Wordless Wednesday- chill time

Monday Mischief at the show...

 

Millie and I have been very busy at Newark Competitive Obedience show. We do the pre-beginners and beginners class.

 We have to do:
 1 minute sit stay, 2 minute down stay (Millie uses this as extra sleeping time, I pretend to be a very still soldier).
Walking to heel on lead and off lead (boring, we would both rather sniff).
Fetch a dumbell (cool, good game).
Recall present (fun because you get to run to Mum).

Millie did well for a little while, but she got bored after an hour or so, and even did some yoga stretches and poses, when she should have been doing down stay.

I was too excited to do any of it. There were sooo many fun people and dogs to see. I did give the judge a special kiss on the cheek when I went in the ring for my turn.

You can see some pictures here of the clever people and dogs who won rosettes.

Show pictures

In 3rd place was a St Bernard, we loved him. You do not see many giant breeds at competitive obedience shows. Thank you Sheffield GSD for a fun day.

Mum and Millie

Thanks to Alfie's Blog, Snoopy's Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog's Life for hosting this blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday-Spring Flowers

Bird Watching

It is very hard to get a picture of Dexter. Normally when I point the camera at him, he rushes towards me, "What's that Mum, why are you holding it up in front of your face Mum, let me lick it ."  Dexter also very rarely sits still.

We have lots of birds in our garden building nests at the moment. Dexter is very interested in birds and loves chasing pigeons.  Dexter knows that a good bird watcher has to sit very, very still.  Which meant I could get a couple of cute spring photographs.

Day One Tellington Touch/ Harness Trial

Dexter didn't have his first walk until we adopted him; he was 7 months old. The first few times he went for a walk he walked nicely. What I did not realise was that he was nervous, and once he got his confidence the pulling began. Dexter pulls really bad, to the extent he will often be walking along on his hind legs.

Every time I walk him at least three people will stop and  say "Who is walking who?", I have to smile like I haven't heard that one before. I see people in their cars smiling and pointing at the crazy spaniel, I guess he looks kind of cute on his back legs. In reality it's not good for Dexter to be walking in such unbalanced way and it's not good for my arms!

 In obedience class he does beautiful loose lead walking, but in the real world there are just too many people, interesting smells, and other dogs for him to want to walk calmly. I have consulted two different trainers to try to help; we have tried:

• Using a clicker and food rewarding him when he walks to heel. I have been doing this for nearly a year.  I try to build up the distance between treats, but if the treats aren't constant he is back to the end of the lead.
• Stopping and walking in the opposite direction when he pulls. He jumps to my heel as soon as I stop, walks nicely for a few steps, then he is off again.
• One trainer suggested checking him, I just can't do it. Same goes for any kind of a control collar.

I saw an advert in a magazine for a harness, which is designed for kind reward based training and uses a method called Tellington Touch. I ordered one and it arrived today. It has two rings to connect to the lead, at two points, and is padded and lined with fleece.  I am armed with a book and I am going to have a go and see if we can figure this out ourselves, to improve his loose lead walking. If not I will contact a Tellington Touch practitioner. 

Dexter gets lots of exercise, and has lots of fun with his dog sports; but I would just like for him to be able to go for a nice calm walk through town now and again.  Training starts tomorrow!

Dexter modeling his new harness