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Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!


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I have just fished a squeaker out of Ruby's mouth from a toy she has destroyed. *Eyeroll* Crazy dog. Crazy dog did crazy dog zoomies in the rain tonight when I went to get her- she wanted to come around the front to go inside, but did not want to put on lead. The black monster must have been bored in the rain today- a few holes, no biscuits left in her Buster Cube (which has been ignored for a couple of weeks now), box destroyed; but thankfully bedding was kept in the shed, not dragged into the rain as I had suspected.

Here are some photos of the Mexican standoff from earlier tonight.

Jasper making himself at home.

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What's going on?

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Roo the other night- when all was well with the world, and the cat was sleeping in his own bed! :hug:

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Love the squish face. Why do they do that?

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It poured rain most of today again (stopped raining long enough for my kids to have sport and be outside for lunch and recess which got them running off some energy before the heavens opened again right on home time :hug: ) :( I got home late from school (homework to mark- ugh! and classroom to sort out as the windows and carpet are being cleaned this weekend- ugh x2), and naturally the black monster was not impressed at all. She had dragged her bedding out in the rain (to be expected), torn some of the sheet (again, expected) and was soaking wet (yep, expected that too). Sigh. I had a shank bone in the fridge for her, but didn't want to stand in the rain while she ate it, nor did I want her to eat it inside. Solution? Back car out of garage again and have dog eat bone in garage while I sit on my old computer chair. Classy, no? :cry: The black monster was happy and forgave me leaving her out in the rain and ate it all up, except for a skinny piece of bone about 5cm long. She's now asleep at my feet. You'd think she would be more comfortable in her V.E. Dogbed, wouldn't you? :D

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Wizzle: I hear your pain, Echo tends to destroy everything, he squashes the bottles we fill with treats, he rips up any sponges nearby, he has gutted his bed!

Max: cuuute photo!!

lilli: I think your cat is taking ownership of the bed lol!

rav: lovely photos ! I would really love to see a full body shot of astrid one day (of her sitting still lol!)

minxy- beautiful! he is getting huuge!

Echo is 19 weeks, we actually have a trainer coming over tomorrow morning to try and address some issues and work on organising things we may be able to do to work on these issues (biting, jumping and lunging excitedly at people and other dogs)

here is some photos!

enjoying a meaty icecream with lactise free milk and water

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fetching the kong, a nice pic of my two passionfruit vines too!

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frontal shot

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side shot

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I absolutely love this photo

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and a size comparison of him on his bed

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this was the same bed at 11.5 weeks

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Ahem... I'm the 'soft' Co-Admin!!!! I just let any random in it would appear!!! :rofl: I just wanted to add someone!

:( Fair enough. The facebook page is keeping me very amused and what's great about it is that it's facebook so OH has no idea I'm still reading about things Dogly :D

Time out is the bathroom here too. But I have to make sure the bin is up on the bench, bathmat hung over the shower and the plant is up on the ledge otherwise I come back to a war zone...

Hoover always seems to enjoy his time-outs - we'll come back and find him out like a light. Very different from Elbie who will sit there looking agonised, fully cognisant of the enormity of his crimes.

Max#1: Max looks pooped from all that reading :eek: I went to Sophie's Choice but couldn't find the Max lookalike!? Do you suppose he's been adopted already?

lilli_star: those photos of Roo are absolutely darling. She looks so cuddly I want to squish her :)

She's now asleep at my feet. You'd think she would be more comfortable in her V.E. Dogbed, wouldn't you? :(

Hoover quite happily sleeps on the floor all the time even though he's right near his equally expensive Dogbed :clap:

ravenau1: I love those photos of Astrid - particularly number two.

I got a new treat bag in the mail yesterday this kind:- http://www.doggonegood.com/index.cfm?fusea...mp;ParentCat=14 as I was having trouble with my Black Dog bag because of the hinge it narrows at the sides and I have trouble getting my humungo-hands in there

I have one of those Black Dog treat bags, too and Hoover sometimes nudges it and I've had it close over my hand a few times. Ouch! :) OH doesn't like them so he uses them under sufferance, the BlackDog bags are too small for him so he uses a bum bag.

