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Hare today

Sorry folks, no dogs today, no dog sculptures, agility or antics of my crazy pair

dragonhouseofyuen from McEtsy team does lots of great work for bunny rescue and she suggested I may like to try making a Hare for the Hare Preservation Trust

Sounded like a fun challenge

So I gave it a go

He is made on a wire frame with merino white fleece. I then blended some camel fibre with Shetland wool to work on the shading, with a little more black merino blended in to make his back, ears and top of his head a little darker

He is posed just rising up on his hind legs - and wonders of wonders I actually managed to make him balance on his own in that position (fancy name - free standing :D)

I am stumped for a name for this one so any ideas???

Slowly starting to Kiss the dog

Still planing for this to be the year when I take my first steps to be a dog trainer then a behaviourist.

I have the hall all lined up, just short of funds for a few weeks.

So my friends kindly let me practise on them and their dogs.

A pair of lovely crazy collies.

I was wanting to practise some of the 'control unleashed' stuff I have been doing with Mia, so I kind of used her as a demo dog while at the same time working on her with bigger distractions.

First I did a little focus work, showing them how to build focus in the dog and what to be looking for.

Mia gave a great demo, when I started she was sniffing about paying no heed to me at all and then as I clicked her for any interaction with me she quickly turned from no focus to lots and lots of focus.

The first dog Bu**** (white face in the fotos) is a typical collie with a high work drive so had no problem with focus so we were able to get onto moving a little and the beginnings of circle work

The 2nd dog Bl** is a lot more sensitive. He gets stressed by being asked for commands.

You can see in the first foto (sorry about quality) he is looking very dejected by the clicker being out and him being asked to work.

But within about 5 clicks he realised that he wasnt being asked to do anything he just was getting rewarded for paying attention to mom - then he really started to get it

We ended this bit here but you can see a total change in his body language - focus on mom, tail up, happy looking dog.

We did a little 'go to your place' Bu has been clicker trained and is used to free shaping so got this vv quickly Bl did v well too.

Not sure if I explained the point of this exercise well but hopefully they work on it a little because this would really help with Bu's reactivity when he is watching Bl work.

Finally as a little trick and to teach back end awareness I showed them 'brick work' Both dogs figured out getting their paws on the object so thats a good starts

Next step is getting the back legs moving :D

I talked a little about 'LAT' exercises, default behaviours (Bu showed a lovely default sit) and how to keep a training sesh really short espech for Bl to build motivation.

I had fun although it was a little weird, I hope I didnt do too bad.

Then we let the dogs play a bit and practised some weaves - Mia actually did pretty good and Bu was doing them better with his owner moving a little beside him.

Pretty fun day - and now Mia is crashed out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS6bEuSlaY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blo6YcFWNtw&feature=channel
At agility lots of people are saying they just dont have the imagination to teach tricks so I was wondering if that may be somewhere to make a start with some classes. I love training tricks, I think its the best way to make the dog think and sitting, doing agility, obedience, not chasing the postman, really they are all tricks for the dog

What to do when my fingers are to stabbed to felt

I have been felting away lots trying to hit my targets for the new year.
I am happy to announce that I have smashed my Jan target for two sales a week with 9 sales already! Fantastic! Some are trades and some were charity listings so I am not rich but its really good to know that I can manage that target.
A downside is my arm shoulder and back are a little sore and my finger is v stabbed.
So yesterday I though I would have a little go at drawing again
Please dont laugh

The Boxer I am almost happy with, its just a quick sketch so not too much detail
The left eye went wrong but overall not to unhappy


I should have stopped there but no I had to try again


The weaving collie just didnt work out at all :(





So I felted - just a little - tiny - a poodle about 1 inch tall

My new range - SPLAT

As I am stuck in with no pupils I have been trying to work hard at my plan of at least 2 sales a week average this year.

No idea if this is possible but you have to aim high!

So I have tried a totaly new range.

Splat

My needle felted bookmark range. - well I say range - only one so far but I will make some more.

I also did a little upcycling here too! Go me :D the 'body' of the splat was made out of an old fleece matt I had but that I had cut up for doggy coats as its so cold.

