Dhali is 7 months old! He's learned so much in the last month. I didn't think it was possible, but we are having even more fun playing together :)
He is such a fun little guy!
The first 30 sec. of the video are messed up, so just skip them.
Dhali at 7 months - I LOVE this little puppy!!!!!
He is so much fun to play with and he LOVES to play. He makes everything easy. I finally understand what people are talking about when they talk about playing with your dog. I can't wait to see him at 17 months - agility is going to be so much fun with him. Fingers crossed I don't screw it up :)
He learns SO fast. It's scary. He is really easy - he has drive and wants SO BAD to do whatever he can to keep the game going. I'm very lucky to have him - how did I get so lucky?
Dhali has learned to wait in his crate to be released. He's getting really good at it. He learned to wrap around a jump and we started doing figure 8's. He's also started running through an open channel (beginning weave practice),but I didn't get that on this video.
I added a 2nd jump, because I found at that puppy class we went to Dhali came in to me after every jump. Now he's getting better at going through the 2nd jump. It would help to have a bit more space to run in! But we work with what we have.
Tonight he taught himself to set up between my legs and it only took 5 treats. He's smart. Not patient, but definitely smart.
I love his little bark at the end when I ask him if he's read. So cute! He's done that since he was ity bity.
The last few days have been busy. We had a craft/bake sale at work on Friday. I sold quite a lot of stuff, so yay! I also bought quite a lot of stuff too. :P
Here is my little spot in the craft sale. I didn't have a great spot, but oh, well. We each had 30 inches to display our things.
Dhali thinks he is a cat now. He's been able to do this for a few weeks now. He just jumps. Straight up and onto the top level.
I stuck him in the middle level, because it was funny and he doesn't care.
Today I took Dhali to an indoor agility trial for some socialization. He did SO SO GOOD! I was so happy with him. It's very relaxing to take him places, because I don't have to be constantly managing the situation. He sat and did tricks and watched me it the middle of everything going on around him. He looked at dogs and people without lunging at them. He saw dogs outside pottying and he didn't lunge at them. He did not potty the entire time.
Such a strange little guy. I never had to worry about Tibby pottying. She goes a lot and goes any where. Any way, I'm tired after the 5 hour drive and I didn't actually DO anything. Can's imagine how tired I would be if I actually ran a dog!
One funny thing he did, "There was a man standing next to us and he had a camera with the strap hanging down next to him. Dhali tried to reach up and grab the strap! But I caught him just in time. He's pretty brave!
Now on to the franken leg.......Sooooo I wanted to pluck Dhali's ear hair last night and he didn't want me to. He hasn't had a good ear plucking yet and he's getting bigger. It won't get easier, so I drew a line last night - so ear fuzz was getting plucked. Dhali ended up with one hair-less ear and I ended up with a little bit less skin. He got my leg really good and little on my arm and one swipe on my face. The leg is the worst.
Right after it happened. Ow! It hurts so much, but doesn't look too bad.
A couple hours later. Ow! Still hurts, looking worse.
Today. Not looking so great and still hurts, but not too much.
Dog scratch fever? I hope not.
It was a slightly traumatic experience, but apparently didn't do any lasting harm, because Dhali brought me his tug toy afterward and wanted to play for a long time.
No pictures of yesterday's adventure. Of course, the one time I don't take my camera Dhali does something amazing.
I left work early and took the dogs for a hike. Note to self: End of Oct., while beautiful, is not a good time to go hiking. Tick-splosion. Yuk. I picked a ton off of Tibby and a ton went down the drain when I gave Tibby and Dhali a bath. I only found one crawling through Dhali's fur pre-bath, but I think some of his probably went down the drain.
It was still a nice hike. We had the whole place to ourselves. So we hiked a long way, because I wanted to get to the lake. Tibby doesn't like water, but Dhali does! We finally got to the lake and went down to the shore. The lake was beautiful - completely still and glassy. Dhali had fun ripping up and down the sand beach, jumping in and out of the water. It was cold, but he still went wading up to his belly. Tibby was willing to walk on the beach - which is a big difference. She even had her tail up.
There is a branch that hangs out over the beach and over the water. It was about 4 feet off of the sand. I had to jump up a little to sit on it. And it wiggled up and down when I sat on it and my fingers met when I wrapped my hands around it to measure it. Anyway, there is a point to this story......
So, I'm sitting there watching Dhali run around. Dhali sees me sitting there and comes running full speed, jumps up and lands perfectly on the branch. He stands there looking around, walks up and down the narrow branch and then sits down and looks around and then jumps down and tears around the beach again. OMG! How did he do that?! He is really not afraid of anything.
