Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!

[Genabee]

:p :p :rofl:

You have made me chuckle!!!

First of all, you all have way better behaved dogs than my mut! I guess because she doesn't get treats anywhere near as fancy as DEVON or STEAK or SAUSAGES! Clearly that is where I went wrong! *Mummy smacks self*.

Genevieve gets her cup of Artemis kibble in the morning and generally that is it for the day! We feed her puppy treats that I buy in a bag from the pet shop (beef liver in a biscuit - because they are easy for me to pick up and I don't get it under my nails!) when we need to bribe her and on walks! When we were going to school regularly, I just used her normal kibble, didn't bother so much with the treats. I actually got really annoyed with a lady there who was giving her shredded BBQ chicken (who insisted dogs don't have allergies - clearly she wasn't the one with an itchy dandruffy dog), as we worked out that she is allergic to chicken (or at least large amounts of it doesn't agree with her, after months of diet amendements). Worse than old ladies feeding your toddlers lollies!

She gets the knobs of carrots and the odd bone (lamb I think. I just buy a bag of bones from the butcher for $3. They are the right size for my freezer and her little head) from time to time. Like Kuma, she really just likes to lick it and not chew them... after she sneaks them around the house! She nearly does cartwheels for ice cubes! Poor dog. Anyone would think she is from a second rate dog shelter and never gets fed or watered, let alone treats! She must have a secret facebook account and communicates with all your doggies... Hears of them having wonderful treat parties as if they were up the Magic Faraway Tree and she thinks she should have in!

As for being coordinated enough to manage treats, clickers and feral psycho dog... I'd need a lot of wine. And I just don't drink at that time of the morning!

Edited February 7, 2011 by Wizzle

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

LOL, I think you're all underestimating your dogs!

Wuffles, Ava was looking awesome for her first week back. Remember she's still barely out of puppyhood, andd you two have a lovely working relationship. That instructor can be a little abrupt, but doesn't really mean it that way. Ava's stays in the face of all those distractions were great. I was in stitches just watching the expression on Shandy's little face - she's already had some problems with that instructor, and obviously thought all the crawling was nuts! Wait til you see how badly things can go at a trial on Friday night! :p We work with animals - if we can't accept the challenges that a thinking creature throws at us, we'd stick to computers!

KumaAkita - you might need to stick to *very* short training sessions with Kuma - ie if hes does it right once, lots of praise and leave it. Its something I've struggled to learn with Shandy. Cardi's were bred to think independantly while herding cattle around the hills of Wales, and if I ask her to do something too many times, its almost like I've insulted her! So we do it 2-3 times at most, and if she's right, we leave it.

KTB, I have some really cool finger clickers, with a little band that slips over your finger that might make it easier for you to juggle. Remind me next week, and I'll lend you one to try. A group of us who instruct (and yes, that includes OH & Elbie's instructor ) have been playing around with clicker techniques over the break, and when you see how much you can achieve when you get it right, it does tend to make you a little evangelical. I know its hard to juggle all the accessories though. Ange (Pepper and Rosie's owner) is talking about doing a proper clicker seminar soon, so you might get to see some of what we've been working on.

We all have our crosses to bear with our dogs - mine is the aforementioned independant thought. Shandy is a very smart dog, and in general is so much fun to train (but then I was used to working with Ridgebacks!) but every now and then, she thinks things through a little too much and comes up with a *better* way of doing things! You have to laugh - and love 'em anyway!

The butcher I've been buying from at Belconnen Fresh Food Markets has had some really nice dog bone bags. Its the one next to PetBarn, and the bags have great little non fatty rib section in it, which Shandy loves. I also find the whole BARF/Raw concept worthy, but too hard and complex, so I feed a high quality kibble, and add eggs, yoghurt, sardines and vegies as well as bones on an ad hoc basis.

[lilli_star]

Hee! You girlies make me laugh I've been giggling away reading your posts.

Now to catch up and chime in

As to lamb flaps, another reason I stopped giving them to Roo was she kept inhaling them and giving me an absolute heart attack! Seriously- she would nom on it for a little while, then swallow, choke, cough it up, lather rinse repeat. So, I'm sticking to shanks. But after that one time I bought shanks at Woolies that were cut almost in half (note to all- don't buy them for dogs) and she swallowed half without chewing it, I sit with her and put her lead on just in case I need to grab her quickly. Other times I have given her the bones frozen- you'd think that would slow down how fast she demolishes them though, wouldn't you? Uhhh, no. By the time Ruby has finished with the bone, there is really not much of it left, and what is left I throw away just in case.

Yes. I'm a nervous dog mother.

I do, however, leave her with a Kong in the morning when I go to work, but I doubt it lasts her much longer than 10 mins to eat it and toss it aside. I am intruiged by those on DOL who say their dog will take hours to lick things out of their Kong- not Labradors obviously!

