Needle felted Alaskan klee kai

In my Etsy shop this week alaskan klee kai needle felted in silky alpaca

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Shhhhh!! Splats on sale

Guess what?? I have a weekend sale on on my Splat bookmarks!!
Nip over to my facebook fan page and grab the code to get 30% off my splats for this weekend only

While you are there hit the like button so your friends can get a chance to see my splats at the lowest ever price!!
They have been my top selling range since I launched them in 2010

New from Etsy, Automatic PDF download

I am quite excited, I have been invited to a new team on Etsy, the digital team, and as a member of this team it means I can get to trial their new feature
Automatic PDF downloads
This now means if someone buys one of my pdf needle felting tutorials as soon as they have paid they can automatically download their purchase instead of having to wait for me to do it manually

and it seems to be really popular - I made my first sale that way just moments after going live

Hop on over and have a look at my Splat tutorial 

Or my Kokeshi type doll tutorial

Each kit is under £3 and has over 10 pages of full colour images and step by step instructions to make your project.
They are both suitable for beginners using basic shapes and building up from there. They take up to around 3 hours to make and the equipment needed (fleece, needle, felt and optional foam pad) can be picked up online for just a few pounds

A-Z needle felted dogs Saluki

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#benmcfuzzylugsgiveaway

First time I have ever done this!!
But I have decided when my facebook page (http://facebook.com/benmcfuzzylugs) gets 1000 likes then I will start a MASSIVE shop wide sale

But thats not all
To get 1000 likes I need help - and you will be rewarded :)
For every person who shares my facebook page or blogs, tweets, retweets, pins or whatever else out there that you are on (and if you can add the words #benmcfuzzylugsgiveaway somewhere on your post it helps me find it easier) and comment here or on my facebook page that you have done it, you will be entered in my draw to get your very own custom sculpture of any animal for free - free worldwide shipping too

And STILL that is not all.
Once I have that 1000 likes I will then start sharing your work with my new adience, thats right, Im bringing back my featured Friday. So everyone who shares my facebook page somewhere, tells me about it and tells me about their work and asks to be included in a feature I will feature your work here on this blog and on my facebook page on a first come first done basis

So one little share by you means a shop sale, a chance to win your very own sculpture AND a feature on my blog

Thankyou for supporting me :)

Pyrenean Sheepdog - A-Z needle felted dogs

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A-Z needle felted dogs - Dachshund

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A little change - bears

I have a some coloured fleece that I cant really see me using for my dogs - so I thought I would use some up making some Bears. I have made them non jointed and with no filler just solid wool

How to untrain the recall

A great recall is something that just makes me smile - when your dogs drops everything and races to be beside you with a great big happy grin.
Unfortunately it is way too easy to untrain that recall - just about every day I see people untraining their recal.
4 favourite ways to untrain a dogs recall
1. Call them back to you when they are in a situation you haven't fully trained for so you know full well they will not come back
2. Call them then then chase after them to try and catch them
3. Punish them when you finally catch up with them
4. Only call them back when you want to stick them on the lead and go home

So what could we do different in each situation?
1. If you know they wont come back don't call them, accept they are running off at that point and then work on training their recall more. Remember dogs learn to associate words with what they are doing at the time - if they are running away then they may even learn that 'Bracken CO-OME' means run away as fast as possible

2. Dogs LOVE LOVE LOVE chase games - what great fun they can start a chase game by running away when you are calling. Running away is a better option (if its safe) and you can train a really solid chase recall (I will go over it in a later post) or if you feel you need to go after them better to walk slowly and walk round them rather than directly at them

3. So common because people thing the dogs were running away to be bad. This is simply not the case, if a dog doesn't do something it is because you haven't trained it properly. You want your dog to REALLY want to be around you, if you punish them when you reach them what you are actually doing is making your dog LESS likely to want to be around you - better to make a fuss of them when you catch up with them - make yourself fun to be around

4. Taking away a dogs freedom is actually punishing, if a walk consists of you letting them off the lead and pretty much ignoring them till its time to get them on the lead again then your recall isn't going to be all that interesting. Much better that on a walk you call them back several times, sometimes to give them a nice treat, to play a game, to show them something interesting you have found. You can even call them too you, clip the lead on, give them a few treats then unclip them again.

A-Z needle felted dogs - Basset hound

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