Take your time!
July 29, 2013
This morning, as I was putting my horse’s head collar on, I found myself starting to rush, as he turned his head away I went after his head, it was like I was being pulled around just to put on a head collar! I stopped, I would never do that with a dog, any dog! I slowed down and waited for Red to settle down, every time he moved his head I stopped. It took a while, maybe 2 minutes at most to put on his head collar with no fidgeting, not forever, just a little time for me to teach him so that tomorrow the process will be quicker, but if it isn’t I will slow down again!
He doesn’t always do that, he was impatient to get out in the field, he knew what was coming next. Just like a dog knows he is going for a walk and gets impatient and fidgety! Next time your dog fidgets around as you put on the lead or collar, just slow down take your time, take as long as it takes. By bring down the adrenaline in this way your whole walk will improve, it will be worth it, let me know how long it takes you next time you put a collar or lead on your dog!
Red, my nephew Mac and Doyle (son of my Teddy!)
Titbit training and posh pup!
February 7, 2013
Posh puppy!
Toby (Betty baby) after a trip to the grooming parlour! Doesn’t he look gorgeous?! Lee is doing a great job of training Toby too, I can’t say too much or the rest of the litter will be jealous, but isn’t he handsome!?
My new puppy group reminded me to talk about titbit training today, my favourite analogy for titbits and puppy training is imagine you are paying the titbits into a bank account, every time you ask your puppy to do something without a reward you are making a withdrawal, with young puppies it is easy to become bankrupt, that is the puppy starts to ignore you! I always want to have a million on account! 🙂
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2013
Betsy
Betsy, Bonnie and Jess! Oz came too but managed to not get in a photo!
I wish you all a very Happy, healthy and prosperous new year and may all your dreams come true!
I have enjoyed my time off playing more with my horse who always manages to remind me about my dog training! It is so good for me to have him as my hobby and in some ways he is more of a pet than my dogs! I often hear myself thinking or saying Red wants to go out, Red wants more hay, Red wants to pull his carriage today etc. In fact I sound remarkably like my clients, who fortunately often know exactly what their dogs want too! All of which is fine as long as we get what we want as well!
I am lucky that with my horse I am aware that if Red kicks the stable door to get my attention or to speed me up in getting his food, that if I respond to his demands his behaviour would get worse, and even in time he could break out of his stable door. I remember Betty doing something similar as a puppy when she very cleverly started carrying her food bowl round near feed time, I was very impressed and fed her, before long her bowl was whizzing past my head across the kitchen, it was then I realised that I must not be so impressed!! It took a some self-control to not respond to her demands, I so wanted to laugh as the bowl landed on the worktop beside me!
Remember this year it is great to know what they want, but be sure you only respond to the behaviour you want to encourage! Happy new year!
Zippitydoodah!
Puppy news and dogs learning to drive!
December 7, 2012
Riley growing fast!
Riley’s Mum Janice kindly sent a great photo of Riley, and apparently he has become a rug designer, Janice now has a fringe on her rug, what a great idea:)
Thanks also to Rob Whitten for sending me the following link, do have a look how they are training dogs to drive in New Zealand! Probably enough room and little enough traffic out there to make it possible!
Puppies at five weeks!
October 5, 2012
Puppies at five weeks!
Are they even more gorgeous? They are 6 weeks old today, and every day sees them going further afield, yesterday was their first time going to the toilet outside. It takes a few outings for a litter to feel safe enough to toilet away from the nest, clever Mother Nature protects the young by inhibiting toileting on new ground before the ground is familiar to them. This is the reason, when dog owners first take puppies home, they won’t go to the toilet on walks to begin with, this behaviour is designed to keep the young safe from predators. But it is just the reason I want to get the puppies outside as soon as possible to get them used to going outdoors and speed up their house training.
Next Monday I will start their training, sits downs and little recalls, regular grooming and a car ride, the more normal this stuff becomes the easier they will be in their new homes! Not all sold yet!
Thank you to Jo at Jobo design for the great photo’s!
Puppies 3 weeks old today!
September 14, 2012
Gorgeous!
Betty looking glamorous pre puppies!
What a difference a week makes in a litter of puppies! They are now coming out of the box, all eyes are wide open, as are their ears, they respond to sounds now! yesterday was their first time with solid food, I had to shut Betty away from them for two hours to make sure they were a bit hungry, they are so fat I think I should have gone for 4 hours! I gave them some high quality tinned puppy food and they all tucked in a bit, some more than others! It isn’t a pretty sight, lying in the food seems as good as eating it, licking it off another puppy is as good as eating from the bowl!
This morning they were so charming, I went into them and said “hello” and I they greeted me with beeping noises, wagging tails and a scramble toward me, I was soon down on my hands and knees putting my face to them for morning kisses! So gorgeous!
Puppies aged 3 weeks!
Betty and puppy’s
September 10, 2012
Puppies aged 2 weeks
How cute are they now? Amazing the difference 2 weeks makes, as the day progressed the puppies eyes gradually opened and they could definitely start to hear! By next week I won’t be able to keep them in the whelping box they will be escaping!
Betty loves them and is making sure they are the fattest of puppies.
I start to advertise them this week so if you know of anyone who deserves a really well reared puppy? …..
Thinking of a new puppy?
March 26, 2012
A few questions from a client thinking of buying a new puppy reminded me that I haven’t written a blog on this vital time in you and your dog’s life! I am not even going to start talking about breeds on this occasion, I will assume you have chosen your breed and are looking for a good breeder.
