New blog!

Hello, myself and my mom (Lisa Baird) are creating this blog to chronicle the agility training and competing of our Podengos - Dexter and Fada. I will introduce myself and Dexter.  We are hoping other Podengo owners will also contribute!

Dexter is a 4.5 month old PPPs (Portugese Podengo Pequeno Smooth), born 7/7/08. He just came to live with me and my husband, Andy, this past weekend. He is doing great so far! I am a clicker trainer, and have just begun to introduce the clicker to him.

I got my first dog in 1993, a Border Terrier named Peanut, and began training and showing her in both agility and conformation (Jr Showmanship). She was a difficult dog who did not have a lot of motivation, and sniffed a *lot*. Looking back on it, I am surprised I had the patience to get through the issues we faced, but it helped me to become a better trainer. My second dog, Fancy a Sheltie, I got in 1997. She was a big change from the Border Terrier! Fancy is a very fast and motivated dog, so she really helped me to become a better handler, and also helped me learn a lot about clicker training and shaping. My husband and I now have Fancy, and a mixed-breed who we got in 2006, named Panic. Panic is a fast, motivated, intelligent dog who has been a joy to train and run. We have had our issues (contacts and table in the agility ring!) but working with her has always been a lot of fun.

I am looking forward to the new challenges which Dexter will bring. I have never trained a dog as small as he is - even my Border Terrier was big for a BT, about 14". I have also never trained a hound before. I am hoping my training with the sniffy terrier will come in handy here!

I would like to start a video diary of Dexter's training, so look for some youtube posts coming up! We will likely start with tricks to teach him about learning and to build a relationship between him and me.