Lessons I've Learned In Obedience School

We brought Samba home when she was eight weeks old. By ten weeks she had learned to sit and down on command. It was a game. I had planned to teach these pups at about the same age, but then the ice storm struck and we were without electricity for twelve days with eight un-housebroken pups living in the kitchen. It not only set the housetraining back, but it set the other training back, too. Just keeping our sanity was our first priority. We're getting a very late start on training, but we're making progress.

When Samba was in class, she learned quickly, but became bored just as quickly. After 15 or 20 minutes she got tired of walking around in circles and sitting and lying down. If I couldn't come up with something new and more exciting, she just shut down. She would hang her head and drag around the room, wouldn't listen and would just curl up to sleep. The instructor told me it was my job to keep her attention, but having lived with PWDs for twenty years, I know they need more stimulation and shorter training periods.

I work with the pups several times a day, usually around meals, and only for short periods. I want it to be fun and not to wear them down. Tonight at dinner we made real progress. Sky caught on to 'down' and was doing it on his own. Lola has good reliable 'sits' and 'downs' both on her own. Bailey does good 'sits' and pretty good 'downs'.

Noah runs around like a nut and pretends that he doesn't know what I'm talking about, but he actually does do a pretty good 'sit' once I calm him down. Tess, as usual, has trouble concentrating, but is also doing a pretty good 'sit' if I can get her attention.

Norma Jean does a great, enthusiastic 'down' throwing herself on the ground with gusto. It makes me laugh because she's always so happy about everything she does. When I told her what a good girl she was, she wiggled all over the place.


Fudge is still doing his own version of 'down'. Tonight he kept hiding his face from the camera. I think he's tired of having his picture taken.

For a long time I've played a game with Samba at dinner time. I put her in a 'sit-stay' then set her bowl of food on the floor about a foot in front of her. She has to wait till I release her from her 'stay' before she can eat. I vary the length of time I make her wait and she quivers in excitement, but she holds her 'stay'. Tonight I tried it with Fudge and he only needed one reminder. I also tried putting him in a 'sit-stay' then taking three steps backwards, then walking toward him. I repeated the forward and back three times, released him and rewarded him. He's pretty pleased with himself.



Notice the paw over the face. These are three separate 'down' commands with exactly the same reaction.


I'm afraid I save everything. I have their puppy teeth in boxes and here are some of the many tags my dogs have worn over the years. There are ID tags, rabies tags, and license tags from various states. I guess I could make a funky sort of necklace with them.


Now I'm afraid we have to move on to the hardest thing to teach a PWD, 'stay'. This is going to take some time and a lot of patience on their part as well as my own. I only wish I had an extra set of hands.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's raining again. The grass doesn't get dry enough to mow between torrential rains and is almost a foot high in places. Rob got a chance to trim a little this afternoon, before the rain began, but it was to hot and humid to spend much time on it. The dogs, of course, do their part by grazing whenever they get the chance. I try to discourage grazing since it's often followed by green vomit, and I don't do well with vomit.



Here is a very wet Samba. It was raining during their dinner and they all ran outside afterwards but none stayed out very long. Even Tsar came in by himself.

We worked on our homework today. Lola is doing good 'sits' and 'downs' on command. She's really getting it and we'll start moving on to 'stay' tomorrow.

Bailey is doing consistent 'sits' and today I pushed her into 'down'. It didn't take much effort and she's lowering herself almost into position. By tomorrow she'll probably have it.

Sky was tough. He's known 'sit' for quite a while so today we tried 'down'. It took both Rob and me pushing together to get him into position. He is very strong. After a couple pushes, he was going down easier, though we still have to push lightly. He'll probably get it by tomorrow, too.

Noah was confused. We are just starting 'sit' with him. After a few tries, he was starting to do it, but he needs at least another day on 'sit'.


Tess, as usual, was distracted. She's been doing good 'sits' with Norma Jean, but it looks like she's just following Norma Jean and doesn't really connect the word with the action. It'll take another day on 'sit' for her and I need to keep her alone for the lesson.


Then there is Norma Jean. We don't call her the Jumping Bean for nothing. She jumps, spins, rolls over, licks my hands, is always in motion. She does 'sit' but it's really fast, sort of grazing the floor with her butt and back up again. Today with both Rob and I working together, we got her to sit for maybe 5 seconds and pushed her into a 'down'. She was easy to push down, she loves to be handled. She hasn't got it yet, but I don't think it'll be too long before she catches on.

I had a call today reporting that Grace not only loves swimming and riding in the boat, but today she dove off the dock by herself. Rob and I are going to try to go visit her this week and see her swim. I can't wait.


Morgan has her e-collar off. Her tail is healed and she's been leaving it alone. I couldn't stand to see her in that plastic collar any longer and so far she's been doing well without it. She does have an unusual hairdo due to the collar rubbing on her head and neck. She looks kind of punk. We're working our way through the mats a little at a time so as not to hurt her too much. I guess she and Fudge are both due for summer haircuts.


Since it's too wet to photograph any outside plants, I'll just do the inside ones.


This cactus is supposed to grow straight up, but has taken off in all directions. It makes it very hard to handle. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with it.

My friends, knowing my love of dogs, send me pictures of cute or funny dogs. Here is one that makes me laugh every time I see it. The caption was 'Cat? What cat?'

Lesson # 2

It's raining again. This isn't a gentle spring rain. This is thunder and lightning and rain falling in torrents. This is rain so hard that at times I can't see the house across the street. This is rain so hard that when I open the door to the yard, dogs stick their noses out, then turn and walk back inside.

I've been watching the flooding in Wisconsin and Iowa and I won't complain about the rain. We have a warm, dry house and the electricity has only gone out a couple of times.


This is Sky's new toy. It looks exactly like Bailey's new toy and Lola's new toy. Tess and Norma Jean have removed the squeakers from theirs without totally destroying the toys and I guess Noah doesn't like his as he's barely touched it.
This is why I buy toys at discount stores or on sale.

The big dogs haven't destroyed any of theirs yet. Monty carries one around at all times and gives it to me to watch while he eats or goes outside. I put them up at night as I don't want to hear any growling during the night when Fudge tries to steal someone else's toy.

Last night was our second obedience class. We've been working hard all week but I was sure we would be the dumbest dogs in class anyway. We weren't. Fudge did great sits and downs every time. We worked on 'leave it' and he did well. Maybe he just has so much hair over his eyes he didn't see the treats on the floor. I have been teaching stay wrong and I don't know what to do about it. I have been rewarding him when I release him from his stay. I am supposed to reward him while he's staying. Now if I do that, he breaks his stay. I guess instead of confusing him, I should continue as I started.

Here is Fudge sitting.


This is Fudge in a 'down'. I know his form isn't great, but we can work on that, at least he's down.

Lola is doing a pretty consistent 'sit' now and we started on 'down' yesterday. In class she did a couple of each before she totally lost her ability to concentrate on anything other than the dog next to her. Her attention span is only about 10 or 15 minutes long and an hour class is just way too much for her. Rob wound up taking her for a walk.

Tess, Sky, and Norma Jean are doing good consistent sits and yesterday Bailey started sitting on her own without being pushed into position. Now on to 'down'. Noah will start on 'sit' tonight.

I can't get photos of the pups in 'sit' position. If I pick up the camera, they jump up. Maybe this weekend I can get Rob to snap some pictures with his faster camera while I give the commands.

I did get photos of the big dogs. When I was taking Fudge's picture, they all wanted to show me how they can sit, too.

Samba in 'sit'.


Samba does 'down'.


Morgan is sitting. Take my word for it.


Monty always sits when told .


Tsar in a 'sit'.

They all like to show how smart they are. Next week we start 'heel'. That's a tough one that I have never been successful in teaching. Maybe this time. We'll continue to work on 'sit', 'down' and add 'stay' this week and see if we get totally muddled up or if we can keep up with the class.

Toys 4 Dogs

Monday it rained all day. I'm not complaining because we've had severe droughts every year since we moved here and we can use the rain. The dogs, on the other hand, are not happy about all this rain. Even the Water Dogs are tired of always going out in the rain and the resulting mud. It always smells like wet dog around here and the 48 muddy paws are more than I can keep up with. The new steam carpet cleaner has been getting a workout.

We have been trying to fight rainy day boredom by working on our homework for class. Fudge is doing good sits and downs even though he complains every time. I'm getting used to his grumbling.

Lola has finally learned 'sit'. Tess has also learned it. They seem to learn a lot by watching each other. Bailey will sit if I touch her back with one finger, but still won't do it on her own. Sky and Norma Jean have been sitting for some time. I haven't started Noah yet because he hasn't been feeling well this week, the end of the raging poops. Tonight we start 'down' with the pups.



Since everyone seemed a little blue this morning we made a trip to the discount store and picked up twelve new toys. Since the average life of a stuffed toy is 24 hours or less, I don't mind so much if the toy only costs two dollars.






We found a Husky for Tsar.


Aren't these cute?


The pups got identical toys so there would be no arguments.


Monty chose the Dodo Bird. No comment.


Samba chose the Flamingo.


Fudge got a Mr. Grumpy exactly like the one Monty has. He's been trying to steal Monty's all week.


Lucy has a pink Loofa Dog.




Tsar liked his Husky.


Morgan chose a sheep that quacks like a duck. I guess that's why it was at the discount store.

The dogs all love to get presents, so this is turning into a good day, afterall.

