Thread: Poppy

Well folks,thought it was about time I typed up our journey so far...
after our annual May holiday chasing ducks around,the Mrs said we were off for a drive tomorrow,to Ranfurly to pick up a new pup.
we duely arrived at the fine old farmhouse,Mrs leaps out to go and see the pups around the side of the house,I stayed at wagon,setting up cage and keeping the big dog happy,when this little black ball of energy came screaming around the corner to great me,no stopping no hesitation,just straight up and over to say gidday,I saw the red collar and knew it was poppie...red collar =Poppie Iris=Purple collar ,I didnt tell Mrs at that point in time but I didnt even need to see Iris...Poppy had found us and by golly that was good enough for me.
we spent a good hour with Julie and hubby,watched pups,saw the bitch that had them...and Popcicle came home with us....well she got into crate with big dog Meg looking on in discust and we set off homeward..... no need for the radio,we had a howling going on in the back...oh boy was Poppy letting the world know she had been abducted and wasnt happy about it...I covered cage with my old polarfleece coat and she semi settled, we stopped in wakawaiiti and let both Bitches out for a wee stop....on lead,no worries...
I hung on to Poppy in passengers seat and she settled immediatly.... oh the silence was great.
we made it home happily and she settled in OK.
we placed the cage in lounge for her to sleep
the cat was NOT IMPRESSED by this little black licky bouncy thing...I was terified cat would swipe and take out eyes,absolutely terrified but we were OK. a wee pat /tap or three from cat on her nose and message was recieved.
the two bitches were getting on OK but Poppy was full on scragging Meg,she put up with it really well but "something" happened outside Megs kennel, almighty scream from pup,then more almighty yelping,Meg slunk off.Poppy came over to us,face all crooked and blood pissing out of her mouth...HOLY SHITE... whats happened, into wagon off to vets.
Lovely lady at vets was awesome, she had venison jerky nibbles at a treat for dogs,at this point we learnt what is going to be a big part of Poppies mentality...and a saying was born.."the labrador is strong in this one"...
she was very very sore pup with crooked face,we werent sure if she had broken top jaw or what ,she was swollen and unsettled,wanted to eat but sore. Vet gave her some anti inflamitory jab and jabs that were due anyway and we went away home...2 hours later swelling has gone down and I believed the top fang was stuck through top lip...so off back to vets we went...
now this is where another of my wee idiosincrocies came in... I had decided right from beginning that Poppies safe place was going to be across my shoulders..so thats where I put her as went into vets,and I kept her there,lovely vet lady came out,i just stood there relaxed,vet looked then brought out the venison nibbles to distract pup,grabbed lip,and quick short pull down and out popped her fang and everything back to normal.....a few nibbles got inhaled down and two very releived folks went home.... crisis over for today...
Meg and Poppy were still buddies and it seemed Poppy hadnt learnt a thing...
now it has been an interesting journey with Meg as she was taken off Mum far too early 5-6 weeks then went to little childs home and got all sorts of shit done to her,we got her as a damaged 11 week old with issues. I can still cower her down and make her pee just by raising voice, she would pee if put up on furniture pee if put in front seat of car...obviously places she had encountered stuff that hurt... and hadnt learnt to be a pup..or how to growl in warning... she doesnt growl just bites... well Poppy has actually TAUGHT the big dog how to be a dog,its been fun to watch,there have been 3 occasions the pup has been monstered,last time she was dragged forwards as Meg had a hold of her lip..but I saw it happen and why it happened so let it be... no damage done and Meg has had scabs around her neck from pup scraggings for last 3 months,patience of a saint can be pushed too far...holy smoke Poppy gives her a scragging,grabs big mouthful of neck skin and shakes shite out of it..and Meg takes it.. .they romp around like twits,crash into each other at full run,leap over each other and generally frighten the crap out of me...LOL.

Nice, nothing like a new pup. We’ve bred a few litters over the years; and always tell the prospective owners that the pup will pick them, not the other way around.

