Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tons and tons of photos
Rugby surprised me very much today by hanging out with the big dogs. I really hadn't been letting him go out when all of them were in the yard just scared he would get trampled on...but I guess I didn't really have to worry about that. He loved running with all the dogs, and he stayed out of the way enough not to get stepped on, and no one picked on him either either. :) It was good. 
We have been working on our down and he is pretty darn good at it so far. Hopefully he will keep it up. We are also still working on our fetching, which he is very enthusiastic about. :)
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas Time
Rugby had a wonderful christmas. He helped me make a ton of dog cookies and he got turkey neck breakfast and was cooked a spring vegetable dinner (asparagus, scallions, cauliflower, carrots...yum). He loved all of it...he is such a pig ;). So Margot keeps telling me how dogs sort of 'group' together based on how much training they have had, and I could sort of see it in the yard but...
We had a guest dog stay the night at our house christmas eve (pretty much with no training) and Mr Rugby the charmer wanted nothing to do with her. He barked at her, sniffed her, and then pretended she wasn't there the rest of the day. He did the same thing with my cousins italian greyhound minus the barking. These were both small dogs and he loves to play with pretty much any type of dog, but not these ones. Only the dogs at Margots I guess LOL. I was almost worried about him christmas day since he wasn't really wanting to play the whole day and a half she was here, then she left and he took a nap and woke up and was a mad man again. Yeah for Rugby! That basically means that Rugby snobbed them because they were too 'stupid' haha.
He was so well behaved with everone over the house and even though he was just chillin under the table most of the time, he made sure to know where I was (without me asking him too) and if I happened to leave the room...you bet there was a little fluffball following me. I was pleased with him.
I have to admit we haven't really been training too much. We have played some games though. When there were a couple of crazy kids over my house the other day, Rugby and I practiced some fetches. I think that is what we need to work on....distractions distractions distractions. We also took a few more pictures and we placed a lot that day. We pulled out our negative space yesterday and did a couple then too. We are going to get back to work today though....I promise.
Pictures from the last photoshoot are on a different computer, but I will put them up eventually.
We had a guest dog stay the night at our house christmas eve (pretty much with no training) and Mr Rugby the charmer wanted nothing to do with her. He barked at her, sniffed her, and then pretended she wasn't there the rest of the day. He did the same thing with my cousins italian greyhound minus the barking. These were both small dogs and he loves to play with pretty much any type of dog, but not these ones. Only the dogs at Margots I guess LOL. I was almost worried about him christmas day since he wasn't really wanting to play the whole day and a half she was here, then she left and he took a nap and woke up and was a mad man again. Yeah for Rugby! That basically means that Rugby snobbed them because they were too 'stupid' haha.
He was so well behaved with everone over the house and even though he was just chillin under the table most of the time, he made sure to know where I was (without me asking him too) and if I happened to leave the room...you bet there was a little fluffball following me. I was pleased with him.
I have to admit we haven't really been training too much. We have played some games though. When there were a couple of crazy kids over my house the other day, Rugby and I practiced some fetches. I think that is what we need to work on....distractions distractions distractions. We also took a few more pictures and we placed a lot that day. We pulled out our negative space yesterday and did a couple then too. We are going to get back to work today though....I promise.
Pictures from the last photoshoot are on a different computer, but I will put them up eventually.
Friday, December 19, 2008
More Pictures
Just throwing some up after an afternoon of picture taking. I think they are pretty self-explanitory...here they are!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Trouble Maker
That couldn't possible be a word describing Rugby right? Think again!
He even looks sweet and innocent here doesn't he? I call this...plotting.
The other day I was being particularly lazy and did not clean his crate pan after a delicious turkey neck dinner and I had an exam the next morning. Instead of overcoming the lack of motivation I had I decided just to stick him in the little bathroom with the babygate and a bed. How much trouble could he get into right? He can't even reach anything.
I underestimated him. I came home and found him asleep on the couch. I thought this was rather histerical and could not stop myself from making Rugby own up to what he did and take some pictures with the mess. And here it is...
As I continued snapping away, Rugby's head got lower and lower, almost out of embarassment which just encouraged my picture taking.
He even looks sweet and innocent here doesn't he? I call this...plotting. Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Yuck School
Okay
Everything is pretty much the same as last time I posted. The retrieve is at 6 inches, and is ready to be moved to 1 ft, but finals are getting in the way of that (tomorrow is the last one! YEA!). Poor Rugby has been pretty bored this finals week, but he is learning some patients! lol This weekend was the first time Rugby got to stay in the house alone out of his crate. He did wonderfully. There was no accidents, and nothing chewed up (that I have found yet :p).
