Obedience 1: Class 2

It was a hot day to out in the sun training dogs to loose walk on leads. The dog trainer hasn't seen Xena in a month and said she was longer and even wrinklier than ever. :o)

She was quite happy to hear that I'm starting to let Xena into the sun room as long as she isn't acting like a 'pork chop.'

She took Xena for a walk. Xena is an enthusiastic walker. She leaps, lurches and lunges. Some dogs don't want to budge. However, with some training instructions she was walking quite well on her normal lead by the end of the hour. I'm impressed and really glad I didn't have to figure out how to use that halti collar.

Here goes so I don't forget....

Loose Lead Walking....

It doesn't matter if she walks and pulls behind you, keep going.
Keep the lead lose and let her go anywhere she wants as long a she doesn't pull.
The idea to lose lead walking is that she will learn to keep a comfortable distance between you and herself.

'Xena, walkies' is her command and from then on all she gets is 'good puppy, good girl etc' which she loves and comes closer.

If she rushes ahead just say something like 'wheres my puppy' and walk backwards don't use 'come' that's only for recall.

If she's acting like a 'pork chop' stop, don't move until the moment she stop jumping.
Completely ignore her. Keep her attention by saying 'good puppy etc' when she goes to a tree, is distracted by cars, dogs etc. as soon as she looks at you, move on

Sit, Stay, Drop

Xena knows sit and stay, but not today. She just knows it at home in the yard, where there are no distractions. Now she is walking better on the lead we will start taking her to the local parks to practice her puppy class commands. This has been my fault, sine her pulling while walking incident left my back sore I have only trained her at home. I'm glad though because now she is walking in a better manner we can finally get out and catch up.

Xena still needs to practice 'drop' honestly though, she will flop down and rest if I stop a few minutes anyway and that might be the way to teach her to drop... when I see it happen, cuz trying to get her to do it with food is slow. Though we can do both.

Recall

I don't think Xena will have too much problem with recall on the lead but its "Xena come" then walk backwards praising her all the way for coming. She needs to be just as excited to walk towards me as her food bowl. Which thankfully she is.

Leave it

I'm somewhat confused with this one. I have heard 3 different commands from my trainer on it 'yes' 'leave it' and 'thank you' I've been practicing 'thank you' at home.

I think the trainer may use 'leave it' if the dog is rummaging around off lead and has something in its mouth. I think she uses thank you if the dog has something in it mouth near her and she can walk up and say 'what have you got' remove it from dogs mouth 'thank you' I might call her about that.

She starts with 'yes' then changes it to leave it but said you can just go straight to 'leave it'.

The idea is to have yummy treats in your hand and let the dog lick your hand but moment she turns her nose away say 'yes' then give her the treat.

Other Dogs at the Park Although Xena sniffed and looked at the other dogs she still gets shy and moves quickly away if they start puppy play with her. She has improved since being a total scaredy cat when she was younger to at least showing an interest. I do think that later on she may not be a very social dog with other dogs so at least if she's had lead training/ recall it may help.

I think she is doing well.

I didn't need a computer anyway, did I?

Awweee who loves a tummy rub

As the girls were at school and I needed to study I thought it might be nice for Xena to sit inside with me.

No sooner had I let her into the study when I remembered why I think big dogs should stay outside.

First her very waggy tail brought down everything from my coffee table. That included all those things that shouldn't be there but always are like coffee cups, nail polishes, ash trays, smokes, lighters, some candy wrappers papers oh and a bottle of Grand Marnier. No real damage done. I'm sure she was only encouraging me to give up all my vices- fat chance. 'Just cleaning up mum,' she says 'you really shouldn't have left that mess there last night.'

As she lovingly jumped up at me while I rushed to save my study aides, that would be booze and smokes, from being crushed/ broken under feet, she managed to tangle herself up in all the cords at the side of my desk.

And with one great lunge, like a wild dog cutting through jungle, she broke through them. Before I could even let out a gasp she proceeded onwards dragging my entire computer set up and phone base behind her.

