Fish, Control and Turns

I started reading Control Unleashed Puppy this last week.  So much good information.  I haven't finished reading it, but I started working on mat work and the whiplash turn.  Dhali gets things really fast.  Tibby needs to think a lot more.  It's exactly the book that I needed for Tibby.  If I can figure out how to teach it to Tibby it would be wonderful.  I'm very curious to see if i can teach her to breath and blink on command.  :)  Sounds kind of hard, but useful.

P.S. Dhali ripped the cover off within the first 5 mins.  I was going to sit outside in a chair and he jumped up and grabbed the book.  I saved the rest of the book, but the cover was in 3 pieces.  It looks kind of rough now!

She has been a lot more eager to have her training session.  When it's Dhali's turn she goes into the bed room and gets up on the bed, but if I don't call her for her turn, she acts very put out and goes into the living room and looks at the training stuff.  I'm not sure why she doesn't want to watch Dhali when it's his turn.  They only get 3 mins. each, so it's not a huge amount of time to wait! 

On Thurs. I stopped giving her the medication the vet prescribed.  Tibby misses her cheese, but otherwise I didn't see any difference in her behavior.  The whole week she has been acting more playful and happy - without the tiny, tiny dose of pain meds she was still happy and playful.  I looked up the dosage for a dog Tibby's size and she was taking 1/2 of the lowest recommended dose. 

Dhali modeling the most popular toy.

This is THE toy of the moment.  Tibby even tugs with Dhali for this toy.  She also chased after it and jumped on me to get it.  It has a rattle AND a squeaker.  Whoa!

Dhali would like to show you his smile.  Soon (very soon) to be replaced with new chompers.  He has been chewing on EVERYTHING.  I give him frozen smelt to chew on.  He likes them a lot and they keep him busy for a few mins. too.  Tibby thinks they're gross.  I really want to get a picture when he has a little fishy tail hanging out of his mouth.  It is SO CUTE!

"Iz cute....now throwza toy."

The Week-end Is Coming

I'm so excited for the week-end!  We are going to the When Pigs Fly seminar with Jane Killion.  It will be our very first seminar and Tibby's first time staying in a hotel.

I think the seminar will be great.  Jane had us fill out a questionnaire about our dog and what we want to learn from the seminar.  Maybe everyone does this for seminars?  She also sent us homework to read. 

 I have her book - do you think she will sign it???

After last night, I KNOW Tibby will be noisy in her crate.  BUT the seminar information said there will be a separate crating area for dogs that can't be quiet in their crate. 

The part I'm debating is cover Tibby's crate?  Or only cover part of it?  No cover?  I think she would like part of it covered.  Last night when she was in the crate, and couldn't see the other dogs, she was a lot calmer.  But I don't want her to freak out either, so....

Oh yeah and it will be the wire crate NOT the travel crate :P

She escaped from Loretta's expen at our last lesson - oh, boy!

Can't wait for the week-end!  Adventure!  

When Pigs Fly Book Review

I finished reading this book a few days ago.  It is the BEST training book I have ever read.  I cried, it was that good.  Maybe people with easy to train dogs wouldn't appreciate it, but for me it was such a.....I don't know?  A hug?  A pat on the back?  Jane is like, "It's OK!  Your dog can be trained too!"  So many times when I read training books or watch training videos, I think, "Huh, well, that's nice, but it's not going to work with Tibby."  Jane takes training down to it's smallest steps and she explains exactly how to progress with your "difficult to train" dog. 

For example, I once saw someone teach their dog a trick.  The beginning of the trick started with the dog in heel position beside their trainer.  I wanted to teach this trick, but how to get Tibby into heel position?  Without luring it?  Jane explains how to do it AND in a way that would actually work!  'Cause you can't make an 'impossible' dog do something.  It has to be their idea. 

Her writing style is really easy to read too.  And she uses tons of real life examples, so that makes it even more interesting to read.

Maybe the book would be a little basic for someone that has been clicker training for a long time.  I have only been using a clicker for a year and I'm self trained, so it was nice to read step by step instructions on starting from scratch.  I picked up some great tips!

It was nice to have someone acknowledge that some dogs are different and that it's OK! 

The Books Are Here!

These are the two books I ordered.  They finally came today.  I started to read both of them at the same time, 'erm that isn't working so well.  But I want to know everything right now!  Tibby isn't getting any younger! 

 I ordered some Zuke's Mini Naturals at the same time.  They are really great.  I cut them up into itty bitty bites for training Tibby.  She LOVES them.  I also bought some of the cat treats for Catty.  She LOVES them too!  She is a very picky eater, so they must be delicious.

Yesterday was a good potty day.  There were zero accidents and so far today there have been zero accidents, but it is only 1pm. :S

It is also snowing.  Tibby loves it.  She thinks the house is way over heated and I should let her sleep on the deck outside. 

Also, I found a tick on her yesterday evening.  It was on her neck and had some blood in it.  I used the little chart the vet gave me and it looked like a dog tick.  Weird thing: it was sucking exactly in the spot that I put Frontline.