Wilson and his soon to be doggie roomie

A few of you know that I'm taking a Library technician diploma (shocking I know considering my poor grammar lol) and for a part of this program I have to spend a month working in a library to gain hands on experience. So what did I do? I decided to pick a library out of town. My friends that live there have offered me a room to stay in AND I can bring my Willy-billy with me. They also have a cat and a dog.

Meet Dexter, a 3 and a half year old poodle mix.

Wilson and Dexter have meet a few times before, Dexter has been over at the house and is an honorary member of the Woofle Pack- meaning whenever he's in town with his owners they come out with us to the dog park.



I foresee a lot of work considering Wilson has dog issues, but aside from Cookie I know that Dexter is the next best dog to use in regards to Wilson. Dexter just doesn't care if Wilson's barking in his face or not, he just wants to play and if Wilson doesn't want to play then he'll go off and do his own thing. I know this cause of a few times when Dexter was over at our house, aside from Wilson barking at him lots nothing else happened.

Since Wilson will be moving into Dexters home though I have been reading up on how to introduce dogs that have dog issues just in case. I figure that I would be prepared and do this the right way,because even if Dexters go with the flow at my house doesn't mean he will be in his.

Anyways, the following is what I plan on doing to make sure things go as smoothly as possible and leave both dogs with good experiences.

• When I get there I'll take both dogs on a walk to get them reacquainted with each other on neutral ground.
• I'll let Wilson explore the house without Dexter around so he can look about this strange new setting.
• I plan on bringing baby gates to use to separate them so they can see,hear and smell each other but not touch.
• Wilson will be staying in my room when I am not home, there will be no dog to dog interaction if I'm not there to supervise.
• I plan on keeping a leash on Wilson once the baby gates are down so that way I have some control by holding onto the leash. That way if I can see a problem about to start I can pick up the leash and walk away from Dexter with Wilson. The leash will be removed if Wilson/Dexter behaves.
• I'll remove all items that they can fight over such food or much beloved toys from the area where they will be when together.
• And of course reward good behavior and habits from both dogs!
  

If you have any more suggestions for what I should do or if you think there might be a problem with one of my strategies then please let me know. Even if its a story from your experience with doggie meetings! I just want this to work out as best as possible for both dogs!

(Look an Update!) In the Limelight, and chewed Socks.

Oh boy, its been a while since my last post... Sorry guys! Lots of stuff going on right now but I'll update you on the dog related things once they happen. Trust me I will...I promise hope.

Here we have a picture I just found on my phone of me (I'm assuming I've crashed after pulling an all nighter cram study session or something)and using Wilson's dog bed as a pillow. Guess Wilson decided to join me at some point and someone in the house 'borrowed' my phone to snap this picture. I'm not even sure when this happened even LOL!

Look at his face! It's like he is smiling knowingly at the sneaky person taking the picture. Sometimes I really wonder what our dogs are thinking.

PS!
I came home to Wilson sitting on a pile of socks. I have no idea where he found these since they seem to be the ones that went missing in the dryer (thus leaving me with one sock out of a pair. sighsigh). Not that it matters, they were pretty chewed up. So I threatened him, I threatened him good.

(via his twitter)

Just plain crackers

Valentines Day is Pawsome!

So what will the cast from The Dashing Dachshund Blog be doing this year for Valentines day?

Why thinking about our valentines of course!

Here is Mindy sending out the good old-fashion heart to her Valentines. Good old Mindy has used her great looks, personality (and my Twitter account) to hook herself the two most handsome cats in blogville! Just in time too.

So just who am I talking about? Why Knuckles and Bugsy from Maxthequiltcat! She sure is lucky to find not one but two blue eye companions this year!

And what about the dashing main character of the blog? Do I have a Valentines this year? You bet your favorite chew toy I do!

Sorry Lady's but this year I have a date with a pretty older lady that goes by the name of Cookie. So don't worry about me!

I just need a good brushing down (Chelsea: And a bath) before I meet my lovely maiden!

Have a good Valentines day everyone! I know I will!!

Wilson shows off some of his tricks

Had time today to set up the camera and get together with Wilson to film one of our trick practise/refresher moments. I filmed this thing about three times cause the first time Wilson was so excited he was running back between the camera, me and the cat all the while doing tricks on the run or jumping on his bed. Oh yeah, it was interesting to watch so I gave him a few seconds to calm down and tried again.

