Best Bully Sticks Sale

I had a super cute photo to share of Tibby eating a bully stick, but the Internet is not being cooperative.
BUT I wanted to share this code for 12% off on bestbullysticks.com.  The code is SEPTOFF.  Just sharing it, because someone once shared their coupon code with me and it was nice :)

The sale ends today Friday at midnight.
I just saved $4.20 on a grab bag.  Check out the grab bags they are a GREAT deal.

Tell Me Thursday

1. What movie do you love but are too embarrassed to admit you love it?
2. Ann wants to know: How far do you drive/travel to attend trials, clinics, lessons? How far is too far?
3. What is your theme song (circa Ally McBeal)?
4. Laura S wants to know: If you had to choose a new dog activity, one that you had never done before, what would you choose?
5. What would your dog choose (or scribe, if you're Pippin)?

1. What movie do you love but are too embarrassed to admit you love it?Mmmm, I'm not a big movie person, but I LOVE the BBC's Robin Hood series.  This is NOT the pansy Robin Hood or the guts and blood Robin Hood.  I just love it - it's exciting and you never know what will happen next, because the BBC is not afraid to kill off the main characters.  I don't usually mention that I love it, because people go, "Oooooh, Robin Hood?  Really?"  It's a great show!  Seriously!
  I also love the show Primeval.  Scary and silly.  But mostly really, really scary.  Scariest episode was the Dodo birds.  Don't want to talk about it........too scary.
 
I just realized that I only watch the BBC!  My favorite all time best movie ever is Lost In Austen.  The best movie ever!  And Captain Wentworth is the best!
 
2. Ann wants to know: How far do you drive/travel to attend trials, clinics, lessons? How far is too far?The closest training places are an 1 1/2 drive or for people who do miles ( just realized that hour distances are a MN thing) 96 miles.  I drive 2 hours for private lessons.  I once drove, just to watch for 25 mins, to a trial 3 1/2 hours.  I haven't found 'how far is too far' yet.  Living here means I have to drive.  We drive 30 minutes to go hiking or snowshoeing too.  It's a pain, but at least I get to spend time with my dog in the car.  Of course, she is asleep.  :)


3. What is your theme song (circa Ally McBeal)?
 The Streets - Fit But You Know It  LOL!  IDK  I just like that song :)

4. Laura S wants to know: If you had to choose a new dog activity, one that you had never done before, what would you choose?
Coursing. 

5. What would your dog choose (or scribe, if you're Pippin)?
WWF Cat smack down!!  Tibby would be the all time title holder!

Sola Una Cachorra

The ways that people find this blog interest me.  I check the stats regularly, some of the searches that direct people to Just A Pup are funny - 'raising gaaaaa' being the all time head scratcher.  Apparently 'raising gaaaaa' is a subject that interests a lot of people.  I hope they aren't disappointed to see Tibby and not their precious gaaaaa.

Anyway....where was I?  Oh yeah!  So I was curious to see a search for 'solo un cachorro'.  This is Just A Pup in Spanish .  Interesting.  And what, you may ask, does Cachorra mean?

"cachorro, -a 

- pup, puppy (de perro); kitten (de gato); cub (de león, lobo, oso)

1. Grown whelp or puppy.

2. Cub, the young of a beast.

3. Pocket pistol.

4. A lizard.

Let's see...a grown whelp? check  The young of a beast?  sometimes, like when she is biting me! :) check  A pocket pistol? oh yeah, she can totally be a pocket pistol - zoomies anyone???  check, check, check  A lizard?  urm...suuure when she lays out in the sun on the deck check-kind of.

I love my pocket pistol!

Funny walk quote of the day from a man walking a seriously overweight pit bull (wider than it was tall), "My dog comes from old English bulldogs.  They're a really old breed of dogs."

What I thought, but didn't say, because I try to avoid talking do weird people on walks, but they all still talk to me... (what is up with that!  I. AM. NOT. FRIENDLY.)

