Author Archives: dazzlesmom

Voodoo went to the vet for his shots and a chiropractic adjustment yesterday, so they were able to get his weight accurately.

At his 9 weeks check up, he was 12.5″ tall at the shoulders and 11 lbs.

At 12 weeks, he is 14″ tall and 18.8 lbs. (up to Dazzle’s elbow)

Looking at him and lifting him, it seems like there should be more of a difference 🙂 But that’s what the number are. I did the same thing with Dazzle and by 12 weeks he was 16.5″ tall. So Voodoo might not get as tall as I was hoping without a big growth spurt, but I’ll love him just the same. 🙂

Worked on several things yesterday.  The sit target is well understood and is now being used as part of the directional control training. By placing 2 sit targets (one on either side of me) I can direct him to the target that will “pay off”. He picked this up quickly. As the training progresses, I’ll add more distance. I’ll also start close by me with 2 targets to get “move out away from me to a target” and “come in toward me to a target” in addition to the left and right directionals we are currently working on. This will eventually get used in field work when the downed bird was seen by me, but not Voodoo and I need to direct him with visual cues to where it is located if the send out goes bad.

I also started and made excellent progress on the “go out” that will have the cue “fly” (as in fly away). I used luring to get him into a rhythm of circle the cone to the right, then the left, then right, then left. When I stood up to stretch my back, Voodoo went around the cone! So I did less luring at that point and only used it to help him when he got stuck.  In this first session, we went from zero understanding of the behavior, to racing around the cone with joy! I know some people are “anti-luring” or feel the lure should be faded quickly.  But I feel luring is a very useful tool in helping the dog get it right quickly and avoiding the frustration that free shaping a dog that is not advanced, can bring. It also allowed me get speed into the behavior right from the start.

Lastly is a short bit of the start of “leave it” training. Just “hand zen” at this point.  I start by clicking for his nose moving away from the hand with the treat and eventually click for eye contact as well.  Eventually, when I say “leave it”, my goal is to have the dog give me eye contact. If they are looking at my face, they can’t get into much trouble 🙂 I haven’t worked on this behavior much at all, so we aren’t very far into it. But I NEED it on cue because Voodoo likes to pick up all sorts of things off the ground. For now, “release” and trading him a treat for the items seems to be working. but I’d like to prevent the pick up of strange items in the first place. 🙂

Okay, here is the video: https://vimeo.com/171526587

Since it’s so hot, I decided it was a good day to get Voodoo used to the spray bottle. I want to use it to keep him wet, so he stays cool when it gets this hot. I think he liked it! https://vimeo.com/171340505

He was a bit unsure of it at first, but quickly decided he had to attack it!

My husband: “Do you HAVE to teach all the dog to bark at spray bottles?”

Me: “Yes, yes I do”  LOL

Although once he got over the frustration of it, he didn’t bark as much.  I cut out about a minute of the barking. You’re welcome 🙂

Short clip of Voodoo’s latest progress with nail trims. https://vimeo.com/171319802

I didn’t get the previous practice steps on video, but it has been mostly desensitization. First to the treat dispensing machine, then paw holding, the dremel sound, then combining them to get to this point.

From 6-20-16

Voodoo continues to blow me away with his confidence and boldness! On Saturday we went to the Indy “Pop Con” and he met and played with all sorts of creatures and people! He met dinosaurs, Storm Troopers, Ninja Turtles, people of all colors (like blue and green and purple), Ghost Busters, a zombie, and people with all sorts of masks and costumes! NONE of it phased him!! He got to practice some mat work (relax on your mat in a distracting environment) and we also walked around downtown a bit (from the convention center to the parking area and on each potty walk). He even rode in a glass elevator a few times. I put him on my walker when he was tired, but mostly he wandered through the crowds of weird sights on his own feet. When he needed to rest, we just parked off to the side and people of all sorts came to him. 🙂 Check out this video! https://vimeo.com/171177767/d05bc428ca