Minxy: love the photos of Kyojin. The bandanna is super cute - i want to buy proper ones for my two but right now they're using makeshift ones.

kyliegirl: lovely photos of Echo - OH particularly liked the ones of Echo and his dog bed. It's crazy how quickly they grow up! We're about to buy a Snooza pet futon for Elbie because Hoover already has one and they are the perfect size for the TopBuy XXXL soft crates. PetBarn is selling them for $99 but we've found them from VetnPetDirect for only $58. We've also been working on Elbie's excitement issues - Elbie has improved heaps since his consult with K9Steve although today at the oval, a group of women walked by quite close and Elbie got very excited and started lunging. I don't think that he'd ever seen people dressed like that before with the saris and flowing fabrics. He calmed down - although they did a few laps of the oval which was good for his distraction work :D

So, some photos. In the morning, we let the dogs out of their crates and wee them but then sometimes we go back and lie down in bed agai for a bit. The dogs play but then they settle and both clamber into Hoover's crate to wait until their lazy humans get up.

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Today at PetBarn when we were looking at over-priced dogbeds which we did not buy, OH was amused by the fact that the resident PetBarn cat was trying out the various dog beds

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Elbie being a lap dog. OH loves cuddling the dogs.

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Today we went out to the Cooma Show to see the Yard Dog Trials. To our profound disappointment, because there was apparently heavy rain yesterday, the trials were cancelled so we had driven out there for nothing :( I was very disappointed. To OH who had been reluctant to start with, it was even worse. Then he stared in horror at the flowers and cakes that had "first prize" etc on them and remarked he didn't realise that we were at a country fair where people had their pumpkins graded.

Of course I started laughing when a bit later I saw that there was actually a giant pumpkin

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And a giant twisty melon

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And a cauliflower made to look like a sheepie

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Still, on the way back we stopped at the Bredbo Pancake and Crepe restaurant and had a delicious time

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Edited by koalathebear
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On the bandanna front, the dogs as part of their post-K9Steve consult are currently on correction collars. These will be phased out in time but for the time being, we don't want people hassling us and since we haven't got around to buying proper doggie bandannas for them, I cut up an old orange shirt of mine and made Hoover's bandanna for him.

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See my crappy needlework

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Hoover, unimpressed at my crappy needlework

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Elbie's bandanna is made from an old Harry Potter shirt

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I love Elbie's tongue in this photo - cracks me up

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Hope all are having a fabulous long weekend! :rofl:

ETA: This is a

. He has such funny and cute little ways and facial expressions - you just want to cuddle and squeeze him. Edited by koalathebear
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Great photos Koala :clap: I love the ones of Elbie being a lap dog :) There is no WAY I could have Ruby on my lap though- she's way too big! I don't know how much she weighs now- I should take her in to the vets to find out. I do know that if she doesn't want to be moved, there is very little I can do to make her! :rofl:

I take it Mr KTB didn't enjoy his first country show? Surely he was impressed by the big pumpkin? :D

I went to Petbarn today as well (I'm sure I was Teebs' best customer today- I spent over $200!!!) and bought a Furminator (among other things). I used it this afternoon and combed out half a freezer bag of hair!!! :eek:

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Thanks ktb - It is amazing how fast they grow, we are also going to be using the same correctional collar for echo today, we realised that we cannot expect clicker training to fix everything so are trying different training methods to assist with other issues and then phase it out gradually. He is an extremely confident puppy so I doubt he would have any issues with the collar.

Does anyone elses dogs dislike toe nail time? I have to tie echo's leash to something to stop him running off so i can clip his toe nails, he is getting better but yesterday he made sure to make a fuss at the start, before i even touched his claws he began to cry out murder and suffering, I wasn't even holding his foot hard (it was resting in my hand). After a few struggles and realising there was no escape he finally gave in and lied down to which i was able to reward him while clipping his nails. After that he enjoyed it, but god damn he made a big deal at the start. The neighbours probably thought i was abusing him.