Then he was running around in and out of a marshy area and instead of running underneath a big root sticking into the water. He jumps right over it - like 4 feet high again!
Water and sand really get him revved up. He was a crazy puppy all the way back to the car. Tibby did not appreciate his craziness, because it ends up with him trying to wrestle her and their leashes get all wrapped up. Also, he bites her feet. Stinker.
So they got baths and brushed and were beautiful. Then Dhali went outside and came back in covered in stickers and mud. Where does he keep finding these stickers!?!?! Argh!
I noticed this morning that he is taller than my knee when he sits next to me. He's getting so big!
We went to the dog park today. It was Dhali's first visit. He liked it a lot. We had the whole place to ourselves. Tibby had a nice time too, but Dhali had more fun - racing around and jumping.
He LOVES to jump. His favorite thing is to run up behind you and jump on your back. He jumps as high as my shoulders and uses me as a springboard to do a turn and then run away again. Or sometimes he just jumps, jumps, jumps as you are walking. He likes to get as close as he possibly can - trying to trip me?! I'm sure this isn't good for his growing body, but other than keeping him on a leash (and he still does it then) I don't know how to stop him. And he's having so much fun. Such a silly puppy. I do wish he would watch where he is landing though!
He finally got to run full speed in a big area and wow! he is so fast! Tibby couldn't keep up or catch him. He's like a little race car!
I took Dhali and Tibby to the beach at the cabin today. I was trying to find a calm day, so the waves wouldn't be big and loud. Tibby is scared of the lake/waves/wind/leaves. She came out for a while, but she wasn't having very much fun, so I let her wait inside while I played with Dhali. She did actually come down on to the beach, which is a big change for her. Before she wouldn't even some down the first step to the beach.
Dhali and I had a lot of fun playing. We learned a new trick too! Well, sort of. Dhali jumps and I catch him! And I even caught it on video! He did it a bunch more times, but I edited down the video, so it wouldn't be too long. There are also a lot of misses in the video LOL! Sorry Dal-baby.
"Mommy, is the water scary?"
"I'll just stay here for a while."
Instead of going yesterday when it was 80 degrees, I went to day when it was 50 degrees! It was cold!
Dhali likes to dig holes in the sand! And eat sand....we had a talk about that. Apparently sand doesn't agree with him, so he stopped doing it pretty quickly. Throwing up sand - ouch.
Sandy nose!
"Yum!"
He found this black walnut and thought it was his precious. And then I threw it in the water.....and I had to go get it.
Last night I decided to see if I could do the serpentine to a tunnel. It turned into not quite a serpentne - until the last one. Tibby didn't want to do what I wanted to do until she was ready to do it. Her speed was really good though. It felt a lot faster than it looked, I guess. Tibby would take the toy and run all the way upstairs with it. Then I would chase her upstairs and then she would chase me down the stairs. It was fun. Although I still don't know if it would work with the A-frame sitting next to the tunnel. I think the biggest problem on Tues. was that I decelerated in front of the tunnel. That is a no-no for Tibby. If I'm not moving she's not moving.
Tibby and I had a lesson with Loretta today. It was fun! We worked on handling. At the beginning of the lesson I was pretty lost, but by the end of the lesson I understood much better. Just watching Loretta handle Tibby helps a lot. I can see what a difference a small movement makes. Very interesting stuff. Tibby did a very good job! She only tried to do the 'I'm-ignoring-you-and-doing-zoomies' game ONCE. Loretta and I left the barn and Tibby noticed we were gone! After a couple minutes we went back in and Tibby was ready to play with me again. :) Later on she looked like she was going to try zooming again (I don't care if she runs around when we are talking, but she has to come back when I call her) and Loretta said to me, "Are we going to have to leave again?" She said it in a normal talking voice and we weren't even really looking at Tibby. Tibby must have heard her and understood (!!!), because she put on the breaks, turned and stopped right in front of us. She looked at us like, "Ok! I'm here! Don't even think about leaving!"
I swear Tibby understands English.
Now someone else has seen it too LOL!!!
Yes it can be creepy. Watch what you say!
After the lesson Tibby was tired.
After the lesson I went to the mall, then we went to Petsmart and Pet Co. I'm not sure why, but Tibby is much more relaxed at Pet Co. She's so relaxed that she peed on the floor. Oops! I was not doing a very good job of pottying Tibby today. First she pooped in Loretta's barn and then she peed in Pet Co. I swear I walked her before we went in!
So we left home at 11am and rolled back into town at 5:30pm. Just in time for dinner at my Grandma's house.
