How to needlefelt - ears and adding colour

Taking a small strip of grey fleece fold it several times to make a triangle shape


Felt this shape flatly by stabbing it onto the foam pad then picking it up and turning it many times until is is really firm








Add deatails to the ear with a small strip of white in a slight triangle and then some black onto the tip of the ear.
When felting the colours onto the ears take care to only stab into the centre and not take the needle right through the piece else some of the colour will be pulled onto the wrong side.







Felt a line down the centre of the front of the ear like you did with the hock joint then fold the ear into an ear shape - felt to firm.



Place the ears onto the head and choose the best position for them then felt them onto the head.







Add grey wool and some black onto the head and body and carefully felt it in to the areas you want

- taking care not to push the needle right to the other side.









The nose was created with a ball of black fleece and the lip details a few strands of black fleece were twisted to form a cord and carefully felted into place.

Return to index

How to needlefelt - head and neck

Make a ball of fleece and lightly needle felt it to hold its shape.

Make a smaller roll of fleece and attach this to be the upper jaw.

Sculpt with the needle to make this a smooth firm head and upper jaw shape looking often to make sure the shape is going towards what you would like it too. If an area is too small add more fleece, too large stab lots.

I find the finnished look better if you hollow out the inside of the upper jaw to make a better mouth shape - but this is not seen in the finished work.

Once you are happy with the shape make a roll of fleece and sculpt it into a lower jaw - leaving some fluff at the end to attach it to the head with.

Attach the lower jaw to the head making sure you needle in all directions and add a little more fleece if needed to smooth out any seams.

Add a large handfull of fluff to the base of the head where the neck will be and felt a little to firm up.

Felt this neck onto the dogs body

Hold the head and body roughly in position and carefully felt the neck till it is firm enough to support the head

(WATCH YOUR FINGERS!!)

Now have a really good look at the shape of your animal and decide what areas are not quite as you would like them to be. Be really critical

I decided the neck, tummy and back end were too skinny so I added more fluff and felted it in firmly

I also made a tail in the same manner as the legs but tapered the end and curled it out while I was felting it.

Spend lots of time firming up and sculpting your peice at this point, the more time you spend here the better the final peice will be

It is tempting to rush on to adding the colour.

By this stage your peice should be able to stand up totaly unsuported

Return to index

How to needle felt - adding muscle and feet

Slightly bend out the back legs above the hock.

The firmer the legs have been felted the better they will hold their shape.

Take a wad of fleece and fluff it out so the fibres are all in different directions.

This reduces join lines in the finished peice.

Use this fluffy fleece to create the hip by placing over the area and felting it firm.

To create a smooth outline always keep the needle at 90 degrees to the sculpture, if you are sculpting a curve or a ball you have to change the angle of the needle every stab (with practise this becomes very easy)

Repeate this for the other back leg.

To make feet take 4 small strips of fleece (less than 1 inch) and roll them into small ball shapes leaving one end fluffy.

Felt these balls to firm them and then attach them to the bottom of the legs using the fluffy ends.

Firm and shape the balls into feet shapes making them narrower at the heels, flat on the bottom and curved on the top

(TIP - you can pinch the fleece into shape and felt it - watch your fingers)

Often step back and look at your work and add fleece to areas that need built up.

Also continue felting all over the peice to firm it up and smooth it out.

Return to index

How to needle felt - joining legs to body.

Two of my legs are slightly longer than the others so I choose these to be the back legs.





Each leg is attached one at a time. The fluffy ends are the hip.




Hold these ends onto the body and firmly felt them in place - the firmer you felt at this stage the easer the next steps will be.

Once I attached my back legs I realised that the body was a little short, and also the chest needs to be a little deeper.

I just took a large wad of fleece and added to the front of the body and to the underside where the chest will be.

Firmly felt the front legs onto the body in the same manner as the back legs.

To make the hock joint in the back legs felt a straight line about an inch up the back leg at the front.

This line alows the leg to bend.

Bend the leg and hold it in place and then felt through the hock to stabalise it. Felt all round the joint while holding it in position (WATCH YOUR FINGERS) to strenghten it.

Repeate for the other leg

Return to index

How to needle felt - Body and legs.

Taking a section of white fleece about 4 inches wide roll it into a tight tube shape.
The tighter you roll it up the quicker it will felt together.
Begin felting the tube together by stabbing it all over with your felting needle.
Remember to move the needle all over the shape, if you stab too much in one area you will create a dent - which can be filled in by adding more fleece to this area.


The fibers mesh over each other and contract in the direction the needle is moving, so if the piece is too fat stab in towards the centre, if it is too long stab in from the ends.


Stab until the tube holds its shape easily and is firm to the touch. The firmer you make each shape at this stage the easier later steps will be.




Take 4 sections of fleece about 1/2 the width of the piece used for the body.


For each piece carefully wind it around your needle then hold the roll firmly, slide off the needle and stab it to secure it.



