Tyra is a white Miniature Schnauzer who is a sweet, obedient, social and loving 2 year old. She will be great with any type of family. Tyra is from Frankie and Blue Beauty.
Tyra will be vetted by Dr. Drew Collins, Sooke Veterinary Hospital on May 2nd.
She has been trained off site for 1 week. Her training report is reflected at the bottom of this posting. Our Trainer, Meg, was so very impressed with her calmness and her ability to retain and compliantly fulfill her training commands.
Tyra will be available to join up with you and yours from May 3rd on wards. To arrange for a meet and greet simply fill out our “Puppy Interest Form”, which resides on our website beside the “Puppy” tab.
Tyra has quite a vocabulary and when she is comfortable she has discussions with you – very sweet!
Look how well she is travelling on a hands-free umbilical leashing device:
HLT-Report-Tyra April 2023 – Training Performed by Meg
Tyra is a shy, cautious, alert and easy-going girl. She loves to play, learn and be with you. She loves to bounce a ball and is very content to do that for a while. She may develop a liking to fetching if the new owner spends time teaching/ playing with her.
She loves to snuggle up with her favourite human too. She enjoyed interacting with our many animals in the household and outside. She’s cautious around cats and as long as they don’t run away, she won’t chase nor bother them at all. Rather, she’d like to give them some space, so dog savvy cats definitely can get along with her in the new house hold.
Tyra is really cooperative and cautious around her environment. She doesn’t like loud noises or big commotions at all, so a bit more exposure will be necessary as her previous farm life has been so quiet. She is totally submissive and loves to listen to you. A special key for new owner(s) is to form a strong bond with her, which may take a few days as she can be shy at first, and to stay calm yet firm and gentle with her. Giving commands with a calm voice works great most of the time but when she’s caught up with something, you need to give a stern tone and wait for a bit as she refocuses.
She performs the best when the training is from a stable alpha perspective, yet gentle and calm manner. One needs to showcase that instructions aren’t negotiable. That is always a good approach and following with much love, praise and number of strokes are the extra plus. She loves to meet your expectations, so make them clear followed by celebration when success is achieved. T
Tyra is smart, very lovable, playful, affectionate, seeks bond and eager to love and being with you. She needed her time and pace to feel completely comfortable in our household since we have many animals (cats & dogs) and humans (including children). Taking her to new environment was relatively no problem as long as I reassured her. She is always cautious around new people. When we meet other people on the street, she is fully aware and vocal somewhat but would like to go say hi as well so new owner needs to have her sit and calm down (wait for the calm) then allow the interaction. If she doesn’t calm down, she doesn’t interact and we move on. When she warms up to you, she shows her true colour which is her puppy-like charms!
Taking walks with me any time of the day was her favourite. She is really good with a rope leash. She always kept up for a longer walk and didn’t mind if one day the walk was a bit short. She only sleeps in a crate or on a sunny deck, otherwise she was curious about anything and everything happening in the house and in the back yard, so many new things to check out. Tyra was not too sure about the dogs met on the street and trail. She definitely doesn’t like “pushy” doggies and she needs some space. I took her to an off-leash dog park nearby from time to time yet she was often by my side. She never initiated any commotion, just didn’t show much interest in other dogs. Occasionally, when she met a dog she can get along, she went off to enjoy the run with them.
She would be happy to move in to a new home with a gentle and calm people along with other animals. Tyra can hold for a long time for potty if she needs to. In a new environment, owners should be watchful for potty language signals. She never wet or had accident in a crate/kennel. She did have a few accidents when I missed the timing, it was my bad. She prefers not do potty business during the walk time due to her cautious nature, and she eventually did it once she was comfortable with the route. She needs privacy to perform. Over time, we allowed Tyra more free time and she was allowed throughout the house without issue. We maintained watchful for improper behaviour and she would stop immediately with a quick “uh-uh”. Getting a replacement toy, Nyla-bone is always a good idea but she didn’t show any interest in chewing anything in the house hold. She gives you an inquisitive look whenever she is corrected or heard a new word and would stop misbehaviour right away. She is very motivated by attention and is very cooperative when correction was reinforced with good back strokes and chest rubs. Outside time and play was always supervised. Every day
Tyra had at least two walks, some for quite a distance, plus potty runs from wakeup to bedtime every now and then (especially at wake-up times and after feeding). She has no problem with stairs. We let her meander to find a potty spot and that was usually by a shade of some structure or near a bush which is somewhat hidden from a view. She likes her privacy, like I say! Tyra had exposure to a wide variety of stimuli: car rides, dog park, residential walks, dogs, cats, people, household appliances, music/TV and laughter. While Tyra was with us, we worked on basic commands, potty training, on-leash walking, off leash walking, stairs, socializing, children, cuddling, recall, quiet behaviour during separation/kennel training, no barking, car travel, handling, cleaning and neighbours.
Potty training: Tyra was supervised closely for her stay, with regular visits outside. We’d announce her “outside to go potty”, take her outside and tell her “go potty” repeatedly, with lots of praise “good girl” if anything happens, and then back inside (no play at potty time). She first wants to spend time with you so she comes near you to be patted/petted so you need to wait a bit for her to go to potty. Especially in the morning, she just wants to greet you and being patted first and foremost. After such interactions, giving her the command “go potty” would make her go. Sometimes she would just follow you and don’t attempt at all during the day. She is a mature dog, so if that happens, she should be OK for the time being. Her body language of walking around fast is usually a key for the potty. First thing in the morning, mid-day and before bed time should be the regular potty time for her except from the walking time. First potty of the day usually entailed a pee and a pooh, so give her enough time to perform. She is superb in this area.