Ummm yeah. I took her outside and gave her a cuddle while I added up the replacement costs. I didn't need that computer, my assignments or my vices anyway now... did I puppy?

Amazingly the computer is still alive. The assignments still there and I'm kicking back with a smoke and a coffee pretending none of that just happened.

DS Update

Well the lumps have gone! The vet thinks it was probably an allergy. If it comes back we need to think about any new food/ items she may be allergies to and we can take her to a doggy dermatologist for further testing.

I am very relieved its not DS. I did speak to a lovely lady, Kate Smith, from the Ridgeback Assoc. in Victoria who let me know that DS is never a large amount of lumps and it doesn't go away once its there. Yes I waas that concerned I called another state and would have called the USA if I had too! She recommended I join the Ridgeback Club here so that I can meet other owners and share information ie where to find a vet who knows about Ridgebacks etc.. She's going to send me some information about DS and even a membership form for her club if I'm interested :o)

I couldn't contact anyone from the RR Club here as their website is down and no phone number available. I did find the Ridgeback Assoc. here but the guy just blew me off... 'we're just a social club' and that's the only sentance I got from him after telling him I needed some advice on where to go/ who to call here about my sick RR.


Funny how things like this can change the way you see things. I let her in the sun room yesterday but only if she behaved. At first she started playing tug o war with my floor rug... out.

5 mins later let her in again. Then she came in and youngest daughter and Xena started playing boisterously..... BOTH of you, OUT.

3rd time lucky, Then 5 mins later I let her in again. She just flopped out and rested. Later she went out again. I think I may slowly introduce her to being in the house but not when she acts like psycho puppy.

Finally her coats have arrived and her halti leader too which for the life of me I cant figure out how it works. I will have to watch the DVD.

Of course all she wanted to do was tear her doggy coat to shreds... but the kids managed to distract her from i by chasing her all over the yard. I took it off her after that. We need to go slowly there.

Shattered

Happier Times only a day ago.

It's been a rough evening. I called Gav and sent him the pictures. He is shattered. My oldest daughter has been crying for hours. I haven't told the youngest yet. I am having a hard time holding it together myself. I'm in shock. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed by my feelings of sadness. I have to keep it together for every ones sake but its not easy. It's a loss. She's a sweet dog, her training is coming along well and give her another month of lead training and she would be excellent. It's a loss emotionally and financially. My daughter was trying to understand it. Why our puppy, why our bad luck etc. I just told her maybe God just wanted this dog to have a short life but a really good short life. I'm pretty shattered too and that's the only way to describe how we are all feeling. Gav and I both agree that the kindest thing to do is put her down. Not everyone would agree but that's our decision.

Tomorrow Xena will go to the vet and we will see what he/ she says. I'm going to ring around and see if I can find one experienced with Ridgebacks.

I'm also going to ring up my Obedience class trainer and let her know what's going on. She likes Xena a lot and maybe she will be supportive.

My daughter asked me if we will have a funeral for her if she has to be put to sleep. Wow I hadn't even got that far on my thinking. I feel numb. I did mention this blog site to her and that it will be a good memory and we can make a memorial last post.

Now I'm all cried out, the kids are in bed and the house is quiet I'm finally starting to get my head around it all. We have to prepare for the worst and at the same time maybe there is hope. Let's see what the vet says.

And isn't it strange, I can't believe all the small things I've worried about in the last 2 months during training. They all seem rather insignificant right now.

I've worked as an AIN for about 5 years in nursing homes and what hit me tonight was palliative care. Even though Xena may be on her way out perhaps she still can quite some time with us with pain relief etc. She can still do her classes (which she loves) and socialise and enjoy her final days. Once the pain is apparent then we will put her to sleep (not that that's what we do in nursing homes!). It may give us time to find some medicines etc that help the problem. I just don't know.

I can't wait to see the vet.

