Poodle Squee!
So today I went to the pet store and bought some outrageously expensive food and treats for the dog. VW mentioned that I usually only refer to her as "the poodle" so I feel obliged to point out for those who don't know that her name is Amelie. As in the movie. Anyway.
I bought her some veal/mussel treats for in the car (I'm sure they'll smell delightful. Fortunately Santa brought me air fresheners for Christmas. Seriously. Air fresheners. For the car. In my stocking.)
The food I bought is to replace the freeze dried salmon cat treats. She loves them, but they smell just really awful. This food is a rather expensive dietary supplement consisting almost entirely of freeze dried raw chicken and turkey and their various parts. There is also some vegetable matter. Pumpkin seeds are the item that sticks in my mind. But all the ingredients are recognizable food items. These things come in little round medallions. I cute them up and broke hem into little bite sized chunks and while I was doing so one piece fell on the floor. The poodle fell upon it like a mad thing. I have never seen such a motivated poodle. I used them for training treats. She was falling all over herself to get those things. I have never seen her concentrate so hard. It was awesome.
We worked more with the ball. I have no idea what to do to get her to try to pick it up in her mouth, as this is not a behavior which comes naturally, but I did start getting her to pose with one foot on the ball, because it is cute. I suppose I could start assigning cues like "nose," "kick," and um... I'm torn between "Beckham," and "Is there a little Captain in ya?" Ok, I'm not really torn. I will teach my dog to emulate a rum commercial on command. Also we continued laying the basework for the ver popular "Shake." Apparently teaching her to paw the ball has paid off because otherwise I don't think it would have occured to her to paw my hand. She would have layed there and stared in confusion. Madeline says generalization is good. Ie: she has figured out that the things I'm teaching her in relation to the ball can be applied to other objects/situations.
Huzzah! Then after I put the treats away she was all wound up and it occured to me that she hadn't been out since this morning so we went for a short walk (would have been longer but it was getting dark). Then we came back to the house and played hide and seek (sorta). I ran off somewhere and ducked around a corner and then called her and she'd run after me. It is also a good way to teach her to come when she's called (which she needs work on). Now she is napping on he soft and warm wool rug my mom made me for Christmas.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, Santa also brought me chocolate Bedueten Hende for Christmas. I think that's spelled wrong (It's supposed to have umlauts for one thing) and Liz is probably the only one who'll appreciate it, but I thought it was an exceedingly strange item.
I bought her some veal/mussel treats for in the car (I'm sure they'll smell delightful. Fortunately Santa brought me air fresheners for Christmas. Seriously. Air fresheners. For the car. In my stocking.)
The food I bought is to replace the freeze dried salmon cat treats. She loves them, but they smell just really awful. This food is a rather expensive dietary supplement consisting almost entirely of freeze dried raw chicken and turkey and their various parts. There is also some vegetable matter. Pumpkin seeds are the item that sticks in my mind. But all the ingredients are recognizable food items. These things come in little round medallions. I cute them up and broke hem into little bite sized chunks and while I was doing so one piece fell on the floor. The poodle fell upon it like a mad thing. I have never seen such a motivated poodle. I used them for training treats. She was falling all over herself to get those things. I have never seen her concentrate so hard. It was awesome.
We worked more with the ball. I have no idea what to do to get her to try to pick it up in her mouth, as this is not a behavior which comes naturally, but I did start getting her to pose with one foot on the ball, because it is cute. I suppose I could start assigning cues like "nose," "kick," and um... I'm torn between "Beckham," and "Is there a little Captain in ya?" Ok, I'm not really torn. I will teach my dog to emulate a rum commercial on command. Also we continued laying the basework for the ver popular "Shake." Apparently teaching her to paw the ball has paid off because otherwise I don't think it would have occured to her to paw my hand. She would have layed there and stared in confusion. Madeline says generalization is good. Ie: she has figured out that the things I'm teaching her in relation to the ball can be applied to other objects/situations.
Huzzah! Then after I put the treats away she was all wound up and it occured to me that she hadn't been out since this morning so we went for a short walk (would have been longer but it was getting dark). Then we came back to the house and played hide and seek (sorta). I ran off somewhere and ducked around a corner and then called her and she'd run after me. It is also a good way to teach her to come when she's called (which she needs work on). Now she is napping on he soft and warm wool rug my mom made me for Christmas.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, Santa also brought me chocolate Bedueten Hende for Christmas. I think that's spelled wrong (It's supposed to have umlauts for one thing) and Liz is probably the only one who'll appreciate it, but I thought it was an exceedingly strange item.