Marble Mountain Kennels
Owner: Pete Morrill info@mmkennels.com www.mmkennels.com E-mail is the best way to get a hold of me and allows me to respond to your questions much faster. Thanks.
(MMK Blogs are also published at MarbleMtnKennels.blogspot.com.)
Training
Tip of the Month (9-1-10)
Start training your puppy at 5 weeks by whistling every time you feed him. Soon he will associate your whistle with the pleasure of eating and he will run toward you every time you whistle. This is the first step in conditioning your puppy to the COME command.
Next, it is important that in the first two months of the puppy’s life, try to carry snacks (just a small bag of the puppy chow) with you when you go on a walk.
Now, to start conditioning the puppy to the come command on a walk, you will need to follow these simple instructions:
1. When the puppy is headed off on its own, whistle for the puppy to come to you while you head in the opposite direction as the puppy. You should also use the COME verbal command, and a COME hand signal intermittently. The common hand signal for COME is an open palm stretch down toward the ground about knee high. When the puppy comes to you, reward him with a few nuggets of puppy chow. Then continue on your walk.
2. In a 10-minute walk, give the COME command, COME whistle, or COME hand signal about 3-5 times. Walk and reward the puppy each time it comes to you. Soon you will have conditioned the puppy to come to you with great enthusiasm.
3. After about 5 sessions, start giving the puppy chow only once every 3 or 4 times that the puppy comes. This helps the puppy realize that food should not be expected every time the he obeys.
What you are hoping is that your new pup will soon be obeying its first learned command without even really thinking about it. That will be your new friend’s first and most important conditioned command. Good luck.
--Pete Morrill, Owner of Marble Mountain Kennels
Dog Lovers vs. Cat Lovers(6-29-10)
Today I’m going to take a detour from my plan to write another profile of one of our wonderful dogs here at Marble Mountain Kennels. Instead, I’ll venture into a bit of introspection as I reflect upon my personal journey from cat lover to dog-lover, or, at least, dog-appreciator.
I confess I didn’t much like dogs. I never liked the way they lick, slobber, jump up, bark and, well, I’m afraid Jim Davis’ Odie often came to mind. I didn’t have a lot of respect for the more obedient dogs either. Even they annoyed me with their incessant eagerness to please their masters. Cats, on the other hand, at least had the appearance of intelligence with their dignified mannerisms.
To switch from cat-lover to dog-appreciator is monumental in anyone’s book. I hate to admit this phenomenon to anyone—especially to my husband Pete. It’s like changing from a UCLA fan to a USC fan or switching from a Republican to a Democrat.
After working with Pete’s dogs as a trainee dog trainer, I’ve learned that a dog’s eagerness to please is not necessarily a sign of utter brainlessness, but is, in fact, an interesting combination of intelligence and ridiculous passion for retrieving a bumper (or a bird). Thus, my respect for dogs has increased considerably, and I now have a diminished appreciation for cats, since they now appear to be, on the whole, self-centered, disobedient, lazy creatures.
Julie Morrill, mother, teacher, blogger and wife of owner Pete Morrill of Marble Mountain Kennels
Marble Mountain Kennels Dog Highlight: "Steamer” (6-20-10)
One thing I find a bit curious is that a lot of people seem to think that buying a female dog will ensure a better chance at a calmer, more peaceful, trainable dog. Not true. Today’s blog entry highlights our medium yellow-coated stud dog Steamboat of Marble Mountain, call name "Steamer.” Steamer is a testosterone-pumped, full-blooded male stud dog, yet he couldn’t be more lovable, easygoing and tractable. He, like most of our dogs, quickly and easily transitions from affectionate indoor pet to full-fledged hunter in the field.
It’s easy for me to begin with a profile of Steamer (or "Steam,” as I sometimes call him), because I know him best. I’ve been training him for about four months now, with Pete’s guidance and direction. So far, I’ve had the pleasure (and sometimes pain) of teaching forced fetch, heel, sit, walk-sit, run-sit, whoa, mat, kennel, mat to kennel to mat, fetch-here-hold-give, and a few other slightly more advanced, hunter-friendly commands. In training another dog at the same time, I’ve been able to compare Steamer’s training progress and better pinpoint his strengths and weaknesses. As a novice trainer, I can observe that Steam is especially high in birdiness, he’s a better than average companion dog (very loving and affectionate), super focused and eager to please when retrieving, and perhaps happier than most dogs. In fact, Steamer rivals Major in exuberant displays of joy. (I’ll write about Major another time.) Both Major and Steamer wear a silly grin and dance around with happiness whenever you greet them. In spite of their goofiness, they never jump up on you or bark or lick, which is especially nice for me, since I don’t care for any of that stuff.