I found a good website about DS in Australai (where I am). The vets here don't see it a lot and most don't know how to operate on it. The dog with DS is euthenized here as the kindest thing to do.

http://tyandroma.com/dimple.htm

Also, that DS on the rump can cause spinal malforations.

Ahhhh I am going to sleep now. Its 3am I'm a wreck.

Dermoid sinus??

OK as my daughter is a worry wart I really didn't think that there would be a problem when she said, "Mum I think the puppy is sick.'

"What is it?" I asked her.

"She has lumps all over her bottom."

I saw Xena this morning when I gave her breakfast. We have been out all morning and arrived home around 1pm. I sent Mona out to play with Xena while I made her food. This morning Xena was fine.

I went outside to see her and yes she did have lumps on her rump. A lot of lumps! They felt medium hard underneath. Xena didn't seem bothered by them.

I haven't changed Xena's diet or taken her anywhere she could have caught anything. She's had all her shots.

I took some pics and rang my boyfriend up north but he was out. I will take her to a doctor tomorrow. I looked it up on line and it looks like the genetic disorder that Ridgebacks get called Dermoid sinus.

I hope it isn't that but it looks like that from the pictures I've seen online.

I can't believe they showed up just like that!

This is not a good situation for the puppy. Anyways I will take her to the vet tomorrow and find out.

It also could be insect bites but she doesn't seem bothered by them.

No Landing Zone

Our bodies are no longer landing zones for our ridgeback puppy. I can't believe how quickly the trainers advice worked. Xena barely jumps up at all now. There are still moments but we do as told and she soon cuts it out. Its going well.



No it's not a parachute... it's the net from one of our fruit trees! Whose been a bad puppy! hehe. Ok I should have sstopped her but the kids were singing 'here comes the bride' and she does look sooooooo cute :o)

Xena herself is beautiful as ever. As for her sleeping outside, I have been putting her into her kennel at night but letting her out just before I go to bed (late). That way most of her night is warm. I'm still waiting for her coats to arrive.



It's little things like this that prove to me that city dogs need toys....

And she has been having a wonderful time with her new toys too!

Obedience Class One: For Dog Owners Only

hmmm I took myself to obedience class today hehhee

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved that I did. I feel much better now. My sweety is a lot better behaved than most- from what the other owners were saying. However, for a lot of them their dogs are older and its their first time at any kind of training classes. Some of them are rescue dogs.

I met another ridgy owner, hers is a x... by the sounds of it, the type that my partner Gav would have liked.

There were people with terriers and beagles too. I always liked beagles. I asked the questions I needed to ask. I even stayed back for a few minutes as well. My trainer thinks that Xena is sweet. 'She's so laid back' 'A really nice dog'

I asked her if I should get another dog? She said No because Xena was shy from dogs at the beginning and it may make her regress. Also because unless Xena is 100% trained, bringing a new dog in will only add problems. This is like my partner said. So its ok. I did go look at the rescue dogs anyway. *smile* I do love going and looking at them. Seems most are fence/ people jumpers. Some are not socialized. Some have been abanoned. Oh and there was an adorable American pit bull puppy in a champagne and white colour with light eyes... to die for.

Jumping: We need to address the jumping at the glass door and the people who come out immediately and from inside. When she is at the door we can walk to it to go out to her but the moment she's being stupid, we turn around and walk back inside. She will soon learn that jumping around like a clown leads to being completely ignored.

Landing on my knee: She needs to be taught to stop when she gets to me, without the hand signal. That's not a hard one and she should learn that at obedience classes.

Attention seeking to get us to go outside: Hard luck, get over it. (Finally, I thought we were going to have to mollycoddle these dogs endlessly)

Not sleeping in her lovely warm kennel: Reality check, It's not going to happen, hard luck, get over it. hehe. But she thought the dog coat was a good idea. I also found some waterproof dog trampolines at the RSPCA shop which I will get next week. That can go where she has decided to sleep. It wont be warm or dry but at least she wont be on the hard concrete. For now Ive put down some rugs where she is sleeping. I will have to find a way to put up some sort of awning, but it wont be soon unfortunately because I'm not that handy.

