Sienna De Vil

Sienna is a dog of a different color, in more ways than one. All of the dogs have distinct personalities but Sienna's is in a class of its own. She is very smart. At ten weeks she was already trained to sit, lie down, roll over, gimme 5, and ride a skateboard. I'm not sure that this is a tribute to her intelligence or her abhorrence of boredom. If there is not enough action happening Sienna will grab another dogs ear she runs by, nip their heels or just park herself dead-on in their way. She will derive great pleasure from whatever their reaction is (as long as there is one) and then will spend time lying on her back (the equivalent of a white flag) in surrender.

All of the dogs scold her (even the very quiet Miss Dixie Peach) which gives her great pleasure. She can be amazingly obstinate and is my hardest dog to groom. If Sienna is not in the mood, no grooming will be happening today. End of story. Grooming Sienna usually happens in 2 minute sessions since she will usually behave perfectly for it for that long and then not at all. (This does not apply to teeth brushing - she loves having her teeth brushed.) As obstinate as she can be, she follows commands almost immediately and almost all the time. I am always amazed when she grabs something she shouldn't be chewing on (which she does often and with relish) yet drops it immediately when I say "drop it" (and this is a "life-learned" command, something we have never worked on in training sessions.)

In the wrong home-setting I think Sienna would either die of boredom or drive her owner nuts with attention-getting behavior. She loves training sessions. There is no greater pleasure for Sienna than to have all my attention focused on her providing her with a challenge.

And she is adoring. Sienna is like the stereotypical female who picks a fight just because she loves the kiss-and-make-up part so much.