When Kai is Good, Life is Good

cute puppy playing in the backyard

Kai was being such a good boy today when I went home for lunch.  He ate all of his lunch (hand fed, with a few broken up treats mixed in, while doing some clicker training drills), didn't harass Molly TOO much, didn't try to eat my shoes/clothes, and played fetch with me quite nicely in the backyard.  He didn't whine when I had to crate him and go back to work.  On a nice sunny day like today, playing with a cute puppy who is not going berserkers and chewing the world, life is good.

Clicker training... that is a new thing for us.  We took Kai to his first puppy kindergarten class in Davis last Sunday and learned that it's a clicker training class.  I wasn't sure about the concept at first.  It seemed like a pain to always have to have a clicker handy, when you could just use your voice instead.  But when the instructor explained the reasoning (you can't SAY the same praise the same way, but the clicker always sounds the same) and also after doing some of my own research, I am on board with this form of training.  I read some things that said clicker training is especially effective with Shibas.  And it's not a device that you have to carry around forever.  Once the dog understands the commands, the clicker can be replaced by your voice, or gestures, or whatever you like.

Anyway, Kai did decently at his first class, and even played a bit with a couple of Basenjis that were there.  the Basenjis were owned by breeders, who also teach the advanced puppy class.  And Basenjis apparently have quite a bit in common with Shibas, both size and personality-wise!  One of the Basenjis will be going to his new forever home this week, but I think the other one will continue in puppy kindergarten, which will be great.

Kai meets the Basenjis, temporarily named "J" and "K"

Tonight should be interesting... we are planning on introducing Kai to his giant cousin Vincent (a Bernese Mountain dog owned by Chris's parents) after work.  Kai is about the size of Vincent's head right now.  The dog actually weighs more than I do, I think!  So that is a little scary.  But Vincent is a good dog, and very well socialized.  I really hope they get along well.  It would be wonderful to be able to drop Kai off to play with Vincent from time to time!