Unconditional Love

Tiff came in from school after having a bad day with a bit of a headache.  Deedee know's how to fix this.  Unconditional love.

Deedee has been having a bit of a hard time as we have nice new shiny leather sofa's and we are trying to keep her off them as she has very sharp nails.  We tried to keep her off them all together but that didn't work as she so loves her hug's.  I think part of it is with her being death she likes to be touching someone when she goes to sleep.  So to combat this one of my nice new sofa's now has a throw on it so Deedee and her friends can come up for a cuddle.  I just whisk it off when we have visitors.

I got moaned at by my husband because I have not been updating Deedee's blog, so I have decided to just post a load of pictures from the last year :)

Deedee talking to us

Deedee trying to sit nearer to the suits on the shelving

Deedee trying her new headgear so she does not get sunburnt

Deedee chilling :)

Deedee helping John do job's in the house

Deedee trying to snuggle up to the cat

Deedee at Christmas, top say's Mince Pie Quality Control Unit

Deedee using Tilly as a pillow

Deedee being cute

Deedee is not allowed on my cushions!!!!!

Chilling with John

Sexy Deedee ;)

What do you mean this is your sun chair, I can't see your name on it!

Being cute again :)

Deedee sharing a cuddle with Kimmy

Deedee having a cuddle with Tiff

Please, please play with me I am bored!

Deedee can't possibly be comfortable like that?!

Deedee giving John kisses

Deedee having a cool down on a hot day.

Oooh aahhhh  farmer Deedee

Three in a bed and the little one said.....

Deedee doing her cute look for a treat

Pensive Deedee

Deedee being cute again

More snuggles with Tiff

Deedee came second in a dog show for best rescue :)

Deedee can get nearer to the cat now

Deedee using Tilly as a pillow again

She can get very near the cat now!

Deedee likes to be warm!

Deedee just loves cuddles

Even more cuddles, she does not care who with lol

and more cuddles......

Tired Deedee

I can't believe it has been over a year since I posted.  So I thought I would get some pictures up of how Deedee is enjoying her summer this year.

This is Deedee with her bandana on, it helps protect her ears from the sun

Deedee surveying Barmouth Beach.

Deedee with John on her 50 ft lead, ensuring she gets to play without the worry of us having to run all the way down Barmouth beach to retrieve her.

Deedee Graduates with flying colours

Deedee graduated from her puppy class with flying colours.  She did us proud winning 4 prizes in the end of session competitions.  She did her 'return' in two seconds flat.  We use a flash of a torch to signal her to return. Her handler Tiff aged 12 won musical chairs with her, she got a prize for walking so well in the egg and spoon race and for doing her return so quickly.  She did all the tricks we taughter her, paw and roll over and jumping through a hoop.

We attended www.carensk9college.co.uk in Frodsham.  Deedee starts Puppy University in the first week of April.

Deedee is settling down really well.  She is learning how to greet people and not get so excited.  We are constantly socializing her with other dogs, and she is getting used to staying in her crate when we have to leave her in the house.

Unfortunately my two adult dogs still won't play with her and she so wants to play.  Luckily enough my mum's collie is happy to rough and tumble with her as is my sister in laws Border Terrier, who both live within a few hundreds yards so she has plenty of dogs to play with.

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.

Deedee's big day out

Deedee visited the vet this morning.  We knew she had a cold and was on antibiotics before we fetched her home, but unfortunately I forgot to pick them up in all the excitement.  The vet gave her another lot of antibiotics.  He think's she is about 6 months old, and a Staffie cross.  Other than that she is fine and he thinks she is a lovely dog.  He has told us where we can get her hearing checked professionally if we wish, but we are in no doubt that she is deaf!

Later in the day Deedee travelled to Winsford with me to pick up Tiffany before going to her first Puppy Class in Frodsham.  She is too old for the puppy class but Karen from Caren's K9 College said that she was still welcome to come.  She was great, not phased by the other puppies at all and did everything that was asked of her.  Tiffany coped with it very well too, going around petting all the other puppies, I was very pleased with both of them.

The picture is Deedee after a very long day........

DeeDee's first day out

We took Deedee to Pets at Home today.  She was tied in the boot of the car this time as we want to start how we mean to carry on.  She was quite unsettled in the boot, but I sat in the back and reassured her.  We travelled for about 20mins to the store.  Being able to travel in the car is very important to us as we get about quite a bit.

At the store Deedee was amazingly well behaved.  She met other dogs and puppies and was very sociable.  She was extremely keen to meet the rabbits in the pens, we had to keep a good strong hold on her to prevent her from getting in with them.  We bought her a reflective collar and a harness of her own.  Along with a dog toy which is a football with rope on either end.

After visiting the pet shop we took her for a short walk in Calder Valley as I want her to associate going out in the car with nice walks.

Upon returning home, Tilly our Jack Russell who has been very anti Deedee since we fetched her home decided to have a go at playing with her, we let them out into the garden and they had a bit of a play, however after a few minutes, Deedee got to much for her and she bared her teeth.  We were just pleased that Tilly played at all and was happy for the small step in the right direction.  Tilly seems a little bit more settled with her being here now and Kimmy is still indifferent.

Bringing Deedee home

We picked Deedee up from Impawtant Puppy Rescue on Saturday 21st January.  The first time I set eyes on her it was love at first sight.  She is gorgeous and so loving.  Emma from Impawtant kindly gave us the time to sit and get to know her a bit, and show Tiffany how to handle her.  Kimmy and Tilly did not take to her at all and did not want to know.  Kimmy the border collie was a little more tolerant but Tilly would not entertain her in anyway!  John took all three for a bit of a walk with Tiffany and Emma's husband, out of the house and on the lead they were a bit better.

Impawtant Pups Puppy Rescue are great, they give their home over to puppies needing new homes and rescue pups from pounds all over the country, Deedee came originally from Coventry.

We had borrowed a crate for the car journey back, but as she had never been crate trained we abandoned it as a bad plan and she sat in the back between Tiffany and I instead.  After a bit of messing around she finally settled and went to sleep all the way home!

Once home, Kimmy was indifferent but Tilly really was not happy.  Deedee however, was wonderful with the cat, probably because my cat is not scared of the dogs in the house and does not run, just stood her ground looking at her, definitely do not think there will be any problems with those two.

John slept downstairs on the couch the first night as we did not know how settled Deedee was going to be.  She had him up for the toilet at 4am!

We are so surprised how well behaved and confident she is for a puppy, she asks to go out when she needs to, she sits on command and is very attentative.  She is also very loving and gives great cuddles as per the picture with my daughter Kirstie.

Things to buy :)

I found these items on the internet.  I think it is a good idea to inform people that Deedee is deaf so that no one startles her.    

I have also seen a collar with "I am deaf" on, but I don't think that will be as visual.

I will order a bandana first as we have no idea what size Deedee is going to grow to, but I would like a reflective vest for her when she is older.