I went on vacation for 4 days last week. Dhali was not impressed. I warned my friend, who was taking care of the pups, to keep Dhali in his crate when she wasn't watching the dogs. I'm his momma, so I can give him a look or says, "Dubba...." and he knows knock it off or else. Dhali watching is a skill (apparently) that I have developed without even knowing it!
Well, she felt bad for him and let him stay loose in the house. He chewed up one of my dress shoes - chewed into tiny, little scraps. He destuffed the dog bed in my bedroom. He also was sneaky, stealthy and took a ton of bully sticks and toys outside. I usually pat him down before I let him outside, but I guess I forgot to tell my friend that. So many things that I just do naturally now.
Then I came home and now he isn't letting me sleep at night. *le sigh* He sits by my bed at night and barks. I get it, kind of. It's really, really hot here right now, but at night it's nice and cool - perfect for play time! Except that I want to sleep, so I can get up in the morning and go to work!
So I need to tire him out and I thought I had come up with the perfect solution - SWIMMING! Cool him off and give him some exercise. So I got a pool - not too big, because I wanted to put it in my 3 seasons porch. The mosquitoes are SO bad right now. So the pool is supposed to be 30 inches deep. Um, he can touch the bottom and walk around. Hmmmm....I may need to rethink this idea.
FYI it works great in my porch, just too shallow :(
I haven't been updating very much - bad me! We are having fun, but there isn't enough time between playing with Dhali and trying to get something done while Dhali barks in his x-pen, because he wants to DO SOMETHING!! He is very go, go, go. For example, today I had him outside with me for 2+ hours while I washed the siding and deck. He 'helped' by chasing the hose, biting the broom, digging holes in mud and running around like a crazy head. It was HOT, but he just ran and ran. I also worked on recalls - calling him away from all the fun he was having whereever he was. A few times I lost him! So it's good he recalls. He was exploring underneath the deck, in the bushes, the far side of the house. He's on leash, but I have my doubts that I could catch him if he didn't want to be caught!
Then I was done, it was still really hot and getting hotter and Dhali had been running and running, soooo time for a nap, right? Ah, no. Time for Dhali to scream in the x-pen. For almost 30 mins.....now he has stopped and it chewing on a bully stick. But if I move he will start screaming again. This is why I don't get anything done around the house!
It is now after 7pm and I started writing this at 1pm......yeah.
The only good photo of Tibby post grooming with a photo bombing Dhali.
So anyway.....Tibby and Dhali went for a grooming on Monday. It was Dhali's first ever time at the groomer's! I'm not sure how she did it, but he was groomed. Magic skills apparently. Nothing was snipped off that shouldn't have been. I was a little worried about that when I saw that she had trimmed his wizzel fuzz. All wizzel was still intact though - whew!
Rockin' the 'puppy' cut, 'cause he's a puppy!!
5 seconds after this photo he was dirty and full of weed stickers again. Had to rub off that stinky 'pretty boy' smell.
So it took the pups over 4 hours at the groomer's. I didn't think it would take that long and I had an appt. out of town, so my Mom picked the pups up for me. Earlier in the day I had brought home a bag of large breed puppy food and set it in the kitchen. My Mom didn't know about that and Dhali helped himself. Hmm, he must be a real dog or something. Tibby would never, ever have done something like that. Not lady-like ya know.
Nutrisource Food
The reason I bought the large breed puppy food. Dhali's food is SO tiny! I end up dropping more than I put in his mouth. The lg. breed doesn't look that much bigger, but it isn't flat like the sm/med breed food. I'm just using the bigger food for recalls. It's also cut down on the amount of finger biting which is nice. The only difference between the 2 puppy foods is the amount of protein. The sm/med has a higher protein % per serving.
