06/24/2026
We have made it to Sitka! The girls were troopers and gained so much experience. They met so many new people and dogs. That being said, they are all very happy to be done traveling!
Traveling can be wonderful for training. Mishka (the black lab puppy) was overstimulated a lot at first. We had many moments where we were able to teach her to be “easy” and focus on us. I worked hard teaching her that we keep all four paws on the ground when meeting people. This brings me to a serious and often frustrating point:
**When you run into someone who is allowing you to interact with their dog, please be respectful of the commands they are giving their dog. I can’t count how many times I would correct Mishka for attempting to jump on people (I would tell her “off” followed by “sit”, “wait”, and “easy”) and people would say “It’s okay, she’s just a puppy and I’m used to it”. Then they allow her to stand on her back legs while putting her front paws on them. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS! Trust me, I understand that you are excited to see my puppy and it’s cute that she is very excited to meet you as well, but when you disregard the manners I’m trying to teach her, it does a disservice to myself, my dog, and future people she will be meeting. You might think it’s cute when a 38 pound lab puppy wants to jump up on you to greet you, but when that same puppy is 60-70 pounds of adult dog coming at you, it’s not so cute anymore.
Now that I got that out of the way, I am looking forward to sharing a lot more pictures of our girls exploring our new island home. I’m glad you’re here with us and we hope you stick around ❤️