Leashing/Walking: Tyra wore a rope-leash during our walk time. She walks without tangling/jerking and she naturally heels mostly on your left side. She was pretty good at it and keep looking back at me as if saying, “Am I doing all right? Do you need me to do anything else?” – great join up. I kept reminding her that she is doing great. She didn’t like big trucks on the street but regular cars didn’t bother her much. If she gets scared in a new environment while walking, please take a moment to stop, let her sit and get calm, and reassure her. I didn’t walk her off-leash due to her being startled easily except in a dog park. It was her first week off the farm, so more exposure will increase her confidence. Tyra aims to please and responds well when I encouraged her by saying, “good girl” when she came back right away. If she hesitated, a quick “Tyra come” “It’s OK, Tyra” had her up and going again.
New owners should take time to build a strong trust and bond between her first and feel confident to do this to enjoy the off-leash experience elsewhere. In case she doesn’t respond while off-leashed, do not chase her as it’d frighten her. Rather, crouch down, open your arms, use your assertive yet gentle voice to get her attention first. Then, send out the assertive energy that she must come and recall her very calmly and firmly, then huge praise when she comes.
Quiet behaviour during separation/Kennel training: When separated from her, either in her pen or kennel, Tyra was just superb, no whining nor commotions at all. In a crate or on a bed on our deck has been her favourite places. At night, we would say, “bed time, into your kennel… night night.” She slept in her kennel, without water, from around 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. A blanket was placed over the kennel to keep her warm, plus soft blankets in the kennel for comfort. From the first night, Tyra slept through every night without problem/noise.
Well done! Socializing/Play: Tyra loves one on one relationships. She needs to feel secure, calm and welcomed. She also loves to play and be active outside with you. I had a number of days tending to our back yard and she was always happy and curious, keeping me company. She is cautious when approaching new people and dogs, and stays very polite all the time and somewhat vocal in the beginning. If she’d misbehaved that can be corrected by a quick “shisht” and she doesn’t persist. She met many people and dogs during the week and she mostly kept things to herself. She very much enjoyed cuddling yet she wasn’t sure what it was in the beginning. If she ever chews on something she shouldn’t, say “uh-uh” and replace it with one of her toys. She seems to like papers (we had some printed papers from school on a low coffee table and she tried to get them). This behaviour has been corrected but if she does, again, say no/uh-uh! etc. ) Bad behaviour is corrected with firm “no.”, then replace the undesirable item with an item she is allowed to chew. Show her what you want/don’t want from her and good behaviour is always praised (she loves to be praised). She absolutely loves to walk/run, has great energy and then loves to cuddle and quiet time with her favourite human.
Recall/Correcting: She is good in this and responds right away. Sometimes, I used Beverley’s calling “puppy-puppy[1]puppeee” in order to get her back or get her attention; this phrasing seems to be imprinted on them while at the farm, and the dogs respond well to it. Praise and pats would follow when the dog responded properly. We did incorporate her name (Puppy, Puppy Tyra) to replace puppy[1]puppy-puppeee and used her name whenever we addressed her. She knows what she likes and doesn’t like so if she detects something coming up that isn’t her fav, she may not come to you. Those times, you can you can approach her saying “Stay” should make her surrender. Place the rope leash on her, have her stay, walk out in front of her and then recall her using the guidance/pull of the rope leash, praising her at she sits in front of you. Long leashes can be used well in this training to let the dog out to the end, recall and then pull/recoil the leash toward you and praise when the dog sits in front of you. To correct Tyra, I just needed to say “Uh-uh”, “No!” or clap hands. We also employed phrases such as “Quit it”, or “Shst”, using a lower, assertive tone to get her attention, or a sharp rap on the kennel. We never allow dogs out of their kennel or pen until they stop complaining and calm down, but that was not required at all with Tyra, since she was so well behaved. In any situations, be confident with her, don’t ask/negotiate. Tyra will be trying to figure out who is alpha and that is you; although having said that, she is quite submissive in most situations. She will be a wonderful, loving pet. She occasionally barked in the house but that was only when someone was coming at a door or someone was making noise somewhere in our house and she got scared and/or our dogs initiated the barking first. (One of our dogs is an alarm system!). To prevent this in future, have her sit calmly at the door before you answer it, utilizing the rope leash if necessary and keeping your focus on your dog until she is calm, then open the door, ensuring she remains calm.
Car travel: Tyra was exposed to a lot of car rides every day and that went well. She’s not a fan of getting into a car but ride itself is fine. She sometimes gets nervous for first 5-10 minutes or so but always eases into the ride after that. The more exposure to car rides, the more comfortable she will become. Left in a car while I stepped out was fine too. She patiently waits in a car (but please don’t leave her in a summer time!) I did in winter and it was a short period of time when it happened, and she showed no signs of issues yet maybe in a crate or someone holding her could be good options to let her relax.
Handling/Brushing: Tyra was handled frequently; she loves cuddling and having her back stroked and scratched. Belly rubs didn’t happen as she didn’t give her tummy up but I can see once she trusts the human, she’d totally do it. She’s a good size to sleep on your lap or chest and she loved it for sure. It may take a while for her to truly relax into the experience but she is absolutely a person dog and once she eases into your existence, she becomes your shadow! I always stroked her number of times during a day and she just took all in!
Tyra is a very special girl with lots of love and royalty to show. I enjoyed spending time with her very much. She has a loving personality, cautious and just shy at first. She is special, her size, temper, cuddles, joy for life, ready to please her human(s) and companionship on walks.
All the best to you, enjoy your sweet, sweet girl! Meg Peterson, Home Life Trainer Island Miniature Schnauzers, Sooke, BC
