Every year we enjoy oysters & prawns as our traditional Christmas dinner. With a great bottle of wine, it’s a perfect Aussie Christmas feast for a hot time of year!
Yesterday we had our feast early as we’ll be sharing Christmas day with the big family this year.
For our family feast, our little family of animals decided they might be getting some prawns and oysters too. good luck with that one!
Surely there’ll be some for us…?
Weave stakes and measure
If you’ve got your own sing-stake weaves at home, here is a fabulous site that sells weave stakes and weave measures.
Melting doggie
It’s officially a hot summer already, and no signs of cooling down until after Christmas…. maybe.
We had summer agility training yesterday, and the dogs found it hot hard work. The humans also melted in the heat. Our mate Mawson has a great recap of training here.
What do you mean, do a trick…? HUFF
Puppies love interacting with us and feeling part of the pack. As long as we set the rules and consistently kept up the rules, our puppies will have healthy and happy lives with us.
Part of playing together is creating new and fun ways to enjoy the human-doggie bond.
With Jaxon, I have the best time just ‘mucking about’ doing tricks. Now a doggie knows that if they perform, more than likely they will be rewarded. Tricks are a great way to show off your dog’s special skills – especially at Christmas time.
Naughty kittens
Jaxon has been such a good boy today. It’s often hard to fit in my training, let alone his during the day, plus work.
Today he’s played ball, had some jump training and been for a walk. All he wants to do is curl up in his crate for a comfy sleep when he’s confronted with the cats.
I could write a blog too…
Recently Jaxon has had a big problem with standard poodles (only black or grey), and German Sheppards.
Every time he sees one or other of this kind of dog, he barks crazily. Jaxon is normally very friendly and social, so it’s been a major change in him to be so reactive to other dogs.
So I started changing things up.
I read the other day that the best way you can show love to your dog is taking them for a walk every day. Even more if you can walk them twice a day!
Wednesday rolls round all too soon, and today’s workout is all about tips for keeping your doggie from jumping up.
The best place to start for this is reinforcing what is generally known as “four on the floor”. Now, we’re not talking about cars here, but having the dog’s paws (all four of them) on the ground during training and rewards.
10 minutes in the morning or evening, or 5 minutes for both is really all you need to keep your dog interested, working and having fun.
You can start this really easily from when your dog is just a puppy, and all the way through their lives, whenever you need to reinforce the behaviour.
Simple exercises such as walking together, come, heel, and stay can all be places where you reinforce this habit.
And it’s as simple as holding off your reward until the dog has all four feet on the ground. This is especially for owners of small dogs, who have a lot further to go when treating. You may also find that small dogs tend to jump a bit more for attention. I’ve certainly found that a hard habit to break with Jaxon, who loves food and attention.
Jumping Jack Flash
The sparkly thing is up
Jaxon was pretty non-plussed at the activity that created the sparkly tree this weekend. While his co-habiting cat creatures were very excited by the prospect of getting baubles to bat around the house, Jaxon took his opportunity to sleep quietly in the kitchen, away from the noise and activity.
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