Lola's absolute favorite toy is a stuffed Rooster that "crows", rather than squeaks.

It's soft & fuzzy and makes a cool sound & is perfect for playing tug.

"I like to tug with my best friend Penny"

After many, many play sessions "Mr. Chicken" looks like this:

So I keep a bunch of extra Roosters on hand for when the squawk box is smashed or he's been killed & gutted.

"Mr. Chicken...meet (new & improved) Mr. Chicken"

But if he's still squawkin', Lola doesn't care if his face is ripped off...

"Are you done taking pictures of Mr. Chicken yet? Can I have him????"

"Thank you."

"Scotty!!! Look what I have!"

Training progress (2-5-07):

It was a negative 3 degrees this morning when I took Sherman out. The temps were up to a balmy 8 degrees by the time I got home from work. Still too cold for walking.

Penny – worked more on the Swing finish. She’s getting it. I don’t know why this is so hard for us…seems like it comes pretty easy to other dogs. She did 5 out of 6 Finishes correctly (form wasn’t perfect…but I’m not concerned with that yet) and in a separate session I got 6 out of 8. Did some SitStays….I’m working on longer out-of-sight Stays & bigger distractions. I’ve been tossing food all around her after cueing the Stay. Also doing all kind of obnoxious movements (jumping up & down, running away, laying on the floor). She never broke once.

Lola - she is such a fun little dog to train. It’s kind of freakish how quickly she picks up on stuff. As soon as she sees the clicker she’s starts throwing herself into all of her behaviors to see what will work. I always back her up and ask for something easy to start. Played around with fun stuff she new (Spin, Weave, Twirl). Then did some basic not so fun stuff (Stays, heeling, quarter turns, Fronts). Worked on paw targeting as I haven’t taught her to shake yet. Took her a little while to figure out I wasn’t gonna click for nose targeting, but once she got it…she got it good. She was offering me her paw to shake in no time.

Sherman – Dynamic Dogs was held at the shelter. This is a really great group of dogs & handlers. We all seem pretty comfortable with each other & the dogs all get along well. Even Sherman. Marsha started class with a discussion about the Dog Flu and how there have been reports of dogs infected in our area. She also discussed the risks of doing Therapy work in hospitals and nursing homes due to infectious diseases. Next week, we go back to Pitt & are meeting with someone from the student newspaper, Pitt News, will be doing a story on the WPHS & the TDI dogs from class. Pretty cool.

Then we got to work. Did some round-the-room heeling and Figure Eights with the dogs as posts & Sherman did really well. He has pretty decent attention. Did lots of stays with distractions...Sherman's stay needs some work. He lays down on the Sits and can only hold a Down for 20 - 30 seconds. Marsha had us line up all the dogs, put them in a Stay & walk across the room. The idea was to call each dog by name, & your dog wasn't to move unless he/she was called. Didn't go so well. We tried several times w/ several different patterns and only 2 or 3 dogs could do it. None of us took it too seriously & it's really hard not to laugh when your dog is enthusiastically trotting toward you. So we all moved to the outside of the room & put the dogs on Stay in a circle with their backs to each other. This worked so much better. Every dog held their stay and only came when they were called by name. I love this class!

We've done no training & no walking this weekend. It was 1 degree when I woke up this morning. The only exercise the girls have gotten is by playing.

And yes, they are playing in this picture. If you think it looks bad...you should hear it!

"I love my Daddy".

"And he loves me!"

It continues to be very snowy & cold here in Western PA. Today wasn't so bad (temps in low 30s) but this weekend it's supposed to dip into the single digits. Not a big fan of that!

The dogs haven't been getting walked b/c it's just too flipping cold. But they do burn off some energy by running around in the yard.


Lola likes to eat snow...

And once they're done zoomin' outside, Penny likes to warm herself by the fire.

I'm assisting in Annette's Adult class on Wednesday's so we moved Lola from Super Puppy to Advanced Puppy. She did fine getting into the building but got a bit snarky with another dog going into class. It may be time for the GL to go. At least in situations where she will be getting up close to another dog.

