Sit & Stay

Today we have been doing some sit and stay training. We tend to do stuff in small amounts rather than prolonged sessions on one subject. I'm not a trainer so don't know if this is the right approach, it just feels right. He is very good at sitting when asked, especially if there is a treat to be had, very often sitting without even being asked. He is not so eager to stay though.

We have also done more work in the car. Up until now most of the car work has involved the back seat, mainly because he really didn't like the tailgate entrance to the car and also I am able to get on to the back seat and so encourage him to do so. Anyway now that he seems to have got the back seat under control I thought why not now move on to the rear compartment which is where he will be travelling along with Tess when we go places. The back seat is okay but we really like to keep that area of the car clean for people to use. So at feeding time tonight I showed him his dinner bowl before putting it in the rear of the car and then tried to get him to jump in but he didn't want to so I remembered what Cesar Millan once said which was to keep them moving forward so I walked him away and then turned back to the car and walked towards it and as he got close told him UP and like magic he jumped straight in the car and eat his dinner. After he finished I asked him to leave which he did but as I turned to get his bowl he jumped straight back in again so that was the icing on the cake for that lesson.

Apart from the usual walks the rest of the day has been spent helping me in the garden. We have been moving plants from the unheated conservatory to the heated greenhouses. He likes to help me either watching or following me around.

 

Below is a sit and stay moment for the camera.

 

In He Jumped Just Like That.

In He Jumped Just Like That.

Timmy Met His Grandma And Grandad

Timmy Met His Grandma And Granddad.

The Smell Of Ham Was Too Tempting.

The Smell Of Ham Was Too Tempting

Car Sensitivce Timmy-Vid01

Car Sensitive Timmy-vid01

Timmy playing.

This is our 7th day of having Timothy- Michael stay with us.

This is our 7th day of having Timothy- Michael stay with us. In the main he is fitting in very well and although there have been set backs the general progress is going forward at quite a pace. So far there are 3 main problems we need to work together on and they are possession of toys, and maybe other things. Twice now he has attacked Tess after attention was switched from him to her and it's quite upsetting when that happens.

Spending more time alone. He can be with me alot of the time at work but not all the time. He'd been fine by himself for an hour or so but on Thursday afternoon he took to the work tops in the kitchen and broke a couple of vases and was quite upset when I got home. I had introduced a crate in to the area in the morning, not to shut him in but to make him a doggy cave like the one Tess has so whether that spooked him or whether he just loves being with me so much in the garden I don't know as I haven't forced the issue since thinking it best to let the memories of the other day fade away.

The other problem is the car. He is quite afraid of it but needs to lose his fear or he will miss out on holidays, days out on the hills and getting spoilt rotten by grandma and grandad. I know I could just get hold of him and throw him in but I would rather he chose to go in of his own accord.

On the plus side he has stopped marking both indoors and out. He has a place in the garden to go and a couple of places on our walks where he is encouraged to go and he seems happy with that. I do often remind him when indoors but mostly when we sit down he also does the same, no more pacing.

He is happy to follow me around when working only wandering off now and again and he usually comes when I call him although I don't feel confident in letting him off on walks yet as he sometimes shows an interest in pheasants.

He is also showing more and more interest in playing with toys, in particular balls. He likes to push them around with his nose and feet and throw them in the air which is quite a joy to see. I try to throw the ball for him but for some reason that frightens him, he backs off and walks away. He seems to have a strong instinct for owning things so maybe he sees me as claiming it as mine and so moves away.

Timmy with his work ball, he has a nice new red one on a rope at home.

Cheeky Boy

Timothy-Michael back at work after his visit to the hairdressers yesterday. He surprised me yesterday when I discovered him walking round the garden with one of Tesses tennis balls in his mouth. Up until then he had shown no interest in balls. This morning I left him alone for an hour while I did some chores and came back to find he had been playing with my old shoes so I'm going to find him some stuff to play with. It's good to see him slowly coming out and showing his real charactor. He's a very cheeky boy who already has me trained to open the treats cupboard door.

Timothy Michael.

Here are a few pictures of Michael, who has been re-named Timmy. I had nothing against the name Michael but all our dogs have had a name beginning with T so we thought it would be good to keep up the tradition.

As you will see from the pictures he has started to make himself at home in the garden, he enjoys coming to work with me whenever he can which has been most of the time this week. It's nice to see him settle down and be quite content just to listen and look around. Tess has never been able to do this, if I don't keep her occupied with a ball she either goes and sits by the gate waiting to go home or she is off doing things which is okay as she never does any harm but it's not much company for me. So I find it nice to have company and reminds me very much of Tommy in this respect.

We knew before we took to Timmy that there would be things to overcome and this has turned out to be true. The least desirable of his habits was his desire to mark with wee. I noticed this when walking him at the rescue but it also continued indoors when we got him home. He left his mark several times on the Sunday evening and many more times on the Monday so I looked up some information on it and decided to watch him every second that he was on his feet and every time he took an interest in something tell him, 'No wee wee'. I don't suppose at this stage he understands the words but I think he knows what I mean because the last two days have been completely wee free indoors. It might seem a strange thing to do but I try not to allow him to wee when out on a walk. Because he is confined by the lead for the time being his wee wee place for the time being is anywhere in the garden so I give him time to go before I put the lead on and leave the garden. After that there are to be no wee's. I allow him to sniff but move him on before he gets chance to mark and then say, 'good boy'. I don't know if this is having any affect or whether he has marked everything he wants to in the house but since I started there have been no more accidents indoors.

The other problem I need to sort out is his reluctance to get in the car. I'm wondering if he associates this with being moved to various different places and left there. If so hopefully as he travels to more places and doesn't get left there he will become okay with it. He is a bit stressed when travelling but so far has not made any mess which is worth a great deal.

Collecting Michael.

Yesterday we went over to Wiccaweys to take a look at Michael and as everything went alright we ended up bringing him home. Everything is at sixes and sevens at the moment but he is a good natured boy so I'm sure things will turn out fine in time. The worst problem he has at the moment is his desire to mark what he thinks should belong to him so that is the first thing that I need to work on.

Daughter Fallon, me and Vicki with Tess and Michael taken at the rescue place.

Me with Michael.

New Things For A New Start.

All being well this time tomorrow we will have a new member of the family and in preparation for this I have bought him/her a new bed, collar and lead. We already have plenty of everything but I thought that it would be nice for it to start of with new things of it's own.

Below is the bed, the cover is removable and washable and cost £30 from Amazon.

Below is the matching collar and lead. Again from Amazon costing £13.

An inspection from a Wiccaweys representative.

Yesterday morning we had the home inspection from a Wiccaweys representative. We had a good chat with him and learnt more about the adoption process. We also had to fill in an extensive questionnaire so that the adoption people can better gauge our experience and therefore hopefully match a dog to our needs. We did apply for one named Michael originally but maybe there is someone else better suited to us. Also Michael is the sort of dog that can be easily homed so maybe it would be more worthwhile if we could use our experience to provide a home to a dog that is not so desirable for whatever reason.

So the next step is to give the a few days to look through everything and decide what might suit us and we can give them a call and arrange a visit to the adoption home and get to see our new family member. They like all members plus any dogs to attend so that they can make sure the dogs and people are all in harmony so I am hoping that will happen next weekend.

Home Inspection

We've just had some good news. The home inspection with regard to dog adoption has been arranged for Saturday morning at 10am. This is quite a relief because we had become disheartened due to not having heard anything from the adoption people. Both Vicki and I had made phone calls but neither had been replied too so we were sort of giving up and looking elsewhere. I'm probably not going to be able to sleep now!