cattledog city

lizzie

my little freak who tries to herd everything. especially the vaccuum. and power tools.

lizzie is the first dog that was completely "mine". i grew up with dogs basically my whole life - my parents got the first dog, a golden retriever who i creatively named "beauty" when i was eight, & then collected three more dogs (all huskies) throughout the years following. lizzie is my first herding dog, but i fell in love with cattle dogs through working with so, so many.

i had been following the rescue i adopted lizzie from for months, waiting for the right time & the right dog, and i fell in love with her as soon as the rescue posted her - & i adopted her basically right away. i've had her since seven weeks old, & she was a remarkably good puppy all things considered - her biggest difficulties were frequent diarrhea as a puppy, & demand barking/fomo (lol).

she frequently comes to work with me, & she does well meeting most types of dogs - her tolerance for annoying male dog behaivors & undersocialized/demanding female dog behaivors is low, but in general she gets along very well with anyone. she does give harsh/strong corrections when dogs piss her off - usually male dogs who are annoying & mount any dog in sight.

her favorite toys are benebones & squeaky toys & tennis balls. and cardboard boxes <3 she looooooves to shread cardboard boxes.

she's my trick dog! her favorite command is "paw" - and when we're working on new cues she always starts by rapid-fire smacking me, lol. she thinks paw is every new trick. she knows sit, down, stay/wait, paw, roll over, on (object), off (object), paws up (onto an object), over (bar jump, over a gap), in (box, bucket), under (object), side (down, but with her back legs extended), scratch (to file her nails). we're actively working on hold (object), back up, around (object at a distance) & more tricks - whatever i think would be fun!

i'd like to get her into agility more - i have a small agility set but i want to find a facility with full size obstacles to practice, especially to practice distance work.

lizzie's diet:

pro plan 30/20 - her primary diet - she gets 1/2 cup of kibble three times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for a total of 1.5 cups a day. usually mixed with water.
honest kitchen whole grain dehydrated food - her "oatmeal", lol. it's not given every day/every meal but i give it to her as a topper frequently, esp. when she needs extra calories for activity reasons
native pet pumpkin powder & probiotic powder - as needed, not every meal or every day
salmon oil - perodically, not daily but stil frequently
assorted treats of varying types - i switch them up frequently. some favorites of her's are bocce's bakery, freeze dried salmon skin, & any jerky treat. she also gets a bedtime greenie dental chew nightly - 1 per night

lizzie's gear:

collar & harness from tags for hope - very solid gear, especially for a short coated dog. no complaints, though ellie will have different main gear due to coat differences. lizzie doesn't have any matting because her fur is so short, so any gear style works for her. lizzie also has a big tag from the same company attached to her harness.
4 ft leash & 8 ft leash, also from tags for hope - same as collar & harness, good leashes. i like the traffic handles on them, & the 4ft leash has a "in training" leash wrap on it (from amazon) - this will be replaced with a "ask to pet"/"ask to approach" leash wrap soon when i find one i like the wording of. my daughter doesn't like strangers approaching her on leash, lol. she's okay with most people (except small children & heavily bearded men).... her favorite strangers to interact with are older (60+) women for some reason.
15 ft & 30ft biothane longline from big snoof dog gear - good longlines. i use them daily, especially since we don't have a fence up yet, & they hold up really well. the ease of cleaning is a huge bonus.
rainbow wire muzzle from big snoof dog gear - primarily just used for vet visits. she's really weird about the vet, even on three different drugs to keep her calm. she's too suspicious of them. the muzzle is for everyone's safety/comfort, & it looks cute on her <3
tracker from tractive - good tracker, also logs activity. no complaints about it, customer service has been good with issues & the battery life is very solid.
slide-on collar tag from besties pets - yes she has two different tags - one is on her harness with more detail & this slideon one is on her collar. i don't like dangling tags being on collars, but i wanted one with more info too. this silicon one just has her name & my phone number, + technically could have an airtag on it but obviously she's got a seperate tracker so i'm not using that feature. it's nice, it looks cute. no complaints but really it's just the first fun patterned slide-on tag i found.

my goals with lizzie:

get her CGC title finally.... after i register her with AKC canine partners & find an evaluator
get her PKD-N title. we've got to get videos of the skills & do more proofing with "back-up" non-lured & then train "around" but she's very confident with the rest of the cues for the title. get PKD-T, then work on PKD-EXP + PKD-BIN.
FDC - hinges on finding evaluators & places to train. i know she can do it, we just need a safe place to train & work on her impulse control....