I left our girl at the kennels this morning. She's in there for a week while we take a holiday at Lake Garda. It's a 70th birthday present for Rosemary delayed 2 years because of Covid. We're staying in Bardolino and we're looking forward to walks around the lake and in the hills. We may also jump on a bus or train and go to Verona for the day. It seems a long time since we were last in Italy - too long really because of Covid.
Poppy always goes into kennels well enough. She's there regularly because of work and is always looked after by Bridgette and really likes her. She mustn't jump up, but the greeting this morning was paws on shoulders and a big wet kiss! I left her with strict instructions to play with her lots, please. She has her vet bed out of the car, several toys, a chew, enough half cows' ears for a week and a bag of food. Bridgette said there was another sniffer dog with them - a failed bomb squad dog - so Poppy and the other dog could compare notes!
On other fronts, cheese seems to be the solution to all problems, and letting Poppy know I have cheese works every time. She becomes very attentive and doesn't take her eyes off me for a second. Heel, sit/wait, recall - all no problem at all. I'm using the clicker as well. The only difficulty is in placing a dummy for her unsighted. I'm concentrating on blind retrieves only at the moment so she always must use her nose. Because she knows I have cheese, she won't take her eyes off me. However, if I do succeed she goes out and retrieves beautifully most of the time. Sometimes the return is a bit around the houses but she still comes back.
I have yet to crack problems with other dogs. Maybe it's just not possible. Poppy is a bit unpredictable and I just can't tell how she will react when meeting a new dog. I have to say she usually doesn't kick things off, but she is so persistent and noisy, any initiation by the other dog is forgotten by the owner by the time I have her under control. On the plus side it's all noise and no teeth. I think as far as Poppy is concerned it's all just a huge noisy game because once I have her back on the lead she just sits and wags her tail as if butter wouldn't melt looking up for more cheese! I had one such incident this morning with the other dog owner saying can you catch her. I mean if I could do that I'd be able to move as fast as superman! The other dog owner picked her dog up and held him over her head. Poppy just looked bemused and then sat in front of me looking for more cheese - tail wagging. We all burst out laughing and I said that I thought dogs were going to be the death of me! Most of the time I get Pops on the lead in time but I judged it wrong this morning. I'm a bit reluctant to always put her on the lead because things will never move forward and actually most of the time everything is fine.
Anyway, she's safely in her holiday home for a week - we pick her up a week on Monday.
Poppy always goes into kennels well enough. She's there regularly because of work and is always looked after by Bridgette and really likes her. She mustn't jump up, but the greeting this morning was paws on shoulders and a big wet kiss! I left her with strict instructions to play with her lots, please. She has her vet bed out of the car, several toys, a chew, enough half cows' ears for a week and a bag of food. Bridgette said there was another sniffer dog with them - a failed bomb squad dog - so Poppy and the other dog could compare notes!
On other fronts, cheese seems to be the solution to all problems, and letting Poppy know I have cheese works every time. She becomes very attentive and doesn't take her eyes off me for a second. Heel, sit/wait, recall - all no problem at all. I'm using the clicker as well. The only difficulty is in placing a dummy for her unsighted. I'm concentrating on blind retrieves only at the moment so she always must use her nose. Because she knows I have cheese, she won't take her eyes off me. However, if I do succeed she goes out and retrieves beautifully most of the time. Sometimes the return is a bit around the houses but she still comes back.
I have yet to crack problems with other dogs. Maybe it's just not possible. Poppy is a bit unpredictable and I just can't tell how she will react when meeting a new dog. I have to say she usually doesn't kick things off, but she is so persistent and noisy, any initiation by the other dog is forgotten by the owner by the time I have her under control. On the plus side it's all noise and no teeth. I think as far as Poppy is concerned it's all just a huge noisy game because once I have her back on the lead she just sits and wags her tail as if butter wouldn't melt looking up for more cheese! I had one such incident this morning with the other dog owner saying can you catch her. I mean if I could do that I'd be able to move as fast as superman! The other dog owner picked her dog up and held him over her head. Poppy just looked bemused and then sat in front of me looking for more cheese - tail wagging. We all burst out laughing and I said that I thought dogs were going to be the death of me! Most of the time I get Pops on the lead in time but I judged it wrong this morning. I'm a bit reluctant to always put her on the lead because things will never move forward and actually most of the time everything is fine.
Anyway, she's safely in her holiday home for a week - we pick her up a week on Monday.
If Poppy is enjoying it it will get better and better, there will be slip ups but who cares. Don't forget the wind direction.
Hand signals are non-existent at the moment so I pretty much had to wait for her to come around in a huge circle that got her the right side of the dummy and she scented it.