I forgot to mention we moved Echo's crate to the other bedroom, he now stays very quiet and no longer does the noisy yawn at 2 am. His crate is now situated in the art room which is directly next to the bedroom so I am still able to hear him if he needs to go. Echo now sleeps through the night and no longer needs to go out to pee, he is also good in that he will stay quiet until 8 am if we want to sleep in.

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this is how close he is to the bedroom, literally directly next to us.

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Edited by kyliegirl
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Hi Lovelies!

Some great pics there!

Sorry this will be short, as I need to get ready (we are going out for dinner!).

We drove down to Portsea today and took Genevieve to a dog beach. Most of the beaches there are on a national park, so dogs aren't allowed (some family friendly location that is!!!). Anyway, after about an hour of driving around, we found the beach.

Genevieve froliked about and Hubby was running out into the water trying to get her to follow. She did a couple of times, but when she realised she was wet, she couldn't get back to the sand quick enough!!!! It was pretty funny! She had a grand old time digging in the sand, pouncing on shells and trying to eat seaweed (eww!). We saw a Ruby cav on the beach named Rory (he was so cute!), so Genevieve and Rory dug holes together!

We had a picnic lunch in a near by park and she loved eating our apple cores and licking out my puree apples! OH took photos, which I will steal and upload a bit later. It was pretty funny watching her trying to get the attention of all the kids that were whizzing past on their scooters! She squealed like a mouse!!!

She sat so still in the car on the way home - she was clearly exhausted (as she has passed out on the couch next to me now!), but didn't want to miss the action on the way home!!! Hopefully she will stay pooped and sleep all night while we are out!

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I love the ones of Elbie being a lap dog :thanks: There is no WAY I could have Ruby on my lap though- she's way too big! I don't know how much she weighs now- I should take her in to the vets to find out. I do know that if she doesn't want to be moved, there is very little I can do to make her! :thumbsup:

OH just picks up our two and steps on the scales and then deducts his weight :D Both are just over 17kg right now. If you want to know what's extravagant, we bought an upright freezer from Aldi and it was mainly with the dogs in mind because their stuff takes up so much of our current freezer space. So now they have a few things in the kitchen freezer and they get a whole drawer in the new upright freezer - lamb flaps, devon and meatballs :rainbowbridge:

kyliegirl: I suspect that there are dogs that can be clicker-trained to do everything, alas, my two are not that way inclined. In any case, Echo is still very, very young and there's a lot of maturing to go through. A lot of the issues that Elbie had that used to drive me bonkers as a young pup were things that he actually just grew out of naturally even though at the time it felt like a Big Deal.

Does anyone elses dogs dislike toe nail time?

Hoover endures. Elbie hates it. At his worst, I have no doubt he'd try to bite us but the clippers make him incredibly unhappy. We're taking him right back right now to the tap the clippers on his nail and treat - we're not trying to clip lately. Just trying to desensitise him to the clippers. If only their nails weren't so darned hard, it wouldn't be such an ordeal trying to clip them :p

Congratulations on Echo's toilet-training . We were sooooooooooooooooo happy when Elbie learned to sleep through the night. Probably even happier when Hoover learned :cheer: I love the blankets on Echo's quilt - we just have ratty old towels that have now become Dog Towels :rainbowbridge:

wizzle: can't wait to see the photos! Glad she enjoyed the beach. I'm looking forward to seeing our two having fun at a beach one day. The beach that the wuffles gang went to recently looked fantastic and if we can get dog-friendly accommodation, it will be great! Poor long-suffering OH though ... :D

This morning our two monsters had a play date with Ava and Satch. No photos because our two were hyperactive blurs but I did get this photo on my phone of Ava and Satch chilling out under a tree.