Advanced is the second class in the puppy series and the first part of class is puppy play time. Well Lola just loved that. She is wonderful with dogs off leash & there was a little Brittany that insisted on humping her. She didn't correct him but did try to get away. There were two small dogs that Marsha confined to an ExPen so they didn't get rolled. A little black scruffy mix that Lola was dying to play with. It was very cute...they kept play bowing with each other through the bars.

This class is very approriate for her attention span right now. We did heeling, figure 8's and started working on Stays with distractions. Lola, of course, did her best to impress all by throwing herself into every trick she knows.

She's got jjooowwwlly lips...

and fuuuunnnnyy teeth.

Penny & I had class with Ruth tonight. She was pretty distracted at the beginning and wasn't real interested in paying attention to me. But about 10 minutes into class, she found her focus. This class is awesome. We did a lot of heeling, stays and recalls. Ruth has a lot of great ideas for proofing stays & attention. Penny's SitStay is pretty reliable, but her DownStay could use some work. She's never tipped her hip & always downs in a sphynx position. Stands are crap, but the Stand Stay is surprisingly decent. We still struggle with that damn Swing Finish. I did way too much luring & exaggerated movement backward in the beginning and never really weaned off it.

I put on a big pot of chicken legs in the slowcooker right before we went to bed. BAAAAddd idea! By 3:00 am the smell of cooking chicken woke me up from a deep sleep. It also woke up Sherman who whined & cried for a good 2 hours b/c he wanted to eat chicken. Note to self...don't do that again.

Sherman & I had a blast at Dynamic Dogs tonight. Marsha took the class to Univ. of Pitt's Oakland campus to visit with some students. My little Bubba did such a great job...both with all of the other dogs & the students. Marsha brought Sandy, her Cocker Spaniel and there was a mini poodle, a toy/mini Rat Terrier & a GSDx. All of us are recent TDI grads & this really gets the dogs used to many different environments. We walked around the Cathedral of Learning & hung out with some students in one of the classrooms.

Sherman was on his A+ bestest behavior. He actually tried to play with some of the other dogs & other than that, he just hung out like a totally normal dogs (Sherman can get grouchy & bossy with other dogs...especially other males that are bigger than him). He was very friendly with everyone he met and was particularly fond of the 1/2 dozen butt rubs he got from some lovely female undergrads. I was very proud of my little man.

And I'm happy to report, Sherman did a great job of securing Pitt's campus. I think that was his favorite part!

"We love Chicken Jerky!!!!"


"Look how nice we sit when Mom gets out the bag"

"Lola...you'd better drop it or I'll bite you in the face!"

"I let a bunch of strange kids hug & kiss on me all day yesterday. You owe me! Hand it over!"

So my very busy Saturday started at the ass-crack of dawn (7:45 to be exact). Lola was going to Camp! She was very excited, but a perfect lady on the trip there.

"Are we there yet???"

After I dropped her off, I went to assist Debby with class at Animal Friends. It was an hour long "Companion Dog Manners" class and afterward, I zipped over the the Western PA Humane Society to assist my friend Bob with his classes. He has three classes...Teen Intervention, Puppy & Advanced Puppy (all classes Lola has taken, some more than once).

After class, Scotty dropped Penny off at the shelter & we headed over to the Shaler Library to do Reading with Rover. It didn't go as well as I would have liked. Penny was pretty distracted by the other dogs & didn't want to lay down much. She did for 75% of the time & met a few really nice kids (one of which took a huge liking to her & gave her a zillion hugs). But she freaked out at one of the other volunteer's dogs (Mary Ann's Sam) and kinda scared a couple kids. Nice. I quickly smoothed things over by telling them that Sam scared her b/c he was so big and she didn't want him to hurt her. They all understood and one little boy told me how he yells at the bigger kids at school if they come around him at lunch time b/c they scare him (his Mother seemed a little taken back) and it was all good after that. One boy read Penny a story about Ears and told me she was much prettier than the other dogs there. We're gonna try to go another time & if she seems as stressed as this time, we won't go again. Sherman would be wonderful at this but I need to make it clear to the kids that they cannot hug or lay on him. I'm gonna talk to Joy about that.

