Canine Cognition

This is so cool. I have heard of this before so I tried it with Frodo. And he imitated the behavior! This works! I will work more with this!

Happy turtle day!

Dog training and scent discrimination

The word "scent discrimination" is most commonly used in high level obedience or schutzhund but it is also used in the military and police to find narcotics, bombs and so on.

People can use this for "pets" too with coffee or tea or other scent. I chose coffee with mine cause I don't drink coffee and we have it around for visitors so might as well use it. Plus it smells strong so I don't need much when I am higher level that I intend to reach when I hide it in the house or outdoors or in cars like narcotic dogs.

But I will talk about how I train this in a different post. I got pictures and videos to share. As for rest of the day... :)

Apache was, as you know, abused in the beginning of his life. Extremely fearful of humans and I have worked very hard on this. There's still a lot to improve but we are moving forward. :)

I love training his body control and teaching him where his feet are. So I started to work on stepping over my legs but also stepping onto my legs. That was more difficult and so much fun! I will for sure work more on that. :)

I also taught Ixxi and JD to use the new doggystairs we bought so successful day!

Multiple dogs

When you have one or two, maybe three dogs it's like having kids. But when you pass four and five you start to feel like a daycare center instead of a family. I don't mind at all! It is just a thought that popped into my head today.

They go everywhere, they get dirty, they need a bath, they need to get dried, you need to change clothes, someone got into something, and then it's feeding and time to go out again and someone gets into filth and puts it in his mouth. ;)

First off, today would have been Ådis 5th birthday. I miss him and I really want to honor him in this blog post. Rest in Peace my friend.

I also finally confirmed that the turtles are males and the names will be Donatello and Raphael. :)
First pic was when we first got them and second is Donatello hogging the entire space. We will need to build out so both can fit better. :)

I know it isn't dog on a dog blog but frankly, I don't care. ;) They are my babies too!

Okay so time for Frodo talk! here's his favorite toys:

Mostly ropes. I braided a jeans rope and he LOVES it!

But the biggest favorite of them all is the "football" toy. :)

And Ixxi and Digger was not very impressed.

The day doesn't stop there. Apart from Frodo getting a bath and some cleaning and walking and such, I decided to cut down Frodo's socks for many reasons. He eats burdocks that tangles into the fur, and he loves getting dirty plus it's easier to check for ticks.

That's all folks!

Rest in Peace Otto the mini schnauzer

I'm a member in a mini schnauzer group and an individual I was attached to passed away today. Stupid cancer! I lit a candle in his memorial. Poor Otto and family.

My dogs thought I was so boring today. I walked them, I cuddled them, I made braided jeans toy for Frodo to kill his bordom but otherwise I only worked on the computers. I've postponed it for a long time but by sorting this out I will have a better working space and be able to manage my planning and otherwise with the animals and training. Not to mention that I no longer need to worry about losing my pics again like I did earlier.

So apart from some walk in the cold weather and bad weather, I think this face sums "the fun" up of today.

Hopefully we can do more fun tomorrow. Stay safe!

Welcome to my new dog blog!

I used to have a blog for myself and one for Apache. But it didn't feel fair to only write about Apache so here's the blog for the entire gang. :) The tabs will tell a little about the rest of the farm (when I get far enough to update them) but i will mainly blog about their training activities, walks, baths, car trips and whatever else we may come up with. Tricks and brain games will be here for sure! :)

To start off with the blog I introduced coffee search (the same thing that bomb or narcotics dogs do but coffee instead of dangerous substances)  to J.D. for the first time today. Frodo and Ixxi have practiced it before but it was new to him. I was going to work with the other 2 as well but never got that far. They all did really good. :)

I need to keep this short. Thunderstorm on the way and I will lose internet when it reaches here.

But welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy it!