I slacked off walking Roo in the holidays- partly because I wasn't home much, and partly because it was too hot towards the end anyway, and she had almost daily playdates with next door's doglet. Since today was much cooler though, I took her for a walk this morning around the block, and a long walk tonight. She has now taken herself off to bed- my bed that is! Ruby does not sleep on my bed as a rule though (the cat would not be impressed).

Feeding BARF/raw food is just not an option for me- I don't have the time, and Ruby is doing really well on the diet I give her anyway- RC biscuits with additives a few times a week like sardines, bones, chopped beef or lamb etc plus a bit of Nature's Gift tinned food in her Kong. Her coat is really shiny and she loves her food. I did give in and buy her another 3kg bag of RC Lab junior though. Shame the RC Lab adult biscuits are so big- she did eat them, but she prefers the puppy biscuits. Anyway, we'll how she goes. I had a semi argument with the shop assistant at Petbarn the other day- she was saying how Ruby should be on puppy biscuits til she is 15 months old, how all their seminars tell them so etc. I just said, well it's hard to know what to do when there are some breeders who put them on adult food at less than 6 months, and in any case, they can't even agree on which food is best.

Wuffles, your wedding is getting very close! Might have to bite the bullet and join Facebook just so I can see the pics :p

Edited February 7, 2011 by lilli_star

[koalathebear]

Well I am helping out in a beginners class this session so the pressure is on, don't worry, I definitely know that not all dogs behaved the same as BCs Satch may not be fun to train, but he has taught me an awful lot.

What are you doing with Ava during beginner classes? Does she get to be Demo Dog?

is the dalmation in your class Louis?

Yes. His handler moved away from his initial location in the class at first because Louis was over-stimulated by one of the other dogs that he was standing near. Then Louis got very excited around Hoover which in turn made Hoover very excited - but then Hoover settled down and it was actually very good practice for him to compose himself despite an exciting situation

cleoJ: I've been eyeing those dog bone bags at the Belconnen Markets organic butchery - I wasn't sure they were ok for doggies. If Shandy has been ok with them then I'm sure my two monsters would be good with them. Thanks for the encouragement about clickers. We like them - we each have a Karen Pryor clicker, just haven't managed to get them to work yet. We even when out and bought lanyards for them - OH's is plain and mine has smiley faces

I'm going to have to ask you to demonstrate that trick - I described it to OH and I fear I may be describing it in an unexciting way ...

lilli_star: I think you should join facebook Go on! You'll have a ready-made group of Dog Friends

Now, some videos ... OH has been playing with the new phone. The quality isn't great but the subject matter (the doggies!) is still cute :p

This is

. You can see him running in his sleep - it's so cute. Sometimes he yips and barks, too. Elbie used to do it a lot but not so much now.

This is

. Though short in length, you will see various phases of their Doggie Play.

1. chilling out together in the dog bed

2. Hoover is naughty

3. they start to play bitey face

4. the neighbour's dogs start their afternoon howling and barking - make sure you turn up the volume. The neighbours dogs make some crazily loud sounds every afternoon when their owners come home.

5. the dogs pause momentarily then they restart play.

6. Hoover gets his Devil Dog face, which cracks me up because it's such a contrast to his innocent little puppy expression.

Behold the Devil Dog!

Contrast it to his Innocent Puppy look

Hoover sleeping in a strange position in his kennel ...

Close-up ... see his snout squashed into the doorway exposing teeth and gums ...

Elbie: "*woe* I can't believe Hoover's already bigger than me."

Such a typical shot of our monsters. Elbie with a ball in his mouth staring at Another Ball. Meanwhile, the red and tan is unconscious nearby.

Hoover failing to fully utilise the dog bed

Edited February 7, 2011 by koalathebear

[koalathebear]

Very speaking shot of our two monsters. The expression on Elbie's face is classic and Hoover has his usual naughty expression

They love each other, though. This was them choosing to share a crate last night As I mentioned, Hoover was in there first and Elbie chose to join him. It's usually the other way around.

This is them being all cool and nonchalant as they hang out together in the yard

Edited February 7, 2011 by koalathebear

[lilli_star]

Hee! Loved how Hoover and Elbie both stopped completely when your neighbours dogs were going bananas, then got back into it!

Is that kennel an Aldi one? It looks like the one Roo has. Maybe I should have put the trampoline bed INSIDE it, instead of putting it under Ruby's gazebo/palace for her to lounge on

I used the old sand in Roo's clamshell today to fill in the holes in the yard and put two new bags of sand in- Roo immediately jumped in a dug away! So the key here people is to buy new sand*. Sand that is 6 months old is so yesterday according to my black monster

* _{I say this now. Who knows what I will come home to tomorrow afternoon}

Edited February 7, 2011 by lilli_star

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

lol, I love seeing the contrast between Elbie and Hoover! At one, and considering his breed mix, Elbie may still fill out a little bit through the chest, but I'd say Hoover will outweigh him by a good bit. I'm happy to demo the trick. If I can nag OH after DWD class tomorrow night, I'll see if I can get a short video.