Steamer is my favorite dog these days, and if I were a dog kisser (which I’m not), I would kiss him. As an indoor companion dog, he is compliant and obedient. He stays on his mat, while love and affection are lavished upon him by everyone who passes by. He’s a lovable oaf, but he does have his downsides, which we’re working on turning into strengths. Steam cannot sit still whenever he sees a bumper. He goes a bit crazy. However, once I get him to sit on his mat and wait for me to throw the bumper, he is as still has a statue at attention, watching for me to throw.
We recently bred Steamer to Mari, a white-yellow dam full of pep and intelligence. We expect pups from this litter to be due July 19, 2010. Steamer is a 63-pound tall, lean, and lanky dog. For more information on the Steamer x Mari litter, please see our "Upcoming Litter” page at MMKennels.com.
Julie Morrill, mother, teacher, blogger and wife of owner Pete Morrill of Marble Mountain Kennels
An Introduction to MMK Blogging (5-23-10)
This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Marble Mountain Kennels history. We’re braving the yet uncharted world (at least for us) of blogging on the internet. Because our daughter Rienne is a talented budding writer herself, and because she too is very involved in the daily lives of our dogs, she’ll be blogging along with me. (Sounds like slogging, which might be more what we’re doing at first, but please bear with us.)
We have a lot of hunting, pointing Labrador retrievers at our kennels, but most tend to come and go. You see, we don’t own all of them. Our females (dams) are adopted out as puppies to various local dog lovers in our Siskiyou County. When these dams come into heat, their owners call us and the dogs are brought to our site for breeding. Sometimes they’re bred to our stud dogs on site; other times they’re bred to stud dogs in other parts of the country via artificial insemination (A.I.).
We’d like you to get to know our dogs on a little bit more personal level the way we know them. We get a lot of questions from buyers who, naturally, want to know the personalities of our dogs. As my husband Pete Morrill says, "You may hunt your dog a few days or weeks out of the year, but you have to live with the dog the rest of the year, so we breed our dogs to be good companion dogs for families.”
So, although we won’t start in this blog, we’re going to write a little about each of our on-site dogs, giving you an up close and personal glimpse into their everyday lives and varied personalities, likes and dislikes, friends and enemies, favorite activities, good and bad habits—well, you get the picture. (And, actually, you’re really going to get the picture when I finally get my Canon PowerShot S40 camera to upload to my computer so you can see new, updated photos of our kennels, dogs, puppies, kids, and beautiful Siskiyou County.)
Julie Morrill, blogger, slogger, mother, teacher, and wife of owner Pete Morrill of Marble Mountain Kennels
LOCATION OF MARBLE MOUNTAIN KENNELS
We are located two hours north of Redding (5 hours north of Sacramento), or about one hour south of the California- Oregon border (1.5 hours south of Medford, OR), just off I-5, in a heavenly place called Scott Valley.
DIRECTIONS TO MARBLE MOUNTAIN KENNELS · To drive to Marble Mountain Kennels, follow I-5 to Yreka, CA and take the Highway 3 exit toward Fort Jones/Etna. (If you are heading northbound on I-5, this is the first exit for Yreka. If you are southbound on I-5, this is the last or third exit for Yreka).
· On Highway 3 head southwest for approximately 20 miles through Fort Jones.
· Continue for 6 more miles on Highway 3 just 1/2 miles past Greenview, over the Kidder Creek Bridge and turn right on South Kidder Creek Road (good sign on left hand side).
· Go 2.5 miles to the Kidder Creek Orchard Camp sign.
· 100 yards past the camp sign take a hard left on first drive after a small creek. The kennel is 100 yards ahead and our house is located just after that.
· Don’t hesitate to call if you are having trouble. (530)598-0943
