A new generation begins

Kona has been amazing. She slept through the first night and woke only at 5:30 am to go out to pee. I think she would have slept longer except I got up myself to go to the bathroom and my big male GSD decided he had to do another bed check and make sure she was OK....this consisted of him rolling her over and sniffing her so who can blame her for waking up.


Kona is a big hit and the other dogs are fascinated with her especially our big male GSD stud dog; he is already so concerned with her whereabouts and if she wanders off to sleep under the sofa we know where she is because he lays there with his nose (the only thing that fits) under the sofa making funny sounds like he is in mourning until we bring her out. Then he smells her all over, licks her while she chews on his face and all is good and right in the world again. He is fairly convinced we brought her home for him as a late Christmas gift.

As I was taking the Christmas tree apart, Bern was busy snow blowing and Kona decided to be my assistance dog already. It was pretty funny watching her try and remove what decorations she could reach and then pull on the tree branches.....funny enough the day before she didn't bother and it wasn't until I started to take things apart that she felt the need to get involved. She follows me around a lot and Bern is convinced she is already bonded like crazy to me because when I walk into the room or talk her head snaps to where I am and she will even run to me and paw my feet. She certainly thinks I am her giant chew toy she enjoys my fingers apparently they taste just wonderful.

Today we worked on some early skill building and set up an x-pen (just what it sounds like a portable pen to keep puppies safe which can be used indoors). At this time Kona spends training time in the X-pen. We set it up to have a multiple function, to contain her in one area but also to stimulate and challange her senses. There are toys hanging form a cross bar at varying levels and with different textures and sounds. We also have a tube (an old wrapping paper tube works great and is easily disposed of if it gets gnawed) going across the width of the pen at a low level, this acts as a mental challenge as well as a great way to teach the puppy to go under obstacles, of course the encouragement is her food is on one side and the exit on the other but she figured it out to quickly so I will need to upgrade my system some.




Also in the pen is a platform to encourage her to step up and do early learned ups, jump on etc. It also acts as a platform in front of the door to exit which gives Kona a bit of a step up to help while she is so little. We have tied a cord with bells attached and if Kona pulls on the bells we open the door. This often takes a few days to grasp but Kona has figured out that shaking the bells equals freedom. She has also been very good at targeting which is touching a specific targeted spot for a treat. It can be a piece of tape on s stick, a target button or the palm of my hand but the goal is when I say touch, place your nose on the object and gain a reward. She loves this one and up practice!



In the pen we have a small board which has a large round, battery operated push light on it the kind you buy in the dollar stores ( I use this as a target for later work on pushing elevator buttons and auto doors etc) on the same board is attached a non working light switch that Kona is encouraged to just make contact with right now, while I tell her good switch and later we will ask for her to hit it up with her nose and once she understands how to paw items with her feet she will paw it down to a different command, but I am getting ahead of myself here.

I have video of her doing some tasks also and once I train myself how to post it I will be doing so.

Kona is a character for sure, with just enough of a mind of her own to make a good potential seizure dog but a good amount of empathy too. She recognizes when I yelp if she bites too hard that this is a signal to stop and she does. All in all a great combo!

Cudos to her breeder Kim and Mom (Rosie) & Dad (Otis) and thanks for a great girl! BTW Kim does have a few pups left so anyone looking for a great, intelligent puppy email me and I will connect you with Kim