Introducing Laika...

1 day old

2 weeks

4 weeks

4 weeks with her brothers River and Steve

8weeks

8.5weeks

9 weeks

9 weeks at Sarahs

10 weeks

I'd like to introduce you all to the newest member of our household; Laika. She was born on the 28th October which makes her currently 10.5wks old. She is a blue merle WSD with bright blue eyes. Her mother is Gemma who runs for Aces high and herself is from flyball and ISDS lines, and her father is my Asher.

I've kinda kept everything quite quiet about her due to the constant issues I have with bringing new dogs in to my house as my family aren't really doggy people (I had to wait several years to get Tess, and then literally begged for atleast 3yrs before I could get Asher). I wasn't sure right up to the last minute whether I would get her home at all so didn't want to jinx it by telling everyone about her. Also as I'm sure you can imagine we have recieved criticism for "breeding for the wrong reasons" yet it didn't stop us having loads and loads of enquiries about the litter despite their only being 3 puppies. All in all the last few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster and only now do I feel things have settled and I feel strong enough to introduce her with the enthusiasm she deserves!

Well she is bright, determined, strong willed and tugs like a demon :). She already has her cute and quirky mannerisms. She's very attached to me but also likes to do her own thing which can make her frustrating at times! She does crazy zoomies round the house and garden, Asher is totally bemused by her and wondered what the hell I had done to him when I 1st brought her home. He now thinks she is quite good fun. I think he missed having the company of another dog when we lost Tess. She's generally very confident and no objects/noises bother her at all. She does play the sweet and innocent card when she first meets new people and dogs but it doesn't take her long to show her true colours! She picks up things very quickly but can only concentrate for short periods especially as at the moment she is not particularly foody. Housetraining is still a bit of a headache but we are getting there. She was also quite nippy when she 1st came home but this is decreasing even quicker than I expected.

I have been asked if I feel under pressure with her because of already having Asher and him being so quick and also her dad. Well basically; No, I didn't get her because I want another superfast dog, I wanted another dog to train and work. I will of course put my everything in to her to make her the best that I can but I don't really mind how fast she is. If she did end up sub4 I probably wouldn't be able to run her anyway because she'd be on the same team as Asher! My main aim is for her to have a fantabulous boxturn as obviously this is a major interest of mine. Related to this I want her to show equal drive to the box and back from the box. I have a rough training plan sorted already, not that the actual flyball parts of that can begin for several months yet! She will not be 1 of those pups doing full runs at 9months ;)! I'd also like to do a bit more agility with her so will try to do more foundation work to hopefully eliminate the problems I have encountered with Asher.

Anyway for now she can just enjoy being a puppy, terrorising the house and generally causing chaos! I hope to keep her training updated on here and will try to add photos and videos when I can.