Halti collars: DONT BUY FROM THE INTERNET- apparently they have to be fitted. Hmmm I didn't know that. Mine still hasn't arrived in the post but it does have a DVD so maybe it will say how to fit it properly. She will let us use her gentle leader harnesses etc... during obedience classes. She doesn't mind them. But the dog has to be taught to wear them.

1. Put collar on the dog without the lead then give the dog her meal.
2. Leave it on her a few minutes at a time
3. Build her up.

Lead: Don't forget to praise the dog and call her name to get her attention.

Xena out front of house off lead and following me around: Every time she comes over to you say 'heel' also remember at 5 months she will be a teenager and will want to take off and see the world.

Anyhow I'm feeling much more positive about the whole thing now.



Sucking up water from a slow running tap as it filled her water container :o)

This weeks task.

Keep practice walking in the back yard, one step at a time.
Teach her 'yes' every time she is about to get a treat.

Crates: They are good for nervous dogs and for travelling. You can keep the dog in them for 2-3 hours then take them out to stretch their legs.

Finally, Some great ideas to keep dogs amused when your not at home...

1. THE KING ICE CUBE.

Take your kong and fill it with doggy soaked doggy biscuits. Place the kong in an ice cream container and cover with stock. Freeze. Give to dog. It will definitely keep her amused :o)

2. RSPCA TOYS

Ok I'm guilty, I walked out of that shop with almost $200 worth of toys. A feed ball which you hide in the garden with biscuits in it. It has a ball baring in it too so it makes a noise. Fun Fun Fun.

A new rope toy to hang from our kids tennis pole. Xena loves swinging and pulling on these.

A few dried roo 'sticks' to put around the garden for her to find and chew on.

A large rubber tyre food feeder. That will keep her busy.

3. MILK CARTON TOY

Xena loves chewing up plastic milk cartons. Oh sooooo milky :o) But if I cut holes into it and put her biscuits in there.... Oh JOY!

SUPPORT

The trainer at the RSPCA has been a huge support in getting me through having a puppy. Puppies are hard work. As she said, if you can do it for 6 months and really try to make it work, then you're going to have a nice dog for the rest of its life.

Good morning, or maybe not.

Last night was cooler than usual. Had the dog been in her lovely, large and warm carpeted kennel, she wouldn't have felt it. But, because she refuses to sleep anywhere but next to the house she was probably cold. Not to be deterred she pulled lots of washing from the line and made herself a nest near the back door. No-one could say ridgebacks are stupid in doing what they want to do.

She woke the neighbourhood up by taking her metal water bowl for a walk along the brickwork. (She has a plastic one with water out there too so it wasn't to tell us she had no water). It was like a prisoner with a metal cup on his bars.

She is such a drama queen!

She has been doing fine outside unil the storm. The weather is cooler now too. I don't think she minds being outside at all. I think she loves that big yard to run and play in. Anyways if it does rain I will put her in her kennel until it passes or probably give in and convert the back room into her room!

How Pretty

Winter Storm

We had a wild and wet night last Monday. First real rains for the year came with a massive thunderstorm that destroyed a lot of property in my city. I brought Xena inside as she wouldn't take herself to her kennel and I wasn't going to risk getting hit by the lightning overhead. Then the back room, where we were all sitting, flooded. The entire back wall looked like we had a waterfall coming down through the joins of the ceiling and the roof. Once the storm had pretty much past we took her out to her kennel. It was warm and dry. We closed the door so she had to stay there with the small run. Its scary when the metal shed in the yard is more water tight than the house you live in. It makes you wonder!

Anyway she isn't liking the new cooler weather. Even though it hasn't rained since she still sooks at the back door. She has a perfectly warm, dry and comfortable kennel but refuses to use it. Instead she sleeps out in the open of the back door. I'm annoyed by that. I don't think its healthy. She has also started launching herself at the back glass sliding door to try to come into us.

