Well, I had a post all ready to go on the old laptop, but it crashed. CP will be harvesting my files off of it and putting them on the new netbook this weekend, I hope.
So, no new training tips today. How is everyone doing anyways? Anybody have any questions? An issue you’d like me to address?
Remember to keep practicing at leave it, give, take and watch me!
Well, almost. I did mention a couple weeks ago that I had a secret. Here’s a hint:
As usual, I got this little meme from over at Karen’s. Won’t you play along too?
February 23rd Questions:
1. Does blogging make you fat? Do you find yourself sitting around and eating more since you started your blog? Or do you get so caught up in the whole blogging routine that you forget to eat?
Does blogging make me fat? No, but it has been a great excuse not to work out from time to time. Or maybe it enables me to be a bit lazy. I don’t eat while blogging, mainly because I don’t want crumbs or any other yuck to get on it.
I only forget to eat if I’m really, really busy doing something physically or mentally taxing. That’s definitely not this blog!
2. The one topic I will not touch on my blog is __________. Why? What sorts of topics do you receive the most comments on? What sorts of topics do you receive the least number of comments on?
The one topic I will not touch on my blog is actually two. I don’t want to discuss politics or religion. As my father would say, those subjects should never be discussed in a bar as they lead to arguments and upsets.
I’ve received the most comments on my wine rack picture and the least comments on many others. But, I have a rather low readership and I don’t expect a lot of comments.
3. Spring is coming. How is your wardrobe? What sorts of clothes do you usually wear in the spring? Where do you normally shop for your clothes? How successful are you in finding clothes for yourself?
Spring here isn’t much different than winter or summer. It’s just part of each, extending winter out and starting summer a bit earlier. So spring sees me starting out dressed for rain and down to a t-shirt at the end of the season.
Where do I normally shop for clothes? Target, Kohl’s, Mervyn’s if I’m in Boise, JC Penny’s or Walmart. Depends on what I’m looking for and where I’m at.
I don’t usually succeed at finding clothes for myself. However, CP actually has good fashion taste and will insist I try a bunch of clothes on from time to time, which then helps me find something. More often than not, I’m happy with jeans and t-shirts. I mean, you can’t wear nice clothes to the barn without ruining them!
4. We should treat every day as a special gift – we’re alive, right? What made this past week special for you? (And if you’ve already talked about that special something on your blog, then think of something else – something little perhaps, but had a big impact on you or your loved ones).
Something special this past week? I don’t think there was anything that stands out. We have a couple non-special, worrisome things on our minds. Copper’s ear infection has come back, meaning there’s something else systemically going on. We’ll be going back to the vet for more testing soon. We suspect that it’s something he came to us with that didn’t get caught before, esp since he came to us with a skin infection. Copper can’t be neutered until all the infection is gone and stays gone. Doing so will slow healing and maybe compromise his immune system even more.
Freya appears to be allergic to topical flea meds. She’s been obsessively licking her paw for a couple days after I put them on. I saw this briefly in the past, but I assumed it was a food issue as we were trying out a new food. Then we battled fleas this winter, whereas a lot of Advantage was used often and it got worse. This was the first just monthly dose she was given and she was back at worrying at her paw again. (I used Frontline this time, so brand clearly doesn’t matter).
My AQHA pin got here today. I found a lot of interesting things and a lot of nothing.
Neither his sire, Zaxon, nor his dam, Watch Tonys Buffy have any sort of show or performance record. They’ve both had long term owners, so what’s their excuse? Well, besides that Zaxon is now deceased.
Casey doesn’t have any sort of show or performance record either. But, I think I finally have found the explanation for that and his behavior!
Casey has had 9 owners in his almost 8 years of life. He spent the first 3.5 yrs with his breeder, from there he moved on to 2 owners that kept him for 1 month each, then 2 years with one owner in Nebraska followed by 3 owners that kept him 1-3 months, then the people we got him from who had him for 11 months and now us. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Was he maybe destined to be rodeo stock?
Doodle and Mo
I don’t really have much to say today, so I thought I’d share a pic.
This represents Doodle and Mo’s relationship well. She loves him in an Elmira-ey sort of way and he tolerates it. He allows her to do whatever she likes to him and he never fusses. No matter how angry owl-like he looks, he always goes back for more. For him, there is only her. She is his and his alone. No mere canine can come between them.
Some day Doodle will grow up. Boys will come and go. She’ll have her heart broken. But Mo will always be her first love, her True Love.