I got *the* cutest pictures of Rugby and Caruso in front of the christmas tree at class. BUT, since my computer is full up (need external hard drive) those are going to have to wait too.
I am full of excuses today aren't I? :)
Back to studying and in less than 24 hours I will be on winter break!
Everything is pretty much the same as last time I posted. The retrieve is at 6 inches, and is ready to be moved to 1 ft, but finals are getting in the way of that (tomorrow is the last one! YEA!). Poor Rugby has been pretty bored this finals week, but he is learning some patients! lol This weekend was the first time Rugby got to stay in the house alone out of his crate. He did wonderfully. There was no accidents, and nothing chewed up (that I have found yet :p).
I got *the* cutest pictures of Rugby and Caruso in front of the christmas tree at class. BUT, since my computer is full up (need external hard drive) those are going to have to wait too.
I am full of excuses today aren't I? :)
Back to studying and in less than 24 hours I will be on winter break!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Update
It has been a while. Rugby pretty much has the down covered. I still need to help him a little bit, but he goes down by himself, with a very purposful plop and some tail wagging. :p I am not sure that the stand is getting too much better. We have stopped focusing on the actually getting up to stand part and started working on the 'stay' part. He goes mostly up by himself, and we can stand for 30 seconds and/or walk around him one full circle without breaking/sitting. We only worked on it on time though, so I think he will improve lots the next time we work on it. Hopefully it will help him to better understand what the stand really is too, and help him 'get it' more.
Rugby was doing very very well with his dumbell. He was so enthusiastic and he wanted to do it, untill we got to the point that it was about an inch from his face and he had to fetch it. This is the first time he refused to fetch the dumbell, and the first time he was corrected. He was truely offended, and decided....he wasn't going to fetch. Sooo, we had to get some help to get back on track and with a few extra days of convincing we are back to that point again. I think he is ready to go further away (6 in) because the last time we worked he offered the fetch to me about 87% of the time. We are also moving the dumbell around his face so it isn't a straight fetch, he has to turn to get it...and the last time we worked on that he was doing it without any help.
Rugby also officialy started his raw meaty bones diet. He LOVES it...a lot. I was surprised that he took to it so quick, because if I were him I am not sure that I would recognize a chicken wing as food right away, but he did. He has gotten progressively better and more efficient at eating chicken wings the past couple of days except one thing...he doesn't eat the bones. That is a problem, he isn't going to be getting that calcium and nutrients in the bones and he isn't benefiting from that tooth cleaning the bones provide. I will give him another chance, but if he doesn't get it soon I will just grind the bones up and put it in something that he will eat. Since reading the books, I found that there are some people that don't feed bones at all, or feed them at a significantly lower frequency than the authors of the books I read, so I suppose it isn't a big deal if I have to resort to grinding them. Oh...and he doesn't like chicken feet. I though they looked pretty funny and got them to see what he would do with them....nope he just licked it and picked it up, put it down and stared at me like....where is my dinner really at?
The books I read...
'Raw Dog Food' by Carina Beth MacDonald
-This was more of a 'how to' feed raw efficiently and in a costly manner.
'Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones' by Tom Lonsdale
-He is a vet and the book was a 'why' feed raw meaty bones. It was after this book that I though 'oh my god...I can't feed Rugby kibble any more...we need to switch!'
and
'raw meaty bones: Promote Health' also by Tom Lonsdale
-This one is significantly longer and is a 'why kibble is horrible and raw is not' book.
And how could I forget new Christmas pictures? They aren't as bright as the other ones...which is a little dissapointing, but that is ok.
Rugby was doing very very well with his dumbell. He was so enthusiastic and he wanted to do it, untill we got to the point that it was about an inch from his face and he had to fetch it. This is the first time he refused to fetch the dumbell, and the first time he was corrected. He was truely offended, and decided....he wasn't going to fetch. Sooo, we had to get some help to get back on track and with a few extra days of convincing we are back to that point again. I think he is ready to go further away (6 in) because the last time we worked he offered the fetch to me about 87% of the time. We are also moving the dumbell around his face so it isn't a straight fetch, he has to turn to get it...and the last time we worked on that he was doing it without any help.
Rugby also officialy started his raw meaty bones diet. He LOVES it...a lot. I was surprised that he took to it so quick, because if I were him I am not sure that I would recognize a chicken wing as food right away, but he did. He has gotten progressively better and more efficient at eating chicken wings the past couple of days except one thing...he doesn't eat the bones. That is a problem, he isn't going to be getting that calcium and nutrients in the bones and he isn't benefiting from that tooth cleaning the bones provide. I will give him another chance, but if he doesn't get it soon I will just grind the bones up and put it in something that he will eat. Since reading the books, I found that there are some people that don't feed bones at all, or feed them at a significantly lower frequency than the authors of the books I read, so I suppose it isn't a big deal if I have to resort to grinding them. Oh...and he doesn't like chicken feet. I though they looked pretty funny and got them to see what he would do with them....nope he just licked it and picked it up, put it down and stared at me like....where is my dinner really at?
