Caissa was 4 months old at the time of her adoption (5/10/08). She is a brindle with white trim border/mini aussie mix (a Baussie!). She came to me via an ad I placed on Craigslist looking for a Border or Aussie to train. Her previous family answered my ad and my friend Maggon and I made the two and half hour drive to pick her up.
How did she get her name you ask? Caissa is the goddess, or muse, of chess. Chess is an analytical and tactical game. The same terms could be used to describe the Border Collie.
SASSY'S FIRST NIGHT
She did good! I did not have a crate and wasn't sure how/where she was sleeping in her old home so I confined her to my bathroom. She wasn't too keen on the idea but settled down after about 10 minutes of whining. She woke me up about 8 am and I took her out and she went potty outside. Today she is MUCH more comfortable around the house, she follows me like a shadow and she is very very loving. She is warming up to Kai, she wasn't sure what to think of him at first, but now she is thinking she likes him.
She takes a minute to warm up to new people, but I took her to PetsMart to get her a crate realizing that it would be essential. She did great! One of the dog trainers took a liking to her and fed her half of string of string cheese. We discussed training and border collies since her dog was a very small female. Another trainer mentioned the doggie DNA testing. Hmmmm...
I was nervous about Sassy meeting Lily but my fears were put to rest quickly. The viscous thing licked her! Lily was surprised by it, she is used to Kai who leaves her alone. Sassy is very funny because she likes to sleep under my bed like a cat. As soon as she hears me walking down the hall away from my room she comes out of her "den" and follows me, but she sure loves it under there!
Tonight she is in her crate, quiet and good, Lily in her crib and Kai on his bed. One big happy family. I hope I still want to say that in the morning!
SASSY'S FIRST TRAINING SESSION
OK, Sassy is the smartest dog! She had her first training session today after a long walk with Lily and Kai. She was EXCELLENT on the leash, left the stroller alone, didn't try to herd it and was not afraid of it. She never once got in its way! She sits VERY reliably with treats, but not so much without them, so I started to transition her by placing my hand on her rear while saying SIT and baiting her with the treat. It took her a minute to figure it out but soon she was allowing both my hand and the food to sit. I hope to have her sitting with nothing tomorrow.
We did some heel work, I am very particular with heel. I do not drag the dog, I play the "stubborn game". First I teach the dog to give to pressure, then I use a pully method to keep the dog to left side. If she crosses behind me then I step into her path and all a gentle tension to the leash so she wants to go to the left. When she starts to pull I do quick changes of direction which worked great with her. I had her working the ladder to learn about foot position and at first she didn't want to have anything to do with it, but once I jumped it she was all over it. That is the picture attached.
Right now I have her on the back porch with Kai, she is very needy for attention and she will choose me over Kai anytime, so I want to her to start enjoying his company more so she is spending time with him as her only companion for a while. Then it will be back in her crate for some more alone time.
All in all I have to say this dog is great. She is living up to her intelligent chess related name so far! At this point, I am not thinking this was a bad decision. I say that because I intend to use Cesar's methods, and his first rule is exercise so Kai, Sassy, Lily and I all had a nice long walk today! A motivator to get off my butt!
Sassy has been doing great! The first night she slept in the bathroom, the second night in the crate, and last night I chanced it and let her sleep under my bed. She was great! I woke up about 6am when I heard her tag clicking so I dragged myself out of bed and let her out to potty. She went right away! She is very particular about where she goes to the bathroom which is a little frustrating since she wants to go in the jump training yard and I want her to go in the backyard. We have compromised and she has started going on the deck :) I'm ok with that as long as it's not in the house. I can fix that later.
She and Kai are now the best of friends, as long as she remembers that he is the boss. If she does, he will play with her, if she doesn't he ignores her. He loves the attention, even if it comes from a puppy. Lily had the best time today watching the dogs play, she was laughing and laughing. I think I have an animal lover on my hands...
SASSY'S FIRST WEEK
Well, she has been with us for a little over a week now. Things are going well. I get frustrated with the puppyness sometimes because I am so used to a dog that doesn't need to be watched every second, but otherwise she is a smart and loving dog and I am enjoying her.
The cat, however, is not. Today is the first day he has been out roaming the entire house while Sassy is out. We have been letting him out to "roam" the house at night and locking him in the back half of the house during the day. This has not been working out well for Sammy who has to be in the middle of EVERYTHING. So today he decided that it was worth being around the annoying puppy to be able to do what he wants. So far so good....
Sassy had a little adventure yesterday! I was foolish enough not to keep my eye on her for every second while I was building my A Frame and she went on a little jaunt! I called her and she came to me so I could scoop her up, I was careful not to be upset with her, as it was not her fault I wasn't watching her. I'm just very glad she decided to go explore the property rather than the road. I won't need to be reminded again. :)
She is almost potty trained- we haven't had an accident in a few days! I had to cut the grass in the backyard in order for her to go there, she doesn't like it if the grass is taller than her and she can't see where her feet are going. Persnickety little thing! She is learning to jump and walked on my teeter trainer. She HATES the treadmill so I have decided to take it slow with her on that one.
Since she comes to me so well when I call her I have been careful to not call her when I am upset and I always praise her and pet her for coming. I started her on clicker training hoping that it will help her with her fear of the treadmill. She will walk on it when it is off, but once it starts moving she gets scared.
Every day she is getting more and more comfortable. I have started socializing her to the car- I want her to learn that car rides are fun and not a source of stress which is the way she see's it now. I intend to take her to the dog park so she can start getting used to other dogs and other people. She STILL barks at one of my roommates which is very frustrating as I would like to get a CGC on her. I am going to try simple exosure first and see how that goes, if she is still nervous I will move to food with people. We shall see....
SASSY'S SECOND WEEK
Well, she is coming out of her shell! This week she went to the park for the first time and she LOVED it. I let her do some off leash running and for the most she listened to me very well. She is getting more adventerous and coming less when she decides there is something more interesting to see, smell or do, but we will work on that with training. I have been letting her aclimate and been working with her on leadership training. I admit I haven't been as consistent as I would like with building my agility equipment, taking care of the baby, working AND trying to work with this dog!
She is settling more quickly when she has to spend time in her crate.
SASSY GOES TO THE DOG PARK
She was scared. She didn't have any fun at all. But it was ok, it was her first time.
This weekend we also finished the teeter (finally!) and after two practice sessions she is running over it like it's nothin' at 12". She is also getting more confident on the treadmill but I can't actually turn it on yet. She is learning "down" and "wait" at the moment and does GREAT with trianing, especially if there are treats involved. She is VERY food motivated! Tonight (5/25) I had her run a mini course that included the the ladder to a jump to the teeter in a circular layout and she bolted through THREE TIMES!! She is FAST and impressive. I can't wait till she is old enough to seriously train!
