Thursday, January 14, 2010

Food Tube!

Today I was working Psyche on her distance work for agility using a tennis ball (the hollow kind) with an X/t cut into it, the inside washed and wiped out, and then treats put into it. Psyche likes toys, but she always looses focus for them, so I've been using the tennis ball with the treats to try to get her more motivated for it as a reward for agility - because as of now, she'll only do agility for a stick. So, after trying this, I thought I'd try Bella with a food tube.

I took Bella out, just worked on some circle work, sit, stay, down stay, etc., and then used the tube as a reward. She LOVES it. Took her a few tries to realize "Oh, I can put it in my mouth? Cool!" and then she was barreling after it and coming back to me with it. Good Dog!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Fancy New Diggs!

Tonight Bella got a nice, new, pretty collar. Not for any special reason, other then I'm making collars to sell now, and I figure why not practice making them, and give them to my dogs or sell them cheap?

Anywho it's a martingale collar made like this one (this one is currently the collar around Psyche's neck!) :

And it's made in this fabric:


It's pretty cute.

Bella's doing well since Gyp's gone. No issues in our pack now, and we got an update on Gypie; she's doing great and really fitting in with the family. I'm really glad.

So nothing new is really happening, but I thought I'd let you all know that I've started a business to make money to get my dogs all the care, training, and stuff they need (to rely on my parents less) and I'm offering a sale on martingale collars (like the one above). Let me know in the comments if you're interested.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Gyp found a new home....

As sad as I feel for it being Bella's fault she had to be rehomed, life has been easier since Gyp went to her new home.

A family of 4 from a french community about 2 hours away took her. The parents both jog daily, and the girls were very good with her. Patient and loving. They came to meet her, and as soon as they left to think about if they wanted her or not, the family all decided that they'd be a great fit for Gyp. Dad didn't like the idea of getting rid of her, but he knew it was for the best, since there's no way we could have rehomed Bella, she would have had to be put to sleep.

We got an e-mail from the family the night they arrived home with her, they had stopped and bought toys, treats, collars, and leashes for her on the way home, and when they got home, Gyp decided on her favorite spot in the house - in front of the fire.

She seems to be doing well, and I'm glad about that.

As for Bella, she's doing well too. She's not in her crate as much now that Gyp's gone, and she's getting along great with all the other dogs, like we knew she would. She's got some chasing Tinky (mom's Mini Aussie) issues, but she just chases her, never tackles her, and we're working on that in our own method until I have a chance to try the Control Unleashed DVD/Book Set on her.

Happy New Year, everyone!