Fuzzy gonk dogs

Ages since I have made fuzzy fotos of my two - looking down on them while they are sitting
Childish but cute :)
Would love to see yours - post a link to them in your blog - or mail me if you want your dogs (cats, rats hamsters...) featured on here :)

Do you like butter?

 Jumped the fence into a tempting field of buttercups on a lovely sunny day.
The dogs loved zooming around in the long grass

It reminded me of when we were kids and we would say 'do you like butter?' and hold a buttercup under someones chin and if their chin went yellow then they did.
No idea where the origon of that one came from but the memory made me smile

To treat or not to treat??

Lots of people dont treat their dogs - Ben thinks this is really sad.

Arguments against include

'If I treat then he will become too focused on me'

Fantastic!! Your dog is really motivated by food!! Now he just has to learn that he has to earn his treats. Try carrying food in your pocket and surprise your dog when he does something really good, he will learn that treats arrive out of nowhere if he is good.

'he should want to work for me'

None does something for nothing! Even if its only the fuzzy nice feeling it gives you when you do something nice for other people. Some dogs are more motivated than others, some find a pat on the head or a smile from you really rewarding, but still why not have a nice treat for extra special behaviours - its like a bonus at work, it tells them that that thing they did was really great

'I cant always be carrying treats about with me'

Well actually you can - but you dont need to. The amazing thing of training with rewards is the more a behaviour is rewarded then the more the dog actually enjoys just doing the behaviour. Mia gets fed in her crate, she gets lots of treats in her crate, and many times during the day she just goes into her crate because it is a really great place to be. So can be walking to heel, sitting when asked, recall, anything.

Also food isnt the only reward in the world. Anything your dog enjoys is a reward, so you can chuck a ball, pat on the head, play a chase game, send them to play with friends, these are all rewards too

'He will only do something if I have a treat in my hand'

If that is the case that is because you have not faded out the lure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SZTwQkpEw
Or your dog has learnt that he only ever gets a treat from you if he does something when you have a treat in your hand. Start hiding treats and surprising your dog with them, he will soon start working without the visual cue

'He isnt food motivated'
Yup that possible, but unlikely. Food is important to a dogs survival, if it dosent eat it wont live.
But if food is always lying about (If you free feed) and you just give out treats all the time for no reason then treats are not exciting.
Dogs actually enjoy having a job to do so build the importance of food, only feed at meal times, dont leave food lying about any other times and always ask for something before you feed them.
Get some really really high value treats, roast beef, chicken, cheese, or garlic sausage when your dog is hungry and reward it for simple behaviours, over time your dog will learn to love learning and food.

'I dont want a fat dog'
For me training treats are tiny! 1/2 the size of a fingernail or smaller. Compare that to a dog getting a huge bonio every night. Also you can use some of the dogs food, meals dont always have to come in a bowl! In the wild animals have to work for their food, they enjoy it in captivity.

'He should KNOW how to behave, why should I reward him for that?'

This one saddens me the most. People who assume dogs come fully trained and so anything they dont expect is the dog being bad and is punished
Sure the dog learns that way too - but its not really nice or fair

Dogs dont know how to live in our world, our rules are strange to them. Based on their personalities dogs just do what seems most sensible to them, then they see what happens. If something nice happens then they are more likely to do the thing again, if something bad happens then they are less likely to do it again.
I prefer not to punish as it isnt the dogs fault. But if your dog has been lying calm for 2 hours, playing happily with their toys for a while and you ignore them, then you only pay attention when they go to chew your shoe you have not only missed lots of chances to let your dog do the right thing you have also taught them that grabbing your shoe gets your attention and lying calm or playing with toys is ignored.

My latest dog

I thought I would put up this little lady

She is a order based on a rescue dog who sadly had to be put to sleep.