Felt the leg firmly leaving one end with a fluffy unfelted end.
Repeat this for all four legs.



You now have four legs and a body.

To this point it has taken almost 1 hour

Return to index

Talk less

Talk Less

Your dog does not know English so the more words you use the more difficult it will be for him to learn.
Imagine you were in a strange land not knowing the laungage. A person wants to teach you the word to 'sit'
If she says 'sit' when you are about to sit, or when she is sitting down you will fairly quickly figure that word means to sit.

If she says 'sit' when you are just hanging about not thinking about sitting and she keeps yelling it at you you are going to have trouble figuring it out

if she says 'come over here and sit yourself down, right here, right by me' you might figure out the gyst of what she is saying if she is sitting or giving you visual commands, but you are not going to figure out that the word 'sit' is important in all that babbel

Your dog knows how to sit down, your job is to make him want to work for you and to teach him the words for the actions

Return to Dog training hints and tips

Mias progress

I have decided to pull together all the posts of Mia so you can follow them all in one go.
It starts from me waiting for Mia and follows her progress with Ben and myself



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

Well I picked up Mia today

She is a lot more confident and loving than I expected and in the main her and Ben are getting along OK, we are taking it slow and she is crated for quite a while (in a huge crate) for them to get used to him

Strange thing is she has already started guarding me and we have had a couple of scuffles (my fault) over me - I just separate and time out both dogs - her in her crate

She is a lovely little thing, v thin but sweet

She seems to be toilet trained but does not appear to have any commands, but she is keen and loves food

Thankyou all for your suport so far

If you would like to help out with this wee doggie please visit my shop or you can donate direct via paypal at pamduthie @ hotmail.com

Please tell your dog loving friends

Well the little miss is settling in quite well

Inside we had a couple of scuffles this morning but the guilty party was given time out (the naughty step) and they are becoming much calmer together - we had a good couple of hours with the 2 just sleeping and chilling out without even a strong look at each other.

On walks she is loving everyone, and she quite likes small dogs. If the dog is bigger then her she can be a bit growley and snappy untill they have been introduced then she is all puppy like and wanting to play (tangled us all up in her lead!)

She can now sit and she is doing that for food and she is part way to a lie down

I truly believe that traching 'tricks' is a great way to build a bond with a dog and they love working with you and so become better behaived wanting to please you.

She has also realised the sofa is off limits and is not trying to get up, she is smart as anything and is seeming to like being given rules.

A big thankyou again to everyone who has helped. The loan of the extra large crate has been a lifesaver, and all the bedding and toys.

Please tell all your dogy friends. We still need a little more cash to get her microchipped and to give a little back to help the poor doggies still stuck in the Irish pounds

Another day in the house of puppy!

Good today, only one little snap at Ben the whole day - when she decided to not let him out of the kitchen. He didnt respond which is good and she was on the naughty step again - but didnt grump and came out quite and well behaived

trainig wise her sit is getting faster and cuter, recal with a nice sit in front is good in the house and we are getting there with a lie down. She also understands 'off' and is realising that she cant come on the sofa - she has had a bit of a huff about that, me thinks she has been a bit used to having it all her own way

Again thankyou to all who have helped with raising funds for her and the other doggies in her situation

If you would like to help please either visit my shop or donate with paypall to pamduthie @ hotmail.com

Thankyou thankyou thankyou

Well today was a big day for the little girl

She was at the vets to get her stitches out. She had a wee bark at a dog on the way into the vets but once then got a chance to sniff she calmed down.

Her and Ben had a wee scuffle at the end of a walk, a play fight gone bad but appart from that it was pretty calm.

Then she met B, and it was love at first sight.

She is getting so much calmer and instead of the manic leaping about meeeting people she sat nicely to be patted

Well some good progress for the doggies

Mia and Ben have been playing offlead in the park. Her recal is mainly v good but twice now she has followed a man out of the park.

Today I thought she was going to go onto the main road!!! but she came back at the end

GULP!!

will have to watch her a bitmore

SHe has been good making lots of doggie friends just sometimes she can be a little snappy.

Some videos of Mia and Ben having a lovely walk in the autumn sunshine at Pollock park
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t132/abbeypam/Mia/?action=view&current=ben-miapollockpark1.flv

She has had many new adventures this week. A few house visits, a bus ride, meeting all the dog agility people and a whole woodland walk offlead
She still has some problems with recal and guarding Ben from things and she is a bit manic barky growley at new dogs then leaps all over them when they get close

But she is smart and learning new stuff all the time - and megga sweet

Please tell your friends to drop by this blog or my shop and either buy a raffle ticket to help this little dog and all the others in need or donate direct with paypal to pamduthie @ hotmail . com (remove spaces)

Thankyou to everyone who has helped so far, Mia is doing really well but every week there are more and more abandoned dogs in Ireland who need the help of all these amazing people to save them

I have been really bad at blogging latley, V busy with the dogs - so sorry about that


So here is an update on her progress so far.

