Bad Puppy

Design from http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy, under "flyball designs"

Well, remember how I was posting about Bennie being such a good boy? Remember how I said he wasn't destructive? Ummm. . . I kind of lied.

I didn't mean too. It's just that I think Bennie's found his inner puppy. He isn't bad, mind you, he's just a typical puppy. But I had been suckered in by his earlier angelic behaviour. Today, every time I turn around, he's chewing on a shoe, counter surfing, or pulling yarn out of the carpet. I think it's just that he's beginning to settle in, and, also, I've been busy and distracted today. He got bored. Bored puppies are dangerous things.

He does it all with complete puppy innocence and greets you with a wagging tail. Such a good natured puppy.

He went to flyball practice with the other two yesterday. Of course, he is too young to do any intensive training. I just practiced recalls and let him play with different dogs and be petted by strange people. I've discovered he will howl in that circumstance. Ordinarily, he's so quiet. In his defense, everybody else was vocalizing to the best of their abilities at the time.

My two dogs, Weasel and Spoiled One, did well at practice. It looks like we are going to the Rio Rancho tournament, so Bennie won't get his out of state trip for a while. Weasel and Spoiled One did well on their box work. I seem to have broken my passing jinx. I didn't do well, but I was within a few feet and not running the other dog out of the lane. I did have to move Spoiled One back to 40 feet and wait until Molly had jumped the second jump, but I can deal with that.

I like long weekends. I finally got a new design up.

http://www.weaselpuppy.com

Bad Doggie

The Crime:
The perpetrator:

Alas, Poor Bally (Ode to a Basketball)

Oh, cruel and unkind fate that casts aside hours of joyous barking and pouncing with one small pop and hiss!

Bally came into our household from Walgreens several years ago. Initially, it appeared like any other basketball, except for it's glow in the dark quality. Many, many objects from Walgreens and Walmart and PetSmart have made a brief appearance in our lives. Fuzzy or squeaky, bouncy or tuggy, they are loved, not wisely but too well, and soon the bits and pieces scattered in the living room are a grisly testimony to their fate, seldom even lasting long enough to be completely unwrapped or earn a name.

I have tried things labeled "tuff" or "indestructible" The labels lied. I have frantically assembled the bits of many a "for powerful chewers" to make certain no big parts made it into the dog.

But, Bally was different. I don't know why. Despite it's seemingly venerable inflatableness, Bally persevered, nay, thrived. Joyously, Bally would bounce around the living room on rainy or too hot days, rappelling off walls and furniture with Spoiled One and Weasel in hot pursuit. I had seen Bally cornered so many times, but, always, somehow, it slipped past the teeth and claws and went once more into the breach.

Until today.

http://weaselpuppy.com

Dropping like Flies

This flyball stuff is hard on people. Everyone kept getting injured.

First, someone apparently wrenched something chasing after a puppy while they were getting ready to come out to practice. A big young smooth tri border collie missed the tug and got his owner. Then he and another dog with resource guarding issues had an "incident" with a young girl in the middle. The girl was nipped or clawed, though she handled it well. After that, someone got their fingers wrenched and a nail torn to the quick holding a dog for a recall.

They were all preventable things. Hindsight is cool that way. So, with this inspiration, some suggested safety rules for practice.

1. Keep your dog under control. Don't let it run around and possibly have an "incident" with another dog.

2. Resource guarding is bad. It isn't "protectiveness" Don't allow it, and if you know your dog has that issue, resource guard it to keep a zone of safety.

3. Watch out for children. Lots of dogs guard them. Other dogs are afraid of them. Still others with high prey/chase drive (like herding dogs and flyball dogs) think they make wonderful sheep substitutes.

4. Use flyball collars, harnesses, tabs or body holds when doing restrained recalls - especially with hyper or nervous dogs. They spin and get hands and fingers caught in flat collars, then panic and spin more.

5. Gloves.

Tugging techniques: Try to make the end of the tug away from you hand move more and draw the dog's attention away from the end in your hand. Hold the tug with both hands for large dogs. Encourage dogs to grab and hold on, rather than continually regripping on the tug. Wear gloves. Encourage an aversion to teeth on skin. Whenever doggie toofies make skin contact, draw back, make a sharp noise like "ow" and stop interacting with the dog for a few minutes - even if it was obviously accidental.

Weasel's Gotcha Day

I'm a bad owner. I didn't do anything for Weasel's Gotcha Day. It actually happened about a weekago (and two years) on June 22 2006 I brought home this teensy, soggy little puppy that was all ears and mohawk. Actually, those are still pretty noticable features, but she's grown into a greyound like body and some elegant feathering. Anyway, I remembered on the day and told her I was glad I had her. I'm afraid that was about it. I am so anxious for her to go to a tournament and run as part of a team.

Alas, no flyball practice. To many team members vacationing and whatnot. Our team has been somewhat decimated of late. One team member moved to another state - she had our height dog and our up and comer. Another team member has been preoccupied with work stuff - he has our start dog and one of the team dogs. So that left, me, the team captain, and a whole bunch of green dogs and puppies. There is a lot of promise in the newer dogs, but I wanna tournament! Wah! Maybe I can talk one of the newbies whose coming along well into a pairs race in Texas.

And the agility drill card has run out, so no agility, either. They were doing pretty well, too. Weasel was doing the obsticals and weave poles and sequencing. Spoiled One was doing it with treats, except he has to be babysat through the weave poles. The dogs have practically lapsed into a coma. I'll have to scare up some entertainment for them. However, it's so hot, it's hard to work up the energy. Whine, whine whine. We are all going on a car trip to Lake of the Woods. Four dogs, three people, one car. Fun. I hope I can figure out a way to get the dogs to the beach when I'm there. Weasel needs to see the ocean, and it's been so long since spoiled one got to run on a beach.

So, that's it. We're boring right now.