Some of you may know that I'm looking for a second dog. It's an really exciting time, I can barely wait to find the perfect dog for my little family. I've come to the choice of getting a sheltie bitch puppy. I feel like I've an pretty high standard for the puppy. First off, most of the bloodline should be tested for PRA and HD. Could accept some exceptions if the tests are clear for the rest of the line. I would like to be able to use her in shows and obedience, maybe another sort of sport if she likes it more. I don't want her to be related to Beethoven. Mentality are very important for me, so it's important that the dam and sire are stable dogs that aren't nervous and that they can handle new situations without much stress. I could accept barking and vocal use, as long as it isn't hysterical barking on everything that moves.
I plan on using her in breeding, that's why I'm keeping such high standard. Of course, things can go wrong, so she won't necessary be suitable for breeding purposes. But I'll try to get a good starting point as possible.
So the last months I've been studying pedigrees, health statuses, show results... All possible things there's to find about the dogs. I've found some promising dams, and also some that gave me goosebumps (not in a good way.). How do you really know you've found the right combination? It can look good on paper, but you never know. I guess it's just to follow the gut feeling if everything else seems to be perfect. No one are psychic, so just time will tell what the result would be. I still got plenty of time, so there's no rush on the decision. But it's nerve wracking this waiting and researching period.
Dogs love to feel useful for their owners. Like they have an important job to do. It doesn't have to be an big job either. What can these tasks be, you may ask. Some dogs carries backpacks for their owners or pull carts. Some dogs closes the door after walking in.
Now in winter, my little ball of fur carries my gloves up the stairs to my apartment. Of course, I could carry them myself, but my dog lights up every time he's allowed to. He also fetches my keys before going on a walk. (probably wouldn't do it if he had bigger mouth though.)
These are really simple tasks for a dog to do, and it doesn't make a bother for the owner. Other tasks may be fetching the newspaper, a bottle, cleaning up his toys, carrying the leash, waking up the kids for school, helping with the laundry... The list goes on and on. It's just creativity that limits the options. I believe that dogs gets more harmonic if they get to do things in the household. To be a part of the family in a different way and to have a task that's for him only.If a little task makes your dog happy, why wouldn't you allow him to?
All dogs needs to use their nose and
mind to be satisfied. Some dogs more than others. Therefore I gonna
write about different exercises to do with the dog for little or no
money. I'm not sure how often I'll write, but on a regular basis.
This time you only need a towel (or more) and the dogs food. Everyone
got a towel in their home, that's not being used much or don't mind
getting dirty. Instead of keeping the towel in the closet, use it for
a nice workout for the dog. Isn't limited what you can make this
into.
Spread the food on the towel and wrap
it around. Fold it or make a knot or two on it. For a young and/or
inexperienced dog, just wrapping and folding will be the best option
to start with. Some dogs give up if they don't figure things out.
Wouldn't take to many times before the dog master the basic skill.
Here's one option to use. Beethoven's working on a two towel, there
one of them is knotted two places. The first layer are wrapped that
way so it doesn't get up too easily also. He's 6 months old, and have
a lot of experience with nose work and puzzles.
Monday – The day off. Took him
instead for a long walk in the forrest.
Tuesday – Morning training. Worked on
something new, something old and something reput into our training.
We was kind of bored with the old stuff, so we played around with a
box. Learned him to step in the box and sit down in it. Beethoven
loved it, was so much more fun than working on the same damn thing
all the time. A short session of heel, took up the demands a little
higher than usuall, and he stayed focused the whole time. Hold the
contact very well. I think that's probably the best heel we've ever
done togheter. Last but not least, dumbbell. Still little progress in
it, but it's better than it used to. He has started to get the point
with the dumbbell, but still not in favor of holding it or picking it
up from the floor. Plenty more work to do with this one.
Wednesday – Hormones! Beet was in a
purely bad stage in his development, so we didn't work for a long
period of time. The demands were low today, just a second of sit were
enough to get reward. I think it's good to step back from time to
time, to keep the dog motivated. And also, when everything else is so
interesting, it's nothing else you can do to make the dog master the
skill, even though not the same way as before. Worked some on heel
today as well. He did well in these circumstances. Ended the training
while Beet was on top to make it more fun next time we're training.
After the training session we took a short walk with some call in
practice. All 4 times I called him, he came as fast as he could.
Should mention these call ins were with distractions. Plenty of
food/treats and play for such a good boy. Not sure yet if I gonna
train him again tomorrow. Maybe I'll just take him to a new place to
explore. If he is on top again tomorrow, I'll probably take a short
training in the morning with dumbbell. If he's full of hormones, just
a new envirement are enough. On the evening walk we trained some
call-in again. Came every time.
