Since I take an over abundance of pictures that deserve their own threads (otherwise this one would be ridiculously long), I don't post in this one often anymore. But I still like it for general updates and it'll be good to look back on later on.
I just have to say how nice it is to have a 'normal' dog. I don't know what everyone's definition of normal is, but it's been so long since I've had just a take anywhere, do anything dog that is up for anything I ask of her and it's just so, so nice. She is growing up and maturing beautifully and I am just so pleased with her. Truly couldn't be happier.
Her first show is in a couple of months. Seems like a long time from now, but I know it's going to get here before I know it! I'm entering her in one mid-July and then again in the beginning of August. Now I'm just worried that she'll end up going into heat and that would really suck haha. So hopefully she gets that done and over with before or after.
She just completed an 8 week puppy agility class. Oh man, my poor dog. I have zero handling skills at all LOL. I hope I get my act together soon, because our trainer has really high hopes for miss Journ and is really excited about her. She loves watching her work with me and thinks she's very together for a puppy. We're taking a break from classes right now while I finish up with other things, but I want to get her back into something ASAP. I miss classes when we're not in any so much.
She doesn't come to work very often anymore. I miss her there sometimes, but I was worried that customers' dogs were going to ruin her. So many of them would charge the gate where I keep Journey and growl at her and it was making her nervous and I didn't want her to get defensive or anything, because she's so far a very dog friendly dog. So I just feel like it's in her best interest to stay at home while I'm at work, because I can't control the situations at work properly because the customers don't realize their dog is being rude and intimidating. But she's fine with her new arrangements. She's a super adaptable dog.
Any concern I had about SA and crate anxiety is gone. It was over as quickly as it started haha. Puppies! Always needlessly making you worry.
We do need to work on more impulse control. She has a very hard time focusing around frantic, moving, excited dogs and just wants to chase and bark and play (not in an OCD herding way - just an overly excited, fixated puppy way). Thankfully she's easy to redirect and I actually didn't realize this was even a thing of hers until Agility class, but now I know, so it's something we'll work on more.
She's seriously the best dog in the world. I'm not sure if I believe in the term 'heart dog' or not, but she's a seriously special little dog. As bad as it sounds, I almost forgot what it was like to just have a dog that you flow with and connect with and enjoy so much and so easily. I love all of my dogs, but Journey is just... different. All I can say is thank goodness Fran spammed Chaz with a million little Aussie puppy pictures and updates LOL. Who knows, another dog might have fit me really well too, but it really amazes me how perfect Journey is for me. I couldn't love a dog more. Sometimes I look at her and wonder just how I got so lucky.
She is 7 months old now. I weighed and measured her the other day. She's still holding out at 19 3/4" tall and is 39lbs. She hasn't grown in a while, but she still looks like she has a bit of a growth knuckle on her front legs, so I think she has another 1/4 to a 1/2" to go.
She discovered a new favourite toy today. The Chuckit Flying Squirrel. I've been trying to build disc drive in her, but surprisingly, she simply doesn't care about disc. We're getting there, slowly. But today I decided to bring the squirrel toy out because nobody else likes it much and she thought it was just the Best. Thing. Ever. Perfect for chasing, fetching, and most importantly, tugging!
And here are a few videos! The last two are really long and I don't really expect anyone to watch them LOL. But I take so many pictures and realized I barely have any video, and that's the one thing I wish I had of past dogs, so I'm trying to take lots of everyone lately.
This one is from our agility class the other night. The class was mostly focused toward flat work, but we got them used to different obstacles too. And at the end of this night we got to play little games with some of the equipment. Normally they didn't jump, but our instructor said that with the size and ages of the puppies, two little jumps wouldn't hurt anything and they were more walking over or striding over them anyway. I don't know, but I do know Journey is way more hard on herself just in everyday life, so I wasn't worried about 10 seconds of jumping in class on the cushy floor. And keep in mind I am posting this at the risk of embarrassing my know-nothing-about-Agility-self haha. There were better parts, I promise I get more excited with her most of the time, but my mom isn't the best videographer in the world haha. She was too busy talking and trying to figure out how to work the camera. It was hard enough just to salvage these few clips!
[YOUTUBE]9OoCCQiT59w[/YOUTUBE]
This one is just of a walk with Dance and Journey last Saturday. Mostly Dance waiting for the ball to be thrown and being told to walk ahead (she always gets lost behind sniffing things or stepping on my heels lol), and Journey running around a bit and being cute.
[YOUTUBE]ArRSBUrKR8Q[/YOUTUBE]
And this one is just a hanging out in the yard day before I went to work. Mostly it's Ripley being sucky, Dance being cute and Journey being a pest haha. And Keira was around but busy eating who knows what (grass, dirt, leaves, whatever), so she's not featured really.
[YOUTUBE]IxgQWQnnNYU[/YOUTUBE]