This week,I would like to discuss the power of Observation!
Through quiet times just watching your dogs, you can learn a lot.
The video above, shows a fun play time with the puppies.
However, you can observe the Lilly (the brown one) likes to be the leader of the pack and loves the other puppies chasing her.
Lilly was the first puppy to sample here mothers food ( I like to feed the mother with her puppies so they learn about solid food and they basically wean themselves), she was the first to explore outside the whelping pen and the first to come to the door when I would go to visit them.
I could see right from the beginning that she had leader potential.
This running season she had her opportunity to run lead in the "A" Team.
Lilly was a natural! She is an enthusiastic, focused Leader loving to be upfront running with Venus.
A lot of time is spent here observing the dogs in the kennel.
As all dogs have different personalities, through observation, you can see what dogs are more comfortable with others in the kennel.
It is important match dogs with kennel mates they are most comfortable with and this can give you an idea of who they should be paired with running in the team.
Through the power of observation, you can develop your eyes to pick up any irregularities with the dogs running in the team. Some dogs are more comfortable running on the left or right. You can learn a lot about pairing, seeing what dogs give you their best performance when running with another dog, the most comfortable position in the team whether it is Lead, Point, Team or Wheel.
An example was Sam when in the team, she was always running to the outside and not right behind the dog in front of her. This was an indication that she might be a leader as she wanted to see ahead of the others. However, she was not comfortable at lead, so she was moved to Point.
That was where she was most comfortable and performed great!
I video every run, that way I can review the runs and observe any peculiarities on the run. This way, I can make adjustments in the team make up. I also can see how the dogs handle different trail conditions. Some dogs like hard packed trails, some deeper snow, colder temperatures etc.
The more you observe your dog the more you will learn about them.
They will tell you where they should run and with whom.
Until next week.......