Saffy has had her first official training record. I was working so David took her. These training records will give her credibility as a working dog. David changed his old substances for new this week so we've been training most days this week. Although the substances are the same they become contaminated over time and this makes it more difficult to interpret what the dog is indicating on. Saffy seemed to have difficulty on one of the substances but David's training expertise took us a few steps back and she's now back on track. I can't explain the feeling I get working with her. She only wants to please me and enjoys the play we have after each exercise, she knows she's my dog even though David is the pack leader, this is such a joy.

Saffy about 9mths old with Teal

Saffy is half way through her season and driving our two other dogs mad. We're having to walk them separately as she is constantly flashing her ripe end at them. It's not putting her off searching and surprisingly enough it's not putting Teal off either. Teal our 5 year old black Lab and is David's (my husband) search dog. When they work they are fully focused on the search but when they are not working the two dogs are only interested in running, inches behind Saffy. We are not ready to mate Saffy and Teal yet maybe next season. I would love for her to have pups by Teal but I know I would want to keep them all which David says is not going to happen.

Been training the past few days and learning loads from the videos. Saffy never ceases to amaze me, she finds the search every time however she was a little slower today and wasn't concentrating on the the root of the scent. She has a good excuse as she's coming into season and I have to admit I don't function on all cylinders when I'm in season either.

Been training every day for the past 2 weeks and there is a huge improvement in Saffy. I think she has overtaken me in the learning stakes. My husband has taken to videoing us during training yesterday and today and although it makes me feel self-conscious I am able to learn so much from the playback. Saffy doesn't need this feedback she is doing very well on her own. She was a feisty little pup and wasn't afraid of anything thing she learned how to switch the light of the garage on by climbing on the mower (see picture)

Background

Saffy is two years old now and I've had her since she was 9 weeks. My husband is a dog training instructor and we bought Saffy and her brother to train as search dogs. As pups they were very boisterous and always chasing each other. When they were 11 weeks old they were chasing each other in the field and Saffy got knocked over by her brother. After a few visits to the vets due to her limping an x-ray revealed she had torn some cartilage off her shoulder. This resulted in a very expensive operation and 10 weeks of very limited exercise. During her recovery period she spent alot of time with me while my husband exercised our other dogs. Her brother continued with his training but she was months behind and this is where our bond started. Dogs have been a big part of our family life for over 30 years. I have worked some of our dogs in the past, usually after they had retired just to keep them active and for fun (mostly for the dog), but I have never trained a search dog from scratch. In the beginning I would occasionally train with her to give her an interest but during the past few months I have taken it more seriously as she enjoys it so much.