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They're such a lovely pair - very well-mannered. The embarrassing encounter in the carpark went like this:

wuffle stands nonchalantly in the car park, two dogs sitting at her feet quietly

OH and I are there with two crazy Kelpies straining and yipping to get at their mates

Fortunately after their Big Run and play, they settled down and walked quietly back to the car when playtime was over but we still have a long long way to go before our two are Calm. We're going to take them to the markets tomorrow - most of the shops will be closed but there will be enough people around to cause Excitement so that we can train the doggies to be quiet.

In other news, apparently Hoover is finally tweaking onto the fact that the bathroom is the Sin Bin instead of a place of fun. OH says that Hoover gave him a very subdued and sad-looking gaze as he was made to trot to the bathroom. Barking at passers-by from the front door is a Sin Binnable offence - Hoover is usually the culprit and then Elbie joins in. What was hilarious is that apparently today, Hoover barked and Elbie joined in once but stopped. OH got up to put Hoover in the sin bin but by the time he got up the stairs, Elbie had sin-binned himself and was sitting on the bathroom rug facing the door in a very penitent: "I have been bad" manner. He had to be booted out so that the correct culprit could be Shunned. :rainbowbridge:

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Hehe thanks for posting that picture KTB, I love my two fuzzbuckets :thumbsup:

(They are not as well behaved as you make out, whose dogs were the ones running up to the fence to check out the dogs doing agility? :D)

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Ruby had a playdate with the GSD next door tonight. It's the first one they've had in ages. She's just about asleep now, but I took her out for a toilet break a little while ago, and something caught her eye outside that she did not approve of. She let out a big booming woof that startled me! :thumbsup: I forget that Ruby has a voice :rainbowbridge:

Do you lucky Canberrans have a long weekend? :D :cheer: Not fair! I haven't even had a normal weekend! Stupid post-grad uni course of stupidness :rainbowbridge: Sorry kids I teach- your teacher is going to be pretty grumpy this week.

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Hi Peeps

I am away at the moment (work) so my parents are dog-sitting for me (thanks goodness). Have been missing my boy but glad to know he is at home in his own environment. Apparently my dad is so taken with him that I am in danger of him being dog-napped when they leave!

Wizzle - sounds like you had a great time at the beach! Glad to hear that Miss G had a doggy playmate there.

KTB - I laugh at your two monsters and Elbie sin-binning himself. Are you noticing changes since implementation of K9Pro methods??? I also have a very excitable dog so empathise about the crazy lunging and pulling when arriving at dog school. Or just being anywhere exciting really....

Fenstar - can't wait to be inundated by cute puppy pics tomorrow! Rest up...

Kyliegirl - sounds like echo might be reaching his adolescent phase? I agree with what KTB said, alot of behaviour diminishes with time but certainly there needs to be management of it (particularly when you will end up with a large dog).

I realise I have not been keeping up with photos, so must take more when I get home (although they seem to alternate with Ziggy running flat out or sleeping......)

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I agree KTB and betsy, the areas we re trying to manage are serious ones though, he lunges at people excitedly, goes into complete focus/excited stage to the point he starts wailing in excitement and jumping about. He is getting worse with other dogs nearby where it becomes an obsession and his hackles raise and he almost strangles himself trying to get to the other dog, the clicker has no effect in these stages, I try to prevent him even reaching this stage but it happens very quickly. I want to get ontop of this before it progresses into something possibly worse.

We had the demo today to see how it would go, if the training method would be worthwhile for him, mostly to test the waters. The trainer also brought out his dog to see Echo's behaviour with other dogs and he reacted the way he always does, lunging, choking, screaming and wailing in a frenzy. After introducing the collar he finally showed progress and then began to calm down and we were finally able to get him to calmly approach the other dog for a sniff and return and also stay lying down even when the other dog was running past and playing.