This was Dhali's first hike! There are a TON of pictures, but I'm dividing it up into a few posts. Also, Blogger hates me again and is making it very difficult to post anything. Sorry if this looks weird! >
It was so beautiful yesterday - low humidity and cool, perfect weather. We HAD to go for a hike. Tibby hasn't been on a hike in such a long time - I felt bad about her getting Lyme's and the weather has been SO AWFUL for forever. Sweating buckets and ticks every where make me not want to go hiking - not sure why?! >
So I called Zoe's Mom up and we got the original hiking team back together! Tibby was SO excited. When she was me getting her harness and long line she was all focused on going with me no matter what. Dhali was like, "What are you so excited for?" :)>
So I planned on carrying Dhali for most of the time, but he was not having that at all. We took lots of rest breaks in the shade. A hike that normally takes us 40 mins. took 1 hour and 30, so we were walking very slowly. >
When we got home the pups both had baths - Dhali's first bath here and then after a short nap I took Dhali over to Zoe's Mom's house for a bonfire. I found 3 ticks on Tibby, zero on Dhali and one on the towel after they had both had a bath. None of the ticks on Tibby were attached, so that's great! >
Dhali was pretty good in the bath. He didn't scream, which I thought he might try to do (Tibby did for her first couple baths). He looked so sad and he tried really hard to escape, but by the end he was just standing on my feet (I stand in the bath with them, easier on my back!) looking like a wet squirrel. >
He had fun at the bonfire and got to meet a bunch of new people, a young (10 months?) yorkie, an old bichon and a kitten. Dhali thought the Yorkie was TOO crazy. Yeah, too crazy....I would have to agree. The kitten looked more like his speed, but the Yorkie was so over the top that he didn't get to play with any of them. He did get to sleep in his crate outside next to my chair (by the fire).....and then we forgot about him and he slept by himself (in his crate) when we went up on the deck! Sorry baby! He also went potty with out a problem in the yard again. Speaking of potty....Tibby had a very bad night. I gave her a raw meaty bone yesterday afternoon and it must have been too rich for her, because she had diarrehea ALL night long. And she didn't make it outside every time, so I was doing a lot of cleaning in the middle of the night. Poor little girl :( She feels fine now, though. Just made for a really long night.>
It's really, really hot here. Keeping Tibby occupied when it's hot outside is easy - keep the AC on and the couch nice and comfy. Keeping Ellie busy in the heat is another thing. She has a lot of energy. It's too hot for her to spend more than 5-10 mins outside - she runs full speed the entire time when she is outside. When I make her come inside she is panting so hard that her crate shakes.
So how do I keep her happy? Well, in the morning when it's cooler I take her breakfast outside and make a trail in the grass. I keep the trail in the shadiest area, so she doesn't overheat - even in the morning it's HOT! This keeps her busy sniffing out each and every tiny kibble, but she isn't running around crazy, so she can stay outside longer.
When it's time to come back inside (and go back into the crate), I give her a big fat bully stick and fill the Busy Dog Ball with little pieces of dried beef. She works and works for HOURS to get the treats out of the Busy Dog Ball. When she is exhausted from smacking the ball around her crate, she settles down to chew on the bully stick or (maybe) take a nap.
She gets quite the work out from the Busy Dog Ball! She will be panting after a while and it tires her out. It works her brain and her body.
Before this I wasn't too impressed with the Busy Ball, because it doesn't come apart for cleaning and it seemed to be VERY easy for Tibby to get the treats out of it. You can't adjust the difficulty level - for the treats to fall out - and Tibby is an expert at getting treats out of treat balls. However, it does come with a money back guarantee if the ball ever breaks due to a dog playing with it. Good thing! Because Ellie isn't exactly gentle with the toys!
It seems to be hard enough for Ellie. She's in her crate which makes it harder to get the treats out and she likes to play with it - ALL the time.
So far I have let her have all different types of toys and she loves them all AND she will tug with ANYTHING. ANYTHING. Hard toys, soft toys, things that are not toys. Her favorite right now is a soft bumper toy, but she is happy to switch to a different toy. When she goes outside she plays with ALL the toys. First with one, then another, back to the first one, then to a new one.....
She also has a lot of prey drive. She will chase dandelion fuzz and balls of her own fur across the yard. Anything that moves - she wants it.
And she's back to playing with the Busy Ball......I'll let you imagine what it sounds like, plastic vs. metal and a determined border collie!
It has been 11 days since my Blog Action Day Post About Attitude. A long, long 11 days. Without agility to train, think about training, plan training, record and process training....well, let's just say I have a lot of free time. Bored. Bored. Bored.
I like projects. I do not like being bored.
I have cleaned and organized and moved furniture. Weeded, mowed and trimmed.
Bored. Bored. Bored.
