Silken Windhound Playdate

[Kirsten&Gypsy]

Awesome! What time frame where you looking at getting a Silken? Hopefully you'll inundate us with pictures as the pup grows! They change so amazingly fast!

Late summer at the earliest. I plan to head up to Kalamazoo, MI in mid-June for Silkenfest. I'd want to get a better idea of which dogs and breeders to pursue. Got a couple major life changes (all positive) ahead of me, but assuming I'm in a good stable position, I'll start seriously looking for a pup in summer.

And there will DEFINITELY be pics galore.

[Linds]

Holy cow the amount of pretty in this thread is too much.

Seriously, they are some of the prettiest dogs I've ever seen, just so gorgeous.

[Pintage]

Originally Posted by Jenne

Zephyr is so lovely! How easily trainable are silken windhounds?

They are extremely easy to train to become good pets around the house. Lugia took about 3 weeks to housetrain 100% and she only had, maybe, 4 accidents between that time. She wasn't destructive at all as a young puppy but now in her adolescence she'll start to chew on things out of frustration, always when I happen to be out of sight for just one minute. They're generally really easy to redirect and for the most part don't want to cause trouble, you could just say "Ah ah" in the middle of them doing something and they'll stop immediately. They also know how to chill out when inside of the house, pretty much built-in off switch.

As far as trick training goes, Lugia is... slow, especially compared to a really bright dog like a BC. I saw SaraB's training video of Zuma being shaped to roll over in just 5 minutes... I thought, "Cool! I want to teach Lugia!" and I think it took me 5-6 training sessions to shape her into rolling over just once. And oh god, it took me MONTHS to finally get her to reliably target something with her back feet. Of course, I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to training anything other than "sit" "down" "come", so that's got to be a contributing factor in the length of time it takes to teach her a single trick. xD

Originally Posted by Kirsten&Gypsy

Late summer at the earliest. I plan to head up to Kalamazoo, MI in mid-June for Silkenfest. I'd want to get a better idea of which dogs and breeders to pursue. Got a couple major life changes (all positive) ahead of me, but assuming I'm in a good stable position, I'll start seriously looking for a pup in summer.

And there will DEFINITELY be pics galore.

YAY! You're so lucky you're going to Silkenfest, I've never been. It sounds like an amazingly fun time... I wish it would come to Colorado!

And thanks again for your comments, everyone! I truly do feel lucky to have these dogs in my life

[Paviche]

Man, they're so gorgeous. I keep thinking that maybe a sighthound would be my ideal "pet" dog, especially either a LHW or a Silken!

Also, whoa whoa WHOA! I had no idea you're in Colorado! I would absolutely LOVE to meet Lugia sometime!

[Taqroy]

Originally Posted by Pintage

Lugia and Zephyr (the orangey brindle) have playdates every now and then in Westminster, which is not too far from Denver. We should schedule a playdate sometime!

I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE IN COLORADO. We should have another Colorado Chazzer meet up. I'm not in Denver very often but I'm more than willing to come up and bring Tipper for a playdate!!

[Jenne]

Originally Posted by Pintage

They are extremely easy to train to become good pets around the house. Lugia took about 3 weeks to housetrain 100% and she only had, maybe, 4 accidents between that time. She wasn't destructive at all as a young puppy but now in her adolescence she'll start to chew on things out of frustration, always when I happen to be out of sight for just one minute. They're generally really easy to redirect and for the most part don't want to cause trouble, you could just say "Ah ah" in the middle of them doing something and they'll stop immediately. They also know how to chill out when inside of the house, pretty much built-in off switch.

As far as trick training goes, Lugia is... slow, especially compared to a really bright dog like a BC. I saw SaraB's training video of Zuma being shaped to roll over in just 5 minutes... I thought, "Cool! I want to teach Lugia!" and I think it took me 5-6 training sessions to shape her into rolling over just once. And oh god, it took me MONTHS to finally get her to reliably target something with her back feet. Of course, I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to training anything other than "sit" "down" "come", so that's got to be a contributing factor in the length of time it takes to teach her a single trick. xD

That sounds fine to me! I'm not a big trick trainer. I just captured behaviors with Chase that ended up being tricks. He's eager to please and I'm sure I could train some tricks with him, but I'm kinda lazy about it. Also, he gets frustrated easily so all training sessions must be short. So a dog that develops house manners easily is so my kind of dog!

[AussieAshley]

They are a gorgeous bunch of dogs, I seriously covet the brindle.

[Pintage]

Originally Posted by Taqroy

I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE IN COLORADO. We should have another Colorado Chazzer meet up. I'm not in Denver very often but I'm more than willing to come up and bring Tipper for a playdate!!

Originally Posted by Paviche

Also, whoa whoa WHOA! I had no idea you're in Colorado! I would absolutely LOVE to meet Lugia sometime!

That sounds like so much fun! Depending on the location, Zephyr and his owner will probably want to join us, too. Ooh, and my boyfriend juuust adopted a new dog a few days ago, I think you guys would really dig her, she's total sweetie and looks like a tiny Saluki/Brittany cross. I'm about to start my next round of exams, but in a couple of weeks I'll try to organize a CO Chazzer get-together.

Originally Posted by Jenne

That sounds fine to me! I'm not a big trick trainer. I just captured behaviors with Chase that ended up being tricks. He's eager to please and I'm sure I could train some tricks with him, but I'm kinda lazy about it. Also, he gets frustrated easily so all training sessions must be short. So a dog that develops house manners easily is so my kind of dog!

The single ONE bad habit that Lugia (and perhaps a lot of other Silkens) has that I just can't seem to train out of her is her love of countersurfing. One time my roommate was cutting up raw meats in the kitchen and left all of his dirty utensils out in the sink... my heart just dropped to the floor when I saw my little pup running around the house holding a bloody steak knife in her mouth So yeah, since then, if there's anything novel left on the counter, Lugia WILL investigate it. And most likely eat it.

[Linds]

Originally Posted by Pintage

That sounds like so much fun! Depending on the location, Zephyr and his owner will probably want to join us, too. Ooh, and my boyfriend juuust adopted a new dog a few days ago, I think you guys would really dig her, she's total sweetie and looks like a tiny Saluki/Brittany cross. I'm about to start my next round of exams, but in a couple of weeks I'll try to organize a CO Chazzer get-together.

And then you're going to get in the car and drive to Chicago. Right? Right.

Also, were are pictures of this new dog of his?!

[CharlieDog]

I have serious want for a brindle now. Good lord, they're all beautiful though!