Filed under: animals, dogs, pets | Tags: animals, clicker training, dog training, dog tricks, dogs, pets
this is cody bear’s most frequently requested trick. unfortunately, it doesn’t seem too spectacular because i had to film it myself, and without two hands i was just confusing the poor little guy.
but you get the idea:
it usually goes much faster. plus we usually do it to the mortal kombat song. JUST KIDDING! but seriously, it does look better when he’s where his gi. JUST KIDDING AGAIN! my dog doesn’t have a gi…
that would be weird.
Filed under: animals, border collies, canine, dog, dogs, nature, pets | Tags: animal, border collies, clicker training, dog training, dogs, pets, puppy obedience
hello dog fans!
i took pickles on a field trip today! it was gorgeous out, so we packed up our water and our cheesy bites, i slathered on the sunscreen and we headed out to good ole’ sandy bottom west.
her training has been going so well so i thought, “let’s amp it up a bit.” i took her to the inlet where there are wildlife smells, other off leash dogs popping up randomly, road apples, brickabrack.
today i was hoping she would venture off every now and then, then we would work on her recall.
‘cept, um…miss pickles wouldn’t leave my side. she wasn’t scared….she just wanted to heal. finally she figured it out, “all this land is mine!”
then she found something interesting/scary. of all the brickabrack, riffraff, flotsom…she finds the one thing in the entire area that…isn’t natural. some one had made a pile of large rock and a bent piece of rebar.
she creeped towards it. “what the?” once she got really close i clicked, then gave her a treat, which prompted her to get even more close. then she was over it! (gotta love the clicker!)
she was perfectly content smiling up at me and not going more than 20ft away, so i put her in a down stay one time, walked away, then called her.
it’s like i can’t even get her to be bad. cow pies. “leave it.” “ok.”
once i was too late with the leave it and she spit the cow pie out.
and here is the happy border collie now:
greetings from pickles! wish you were here!
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets | Tags: animals, dog training, dogs, life, obedience, pets
i learned this morning, oh just about dawn, that i can pop over a fence if need be. (intrigued?)
and remember the other day when i said i had a back log of blog topics? one is the coyote incident which we’ll get into later. it involves a giant chicken and me redoubling my efforts to not leave the dogs unattended in the yard…
moving on: we all know cody bear enjoys treeing cats. since his last successful treeing, i have been religiously opening the back door, saying “wait” scanning yard to make sure there are know dangers, then releasing the dogs one at a time.
such was the case this morning. out of bed, slippers on, to the door.
the dogs instantly started happily running laps. i went in to turn on the heat, then went right back out again …only to see pickles running up the street beyond our fence.
i ran to the fence yelling. i couldn’t see them. i yelled “cody bearrrr pickles NOW!” pickles ran all the way to me, cody ran half way, then stopped, wagged his tail and gave me the “come look at my kitty prize” look. pickles ran off again, but kept coming back…while i scaled the wire fence….in my pajamas and slippers. pickles came when called again. i picked her up and gently….through her back over the fence. yeah…i know…that’s not really gentle, but she kept running around and it was for her own safety.
cody bear had given up on the cat and was already searching for more. i got to about ten feet of him and he walked up to me.
i can’t hurl that big guy up and over the fence. he weighed in at 47.5 at the vet tuesday. so i walked him up the street, and around the house to the actual gate. past the construction crew that had assembled. past the kids waiting for the school bus.
this is why i sleep in my sweat shirt and jammy pants. because….ya just never know when you might have to scale a fence.
note: pickles got out again after breakfast. but i was there and saw where the breach in the perimeter was. and yes…she came back when i called her. so glad we’ve been training!
Filed under: animals, cooking, dogs, food, friends, pets | Tags: animals, baking, cake, dog training, dogs, food, friends, life, pets
but first….a few expletives: yesterday morning, a couple hours after explaining to a friend that my ankle was feeling better…i dropped a 28 pound pc tower on my foot! as some of you knowwww, i’m a delicate flower. (“delicate flower” = “clumsy person with zero pain tolerance”)
but that’s ok, the day moved along and then friends came over, some even brought their dogs. (hurray! say pickles and cody bear! wagwagwag)
i have a friend who owns a wedding cake bakery and she always shows up with the most delicious cakes:
here the cross section shows the filling: a dark chocolate genache layer with white chocolate mousse and then drizzled with espresso!
oh yeah baby! and note the paw print. that is her signature. she hides a paw print on each of her wedding cakes!
cody bear has always loved parties, but sometime around 11 he started getting queazy.
and here you see pickles moping because she couldn’t get ANY of the dogs to play with her. cody tried early in the night, but there just wasn’t enough room, so he decided to lay low.
moving on…
this morning pickles and i went to be helpers at the dog training center. there was a class of 7 dogs working on their stays and recalls. they were supposed to be able to stay with distractions. well, long story short…(and i’ll preface it by saying SHE’S FINE) a dog broke its stay and instead of going to it’s owner. he charged pickles. she got bit on the shoulder. it is spitty and tender, but not punctured. she had a hard morning at work! (and yes…i was flipping out!)
we were all very surprised because this is one of the best trained dogs in class, annnnd…..everyone loves pickles! two other dogs broke their stays and charged her, but just to say hello or play. as you can imagine…she’s exhausted!
sheesh, sorry about the long post. and this isn’t even half of what’s happened since i last posted 15 hours ago! but…i need to take the munchkins for a nap. i’m blowing off agility photography and probably the party i was going to tonight, as well. i need to safely tuck myself into my neighborhood for the day before my delicate flower self gets any more surprises.
i’ll be back after the nap to tell you about the blessing of the valentines pineapple and to enlist your help in a new tradition!