So this little guy is exactly the right size for a paperback book and you have his head and paws sticking out the front and tail and paws (with little paw pads) poking out the back.

I think I got a little carried away with the photoshoot with this one - he was just so fun to shoot :D

.

Clear run agility show

Happy new year everyone. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and New year

Yesterday was our first show of the year

A fun club show in the best venue in the world!

10 min from home, indoor venue with a cafe, bar, shop, restaurant! Fantastic

The weather put lots of people off coming out which was a shame but made it run quickly.

Ben really outdone himself. 4 runs 4 clear rounds!!

The classes are small, medium and large combined so I didnt expect to place at all but in the more difficult agility run we got 2nd place - only beat by a friends dog Aero, who is amazing, nearly lost his paw to a glass injury and has made a fantastic comeback. Of the 4 classed he won all 4!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Yesterday over 5 hours driving in a total whiteout - so not fun! But made worthwhle by my dogs enjoying some proper deep and crispy snow Muuuummmmmm!! Whats this stuff??? Hmmm its crispy Its cold

Its pretty Yeeeeahhhhh its FUNNNNNN

Here is a small vid of them playing (first thing in the morning so they had to pee!)

Kiss the dog, my new venture has a name (and a facebook page)

For ages I have been trying to think of names for dog behaviour training classes.
I am rubbish at names - and I know how important they are.

So thinking about what I wanted the name to say

First - that training should be kind and fair to the dog
Second - that its simple - too many training methods seem to over complicate dog training. Trying to imagine what your dog is thinking and figuring out how he is being bad, disobedient or dominant and then how to assert your authority over the dog.
For example - and this is something I have actually seen
Dog chases children
Problem must be dog is thinking it is too dominant
Solution
Dog cant go on sofa or upstairs and must wait till after owner has eaten before it gets to eat

Too complicated!!
Problem - dog chases children
Solution - teach the dog not to chase children

Simples (OK well there is more to it than that but you get the point)

So thinking of my old days in the world of business I remembered their fave acronym
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid
and thought that was perfect way to say what I wanted to say

Kiss The Dog, Kind Simple Effective dog behaviour training

What do you all think??

Cara needs a home - or even a foster home

I have been asked to spread the word to as many in the UK as possible

This little girl needs a home





The lady she is with just now has 9 dogs, so even a foster place would be great.


She is in Scotland at the moment

Hi Pam, I have a 18month old terrier x bitch looking for a home. Her name
is Cara and she is vaccinated, wormed and spayed. She is about spaniel sized and
a bit of an all sorts mix. She is very clever and gorgeous although she needs
some training as she has never had any. If you know of anyone that might be
interested can you let me know. , I can send you some photos of her if you send
me your email add. I would like to rehome her asap as she was only supposed to
be here 1 night but the home she was supposed to go to dont want her as she is
bigger than they wanted. Thanks a million

She is a stray picked up in Wexford, Ireland. She is great with my dogs, great with my cat, not sure about children as she hasnt met any whilst with me but I would say yes fine with them as she is just a lovely friendly wee thing and loves people. She is very lively and a little cheeky madam but she is picking things up fast. She does not understand even basics like sit and really pulls on the lead but she will learn no problem. She has no serious behavioural problems and doesnt seem bothered by anything, she will adapt in any situation I would think. She is just a bouncy puppy that needs a good home to give her some boundaries and she will be a brilliant pet

Poor Ben

Yesterday was a lovely frosty winters day.

I took the dogs for a great long walk. It was lovely the dogs were perfectly behaved, we did lots of playing together, trick training and the dogs sniffing and zooming about.

Perfectly lovely walk, until..

5 min before home I see Bens paw is bright red. No yelp, no limping no crying his paw is just bleeding.

I get him home and clean it up and its stopped bleeding but there is a big cut there

So we had a long wait in the vets and now he is sporting a lovely lamphade, and his skinny wee leg is shaved.

Poor wee guy - he must have been feeling left out with all the vets attention Mia was getting.

On the great point for the day tho - I got word back that the venue I was looking at is fine for me to run training classes. Initially for Mia and some of her friends but if they go OK I might be taking my first steps into becoming a behaviourist

(well the 2nd steps - just one more essay to go on this module for my diploma!)