquent phase of puppyhood. However, I am sure Kadi will remain the perfect puppy that she is and skip right through that phase.”
Thank you, Eden! What an interesting and wonderful and fun life Kadi is having ❤️ Her heeling is just lovely.
Eden mentions some important developmental milestones that I suspect we are all seeing — I know I am. Pozy now goes to the door when she wants to go out, her puppy coat is falling out, she sleeps all night, and new teeth are arriving. She is easy right now, with very few Baby Shark moments.
BUT the changes are not just physical — there are cognitive shifts as well.
Pozy is is now continually sizing up her external world. It is like a comment box appears over her head: “What do I think about that?”
She does this with new sounds, new people, new places. It is not fear but rather she is engaged in Cognitive Appraisal, deciding what the new thing means to her and how she should react.
This is a normal developmental process.
Yesterday: Novel trail, novel people on the trail.
I am introducing something novel almost every day right now, and being thoughtful about how I support Pozy as she engages in this period of cognitive growth. I give her time to decide what she thinks AND I am actively helping her understand that “novel” is good through association with cookies and praise.
Since my goal is confidence, I never, ever force her to engage or interact — confidence happens with mastery, not force.
Have a terrific Saturday — and stay safe and well.