This is an amazing achievement since its impossible for me to keep him in a sit when people or dogs pass us any other time. We actually have to cross the road at the moment the second any person is in range as he just cannot control himself, we have tried to clicker train this with no real success. He was pretty confident throughout the whole ordeal and showed no signs of stress during this session which is a good thing. OH agreed it may be a good thing to try as Echo showed a lot more confidence and awareness with us than he does with clicker training. I understand its not the be all end all, but I think it's a good option to do both clicker training and use the collar in areas where the clicker does not yield results.

Edited by kyliegirl
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Morning all!

I was inspired by KTB's lap dog photos to add some of my own.

Its hard to imagine such a cuddly, sleepy puppy can be such a terror. Well he can. This weekend he seemed to exist in a hightened state of excitement, I blame the weather? It felt like he barked the whoooolllee weekend long - and he would fall asleep, but the tiniest noise or movement from us would send him from sleep to 150% in an instant. Then it would take him ages to calm down again. He's not like that all the time thank goodness, but it wasn't fun. For Saturday + Sunday he got a cumulative total of at least three hours walking, which included swimming and off lead running. And we even did a fair bit of training with him - I was teaching the OH how to train him while playing. He's now doing zoomies through the house - a rarety, so I'm not overly hopeful for today.

:laugh: Okay while I've been typing this I just noticed he's stolen a couple of gummi bears of the kitchen bench........ Sugar high anyone?

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Ruby had a playdate with the GSD next door tonight. It's the first one they've had in ages. She's just about asleep now, but I took her out for a toilet break a little while ago, and something caught her eye outside that she did not approve of. She let out a big booming woof that startled me! :) I forget that Ruby has a voice :laugh:

Do you lucky Canberrans have a long weekend? :eek: :D Not fair! I haven't even had a normal weekend! Stupid post-grad uni course of stupidness :party: Sorry kids I teach- your teacher is going to be pretty grumpy this week.

So sorry! :party: I hope you get some rest soon.

betsy: Elbie is a hoot with his self-sin-binning. Elbie's always been almost perfectly behaved at home - it's the Outside the Home stuff and he's definitely doing better with the loose leash walking. We took the two monsters to the local fruit markets today - almost everything is closed except Pet Barn so there were a few people around - not too many but enough that we could test them out in a new environment and with people around. Elbie keened, lunged and wanted to get to people but eventually settled down. There were two families playing in the stage area with two sets of toddlers each so we had the dogs sitting a few metres away - watching the kids running around and dancing. Elbie performed tricks and then Hoover was sent in to be patted and stroked. He was fine even when a toddler pulled his ear. One of the fathers was keen to have his kids overcome their dog fears so the tricks from Elbie and the Hoover patting were great.

Then we stood outside Pet Barn as people went in and out and Elbie was able to stay calm although people were walking very close to him. We also walked both dogs through Pet Barn and they did well so Elbie's excitement levels are still very high but he's making progress.

Max#1: Those photos of Max are so darling - there's nothing more cute than a sleeping doggy. Hoover sleeps solidly and will basically conk out and just wake up if he hears his name/Elbie's name/the sound of food. Elbie sleeps in a state of constant alertness so any movement/sound will make him spring to attention. Speaking of which, he is currently lying on OH's lap now while OH surfs the net. :o We find exercise does not calm our two down at all but fortunately they're not hyperactive in the house - just in the yard. It's funny watching them chase each other around the yard like crazy, then flop down for a rest. Then chase again, then flop. I used to worry that they'd just chase and chase but they have short bursts of intense energy and then chill out.

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Ok for those of you not on FB here are a couple of pics of the little man himself, Cooper.

He's very sleepy (as am I) after his 2 hour trip. He fell asleep on my foot earlier and was snoring in minutes :)

Thankfully he seems to be nicely crate trained, so if I want him to settle or for me to go and do something I can put him in there no worries.

My cat is giving me the biggest evil eyes, but give her a week or so and I think she'll be fine. She's sniffed him whilst he was sleeping and didn't flip out!

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