Bee stings, Nessa and Betty!
July 16, 2010
Nessa with a swollen face after her sting 😦
Poor Nessa, another shot of the swelling! 😦
How Nessa looks normally!
As luck would have it we discussed bee stings at class a couple of weeks ago, I was telling the girls how my lawn was covered in clover bringing in the honey bees and Betty was interested in the bees, my philosophy when my dogs pursue bees is to watch them closely, the reality is that puppy’s will go after bee’s and what I want to happen is if they are going to get stung I would like it to happen when I am there, so that if they swell and need treatment I am on hand to help out! Preferably on a weekday morning so that I don’t have to pay an emergency call out fee for the Vet! 🙂
I saw Betty get stung! She didn’t swell up, but now she leaves the bees alone!!! Do ring your Vet for advice if your dog gets stung!
It is always best to let puppy’s learn from life, as they would in the wild, rather than become the bad guy because you are always saying no!
Here is what Sue (Nessa’s Mum) wrote to me:)
“Once again I need to thank you for advice you gave a couple of weeks ago regarding bee stings. Nessa and i were playing ball in the garden this evening when i thought she had been stung on the foot by a bee, she was limping a little and licking her foot but i could see nothing. About half hour later her face started to swell so i gave her piriton as you advised and phoned the vet. They said I’d done the right thing ,to keep an eye on her and her breathing and if worried to take her down there. Anyway a couple of hours later she is fine the swelling is going down and she is chewing on her bone. So once again Avril to the rescue, I think she looks a bit like a shar-pei!”
Betty feeding, cupboards and bowls!
July 13, 2010
Betty catching up on a walk!
I am really chuckling as I think and write this one 🙂 I am constantly amazed by dogs, how quickly they learn whether it is the right of the wrong thing! The brighter and cleverer they are the more likely they are to learn the wrong things too! Really it is amazing that people don’t have worse problems than I see!
Not long after Betty arrived I remember chuckling to Anne (Betty’s breeder) that Betty was throwing her metal feed bowl round the kitchen because she wanted feeding, she does love her food! I do think there were a few occasions when on seeing her I thought “oh I am late feeding her” and did feed her. I was particularly impressed as metal is the hardest material to teach a dog to retrieve, I am not quite sure why anyone would want a dog to retrieve metal, but anyhow it is tricky! I think it was this that delighted me so much and made me respond to Betty’s antics 🙂 at least that is my excuse! Well anything a dog does that firstly we show pleases us, like smiling and laughing and secondly even gets food in return will soon grow! Betty obviously thought I can do better and by last week this behaviour had grown into throwing the bowl around with great gusto, in between throwing her whole body at the kitchen work cupboard doors, and I mean throwing herself too, it was very enthusiastic! I just stopped myself laughing, just, though I laughed inside! Wow I thought this has gone far enough now, this behaviour could become completely ridiculous and very embarrassing for a dog trainer, in fact it is already!! I turned my back and looked out of the window then made myself busy doing jobs, after about 20 minutes, yes 20 whole minutes, Betty gave up that game and laid down, I fed her! The next few meal times I saw similar attempts, though her efforts started to dwindle until today I noticed her sitting in the kitchen near feed time, just watching me:) she was waiting for her food and she had twigged that sitting or lying got the right result! Now I just have to stick to my side of the bargain:) and only feed her when she is giving me this sort of behaviour!
One or two of you have mentioned the mistakes you have made with your puppies, well I have to tell you I haven’t been so aware with my other puppies as I am with Betty, the process of learning is ongoing, Betty is teaching me so much! Each dog I have lived with has taught me more, pushing me to a new level each time.
How clever is she, how clever are all our dogs? They all do the same sort of thing, just start noticing your dogs attempts to train you:), becoming aware of how they train you or how you inadvertently train them!
I am waiting to hear! 🙂
My book, Betty and doorways!
July 12, 2010
Me and Betty and cuddle time!
Betty, silly ears tell me she is teething!
I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying this great weather!! Not quite so great when I am working, but on the whole it is possible to find less exerting exercises for the dogs, while still getting the job of training them done!
I have been a bit neglectful of the blog the last few days as I have been concentrating on putting the finishing touches to my book! At last! I hear many of you say:) I am an organic type of writer, at least this book has been very organic, growing at my pace when I am in the mood:)!
