What better way to kick off a new year than by choosing a puppy for January’s Featured Student. Baby dogs come with so much promise, energy and constant change in that first year. We’ve picked just the puppy to feature this month.
Introducing Maple!
Maple is a full-sized Australian Shepherd, born on September 9th, 2024 from a breeder in Chilliwack before becoming a Kitsilano girl. She is already well into her second set of puppy classes and of all the course work we are doing right now, the heeling drills are her favourite. Her people have created great focus in Maple from the outset (something you can’t put enough value on in early training) and her ability to keep her leash loose around her classmates is her superpower.
Besides leash skills, Maple’s people are building value for coming via the restrained recall exercise we play in the Puppy Grade One class on Saturdays. Chasing her people for a toy and the opportunity to have a game of tug is creating the building blocks for a rocket recall that will one day give Maple freedom to enjoy the beaches and wooded trails.
Opposite to the rush of a fantastic recall, Maple is learning to switch gears and hold a solid stay with distractions in her environment. The impulse control that comes from learning to hold still makes dogs enjoyable to be around and also welcome in more places. For an Aussie puppy, holding still is an invaluable training goal. Crate training and building confidence when being left alone are the home projects Maple is learning. She is pretty motivated for a turkey treat!
While her housetraining is pretty much complete, Maple did make a comedic first-time – ummm – potty “deposit” in the middle of an intersection, much to the cheers of traffic and bystander on-lookers. When a puppy has to go, they have to go…..
In the short time Maple has been in our classes, she has grown so much from a tiny puppy to a beautiful almost-adolescent with great social skills and it has been a pleasure to be a part of her education! We are really looking forward to seeing where this year ahead takes her and her devoted people. We are so glad she is a part of our training community.
