Summary of the past 2 months

The past two months have been a whirlwind. The long awaited moment of 'Olivia' now Kali's release finally came on Oct 9th. She had been waiting for 3 long months to be able to leave the temporary HSMO shelter and be allowed to be a puppy. I had watched Kali grow and mature since the third week in July; figuring out pack behavior with her litter mates, dealing with the stress of the kennel environment but she stayed calm and solid throughout her whole stay at HSMO. The best day of this whole experience was when I got word her district had been released by the courts.........it was finally over for Kali.

We knew taking her in, we were going to have our setbacks but what we had was one amazing puppy that deserved a chance.

The first few weeks were all about exploring. She had never seen a house, never seen a ceiling fan and most definitely never been in a car. She was allowed to go at her own pace and has come so far. Once Kal has experienced something once, her fear is gone, full speed ahead. You have gotta love that about gamebred pups.

Throughout the two months of allowing her to just be her, she has been slowly introduced to our pack. We went through the 2 week shut down and because of that I feel her transition went as smooth as possible. We took it slow and over the past 2 months she has met all of our dogs. She does not interact with them all, but the foundation has been set for harmonious living. Her new best friend is Bozley, whom is my difficult male in my house. For some reason they have hit it off like two peas in a pod but I can see that things may not stay so hunky dory all the time. Kal is a pushy broad and doesnt let TBoz get away with much, which is quite an accomplishment at 7 months.


Kal has been in training classes for the past month and going at our own speed. She is a bright one, but I always have to remember she is not totally confident with herself yet. Once she hits a snag during class she shuts down. NO corrections can be used with her as she is one of the most sensitive puppies I have ever worked with. A trainer where we are were in class actually didnt see eye to eye with me on some training methods and we are no longer going to class. My top priority is Kal's success, if that means training goes a little slower because I am using strictly positive methods..........so be it. The bond will at least be there.


Kali is a retrieving machine. Her retrieve was actually the first thing we learn along with her 'out'. I have high hopes for this 28lb girl, she is hopefully going to excel at anything I put in her way. Her first Dock Dogs event is in Feb and she visited her first agility show this last weekend.


Oh the places she will go !