Mud Pies

I totally mistimed my dog walk on Wednesday and despite blue skies and a bit blowy when I left the car 10 minutes later we had torential rain. As Sandrine would say il pleut comme vache qui pisse.

The Collies continued to have a blast running around. Myself not having the correct clothing on and Oddjob were not so keen.

We bravely carried on albeit a bit of a shortened route and as the rain got worse even a couple of the collies started looking at me for ideas of where to shelter. Oddjob was sorted walking directly behind me using me as cover.

My initial idea on the walk was to work on Oddjobs unhappiness with mud. Not far from where we park there are quite a few molehills. Ideal not too muddy but dirty and weird when stood on.

On the way out before the rain we stopped and Oddjob was given his precious chicken in exchnage for putting his feet on the molehills and due to clever plavement of reward was enjoying eating as his feet sunk into the molehill.

As we hurried back towards the van in the pouring rain I glanced at the molehills and was delighted although surprised to see Oddjob look up at me and deliberately plant his front feet onto the molehill and await his reward :)

Very pleased with this as he demonstrated that he was happy to work in such miserable weather and that he was liking the molehill game. What I wasn't so pleased about was that as I bent over to reward him a gap opened between my relatively waterproof coat and my not waterproof at all and already soaking trousers revealing an area of skin that created a lovely watercourse for the rain down - well I'll say no more LOL.

Last night I took Oddjob along to UpAndOver Dog Agility Club foundation class for his first taste of an agility class and so we can list that he started his agility career with them as it may be a long drive to take him to classes once we move. He isn't really ready for full on classes yet as he is still learning about learning and having fun with us. He wasn't overwelled or noisy and paid attention when called. He climbed on the wobbleboard and walked on a seesaw plank, He got in and out of various boxes and go on to the stools. He even did a recall over a pole on the ground to me and then back to give Dee a puggle. He did the boxes, stools, wobbleboard and seesaw quite happily with a great attitude but was not rushing to get to me over the pole on the ground. I do not want him to learn to do anything slowly so will work on recall speed before revisiting any obstacles. It was great to have a chance to have a taster though and helps steer our training for the next thing.

As it is quite dirty at the equestrian centre I didn't take his brand new favourite tugging toy instead opting for one of Rhyme's similar to another that he plays happily with. It was not a sucess with him so I also have to add playing around distractions to his list of things to do.

Acid Mud

Well with things moving quickly on the moving, not moving front for us Oddjob's training and blogging about it has taken a bit of a back seat.

He has adjusted really well to living with the collies and him and Rhyme are best pals.

So the last training I did was a basic - sitting.

I have since been informed that sit is not a basic exercise for Pugs and it doesn't come naturally to them either mentally or physically.

That explains it. I know he isn't unwilling to try to do things and I know he isn't daft so I did wonder if my training skills were letting me down as he was not quick to learn this behaviour.

Luckily I was told about them not liking the sitting before I had cracked it and he will now sit either for a treat, a toy, to be let in along side the others (staying there once the door is opened is next on the list) and randomly at my feet when I am near the fridge where the chicken treats are kept LOL.

We have now find exactly the right house and so all should go through ok now. We may have to spend time in a small holiday let and I mean small. I don't think it has internet so I may not be able to write for a while.

When we had looked at the house the owner told us of a nice walk nearby. A 3 hour car journey meant we wanted to ensure the dogs were walked before we went back again.

It was a lovely walk, along a track, through some woods and along an old disused railway track.

Well it was a lovely walk for people with boots and Border Collies. However due to the acid mud it was the most miserable walk Oddjob had ever had. He was so very unhappy about this and could not understand why on earth we would expect him to walk through it.

I say acid mud as the look on his face as he stared down at where his foot nearly touched it was one of pure distaste. Poor Oddjob.

I had been told that Pugs don't like rain but he has been out quite a few times in the rain and run about with the boys ok. This was another matter altogether.

Just avoiding mud or picking him up is not a brilliant option so my next mission is to see if I can get him to be comfortable with his feet in mud.

