GOT IT!!!!

 ma·​ven | \ ˈmā-vən  \

variants: or less commonly mavin

Definition of maven

: one who is experienced or knowledgeable : EXPERT

Raising the Independent puppy

Choosing the puppy who didn’t choose you, is a journey to building a working partnership. A challenge I must have wanted and one that I am just beginning to appreciate. I love a confident and strong-minded pup, but a little softness is okay-biddable is easy to work with. 

Independent is not as easy. I love the process of building foundation and relationship with a pup, but am basically a lazy trainer. Can't really know what you are producing if you don't work with their brains, even with all the effort involved. Early training tells you a lot about your pups. 

I love a “natural” for many reasons. A natural retrieve, or the pup that follows you and glues to your skin when you sit on the ground with them, is pretty likely to be an easier pup. Recalls are everything. A pup who doesn’t want to come to you, has already built a force field of their own world-that excludes you. Piercing that bubble so that orbit is around you, takes work!

Why did I choose the one pup out of five, that was least interested in me? She was the one I got teary about, thinking about letting her go. Yes, I am a softy and love my dogs, my decisions aren’t always practical. Her energy swirled around her, sucking me in. Maven (puppy name Red Hot) was the pup I was just drawn to. I chose the puppy that was born knowing, the expert!

But “why”? She clearly didn’t give a crap about me. The puppy that doesn’t choose you, isn’t asking “what” next, but more often asking “why”. The door isn’t open, they don’t really need you as much. Independent thinkers are gold when it comes to being able to work on their own, until you need them to include you in the picture for directions.

Her first time on sheep was intense and amazing. Not a puppy that will need any building up, she knows what she is and what she can do. I need a really strong fenced round pen to work on that natural instinct, without having too much negative involved. I have seen how some trainers start a strong pup. That won’t make sense to her. Corrections are dumb, she wants to see the sense in it all. She reminds me of Teg as a pup.

Almost ten months on earth and I have been working really hard with this pup. She is the proverbial “handful”. Loves everyone and very friendly, but like the kid who knows their parents are watching from the stands for every game-she’s pretty sure I am just there. I do see glimmers of the future, as we start working on skills, she seems interested and willing.

Our recall is a work in progress. She loves water! The joy of swimming is very natural for her. On our hikes, being able to call her out of the river this past month or so, has been huge! An unexpected success, which the only true reward for is to release her back to the water. On our hike yesterday, an unexpected person popped out of the meadow grass and also became a big reward, for my soggy fish. How much do I love a naturally friendly pup!?! So, the other stuff is work, but strong social approach is top of the list for me-even if it isn’t me. (need a winking emoji here) Just like her Mama SoBright who hiked alone the day before, OMG PEOPLE!! Must shower them with love.

At night when the day starts to wind down, Maven is always curled up next to me. I realize she does kind of like me. That sweetness and wanting to be in physical proximity reminds me of who she really is. That is where our teamwork is going.

I see how quickly she learns and how much she carries over every little thing I have trained with her so far. She is scary smart! Which is a blessing and a curse. Border Collies can pattern so quickly, she is really the pup who reminds me daily to be one step ahead. One pattern I am specifically working on is a retrieve. A good retrieve goes hand in hand with a good recall.

Maven loves her ball and Frisbee. In a big field yesterday we were working on disc skills and coming in close for the next throw or “take”, close to me. We had lots of success with multiple throws and recalls. She doesn’t realize I am tricking her to cooperate, HA! This is foundation for being able to call her off and “catch” her as needed in the future-she doesn’t know that.

Also while training had some great downs at a distance practice, before a disc throw. She has a pretty nice down for a pup. All training really melds together, but hopefully she is really starting to feel more of a connection to me, as I am to her. I really love this pup! I feel like in the next six months we will make great strides. No particular goal, other than connection and partnership. She is pretty damn brilliant!