Happy 19th Birthday to Cokie the Cat!!

March 14, 2013 By Jodi

Back in December I was partnered with Cokie the Cat’s Blog for the Pet Blogger Gift Exchange hosted by Something Wagging This Way Comes.

Cokie, enjoying some down time.

I found out last week that today is Cokie’s 19th birthday, can you imagine?

I thought a song would be a really nice way to honor Cokie’s birthday, I started with the tune from the Beverly Hillbillies.

Come and listen to a story ‘bout a cat named Cokie

He wore a diaper but that’s no jokie.

But it just wasn’t working.

Then I thought, hmm maybe a children’s song, like Mary had a little lamb might be better.

Kristin had a little cat, little cat, little cat

Kristin had a little cat and Cokie was his name

They lived way out in Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood

They lived way out in Hollywood and Twitter was his game

Hmm working a bit better, but I couldn’t get beyond that.

Maybe something a little more modern, like One Direction’s What makes you beautiful.

So you’ve got fur, but your heart’s pure

When you run through the house you’re a blur

The way you tweet, you are so sweet

The kindness you show can’t be beat

Everyone else in the world can see it

Everyone else but you

Cokie you light up the world like nobody else

The way you structure a tweet makes our hearts melt

Nope, that fell short too.

I went back to the children’s rhyme.

There was a woman had a cat and Cokie was his name-o

C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E

And Cokie was his name-o

Her name was Kristin, her heart was true, she was the grandest dame-o

C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E

And Cokie was his name-o

They lived way out in Hollywood, and glamour was their game-o

C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E

And Cokie was his name-o

They had a blog, they loved to chat, Twitter was their claim to fame-o

C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E

And Cokie was his name-o

Today is his Nineteenth birthday, but this song is really lame-o

C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E, C-O-K-I-E

And Cokie was his name-o

I give up.

Instead I’ll just wish Cokie the happiest of birthdays, surrounded by everyone and everything he loves.

Thank you Cokie and Kristin for your kindness and generosity over these past four months, but most of all, I thank you for your friendship.

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Used without permission from Kristin. Of course I’ll remove it if she asks. 🙂

Do you know Cokie? Have you wished him a Happy B’day yet?

Nosy Girl

March 13, 2013 By Jodi

Delilah’s nosework class started last night.

I was anxious, as I always am going into a new class. There is a whole new dynamic of dogs to get used to, not to mention their owners.

Truthfully most dog owners I’ve taken classes with are pretty clueless.

The first clue I had that there might be trouble was the three people with their dogs standing smack in the middle of the path to the entrance.

I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes and took the long route around. By the time I got to my destination, two of them had moved into the building.

One of them, took a seat right in front of the door. With her slightly excited Goldendoodle. (Okay, I’m guessing it was a Goldendoodle, I’m not really sure, I do know she was excited though.)

Ariane was near the door and I said to her, I can’t get by that dog.

Thankfully Ariane asked the woman to step aside for a minute so I could get inside.

There was about six boxes in the center of the room

Sprite (the Goldendoodle) was first up.

Since this was the first week, we used the same box for each dog, because we didn’t want all the boxes to smell like food and confuse the dogs. Yes, in the beginning we are using food because we know that dogs like food and they are self rewarded when they find it.

Shelby was very shy around the box, but did much better her second turn, with a little coaching from her handler.

This is Oakley, he’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback, he’s been in two of our other classes.

We’re supposed to psyche the dogs up, ready? ready? ready? Find!

Delilah doesn’t need to be psyched up and she’s not shy. She’s a lab, she knows when there’s food around.

The harder part is hanging around waiting for our turn and keeping her interested in me.

The second turn we had, all I said was ready? And she lunged for the boxes. Thankfully I’m still hanging on to my winter fat which prevented me from turning into a kite.

I think this will be a fun class, when we aren’t sitting around waiting.

Oakley’s companion uses the down time to work Oakley on his other commands. She reinforces front, spin, around, peek-a-boo. I think it’s a great idea, so I started doing that with Delilah too. I really want to teach her peek-a-boo, it’s so cute when Oakley does it.

If you’re interested in learning more about nosework, Donna and the Dogs had a nice post up not too long ago that explained it pretty well, Nosing Around.

