I'm an Aunt!

    Yep, that's right I am officially an Aunt to my cousin's new Aussie puppy, Myst. Myst joined the family about a month ago having hailed from Solstice Aussies in Virginia. Myst is Jessica's first Aussie and therefore Diva and I are taking an active role to make sure that they get off to the best possible start. Truth be told it has helped my horrendous case of puppy fever. Besides, there is much to be said for getting all the puppy kisses you want without having to do any of the house breaking ;-). I hope that Jessica will start her own blog about raising Myst but for now she will be making appearances in Diva's blog when it's appropriate. One such blog worthy event came last weekend when Myst got her first chance to meet sheep! 

   
    My own experiences with Diva and now having watched my friends start a few puppies has proven that the more exposure a pup has to stock the better. Now before anyone has a fit when I say exposure that doesn't mean any hard core training or pressure. What we want is for the pup to have fun, show some interest, watch the older dogs working, and learn to relax around stock and take it for granted. The premise being that when it comes time to start letting them really work you won't have a dog that is so hyped up they aren't thinking. What this boils down to for Myst's future is having the her go in the round pen with the sheep once a month or so just for few minutes to see how she reacts. No yelling, no force, and no serious expectations. We will do this on leash and off leash (if she is calm enough). Myst will also be spending time on leash in the pen with Jessica watching Diva and I work sheep and when Jessica can't come along she will learn to watch from the fence. Do I expect this to make everything all peaches and cream when we begin work? No, but I do believe that it will lay a good foundation that she will quickly build from.

   When Jessica and I decided to take Myst out to see sheep it was really just  for fun. No one puts to much weight on a what a 10 week old puppy does or doesn't do their first time seeing stock ;-). I had sorted off 3 yearling ewes and put them in the round pen. Hog Dog sheep are usually very fetchy and don't challenge. Jessica brought Myst in on leash while I had Diva move the sheep around and once it was clear she wasn't afraid the leash came off. There was one ewe that kept turning to face Myst (I think because she was so small) but she didn't get scared and I would have Diva come in beside her and move the ewe off. Jess caught Myst up and we went out to sit in the shade for a bit to let her "think" on what she had experienced. The next time we went in I decide Diva should stay out and I would let Jessica just walk around with Myst and the sheep. Clearly the first impression was a good one because Myst went straight to the sheep and did her best to get to balance. I was giving direction from the sidelines about where Jessica should go and the result was a very engaged puppy that showed a nice sense of group and sustained interest. She only made a couple of little messes and immediately covered the one that broke away. After just a couple of minutes Jess picked her up and that was that. We were both happy with the outcome :-). I think that Myst has a lot in there to work with and Jessica was bitten by the herding "bug". Till next time, enjoy!