Watch

I practiced watches with Tilda today. The watch or watch me command is where your dog makes eye contact with you. It's a good way to get your dog to focus on you, if the dog knows the command. It depends on your dog's level, if your dog is just learning the command you can't plan on having him/her stare at you. If your dog already knows the command fairly well or is advanced with it you can work with your dog so that he/she stares at you. Your dog gets the treat once he/she has made eye contact or is staring at you, depending on the level. If you want to make it even harder, you can hold your arms out and hold treats in your hand. It's just the same thing, your dog doesn't get the treat until he/she has made eye contact or is staring at you. 

Tilda also had some practice on comes/staying in the yard today. She did pretty good.

A Different Walking Place

Tilda went for a walk in a different place again today. It went okay. I guess it could have been better, but she did walk okay some of the time. 

I also took Tilda for a walk today on our road.

Tilda had some good practice with staying in the yard. I think all the times she had really good practice today she was on a long leash. 

What a Day

Today we went for a walk at a park. Tilda didn't walk real good. She will need more practice on walking in different places. We are going to try to get her out to more places to walk. 

I also took Tilda for a walk on our road too. I took treats along again and worked on what I did yesterday, when I stop Tilda sits. She seems to be doing pretty good with that. 

I clipped Tilda's nails today. I did not pretend to clip her nails at all this last week. She did good, she was maybe a little scared, but that wasn't really a problem. 

Tilda ran out by some people when they walked by. She seems to need more practice on this. I'm not going to go into all the details, but we did practice/work on this.

Walking

On today's walk I took treats along. I haven't done that lately. I didn't take them along to give to Tilda while we were walking, but to give them to her whenever I stopped, while we were walking. I want her to sit right away when I stop. I have made her sit when I stop walking, but I want her to do it right away and that I don't have to push her in the sit position or pull up on the leash. 

I also worked on more walking practice in the back yard. I worked on more than just heel and sitting when I stop too. 

More Running Off by Dogs

Tilda almost ran off by another dog this morning. She went in their yard (it was the people right next door to us, so it wasn't in the road), she didn't run right up to the dog (Bichon Frise and Shih Tzu mix). Someone did come outside to get their dog because he was barking.

Then tonight the neighbor was outside with their dog (lab mix), and Tilda ran over there too. The good thing is this neighbor is next door too, just on the other side, so there was no running into the road. I don't like when she runs off like that, but if she is never off leash, how is she going to learn?

Some other neighbors got two puppies so Tilda met them too. She didn't run off at them, she met them when we were out for a walk. Both puppies are Cavachons (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon Frise mix). 

I made more doggie treats today. These are going to be special treats, such as being used for agility training. These treats are tuna flavored. I did give some to Tilda to make sure she likes them, and I guess she does. They are all packed away in the freezer for now.   

Doggie Treats

Today I made some doggie treats. I guess Tilda likes them, she hasn't spit them out. I made up my own recipe. The first treats I made were chicken flavor with some basil added (just a little basil). The second treats I made were banana flavor. With both flavors of treats I made soft and hard treats. I kept some treats out, but I also put some in the freezer so they will stay fresh. I made the treats small so they are ideal for training or if you have to call your dog a lot and want to treat them for coming, like I do. These treats can take the place of giving your dog pieces of cereal, which I sometimes do with Tilda too.  

 Soft chicken treats

Hard chicken treats

 Soft banana treats

Hard banana treats

Tilda's Lost and Found Chew Bone

One of Tilda's chew bones was found today. I didn't even know there was anything left. It has been awhile since she has had a bone just like the one that was found. It was under a light stand/book holder, so Tilda couldn't get it. Now that it is found she has been walking around finding places to hide it.

Tilda has been ringing her bell to go outside a lot today. Maybe it is because she has more freedom outside, such as being off leash more. She still does go outside on a leash sometimes, but she has been outside without a leash quite a bit.

Tilda and the Golden Retriever

Today Tilda ran off when the neighbor walked by with a dog (Golden Retriever). Tilda barked at the dog and seemed kind of scared. I had to go run after her, she wouldn't come back once she was running towards the dog. She has never run off when a dog has walked by. One time I almost had her (I think I got her to come and sit) but then the Golden Retriever barked and Tilda got back up. Eventually I got Tilda to come and sit and then I picked her up, I picked her up by the scuff of her neck. Once we got in the back yard I had Tilda sit and look at me for a little while.

Agility Pictures

Here are some pictures of Tilda and Buddy at the agility run through. There were no really good pictures of Gracie, but she was there too.

Buddy on the dog walk.

Buddy doing the weave poles.

Tilda coming out of the tunnel.

Tilda going up the a-frame.

Tilda going down the a-frame.

Clipping Those Nails and The Treat Bag

Yesterday I clipped Tilda's nails. It went really good. I think I had only pretended to clip her nails on Thursday and Saturday. I even clipped one nail too short and it didn't seem to bother her.