School Daze

Today is Saturday. On Thursday evening we began obedience school. We took Fudge and Lola. Fudge has become a bully and I hate it. He loves to have the other dogs chase him. He'll nip at Samba or one of the pups and they, understanding what he wants, will give chase. If Samba is doing something more important or just doesn't feel like chasing, she'll growl at him and that's that.

If there isn't anyone else around to give chase he'll nip at Monty or Tsar. They don't seem to understand this invitation the way the Water Dogs do and they don't like being nipped. Instead of chasing, they'll growl or snap back. This really excites Fudge and he gets more aggressive with them. That's when I step in.

It's gotten to the point where Fudge will wait at the foot of the stairs or behind the door to the garage so he can snap at the other boys. Monty and Tsar now hang back until I get between them and Fudge. I want this stopped.

Fudge has also been known to urine mark in the house. I can never catch him at it and have to put him in a crate when I leave the house. When I'm home I keep him in the same room with me and have used scat mats and belly bands to impress on him that his behavior is unacceptable.

I decided to enroll him in class to teach him that I am the boss, not him. He already knows how to sit, down and stay on command, but he doesn't like to do it. I think this class is more for me than him. I know what I have to do, but now the pressure of the class is forcing me to do it.


Lola is another story. Lola knows her name and she comes when called, but that's about it. In class she was so excited at seeing the other dogs that she even forgot her name. Rob couldn't get her attention at all and she wasn't interested in treats. We could barely force her into a sit. Rob was very discouraged.

I gave all the dogs a good run when we got home, then crated them. At yogurt time, I took them into the garage two at a time and with a spoonful of yogurt as the reward I pushed each of the girls into a sit. By the end of the yogurt I just had to touch their backs with a finger and they would sit.

The next morning I started with their breakfast, one piece of kibble at a time. It was a long, slow meal. Last night I repeated with dinner and yogurt. Tonight at dinner, I took Lola by herself and with the very first piece of kibble she sat without me touching her. She is finally starting to get it.

Our class is called Canine College, but it's more like nursery school.



I made the boy elephant as a baby gift. I kept the girl.





One of the Organizations I knit for is called 'Caps For Kids'. I try to make every hat different and fun. It's pretty easy to make a hat in an evening while watching tv.





Baby blankets take longer, but they're also fun. Again, I try to make each a little different. The blankets go to hospitals.

Here are some more doggy blankets. The dogs don't care about color. It's a good chance to use up leftover yarn or colors that are too ugly for any other use.

For Better or Worse

Goopy eye and the raging poops is not a new rock band. I need to impress on my readers (both of them) that these are serious technical medical terms. We are getting control of both of these lovely conditions, however I do have a complaint to take up with the medical community and the pharmacology community.

I was issued this ridiculous bottle of eye drops to be applied three times a day to three eyes.

Please notice that the shiny object is a quarter. This gives you the idea of the size of this bottle. Now, if my dogs would sit quietly with their eyes wide open while I administered these drops, this bottle might be useful. However, when I approach my dogs with this bottle in hand, first they try to hide. When that doesn't work they squeeze their eyes shut so tightly that I have trouble actually finding their eyes. Only my extensive knowledge of anatomy helps me locate the eye.

Once I have located the eye, I force the lids apart and prepare to place one drop in the offending eye. At that moment the dog moves it's head causing the drop to land either on it's ear or my wrist. We then begin the process over again. Needless to say the number of drops provided in this bottle is inadequate for the purpose intended. Folks, I need the giant family size bottle of eye drops, about a quart.

When I stuck a new card in my camera, I discovered some pictures from January 2007 that I had forgotten about. Here are some pictures of the pups when they were about ten weeks old. I believe they were taken during our big ice storm when the pups had to live in the kitchen.


Baby Noah


Baby Gib


Baby Tess


Norma Jean and Sky


Norma Jean and Noah

We have a woman in the PWD community who refers to herself as a "Poopologist", one who studies poop. We have had a number of e-mails about her project to perfect poop flags. These would be small capsules that the dog would consume with his meal. When the meal is recycled the capsule would dissolve and a little flag would pop up showing where the poop is located. This would make pick up easier, especially in tall grass. The flags would be color coded so that someone with several dogs could tell which poop belonged to which dog. This would be handy for medical purposes as a change in poop often is the first sign of illness.

So far, although the dog world waits patiently, the poop flag concept has not been perfected.

I did make an accidental discovery along the same lines recently. Sky has several glow balls, there are several pictures on previous postings of him with his favorite toys. These are plastic balls that absorb sunlight, then glow in the dark. They are great for playing fetch after dark. About a month ago I found that one of the pups had brought a glow ball into the house with them and chewed it up. We were all very disappointed that one of our favorite toys was destroyed.

Later in the evening I discovered that the culprit was Bailey, because her poop glowed in the dark. I must report this to our poopologist.


Today we found this new toy for Monty. It's grumpy,just like him. He's carried it around all day.