She is all wool - no wire or anything, and v firmly felted (those wrinkles took forever)





Hopefully to show how far I have come in just less than a year needle felting




Here is a little dog I made as about my 2nd ever model, and I think he sold on ebay for about £1 - deff learnt a lesson there about minimum bids there




He is so fluffy, but I was dead chuffed with him at the time

He has a pipe cleaner frame - which I bet you can feel poking out his feet, and tiny glass eyes - he is about 2 inches tall







Think the photography has come along a bit too! (well I hope so!)










I also tried something a bit different

Nuno felting - which is wet felting onto fabric
Was a bit easier than I thought (although it really works your upper arms)

Mum had the bright idea of turning the fabric into clutches, purses and phone holders

They were fun to make, going to try them in my shop soon

You must have been a beautiful baby

Just looking at Mia and thinking about what she might have looked like as a puppy made me realise that I havent done a puppy post fot Ben

Currently he is about 21 months old

I got him from Dogs Trust in Glasgow on 20th May 2007, he was suposed to be around 8 weeks old


I think he might have been a bit younger or taken away from his mum far too young because he had no idea about keeping himself clean, infact for the first 4 nights I was woken up with the terrible smell of him curling up nice and warm in his own poo!! so for the 1st week he had a bath more than once a day.

From the start I realised that Ben haddnt read the puppy book. He thought stroking was the most scary thing in the world, didnt know how to play with toys or really interact with people. But he was cute, loved his food and bonded strongly to me.



Poor wee soul was very carsick whenever we went anywhere, so much so that he became really scared of the car for a while.
and when he went to puppy classes he was soooooo excited he barkbarkbarked the whole time, except when he was working. Right from the start Ben was top of his class, obedience and agility. Infact at some of the obedience classes when we had 'stay' compatitions I had to take us out because we won every single prize.



He has come on so well, he is a very thoughtful dog, timid of lots of new things, but if he knows you want him to do something he will give it a try. He loves learning and doing his tricks. He loves most dogs and people although he kinda keeps away from kiddies he is v gentle with them.



Everyone tells me how lucky I am with him, and I do agree although I have put a lot of hard work into getting him where he is today. Hopefully if we can get Mia 1/2 way as well trained as him she will make someone a lovely pet

Mia's 3rd training class

I just got the foto of Ben just after he had his big win the other week

He looks really bored, I am so chuffed and a little shellshocked

Today Mia went to her 3rd ever training class.

Week one, she lunged and went mental every time a dog came close, she also attacked my trousers

But she did sit and lie down, heelwork was rubbish - lunging at dogs

This week so much better, lots of small dogs in class and she sniffed and said hello to them like a nice calm dog. A couple of lunges, one when I gave a friends dog a treat and another at a big collie she dosent like. Really so much better tho

I didnt have to shovel treats in all the time and she hardly barked at all

Got a nice stay from her and she walked quite nicely to a kind of heel. We also did a trick where she had to come then stop and sit, the trainer let us do that out in the corridor away from the other dogs and she was really getting it

and her 'leave it' is fantastic, I had a treat on my knee and then one in my hand and she just sat wagging her tail not even looking at them

She really is a smart girl

Still can be a bit agressive on the lead but getting better and bullies Ben sometimes and trys to stop him getting on the sofa

But she is improving

Mia the rescue dog

I had no intention of getting another dog but this little girls face just said 'help me'
She was in a pound in Ireland that puts dogs to sleep after 5 days
I offered to foster her and a local charity were able to pull her to saftey and are working on getting her over here.
So now I am trying to think of ways to fundraise for her to get her medical treatment and to help the charity that is going to all the expense of getting her here.
One thing I am doing is a listing on my etsy for her
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16336568

the idea is everyone who buys gets a 'thankyou' foto and then are entered into a draw to win a cusom fuzzy of their pet
If you would like to donate direct I have a paypal account pamduthie @ hotmail . com (remove the spaces)

Please tell everyone you know!! and if you have any more ideas for fundraising please let me know.
She is only 6 months old and deserves a better life than she has had up till now

She should be getting here monday or tuesday so I will keep her progress updated on here

Return to Mias progress