Introducing Indy

Indiana Wildfire... our first Belgian Malinois. We got him from Washington State, having to fly all the way there from Florida, drove another 2 hours before we got him. He was quite a handful when growing up, but he grew up to be a sweet boy. By nature, he is more a pet than a working dog, but he learns quick and is very responsive to commands.

At the present moment, he is with Hannah's parents in Iron Mountain, Michigan. He is having a time of his life there, with his friend, Ella and huge farm to run around. We hope to be able to get him back to our side someday. However, at the present moment, we are glad that he is well taken care.

Kaly - 6 months old training

Kaly has been to the local Schutzhund training club for 3 training sessions since we started about 2 months ago. The club took a Christmas break. The sessions were mainly socializing as we found she is nervous around other dogs. She was even growling at the Club Trainer, Sean's new Rott puppy. We were pretty unhappy about that. At the end of the last session, Kaly appears to be a bit better with the other dogs. She no longer growl at them, but neither she allows them to get near her. She just want to play catch with all of them. We noticed that she would be calm until the other dogs look at her. She doesn't like it when the other dogs look at her in her eyes.

In the last session, we also work a bit on obedience (OB) which was not too bad. She sits, down pretty consistently. Things need to work on a bit, but she is learning. We tested her prey drive, and she excel in that department. On the other hand, I have to get her to be more active rather than I be the active role. Thus, I would only move the "prey" or let her bite when she barks and wants it... In terms of tracking, she shows potential.. she has the enthusiasm and the motivation. She wants to do it! Hannah was very pleased with her tracking ability, so are the other club members.

Recently, we have been working with her on bitework and OB at home. She is getting stronger in terms of bitework, but she is still nervous when she gets touch by unfamiliar objects, thus we decided to back-off the pressure for a bit and just work on her confidence. We have been giving her different scenario. We started feeding her dinner under the shower curtain. She was nervous at the start and refused to approach the food. However, after a couple of times, she is getting more confident and eating her dinner under the cover of the curtain.

Her OB is not improving much according to Hannah. Thus, Hannah is trying something new from today. If Kaly doesn't respond to a known command, she is just going to stop the training, thus Kaly doesn't get the reward (treat) and Hannah would resume the training later. Let's see if this works... will post results.

Kaly - 6 months

Kaly is 6 months old today. She is about 55cm tall, but we haven't weigh her since she was 3 months old. We will probably take the chance to weigh her the next time we pass by the vet's office. She has been feeding on raw since the first day we got her. At the present moment, she has 2 meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. In the morning, she gets 1/2 chicken and about 100gms of mince chicken, and in the evening, she gets a sausage (from Jimbos) from 1/2 chicken. Feeding her is cheap... about $35 a month from Jimbos (mince chicken and sausage) and we usually get chicken backs from local Woolworths which costs $2 a bag (usually 4 chicken backs). We give her supplements (multi-vitamins) every other day.

We love the results from all the different exercise she gets. She would go with us on long hikes, swim in the ocean, run on the beach, and her daily walks. Of course, she gets free run in the yard for couple of minutes a day as well, where she would take the opportunity to dig up all the rubbish she could. Her coat is as shining as we could wish for and she appears to be healthy and having her time of her life.

The only thing we noticed is that somethings she would favour either her left or her right hind leg. We are speculating that it may just be growing pains and hope that it will go away later as she grows up.