Tricky T-Day

I realised we haven't done a Tricky T-Day in AGES!!! (That's partly due to a very hectic schedule and a very lazy human!!)

Well, here are some :)

Eva's very tiny (compared to others) trick collection.

Orah learns her first trick - Leave It! 

Tricky T-Day - heeling

Rosie has left us to go back to the UK and study :(

Before she left, she did a video with Eva of some heelwork. 

I think she is going to miss Eva very much and so will Eva.

They make a very good team and work very well with each other.

How we dealt with the hoover

Many sheltie owners will know and have experienced your sheltie going crazy when they don't like any particular noise or movement. 

Well, here we are trying to tell Eva that the hoover is actually a very boring thing, and nothing to be interested in or worried about. I used a lot of treats here!!!

First Day : -

Here is our step by step training:

1) Walk around the hoover (when it is off) with a leash and treats telling Eva that there is nothing to worry about.

2) Move the hoover (when it is still off) around and get her to down stay and leave it. 

3) Now switch the hoover on. She got really excited at first, but calmed down when I got her to follow me around for treats while she ignored the hoover.

4) With the hoover on, move it! That is still the hardest part and still requires a lot of training, work and patience. When I move the hoover, she will go to it, and try to bite it, but when I call her, she comes for her treat. At the end of first day session, you could see that she got a bit bored with the game at the end and ignored the hoover a bit. 

For the first day practice, I think I shouldn't have kept on calling her especially when she didn't walk towards the hoover. I think I was too worried so I kept on calling her thinking that I could distract her from approaching the hoover.

Second Day :-

I can see a slight changes in Eva's reactions towards the hoover. She still jumped when the hoover was switched on but calmed down soon.

Third Day : -

We're getting there, aren't we!!!

Fourth Day : -

I'm quite happy with today's work. Eva didn't jump or bark at the hoover when it was switched on, although she was still a bit playful, I think she's doing a good job : )

So far I still can't make Eva sit still and watch or do nothing when I'm using the hoover. I'd tried to use 'leave it' and 'stay' command but they didn't last!

Any ideas???

Reactivity to cars - progress

I'm pleased to say that Eva's reactivity to cars has decreased tremendously. She doesn't lunge at them anymore while on walks! A huge improvement. Now she just walks on heel next to me, and only looks at the car. No more jumping, lunging, crazy sheltie.
I never thought I'd get a dog that lunges at cars. I honestly believed it was only in stories. Laura and Mika don't care about the cars - they don't even give them a second thought. Our little miss sheltie has taught us a lot of stuff we didn't know dogs were capable of doing!

We actually took a video of a school bus passing us but it was pretty bad quality and very shaky, but I can say that she did really well too :)
Now, we just have to keep getting her used to fast moving objects and hope that soon she'll find cars less interesting.
We actually found that getting her NOT to sit was easier because then we won't have to wait for the car to go past. If we keep walking, the tendency to lunge is less.
Guess we won't be needing a no-pull harness :)
She's also slowly getting desensitized (at least barking wise) to the oven and the broom.
Glad to say our little pup is doing very well!!!

Genting Weekend

We took Eva up to Genting Highlands this weekend to have a breath of fresh and cool air :) 

You could call this weekend a "training challenge". 

We have been trying to get her to sit everytime a call or motorcycle passed by and give her a treat everytime she sit-stayed. However, it seems like she's not so interested in food when something is more interesting, and she's not so interested in toys either. So what exactly will keep her attention from the interesting objects? 

Sometimes she doesn't do much about them, but other times, she can go crazy!
We've been thinking of getting her a harness so that the pulling doesn't damage her throat, but I heard that harnesses let them pull even more.

Does anybody use a Gentle Leader Harness and comments on it?

Eva was a little social butterfly too. Rosie's little cousins came to see her, and as you know, kids who don't own dogs behave differently from kids who do :) So yesterday, Eva learnt not to shy away from sudden actions and behave herself, not to jump on others, etc. 

Today, we took her up to the mountains (a 4km walk up and another 4km walk down) to go to a little waterfall and this time, meet up with middle-aged, old people :) 

The morning dew settling on this heart-shaped leaf.

