"Is your dog good with kids?"


A question many parents ask- my response- "That depends. Is your kid good with dogs?" The kid/ dog dynamic is an important one. Most young kids are afraid of dogs, and many dogs are afraid of kids. I am very lucky to have friends with kids that are "good with dogs". It is important to have good experiences right from the beginning.


If you have young children, and they see a dog they would like to pet (touch)- here is the proper etiquette. They should ask the person with the dog, "may I please pet your dog?" If the dog is not friendly, the owner can prevent a bad situation, and even if the dog is friendly, the owner has the opportunity to prepare for the encounter. For example they may ask the dog to sit, or they might kneel down to be at the level of the dog and child.


Next, your child need to hold their hand out, palm up, for the dog to sniff. I tell kids it is like "introducing yourself" to the dog. Many kids want to avoid the mouth, but unfortunately the nose also happens to be at the end of that mouth and dogs want to sniff. Kids who try to bring their hands up over the dogs head and attempt to pat them on the head without letting the dog sniff them first may feel that the dog is "attempting to bite" when the dog picks his head up to sniff the child. Most of the time, once the dog has sniffed the hand, they will just allow the child to pet them with out moving their head around in a manner that seems threatening to the child.

Your child should never approach a dog that is tied up, or stick their hand through a fence to pet a dog. If they see a loose dog, never run. They can "Stand still and pretend to be a tree."- the dog may just approach and sniff the child, or they may ignore the child- but if the child runs away, it might cause the dog to chase them. Teach your children how to behave around dogs. The relationship humans can have with dogs is so rewarding, but communication between our two species is a learned process and it is not always a natural process.

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Acadia Peaceful Garden "Eden" wins her first point

This past weekend Eden was Winner's Bitch for her first point! I was very excited as I had entered her on a whim. She is in the 12-18 month class which can be very awkward for shelties, but she was holding her coat, and her quality, so I decided just to enter her since I was going with Kiara anyway. That morning I noticed that Eden had come into season- bummer- sometimes that makes them feel a bit frumpy, so I didn't expect much.

Both days Eden was the only one in her class, so of course she would win it (unless the judge decided she was not quality and with-held the ribbon- which would have been a shock, but is one option). Kiara was in open sable both days. On Saturday Kiara didn't win her class, so I showed Eden in Winners- and she won! She showed like a little trooper and I was SO PLEASED to win. On Sunday Kiara did win the open sable class, so I showed Kiara in Winners and someone else had to show Eden. Kiara went Reserve and Eden had a good time playing in the ring :-)

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Where did the tri puppies go?


I am really looking forward to reporting on the successes of this litter.
Xena- girl- is in Texas in an agility home
Finn- boy- is in Nevada in a herding/agility home
Tucker- boy- is in South Dakota in an agility home
Cashe- boy- is in Arizona in an agility/herding home
Willow (pictured)- boy- is in Pennsylvania in a pet home
Harley- boy- is in Pennsylvania- in a pet home across the street from me!

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Xena at 10 weeks 2 days- one of the cute tri puppies


This is the Cutest video of the female puppy from the Rincon x Faith puppy litter. She is in an agility home in Texas. Thank you Linda for sending this video. Linda has put a few really, really cute videos of Xena learning tricks, playing and doing agility on YouTube .

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The Agility Ribbons were Blue!!! And New Titles Too!

Heidi emailed to say that Piper- in only her third agility jumpers run- took first place with a clean run to complete her Novice Agility Jumper's Title. She followed that up the next day with a First Place for her first leg in Open Jumper's!!!! She is now..

Acadia One Special Puppy, NAJ

Heidi follows up by saying, "She (Piper) is a blast to run and so much fun. We went to a brand new venue this weekend and she walked in as if she owned the place. I never had a dog who was so comfortable in her surroundings. It was a long day yesterday and she ended up sprawled out, asleep on someone else's tarp. ASLEEP!!! Who can sleep at a dog trial!!! Love, love, love this dog. Will continue to keep you updated!"

Thank you Heidi! Piper is the littermate to Dove and Canyon.

Morene emailed to report that WIT and Mike also completed a few new agility titles, they are now

Acadia Whatever It Takes, HXAds, AX, *AXJ*
and
Acadia's Microburst, *NA*, *NAJ*

I am so proud of all of you guys- THANK YOU!!

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