The books I read...
'Raw Dog Food' by Carina Beth MacDonald
-This was more of a 'how to' feed raw efficiently and in a costly manner.
'Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones' by Tom Lonsdale
-He is a vet and the book was a 'why' feed raw meaty bones. It was after this book that I though 'oh my god...I can't feed Rugby kibble any more...we need to switch!'
and
'raw meaty bones: Promote Health' also by Tom Lonsdale
-This one is significantly longer and is a 'why kibble is horrible and raw is not' book.
And how could I forget new Christmas pictures? They aren't as bright as the other ones...which is a little dissapointing, but that is ok.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Picture :)
Just a couple of those christmas pictures we took. You can sort of see the nice 'yellow' color he has to him LOL. We need to take new pictures. ;) Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Let the Games Begin
So maybe I lied about Rugby being ok with the down. When we went back, he was still....nervous about it. He got to the point of when I knelt down to put him in a place, he was laying down by himself, so I snuck the 'down' command in there and have been using it since.
He really enjoyed the sit game (not mine...I stole it :p), where he is sitting and I move to various places around him and tell him to sit again, and he has to turn and face me...and sit..again. lol. He likes this game the best when I change places really fast and he can't really contain himself so when he turns to face me, be hops straigt up and sort of 'bouces' to face me.
Sooo, this morning, I wanted him to stop the nervousness so we played the down game (stole this one too). I sort of 'fake him out' by starting to put him in a down over and over and then randomly have him down. Rugby though this was soo sooo much fun. He could hardly keep sitting before I actually told him to down because his butt was moving so fast. Now he is pretty eager to go down, and he was plopping down so fast it was hilarious! It was probably a little too soon to do it, since he has only heard the word 'down' for a couple of trainin sessions, but at least he is much much happier and less nervous about it than before, so we can slow down again and get it right now that his eyes are back in his head (ha).
He is wayyy cute, I took some pictures of him infront of the christmas tree that I will put up tonight. :) Now he REALLY needs a haircut and a bath, so we might have to redo the pictures when he is sporting a new hair-do...we will see lol.
Forgot the stand-- He was doing really well last night, and this morning he wasn't doing them at all, so he gave me 3 good ones and we stopped. I think maybe he just doesn't like to do it as much as I have him do it. So after class this morning I went back and put did some more stands (which were very good) and we stopped at 6. It was going to be 5, but he messed up number 5 so we had to do an extra one. He was much happier with his. I think maybe I just have to do the stands a little at a time so his brain doesn't get fried.
AND--I bought some raw dog food books, so once I finish these books I think we might have to do the big switch. Also found a couple vets that recommend this diet and hopefully they can help us out if I ever get brave enough. Wish us luck!
He really enjoyed the sit game (not mine...I stole it :p), where he is sitting and I move to various places around him and tell him to sit again, and he has to turn and face me...and sit..again. lol. He likes this game the best when I change places really fast and he can't really contain himself so when he turns to face me, be hops straigt up and sort of 'bouces' to face me.
Sooo, this morning, I wanted him to stop the nervousness so we played the down game (stole this one too). I sort of 'fake him out' by starting to put him in a down over and over and then randomly have him down. Rugby though this was soo sooo much fun. He could hardly keep sitting before I actually told him to down because his butt was moving so fast. Now he is pretty eager to go down, and he was plopping down so fast it was hilarious! It was probably a little too soon to do it, since he has only heard the word 'down' for a couple of trainin sessions, but at least he is much much happier and less nervous about it than before, so we can slow down again and get it right now that his eyes are back in his head (ha).
He is wayyy cute, I took some pictures of him infront of the christmas tree that I will put up tonight. :) Now he REALLY needs a haircut and a bath, so we might have to redo the pictures when he is sporting a new hair-do...we will see lol.
Forgot the stand-- He was doing really well last night, and this morning he wasn't doing them at all, so he gave me 3 good ones and we stopped. I think maybe he just doesn't like to do it as much as I have him do it. So after class this morning I went back and put did some more stands (which were very good) and we stopped at 6. It was going to be 5, but he messed up number 5 so we had to do an extra one. He was much happier with his. I think maybe I just have to do the stands a little at a time so his brain doesn't get fried.
AND--I bought some raw dog food books, so once I finish these books I think we might have to do the big switch. Also found a couple vets that recommend this diet and hopefully they can help us out if I ever get brave enough. Wish us luck!
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