The other dogs and Caspurr just seemed to accept her straight away- no power struggles - no jostling for position in the pecking order - she's enhanced the harmony of our little family.
Having a sweet nature - she's gentle with Little Ebs and the cat but is no shrinking violet so can hold her own in even the most riotous games with Fiki and Zurie.
Her eyesight is not nearly as bad as we had imagined and she manages very well most of the time.
She spooks at shadows when its bright sunlight on our walks and sometimes stops in her tracks to growl at a tree silhouette until I say "No worries Frankie" - she then walks on happily and , of course gets her titbit for being brave and accepting my judgement of the situation.
They walk beautifully together - no pulling - just trot along beside me - I feel so proud of them!
In the fields, the garden and on the beach (a great favourite) they have wonderful chase games - often started by Frankie- Zurie has ben pleased to let the girls run each other ragged while he plays catch/fetch/find it with us with his very special pink toy. Rafiki was constantly interfering and stealing it from him before Frankie joined us - nowadays she just occasionally teases him with it.
Frankie tries very hard at everything - she has a well -developed desire to please which helps enormously with training- as long as I make it clear when she's got it right she never needs telling twice but I have to keep it simple to avoid confusion. She's now learnt "Wait" really well and I can stop her in her tracks even at a distance and she'll sit until I get up to her - I'm really pleased with that response as it couldprove a life-saver in some situations. On the other hand, when I tried using the "stay" command she seemed more confused so we just use wait for everything - sometimes I return to her ( as I would for a stay) sometimes I recall her - she's rock solid until I give her the next command - can't ask for more!!
It was so worthwhile having Fiki as the only pup for the first 5months -gave me time to get her basic training cracked and establish her place before the added distraction of another pup AND the onset of ADOLESCENCE!! Yes Fiki is definately showing signs of "Kevin Syndrome"!!! she still knows she should co-operate but rebellion bubbles under - fortunately the foundatons are in place so it's never too bad and soon abandoned- which gains her praise and reward so it's infinately more worthwhile being compliant than resistant!!
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| Siesta-time |
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| The Spoo Pack at Praa Sands -Feb 2011 |
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| Flying Fiki- on the beach -Feb2011 |
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| Rafiki 7m |
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| Frankie- 7m |
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| A sofa-full of pooches |
When Frankie first came she would only lie on the floor - wouldn't dare to lie on a dogbed or evena rug - after a few days she ocasionaly rested her head on a dogbed . Last week she curled up on a woolly rug on the floor and started to occasonally be seen on the various dogbeds, this week she climbed onto the sofa beside Ebs and Fiki- no one even raised an eyebrow - fully integrated nto the pack now I think:-))
