My princesses

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Sava Sara Brakada, AKA Xsara was born on 06-27-2004. She was raised in Kennel Brakada spending the first two months of her life on beautiful countryside Gorenjska (Slovenia) with her siblings and parents. As soon as she came to Ljubljana we started a puppy class, followed by an obedience class. She passed her B-bh exam with 96 points (instructor Agility EO winner Polona Bonač). We now continue with Rally-Obedience under Polona's supervision. Our biggest passion however is Agility. We started our first Agility class in October 2005 (club Agility Ilirija, instructor Silvia Trkman, two times agility world champion). When Silvia stopped teaching agility classes, we switched to Daša Zakotnik. We regularly participate in Agility trials in Slovenia and sometimes abroad. Xsara also loves to learn new dog tricks, you can see some of them in our videos. Her other passions include long walks, big meals and playing with dogs, specially her pyr shep sister Tani, her crazy agility pals and her sister Sena.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Trust Not a New Friend

Yesterday we went to the first agility class after the injury. It was raining quite a bit so we didn't stay very long but Xsara was soooo happy! She was on the A-frame the second I unleashed her and than she ran back and forward over the dogwalk while I was trying to memorize the course - she even did the contacts while running around like that, at least those that I was able to see were nice.

First we did a couple of very short combinations (some jumps and a tunnel) to see if she would be fine. Since she apparently felt great, we ran two courses (each of them twice), with breaks between the runs. It was so great to run with her again, she lightened up in a second and seeing her so carefree and happy is always just the best feeling ever.

The tricks-training-session after agility (also known as "the dinner") started without any shaking! She was a little more nervous for breakfast, but way more confident than last week. She is still a little uneasy around the dogs she doesn't know, but fine with those we meet at least occasionally. I'm happy with the improvement but I hope she will soon rediscover the joy in meeting new dogs.

I don't really care about forcing her to interact with other dogs if she doesn't like them. I don't socialize with strangers just because they're people, eather. That's up to her. But I do want her to feel confident around them and not be intimidated, scared or even aggressive. So I'll watch her behaviour really carefully for as long as this moody feeling lasts.

10 comments:

Johann The Dog said...

So glad you had fun and are back in action! I know how great I feel the day we come back and things look promising...just the best feeling in the world.

I'm having to build up my confidence after my injury, but it's progressing!

Woofs, Johann

Urban Smoothie Read said...

xsara seemed to be really excited about being back to the agility ground..

pacco tends to be aggressive towards new dogs, especially on the grounds she's familiar with....and very possessive towards her toys and food too...

she don't behave that way when she was younger... i wonder y all the problem came up when she's older now...

JAZZ AND DIXIE said...

Good to hear that you are back doing what you love Xsara.
Thanks to you mum for the advice she gave my mum about the aggression thing. Mum has really been praising me and giving me tiny snacks for all my positive interactions and I am behaving a little better.
Licks
Jazz

Juno said...

Xsara! Sorry to hear about your injury and that satelite collar. We're glad your operation went well. Now you're back to your own action! :)

Momo & Pinot

Amber-Mae said...

Good to hear that Xsara's beginning to regain her confidence again. I guess, she needs to be socialized again but around friendly dogs. If there are dogs that are a little unfriendly & show aggressiveness towards her, then don't let her mix around them becoz it will not help. Nice to hear that she was happy to go back to class again.

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

The Dog Man said...

That looks more like the ol' Xsara that we all know and love. :)

At least it's all behind you now, and will only get better from here on in.

FleasGang said...

We're happy you don't have to wear your lampshade and shoe anymore :-) Remember to take it easy and don't overdo it right away - but have lots and lots of fun!!

luv
The FleasGang

Anonymous said...

check out the contest!

Thor and Jack said...

Xsara
I´m so glad to hear that you´re ok and you´re back in the action! Looks like you had a great time in the agility training.

Thor

Lorenza said...

Hi, Xsara!
Sure is nice to hear that you went back to your favorite activities!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza