Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!

[wuffles]

I shared one of our yard and shelf earlier, before all of you admitted to the destruction

Here you go, some quick ones.

This used to be a pretty grass plant. Ava not only lay on it, but she pulled all the bits off, so now it just looks like something rude.

One of our "garden beds"... notice the dug up sprinkler head in the bottom corner (although it was poking out of the ground before Ava arrived).

This pipe on our hot water system used to have insulation around it... then it was replaced... and now it's reduced to cable ties again

Love how the bottom of this vine, including the trunk, have been lovingly "pruned"... not by us!

And of course the shelf in our pergola

[KumaAkita]

Hi all, made it to Tamworth, Kuma did ok in the car, slept parts of the way. Worked out that he doesn't like posties... We saw one and he started barking like a nut bag. But, we all agree... 8 hrs in a car is a long time!

He's now snoozing on the floor...

I don't have any destruction photos, kuma's pretty good in that area... Just a few small holes

[koalathebear]

wuffles: Heh heh - that destruction isn't too bad! Do you come home and find your doggies have dusty/dirty snouts that make you think: "What have you been doing????" I'm impressed by the pergola shelf - that takes some real planning!! Also, OH retrieved the Home Alone ball tonight ... turned out that Elbie had been so disinterested in it that it was full of mouldy kibble I spent the evening smashing the kibble and extracting it, with my father and OH warning me about Lung Fungus. Now the home alone ball is in the laundry sink soaking in boiling water and detergent ... I will rinse it out again tomorrow and dry it before giving it to you on Sunday but you may want to rinse it again

You bringing a camera on Sunday?

kumaakita: so glad you guys arrived safe and sound! Poor posties - so many dogs including mine bark at 'em

[wuffles]

wuffles: Heh heh - that destruction isn't too bad! Do you come home and find your doggies have dusty/dirty snouts that make you think: "What have you been doing????" I'm impressed by the pergola shelf - that takes some real planning!! Also, OH retrieved the Home Alone ball tonight ... turned out that Elbie had been so disinterested in it that it was full of mouldy kibble I spent the evening smashing the kibble and extracting it, with my father and OH warning me about Lung Fungus. Now the home alone ball is in the laundry sink soaking in boiling water and detergent ... I will rinse it out again tomorrow and dry it before giving it to you on Sunday but you may want to rinse it again :D

You bringing a camera on Sunday?

kumaakita: so glad you guys arrived safe and sound! Poor posties - so many dogs including mine bark at 'em

Haha yes, the doggies quite often have dirty snouts and dirt caked on their nails when we get home. Of course Ava was the mastermind in the shelf-destructo exercise. She only did it once and hasn't touched it since, touch wood...

Ewwww @ mouldy kibble. Our Tug-a-Jug is useless now because the rope went mouldy because it got wet and you can't really dry rope It's aliiiiiive.

I'm not going to bring a camera tomorrow, too hard to manage a 20kg puppy as well as a camera! We have a guy coming round this morning to give us a quote to replace our side fence, do you think it's rude to ask him to help us practice the steady for pats exercise?

.... mine bark at the postie as well

[Clastic]

Glad to hear that you and Kuma arrived safetly and the car trip went well

wuffles - OH loved the photo of the hot water system cable ties.

Hrm.. mine don't get to see the postie at this place.. maybe thats a good thing.

Edited September 25, 2010 by Clastic

[Niques]

Also, we seem to have the dog suited to our sluggish ways – he only gets a walk every two days or so – 30 minutes if it’s me, 45 minutes if it’s my OH, other days he gets a lot of obedience training and playing fetch etc but he doesn’t appear to be frustrated or turn destructive. He doesn’t bark too much, unless he’s left in a dark yard and no one’s home and we forget to leave the back light on.

I'm glad it's not just me who's corrupted their dog into a more slothlike creature He gets walked 3-4 times a week plus obedience on Sundays and seems fairly contented with that

I love the photo of the vine, Wuffles. Someone's been busy

Mouldy food sounds very unpleasant! I hadn't seen James' Kong for weeks and finally dragged it up from under the deck yesterday with great trepidation. Thankfully, it was quite clean. I stopped giving him peanut butter in his Kong because it was too gross to clean - he apparently has no taste for peanut butter (yeah, I'm surprised too!) and just leaves it there to congeal

James is oddly fond of the postie. He's such an atypical dog - will go off his nut at anything else we encounter on a walk but is quite happy just to watch the postman go by. He also loves watching the rubbish truck come.

[lilli_star]

Ruby isn't a fan of peanut butter either. She's only just (in the past couple of weeks) learnt how to use her Kong. At the moment, I've just kept it simple- biscuits, then a bit of Nature's Gift tined food.

She has however, just discovered the fun that is toilet rolls. The empty ones were fine- no drama. But the other night, the little bugger snavelled a full one and ran off with it, and then just a little while ago, tried to take off with the one that was on the holder! Thankfully she didn't get very far before some tore off, and it was almost empty anyway.

I'm hoping Ruby becomes more sloth like, or at least, lets me sleep in, but for now she gets walked in the morning and afternoon most days. They're not very long walks (I've read all the posts on here that warn of over-exercising large breeds and how it can lead to problems later etc etc)- only around the block and a bit, but she loves them- especially when we go past the horses that someone has in a paddock close by. Plus it gets me off my bum to do some exercise No walk this afternoon though- I mowed the lawn. Took me forever

[koalathebear]

Ahhhh ....

[Clastic]

She has however, just discovered the fun that is toilet rolls. The empty ones were fine- no drama. But the other night, the little bugger snavelled a full one and ran off with it, and then just a little while ago, tried to take off with the one that was on the holder! Thankfully she didn't get very far before some tore off, and it was almost empty anyway.

Hehe, I really shouldn't laugh, mine love playing with empty toilet rolls. If Pepper ever finds any tissues or toilet paper she likes to rip it into a gazillion pieces.

[koalathebear]

So ... to the surprise of all, Elborino passed bronze obedience today. Here is his certificate.

Here is Elbie himself - he wasn't very happy posing with the ribbon ;)

He went well in all the categories except the following:

• he failed in his heeling because while he walked nicely and was focussed - his sits were too far forward of my OH i.e. he should have been sitting directly to OH's left
  
• he failed miserably in the sit steady for pats as we knew he would
  
• he failed the sit stay for 60 seconds but passed the drop stay for 60 seconds. To be honest, because it was a very hot day, a lot of the dogs in his group were dropping rather than sitting.
  

His trick went well as did his formal recall. His "to the mat" and mealtime manners (wait for for food for 20 seconds) went well as did his loose-lead walking. With the obstacle course (loose-lead walking), our hearts sank because in the past the 'distractions' have been barking dogs, tethered dogs, motorcycle helmet, ball etc - things that don't tend to faze Elbie. Today, they had a juice bottle right near the start and he LOVES juice bottles. Funnily enough, he sailed through the loose leash walking well and wasn't distracted at all.

Unfortunately I couldn't take photos because I would have had to get closer and I was afraid of distracting Elbie. In our class, Rogue the Husky x, Shelly the delicate whippet, Callie the German Shepherd all passed. I think Dot the JRT and Harry the Westie both failed unfortunately, which is a shame. Dot's owner in particular is someone I enjoy chatting with in class. When Elbie failed the heeling, we seriously thought he had failed the whole thing and that we would have to repeat bronze but he has squeaked through. Silver might be more appropriate for him to repeat because it has more offlead work but hopefully with a bit of time passing, he will be a lot calmer in the controlled greeting and the sit for pats and his heelwork will be more polished!

During our mealtime manners session while the dogs were sitting there, one of the silver dogs broke her 'to the mat' and started tearing around the field with her toy in her mouth. Very cute but I guess kind of embarrassing for the owner.

Big congratulations to Ava who is onto Gold Class now! She did beautifully in her exercises today.

[wuffles]

Well done KTB, Mr Koala and Elbie!

Ava seemed to just "click" with the steady for pats about two weeks into silver. I worked heaps on her stays, pulling her leash, throwing toys around, making funny noises. First I just got OH to come and pat her in a stay then gave her huge jackpot rewards if she didn't move, I think it was a turning point for her, for that exercise

The people I went through bronze with that are repeating are all really nice as well so you don't have to worry about that. They divided our classes into "has done bronze before" and "hasn't done bronze before" so you might not be in with them though!