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets, video | Tags: animals, beer, dog obedience, dog training, dogs, friends, pets
before my friends come over tonight for some mellow good times i took pickles on the beer run. last time cody bear got to go. it was so crowded in there. they were having a beer tasting…with blueberry flavored beer. huh?
we also needed some training time to make the munchkins feel loved. dogs LOVE training!
all this stuff is a slice of cake for cody bear, but he doesn’t care. the interaction is what matters.
ok, time to remove my laundry from the chairs…..
Filed under: dogs, friends, pets | Tags: animals, dog obedience, dog training, dogs, friends, life, pets, smart, writing
obedience class with pickles last night! i have pictures about the dogs, but details about the people. it’s an interesting class. after an hour of rigorous canine learning we all chat while the dogs romp. here a beagle shows off her jumping into the arms trick.
the beagle belongs to an enlish teacher at the community college and her husband who is getting his mfa in writing at the university.
the golden belongs to a novelist.
this dog belongs to a nurse/nursing teacher at the university. she adopted him when she was nursing in kathmandu!
the pittbull belongs to my friends the biology professor and the entomologist.
and then there is me and pickles. i’m the only one in the class with no higher than a b.a. …..but…i do have the smartest dog! it’s true!
Filed under: agility, animals, dogs, pets | Tags: agility, animals, border collies, dog training, dogs, pets
i put one of these on my photo blog the other day, but thought you might want to see them:
you’re used to seeing the silly pickles. well, here is serious pickles, the agility dog.
last night our agility instructor started calling her “perfect pickles”!
and yes, i did make the jumps. two of the three. it was easy and cheap.
so there you have it. my intense little pickles, concentrating very hard to get to me as fast as possible so i can give her a piece of cheese.
in all the classes i’ve taken with my dog and worked at with other peoples dogs i have learned that usually the dog who is doing the best in class….is the one with the best treats. the dogs that aren’t as focused some how magically focus more when you stop giving them dry, crunchy, boring dog biscuits and give them roasted chicken, cheese, turkey dogs, fresh beef livers. for extreme cases we use peanut butter or tripe.
i hate tripe. i won’t stand near anyone that is using it.
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets | Tags: animals, border collies, dog behavior, dog training, dogs, mutts, pets, puppies
it’s funny that my 4.5 year old dog is living a life of retirement luxury and my 10 month old border collie is working her ass off. first of all, since pickles is a border collie, she actually wants to work her ass off. secondly, i’m hoping cody bear’s retirement is just temporary. so … let’s examine their week, shall we?
the yogurt bear:
my sweet guy is only throwing up twice a month, and his injury seems to be doing better. this dog LOVES school, but has taken all the obedience classes he can. agility was really all that challenged him, but with his injury, he hasn’t been going. i feel horrible about this, since he loves school so much and has to watch pickles leave for class all the time.
now, regarding the yogurt: we’re down to only a couple nutritional supplements, plus the reglan. but food is so important. one side dish at 2 of his 4 meals…yogurt. but you have to add warm water to it because a dog with gastroparesis can’t digest cold food. he sometimes splashes it onto his muzzle. sweet guy with a yogurt muzzle.
meanwhile, the picklebot:
we have puppy agility on tuesday. she’s doing great. wednesdays we have basic obedience with buzzy’s pittbull, maggie; shoe from timbuktu, a nepalese street pup who was rescued by my friend who was a medical volunteer; bella the year old golden, mingo the dalmation mix, and buffy, the very shy beagle.
we felt like jerks (we meaing just me) because picky is farther ahead of everyone. and yes, she ran through the exercises like a pro, not a ten month old puppy. but, here is the deal: all the dogs did great! she just knows more cues because i’ve been trying to keep her busy so she is entertained and not destructive. now, cody bear’s doggie bed begs to differ. but really, it is working a bit. so no one should be all “pickles and goodbear are jerks” or “my dog is a dumb dumb.” so what if it looks like pickles is running through the exercises like a west german athlete during the time of black and white television.
if you were to look closely, she was really having fun.
and the other dogs may not know as many tricks as her…they are probably more calm and less destructive. dogs are like people, with strengths and weaknesses. like her mother, her strengths are boundless charm and the ability to take direction. and like her mom, her weaknesses are being destructive when bored and slightly selfish. no wonder we ended up together!
friday afternoon, me . . . tired. . . just tired, i came home and told the pets it was nap time. for an hour or so the doglets wrestled on the bed while i pretended to sleep. really, i just was loving the cuteness.
loving the cuteness all.
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets, puppies | Tags: animals, dog training, dogs, life, pets, puppies, to do
ah. another sunday. another sunday to-do list:
go to work at humane society to recertify pet therapy teams
go to work tonight at dog training facility to help with reactive/aggressive dog class
walk cody bear and pickles
laundry
dishes
work out
work on web project
stay off facebook
brush dogs
here is one more shot of my friends’ dog, barney, being the best foster brother:
gina and marlene lovin’ him.
ok, better get to it!
Filed under: animals, dogs, pets | Tags: animals, clicker training, dog training, dogs, pets, puppies
here’s a video to consider if you are training your dog were thinking this guy might be helpful…
sheesh…
