Went to Shrewsbury small/med show on Sat. Scandal was SO bad! We didn't even get past the first two metres of the first ring, as she was such a fruit loop, I couldn't get her to concentrate. Normally if Iask her to do 'watch', or a recall-present, she will be perfect, eventually I got the watch, but she completely refused to do a present, and kept coming into me side on to make sure she could keep watching the agility. And then when she did come in straight, stuck her head straight through my legs so she could still watch the agility. Flippin eck she is hard work. It took 2 attempts, and the 2nd attempt about 10 minutes, before we got a 5second wait. Built this up gradually. But was still yapping all the way through. Then snapped when I gave her food, and got my finger soooo hard, that it swelled up, and there is still a mark and bruise now, normally she takes food sooo gently but becomes an absolute monster at a show!
I'm in Blagdon now, the walks here are amazing, a little too amazing for Scandal, as yesterday I was walking her and Honey. I took them on a new walk and thought I would just take the two, as all 5 might be a bit hard to deal with. Well, that was a good choice (not to take all 5!). I let Honey off first and she was quartering the ground and getting a little far away, so I put her back on the lead as the light was going and I didn't want her running off. Little Scandal with a halo on her head was being great, I was walking along talking to Honey when I looked up and Scandal is about 200m away tearing after a hare. Called and called, nothing. Then the hare goes through the gate into another field, which is running back down towards me, so only sheep fencing between us. Thought Scandal would come back on her way past, as she would've only been about 20m away. Well, I was wrong, as Scandal had no intention of coming back, she was off straight towards the main road, which thankfully has sheep fencing round it, although I wasn't sure if this went all the way round at that time. Scandal found a gap in the hedge and went through it, back into the field I'd just been in (I by now was in the sheep field (with no sheep) and running back down to where I'd last seen her). But no Scandal in site. She must only have been gone for about 10mins but felt like an eternity particularly as I had no idea what direction she'd gone in, didn't know if she'd crossed the road back towards the house, so didn't want to call her in case she had found her way back, but had to call her incase she'd got disorientated. Oh dear the relief when I saw her again. She'll be back on a flexi/long line now but it has been pretty frustrating as her recall has been fantastic recently and I thought we were making a lot of progress. Every other time I call her, she will always come back on first call, and absolutely fly to me, she has a quicker response than the other two, but evidently no response at all when it matters most!
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Glastonbury Tor
Took the 3 dogs up Glastonbury Tor today. Despite SOMEONE saying it was miles, it wasn't that far, and not too steep, much to my relief, I had visions of climbing a mountain like the one we did in Austria! Here are some pics of Scandal. I have got some pics of the other dogs but of course Scandal got the most, particularly as I haven't taken many of her in the last month. Scandal was really great, she came back every time I called her, didn't jump up at anyone, and only went to say hello to one kid. Sooo much progress. One lady was so impressed that she offered Scandal her ham sandwich for being so good, I had to turn her down as I do not want Scandal thinking that strangers will offer ham sandwiches on a regular basis, otherwise she will be thinking they are an awful lot better to visit than me!
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Training
I trained Scandal on Monday or Tuesday this week and she was lovely, running dog walk was great, she got a bit mixed up with the 'target' command but in the end we sorted it. Did some nice send ons into a tunnel.
Yesterday and today have been teaching her tricks, she can now reverse round the sofa and continue reversing up the first stair, which I think is real cute. Can put all her feet in a bowl (altho it's their water bowl so bigger than the food bowl) and can put her front feet on a chair and put her head below. She thinks these tricks are sooooo much fun. Crazy little girlie whirlie! Can't decide what to teach her next, I think maybe leg lifts, and will also teach her to beg. She learns so quickly, and loves freeshaping. Apart from she gets a little carried away and offers as many behaviours as possible in a short space of time, need to calm the Scandalbeans down!
She has been good with both people and dogs this week, no jumping up, and will come back whenever I call her. Infact I can't think of anything particularly naughty which she has done this week, I think that is the first in a long time, maybe she is growing up :O I can hope!
Yesterday and today have been teaching her tricks, she can now reverse round the sofa and continue reversing up the first stair, which I think is real cute. Can put all her feet in a bowl (altho it's their water bowl so bigger than the food bowl) and can put her front feet on a chair and put her head below. She thinks these tricks are sooooo much fun. Crazy little girlie whirlie! Can't decide what to teach her next, I think maybe leg lifts, and will also teach her to beg. She learns so quickly, and loves freeshaping. Apart from she gets a little carried away and offers as many behaviours as possible in a short space of time, need to calm the Scandalbeans down!
