Tearful Good Byes

Linda Brennen on Left With Dagmar on Right

Well... we are on to phase II of Raja's training... It was a sad time for Dagmar, Raja's Phase I Puppy Raising home. She got him at 9 weeks, and although I am sure she will be happy to not have to get up to let the little bugger out for potty in the wee hours of the morning. It is hard and rewarding work to train a dog for service. Linda Brennen will be Raja's Phase II home and also his Phase II dog trainer.

Raja Saying bye bye to his foster Momma

We will be making sure that Dagmar, Doug, Hannah, and Meagan get updates frequently, and will of course have "visitations" whenever they are getting the itch! I so appreciate all the effort that they have made to give Raja the great start that he needed...

Raja and Dagmar saying Good Bye

Zaki's First Ever Sleep-Over

Raja-Roo at 21 weeks!

Zaki and Raja in Zaki's bed

Zaki had his first friend stay the night! His new best friend Raja! They had an absolutely wonderful time. Zaki was so proud to have Raja here. We went to the library for some public access work, and Raja did great, and Zaki was surprisingly calm and quiet. Hope that continues! If Raja helps Zaki that much, he will have been worth every penny plus some!

Zaki couldn't leave him alone even in the kennel :)

Seriously, we did give Raja lots of down time, I just couldn't resist taking this one! Raja also got along great with his World Wrestling Federation Champion Tag Team Member Mater! Mater is our family dog, and it was hilarious to see these two play play play. We had introduced them the week prior at a "neutral" location and they did well together.

Mater waiting for the laptop to load - so studious

While Raja was here getting used to the house, he spent some time in Zaki's room, in the bathroom with us during baths and showers, and he even had time to dig out my garden box! What a super service dog! LOL

Mater, just chillaxin' of which he did none while Raja was here

This was also Frank's (my husbands) first introduction to Raja, and they got along like champs. If only Frank liked the "kisses" like Zaki does:)!

Raja and Zaki in the front yard after church

It has been a while since I have updated Raja has started his public access work with his host family, and with Linda who will be his phase II home. He has been to many different places like Costco, Barnes and Noble, business networking meetings with lots of people and scents, restaurants etc. He is a very confident dog in full blown adolescence. So he is a four footed teenager at the moment pushing the boundaries where he can. This is also a critical time in his development, and how his adolescent time is handled (positively or negatively) will affect his future greatly. This is why only positive training methods are used. Clicker training is the method of choice for the trainers handling Raja. We have used this method with our family dog Mater, and not only is it fun, the dog gets immediate and exact positive feedback http://www.clickertraining.com/ is a great resource if you would like to learn more. And if you are in our area, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Laurie Yakish or Linda Brennen to help with your family dog.
I was thrilled that Raja was always interested in what Zaki was doing!