The clickers we've been using are these - see the little green elastic loop?

Do I need to add you all on facebook to see more pics?

[Clastic]

Awwww KTB, love that pic with Hoover and Elbie in the same crate.

[Niques]

Blimey! Neglect this thread for a couple of days and there is much to catch up on!

Have dropped James off for desexing this morning. His whole body was wagging in excitement - ignorance is bliss! As they took him off out the back he ran into the bin and sent it flying Classic James. Have given them a sizable list of things to do with him whilst he's knocked out, including prodding a disturbing lump on his wrist.

I love (KTB's?) Spitz thought pattern explanation James always has a resigned expression on his face when doing tricks - "Well, if you insist, I will lie down. Please note my protest on the record."

[Max#1]

Morning all!

I'll add my bit! Max gets RC medium puppy food most days - still two meals a day - sometimes substituting one with a beef(?) bone with marrow in them (no pancreatitis as yet; and I've just graduated him to the full bone, rather than getting the butcher to chop them in half for me), or chicken wings or necks or lamb flaps (fat attached). For a treat on the weekends he gets a soft-boiled egg that he has to extract from the shell - he LOVES it. I also am a bad dog-owner and let him eat most things unsupervised, and he's still alive. I also give him kongs unsupervised - when we go out, that's what he gets, so much so its become a routine. Sometimes I buy a cooked chook and put the meat in there, some cheese (low fat), if we have devon from training treats, or anything else that's dog-friendly.

Lilli_star are you sure you're packing the kong right? My OH has it down to a fine art, making sure there's a bit of cheese hanging out the top - but everything is crammed in there so tight it does take the little scavenger awhile to get to it all.

For training treats again its just whatever I have handy. Maybe a bit of schmako strip, or if there's cooked chicken around, or some kibble if nothing else. He loves the skinless frankfurters - but now that he's becoming an elite flyball athlete (ha ha!) I try not to use so much devon/frankfurters. They do make him fat and farty.

So this morning went for our usual constitutional to the park. I am not giving one inch this week with LLW - but we seem to have hit a wall. He knows he has to be beside me for me to move, but the furtherest I can get (while he is in a heightened state of excitement ie at obedience, or going to the park) is about eight steps. Coming home, no sweat - he's a lamb. How can I get him to realise he has to STAY beside me while I'm walking? I reckon its my timing? He knows 'heel', and its so funny when I stop he'll back up to be beside me again. If you could add sound effects there'd be the bleep bleep of a reversing truck.

Some photos:

'Ready to go'

'Ready to play ball'

'Curious about why he can hear himself on the computer as I'm looking at the videos I took of him (which are all too dark, small, blurry - bloody black dog!)'

[koalathebear]

Flyby post ... max has the most awesome head tilt. Let's have a caption writing competition for what Max is thinking

"What is that you wish me to do, human?"

[Max#1]

Yeah you can say that, but you don't have him watching you all day waiting for his next instruction!

ETA: hope James goes okay!

ETA as well: speaking of dogs wanting instruction - last night at the park the caption could've been 'what happens when you put herding/working dogs in suburbia'. We had Max, two bc's, a bc x and two kelpies, that in all fairness actually do come from a farm. They formed this thing - one bc was 'rounding up' the bc x, who was in the middle. The second bc was running circles around them (these three belong together and this is their usual 'thing' they do). One of the kelpies watching/following the first bc. Max was doing circles around this whole group (rounding them up?), radius of the circle Max was running was about 5 m, but running in the opposite direction to the second bc - and the second kelpie was rounding him up - giving him the look and stopping him, at which he'd turn and run the other way. We estimated Max probably ran about 2km.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Max#1

[Max#1]

And just for fun.

That you-tube video of the talking bc saying 'hello' - my OH and I really found this endearing.

So this morning I made my own . Not quite the same... he nearly gets it at the end. And yes he does have a little scratch on his nose - that's the white spot.

[wuffles]

We pack our Kongs with Natures Gift tinned food and freeze them overnight. They get everything else out too easily... Satch's takes him about 30 minutes, Ava's takes her about 10 minutes. Ava will work away on treat toys until every last bit of kibble is gone, though, so that entertains her for a while.

Max is soooo cute :D

ETA as well: speaking of dogs wanting instruction - last night at the park the caption could've been 'what happens when you put herding/working dogs in suburbia'. We had Max, two bc's, a bc x and two kelpies, that in all fairness actually do come from a farm. They formed this thing - one bc was 'rounding up' the bc x, who was in the middle. The second bc was running circles around them (these three belong together and this is their usual 'thing' they do). One of the kelpies watching/following the first bc. Max was doing circles around this whole group (rounding them up?), radius of the circle Max was running was about 5 m, but running in the opposite direction to the second bc - and the second kelpie was rounding him up - giving him the look and stopping him, at which he'd turn and run the other way. We estimated Max probably ran about 2km.