Second time around it went well but I seemed to keep forgetting that I was holding a clicker in my hands and was clicking him every couple of tricks. 'Well thats pointless' I thought and so I tossed it on the couch and watched Wilson run and fetch it for me. After putting the clicker aside I filmed this little bit.



For those of you that noticed I'm very sorry for the finger that I was using to point, I never even realized I was using that finger. Sorry about that! I also had a brain fart in the middle of the video and couldn't think of what to get Wilson to do at some points, lol sorry about that as well.

His bow was off camera and his foot tap was on the wrong side! AARRGG, I'll film it at some later date I guess. He is still learning bow, jumping through my legs and oh boy what else....AHH. The brain fart clearly continues. I'll give a list of what he knows and what he is learning later. BUUT MY FAVORITE part of this film is when Wilson looked directly at the camera. I can almost imagine the eye roll at waiting for me to tell him what to do next. Woot!

Our Suggestions for Traning with your Dog. (Aka dude just have fun)

The 'Five Things That A Person Should Keep In Mind When Training' that Chelsea Lives By. (For both trick and obedience training)

1. Consistency!

Be consistent with your training! Don't let your lovable companion get away with jumping up on you when you come home and then get upset at your pouchie when your dog comes in from outside with muddy paws and jumps up on you! Thats not fair to the dog as it sends mix messages to him. Why should one time be different then the next??

Get all that live in your house and interact with the dog on the same page too. I found this to be a big problem before I had a good old sit down with the family, now things are sooo much easier! We all use the same hand signs when it comes to tricks, they all follow the rules I have put do for Wilson like he's not allowed on the couch unless he is invited up. No more doggie confusion when he is told "nop, not allowed ham-ham" when moments earlier my mother was letting him get away with it.

2. Find what motivates your dog and use it as a reward.

For Wilson (and a lot of dogs that I meet) food is the thing that they LIIVVEE FOORR, human or other wise! But here the thing, I don't use treats all the time with Wilson. I've noticed with some friends dogs that they will not do tricks or listen to the basic commands such as sit, come, stay unless they see that treat in their owners hand. I found myself thinking how useless that is. I mean if your dog got off leash and was running towards traffic and you had no treats on you...I would want him to hear me say "COME!" and do just that.

So here's what I do instead, cause not only is Wilson food driven but he loves me and loves getting petted and played with. This is a great reward for most dogs too! To get him to learn the trick I use treats then once he's got it I start alternating between giving him the treat, getting down on the floor and spending even five minutes just playing, or even a "Thank you, good job pup!" and a pat on the head works great with Wilson. It may not with your dog since no two dogs are the same but you never know till you try ;) Most dogs just want your time and I'm not the only one doing this either! I've seen that a lot of agility trainers use tug toys as a reward for their dog for doing a great job, and one trainer roll around on the ground with his dog after he did the obstacle course. That just warms my heart.

3. Make it fun, for the both of you. Go with the flow.

This ties in with number 2 I guess, but always remember that learning tricks should be fun for the both of you, if its not then things could get pretty frustrating fast for everyone involve. The dog doesn't learn anything in the end and just isn't happy after being told they are doing things wrong.I think anyone thats ever played with younger kids can understand this rule pretty well. LOL. If he's not getting it then don't worry, he'll get it in the end. Just move onto something that more fun for him or his attention will wonder and he'll not be into it anymore.

4. Patience and self-control.

Pffh this one ties into number three. I also think this is one of the hardest things EVER! Normally I'm not very patient at all, oh the things we learn from having animals I tell ya. A trainer should not get upset that the dog isn't learning the trick right off the bat, if you get upset then the dog will too and then the training session isn't fun anymore. Give him time, he's not a rocket scientist. It took you sometime in school to learn stuff too ya know.

5. Try to save the word 'No' for more more serious things

If he does something wrong when learning then use something like, nop, natta or something. It wouldn't think it sounds good when someone is saying a word to me for not getting something that is normally used when I'm doing something really bad like attempting to make a new hole in the curtains.