She has been good with both people and dogs this week, no jumping up, and will come back whenever I call her. Infact I can't think of anything particularly naughty which she has done this week, I think that is the first in a long time, maybe she is growing up :O I can hope!
Monday, 5 October 2009
Update
Scandal's now 10 months old, wowwww, old girl!!
We went to Dartmoor on Sunday, lovely day, Scandal was VERY naughty, and very excited, and thought the sheep were just a little bit too exciting (need I say any more?!). We had 5 dogs in the landy and on the way back they all crashed out, except Scandal, who carefully balanced over Rix so she could watch the traffic on the 2 hour journey back home! I am glad she does at least sleep at home, even if she was too excited to sleep in the car!
I have bought my van cages, and we went up and collected them last week, now I just need to buy the van :oD hopefully in the next couple of months. A Fiesta just isn't big enough to transport them all in safely, and means I tend to opt for taking 2 of them out rather than all 3 like I should.
I did no agility with any of them last week, just some nice walks, and practised Scandal walking to heel on a collar and lead without thinking the idea is to extend my arm on the way to the fields. Did a training session with Scan this evening and she was good, she still isn't driving like I'd like her to, but dog walk was lovely, we did 5 from mid point on the dog walk and only one was a bit higher than I'd like. We did some seesaw, where the end of the seesaw is a couple of inches off the ground, and she gets into 2o2o so has to move the seesaw. She LOVES this game, and just spends all her time putting her paws on trying to get a click/marker. I think this has come from a lot of the balance games we have played, like using a wobble board, where she thinks that movement is a good thing. I am pleased that she is so confident as Tia's always approached it quite gingerly, unlike Scan, who is much more gung-ho. I am going to be cutting down on the amount I do her dogwalk now, now I think she understands the behaviour, I don't see much more point in doing it (plus I'm quite bored with it now!) so will leave it for a month or two and just practise it on the occasion I feel like training it. I am pretty happy with how her training is going for everything, I would just like her to try a bit harder, but I am probably expecting too much/wanting too much myself!
I went back to Uni last week and am knackered already, dogs should be grateful they get any walks/training, the poor moma's doing way too much studying :oP (that'll be the day :))
We went to Dartmoor on Sunday, lovely day, Scandal was VERY naughty, and very excited, and thought the sheep were just a little bit too exciting (need I say any more?!). We had 5 dogs in the landy and on the way back they all crashed out, except Scandal, who carefully balanced over Rix so she could watch the traffic on the 2 hour journey back home! I am glad she does at least sleep at home, even if she was too excited to sleep in the car!
I have bought my van cages, and we went up and collected them last week, now I just need to buy the van :oD hopefully in the next couple of months. A Fiesta just isn't big enough to transport them all in safely, and means I tend to opt for taking 2 of them out rather than all 3 like I should.
I did no agility with any of them last week, just some nice walks, and practised Scandal walking to heel on a collar and lead without thinking the idea is to extend my arm on the way to the fields. Did a training session with Scan this evening and she was good, she still isn't driving like I'd like her to, but dog walk was lovely, we did 5 from mid point on the dog walk and only one was a bit higher than I'd like. We did some seesaw, where the end of the seesaw is a couple of inches off the ground, and she gets into 2o2o so has to move the seesaw. She LOVES this game, and just spends all her time putting her paws on trying to get a click/marker. I think this has come from a lot of the balance games we have played, like using a wobble board, where she thinks that movement is a good thing. I am pleased that she is so confident as Tia's always approached it quite gingerly, unlike Scan, who is much more gung-ho. I am going to be cutting down on the amount I do her dogwalk now, now I think she understands the behaviour, I don't see much more point in doing it (plus I'm quite bored with it now!) so will leave it for a month or two and just practise it on the occasion I feel like training it. I am pretty happy with how her training is going for everything, I would just like her to try a bit harder, but I am probably expecting too much/wanting too much myself!
I went back to Uni last week and am knackered already, dogs should be grateful they get any walks/training, the poor moma's doing way too much studying :oP (that'll be the day :))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)