Today (Sunday) we visited the Celtic Festival, held at the OH Ren Fest grounds. Voodoo met LOTS of people, (and shown in this video) a Highland cow, a not-so-friendly sheep, a 6 mo. old Papillon, and listened to lots of live music. https://vimeo.com/171255790/1ab39f2168

A few sessions from today covering some core strengthening exercises, handling exercises and muzzle training progress. https://vimeo.com/171221814

Here is some video of the “release” cue (drop it) practice and some retrieve practice. https://vimeo.com/170887206

We’re also working on getting his nails filed, but I barely have enough hands to do that and deliver treats. The counter where I’m working isn’t big enough to set the phone on the tiny tripod and my camera (with the full size tripod) needs a new camera card. So no video for now.

It’s been going slow, but after some practice with his front feet, I was able to get one back foot done while my husband held a bully stick for Voodoo. I got all his nails trimmed early last week when he was really tired and mostly slept through it 🙂 But they are getting long again so we’re going to do a little at a time each day. I know patience and practice now will pay off for his entire life. But I’m wishing I had started on it earlier.

Some bad storms rolled through, and Voodoo slept through them. Yea!!

He got an ice cube that Dazzle dropped and had a blast pawing and biting at it and carrying it around and rolling on it. Tried to get video, but it didn’t turn out very well.

He and Dazzle have been having short bouts of play. But Dazzle is kind of like a cat in that it’s all friendly till he decides he’s done and then he snarks.  Not bad, but it’s seemingly without warning like a cat enjoying a good scratch that suddenly nails you with teeth and claws. Voodoo is still being very respectful and will back off when Dazzle tell him to back off.  Hopefully he will start to pick up on dazzle’s subtle signals that I’m missing so he can back off before Dazzle barks.

We have been practicing stuff, but I haven’t been getting video (bad mommy). I’ll try to do better, but his training is going very well! We’ve been working on retrieve, walking on leash, sit/down/stand, sit target, nail trims and more.

Here are a few photos to hold you over 🙂

Extra relaxed in his crate. He whines, flops, moans and goes through so many positions to find the most uncomfortable looking position to sleep in. This one actually looks pretty comfortable compared to some that he gets in. Still sleeping through the night, though he seems to think 7 hours is enough. We took a nap together this afternoon 🙂

“What?  I’m not chewing on the chair. I’m just resting my upper jaw here”

Puppy belly!

Look who is on the same couch together!  Dazzle was up there first and he didn’t do anything but look when Voodoo climbed up and laid down next to him!

He found this sunny spot after his swim/dunk in the pool.

He’s not swimming in the big pool just yet, but he did copy Dazzle and climbed up on the pause table that is next to the pool and stretched over the side of the pool to get a drink!  I only put the most minimal amount of chlorine in the water to keep the algae out, so it’s safe to drink occasionally. When it’s really hot, I hold him in the water and let him mock swim just to cool off. I ordered some float vests (a small and a medium) that I found on deep discount, so hopefully they will help him love to swim in the pool.

In other news- he is starting to use the dog door on his own!  Mostly to come in at this point, but I’m taking him to the dog door each morning and usually when he needs to go out, so hopefully he will get the idea that he can go out whenever he wants to also.

He is getting better about staying in a crate when I’m present and when I’m not, though he did have a howl fest with Dazzle yesterday when I was cutting grass and I left him in a crate. He watched my neighbor cutting grass today and gave a few barks to his little white dog that was barking at him and Dazzle almost non-stop.

Voodoo and the wooden puzzle toy: https://vimeo.com/170423857
The pegs on this wooden disk lift off while the other three parts have to slide to open. He has not seen this before. I was hoping it would keep him busy for several minutes, but I got less than 2 before it was empty!

Voodoo saw lightning bugs for the first time tonight.  And we had LOTS of them all over the yard!  He went out to potty, but got rather distracted by the little flashes of light flying near him. He stalked, chased and even caught a few.  But they must taste bad considering how fast he spit them out. 🙂  https://vimeo.com/170413859