Akitas, and frenchies and bears OH My!

The trip went smoothly to pick up our newest family addition. DS decided to rename her Jenny, after the girl in the Forrest Gump movie. She seems to like the name ok. Especially when food is involved.

She was not very impressed with hubby's bear head on the wall. Lots of growling and scampering by showed us her discomfort. By this morning he had lost his bogeyman status however.

She seems to be settling in very well and is very much a lap dog. Any lap seems to do.

She was abit intimidated by Jack at first but she is slowly warming up to him. He'll be happy once she decides to really play.

She seemed unsure which couch she prefers so she chose both for nap time.

Missy seems to really like her so far and has play bowed to her in welcome. Normally Missy is much more standoffish with new dogs in the house but so far she seems to like Jenny ok. They haven't had a real playtime yet. They are still getting used to each other and showing alot of body language.

I don't have many photos yet because I have been to busy supervising everyone with the eagle eye. I probably won't totally relax for a couple of weeks at least. I want to make sure the smooth transition continues. It can be tricky bring another almost adult bitch into the house with one already in residence. Snarkyness needs to be watched out for and managed appropriately. I also need to make sure body language is understood and heeded between all the dogs. Of course as a trainer I know all the things that can go wrong so I need to be careful I don't over think it either. There is such a thing as to much interference as well.

She is learning all the house rules. No darting though doors, no jumping on people, sit and stay for all meals, no pulling on the leash and no toys allowed on the couch. So far she is picking things up very quickly. She knows what "Let's go out" means already. She is very food motivated so she loves to practice her training skills.

The show went very well and I had a great time. I made a fantastic contact in frenchies that was incredibly nice and had a great conversation with. (Have I mentioned I have decided to one day show frenchies? More on that later.) Plus I got to see all my show dog friends. It was a long day but well worth it.

This is Kami. He is an akita with some hearing issues. I gave his people some training tips since I love to work with deaf dogs. He is 9 months old and very sweet and mellow.

If you have a dog with hearing issues simply training them as if they are completly deaf is what I recommend. You still give verbal commands anyhow but you add hand signals to the mix. Promoting good eye contact with deaf dogs is another important tip. You can't direct a dog if they don't know you are talking to them after all. They need to look to you often for direction and feedback.

Check out the great post at www.shattering.org on the media and reporting dog bites. It is very enlightening.