It was a very long, but very fun day. It went by SO fast.
Dinner was Tibby's favorite part of the day :) She got her own plate.
I think she looks pretty happy about it.
"Looking's great, but can I eat it now?"
Bonus picture just because I LOVE her little pony tail!
She didn't even finish her dinner. She was too full of treats from our lesson and she was very tired. It was an extremely quiet evening. A tired dog is a happy dog :)
This last week for our Daisy Peel foundations course we started one jump exercises - from Linda Mecklenburg's book.
Our first try at the exercise was Ok. Then our 2nd one we had TROUBLE and it was BAD. And I felt sad for Tibby and frustrated. Daisy told another student to let their dog work through the higher height and let the bar fall on their head, so they will figure out that going under the bar doesn't get them a click/treat. She said to just be patient and let them work it out. So I followed that advice.
I would really, really appreciate it if you all would watch the video below - I know it's way long - you don't have to watch the whole thing! Our session goes waaaaay downhill at 2:20. So skip to there.
I think 16" is too hard for Tibby? She wouldn't even jump for roast beef.
Our 2nd try at the one jump exercise.
Video One - Our first try at one jump exercises.
Daisy told me our session was too long and I should try the exercise in new places.
Well, that title should get some interesting hits....hee hee.
Anyway, this is a video of more training with Tibby to take the backside of the jump. I do not know what I am doing! This is hard. Tibby is amazing that she can figure out (most of the time) what I want. Seriously I watch these videos and I have no idea how Tibby can know what I'm directing with my floppy arms. I would not make it as a traffic cop.
I am trying to teach Tibby a verbal 'back' to take the backside of the jump. Also, I'm (again trying) to direct with my body.
Interesting things: This video is 2 different days of training. Yeah, I wore the same coat. The first day I was happy, excited and having fun. I used BIG ole arm sweeps. Up here to the sky! Look! Tibby is short. Can she really see my arms waving way up high? I don't know. Is she watching my knees? They don't seem to be doing too much.
The 2nd day (today) I was tired from work, but Tibby was begging (yes!) to work/do something/anything/pay attention to me! I hardly used any arm movements and Tibby did much better. She wasn't as impressed with me, because of my attitude. She needs cheering. But there is always tomorrow.
Hopefully I'm not messing up too badly. Don't break the puppy! That's my motto. Tomorrow Tibby is 18 months old, so not such a puppy any more.
We are having fun. Tibby wants to do agility. Yeah. The world might be ending. She sits outside trying to get me to come out and train with her. Cute. But not as cute at 11pm, when it is freezing, the grass is covered with frost and I have been playing with her for an hour already!!
Yay for happy, crazy Tibby! I knew she would come back someday.
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!
Some more jumping pictures. We had a really good training session Sunday morning. Tibby was racing around through the tunnel and taking jumps all over the place. We ran one sequence and then I wanted to figure out my handling better, so I was walking it through by myself. Tibby decided I was taking too long so she ran the sequence by herself - all 4 parts of it! It was jump, tunnel, jump, jump. Smarty pants.
I took a bunch of pictures of Tibby jumping on Saturday. I'll be posting them over the next week or so. I think she looks so pretty when she's jumping!
I was working on an around the clock jumping exercise with her AND taking pictures. I had her targeting a plastic target on the grass. So I would set her up to take the jump, I would get in position to take the picture and then tell her to jump. She would take the jump and run to the target. It worked really well.
I eventually had her set away from the jump and the target was straight in front of her, but she took the jump and then ran to the target. Smart girl!
Tibby's appointment for her echo cardiogram is this Tuesday. We are meeting with a cardiologist, then she gets some blood taken and an EKG. Depending on the results, she will then have (possibly) xrays and (most likely) an ultrasound. We have to be there by 9am. I get to stay with her for the first 2 hours and then Tibby has to stay there until 4:30pm to 5pm.
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We are going to have to leave very, very early for the appt. for 3 reasons:
1- That is the day President Obama is coming to the Twin Cities
2- The State Fair is going on a few blocks away from the hospital.
To take Tibby and the mini jump to 100 new places before the end of August. Distractibility rating from 0-10. 10 being the most distracted and unable to take treats or do tricks.
1 - Menard's parking lot. Quiet corner, far from the store. 8.5 - able to sit several times and finally give a high five. Didn't try the jump.
2 - R. Island park, by beach, picnic shelter. 9.6 - able to sit after I got into her space. Very distracted. Did the jump a couple times. Eventually refused treats. Was ticked at me for not letting her sniff everything and leave her alone. Played sit and go. Asked for a sit and then let her go sniff as much as she wanted.