This is even though I have gone out several times a day to spend time with her and the kids have played with her for quite some time. She's a sook and needs to be near us ALL the time.

I mean she is rather insisting at the moment. She has already destroyed the back screen door by launching at it. It doesn't work on its runs anymore. Now she is aiming for the glass sliding door.

She is not going to be an inside dog. Its as simple as that. But she isn't taking it very well. I cant wait for her gentle leader to arrive so we can walk her and hopefully get some energy out of her.

1st obedience class tomorrow... thank God maybe they can suggest something. I love Xena but I'm desperate here... things are being destroyed.

The one good thing about puppy training is you realise you are not alone... every ones suffering to some extent with their puppy. There are a lot of naughty things Xena isn't doing.

We just have to fix her body slams at us and at the doors and the back gate (so she can run around to the front door to make sure we open it to get her back in the yard- through the house). I would be tempted to let her in the sun room BUT I think I know her well enough to know she'd only launch herself at the next glass sliding door into the house. Then she'd be in our beds! Come on! I am allowed to have rules.

That's just sad cuz she really is a sweet dog. I'm not happy. She's not happy. She wants to be with her pack, and she is for several hours each day. We play with her, I spend a lot of time with her. She has toys to play with and she uses them. She has been quiet at night until the change in weather but now i think shes cold and the ground is damp.

I have ordered her a jacket. I think she may need to be locked in her kennel at night but as soon as the suns up she goes berzek in there barking and sctratching to get out.

I'm losing it here.

We are doing our best.

1. I know the easy answer is get another dog so she can have a friend but I recon they'll just encourage each other in bad deeds. ahhhhh

2.I'll see what the lady says at obedience class tomorrow. Bet she says to let her in the house.

3. Keep her on chain at night down at the kennel

4. Lock her in kennel and find a way to stop her nutting out in morning that doesn't involve me having to wake up at 4am for the next 12 years

Xena 14 weeks (Video) and Puppy Class Certificate

Press play


Yes we are so proud :o)

Lead- Check, Water- Check, 1/2 a 'Dead Chicken'- Check...

'Xena sit,' I say as I look her in the eye.

She looks at me with a kind of, 'Me no comprehehda de english' look.

I rub the bag containing cooked shreded chicken meat in my hands.

Food = Babble Fish for my Ridgeback

'Oh, oh, ok you said sit, yes now I understand,' Xena replies. 'And thank you for inserting that delicious peice of chicken into my mouth. What would you like me to do next? Stay or wait? Come here? Just don't forget to rain chicken down on me like manna from heaven.'

'Xena sit,' I say, holding 1 finger up and making beautiful eye contact. I raise another finger. Oh she is watching them intently with a yes I know look on her tilted face as I say 'Stay.'

I walk backwards holding my two fingers up as I go as I've discovered that sometimes Xena prefers sign language... with my partner she responds to whistles- I can't whistle :o(

She sits beautifully and stays in her place. Oh I am sooooo proud of her.

'Come here,' I say dropping my hand.

She races full pelt at me and launches her body sidewards at my leg. I feel my kneecap POP...

hmmm may need to work on that... If I don't want to have reconstructive knee surgery any time soon.

She gets some manna anyways.... yeah I'm not calling it treats anymore... Its manna in abundance if I want her attention. But her lunch will be smaller... see I'm not just a pretty face.

'Sit.... stay.... come here!'

I freeze as she runs full pelt at me again.

4 metres till impact... 3..... 2.....

I raise my hand with 5 fingers splayed....and

she scoots in on her bum and heels in front of me!


YAY!

I open the bag and shower her with shredded chicken. That was beautiful :o)

12 Weeks Old

12 weeks

Well Xena has past her 12 week milestone. She has had her last immunisation and nasal spray for another year, she's been weighed (13kg) and wormed.

