Betty learns to get in the car all on her own!
January 10, 2011
Betty is fairly light so I haven’t felt the need to teach her to get in the car on her own, but I noticed this week that I was being a bit silly especially as she can jump like a stag when the fancy takes her! I think that she is the right age to learn now too, I worry about the soft joints on puppies up to about 8 months, from an agility training point 12 months is the youngest age I would start them, but for a heavier breed I would wait even longer! For jumping in the car eight months seems perfect, plus the weather on Sunday was great and I had a lovely time outside dog training for the first time in some weeks!
Teaching a dog to get in the car is no different to any other training exercise, correct help, food and repetition makes perfect! I had Betty on the lead and a pocketful of titbits. I began by showing Betty the food and threw a titbit into the boot of the car, she put her front feet up to look, but made no attempt to jump in, I put my hand under her bottom and gave her the minimal help, obviously once in she could eat the titbit, I praised her and asked her to get out again. I repeated this several times, still she made no attempt to lift herself, she needed a bit more of a clue! I moved away from the car and ran at the boot, as we arrived I gave a lift on her collar and she jumped in! We repeated this until I did not have to use the lead at all, each time I praised her and gave her a treat. I took her out in the car to train away from home, when we were ready to return she jumped in the car herself! Job done, as long as I put her in the car daily for a week or so to ensure she remembers!
While talking about cars, Betty travels in a crate, a soft one that is secured in the car, so that in the event of an emergency stop or worse, neither Betty or crate will hit me in the back of the head. Pie always wears a dog harness secured in the back to make him safe also. Please make sure your dog is secure in the car, I do not want to hear that one of them has caused anyone an injury nor been injured because they were travelling loose!
Dogs and snow!
November 30, 2010
Please send me your doggy snow photo’s there will be a prize for the best!
Betty was a bit surprised by the snow this morning! There was no way she was venturing outside without Pie and I going first on the strange white stuff! By the time we went for a walk we had barely made the gate when she got very excited by the snow! Here are some photo’s I took on our walk this morning, hoping you like them:) can you spot the Stag prints, I seem to have ended up with a few of my footprints, but the stag looked to belong to a big animal and I found them near the house!
A reminder to be aware of the dangers of ice, so far Betty isn’t tempted onto the lake, I will be keeping a careful eye on her while all the ice and snow is about!
What are they chatting about?
I would love to hear your caption for the photo of Pie and Betty chatting? 🙂
And Sue sent some photo’s of Nessa’s reaction this morning, distinctly unimpressed!
Did you say "sit stay"? Not likely!
What am I doing out here?
Betty is growing up! And a local dog walking warning!
November 27, 2010
It never ceases to amaze me watching a puppy grow, this week Betty had a day of going off her food, not just her food but treats as well! I know Annie (her breeder) won’t believe me:) she has been such a greedy puppy! The only tummy upset Betty has had is from over eating, which she has always been willing to do! She seems to have a cast iron stomach, never suffering from upsets from the rubbish all puppies eat. It has only lasted one day, Betty is back to normal now! But the day seem to mark a change in her, I wonder if her hormones have started to kick in, as she also seems since to show signs of more grown up behaviour. Last night she sat on my lap for more than an hour having cuddles, the longest she has done that since she would fall asleep on my lap as a baby! I think her first season cannot be too far away now, I am keeping her entire so that I can have some babies one day!
I would add that Betty would have eaten my food on that day, just not dog food, she wasn’t ill! Plus Betty at 7 months has done most of her growing now, which her dip in appetite confirms. In response I have reduced her meals slightly to fit her new appetite. I have seen clients who at this point in their puppies development, believing the puppy has gone off the food being fed, change the diet. Not a good plan as this can lead to the puppy starting to pick and choose what they eat, controlling their owner in this way is a signal that will have a negative affect on the relationship! A puppies appetite reflects how much they need, if fed a well-balanced food, low in salt and additives.
The same day she was off her food was also a bit traumatic for her:) Betty came out to help at the Thursday morning puppy class. We were discussing what to do if your puppy is approached by a scary dog, and I had Betty out to demonstrate how I would protect her, by getting her behind me and stamping my foot and shouting “no” and shooing the dog away. Betty had not seen me do this before and thought I was a bit scary! As we progressed with the class I moved a pole on the ground, as I lobbed it Betty ran under it so that the pole bounced off her head! I hastened to add it was light weight and did not injure her, but she did jump! A few minutes later I managed to tread on her! Poor Betty, what a bad morning! Betty was almost afraid to move for a while, and laid down every time I looked at her! Watching the class doing more fun things soon cheered her up though, I am pleased to say!
The reason we had been talking about unfriendly dogs is that a friend of mine had a very nasty experience with her dog. There is a Staffie that lives in Dunmow that has hospitalised 4 dogs that we know of (in Felstead), and last week her dear boy ended up with 2 wounds one of which is a foot long, and he was on lead! The attack would have killed a smaller dog. The owner jogs in Felstead on a Tuesday and Friday morning, and seems to have the dog off lead and not muzzled to date, despite the dogs history! He goes out early between 6.30 and 7.30am, I would imagine he goes out in Dunmow other mornings possibly. It is a brown Staffie called, Holly and wears a flashing collar . If you see them watch out! He must be reported until he, the owner, gets the message! Dogs that do this should not be allowed to live on and continue to terrorise us! It is not the dogs fault that she has got like this, but it is too late to change now! If you have any more information on this dog, please let me know?