And if you put an Aussie in the mix, they'd run straight through the middle of the formation body slamming dogs as they went, thoroughly mortifying the BCs and kelpies. :thumbsup:

[betsy]

We pack our Kongs with Natures Gift tinned food and freeze them overnight. They get everything else out too easily... Satch's takes him about 30 minutes, Ava's takes her about 10 minutes. Ava will work away on treat toys until every last bit of kibble is gone, though, so that entertains her for a while.

Max is soooo cute

ETA as well: speaking of dogs wanting instruction - last night at the park the caption could've been 'what happens when you put herding/working dogs in suburbia'. We had Max, two bc's, a bc x and two kelpies, that in all fairness actually do come from a farm. They formed this thing - one bc was 'rounding up' the bc x, who was in the middle. The second bc was running circles around them (these three belong together and this is their usual 'thing' they do). One of the kelpies watching/following the first bc. Max was doing circles around this whole group (rounding them up?), radius of the circle Max was running was about 5 m, but running in the opposite direction to the second bc - and the second kelpie was rounding him up - giving him the look and stopping him, at which he'd turn and run the other way. We estimated Max probably ran about 2km.

And if you put an Aussie in the mix, they'd run straight through the middle of the formation body slamming dogs as they went, thoroughly mortifying the BCs and kelpies. :D

Absolutely! Wondering why all the other dogs were being so serious

[Max#1]

An Aussie would do that? I'd like to see them try with this group!

They were all definitely taking it very seriously. And that's what was so noteworthy. It was like all their bottled-up suburban-depressed instincts had just been released. This was no game*.

_{*Though of course, no animal got hurt, and it did appear they were enjoying it.}

[KumaAkita]

ETA as well: speaking of dogs wanting instruction - last night at the park the caption could've been 'what happens when you put herding/working dogs in suburbia'. We had Max, two bc's, a bc x and two kelpies, that in all fairness actually do come from a farm. They formed this thing - one bc was 'rounding up' the bc x, who was in the middle. The second bc was running circles around them (these three belong together and this is their usual 'thing' they do). One of the kelpies watching/following the first bc. Max was doing circles around this whole group (rounding them up?), radius of the circle Max was running was about 5 m, but running in the opposite direction to the second bc - and the second kelpie was rounding him up - giving him the look and stopping him, at which he'd turn and run the other way. We estimated Max probably ran about 2km.

And if you put an Aussie in the mix, they'd run straight through the middle of the formation body slamming dogs as they went, thoroughly mortifying the BCs and kelpies. :D

Absolutely! Wondering why all the other dogs were being so serious

Whereas an Akita would chase for about three minutes, before getting too hot and realising that the other dogs are much faster. Upon that realisation, he would go stand in the shade gathering pats from the humans or hunt down some water to drink splash around in.

[wuffles]

An Aussie would do that? I'd like to see them try with this group!

They were all definitely taking it very seriously. And that's what was so noteworthy. It was like all their bottled-up suburban-depressed instincts had just been released. This was no game*.

_{*Though of course, no animal got hurt, and it did appear they were enjoying it.}

Aussies' herding style is upright and loose-eyed and they can be very rough on stock and they transfer this to playing with other dogs... they are clowns. They love working but don't like it to be too serious. It has to be fun.

Ava loves to play with herding dogs as they run and she loves to chase, but she has been told off by numerous BCs and kelpies for a range of things... for example... body slamming (her favourite activity, but a BIG NO NO for most other breeds), stealing a ball from their mouth, getting eye from a kelpie and taking it as a sign to run directly at it and jump on its head... and when she gets told off, she generally submits then goes... THAT WAS FUN, DO IT AGAIN!!!

Edit: KA, 3 minutes.. that's a bit generous.. 30 seconds?

Edited February 8, 2011 by wuffles

[betsy]

Wuffles - I can relate!

My dog just loves chasing other dogs. He nearly killed a whippet on the beach, because although whippets are faster than him, he seems to be able to just keep going energiser-bunny style. I don't think this whippet had met an Aussie before.........

Also, once he catches the dog he will try and grab onto its rump or tail Kelpies and BC don't appear to enjoy this either!

I also have the visual of Kuma and his 30s herding play

[KumaAkita]

Edit: KA, 3 minutes.. that's a bit generous.. 30 seconds?

Depends on how hot it is

Nah, he lasted more than 3 mins on Australia Day... He was just soooooo slllllooooooowwww lumbering behind the faster doglets! I could sense him saying "ah, f*** it. It's too hot for this sh*t"