It's 5.30 am - I am on holiday - why am I up? (or - the things we do for our dogs)

Ok - as the title says it is 5.30 am and I am here at my computer and OH has just gone to bed- why? Because we have just fed Earl using the technique - it went well - he submitted pretty quickly - or maybe he was just tired too and wanted to lie down.

Will add more later when it is a more human time - right now OH, me and the dog are going back to bed - 'night (or should that be morning)


9.30 am - now that is a better time to be awake :)

Dog is again comatose in front of the heater (maybe all that baking his head is contributing to his 'not the sharpest tool in the shed' tendencies?)

He has had a big play with Rosie (the kelpie - more about her in future posts) - looking at it with a different perspective I can see how he pushes her around the way he tries to do us and how she reacts to it (bites his legs till he falls over) - spent a lovely half an hour watching them wrestle and play 'bitey - face' - which is always fun. It's like watching an elephant wrestling a gazelle - will post a picture of them to show what I mean.

He has been pretty mellow this morning - made both dogs wait at the door till I invited them in - and when he picked up a piece of paper her shouldn't have I didn't hesitate but grabbed his collar - shook it - saying "NO" and took the piece of paper from him  (YAY me!!)

So a positive start - and because I am on holidays I have time to write on here but expect the updates to become less frequent after next week when I go back to work - but I will try and add regularly.

Off to face the day - and hopefully get me some Foo Fighters tickets :)

6 pm and all is peaceful - Earl is ensconced in his all time favourite spot in front of the heater and the day has gone pretty smoothly.

Earl had a follow up vist at the vets today and I wouldn't let him go and push up to the vet nurses for attention (much to his - and their - disgust). He rolled over on his back for the vet to check his stitches and all is going well medically - stitches come out Monday.

Behaviourally he has done some pushing onto us - more to OH than to me and a bit to 10 year old daughter - which I then stepped in and pulled him away by the collar - saying "NO" - took a couple of tellings but he stopped.

They have both been waiting at the door till they are invited in and I also made him wait to go into the vets - to come out of the vets - to go out the roller door for a walk and to come back in the roller door after his walk - he has quickly (surprisingly - no j/k) picked up that if he is walked towards and told 'away' he needs to move away from the person and submit.

I saw what I thought was something he shouldn't have in his mouth and - without hesitation - again - grabbed his collar and opened his mouth to check - you don't know just how slimy the inside of a dogs mouth is until you have had your hand in it - EEEEWWWWWWWWWW -AND - there was nothing there so - with a pat and a "Good Boy" I sent him on his way - and rushed into the bathroom to wash the coating of slime form my hand.

Feeding tonight went better - he backed away from OH when OH claimed the food and we waited till he submitted and was not focussed on the food before giving him the OK. After he finished I put a few pieces of kibble in his bowl and fed it to him - from the bowl - by hand - a piece at a time - no problems.

Next challenge will be feeding him with one person - for times when OH is on shift work - by then he should have the idea enough that he won't need someone with the leash but will back away and submit when the food is claimed - so I think I will reduce my involvement gradually and take a turn claiming the food bowl so he gets the idea that both of us own it - no matter who it is he has to submit. There was no resistance to OH tonight which was a forward step from last night.

He is sitting quietly next to us for a pat at times and we have been rewarding him for submission by giving him affection - I can see where we are heading and the effort will definitely be worth it.

Little snot got his own back on me this afternoon though - took the 2 of them out for a walk to get out of the house and clear the cobwebs from our brains (OK - from my brain :)) - went well until - coming towards us I see a man in fluoro green with 2 large black dogs - no way to really avoid them so I had my 2 sit away from the footpath to have them calm as the man approached. As he came up I told my 2 to "Walk on" and we walked on ....until Earl decided that these 2 smelt great and he would like to say hello - he went left as the kelpie went in fornt of me - result - me on the gorund panicking because I have let go of the kelpie's leash. Meanwhile guy with 2 black dogs is yelling "Are you OK" - Earl has come over to where I am now sitting on the ground and I swear he is laughing at me !!!!!!!!!!! I pick myslef up - dust myself off - no blood - yell back to the guy that I am fine and continue our walk with a wry smile on my face and a sting in my knee :)

5 minutes down the street though I had a lovely experience - a lady with a crying toddler saw us and said "look at the doggies" so I sat my 2 (Beautiful job too - well done dogs) and introduced them - telling them their names - the little girl stopped crying and gave us a wave as we walked on.

So - all turned out OK and I am looking forward to a quiet night in my pyjamas watching Animal Planet because I think that watching the Crows play would be more a case of animal cruelty.


Oh.....and for those who are interested - we got our tickets to the Foo Fighters!!!!!!!!!!!!!