"Mum loves my face and taking pictures at different angles of my face"

I also suggest short training sessions too. I find that dogs learn and retain better if you spend anywhere from 5 to 20 mins on teaching tricks then over an hr. I almost wish my classes where short like this too, I think I would remember more if that was the case. Hahaha. And clicker training! If you haven't heard about clicker training then take a look at this article on wikipedia

I found this post hard to write... Dog training is such a touchie subject in the blogging dog world... I'm no where near being the best writer around blogville and find that putting my thought into writing is sometimes hard so hopefully everyone gets what I mean *cross fingers* And I know a lot of people are hard core into treats but I think that Wilson should listen to me whether I have a treat or not, I'm not a fan of bribing your dog with food into listening to you. Like how children should listen to what their parent have told them instead of demanding a chocolate bar as a reward....

Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm thinking about tapping one of Wilson's training sessions and showing it off but I'm not sure anyone might be interested or not.

Don't worry, we miss summer times too.

Look grass! Look at how Wilson likes the nice summer breeze!

Move over winter we are all ready for some spring times over here.

Cookie the Dalmatian = Wilson's Doggie Crush

For those new followers (I love you, thank you for thinking our blog is worth following!) I have to repeat that Wilson does not like dogs, or strangers. That's why I'm pretty sure his little doggie heart starts to race with love, respect and whatever else when Cookie comes around.

This here is Cookie, a ten year old Dalmatian Mix.

What a character I tell ya. She's part of the little pack of friends and their dogs that I like to refer to as the Woofles Pack. She's the eldest and currently the largest in the group, and boy does she know how to treat dogs and people. She's always willing to let people pet her and share the news with other dogs. Cookie also knows how to treat a fear aggressive dog. She does this thing where she will completely ignored Wilson until he calms down and then lets him smell her over carefully as she 'ignores' him. So far it has worked wonders for him! He's gotten to the point that when Cookies around he's more willing to come out of his shell and romp about, almost play with other dogs even! He loves to follow her every where and shows off when she's around.

We joke that he likes the older more experienced ladies XD.

If I ever needed proof of how much he respects and loves the older dog, then the last time I was with Cookie and her owner in the last few days of snow free weather would be such an example. Cookies owner walked back to toss out a poo bag and Cookie trotted after her. I sat there watching as Wilson followed a few feet behind. He went farther then I have ever seen him go from my side and I was interested to see just how daring my pup was so I stayed where I stood. He would keep looking back at me with a pathetic look and then bark at Cookie.... Maybe telling her to wait for him or come back? She of course ignored him and went her merry way. Wilson finally gave up and sat down (I like to think that there was a 'Ploop' sound when he did). Clearly he went as far as he dared and he waited until Cookie and her owner started back and then feel in behind them.

I was shocked, jaw dropping shocked. hahahaha maybe even a little jealous of Cookie and whatever Wilson feels for her. Is that strange to say? LOL! But really I'm glad that there's a dog that Wilson can get that attached too, its one of those life balancing steps that I was looking for!

Anyways, I'll shut up and share a few pictures I had taken of Wilson following Cookie around the few times we have been to the park. Enjoy!

(For those of you wondering why Wilson is wearing a leash, its because his recall is not the greatest yet. Especially at the dog park so the leash helps give me something to grab if he gets that crazy running look in his eyes!)

Dis be my Secret Santa Postie

Say what? A Secret Santa post in the middle of January? … Yeah … Sorry about that folks. Anyways Wilson and I took part in Corgi Butt’s Secret Santa gift exchange, and we got our package a few days after New Years from Sam and Finely from The Corgi Chronicles!

Well by now Wilson has got a good handle on opening packages and he was more then excited to see me lay these on the floor and trust me he made quick work of them. Here’s what he got. And these are the best picture I could get cause after I let him have it he was to excited to hold still or pose for the camera. Oh yes, and Fin, Wilson also gets a huge kick out of the ear squeakers!

We love the envelop and the card! Both where very cute!

Wilson also got a pack of greenies. I gave him one that evening and he trotted off with it. A week later I found this greenie hidden behind his bed 0.o I snapped a picture and then placed it on the kitchen counter. Oh my strange boy, he's eaten all the others I had given him but not this first one and now its rock hard but he would not stop starting at where I put it on the counter so I gave in and gave it back to him...Only to watch him hide it underneath a pillow. *sigh*

Look at that content face! Wilson really likes this toy! So both Wilson and I would like to say thank you to Sam and Fin. Again I'm sorry for the late post =) And lets not forget the grand boy and his owner Kelly that set up this secret santa exchange!

Only Real Manly Dogs Wear Pink

Thats what they say and I'm sticking to it!