Anyway, what I thought, "Oh really?  Your dog's breed is a few hundred years old?  Mine is 2 THOUSAND years old.  Yeah.  That really is an old breed of dog."

Half A Frame

Half a frame is better than no frame at all!  I LOVE Tibby's face.  She has the best facial expresions.

She looks so happy running.  Fast!

Happy!

"See.  I can run fast if I want to."

ST Foundations Class - Lesson 5

We didn't do this lesson.  This was way too advanced for us, but here are the videos of what we did work on.











So as you can see WE DID A LOT OF OTHER STUFF!!! LOL! We have been very busy. It's fun playing with a dog that wants to play (most of the time).



Lesson 5
O.k., things are getting somewhat more complicated now! Now that you mastered the serpentine, we’ll look into other options with that set up too, but first, let’s train some of
1. out/around/back
Push the dog on the other side of the jump by stepping with your left foot if the dog is on your left side towards the left wing/stanchion (and the opposite), saying your verbal and rewarding after he takes the jump. Every next try, help somewhat less on the take off side and move more on the landing side -- see the video. This is again the question of commitment: the dog should understand to take the jump you showed even if you are already moving away already (helps in serpentines too!)


2. serpentine vs. threadle vs. pushes

Now let’s try two pushes in a row on serpentine setting. If that goes well, you can try a threadle too, using your collection body language, together with cik/cap before the dog takes the jump and then “come” as soon as his front feet hit the ground -- rewarding from your hand for coming to you. Once that goes well, try two in a row: when the dog comes to hand, don’t reward but cue cik/cap for the next jump and then reward the ”come”.

Once you can do two pushes or threadles in a row, try three. And if you manage to do three, you can even try four! It’s harder for every next jump, so make sure you progress slowly so that the dog is mostly successful. Start with a wrap to tunnel to have good speed. Mix in some serpentines too to keep them attentive to your body language and make sure, you train them both ways, so that the dog exits the tunnel on your side of the jump sometimes and sometimes on the other. The pushes and the threadles, sometimes do with the dog on the left, sometimes on the right.

Don’t worry to master it in 2 weeks, it takes more than that, but do try to do some of this.

3. sequence: a little more complicated this time, so again, run it in parts and definitely walk it several times first, rehearsing your body language AND when to say what! -- It gets complicated now as it includes everything we learned so far (wraps, extension, sends, serpentines, out/back/push).


Let’s start with a wrap to the tunnel, then blind or front cross when the dog is in a tunnel, show 3 (you can call it “right” if the dogs knows directionals), cue collection (front cross) and use “cap” for 4, then 5 is “cik”, send to tunnel and cue extension for 7 (meaning: RUN!), push for 8 (say “out/back/push”), RUN for 9, wrap 10, push/out/back for 12 and handle 13 as a straight line (it’s a serpentine from 12 to 13). Have fun!

And here is my video of the sequence without 10 and 11, I completely forgot that part! Looks like I should be printing the courses out too! But I guess it can help some anyway, I also included serpentine, threadle and pushes, I hope I got that part right!

Kitchen Helper

Tibby might not be the fastest or most desperate to please, but she isn't a dummy.  Last night I was cutting up some vegetables in the kitchen.  I had the door underneath the kitchen sink open, so I could throw the peelings away easily.  My back was to the open cupboard door and I didn't even know Tibby was in the kitchen.  I thought she was in her crate in the living room chewing on a bully stick.  No.  Tibby was watching me.

Bang!  I heard the cupboard door slam shut behind me.  I turned around to see Tibby sitting by the door waiting for her treat.  She did it over and over again.  If there was any door left open in the kitchen she closed it, without any direction from me.  I was so surprised! 

She may be a non-sporting dog, but that doesn't mean she isn't a working dog!

Vote For Tibby Giveaway

I love giveaways!  They are a fun way to give a prize to a reader.  I would like to give something to everyone, but sadly it's not possible.  SO here is a way for ONE lucky reader to win a $25 gift card to Amazon. 