I was conflicted about telling you about this Staffie, my heart goes out to the really responsible Staffie owners out there, especially my clients, who I know would be mortified if their dog even growled at another dog!
Betty’s sister Megan!
October 22, 2010
Many thanks to Sue for sending me the photo’s of Megan, Betty’s sister, who looks like a red and white version of Betty! How cute is Megan? !!
Betty goes out to play!
September 24, 2010
Maggie and Dennis!
Betty, Pie and I had a fun time yesterday with our friends!! I met up with Maggie and Annie and their dogs for some fun training Maggie style, which meant Annie and I and our dogs learning some fun tricks!! Maggie and Annie are also dog trainers, we don’t often manage to get together to train our own dogs, though after yesterday I think we will be making more effort to get together!
Maggie has Dennis a brother of Betty’s by a previous litter and of course Smarty her full brother of the same age, Annie has Bronte, the long-awaited puppy of Buffy and a month younger than Smarty and Betty. Annie also brought along Mel (nearly all black) another relative to Betty, though a little more distant.
Maggie has a great set up for her training and loads of agility equipment and other toys for tricks! Betty showed off her skate boarding and Maggie gave me some tips to progress her on some. Bronte began her skateboarding experience and did jolly good, I think Annie will be buying her a skate board :)! Dennis showed us his tricks, old and new, he is such a great dog and Maggie is such a fun trainer, no wonder they both enjoy themselves so much!
It was so lovely to see the pups together. The big advantage of having Betty out with other dog trainers puppy’s was being able to practice recalling her when they were playing and as they all live with grown up dogs, who won’t let them be rude, the play was at a calm level where recalling was relatively easy, the puppy’s had a good lesson together all off lead and playing with their respective owners! Well most of the time:)
I have come home with a lot of new tricks to teach you at the trick training session in October:) give me a ring if you are interested!
I have been a bit slack with the blog for a week or two, I was just not in the mood to write after I heard that an old and dear friend had died suddenly! His name was Michael Sharply, better known in the horse world. Michael was my first mentor for horses from when I was 13, I worked my weekends and school holidays, through to leaving school and going full-time with him until I married. He was the greatest teacher and a complete encyclopedia on horses and their training. I know he will be much missed by all who knew him. There is memorial service for him in Bocking next week which I know will be attended by hundreds of people who had the good fortune to know him!
Betty goes out for the day!! Twice!
September 6, 2010
Scruffs!
Scruffs and family!
Sooo Cute!!
Betty has had a busy week with me:) bank holiday monday we had an outing to the Countess of Warwick show at Little Easton. A great place for a puppy, well one with a confidant approach to life at least! There was everything there from the morris dancers to animals of every shape and size and it seemed everyone took their dog too! I felt sorry for one or two dogs that were obviously a bit overwhelmed by the experience, mature dogs that havent been out in the world enough. I felt even more sorry for some of the people that must have thought it would be a great place to take their dog, and were suffering from the lack of dog training, these people were being towed round, the owners arms must have grown a foot by the time they went home!
I managed to lose my car in the car park! I had to leave my sister Lesley and niece Lottie to hold Betty (she was pooped!) while I searched the car park, of course it was at the furthest end, where I hadn’t looked the first time!
Betty did her first client training session with Phil and his Labradoodle Scruffs on Thursday, we both had puppies out of control from playing with each other at the start! By the end of the session we started to be able to recall them, reasonably successfully! Though tiredness was kicking in and they were showing their tiredness by getting grumpy with each other! A work in progress for both of us:)
Saturday and I took Betty with me to Burleigh horse trials near Stamford! Another busy event for Betty, again everyone seemed to have taken their dog with them! The dog creche sounded over subscribed, a great idea, though the noise from the tent was best missed by humans at least, and for owners who don’t want their dog to learn to bark more!
It was great to be in such a beautiful setting, if you haven’t been the grounds and house are worth the visit, even if you don’t like horses:)! The trade stands are just amazing, full of the most lavish clothing and furniture, dog and horse gear. I brought some new leads for my clients, I actually found some good four foot leads in a great range of colours!! If you want a preview click the link below!
Betty was a sweety the whole day, making a lot of new friends and making sure I did by making eyes at anyone who had the time to stop! She is inclined to follow the nearest pair of legs at the moment, she hasn’t learnt to work out which are mine, which meant she managed to trip a few people up when she was scooting away from some of the larger dogs :)! Luckily no bones broken! Though she was completely bowled over by one very important looking man in a suit, he was on the phone and in a hurry and barely noticed that he had bowled poor Betty over in the dust, she is used to being bowled over by the Pie and seemed to take it in her stride, more or less :)!
Betty was as grateful as me to find the car at the first attempt this time:) by the time we got home she had a new lease of life and roared round the garden, delighted to be back on home turf! Sadly I forgot the camera! I promise to do better next time:)
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