Tibby has slept. Moved to the living room cushion. Slept. Moved to the bed. Slept. Moved to the dining room cushion. Slept. Moved to the couch. Slept. Moved to the kitchen tile floor. Slept. She's very well rested.
She also killed a baby bird. And played with Zoe a couple of times.
Mostly she's slept.
*sigh*
We really need a project! Or I may get into trouble. Notice I said - I will get into trouble.
Tibby is too good of a puppy to get into trouble. I honestly wish she would be a little naughty. Just to make things interesting.
The title should be Garden Grows - THE END. It frosted on Wed. and we had frost again last night, so the garden is very much dead. I took these pics Wed. evening, because I had heard the forecast of frost for that night. Very sad, because this frost was 3 weeks early! Next week we have 80 F forecasted again! Crazy weather. What a short growing season we had this year.
Tibby and Catty have a new hobby. Hunting. They make quite the pair. I guess the cool weather has the voles on the move. Tibby likes to get up at 2am (and 3am, and 4am, ect.) to hunt voles in the garden.
One last check on the tomatoes possible vole hideout.
I picked everything that I could, before the frost. These are most of my tomatoes. I had some more, but they wouldn't fit on the table. Not bad for only 5 plants. *sob, sob* Look at all the green ones! *sob* Thankfully they seem to be ripening just fine in the house.
Hey it's time for Tell Me Thursday! This week's questions:
1. If you're not at the 2011 Sheepdog finals this weekend what are you planning to do?
2. One item you NEVER walk onto the trial field (any trial field, or training class will suffice) without?
3. Katy wants to know if you have a pre-run ritual that you observe?
4. How old were you when you had your first real kiss?
5. Bonnie wants to know what you do for yard mud control during the winter?
1. If you're not at the 2011 Sheepdog finals this weekend what are you planning to do?
Let's see....move my Grandma into her new house. Referee some bang up fights between my Mom and my Grandma. Take Tibby to the local Coffee Fest in her cute Scottish outfit. Yeah, I know she isn't Scottish, but I am! (mostly...!) Drink lots of free coffee and then when I'm all pumped full of caffeine, go back to refereeing. Fun week-end ahead.
2. One item you NEVER walk onto the trial field (any trial field, or training class will suffice) without?
Well.....I'm very new to the whole dog training thing (see video at end of post), but I guess I like to have my dog, shoes and clothes. Mostly very comfy pants - very important. Yeah I can't really think of anything else. Ask me in a couple years when we have been to a trial!.......or a training class......
3. Katy wants to know if you have a pre-run ritual that you observe?
Do 3 jumps and a tunnel count as a run? If so, yes I have a ritual: Get Tibby, make sure Tibby is paying attention, hey! Tibby! I have treats! Ok, then do a trick. Reward trick and then try to do some agility! It's working so far! Oh! I also put my shoes on before the ritual starts. No bare feet in the backyard. Not unless you want to step in something Catty caught and killed 2 weeks ago. Squishy.
5. Bonnie wants to know what you do for yard mud control during the winter?
Good question! Well, last year my back yard looked like this (it looks much better this year) -
Gratuitous baby Tibby pic
And this -
Tibby last year with my cousin.
See the straw to the left of the picture? That worked pretty good. Then winter came the next week, so I didn't have to worry about mud again until Spring - 5 months later......when Tibby was much bigger. She could jump over my handy little fences and run like a crazy beast through the mud. Tibby got/gets a lot of foot baths. I pick her up at the door and take her into the bathroom, plop her in the tub and wash off her feet/leg/belly with the sprayer. During the mud season she gets at least 3 foot baths a day. Mud, mud it's coming......then stupid snow. Which is much worse! The roads here have tons of salt and sand on them. So all winter I have to wash Tibby's feet off. I love summer. Dry, clean summer.
Tibby says, "What? Real dogs wear hats."
And do agility!
~
What is awesome about the following video:
1 - Loretta is a super teacher and also was nice enough to video us.
2 - Tibby is not running away.
3 - I will repeat - NOT. RUNNING. AWAY. Or doing zoomies.
4 - Tibby is jumping over the jumps. Not running through the jumps. A small thing, but it makes such a big difference.
5 - I am paying attention to Tibby and not running merrily along by myself expecting Tibby to follow me.
6 - Tibby goes through the tunnel!! Yay! And she didn't need to think about it for 5 mins before she did it!
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.