3 Parent's house - side yard & driveway. 4.5 - able to do tricks. Took jump freely when asked. Played with toy. Did jump for toy.
4 - Inside my Mom's house with Lucy (friend's dog) watching/helping :P - 1.3 Very attentive. Worked hard. Did cik/cap. Sends from a distance. Did tricks with Lucy right next to her. Didn't get tired of working, wanted more. Played tug with toy - while Lucy was in her face.
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We had a great, great, great lesson today. Tibby has progressed so much! I love having someone that sees us every week and can see that we are getting better. So encouraging! Yes! Tibby is doing wonderfully (I'm running out of positive adjectives!) with following me. She stuck with me.
Let's see....just trying to remember everything we did.
We did a little pinwheel exercise. Loretta shaped Tibby to go over the jump, because Tibby wasn't comfortable with jumping the pinwheel. There was a funny moment when Tibby bulldozed the bar down. My FAVORITE thing is seeing Tibby thinking. I can actually see her processing everything. It's amazing.
After she understood that we wanted her to jump the jump - we did a jump-wrap exercises. Eventually we are going to do jump/wrap/tunnel. So excited! Like real agility!
Also her little jumps are too cute! Ah, I love her!
Anyway.... Tibby got to do one of those exercises off leash (otherwise she was on her flexilead) just to see if she would zoomie. So Tibby got the ball, but she wouldn't bring it back, so I walked away (reminder to self - walk not run - keep calm), she chased me, but ran past me. I turned and walked away - repeat a few times. Tibby's run pasts get shorter and shorter. I get the ball. The End. No endless zoomie spiral of death!! Yay! Maybe she thinks I'm fun to be with after all?
Then we worked on prey drive and getting Tibby to be rude and obnoxious with a toy. :)
I don't think it will be long before she is jumping all over me to get the toy. Which is good.
Also, I have a plan of the ultimate Tibby toy to make her. I'm starting on it tonight. It will be a combination of her 3 favorite things - jingle ball, tug and fleece.
Then we worked on the running plank. Tibby's first time across it was so pretty. I restrained her with her harness, Loretta had the toy and then I released Tibby to the toy. It's sounds simple, but it was really nice.
Then Tibby got to work on her 'freak-out-when-I-see-another-dog-want-to-PLAY!!!' issue. After seeing what Loretta did I think I could get Lucy and do the same thing. The dogs didn't interact at all (good 'cause Lucy doesn't play well with others) and just walked along or stood. When Tibby stopped flipping out and looked at me she got a treat. Then Loretta took her dog out on the agility field to see if Tibby could watch another dog running around. Mmmm, not yet. She got too excited to eat treats. Loretta had me walk Tibby away and then back to see when she was calm enough to eat treats. She said we could do this at the dog park, which is a great idea. Unfortunately our dog park is stupid. You have to pay $3.17 per dog per visit to use the park, so no one uses it. It's owned by a private business and it is 20 miles out of town. If it were closer I could just drive by- dogs in the park? stop with Tibby and work outside the fence. Also, to see the park you have to walk all the way around the park owner's business and their home. It's a weird dog park.
So, Tibby is doing great. Me learning too! :) I love private lessons! It's so nice having someone tell me what to do. Ahhh. Relaxing. Someone that says this is the next step - do this and this and this. We are building our little agility ladder - someday we will get to do a full course! If we get all the little parts together. I also like it when someone thinks my dog is smart! LOL! I'm her momma, so of course I think she is brilliant, but it's nice when someone else thinks it too :)
Independent, curious, highly intelligent,clever, mischievous, precocious, strong-minded, playful. Collected from various sources:
1 -Stubbornness. Tibetan Terriers have an independent mind of their own and can be stubborn and manipulative. You must show them, through absolute consistency, that you mean what you say.
2-Suspiciousness or timidity when not socialized enough.
3-"Separation anxiety" (destructiveness and barking) when left alone too much.
4-Lively and playful at times, yet also calm and low-key.
5-Makes a good watchdog but is not aggressive with people.
6-Most are amiable with other animals, though perhaps a bit bossy.
7- The Tibetan Terrier is very stubborn in general and must be shown from Day One that you are in control.
8-An athletic and agile sure-footed climber, and a clever problem-solver who often uses his paws with great adeptness to open doors and hold toys.
9- 1/3 Dog + 1/3 Cat + 1/3 Teenager = 1 Tibetan Terrier
10-Tibetan Terriers are family-oriented: they love to play games and participate in activities with their people.
Patience and a sense of humor are musts for the people of a Tibetan Terrier.