Today, we’re going to take a couple simple commands and discuss how to train them. They’ll be the building blocks for other, more complex commands later on.
For training, you’ll need high value treats and your dog’s favorite toy. Remember to use high value treats like bits of chicken, roast, hot dog, cheese or anything extra yummy and tasty rather than a dry biscuit or kibble. These treats need to be nibble sized bits.
“Watch Me”
The point of “Watch Me” is for your dog to learn to focus on you when you say their name. Often, we over-use a dog’s name and it soon comes to mean very little to them. Think about how we communicate with other humans. We don’t say “Bob, Bob, BOB!” Nor do we say Bob’s name then just stare at them. Both of these would be considered rude by people standards. And they’re pretty rude by dog standards. So, instead, we’re going to teach Fluffy what we want her to do when we say her name. Over time, this command will integrate in with other commands.
To get started (and this is probably the easiest thing you’ll ever teach), take a high value treat in one hand. With your hand down by your waist, slightly extended towards Fluffy’s nose, say her name to get her attention. DO NOT let her have the treat yet. Once she’s fixated on the treat, say “Watch Me” and move your hand up by your eye. When Fluffy makes eye contact, give her the treat and praise her. Repeat and practice through out the day.
Later on, this command could be a life saver. Getting your dog to keep focus on you and not other, potentially reactive stimulus can keep Fluffy from getting hurt. Plus, it’s good to have this down pat as it’s a tiny step to help with the recall.
“Give” and “Take”
Giving up an off limits item could save your dog’s life and/or thousands of dollars in vet bills. Learning to give up items gracefully without turning it into a game of keep away should be one of Fluffy’s skills. Learning this will help end the chase and struggle to get an off limits item away from Fluffy.
Let Fluffy have her toy. Allow her to play with it in your presence for a minute or so. Then, with the high value treat in one hand, take the toy in your other hand while saying “Give” and offer Fluffy the treat in your off hand. Give praise when she relinquishes the toy. Do NOT take the toy by force. We want Fluffy to learn to give up the toy, not play tug of war. After she eats her treat, offer her back the toy and say “Take”. Continue working back and forth between the toy and the treat. Feel free to alternate the toy each training session so little Fluffy learns to generalize.
Practice these commands in small increments through out the day. Remember to always end before Fluffy gets bored and end on a positive note.
So, CP and I bathed Casey yesterday. The boy had pee on his face! Ick! Casey is a pig in his stall. It doesn’t matter if you bed his stall deep or with minimal shavings, you will inevitably need to strip it almost daily.
Casey is also favoring his right hip again. It was out and he was limping when I first brought him home. He showed signs of discomfort with anyone standing near that hip, would move away if you attempted to groom his hind end and generally looked worried. Then Tasha the Wonderful, our trainer, adjusted him and he was better. Now, when it’s starting to go out, he gets protective of that area. So, while Casey got a bath, his third since I’ve had him, I did not push the issue with his hind end as he was already sucking up and getting worried. Instead, we washed 3/4 of him and got all the pee off his face.
Tasha says Casey is feeling better and getting much more energetic. That’s good! I noticed he’s also figuring out how to be a horse again too. While getting his bath, I attempted to take his halter off to buckle around his neck. Casey saw that the arena gate was open (directly across from the wash stalls), that he didn’t have his halter on his nose and thought it would be fun to go play! He didn’t make it out of the wash stall, but it was interesting to see the change in him.
Casey also decided that I’m not so trustworthy. He didn’t want to go in the wash stall, which he’s been in about 100 times now. Well, he didn’t want to go in with ME. He wanted to stay with Tasha out in the aisle. Silly boy! He’d rather stay with the trainer that makes him work than be with his mommy who feeds him cookies and carrots? When did that change? And, am I really all that suspicious looking?
So, the decision is that we’re going to have Tasha show Casey this season in some open shows and maybe that AQHA show here in Salem this fall. I want Casey to get some experience and be ok with everything so my nerves don’t set him off the first few times he’s at a show. I think Tasha is going to try him on cows at some point too. She mentioned maybe taking him to team penning sometime soon.
The end result is that my “broken” horse is slowly becoming unbroken. Casey is getting better mentally.