We've hung up the Home Alone toy in the pergola, neither of the dogs have shown any interest in it yet. Then again they've also ignored the neighbours completely again today. Doesn't surprise me, they are little angels when we are home. We worked out that the treats are probably meant to come out the bottom hole that the rope is in, they will just have to be small treats

Satch has been snoozing in the sun all day, such a hard life, he hasn't even been for a walk! Ava has decided in the past few weeks that the best spot in the house is in our bedroom, in front of the window. She loves to watch the cars going past and the grass grow. She keeps falling asleep with her head on the window sill, it is so cute.

Here she is giving me the evil eye for making her stand still when she wanted to wriggle.

[lilli_star]

Awwww congratulations Elbie! And KTB and Mr KTB too

[koalathebear]

Well done KTB, Mr Koala and Elbie!

Thanks! A good day all 'round. We weren't sure how Elbie would be given the recent changes in handler and that sort of thing. I really hope that Elbie can improve in silver. Ava's so incredibly calm now - she looked so chilled out for her on the mat exercise!

The people I went through bronze with that are repeating are all really nice as well so you don't have to worry about that. They divided our classes into "has done bronze before" and "hasn't done bronze before" so you might not be in with them though!

But are the silver people nice???

We've hung up the Home Alone toy in the pergola, neither of the dogs have shown any interest in it yet. Then again they've also ignored the neighbours completely again today. Doesn't surprise me, they are little angels when we are home. We worked out that the treats are probably meant to come out the bottom hole that the rope is in, they will just have to be small treats

Oh ... that's interesting. The home alone ball is the same as the tucker ball and the hole is in the same place - I was guessing it was supposed to be for very tuggy dogs that might pull it sideways .. which unfortunately Elbie never did I hope it helps a little bit!!

That photo of Ava is awesome. There was no way I was going to get Elbie to pose with BOTH his certificate and ribbon.

lilli_star: thank you!!!

Edited September 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[Niques]

Congratulations Elbie and Ava! Sounds like a job well done! And very cute photos

[wuffles]

But are the silver people nice???

Yes, well, I went through beginners, bronze AND silver with them

[KumaAkita]

Well done Elbie, KTB, Mr Koala! Well done Wuffles and Ava!!! Sounds like you had an awesome morning. Sorry we missed it... Looking forward to starting again in a few weeks. Hope it isn't too hot, don't think Kuma will cope

[koalathebear]

Thanks KA! By the way, was your instructor for beginners the guy that looks a bit like Santa Claus? We encountered him this morning and he did not like Elbie at ALL because Elbie was so hyper and OH was saying: "Oh gosh I hope he isn't one of the examiners - he really does not like Elbie!" O the woes of having a naughty puppy - I wish he was placid like Kuma

Edited September 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[wuffles]

Thanks KA! By the way, was your instructor for beginners the guy that looks a bit like Santa Claus? We encountered him this morning and he did not like Elbie at ALL because Elbie was so hyper and OH was saying: "Oh gosh I hope he isn't one of the examiners - he really does not like Elbie!"

:D

Bit random, but once my dad (who has a beard and a bit rotund) was on his morning walk and went past a little boy playing with a ball. The ball rolled towards my dad, so he picked it up and gave it back to the boy. The boy said with wide eyes, "Oh! Thanks, Santa!"

[Clastic]

Bit random, but once my dad (who has a beard and a bit rotund) was on his morning walk and went past a little boy playing with a ball. The ball rolled towards my dad, so he picked it up and gave it back to the boy. The boy said with wide eyes, "Oh! Thanks, Santa!"

:D

[KumaAkita]

Thanks KA! By the way, was your instructor for beginners the guy that looks a bit like Santa Claus? We encountered him this morning and he did not like Elbie at ALL because Elbie was so hyper and OH was saying: "Oh gosh I hope he isn't one of the examiners - he really does not like Elbie!" O the woes of having a naughty puppy - I wish he was placid like Kuma

Yep... He only likes labs and poodles.