All you have to do is vote for Tibby! 

Here are the simple steps:

1- Go to this page on Facebook Monster Contest

2 - Type Tibby into the "Find A Photo' search box at the bottom of the page.

3- Click on this picture of Tibby

4- Click the big VOTE button.

FINALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!

I need to know who to send the prize to!  SO......

The only way I can know if you voted is if you either leave a comment on the facebook page.  Then I will know who voted and who can be entered in the drawing for the prize.

You can enter once each day.

The more times you vote the better your chance of winning the giftcard!! 

For bonus entries - Just leave a comment (on the facebook page) each time you vote!

 The contest ends on October 24th and I will have Tibby pick the winner's number.

Thank you!

Need Group Input Please!

I have a survey that everyone can take - even if you don't have a google/blogger login!! 

Petsmart is running a contest for pets wearing costumes.  The grand prize is a spot in one of their commercials!  How fun would that be?!

Well, I can't decide on what or which picture of Tibby to enter.  I like the one with her tongue sticking out, but I think she looks prettier in the Little Lass picture.  Please help me decide!

Vote in the survey below----->

Thanks!

Tibby Tongue-tacular

Little Lass

Or

Should I just try again?

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Model Monday

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.

~

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!

~

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.

~

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!!

~

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. 

~

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.

~

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!

~

 It was a very fun night!!

Sleepy Sunday

Sleepy

Sleepier

Sleeping

Grandma Zoomies

My Mom (Tibby's Grandma) saw her first zoomies tonight.  She thought it was the funniest thing ever!  I caught them together in mid zoomie.

I like this one the best.

We went hiking and Tibby had a blast.  I love hiking here.  Tibby can run off-leash and we have never met any other people.  It's like our own private multi acre forest.

In other news my grandma came for a visit today.  She last saw Tibby almost a year ago.  Today we realized that Tibby is her ONLY GREAT-GRANDCHILD.  We all had a good laugh about that.  Funny that there are 5 grand kids and none of us have (two legged) children. 

Garden Grows - September

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.

Tell Me Thursday + Fun Video

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!

7 - We are having SO MUCH FUN!!

8 - Tibby is cute. Oh wait you knew that already!

September Lesson

Awesome lesson at Loretta's today!!  Really, really fun!!!  Tibby and I did real agility!  Yay!  And Tibby went through the tunnel a bunch of times and one time super fast.  We did serpentines and threadles - they're not that hard! 

Things I learned: 
1- Get Tibby's attention, do a trick, reward and then go
2 - Imagine that Tibby has a bubble around her - for pushes and handling
3 - Agility is FUN

Nylabone Vomit

Well, at least I didn't post a picture of the actually vomit.  Apparently Tibby has been really going to town chewing on her nylabone in her crate.  My first clue was the sound of dog vomit hitting the bedroom's hardwood floors this morning at 3 am.  In the vomit there was bile, long strands of green grass and large hard chunks of nylabone.  This would be the answer to why she wasn't begging at my parent's house last night.  Or why she didn't want her bedtime fish oil capsule.

This nylabone is now in the trash.

Trail Run Fun - Part 1

Today was my Mom's (Tibby's Grandma) big 10k trail run day.  Tibby and I did lots of cheering!

The trail run is in honor of a man that died during a local triathlon. 

"What are all these people doing?"

Ready!  Set!  Go!  Run!

"Now what do we do?"

We wait for them to come back.

Tibby was fast - she got to the finish line first!

Here comes my Mom!

Go!  Mom!

Run!  Run!  Faster!  Faster!

That's my actually cheer.  I also say Go!  Go!  Go!

"Now what?"

Now the runners rehydrate and we wait for the results.

Look at all the people - big people, little people, babies, men, women, kids and strollers.

"But who won?"

You'll have to see part 2 to find out who won.  It was exciting!