Number one for me is a breeder that rears the litter indoors, this gives the puppy so much more exposure to normal life, giving the puppy’s a head start on the dogs raised outdoors. Having said that outdoor litters can be given this same exposure if the breeder is aware of the need, which many are, watch out for those that do not understand the mental and emotional needs of a litter and give them a wide berth.
Bitches can be softer but also busier, dogs more laid back and a little less sensitive! It is often a little easier if you have two of the opposite sex, generally they are more likely to get along okay.
When a breeder starts asking you questions be ready with your own!
Annie, my friend that bred both Pie and Betty, has one puppy left in her last litter, related to my two and well reared indoors!
A well cared for puppy from a great breeder!
What I don’t like about having a puppy!
August 26, 2010
Betty in her favourite chew chair! See the whiskers?
Betty is 4 months old now, I don’t remember how many weeks she is any more so time to promote her to months old rather than weeks 🙂
I do love having a puppy in the house, there is one thing I don’t love about having a puppy, it is the mess they make! I am not a lover of house work, but I do like the house to be clean and tidy, a bit of a conflict for me :)! Betty is now at the age and height when she can reach the table, which means that when I leave things out she gets them off and chews them up, mostly magazines and paper, not a big problem, but when I have just cleaned up and 5 minutes later I have to clear it all up again:(, plus she brings in twigs and plants and scatters them on the floor! It drives me nuts!! I foolishly left my paper diary on the table (my back up to my electronic diary) and she ate most of August and September! I know I will learn to put my stuff out of reach!
What irritates you most about puppies?
Other than this issue I do love her, she is so funny, her sense of humour is infectious! She seems to be permanently laughing at me or life or both! I only have to look at her little hairy face and she makes me smile! If I look at her for more than a few seconds she starts trying out her tricks in case I want more, throwing herself to the ground or bringing me a toy or flying to my side to show off her new going to heel trick, how sweet is that? !
With the change in the weather the back door is shut more often and I have been good in checking if she needs the toilet, she has been brilliant and apart from one occasion when she bopped to wee in front of me and immediately realised I was not smiling any more, she ran outside to finish, she is a good girl really!
Update on Pie’s training, Betty and life at Barbary!
August 11, 2010
You must have thought I had forgotten the blog! But no just busy training my dogs and my clients, there are just not enough hours in a day it seems!!
I have been remembering my dear Pie and what a bad dog owner/trainer I am! I didn’t train Pie until the Saturday after our messed up session, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, too busy sulking really :)! By the Saturday evening when I took him for a walk all my senses were alert and ready to learn what had gone wrong, and I must confess his recall problem had been building up for a while, at least that is what I see now! To understand I will explain how it started, 18 months ago when I was first in Italy with Pie and walking on the mountains about a week or so after we arrived I lost Pie! I was so busy looking for the way on the mountainside and trying to keep upright I forgot my dog for a moment, as I guess he forgot me, we were both on very new terrain! I had no idea which way he had gone and I was soon very nearly hysterical trying to find him and shouting for him all to no avail, I was scrambling about on very difficult ground, and eventually sat crying, fearing he had fallen to the bottom of some ravine, regretting bringing him to this inhospitable country! When there he was beside me!! He was so puffed out, I believe he had run all the way back to the village to look for me, thinking I had turned back, he was as exhausted as I was, but otherwise all in one piece! The outcome for him was that I was not able to lose him again, he was so on to where I was after that I just didn’t have to worry again! At least not till last week!
We have been living back on the flat land of England for the last year, of course it is possible for him to see me from much further away, and over time we have both become complacent and I hadn’t noticed:), on top of that when I do take him out with Betty (not too often) I am concentrating on Betty, when out with Pie on his own, I am grateful to relax and not think too much about dog training! As a result we had both become sloppy, not Pie’s fault as he has soon proven!
Betty was there too! Magic is at ease with the dogs!
Having spent a few days not giving him attention unless in response to a command from me, Pie was much more ready to listen to me! On top of this I became much more difficult to please on our walk, hiding from him and insisting on him staying closer, he was only too pleased to oblige! I have been taking his dinner on his walks to remind him how to work for his meals again, something he has really enjoyed doing again. I had forgotten that he likes to work for me on his walks, after all he is a Collie! I will stay on his case for a few more weeks as yet, but he is becoming more popular with me by the day:) and he must so that he can continue to help other people with their dogs!
Those of you reading this that have been to see me at Barbary have met our new visitor Magic the pony in the front paddock. Magic belongs to Adam and Ian of Barnards Bridge, they rehomed Magic a year or so ago from a girl who had rescued him from the gypsy’s. Magic had learnt not to trust people and is a troubled pony, only small so you can imagine he would be easy to bully by badly intentioned people! Magic had come on a lot with Adam and Ian’s care and love, but not being horsey they didn’t know how to move him on to the next level and asked me to help. I am enjoying having Magic to stay, it is great to see a pony in the paddock, it brings the outside to life!Luckily he seems completely at ease with dogs and is happy for Pie and Betty to run round him! I will keep you posted on Magic’s progress 🙂
Betty is growing fast and getting more whiskers! She keeps me constantly amused and entertained, it is like she has a great sense of humour and loves to share the fun! Below are some up to date photo’s of Betty with Pie, her Daddy being very patient!
Magic in the front paddock!
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