Videos and funny moments

My iphone will be delivered today.  So hopefully I will be able to take lots of video's of Deedee.  I would have liked to have it today.  This morning she was having her breakfast biscuits, and for some reason suddenly decided she would like to eat them on her bed in the living room.  She picked her bowl up in her mouth and walked into the living room with it.  Unfortunately the angle she had it at meant that all the biscuits fell out, leaving a trail across the floor, so when she proudly got to her bed to eat them the bowl was empty!  She did make us all laugh!!

Tricks!!!

It will be our last week of puppy class next week and Karen our trainer has told us to teach our puppies a trick.  Deedee already does two tricks, she will give us her paw and roll over on her back waving her paws in the air.  However, I wanted to go one better.  I decided to teach her to jump through a hoop.  She is not scared of anything and the hoop did not bother her in anyway.  She was jumping through it in minutes.  Even my nine year old collie Kimmy, who had never done it before decided to have a go to.  I was really pleased with her for learning the trick so quickly, then I read my homework again and it said "do not get your puppies to do any tricks that involve jumping such as through a hoop until they are 18 mths old"  Oh dear, too late.....

Ow watch my fingers....

Deedee is coming to the end of her puppy class.  Last night was the fifth that went really well.  One of the problems we have with Deedee is she is very treat focused and will try and snatch them out of your hand regardless of whether your fingers are in the way.  With her having sharp teeth and strong terrier jaw this is becoming a problem.  Karen my dog trainer showed me how to close my fist so that she could not get to it and only open my hand to give the treat once she was sat and quiet.  It only took a short while for her to clock on.  Maybe I will get to keep my fingers after all!

Star of Puppy class

At puppy class this week Deedee was on top form.  She did her sits and downs on cue every time.  She walked well on her lead around the cones.  However this week was the week we did recall and I was a bit nervous about this.  The trainer took each puppy to the other side of the hall and encouraged their families to call them back to them and I got more nervous as each puppy successfully ran up to their owners.  When it came round to Deedee's turn the trainer asked me if I wanted to do this, and I replied "yes of course"! We have a system, not tried it anywhere other than home, but I was prepared to give it a go.  We have a secret weapon which is a torch that we use to bring Deedee in out of the garden.  I was not sure whether she would respond to it in the light of the hall with all the distractions of the other dogs and people, but we were prepared to try.  I was so proud of her when the trainer let her off the lead, I flashed the torch twice and she came straight to me, didn't even look anywhere else, just straight to me for her treat.  She did this twice.  Everyone was very impressed with her.  Well done Deedee :)

Four weeks today since Deedee came to stay with us.  She is settling down really well.  Still like a little hurricane at times, but when she is not having her mad half hours she is more settled.  She is still chewing everything and anything she can find, so needs a lot of supervision.

Unfortunately we have had to buy a crate for Deedee.  We have never crate trained a puppy before, I have never felt the need.  However she can be quite destructive if left to her own means, and I was not happy leaving her in the house unattended.  Luckily enough she has taken to the crate straight away, it is in the living room and she will happily go and lie in it, and if "told off" will go and lie in it herself, so I think she feel's it is her safe place already.  I have only left her for an hour at a time so far, and put her into her crate if I need to do something. But it is still early days yet.

Deedee is still a little hit and miss with my older dogs.  Kimmy the border collie who is Deedee's companion dog when let off the lead (their harnesses are joined together, Kimmy is very obedient off the lead and will come back immediately upon request and fetches Deedee with her).  Kim is most tolerant of being jumped on and bit at by Deedee and will occasionally play with her, however Tilly being a smaller and more nervous dog will still show her teeth if Deedee tries to play with her, but will happily cuddle up with her on the couch.

The one member of the family that seems to have no bother with Deedee at all is our cat.  Deedee had one smack across the nose from her when she first came and learnt her lesson straight away.  The cat is so used to dogs that she has no fear of them, and so far although Deedee will sometimes chase her, she has not done her any harm therefore the cat is very comfortable in her company.

Deedee has been with us two weeks today and we are amazed at how well she is doing.  She now recognises five hand signals.  She knows sit and lie down.  She understands no, stay and good girl.  She is very treat motivated, and will do anything for a choccie drop.  She also knows exactly where they are kept.  She will sit and bark at the food cupboard.

We have had a few issues, she is a climber, and the first time I took her to see my parents she jumped up onto their dining table, cleared it in one jump straight from the floor.  Bearing in mind that she is still a puppy I could not believe my eyes.  She just loves to climb on everything and has no fear.

She is also a chewer, we have loads of toys and chews for her, but I am constantly going around taking things off her.  She is so used to it now that she drops many of the things when she see's me coming towards her!  However, her personality just wins everyone over.  She is great with everybody and everything.  Curling up with the cat on the sofa.  She has her mad half hours, but as a whole she is very calm and spends a lot of time watching people.  She is great on the lead, and I am currently teaching her how to walk to heel.

She is fascinated with mirrors and any reflections of herself, we have had to cover our electric fire (shown in the the picture below) as she just sits barking at her own reflection.

She is great for letting us know when she wants to go out, she just sits and barks at the patio window.  Only problem is that she likes being out in the garden so constantly asks to go out.   My garden is secure, but I am going to have to do a bit of adjusting as the spring comes to keep her out of the borders.

It takes a lot to tire her out, so I make the most of it when she is flat out.