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I didn’t mention it before, but CP installed a built in microwave over the stove for me on Super Bowl Sunday. While we do rent here, we found a great, barely used over-the-stove microwave on craigslist dirt cheap (the wife decided she wanted stainless steel shortly after it was installed). Our range hood fan hood motor was burned out anyways and needed to be replaced. This was a wonderful little up-grade we’ll get reimbursed for by the landlord. Best of all, it gave me working ventilation and more counter space! And all on Super Bowl Sunday! (He did watch the game later in the day.)
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We bought a really nice dining table last June, but didn’t purchase chairs for it at that time. The table fit our space perfectly and was on clearance. The chairs, not so much. I haven’t found chairs for less than $120 each here! But yesterday, again on CL, I found chairs that we liked for a price I could live with. They’re in great shape! All they need is to be recovered and painted to match my table! So I’ll be working on that in the next couple weeks.
Right now the chairs are white with a cabbage rose print seat. Very cottage-y and girly. My table is black. My style runs more towards contemporary- traditional, not cottage- shabby chic. So, the chairs will be painted black and re-upholstered in a neutral fabric to match the rest of my house. I’ll show you before and after pics when I tackle this project.
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We’re still busy organizing the house, yet we may be moving come the end of June when the lease is up, if the landlord won’t let us stay on a month-to-month basis. I feel like we’re finally really getting settled.
Well, if we do move, we’ll be moving to a bigger place anyways. I just don’t like to move! CP would want to move closer to work, but that’s farther away from Tasha and where we board Casey. I love our barn and I don’t want to have to find another one.
While all of this is speculation, if we do end up moving, the location will hinge on where we find the right school situation for Dude.
I got this from over at Karen’s. Won’t you play along too?
1. What did you do over the weekend?
Umm… Friday we celebrated Valentine’s Day early. We did this because everyone had been talking about V-Day on tv and CP had a gift for me that he couldn’t wait to give me. So, from him, I recieved a new laptop, a dozen roses and two boxes of candy. I gave him a compendium of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic (Volume 2) and a cd. We also paid bills and ordered Casey a new blanket so we can alternate with his current and get them washed easier and more frequently. (Casey is a stall pig.)
Saturday we went out to see Casey, went shopping, and exchanged my new laptop for one that worked. We also pursued laptop cases searching for the perfect one without luck.
Sunday, we worked on getting files transferred over from CP’s mom’s old computer to her new computer so it’ll be ready to ship off to her, a bit of shopping, and figuring out a better way to organize the house. Still no laptop bag…
Today, we returned the under-bed organizer because it was 3mm too big to fit under our bed, searched for a laptop bag again, unsuccessfully, did some laundry, gave Casey a bath because he was stinky and had pee on his face, bought 6 really cute dining chairs off craigslist, which we’ll be refinishing in the next couple weeks (to match our stuff) and stopped at the fabric store for… um, it’s secret! Can’t tell you yet!
2. What was your first impression of your spouse or current partner? Now tell us about your first date with this person.
I’ve blogged about this before here. When I first saw CP in person, I instantly knew he was my future husband. If you want to know more, you’ll have to click on the link and read about it!
3. How many lurkers do you think you have that read your blog, but never comment? Have you ever been successful at getting them to say hello? Do you mind the lurking? Are you a lurker? Or do you try and comment every time you visit?
Um, I had a blog stalker for a while. Lucky for me, she’s apparently moved on. I think I’ve got about 5-6 lurkers. I know CP lurks and doesn’t comment. I know I have a lurker in a town just east of me. I’m pretty good at watching my stats and paying attention to where everyone comes from.
I also tend to lurk. I don’t always have anything to contribute. But I do enjoy reading blogs. It’s likely that if you’re on my blogroll, I lurk more than I comment. But, I really, really love you guys!
I’ve heard that for about every 100 hits your blog receives, on average you’ll only receive one comment. So, don’t get discouraged!
4. __________ is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
CP quotes “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. – by Benjamin Franklin”. That’s followed by a quick second by “Dog is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Besides, it’s God spelled backwards!”
I say that Casey is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. After all, it’s not every day you get a throw-away horse as great as Casey!
Hmm… Have I told ya’ll that I’m allergic to beer?
Black Jack’s Carol over at bikesbirdsnbeasts mentioned a couple weeks ago that she’s having a couple issues with Black Jack. Well, when I read that, I realized I could help! After all, I trained dogs professionally before moving back to the lower 48.
So, today, for Carol, I’m going to discuss how to teach Leave It. Leave It is a multi-stepped process that will take a couple weeks for your dog to really get solid at. We’ll break it down.
Step 1
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