This is an easy game to teach your dog providing (s)he is food motivated. It is also very tiring, so on those days when the weather doesn’t cooperate and you need to find a way to tire out your dog, this is your go to game.

To teach it, start with about 5 boxes of varying sizes.

The first couple of times you can let your dog watch you place the food, after that, they should be in another room, or distracted by someone else.

Rev your dog up using an excited voice…..”Are you ready, you ready to go” whatever you use when you are getting your dog excited.

Then give the cue, I use FIND. You can use whatever makes sense to you.

Don’t lead your dog, the goal is to let your dog use their nose. Of course, if she veers totally off course, you may want to stroll towards the box, but don’t point to it.

Once your dog finds the correct box, praise and drop some more treats in there. You want them to really get the idea of what they’re supposed to be doing.

A couple of other tips:

Use one of the boxes strictly for the food, that way the scents don’t get all muddied up and confuse your dog. If you want to make it easier on yourself, mark it food. Your dog can’t read, right?

I’m actually going to put a plate in my box, because of Delilah’s tendency to lick everything.

Keep your dog on leash the first few times, just until they understand the game.

Vary the rooms you use to play this in, you want them to use their nose, not their memory.

Have you ever played this game with your pup? Do you think mental stimulation is as tiring as physical?

She Wears a Mask

March 12, 2013 By Jodi

I’m not quiet when I walk Sampson and Delilah.

If you’re walking with me and hoping to enjoy the quiet of nature and scenery like

this

or this

You may want to choose another walking partner.

My whole purpose of walking with my dogs is to interact with

these two.

In order to do this, I talk to them and at times I need to call them. In other words I’m very loud.

So when I catch someone unaware it surprises me, I mean sound really carries in our little neck of the woods.

We were taking our walk on Sunday when I noticed someone ahead of me on an adjacent trail. I called the dogs to me and waited, watching.

From the distance we were at I couldn’t tell who it was. Then all of a sudden I saw a brown dog with an orange collar come into the picture.

Ah, it’s Brady and one of his moms I thought. So I let the dogs go, and started walking towards them.

This was a big mistake.

The dog in question was not Brady at all.

The dogs were fine with the other dog but as soon as I realized my faux pas, I started walking towards them calling my dogs as I walked. As I got closer I could see a woman holding her dog, while telling my dogs to “Go.”

My dogs did. They came back and I hooked them up, then shouted over my apologies.

“I’m so sorry, I saw your dog off-leash and assumed it would be okay.”

“Are you speaking?”

“Yes, I said, I’m super sorry, I saw your dog off-leash and assumed it would be okay to allow them to say hello.”

“She wears a mask, because sometimes she doesn’t like other dogs, not all dogs, just some.”

Let me remind you all of what ASSUME means.

Yes, I felt like a complete ass. Here is her poor dog, in the woods wearing a muzzle and the two galloping goofs are rushing over to say hello.

I’m going to make another assumption right now. That assumption is you’ve read Suzanne Clothier’s article He Just Wants To Say “Hi.” If you haven’t read this amazing article, take the time to do so, if you don’t have the time, bookmark the page or print it off and stick it in your pocket for future reading. It is a must read for every single dog owner.

I. Kid. You. Not.

And I want to thank Pamela Douglas Webster again for sharing the article. I cried when I read the article, thinking of the times I corrected my dog for reacting like a dog. I also printed it off to put with my dog material and I intend to make at least one copy to carry with me, for sharing purposes.

That article sprang to mind as this woman and I shouted back and forth across the trails. I thought of her poor dog and the frustration and fear her dog must feel, being muzzled and unable to let another dog know that she wants to be left alone.

And then of all the other dog owners who will misunderstand and misread the signals their dogs are sending to them. Other dog owners who have consulted with professional dog trainers.

I did. The first time Delilah reacted to a dog, we went back to class. I worked with her on reactivity and as I worked her, I really started watching just exactly when and what she reacted to.

Yes, she was selective in her reactions. Dogs who are rude, or misbehaving are the dogs she snipes at. She’s letting them know she doesn’t care for their behavior.

The problem is, that many owners misunderstand her ‘reactions’ as aggression and I have to be careful. I can’t have her reacting to a dog whose owner is not going to understand what’s going on.

Have you read the article? What do you think? Is it a reactive dog, an aggressive dog, a fearful dog or a dog with normal expectations of how other dogs should behave?

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