our training started right from day dot,sitting before food time,sitting at roadsides,lots of big loud banging noises with food bowl etc,walking on lead,staying behind when walking,no tripping the boss over,leaping up on bed to say good morning but a big lick on face is NOT so good. the cat gets a good lick at times too,the look of discust is priceless,they get along quite well really.
introduction to gunfire has been very controlled.I sighted in suppressed rifles while dogs n Mrs say in terrano..no reaction at all from Poppy... when I shot hare close to wagon,Poppy wanted out to join in the fun and was up and looking...
today I shot a bird on back lawn did a little subtle no pressure training with poppy,a bit of forced hold in mouth,no stress,no pressure just a few seconds of hold it there.... it will come,she is good at retrieving tennis ball or soft toy so birds wil follow,she is fasinated by them...our 4 chooks are on first name basis with her and they sniff noses through the fence,no trying to bite,just fasinated by them.
so as Im taking Meg away for a hunt tomorrow AND I have been telling Poppy she couldnt come hunting till she could jump up into terrano without help,and she mastered that last week and takes every opertunity to do so now..as if to say,see Dad,Im a big girl now lets go hunting....
so the trebly was put in wagon,Poppy in the back and off we went to local dairy farm. I let her out and tied lead onto my belt and we set off. keeping Poppy in behind me and not tangled in lead was a work in progress but she mastered it soon enough. got to first wee rise,where I had Christened the trebly a month back with RUMPY, and yip there is a hare just down the hill 50ish yards away,quietly snuck forwards,sat down and got Poppy in behind me sitting, lined up hare and fired.bang went the gun,down went hare #1 and Popsicle just sat ...farkin awesomeness, I reloaded and got a click...must ...shut...action...properly....
hare #2 carried on and Poppy got a pat,we walked quietly forwards untill the little black twitchy thing on front of her face started doing the twitchy thing...we got to within a meter of hare and she stopped,sniffed and tail wagged,bit of a sniff bit of a pat,bit of a quiet internal yabbadabba doo we in the money honey.... I picked up hare and its oil processing systen fell out of what used to be a chest...Poppy now showed that previously mentioned trait "the labrador is strong in this one" FOOD..FOOD....FOOD... out came pocket knife, off with the skin ,out wit hthe poohs n wees. hung good bits on post,chucked rest over bank and we carried on.... got to next wee rise/bank 80ish yards ahead and spotted next hare,lay down to shoot, sat Poppy behind me wh othen pointed out the hare foot in grass from previously mentioned trebly kill month back,hard case I was hooting from exact same spot RUMPY had a month ago.and shot that one too. no reaction from pup... walked further along bank and looked dow nat stil lalive but very sick hare,so leaned over post and head shot it... walked around and down towards hare,let Poppy off lead at this point,kept here close,we got within 30 yards and that black wet twitchy thing went nuts,then she led me over to hare.... another pat, more poohs n wees bit wit hknife..and we called it quits and headed home...Im stoked,she has been a breaze to be around and train so far. photos to follow when Ive eaten my dinner.

I'm 3 years into my first dog since i was a kid and the amount of stress that fella has put me through has almost been unbearable at times. Crashed into this, ran into that, attacked by some Mongrel and here I am thinking about getting another one. Why because there bloody awesome and all the stress doesn't come close to the joy they bring.

Good stuff Micky

mates,she isnt that small anymore!!! thankfully she wont be a huge dog..mum was half GWP half lab sire was half GWP half border collie/working heading dog so a good mix. brains n bidibility from the collie,hunt drive from GWP and food drive from the lab LOL...

Good stuff Mickey, new pups are always fun and problematic at the same time.

Great progress mate. Would have been good to come along today but looking at the size of that pig I'm a little glad I didn't. Poppy looks happy enough with the proceedings.

super laid back pup...two rounds of .270 (suppressed) and "ok so what you shooting now" was reaction...walked down to pig,quick sniff..OK so now what....is clothed out now..she is going to be VERY birdy....couple of parries flew around us and there was two beady wee brown eyes boring holes in them,did not let then out of her sight...walking out she got lesson about NO LOOKING at sheep...her sire is to blame being a gwp/border collie...but she got the message eventually.....walking on my heals needs a bit of work,she just likes to be super close...it will come with a trip or two,was much better on home stretch.
took mt long line and kept her on it for first third of day,and stalking down into pig,but let her run free for rest of time,stayed within 5-10 yards all day.super happy.

Well done MD, Poppy is doing the business

Poppy is a right cute wee thing, glad I’ve met her. She’s going to be an absolute asset to you when you get her out on the bigger stuff more!

shit you were lucky micky i shall send you my treatise ''when two bitches go to war ''
i wouldnt have put them together in a dog box till i was sure old mrs grumpy arse wouldnt tear a strip off her.
luckily it wasnt to bad
.ive seen a bitch who butter wouldnt melt turn into a fn physho killer at the meer itroduction of another female into the team kennels
let alone the team
took 6months before jan stopped the fn dexter act with bess

poppy now 1 year old...and the 2 of them had a wee set too tonight,Poppy is still backing down.....