Jerky Lurky

Look what we got!

Dhali is very helpful!  He's looking for the bully sticks.  We got 100 of them!  That should last us for a little while.

"I smell you bully sticks!  Where are you?"

And something very strange came in our order.  I ordered 3 bags of chicken jerky.  Tibby loves it and it's made in the USA, so safe unlike the China stuff we can buy in town.  Anyway....one of our bags was OPENED.  And half of the jerky was missing.  So weird.  I have never had a problem with Best Bully Sticks before and this is so strange.  Did someone in the factory get hungry and decide to snack on the jerky???

I email Best Bully Sticks and they said they will send me a replacement bag and a mailing label to send back the opened bag.

So weird.

Four In A Box

We have been practicing this trick for a long time.  Like as in we started it last year long time.  Now we are getting it! 

This is one of the assignments for our RC class with Silvia Trkman also.  I'm still waiting to see what she says about it.

For a long time Tibby was sure she could never, ever get into a smaller box.  The small one is the 4th box we have used.  We started with a really big one, smaller one, smaller one and now smallest one!  A couple days ago, when Tibby was trying to convince me that it was impossible for her to get in the small box, she started picking up the little box and carrying it around.  Now why can't she do that with the basket that I want her to carry!?!?  Ahhhhh someday or next year maybe.
I do like teaching little tricks.  After the Jane Killion seminar I remembered how much I like training with a clicker.  Tibby likes it, I like it and now that she will eat her kibble, I can train AND feed her her dinner or breakfast or lunch or snack.....

Gift We Sent

We exchanged gifts with Mulligan the Flying Bichon on the Mighty Mites small dog forum.  This is what we Tibby sent to Mulligan.  I'll do a 2nd post with what Mulligan sent to us!

We made this bag for Mulligan's Mom.  I thought it turned out pretty cute!  It was the first time I had ever tried iron on fabric whatever 'ya call 'em.  I was so nervous that it wouldn't work!  Hopefully it arrived in good condition.

Tibby inspecting Mulligan's box.  She thought we should keep one or two things.  :)

Flyball Practice With Videos

We went to our first flyball practice tonight.  It was fun.  Interesting.  Loud.  LOL!  That is the first thing everyone said when they met us, "Oh, it's your first time?  Well, it's LOUD!"  I think Tibby had a nice time.  We took little breaks to go outside and walk around.  She was eager to get back inside, so I think she must have liked it.....even though it was LOUD!  I think I may have lost a little bit of my hearing AND I already have poor hearing!  If/when we go next time I will bring earplugs.  2+ hours in there was a little too much LOUD.  It was fun though.

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I don't think we will become serious flyball players, but it would be fun to do every once in a while.  With Tibby's heart condition, I'm not sure if it is a good idea for her to be SO excited for such a long period of time.  With agility we can run for a minute and then she can rest and her heart rate goes down.  Tonight her heart rate was super, super fast the entire time, so over 2 hours.  I think she would eventually get used to it, but it still seems like it might be hard on her heart.  Still, I think we will do it again.  It was exciting to watch!

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She would, of course, have to learn how to retrieve.  And how to retrieve under pressure.  Tibby can retrieve.  I taught it as a trick, but she doesn't think it's very much fun.  However, she will do it if I want her too.  The things I liked about flyball that we could use for agility - 1 working around other dogs and still focusing on the job   2 - retrieving a ball.  Tibby loves her ball, but it would be nice if she would bring it back.  3 - Fast jumping  4 - Did I mention working around other dogs and people?  Very important.  And something we have had trouble with in the past.

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IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE VIDEO - PLEASE WATCH THE 2ND ONE - TIBBY IS REALLY FAST!!

The first time (in the first video) Tibby ran away from me every single time.  They eventually had every one leave the room, but she still ran away from me.  I think she was trying to get out of the door.  The noise, the new building and all the dogs barking was a little overwhelming for her.  Also, I didn't have a very good reward for her.  As Loretta always tells me - If Tibby is running away then the reward isn't good enough!!

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After they trained all the beginner dogs (which I didn't get to see, because they had us sit in another room) they had the more advanced beg. dogs run and then the team ran.  Whoa!  They were fast!  It was fun to watch!

The last video is Tibby watching the other dogs running.  The other new dog is in the video too - behind Tibby, it's brown and white.  I thought it was funny, because for the first time ever Tibby wasn't the loud dog barking.  In fact, she was pretty quiet the entire night.  At the very end she felt comfortable enough to start barking. 

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There were a LOT of Tollers, a couple labs, a LOT of border collies, a chihuahua, a Welsh terrier, a jack russel terrier and some other ones maybe.  There were a lot of dogs and I missed some when I was taking Tibby outside a couple times.

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Then they did the new dogs again.  The other beginning dog had left, so it was just Tibby.  She did great!  I had cheese and that was DEFINITELY rewarding enough for her.  She was a monster trying to eat the cheese.  She was fast and did a great job jumping.  She also did fine putting her legs up on the box and pushing off.  She was very focused on me and the cheese.  Good girl!

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 It was a very fun night!!

More Box Work With Catty's Help

Another video of box work. Will I ever get it right?



What I said, "Well, we went all day without training. Tonight Tibby started jumping in and out of her box, so I guess she was bored!
This is a video of me being calm. We had to go back a few steps. Just doing the smaller box and bowl. It’s a pretty boring video. Tibby was happy and she is still trying to get at her training toys, so that’s good. And a little feline competition doesn’t hurt."

What Silvia said, "Oh, you don’t need to be THAT calm and serious! I mean, try to not be pushy in order to get her attention, wait for her to offer the attention herself. Once she does, you can be more fun, especially for big steps forward, like for 4in! Reward that by also marking it with a voice, maybe getting up and do some playing or something. But yes, she is definitely offering things on her own now, very good!"

What a classmate, Laura, said, "Suggestion: Put the food in your hands, or at least in a container that you don’t have to look away from Tibby. You disconnect to get the cookies. Also, you need to give the reward quicker. There is alot of lag between the offering, click and treat. The cat is awesome!"

What Silvia said, "Good point! It’s important to be quick, especially if you are trying to get more action from the dog."

*sigh* I'm feeling like I will never get it right - frustrated and a little bit bored with the box.