Zoelle Anutta Thumbelina
WHAT???? That is right people, I’ve stepped over to the darkside. For some time, my husband has been pushing for a smaller dog. After Merlot passed, I decided I wanted to find a second breed that was small, low dander, and calm. This isn’t as easy as it might seem, my search started 2 years ago. I didn’t want anything tiny small, due to having you children and large Std Poodles. I didn’t want anything yappy. I didn’t want the terrier type temperament. After speaking to many breeders, researching different breeds, being shut out by several different breeds and breeders who absolutely HATE anything to do with AKC, even performance sports (some of the more rare breeds have some strange views, let me tell ya), I settled on looking for either a Chinese Crested Puff or a Mini Poodle who wasn’t high drive. My mom adopted a sweet and seriously smart Powder Puff Chinese Crested last year. He is a hoot, so very smart and a great size. We all love him dearly. However, I have found his temperament is the exception and not the rule and had a hard time locating exactly what I wanted. Long story short, I think I found my puppy. She is a Blue Miniature Poodle and about as sweet as they come. She doesn’t bark and she has great intelligence. She has been the easiest puppy I have ever trained, and I have trained a lot of puppies in my time. She is cute as a button and the entire family is in love. So many Miniature Poodles are busy dogs. I did not want that. I wanted a calm small dog that did not shed. We are unsure if we will every ‘breed’ Miniature Poodles. Right now that isn’t my goal. I am just looking to see how it is to live with these babies and what fun we can have in Obedience, Rally, and a little bit of Conformation.
I’ve put off doing some training video’s because I want to use “Lina” as my demo dog. I picked her up over a week ago and because she had never been off the breeders property, she was a bit shy. Nothing extreme, but not ultra confident. I expected this, because her temperament is middle of the road. She doesn’t ooze attitude, if she did I wouldn’t have bought her. She is really coming around and I do not expect her to have any issues. Her socialization boot camp has already started.
So you might ask: “Becky, what do you do when I bring in a new puppy to the pack”? I spend time letting them bond, building trust, and teaching calm. If the dog is not calm and does not trust you to keep them safe, you shouldn’t do a lot of formal training. The first thing you must do is to show the dog you have everything under control. This means a lot of socialization and bonding time. You place them in mildly stressful situations and encourage the right behavior with praise. You can still train the dog, but the training must be absolutely low stress and 100% positive. I believe all dogs need to be taught new behaviors with positive training anyway, but this is even more vital for a dog under stress. Lots of love, but do not coddle them. You can exacerbate the issue by counter conditioning, which is best described as a dog thinking “I am scared, mom pets me when I am scared, it is good to be scared”. The ideal method is to put the dog in the situation in such a way as to not shut them down. You want them uncomfortable, but able to see the big picture. When the dog is calm and interested in the environment, lots of attention and praise. With each success, the confidence level of the dog will rise. As a trainer, I try to avoid a situation which will be so scary the dog shuts off learning and goes into panic / survival mode.
Lina is doing amazing. She visited a dog show this weekend and walked tail up! She has been to Petco several times and is now a champion car rider, eager to hit the road anytime. I’ve been taking her placing with River and Jazz, which helps her confidence even more.
So, there ya have it!!
~Becky