This is my little Dog Cali the Mali From California. Now spelled Caley so it did not look like Calis on my title and just because. Cali was a very special Surprise and gift from a dear friend named OJ Knighten who is a breeder in California. OJ remembered me from my past life and sent me a wonderful gift. And now life is all about Cali.
I got Cali at 7 1/2 weeks a great age for her and I. There is something about the 8 week fear period that I know from 20 years breeding Malinois and I could not see a little dog flying on a plane during a fear stage so asked for her a little earlier.
Cali is a Belgian Malinois Born June 21st, 2011 and a little girl of course. She is teaching me many things from her arrival until this day.
I've raised many litters of Belgians and other breeds but never had the chance to raise and train only "1" (one) puppy with no other puppy distractions. So with that said, Cali gets all my attention for training.
I do have 2 other dogs but one is a 13 1/2 Malinois female who is my retired bomb dog and the other is a 7 yr old little mix dog and these are my good pets.
Cali is by far not my first dog nor my first dog to train for competition as I have been around the world training and competitions and of course raising and training many puppies along the way.
Cali is just my first pup I did not breed and my first puppy that I am training all the way to a competitive level.
When Cali arrived and I brought her back to my work place (I own a Pet Grooming Salon), I let Cali out of the crate to sniff around. She sniffed and pottied and then came to play and play she did. She loved to bite my pant legs and sneakers and that hurt even with a little iddy biddy puppy. I just redirected to many toys on strings and eventually the pant leg and shoe biting just went away. How nice is that.
Cali was fearless on her first day here. She just walked into the Grooming Salon like she was always here. Tile Floors, Fans going, dogs barking a vacuum cleaner whizzing around. She just did not care and I was so happy to see all of that...
I saw a video clip of a Malinois puppy playing with it's owner on the floor with a ball. One thing I wanted was for my little puppy to come back to play with me. So for the first week we would go to a quiet room and I would sit on the floor and roll the ball and pat my legs calling Cali back to me to bring the ball. Little puppies love this game because they get to come back into your lap and roll around.
My friend would come around to see Cali's progress daily and we would take her outside and play tug with some leather tied to a pole. In dog training known as a "Flirt Pole", to tease a puppy to chase and play and bite of course.
We did this until she was about 3 months old and then switched to some puppy sleeves (mini puppy stuff) and played that game until she started to teeth at 4 months old. We taught Cali to bring the toy or tug back to the decoy for more play and until this day she loves to come play. We taught her to get used to different materials in her mouth but using a few different kinds of sleeves. I even got the puppy bite work dvd from "Michael Ellis"
I thought or shaped her using food to sit, down, come etc. I started the focused heeling after watching a video from "Michael Ellis" how to do it. (many things over the years change in training and keeping up with it is the best).. Never stop learning...
Oh yes and the Send Away from Michael Ellis using Touch Pads. That is so much fun to train..
I attended an Ivan Seminar when Cali turned 6 months old and could do bite work again. It was wonderful seeing her transform in a weekend and watching all the other handler's and dogs. Learn, Learn, Learn.. Cali is like a sponge and I'm trying to keep up
We started tracking as I was going to compete in Schutzhund with her, but now that I met some French Ring People I am good to go with that as I love the dogs who bite on a full body bite suit.
So that basically catches you to now and going forward will be from Cali's point of view. Of course and mine to..
Cali is 6 1/2 months old now and going through some adolescent tantrum stages so Cali will tell how much fun that is giving her mom (me) a more challenging time.
http://www.TrainingK9s.com
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