Yes, we actually went to do some training yesterday, our second meeting with Salme. Riva is progressing very nicely and he impressed my friends, he was so focused and smart. I have to brag a bit too: Salme was wearing one of those raincapes, dark green and flying in the wind but that didn’t scare him at all!

I got Riva’s AKC registration papers yesterday and sent them in today to get him registered in Finnish Kennel Club.

We went to do a bit of search training yesterday with Päivikki and Tanhu. We did reaction excercises, puppy scale, to encourage them to use their noses in airscenting mode to find humans. One of us would circle around the practice area so as not to leave tracks on the area and lay down in the bush downwind to be the victim. Then the handler and puppy would come to the area and start walking crosswind on a line 3 to 5 meters downwind from the victim. It was so fun watching how Riva got the scent, I could see his little stump of a tail starting to go a mile a minute and, after a fraction of a second consideration, he raced to the victim and of course got his reward, best treats. We could do this with him already at this stage because he has not shown any signs of shyness or reserve towards people, he approaches them very openly and confidently. We will, however, continue also regular socialization excercises to make sure he has a solid foundation for his search motivation. Tanhu did very well too, she had a little longer distances as she has had a few more training sessions before.

The dog-dog relations are also improving, Riva and Karma have started to play a bit, eventhough she is a bit rough. Yesterday I also had all three dogs together out in the yard, before this it has been one-on-one with Riva and one of the big dogs. Everything went well eventhough Riva was run over once when Jambi and Karma started to play rough and he was in the way.

I finally got started with cleaning the yard, the lawn was so overgrown that you could not describe it as “grass”, it was hay. Its a wonder we don’t have any ticks, they love overgrown grass like that. I first put Riva in the puppy pen to watch me mowing and after a while I put the big dogs inside and let him out to check out the mower. Its a sad old thing, its electric so you have to drag an extension cord with you and its designed for much smaller yards. The good thing about is that it doesn’t make all that much noise. First I pushed it slowly and if Riva tried to come too close or barked just stopped and waited untill he moved a bit further. After he lost intrest I turned it on and started mowing. He followed me around for a little while from a distance and if he tried to come too close I stopped. After a while he came to the conclusion that this was a really boring thing and went to amuse himself otherwise. Hopefully he will learn to leave the mower alone like the bigger dogs.

I made a food square for him again, he is working very calmly and quite intensely. The driveway to my mom’s neighbours was right next to us but when a car stopped there and people came out he just looked up and and went right back to sniffing food.

Riva had his second set of vaccinations today and was a very good boy. He was more intrested in socializing with the vet’s assistants and eating the treats I had than about what the vet was doing. He didn’t even notice the needle prick in his neck . He also got Stronghold in case of heartworms. The vet checked for the microchip but the reader didn’t find anything so I guess the chip wasn’t compatible after all . Well, I’ll have a new chip put in propably when we go get the next set of boosters.

The vet had a proper scale so I got him weighed and he was 9.4 kg (20.7 pounds)! Sounds awful lot but there was also a 12-week-old border collie puppy and he was actually a bit bigger than Riva. He isn’t fat but not thin either, I think I’ll cut his food down just a little bit. The treats he has been getting in training have been extra but I’ll start counting them into his daily rations. That should be enough.