We took her back to the vet clinic she was born at as her mum had a cesarean. They were very happy to see her again and there was much buzzing and playing with her by staff members cooing about how they'd been there as she had been born. It was kind of cute.

My partner and his dad were down from the mine and spent a lot of time playing with Xena. I threw my back out at puppy classes having to lift her up and down on my lap, whenever the teacher didn't want the dogs hyped up on the floor, and needed the break.

Gav has really enjoyed spending time with the puppy while down from the mines. For all his hard words about training, he hasn't been hard at all. He has a more domineering tone though and Xena doesn't have any problem doing what he tells her to do. He doesn't even use treats. Gav just whistles 'whooo whiii' for come, 'whi' for sit etc and I'll be damned but that dog must have been a sheep dog in its previous life cuz she gets it!

After having no back pain for two days I felt ready to get up and about. Now Xena's all immunised she is ready to take out for walks.

Boy, what an issue we had. She pulled the entire way. I stopped every couple of steps to pull her up. When I stopped she would soon heel but the moment I took a step she pulled. I felt like I carried her around the block cuz no matter how much lead I gave her (or didn't give her) she pulled on it. That and the occasional exuberant launching her full body up at me and leaping ahead of me.... means my back is now messed up again.

I called my partner whose back in the mines, and sulked and moaned in agony.

Now, I have being taking Xena to positive reinforcement puppy training classes and she begins Obedience 1 classes this week and I do want her to go on to obedience 2 and pass her good citizen certificate so I will bare with it.

The trainer suggested to me to get Xena into agility classes as she had a lot of fun at the last puppy class going through tunnels, jumping obstacles etc... the agility club is over an hour drive from me. I would have loved it though.

Right now I'd love it more if I could get her to walk nicely.

Speaking of, we passed 2 other dogs on our little walk and they both barked like lunatics. I was hoping to meet some nice friendly dogs so we could continue socialisation. But it wasn't to be.

One was a small yappy fluffy dog and Xena got all stiff and tail up over it, probably thought it was a cat, but I distracted her and we moved on. The other was a medium sized black Alsatian which Xena decided to quickly trot away from dragging me with her.


Anyways... I'm going to take some aspirin so I can hopefully sleep through my back ache.

Xena's First Night Out

This is the last photo of Xena in the house. She's an out door doggy now.


My first morning in 3 weeks not having to wake up to clean doggy dooos! Woo hoo!

Xenas first night out was fine. No crying or anything. She had her kennel in the tool shed and run of the back yard. We didn't hear a peep from her all night. So at least that's new problem we don't have to deal with.

In the morning she jumped all over my daughter and I like a psycho.... happy to see us but fully launching herself, 4 feet off the ground, at us over and over. I tried to ignore until she calmed down. I then patted her but she walked off and ignored me. She wouldn't come when I called her and went and laid down with her back to me.

So I went back inside.

Uff! More to fix.

1 Very Good Reason to Have a Puppy Outside

When puppies have new foods introduced they usually get diarrhea for a few days. This is what I was woke up to this morning. My lovely Xena who usually gets the puppy pad with a heat seeking missile type targeting system... failed her mission.

It stunk the closed laundry out for about 2 meters through the 3 entry doors. Putrid. I almost vomited when I opened one of them. My partner didn't want to know but almost chucked at the photo. He said, 'Right, those gates have to be fixed. She isn't sleeping in the laundry anymore.'

And he and his dad have been working on those gates for a couple of hours... thanks God.

Poor Xena is currently sitting on the chain while the works being don't. It took me ages to clean up the laundry and 1/2 a bottle of bleach. I feel violated its so foul. It's not the puppies fault but Yukkkkkkk

The guilty culprit



The fence and gates have been fixed :) Thanks to my partner and his dad.



Then we decided that spending $200 on a large second hand dog kennel was pointless when we had a perfectly good tool shed down the back. After cleaning it out and closing it off from the back garden we now have a comfy shelter for Xena.



Never thought I'd hear myself say, "It's nice to have a sparkling clean laundry." :o)