Then Penny & I went home and rested till it was time to pick Lola up. I checked on Lola a few times & she was supervising. She's the white dot on top of the A frame...her favorite spot!

I picked Lola up, ordered a cheesesteak hoagie, watched Weird Science & went to bed. It was a long day!

Winter's finally here!!! I actually like the snow & as our winters seem to be getting shorter a couple of months of snowy days are OK with me. But the last few days it's been frigid! It was 8 degrees when I took Sherman out this morning. He turned himself around to go home, which never happens!

Recently Lola's been waking up @ 2:30/3 and crying & banging on her crate. Twice I've taken her out b/c I thought she might be sick. Nope...just wants to sleep in our bed. The dogs all have to sleep on the floor as 3 dogs in a Queen sized bed does not make for a good night's sleep. Sherman is tethered b/c he's Sherman & Penny usually stays put till about 4 am & then she'll sneak up & curl herself into a teeny ball. I rarely know she's even there.

Well I realized that I had taken Lola's fleece blankie out of her crate to wash & never replaced it. She has a dog bed in there but she's used to snuggling with her blankie. So I got smart & put a new one in & she's slept peacefully through the night for a week.

"I wouldn't make a fuss if you'd let me sleep with my best friend Penny. We can both fit on this bed just fine."

Training Progress:

It has been entirely too cold to do anything productive on our walks. I did take Lola to Marsha's Super Puppy class and she's officially in love. His name is George and he looks kinda like this:

He's the size of a baby elephant and they had their first kiss on Wednesday. He was a little nervous to walk up the stairs so Lola planted a big sloppy wet one on him & encouraged him to follow her to class. She's also quite smitten with his Mom, Amy and thinks she'll make a fine Mother in Law.

Lola did really well in class. Our best in a while. Any time I wasn't paying attention to her, she'd go through her bag of tricks. Sit, Down, Bang!, Roll over, Spin, Down, Stare at Mom. It was quite cute really. She did great on all the heeling and her recall was adoreable. We did it across the whole room & she stayed in a Sit while I walked away. She did stand when I turned to face her but when I said Lola, Come!...she shot across the room to me like she was on fire. We practiced a lot of Stays with distractions (we need work in this!) and she could not resist kissing Marsha & Kelly when they came over to do the Sit for Exam. We did supervised separation for the first time and I was happy to hear that she whimpered a bit but then just hung out & waited for me. We did dog to dog introductions and she was awesome. She totally ignored the other dogs both time. She was fine meeting Marsha in the wheelchair but did not like the metal water bucket that was flung on the floor (it's LOUD!). She didn't want to investigate it at all (even with a salmon cookie placed inside) but once I turned it upside down, she ate a cookie off the top & decided it wasn't so bad. Could Lola be turning into a normal dog??? She didn't bark or flip out once...Not even coming into the building with all the other dogs leaving the previous class. She did do the little Lola Grrrrrr Rrrrrrr at George, but that's b/c she loves him & wanted to play.

Training Progress ( 1-22-07)

Sherman - recruited our neighbor Jezron to come to the Dynamic Dogs class and test the TDI dogs around kids. Shermie knows Jez & was fine. Most of the other dogs did really well too. I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces in class...Timber (the Rotti Sherm is very jealous of), Cowboy (Penny's boyfriend), Maxwell (the stupendous Spinone Italiano ) & Oscar (Kelly's adorable little Poodle, at least I think he's a poodle...I'm terrible at ID small curly breeds!). I tried very hard not to compare Sherman to Penny & it was easy in that they both have their own strengths. I can leave Sherman w/o him panicking. I can walk him across any surface w/o a problem, he's not afraid of anything and he's exceptionally happy to be hanging out with Mom. His only issue is other dogs & while I can control him with a Leave It or Look!, he likes to make a lot of noise. But we did ride in the elevator w/ two little dogs w/o incident. He didn't even look at them. And his heeling is pretty bad, but he's very good at LLW so I could care less if he stays in heel position.

Penny & Lola - took them both on walks w/o any problems. Practiced all of the usual stuff and am happy to report, they both acted like completely normal dogs!