Macro flower shot from Rosie's camera

Starting our 1.5 hour journey

Cable-cars along the way

Sometimes when the road was too steep, Eva would get a ride :)

Mom, are we there yet?

Arriving at the waterfall

When meeting an old 7 year old girl, Eva went up to her boldly and made the first move, sniffing. However, the little dog was not so social and so shyed away. Lucky for her, Eva learnt from her Grandma Laura that disturbing oldies is never a good thing to do, so she didn't keep sniffing her but kept her distance.

Meeting an elder

Don't you think the poor doggy has a worried look on her face?

While walking, I noticed Eva's cute little ears and just had to take a video!

I'm sure many of you sheltie owners will see this everyday, but it's just too cute!

Tricky T-day

This week has been about teaching Eva about how wonderful the clicker is and also for a few more 'tricks' for you to watch!

After teaching 'Touch', as you saw on tuesday, we decided to teach 'Zen'. In Zen, a dog has to stay away from the handler's hand holding the food. Go one step further, and we've done it on different surfaces!

Tricky T-Day

 Guess what!

Eva is 8 months old today!!!

Here's to our first tricky t-day video with both Mika and Eva!
Today we used Sue Ailsby's training practice as a guide and decided to teach them 'touch' or 'target'.

TARGET

The dog must deliberately Touch the handler’s hand with her nose on only one voice cue. The hand in position is, naturally, a second, allowable cue.

 

We're getting there! Hope you enjoy it!

Guess where we're going today? Or should I give you a little hint?

Yes! We're visiting sheltieland!!

Back to OB

We went back for our last OB lesson today.
We're wondering whether we should just do our training at home since there are no other dogs doing pre-novice and therefore the trainer cannot teach us. We might try Sue Ailsby's training levels like what our blogger friend, Katie does.

Hi! I'm Alfie :) *sniff* *drool*

 With gentle giant River

You're teeeny!!

Sit-stay. Puppy are you watching?

Tunnel!

Here's a plea for all our blogger buddies!
AC our friend is going to run the New York Marathon and she needs your help to donate the Livestrong Foundation to fight against cancer! Please read her blog and if you feel like it, please donate here! Thanks a lot!

OB #10 and Making Friends!!!

As we already passed our OB exam last Sunday,  

what we did today was purely playing and making friends. 

Running with Groovy

But he's only interested in his frisbee!!!

Doesn't look like she hurt her leg! 

My new learned trick - PAW!!!

Mom was so proud of herself because I finally lifted my PAW to her

We did some work, of course...

I think I need a break now...

Making new friends

Buddy the husky

 Isn't he handsome?

 

Getting treats with River, Megan and Amber the three most gentle creatures in the world! 

Another new friend, Pacco de Mongrel 

Happy and me

What a busy day!

Celebration day!

Eva got 94/100 and we are so proud of her!! 

 

Part 1, we did heel work. Eva was good but I made some mistakes. I was meant to make a 90 degree right turn but somehow I did a 'V' shape. Woops!

 

Time to turn!

Why she still makes silly faces at the camera I will never understand!

Part 2, we did stand stay and recall. The only problem was that Eva didn't run to me excitedly - half running and half walking, but she did it to the finish so that was good.

Part 3, we did stay work. I'm usually worried that she gets distracted doing this but as there weren't others around, our trainer got a few other dogs to do it with her. When they were doing their sit stay, Eva got a bit distracted by a dog running for his frisbee but I immediately put her back and she stayed.

 

Good girl!

 

When Eva does her down stays usually, I'll give her a treat to down because if she doesn't get her treat, she'll get up, but this time I didn't and she still stayed! 

Can I get up now?

Well done darling!

After that grueling session, it was all play and fun!

 

A prezzie!!!Eva trying to open the lid! LOL

Eva's 8th OB Class

We're having our puppy class 'graduation' test next Sunday! Wish us luck. 


Today's OB was full of treats and playing and bonding with Eva, and of course some fun agility too :) 
Eva's best friend, Joey didn't come again, but she made new friends with Happy, a 5 year old mutt.

Some work was involved....

But after that, it was all fun and games!

Eva and her trainer (she listens to him more than she does to me :O )

Mr Bear came along to play

But then Eva found her new favourite toy, a stick!

Having a rest

(note the khrossed-pawz)!!!!

And....now for some fun!