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Love Grows

20071126-smartdog-024Everyone knows Tango's my favorite. He gets the choice leftovers, I sneak him extra tidbits, he gets prime seating, the works. 

Over the past few years, though, since I started working from home now that I think about it, Little Lily's been getting closer and closer to the top spot. 

I'm not her favorite, though. My husband holds that honor. She and Nemo live for that man. It's a little disgusting, really. She fawns over him like a schoolgirl with a crush. 

But I've been noticing that I've been moving up on her list, lately, too. Given the choice, she'll follow me throughout the house, even if my husband's home. Her favorite spot is under my desk — she tucks in so tight — while I'm working. I can't walk 10 feet to the bathroom without her following, even when I tell her that I'll be right back. 

She's getting older — she'll be 10 this month (how can that be?!) and I think a lot more now about how much longer I'll have the pleasure of her company. With the addition of Baby Caysun, Lily's become more spritely and spirited, which I think also contributes to my growing fondness. 

Throughout her life, Lily's always been "in the middle." She's never been the top priority, and she's never been the trouble-dog. It's those in the middle that often get left out. I've been paying her more attention, and she's enjoying it, I do believe. I'm seeing a lot more of Lily — like peeling back the layers of an onion. 

Which is funny to me. Lily's been with us for 10 years. She's not exactly new. But her maturity's making me look twice at her. And I'm loving the girl I'm seeing. 

Dog Hair Diaries

It's taken me years to capture the essence of what I do. But here it is: I live in dog hair. Not by choice, really. If I could hire a live-in housekeeper, I could live relatively dog-hair-free. But I'm a dog trainer. I'm not rich. Ergo, I live with a lot of dog hair. 

Until now, it's really embarrased me. I didn't want people to think I was dirty, or unclean. [And I'm not! Ok?!] But my house always has dog hair floating. It just does. And unless I sweep 3x a day, that's the way it's going to be. 

So I'm embracing it. The dog hair. 2012 shall be proclamed "The Year of Dog Hair." One of my business goals has been to do a lot more dog training videos. I didn't do many videos last year because the house was always a mess with the dog hair everywhere.

It was like a whole big deal to get a video shoot ready.

  1. Block the dogs out of the room I wanted to shoot in. 
  2. Wipe down the furniture (we've gone to all leather, as it's super dog-friendly and easy to keep clean) so all the hair on the furniture's now on the floor. 
  3. Move the furniture so there's enough room to train.
  4. Freak out at all the hair-bunnies under said furniture.
  5. Sweep the entire room. 
  6. Fill two sweeper-thingies full of dog hair. 
  7. Prep the room for training (props needed, etc.)
  8. Finally film.

By that time, I was either late for a private client or I was exhausted. Hence, not so many videos from me in 2011. 

Stay tuned. You'll see more videos from me in 2012. And a lot of dog hair. Look past it and focus the fantastic training that's going on. ;) 

 

Fits Like A Glove

IMG_6896Sometimes things are just right. Everything falls into place. Nothing's a struggle. 

Caysun fits into our household, into our lives, like she's always been here. Only a couple other dogs have fit so well: Rocky, our very first service dog; and Ivy, Lily's sister who stayed with us when we did a "puppy swap" to give her some more out & about exposure. 

We've had a lot of dogs. I think Caysun's the 11th dog to come through and when it's right, you know it. 

Ike, the Labrador we just turned back over to Hero Dogs for his final training, was a fun-loving and happy dog, but he wasn't the best fit for us. Funny thing is, we didn't realize how much he didn't fit until after he was gone. The week after he left, it was like all our dogs sort of came back to life again. Lily and Nemo played! It had been over a year since Lily and Nemo played together. We didn't notice it because Ike was always in the middle, always deflecting play between the other dogs to himself. He was the main player. If you were going to play in this household, you were going to play with him. He made sure of it. 

With Baby Caysun, the feel is so right. She's not over-the-top, in fact she's the most appropriate puppy I've raised in a long, long time. By appropriate, I mean that she's not bossy, she's not too, she always has the "right answer" to whatever situation she finds herself in. Maybe an example will clarify.

Nemo is used to playing with large, exuberant adolescent males. Talos and Ikey were his playmates for the past two years. You have to be rough and ready if those are your playmates! Naturally, now that Caysun's getting bigger, Nemo's trying his "big dog" play maneuvers with her. She can hang for quite awhile, but sooner or later, Nemo takes it up a notch too far for Caysun. She finds the closest object under which she can scoot herself, and waits out the playstorm. Nemo quickly realizes he's chased away his playmate, lays on the ground (or floor), and re-invites Caysun to play. As soon as she sees that invitation, she leaps out from under her hidey-hole and lands on Nemo's head. That's appropriate: she's not a scaredy, she just knows when the play's gotten a bit more rowdy than she can handle. And she comes right back when the play is reined in. It's nice. 

Another example of Caysun's appropriateness (or dog-savviness). I've described Lily, our almost 10-year old Labrador, as a librarian with her hair up in a super-tight bun. She's very matter-of-fact: no silliness, no foolishness. She colors inside the lines. And she'd like that you do the same, thank you very much. There was just one dog in Lily's 10 years that has been able to get Lily to really let her hair down (Rocky, who helped raise Lily from the moment we brought her home). We can add Caysun to that very short list. I've watched Caysun daintily approach Lily and very softly grab at her ears. She'll watch Lily's reaction to gauge which move to go to next: grab a little harder or move toward Lily's tail. If Lily gives her a "go away, kid, you bother me" look, Caysun heads toward the tail. If Lily merely ignores her, that means grab the ear harder. (Ignoring is Lily's way of saying "maybe I'll play with you; ask me again.")