When I was just starting out at work I started in a bank with a few other recruits. We did those newbie jobs on a rota. The worst of all tasks was the post. It was the lowest of low, the acid mud of banking jobs. for some reason I decided to be the best post clerk there was. I labelled the baskets clearly so it was easier to sort, I activiely went round asking if I could take anything extra to the post office for the staff (just take my club order back etc). Eventually I actually began to look forward to doing the post and suddenly my colleagues became the same.

So I know that with the right attitude and lots of positive feelings even acid mud could be fun to be in :)

Initially I am getting Oddjob to just put his foot in water in a bowl for he best reward - chicken.

Out and about I am rewarding him for putting his foot on the edge of the mud, on a mole hill and in a puddle. I want him to enjoy his walks with us and not to be unhappy about anything as he is such a bubbly boy. I do need to take care I don't overdo this as having a pug sat in by the fridge is one thing trying to dry a muddy wiggly pug every time we go out will be another matter :)

Goodjob Oddjob

Just a very quick blog today as we are busy house hunting (again).

Oddjob has settled in so well with all our dogs except Kodi. When at shows Kodi has always been fascinated by Papillons and we used to joke and say when he got to agility champsionship status we would get him one. Clearly a pug is a long way from a papillon so Kodi is not impressed. He isn't nasty to Oddjob as Kodi hasn't got a mean bone in his body - he just is not interested.

It is a totally different story with Rhyme, they would romp and play all day given the oppoertunity and Rhyme is so gentle.

Having had just one breed for a long time it is special to see such different looking dogs have such a closeness :)

Training is coming along great. At the moment I have no new video footage to prove it though.

There is still a time delay from treat rewarding to swapping to play. I'm timing it and at the moment it is not on a steadily decreasing amount or even a consistant amount - sometimes it is instant, other times a few seconds to a few minutes to oh I need to go outside for a poo. I haven't decided what the key is yet but will keep exploring it.

The 2 focuses for this week was sit and settle down. I wasn't sure if he didn't find it easy to sit, if sitting wasn't an option previously or if he just hadn't been taught it but decided we'd done some fun stuff so let us try a basic.

As with other training it didn't take too long but still needs some work before it is solid.

Now settle is a different matter. I do have to remmeber that he is only 11 months old and can remember sitting on our floor helping the collies to settle quietly in the evening whilst we watch TV. It is never easy but I kind of thought that a toy breed would find it much more natural. Not Oddjob he always wants to be doing something LOL.

The Importance of being Oddjob

Now I am a little bit put out as everywhere we go with Oddjob everyone speaks to him and he just commands attention.

Why am I be put out by this? Well having had Border Collies all my life (except a lovely smooth collie cross) and with Rhyme my youngest being the most handsome dog in the whole world it amazes me the reaction we get with Oddjob :)

It doesn't phase Oddjob at all as he knows without a doubt that he is the most important dog of all time LOL.

He struts around full of his own importance, demanding and receiving attention.

A dog with such high importance and attention getting it without doing anything could potentially be a problem to train. You may remember the most attractive people from school expecting everything to be delivered to them just because they were beautiful and mostly getting it. Oops there I go talking about Rhyme again :)

Well not so with Oddjob (or Rhyme to be fair). He's a pug and pug's love to please. They are generally pleased just to be with you so they don't have to do anything really but Oddjob has already shown he likes the learning we are doing.

Of course Pugs love food so he does have higher motivation. Just to see if my feelings about his growing love of learning was correct I put his food bowl down with his breakfast in it then went and sat down with a small amount of his kibble. Then I took out the box I am asking him to put his feet into. He left his freely available food to join me in earning some :)

Good step one of teaching him to want to learn is well on the way. Next it's taking it on the road so he will offer behaviour in a different place. See below for his first time outside.

Still lots to play for - well doing something for a toy for starters and then doing things quicker etc.

BTW I bet you didn't know pugs are great retrievers and going by the rapid powerful head shake he gives on a tug I bet they were great dispensers of rodents too.

PS Speed of eating to ensure fluent rewarding can sometimes be a bit different :)

PPS I'm not sure if these videos have loaded correctly if not try

Cone work


Placement of paw