Welcome to the April 2022 edition of ZENFUL Dog of the Month featuring Lucey! Lucey is a very loving, sensitive, driven and intelligent dog who loves to play and is always on the go!
Lucey
Age: 1 year
Meet Lucey’s Family:
(Lucey’s dad): Steve loves how sweet Lucey is—she has a very loving soul.
(Lucey’s mom): Natasha and Lucey are buddies—Natasha loves spending time with Lucey and seeing her happy.
(Lucey’s sibling): Natasha and Steve’s daughter, Kiara (19), knows how much Lucey truly appreciates her toys so she loves to buy her new ones.
Natasha describes Lucey's Personality: “Lucey is very sweet and very giving. She loves to share her toys and treats with us and [with] our other pets. Lucey is very smart and she also has a stubborn streak—especially when it's time to come in the house. We have to trick her while playing a game sometimes to get her in the house. She just wants to play.”
Natasha Shares The Most Unique Thing about Lucey: Whenever family members return home, Lucey gets very stressed if she can’t find a toy to gift to them as part of her greeting. The ‘greeting gift’ ranges from a bone, a toy, a slipper to pretty much anything.
Lucey's favourite Treats/Foods according to Natasha: Lucey prefers toys over treats but Natasha thinks that her favourite food would likely be frozen raw bones.
Lucey’s Favourite Activities:
Playing frisbee
Tug
Going for walks
Natasha tells us how Lucey Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: “Lucey doesn't unwind. The only time she relaxes is when we are training her to relax on her cot. Other than that, she's busy!”
If Lucey had a human voice: Natasha thinks it’s a blessing that Lucey doesn’t have a human voice because “she’s probably told [Natasha] where to go a few times!”
Lucey’s Training
“Lucey has completed levels 1-3 in Skill Training, participated in some Parkour and Fitness classes and is a wonderful adventurer on hikes with our Cani-Trail club.”-Kendra
Natasha Tells Us How Training has Shaped Lucey: Natasha says that ZENFULdog Training has been a game-changer for Lucey and for herself:
“Kendra has given us the tools to build both my confidence as a dog mom and the skill set to help build Lucey's confidence. [Also], ZENFULdog is such a supportive community of dog parents with perfectly imperfect dogs.
We have come so far with Lucey in her young life and that is thanks to Kendra and the supportive community she provides. I have booked a private session with Kendra because I needed it, not Lucey. I was so discouraged from people constantly telling me I needed to socialize her. I was and still am "socializing" her but in a way that she's comfortable with. I just needed someone I trusted and respected (and still do) to tell me that I was doing the right thing for Lucey and everything will be ok. I can't say enough about Kendra. She's so down to earth and dogs just love her.”
Lucey’s Biggest Training Challenges according to Natasha: From the very beginning of training, Lucey has struggled with fear—fear of dogs and people (and is very unsure of pretty much anything else):
“Our very first puppy class, we had to leave the play session and observe the other dogs playing because she was too scared.”
A big training challenge for Lucey and for her family was, and still is, people—people forcing their opinions on them and not respecting their wishes: “People would say ‘you need to socialize her,’ ‘you need to be the alpha,’ ‘you need to put her in her place,’ ‘dogs love me; I can pet her’ and the list goes on and on. [Also], people not participating in her training because they don't understand why she needs to do things a certain way to be successful.”
Natasha describes Lucey’s Biggest Training Success: Lucey loves her weekly adventures with Cani-Trail: “She's made friends with other dogs and is often trying to instigate a play session while walking. [On Cani-Trail], Lucey is surrounded by people who don't try to pet her (which she loves). Lucey is very smart and loves to learn new things.”
Natasha describes Lucey’s Most Rewarding Training Moments: Because of Lucey’s fear of people, having guests over was very stressful for everyone—especially Lucey. Lucey would become extremely reactive with any guest’s arrival (even Natasha and Steve’s adult son—who doesn’t live at home). Lucey’s family developed a plan to introduce guests into their home successfully. Lucey even enjoys having certain people over now! Natasha exclaims“This is huge and very rewarding for us all. Seeing Lucey bring one of her toys to someone is heart-melting!”
Another rewarding training moment came after Lucey had been to several puppy classes and had finally built up her confidence enough to participate in play time—she had her first successful play session that day! That was a huge training milestone and a big day for Lucey! The other pet parents were encouraging her and Lucey was so happy. Kendra set her up to succeed. Natasha shed a few happy tears that day.
Kendra adds: “Everyone loves Lucey—she is such a beautiful, lively and intelligent dog. We all love her playful antics on trail and her focus in skill classes. Being a high-drive sensitive breed, she struggled in the past with making doggie friends but with the help, patience and love of her incredible pet-parent, [Natasha], she loves to play with her doggie friends. I admire Natasha's training skills and her ability to advocate for her dog so that she can enjoy her training journey and all the joys the world has to offer—their partnership is truly unique.
Lucey needs time to meet new people and I love seeing how much more confident she is during those situations now. Both Lucey and her pet-mom are always smiling, encouraging others and making everyone around them happy. I think Lucey needed a little extra help trusting and for her to look to Natasha and know that she can trust her to keep her safe and build her up—that is why canine partnerships are so beautiful; Lucey and her pet-mom take on the world together and thrive as a team!”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Natasha for providing so much of the content for this feature. Don’t forget that you can follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day. Happy April!
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