I remember cringing the first few times I saw Caysun try to entice Lily to play. Lily plays about twice a year, and then for only about 10-minutes before she regains control, smooths her hair, and regains her librarian persona. I figured Caysun had to learn, and there's no better teacher than Lily – she's firm, appropriate, and there's no way to misunderstand her! Imagine my surprise when (1) Lily ignored Caysun (she normally cuts off any invitations immediately) and then (2) when I saw Lily's ears come forward and get "that look" in her eyes. I yelled to my husband to come and look, that's how surprised I was. And giddy.

I've even seen Lily solicit play from Caysun! Now that's something!

What this all means is that I'm setting myself up for another heartbreak in about a year when Caysun's got to go back to Service Dogs of Virginia. <Sigh.> Such is the life of a puppy raiser.

Mr. Chewy Delivers

I received a coupon for $50 from an internet business called Mr. Chewy. They sell dog and cat food, and other treats for your animals. I try to feed my guys high-quality food, so I was pleased to see that Mr. Chewy carried our food: Taste of the Wild. 

But, c'mon — how on earth were they going to be a good value? Each bag weighs 30 pounds? I figured shipping would cost more than the food itself. Besides, I can get the food right around the corner for about $43 a bag. 

Well guess what. Mr. Chewy delivers for free if you order at least $49 from them. My food from Mr. Chewy was about $45 per bag, just $2 more than my neighborhood store, and I can save my gas $ (and time, which is even more valuable than fuel), and get my stuff delivered to my door. 

My next thought was: I better plan my orders because free shipping will take a week or two. Ha, wrong again! I placed an order to Mr. Chewy on Wednesday and it was at my door on Thursday. How do they do that?! I'm not a shipping genius, but I love that it happens. 

So here's my bottom line: if you're looking for good prices on some high quality food, treats, and toys for your dogs, check 'em out. I will be a repeat customer!

Mr. Chewy gave me $50 to spend, just to try them out. They had no say in my review, comments, or purchase. I bought my dogs Christmas presents with the $, which I still have to wrap! If I didn't like their stuff, store, shopping experience, or checkout, I'd tell you. I won't steer you wrong, especially when it comes to your $ and your dog!

ORT? Check!

Talos-056My sweetest of sweets, Tango, passed the Odor Recognition Test (ORT) for K9 Nose Work a couple of weeks ago!

This was a hard-earned acheivement for my boy. We tried at about this time last year, but I screwed us up and we didn't get it. 

Thankfully, this year, I was up to speed, and was able to call "Alert" when Tango found the box with the birch odor in it. 

What the heck is an ORT? It's the first step in getting ready for competition in the sport known as K9 Nose Work. 

What's K9 Nose Work all about? Read the article on K9 Nose Work I wrote for clickertraining.com. K9 NW is a cool new sport that's good for almost any dog. No matter the age, temperament, or physical ability — almost every dog can have fun with K9 Nose Work. 

Another of my dogs is also into K9 Nose Work — Nemo. Part hound, Nemo excels in the sport. He lives for K9 NW. Nemo will be my competition dog, but it was fun for Tango and I to achieve the ORT. 

If you think your dog needs an outlet for exercise and mental stimulation this winter season, check out a K9 Nose Work class near you! Smart Dog U has a class starting in February, but it's almost full already. If you're interested in trying K9NW with your dog, sign up, we'd love to spread the nose work fever! 

Gift Ideas for Your Dog

HartzredEveryone gets their dogs' presents for under the tree. Our dogs love unwrapping their presents on Christmas morning – the more paper flying, the better!

If you're like a lot of us, you're not done your shopping yet. Which is good because I've got some ideas I think you (and your dog) will love!

The good folks at Hartz sent us a box full of their newest Angry Birds toys. We let the Smart Dog U toys test them out and the verdict is in:

They love 'em!

If my dogs like something, I generally like it, too. And the Angry Bird toys fit the bill for both the human and the dog. 

Here's what I love about the toys:

  • ease of purchase — they're at Walmart! (And other places, too, it's just that Walmart's so convenient for us.)
  • cost — they're high quality toys, but won't cost you an arm and a leg
  • quality — I like that these toys are well constructed and that they've lasted more than a week! Our dogs are a little rough on toys. Most toys aren't intact after a week or so. These are still going strong. 
  • variety — there are four different types of toys (Hard Heads [my favorite!], Plush Ball, Tuff Stuff Flyer [another SDU favorite!], and Two Heads). 

I like the Hard Heads toys because of the squeaker. Our favorite game is to squeeze all the air out of the toy, then toss it into the air for the dogs. It takes awhile for the toy to "re-inflate" and there's a long, drawn-out squeak that makes the dogs silly. You know that crazy cute head tilt that dogs do? They ALL do it simultaneously when we squeeze all the air out then let it re-inflate. Great for taking pictures if you want to get that cute head-tilt in a photo!

TuffstuffThe Tuff Stuff Flyer is another favorite because of it's construction and durability. There's a different character on each side of the toy (which is fun all by itself, we think!), and the material is tough polyester fiber with stiff, durable double rings (covered by fabric) so the toy stays in it's disc shape even after repeated throws and retrieves. If you're looking to play tug with your dog, this is a great toy. There are three "handles" for you to grip while playing. In our house, the dogs like to tug with each other, rather than with us. Often, we'll get three or four dogs in the game. This is a nice toy for them to tug because everyone has a spot to grip. 

Have you tried these toys yet? If so, leave me a comment and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you!

Hartz sent us these toys free of charge, for our dogs enjoyment, and for a review. My review is an honest review, not influenced by Hartz. 

 

 

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