Thursday – Environment training. Took
the puppy to a center to let him get used to such surroundings. Was
very confident and curious. Dealt with the change in a good way.
Some contact exercises before going back home. I'll probably take
him to the city soon, to make him comfortable also there. In the
evening we took a short training with siting in the box. You can
watch the training session here.
Friday – No training today. I was
sick, so I couldn't function well enough to focus on working the dog.
So we just walked some good walks in his favorite area. He was full
of hormones today as well, so figured I wouldn't get well with him.
He also help me with my work. Good dog.
Having a dog in a apartment could be made easy. We're told that having a dog in a apartment isn't possible. Personally, I've one dog in my little apartment and it works perfectly. The dog gets all he needs and are able to function indoors. Of course, it's a little harder without a yard, but it's fully doable if you put your mind into it. When having a dog in a small home, it's importent to take the dog out so he can work his body and brain. There's some cheap games that you can get for your little dog to keep his mind busy. I'll write about these in another post. These games are not replacement for regular exercise, but the dog needs some bothers to take care off. Usually a dog gets more tired of working on these tasks. Probably just like humans, it's very tiresome to work on a mind task. The apartment would be a base, mostly for sleeping, relaxation and eating. It's important to teach the dog to be calm indoors.
Things that can be harder when living in a apartment:
housebreaking the puppy/dog - usually it's a longer way to get the puppy out. Therefore a lot of people are too slow taking him out. This is mostly laziness.
Getting about right stimulation for the dog - Also a hard one. It can go both ways. It's usually too little stimulation, but in some cases it's too much, since the owner overdo it.
Living in a apartment is no reason for not owning a dog. However, the dog should be wanted and the owners devoted.
Everyone has heard of this tool. It's like a God in grooming equipment. Fascinated by the crowd, I brought a small Furminator for long haired dogs on Pawsup.no for 244 nkr (About 40 us dollar.). I've heard a lot of horror stories about the product, such as scaring on the dog and damage to the fur. Got it in the mail today and took it for a test ride. Keep in mind that it may be different to another type of fur. My dog sleep in the bed and on the couch, so I was looking for a tool that could grip the hairs nicely for keeping my washing machine safe. Even though I've brushed him for a longer period, I still could see there was loose hair in his fur. So I was looking for a better tool to use for shedding.
Used on: 5,7 months old Shetland sheepdog puppy (Beethoven.)
What tool: Furminator deShedding tool (1,75" edge) long haired for small breeds.
My opinion: Really nicely formed tool, fits the hand well. Just about right weight for the job. I brushed through Mr B a little earlier on the day, since I didn't think the tool would come here so soon. However, the tool got a grip on all the loose hairs. I've never got so much loose hair on one grooming session ever. I didn't use the tool for a long period, probably just 2-3 minutes. Weighted the fur afterwards and it was 3 g. That's a lot for a little dog. He wasn't in a shedding period even. The puppy was sitting still the whole grooming session, he even seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't see any damage to the fur afterwards, and it looked like the same. I would definitely use the tool again, because this was a bless.
Rating: 5 out of 5. I don't see any fault with this one. Does it's job effectively and gently. I like the feature that what type of fur its written on the blade. Would be very useful for people with multiple dogs with different furs.
I like to chat and communicate with people and my readers. If you like you can whenever you want to send me an email at gryheg92@gmail.com.
I'm also available at twitter under unsafewand. Add me both there and at google+ if you did like. I'm a active user of the fiddlerman.com forum under the nick hatefulpain, for anyone who's interested in violins. Feel free to add comments, I'll answer most of the time. What can I do better, what would you like to see more off. I'll like to hear it all. See you around.
This case makes me sick to my stomach. Not brutal graphic, just a cute picture of a newborn kitty for those who worries about such things. It's really sickening what the human kind can do to such poor animals. Some experiments are acceptable, but when it's so meaningless and without good reasoning like this, it's just cruel and unnecessary. It can't be anything else than the money trail speaking. Not just the case itself, but also the fact that 33.51% find this research acceptable. What's wrong with people? How can anyone find this acceptable, that's my question. No wonder the world is the way it is. These poor kittens will never be able to live a normal life, and people are fine with it. A different research told that people care more about animals than other human beings, if so, we're domed.
What about the breeders of the kittens? Did they know what the poor kittens would be used for? If so, they could not really care much for the poor cats. As a former cat breeder myself, I would never get how someone would have given away their cats for such matter. These cases makes me wonder where the hell the morale are going. We hear about this stuff everyday, still it's okay and people pay with their taxes to do such things. Wake up, that's all I've to say. I know this isn't dog related, but I just had to write about this awful article, since I'm a animal lover of all types of animals.
