6/26 - Click is 19 weeks old today!
Click is my perfect puppy - I truely couldn't be happier. He is bold, outgoing, loves people, high drive, extremely toy driven, biddable, smart, loving, and best of all, totally into me. As of his 16 week birthday, we are working on all the basics, "sit", "down", "come", "wait" and walking on a loose leash. He has a super recall (thanks to Susan Garrett's book Shaping Sucess!) and will come a runnin' when he hears his name - even while he is wrestling with the big dogs. We are also doing lots of attention work as he is very motion driven - anything that moves must be herded! :-) He is also doing some Agility foundation stuff, such as targeting and doing contacts at the bottom of the stairs. He is a whiz at targeting and loves this "game" very much! We have done a little bit of playing in tunnels, which I intended to only be a fun, low key puppy game - but within a few runs through the tunnel Click was tearing through it as fast as he could while screaming at the top of his lungs!! Guess that little "low key" game will have to be put off a little longer!
Click believes that everything must be done at Mach speed, and it really is a miracle that he hasn't broken every bone in his body yet! He has a wonderful work stamina and will work and work for hours on end without tiring! He is also VERY vocal and seems to add a bark before any behaviour I ask of him! He has a very funny, deep bark for such a little guy! I recently captured his barking and put it on the cue of "Who's da man?". Soon as his leg heals, I intend to "ramp" it up to barking while jumping up and down. :-)
"Happy" is the word that best describes Click. No matter what life throws at him, he is never upset for more than a nano second, bouncing back immediately. He has never met a stranger and assumes everyone was put on the planet just for HIM! He has an enormous love for life and looks at everything with a "glass half full" point of view, a trait I really love about him.
Click recently enjoyed a weekend at the MA Sheep and Wool Festival playing with mommy Pat, sister Tap, and "Uncle" Blaze and Kap. Pat really did seem to recognize her baby, and within minutes was wrestling with him! Click also loved Fiona, and went wild everytime he saw her. :-)
Click will be a well rounded boy, doing mostly herding - both trialing and farm work - as well as Obedience and Agility. He is also, of course, my best buddy. Click has all the genetics to perform in any venue, now it is up to me to nurture and build all the right things in him! I have put him on sheep a couple times for a few minutes, and I'm extremely excited about what I see!! He went right to the balance point and gave the sheep plently of room but wasn't afraid to get right in the face of one lamb who wouldn't move! Funny thing - he looked like such a little Border Collie, tail down, low style, but was characteristicly barking the entire time!! LOL!! Hopefully he'll grow out of that!
Many thanks to Fiona Robertson for doing such a great job raising the boys, and matching me with my perfect puppy!
Side note: Click is registered as Creekside Click. The CBCA and ABCA papers do not allow enough spaces for "Creekside Picture This" like I wanted his name to be, but I put it up as the heading for his page as I'm getting a lot of "where did you get that name from??". :-)
Growth update:
10 weeks - Click weighs 12lbs and is 11" tall
11 weeks - 13.5 lbs and 13" tall! He's sprouted legs in the past few days!
15 weeks - 19.1 lbs and 14 1/2" tall! His cast weighs a considerable amount though.
16 weeks - 19.4 lbs and 15 1/2" tall He is ALL legs right now!
18 weeks - 21 lbs and 16 1/2" tall, still all legs!
5 months (22 1/2 weeks) - just under 18" tall and 25 lbs.