I have not been neglecting the dogs though and Betty’s training is coming along brilliantly, she is so clever, at least so far:), this week I have been noticing some more of those little things I do that I think make my puppies easier, things that I forget to tell my puppy clients as I guess they are instinctive for me, rather than thought out, of it there were thought out it was a long while ago:)!
Dogs and doors
Betty is of that age when if a cupboard door opens she puts her head in for a look, of course she would, the young love to explore! On one occasion she climbed right in the pan cupboard, my reponse is to take little notice 🙂 she soon came out of the pan cupboard:). When she puts her head in I gently press the door closed until she retracts herself, this way she is learning to not put her head in, I do not say anything to her, I do not need a command for not putting her head in the cupboard as she will soon grow out of this phase. She is learning a useful lesson though, to be careful of doors! I do not want her thinking she can rush through any door that opens, some doors will not be so safe, like the car door or a door opening onto a road or public place. By addressing the door thing at this level she will take this experience over to other doors! When I am moving around the house, she is not allowed through doors unless invited, if she does rush through I simply turn round and go back the room we were in, she follows and I go out again without her. I use my feet or the door, in a gentle but determined way to block her when I can, it is good manners for her to be respectful at doorways, so I teach her patiently and persistently to do be respectful and wait until she is invited.
I often see dogs that rush through every door that is opened, often trampling and bashing their owners, it is a very irritating and rude habit that can be changed with a little thoughtful planning! It is in these small ways that we can establish a great deal of respect and attention from our dogs that has repercussions into all areas of life!
Update on Dennis!
July 8, 2010
Dennis and Maggie, performing at Saffron Walden Talent as guests!!
I am sure you wall remember about Dennis competing on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, and getting to the last 10 out of 1000 applicants!! Well since then Maggie is inundated with invitations to open shows, fetes and do guest appearances! One of these was at the Saffron Walden Talent contest where Dennis was asked to do a guest spot! How can anyone look at this picture and not see the enjoyment for both dog and handler in dog training, just look at the smiles on both faces!! I cried with joy at the sight of them, I am so proud to have worked with Maggie and to have bred this little dog for her, how lucky is Dennis to get Maggie?!!!!!
Comment from Teresa!
July 8, 2010
Hi Avril,
I just had to let you know how much I have been enjoying the progress of Betty, she is adorable, the daily updates you are giving are brilliant, if I did at sometime in the future be fortunate enough to have a puppy I would feel much more prepared and able to cope from some of the knowledge you have given.
These daily blog’s have made compelling reading and I am alway’s looking in my inbox for the next one to come in, it’s almost like reading a very good book and not being able to put it down so thank you Avril.
I have tried to submit a comment but I keep getting a response which says YOU DID NOT SUCCEED PLEASE TRY AGAIN WITH A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS despite using my email address which is valid, I have to say I am not very good when it comes to IT so it could me doing something silly.
Thanks once again for all the Blog’s keep them coming Avril and well done With best regards Teresa
Thank you for your kind comments Teresa, it is great to get feedback, it encourages me:) I am not sure why you can’t post, but you are not the first one to say this, anyone else having problems? I will get on to WordPress and see if I can find out why and get back to you! I do know that commenting direct from the mail isn’t working, can you try logging on the site and trying again Teresa?
What Betty taught the dog trainer!
July 6, 2010
Betty learning to sit
and down
High five!
Betty watching me!
Well this blog is really an exciting one for me to write, I am so excited by Betty and her training at just 11 weeks old!!!! As you won’t be able to guess what she did before I finish writing 🙂 I will just have to tell you :).
Betty went “down” on a word command only when she was 10 feet from me!!! yes she did! If you are not as amazed as me I want to know how come you are so clever:) ? And I will come to you for training!
It was just last Wednesday that she went down in front of me for the first time without my usual hand signal, and I think it only took that long because I have been teaching her sit, down and high-five! Normally I stick to 2 positions until a puppy gets them before introducing more, so she was slower than my other puppies have been to go down without a signal close by, but I think it has paid off! I obviously still have a lot to learn about dog training!
I haven’t ever asked a puppy of this age to go down at a distance from me before but 2 things happened earlier in the day that told me that Betty was cleverer than I was letting her be!
firstly the stuff we were doing in the kitchen and garden were so easy for her, I see it as easy for a puppy when they do the exercise really fast, and she was jet propelled!