Mia has been settling in quite well, she has made a few doggie friends and is much more relaxed with Ben. She is still a bit loud on the lead when she sees other dogs but mainly it is just wanting to get over and see them. Unfort most dog owners think she is being agressive. She really does NOT like GSD's and some large breeds (you know how to pick your fights girl!)

I have been taking her to training classes and she is getting quite good at working and ignoring the other dogs, although when they get too close she can get a little snappy.

So far she has learnt (not 100% but a good start) sit, lie down, come, leave it, circle right, paw and heel. She has also been introduced to the tunnel and weaves - just so she isnot scared of them - I wouldnt drill weaves just now (or ever) as she is young.

I decided to mix up the basic obedience with more luring and moving type tricks because she is so smart she was sitting automatically every time I tried to train her.

She has for this week been alowed on the sofa and she is really turning into a total teady bear just wanting to sit right on your lap.

She is getting a little less bossy with Ben, instead of forcing him out of the way with agression she kisses him away - which is cute but will also have to stop too - If she had her own way she would get all the loving and Ben would be stuck out in the cold.

I have figured she used to live in a house with a doorbell as there is an advert on TV with a doorbell and poor wee love keeps running to the door!

Everyone who has helped

Thankyou so much, she is really comming out of her shell and turning into a great little dog. She still needs some work for her fear agression and reactivity but I am sure we will get there

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

Had a lovely walk with the doggies on Erskine beach

Weather nice and crispy and sunny so I put on the silly hat and bundled the dogs in the car.

They had a total blast

Mia met lots of dogs including a GSD that didnt react to her barking!! Yeah we are making progress. She is relaxing and getting so much more like a puppy rather than a dog who has to contol everything and attack before they get her

We still have some problems, she sometimes guards Ben off the sofa (which she gets a time out for) and I doubt she would be happy if we didnt feed her in the crate.

Unfort the lovely people across the road have been using agreesive fireworks to scare the dogs, and it has worked, in the dark now Mia has to be walked on the lead else she will run home and just sit and wait on the doorstep till we come back

Poor puppy!!

On the training front things are going great, I have phased out the lure for her 'paw', 'sit', 'down' and circle 'right' she still gets lots of rewards

Tried to trim her nails tonight!! We got one done (one nail not paw) with lots of treats but the lady just wasnt happy so I will have to take it slow.

PAH this morning too, bought nice treats and a soft travel crate for her going away christmas and new year, she seemed to like it and trotted in and fell asleep, then chased Ben away from it!!

Not the best day today in the Mia house!!

I thought we were really making progress. Mia was excited to go to training class last night and a whole lot calmer. Her recal was getting great and she was teaching herself when she pulled on the lead of got a bit mental to just sit down and calm down.

Today was a total mess!!

She was having a play with a few dogs and I was chatting the the owners when I noticed she and another dog had gone missing. The other dog came back after a couple of min but no Mia

I looked for ages then I found her liying in a ditch munching a cooked chicken bone!!

I got her lead on her and was trying to get her away from the bone when Ben came over.

I just didnt have enough hands, she went mental at him, I managed to get them pulled apart but Ben has a puncture above his left eye!!

Then we had a pee in the house!! Guess she is forgetting that she is toilet trained.

Then another walk and she was on the lead and had a mental at another dog, when I moved her away she was in such a rage that she turned and bit my leg, she realised what she had done and calmed down, I know it wasnt on purpose but it did hurt.

Then back in - after she had already done the toilet outside and the little charmer left a poo in the kitchen

so I guess its back to basics with about everything for her!!

Its such a shame cos in the main she is a lovely wee thing, and so smart but little things like this limit the houses she could go to. Her reactivity means that she really wouldnt be any good in a house with children. She loves all people but she has now bit me twice, B, my mum, and mm once each. Sometimes I could just cry!

(Note, the foto is of them playing, I didnt stand around taking fotos when they are trying to kill one another!!)

23rd December 2008



The doggies and I headed up north yesterday to visit my mum for christmas time.
Mia was a little star (as was Ben of course) infact overall she has been really good since the last post about her.



Out walking she has actually been hiding behind me when big dogs come too close and offlead running away more.





She still has her scrappy doo moments when approaching a dog first, but once she figures them out she is much better
and very flirty with big male dogs


After over 3 hours in the car yesterday we took them for a little walk and then they slept most of the evening.



Today after a shopping trip for us we took the doggies to the fairy glen(Reelig Glen)for walkies. We saw the tallest tree in the UK (although it is in a deep valley so it dosent look much)

And then we went up to A and B's to show them the doggies
Mia and Ben were v well behaived in the strange house, Mia only bounced a little bit but maily they said hello gently and then lay down under the table while we had coffie and yummy homemade shortbread.