Hang in there!

I've just finished adding some new pages onto my website to finally put some short testimonials together.  It's a daunting process to buy a rare breed puppy you've never seen and even more daunting to buy that puppy over the internet!  But we now have puppies living happily ever after in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Georgia, Canada, Washington, Texas, Colorado and California and want to keep spreading the word on this marvelous breed.

In putting together the excerpts from email updates I get (and love getting by the way...) I noticed two words over and over again in describing their puppies:  Amazing and sweet.  And they are amazing...
this breed is intelligent, fun-loving, playful, affectionate, and naturally beautiful.  They love to swim, to retrieve, to hunt, to run, to work and to be couch potatoes.  It was the words "biddable" and "adaptable" that attracted me to explore the breed more and I have not been disappointed.  Their eagerness to please and train easily and their adaptability from racing on the beach to snoring in the car are paramount to the breed's success as a family pet.

But "sweet" is the number one descriptive word about this breed, and prompted me to include it in my kennel name.  They are sweet.  Lovable.  Affectionate.  Gentle.  Trustworthy with children.  Sweet.

There is a softness to their nature that is very important the prospective buyer understands.  Don't get me wrong, they are a vibrant, bright, active, athletic dog that can take a correction in training.  But they are softer emotionally.  They care about what their handler thinks and they will not tolerate anyone yelling at them or being roughly handled.  I think this separates them from many other sporting breeds who have a reputation for being stubborn or hard-headed.  Blue Picardies are very sweet natured animals and as a breed, they need the time to mature into their confidence.  It is a natural part of EVERY dogs growth process to go through several "fear" stages in their lives.  These are periods usually around 3 months and 6 months (major ones) with a longer period between 6-14 months; where the flight instinct is being realized.  Things that may have never bothered your dog may startle them.  It's imperative at these times that you give the puppy the support of your calm presence, but allow the puppy to figure things out on their own.  Never swoop down on a fearful puppy and coddle it!  Let them explore and test the waters themselves.  The problem is, this can take time and too many owners get impatient.  They want to push a puppy through a fear episode, or protect them from it.

A perfect example for you is when I had gotten a ten month old pup.  At the time I had three other older dogs who were very familiar with our walks and our yard.  One day the puppy was walking along and noticed a stump of a tree and was terrified!  He set up a panicked yelping and all his hair stood on end!  The other adults came a running and when they saw he was barking at a stump, they went up to the stump and sniffed it, confirmed it was a stump and walked away.  They didn't attack the stump to protect the puppy...they didn't steer the puppy away from the stump...they didn't bark at the stump too.  They simply showed the pup there was nothing to be afraid of, and trusted that he'd figure it out on his own.
Well, the ten month old puppy was not convinced.  He stopped the panic attack, but his hair still stood on end and he was NOT approaching that stump!  I did not sweet talk him and tell him things were okay when obviously things were not okay in his understanding.  And I did not force him over to the stump.  I simply waited.  I was waiting for him to use his nose and not his eyes.  I gently encouraged him whenever he took a step toward the stump with a "good boy!  Check it out!"  And after about twenty minutes he finally got up the courage to go up to the stump and sniff it.  The SECOND he used his nose, he understood what the stump was and completely relaxed and walked away with no fear or issue any more!  But the next time he came upon something that scared him, it took ten minutes for him to investigate and then eight and then five until as a mature dog, he now has the confidence to walk right up to anything and investigate.

It's a natural process for a young dog to find their balance and you must give them the time to figure these things out.  Almost 100% of the time when a dog is frightened or panicked it's because they are using their eyes and not recognizing something.  When they calm down a notch, they will begin to sniff with their nose and when they do that....it's usually quickly resolved.  A dog trusts his nose.

Blue Picardies tend to be very sweet and soft tempered in their youth.  You must keep a watchful eye at dog parks so they aren't picked on.  But hang in there!  If you allow them the time to figure things out, give them lots of opportunities to explore new things, and always offer a calm reassuring presence, by the time this breed reaches two years they are self assured, confident, grounded animals able to go into any situation with grace.  And they retain the softness and sweetness that defines them.  So remember that first year or two is critical in the forming of your puppy's personality.  Make sure the timing is right for your family so you can give the training and the time for a puppy to fully grow into their confidence.
Stop and smell those roses with your pup!