But secondly it was when I was play retrieving with her in the garden. We had got into the habit when I threw a toy of her coming and lying behind me when I was sat on the grass, today I thought that is weird how I have let her do that, but like every dog owner I want success for her and I had continued to accept this as good enough, mmmm I thought, she is a Collie and I know her training genes, and she is well-bred for training, I wonder? The next time she laid behind me with the toy, I didn’t look round, I stayed looking forward and said, daftly I know:) “Where’s Betty, oh Betty puppy, Betty Boop” and she came to the front of me! Well that was it now I knew she was being a Collie!!!! Collies will always try to control the game, herd the person and toy together, and that is what she was doing, albeit in a small way, she was turning me, just as Collies turn sheep! So no more turning from me, I threw the toy a couple more times, both times she went behind and both times I said “where’s Betty” and she came back round even faster, the third time I threw the toy she came straight to me in front! What is great is that not only have I made a big step in her retrieve I know more about Betty now too a lot more!
I must add when I say throwing the toy, I do only throw the toy a few feet from us, it is hot and she is young, I don’t want her exhausted:)
Anyway that is why I was thinking I have to push this little girl a bit more, not in a pressured way but simply ask and see what happens, I did just that. Which is why we came to be walking around the paddock, me with Betty’s dinner in my pocket and having done a few of the normal sits and downs and comes and high fives all as we walked around the paddock, I waited for her to wander away from me a little and said “Betty down” and she did, so having given her 5 bits of food in my excitement:) I continued to wait for her to go a bit further and try again! And, as I said before, she did it!!
No holding us back now, I am going to have to rack my brains for this little one to see what more we can do, while of course keeping these bits going!! 🙂
I must add too that since that first time Betty went down without the hand signal I sense her listening to me more, I could a bit before, but it is like now she has one word she wants to understand more! She is certainly responding appropriately when I say things like “where is it” when playing and similar. She may not know the words completely yet, but she is trying too and the best dog to train is the willing one:)!
I look forward to hearing about the words and signals your dogs understand and/or how they have surprised you:)?
The puppy class at work and play!
July 5, 2010
The stars of this show are Lisa and Teddy (Bichon cross Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) Hilary and Truffle (Labradoodle) Shirley and Abby (Chocolate Labrador) and Pauline and Ben (miniature Schnauzer)
We always begin our puppy class with the owners sitting on chairs with the leads under a leg to allow the pups to settle and learn not to pull themselves! This time we went straight on to teaching the puppies not to jump up, we took it in turns to walk towards them and turn away abruptly if the pups jumped, very soon the pups were not jumping and we were able to greet them with their bottoms on the floor!
These pups are only on their 4th week of training, they are progressing so fast, at this age the puppy is very willing to learn and hasn’t yet the confidence to be too naughty, that will come a bit later when they go past 6 months, the teenager time is the most challenging period of training! Ben, Teddy and Truffle can do some positions on command now, only using the hand signal when they are distracted. We have also begun come to call, walking on a lead and they all learning to be very patient when groomed!
Ian has taken some wonderful photo’s of them, here is a selection! I plan to add some to the main website over the coming week.
For those of you commenting, if you are a subscriber and click on the email, it seems I am not getting them, could you go on the web site to leave comments please? I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Naughty Pugs!
July 5, 2010
A picture says it all!
How about a Pug for the next Andrex dog!!
Thank you to Bella for these great photo’s of naughty Pugs! Though I do think one of them was just saying I want to be an Andrex puppy! I won’t comment on the other one, Bella was not amused:)
Please keep sending in your photo’s I am enjoying them 🙂 and I think everyone else is?
The intermediate class at work and play!
July 2, 2010
Ian came along to take photo’s of the classes this week, some brilliant pictures, the only problem is there are so many of them! Here are some for starters! Sadly Louise and Paddy who are usually at class couldn’t make it this week so no photo’s of Paddy 😦
More to come soon!
This group is intermediate level now, though they are all still youngsters they are progressing well, which means we get to have more fun times at class as we try out more advanced exercises. And it isn’t true that all I do is sit in the garden and watch when I am working, it is a wicked rumour! 🙂
If you are receiving this as a subscriber you will have to log on the main site to view the slide show, and it seems comments don’t work unless you on the web blog version.
Nessa does some gardening!
July 1, 2010
Thank you so much Sue Harris for sending in these photo’s of Nessa giving you a little help in the garden! Nessa comes to class on a Thursday morning, watch out Nessa I will get you to dig the Veg plot over come the autumn!
Please send in your photo’s if you would like to see them on the blog!
What hole?!
Wasn't me!
Avril Munson's Blog 