Today when I was outside with Tilda I had a treat bag attached to my coat. Well, when we came inside I must have forgotten to take it off of my coat. My coat was in the closet and the door was open. You can guess what happened. If you guessed Tilda found the treat bag you are right. She almost ate all the treats, I'm not sure how many treats were in there. I didn't think there were a whole lot of treats in the bag, but maybe I was wrong. Oh well, what am I going to do about it now.

The Agility Run Through

Yesterday we had the agility run through. That half hour it was reserved for sure went fast. Tilda did pretty good. Tilda had never seen the chute, a-frame, and tire, she did good on them. The a-frame was not the full height, but it was still good practice. She still has not seen a full size dog walk. The teeter totter was on the narrow side, but it was good practice. It was also good practice on the teeter too because it made a big bang when it hit the ground and Tilda was scared of that. You never know, at an agility trial the teeter might make a big bang when it hits the ground. Tilda was a little scared of the tire too. I think she was scared of it because when it was being lowered so it was her height, it made some noise. Tilda gets scared with noises. Tilda did good on the weave poles being in a different place. I think maybe Tilda could use a little more jump practice. Sometimes she went around the jump. Tilda does have a lot of spring.

The Vet

Today Tilda had a vet appointment. She had to have a heart worm test done, she does not have any worms, and we had the bordetella done too. That way she is all ready for any agility classes we want to do (at some places you can only take the classes if your dog has the bordetella). The bordetella isn't a shot, it is a stray they put in the dog's nose. 

I worked with Tilda on more agility practice today. The run through is coming up soon.

Agility

We did more agility practice today. I set up a jump too. 

The pictures below are from yesterday. 

 

 Tilda weaving

  

 The weave poles

  

More weaving

  

 Tilda on the table doing a down stay.

 

Tilda on the table doing a sit stay.

Let's Weave

Well, today we did some agility practice with the weave poles and table. The weave poles are an obstacle that the dog has to weave through. We had taught Tilda the weave poles and she was doing good with them, but we had had a break from them. After the first run through the weave poles today Tilda was doing great at them again. After a little while I was just standing with Tilda at the one end and telling her to weave, and she did it! So, that means she was working out in front of me, instead of me running along side of her (we did practice that too)! Sometimes I did have to have her come back to redo them for a reason like she missed a pole or she entered on the wrong side (dogs always enter the weave poles on the right side), or for some reason like that. We only have six pole weave poles, but that is all you are going to have in a novice agility course.

We also sometimes worked on the table, a square like obstacle that, for Tilda, stands at about 12 inches high. When I say "for Tilda", I mean that the table height changes for the height of the dog, like the jump height changes depending on the height of the dog. So once the dog is on the table they have to do a sit or down stay for five seconds (at competitions the judge tells you weather it is a sit or down stay). 

You can't do any AKC agility competitions until your dog is 15 months old, which is about five months away for Tilda. But we are going to a place that offers classes and has run throughs. We are going to do a run throught with Buddy and Gracie. Run throughs are just a time where you can practice and work on anything you want to all by yourself with your dog, or with your doggy friends. 

Grooming Tilda the Aussie

Yesterday I groomed Tilda. It took me over an hour to groom her. The way I groom her is called "Stripping", and it is done with tools called stripping knives. You use two of these tools, one is a coarse stripper and the other is a fine stripper. The way is works is that it pulls all the dead hair out of the Aussie. Pulling dead hair out of the Aussie sounds like they should shed, but Australian Terriers do not shed (which is nice). If you would not strip an Australian Terrier their hair would just get all matted and would become long, which would be a big mess, you might even have to shave the dog. It takes a little while to groom an Aussie. As I said it took me over a hour and I maybe could have groomed her longer.

The first thing you want to do is find a place to do the grooming. Then, before you begin stripping your Aussie Terrier you want to brush her. After you are done brushing, you can begin stripping. You only use a scissors in certain spots. The only time I used a scissors on Tilda yesterday was to clip out a little matted area. Other places I have used a scissors is around the eyes (I think it might be kind of hard to strip her by the eyes), her ears but I now use a stripper ( the time I clipped her ears was before we had the stripping tools), her back end (it may hurt a dog if you strip them there), and, I haven't done it, but I have read you can clip their belly hairs. I have also clipped the tail, but I stripped it a little bit yesterday and I have also clipped up some other areas but that was before we had the stripping tools.

Make sure you are pulling the way the hair lays. In other words, if you pull up on the Aussies hair, it will grow up. You don't need the stripping tools to groom an Aussie Terrier, you can use your hands.

 

 The above pictures are of Tilda before she was groomed.

This is a picture of Tilda after she was groomed. 

This is a picture of all the hair I pulled out of Tilda. 

  

The two above pictures are the stripping knives.

Today was Tilda's nail clipping day. The results: it went really good! I didn't need my sister to help. I had continued to work with Tilda over the past days pretending to clip her nails so that had helped.I did clip a nail too short, but it didn't seem to bother Tilda. She is taking treats from me again too. Practice makes perfect.