Training progress (1-23-07)

Lola - did some fun clicker stuff. Worked on a few tricks...Spin, Twirl, Bang! and Get it! She remembered all of them. Played around with the Swing finish & she was sliding into heel w/ only a hand signal in about 3 minutes. I love the Clicker!! Actually Lola loves the clicker...or better yet, understands the clicker! Makes my life a lot easier.

Penny - took her to Ruth's Advanced class. It was awesome! We did lots of heeling patterns, worked on the Swing & Round finish (Penny picked up the Round a lot quicker than Swing) and worked Stays/Recalls. Penny was the first one to go & she was really stellar. Ruth had us put the dogs in a SitStay and walk around in random patterns. We could go up to them & reinforce the stays but the goal was to avoid the anticipation of being called. Not only did Penny not break, but she did a beautiful front (OK, it was a little crooked & not as close as I would have liked...but I was beaming!). We did some DownStays with distractions & Penny was next to a very handsome APDT that she was just dying to play with (they were making wiggle eyes at each other), but she never broke. We also practiced Back Up, which Penny knows to mean back away from the door, but it was good to practice having her back away from me. Ruth asked if I intended to compete with Penny. And then told me I should. I'll admit, Penny is awesome. Especially being the first dog I've ever trained (and we started only 3 years ago). She said Penny would have no problem getting her CD. But what about her "bundle of nerves" handler??? We'll see. I'm going to see if I can ILP her & then decide.

So we got a little more snow today. Snow gives Lola the zoomies!



Sherman thinks this is perfect "hunting" weather!

He hasn't caught anything...yet!

Someone found her big girl voice!!

Lola is always the last one to finish any chewie. Most likely due to her funny teeth. So, she's chewing away on a fresh dehydrated pig ear and Penny walks over to see just what's taking her so long. GGGGGRRRRRRrrrr! And it came from Lola!!! She has never, ever growled at either of the other two. They just usually growl at her! Been a long time comin', I suppose!


Now does this look like a grumbly dog to you??? She's very good at the sweet & innocent routine.

Training progress (01-18-07):

Walked all 3 separately again. Man, I'm sure am getting a workout these days! Nothing earth shattering to report. Still working on recalls w/ Sherman, LLW with Penny & reactivity issues with Lola. Everyone's doing really well & I'm looking forward to a wonderful Spring!!

Training progress (01-17-06):

Penny & I have our first solo therapy visit on the 27th. We're going to read to kids at a local library. Our TDI coordinator suggested we work on getting our dogs to lay on a mat and practice reading to them. So Penny & I worked on getting her to lay quietly on the mat. I gave up trying to shape it & just directed her where to go. She laid right down & held her Stay.

Then we worked on the reading part. I should note that Penny hates when we read, especially the newspaper or magazines. When we're reading, we can't be paying attention to her & that is just rude (according to Penny). So, she laid on the mat while I read her People magazine & gently stroked her. She liked that. We're going to practice that a couple nights a week so she can get used to it.

She can also read, all by herself.

"Ashlee Simpson looks way better since she had her nose done"

Lola - Took her to Marsha's Super Puppy class. When we got to the shelter, there were 8-10 little dogs coming out of the previous class. They were all walking through the parking lot and Lola gave a couple little growls, but stopped when I told her to leave it. We had to wait outside for them to let us in & a PWD puppy came bounding up to the door. Lola got very wiggly & I made her Sit & Wait and asked the guy if she could say hello. He said sure & they had a blast getting to know each other. Once inside, a woman we know from other classes came over to say hello with her new dog. He basically jumped Lola & started fighting with her & she fought back. We quickly broke it up & she calmed down quickly. After that she was stellar. She was a bit nervous about a 150 Mastiff b/c he was giant (and is still a puppy!) but I asked her to Leave It & she did. We did lots of Heeling, Stays, Recalls and handling. This class is basically a CGC/TDI prep class for puppies so we'll focus on several parts of the test. Marsha came over to do the exam and I had Lola sit & told her to Wait. This worked beautifully!! She didn't jump or move (but she did give Marsha a couple kisses) One of my concerns for her is she's too friendly & wants to jump on people & kiss them in the face. We had a great class & I'm very hopeful that Lola is going to be a normal dog one day. I just have to put the time in now till she matures. I went through the exact same thing with Penny & Penny is perfect (almost). We'll get there.

