The Q kids are a year old, so I had to send an update on Cassius(Qassius). He’s doing great, and had tons of stimulation over the holidays, as both my family and in-laws were in town. He’s growing nicely(75lbs), with plenty of room still to go. He’s starting to add more to his “plate” at his training sessions, as he’s grasping most of the Schutzhund obedience concepts very well. We’re working to nail the “fuss” command and are incorporating distance recall commands now. He and I were working today, and his intensity for walking “fuss” is getting stronger…as evidenced by the cut on my finger(guess I should have let him have easier access to the treats I had in my hand). Kevin(trainer) is having a lot of fun with him as well, and we’re both anxious for the spring to get here so we can do some tracking. He’s chewing on my feet as we speak, which is to say he is still very “bitey”.
I want to try and send you some pics from us at Triple Crown. We’ll be there on Friday and I’ll try to figure out a way to get you some pics from us working.
Brian
Alta-Tollhaus Qassius
OH MY GOSH!!! You just made my day Brian. He looks fantastic and looking as handsome as ever!
He is so handsome! Love his black face!
Just curious: why are you waiting for “spring” to get this handsome boy out tracking? By our standards you have spring right now–and summer seems like the season for cutting back on the tracking.
I am soooo glad to hear that Grizzly is not the ONLY ONE that is still bitey!
He is so handsome.
Good question, Ann. Our choice regarding spring is more about presenting conditions conducive to starting a good foundation for Qassius. Qualifying winter and spring is more than just temperature based for us in Central Texas and, and is in many ways different than the winters I recall from growing up in Michigan. Most of the grass has gone dormant, and is thus not growing, and in many places barren. We also had a harsher than normal summer last year with drought, and much of the ground has yet to recover. It is also extremely windy in Austin this time of year, which wouldn’t make it ideal for us to start Qassius in tracking. This also gives us more time to focus on Obedience and Protection. I know there’s the thought that presenting difficult conditions for tracking can hearten the dog for competition day, but my trainer’s thought process is to lean more toward setting the newbie up for success initiallly, which I tend to agree with.The grounds out at our training facility should be in good shape soon, and we’re looking forward to seeing what my little man has got!
Thank you for the picture and the update on Cassius. I am looking forward to the pictures from training.
He is very handsome. I am sure he will have no issues with tracking. Sade is a natural. We are still doing scent pads and puppy tracks but she nails each and every one perfectly. We rarely have good tracking conditions in my area so we just do it whenever the temps are above freezing.