Lola loves to sit on the couch & watch TV. Notice how she sits like a person.

Training progress (1-16-07)

Sherman - My boy is in heaven! It was 30 degrees during our walk & he had an amazing spring in his step. (Sherman has a very thick heavy undercoat and one of the 10+ breeds in him is probably something Nordic. Probably Husky...may be why he hates them so much). Our walks have become so much fun. A lot less sniffing & a lot more running. I can call him away from things much easier. At intersections, what was once "Sherman, Stop...Sit...Wait" is now mostly automatic or Stop (he then Sits & Waits).

Lola - bundled the little skinny girl up in Penny's coat & off we went. I've had an attitude adjustment & it shows. I'm becoming more assertive with her, which gives me more confidence and, in turn, her more confidence. There was about 10 seconds of stress whining/growling on the porch and zero barking at other dogs/people. We saw all kinds of people & 2 dogs. When she saw the dogs I told her Leave It and she'd turn her attention to me. She did get a little anxious when we turned on our street, but I asked for attention & we did some heeling & she calmed down immediately. These are the good days!

Penny - took her to Ruth's Advanced class. Penny hasn't been to class for a while but didn't miss a step. Ruth commented on how great her Attention was. We practiced lots Heeling w/ distractions, Recalls, lots of Sit & Down Stays & Stand for Exam. I learned something new about Penny. We've never done much with Stand. She doesn't know the cue & won't Stand from a Sit & usually Sits when placed in a Stand. It's always something I've wanted to work on, just never do. But tonight, I helped her into a Stand & told her to Stay & she didn't budge. Ruth came around for the exam and she glanced at her but held her Stay. Hmmm....interesting. She's such a good dog!

After 4 straight days of rain (and 50 temps), my yard is a total mess. Not that it wasn't a mess before, but the mud I've been cleaning up has been outta control.



Then today the temp fell to the mid-20s & a little snow actually fell.

While the girls don't actually like the cold, the blast of cold air at lunchtime shot them with a jolt of energy.

Yes, Penny has to deal with this crap from Lola on a daily basis (poor girl!). Her own personal step stool.

Introducing Sherman...the Slayer of all great big Evil Hedgehogs!!!

"First, I crush him with my powerful jaws!!!"

"Next I savor the kill.."

"Then I chew his body apart limb from limb"



"I rest"...I am Sherman, after all.

"Then I drag him to my Secret Lair...where I will devour him when I wake from my slumber."

"You all know what comes next. No need to document it. I don't have to remind you what happened to Santa"

It was all over in a few seconds...

The weather has rained on our training parade. The girls hate getting wet (divas that they are) so we stayed inside tonight & did some fun stuff.

Training progress:

Sherman

"I'm perfect & I don't need no stinkin' training. Give me treats for just lookin' good!"

Penny:

Poor Penny is really bad at shaping. I ruined all fun clicker stuff for her by using it to teach attention. Granted, she has amazing attention, but she does nothing but stare a hole into my head. I'm not good enough at this clicker stuff yet (but will be after the Clicker Expo in March!!). Tried for 20 minutes to shape her Go to Mat.

"How 'bout I just stare at you??? C'mon...Click, please!"

We managed to get one bony butt cheek on, but that took a lot of tossing the treat on the mat (c/t), she sits on it (c/t, tossing it away).

Finished her up with some quarter turns and automatic sits. She does love to heel. Weird dog.

Lola

Did some Go to Mat (her favorite clicking game)...got up to 22 seconds, did some targeting...used the target stick to teach Spin (c/t me! Faded the target stick and had her Spinning on cue in about 2 minutes!). Finished by practicing Stays w/ distance and duration...got to 25 seconds & distance of a room. We don't practice this nearly enough. (Note to self - Work on Stays!! But they're so booorrringg!).

"See Mom, I can Stay!"