in hopes that a coffee break would find time to spare...
I was working.
Bella was bored.
The cards were tempting.
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Sunday, December 22, 2013
How to get on Santa's "Naughty" list (video)
The Christmas cards were stacked by my work-desk with care,
in hopes that a coffee break would find time to spare...
I was working.
Bella was bored.
The cards were tempting.
in hopes that a coffee break would find time to spare...
I was working.
Bella was bored.
The cards were tempting.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Just got back from BlogPaws and boy, are my arms tired...
No, wait, that's not right...
Jan and I got back from BlogPaws around 9 o'clock Sunday night. We left Virginia at 10 a.m. but oh the traffic was tragic from NJ through CT.
I have a bunch of stories I want to share and thoughts to pass along but I'm still exhausted and recuperating and taking the easy way out tonight with a video of our welcome home greeting from Bella. Vacations are fun but I think everyone in Casa de Bella thinks coming home is better.
I do want to congratulate all the nominees and the winners of the Nose-to-Nose awards especially our special friends Mrs. Taleteller from Tails and Tales on their win for Best Photo and Jodi from Kol's Notes for Best Bark Blog. You ladies rocked the house and we are so proud of you!
So for now, allow me to leave you with a little video of my pretty pup who was, apparently happy to see us even though she had a grand time at Camp Nana's. (Watch the tail.)
(PS - THANK YOU, Nana, for taking care of our little girl! I don't know what we would do without you.)
Jan and I got back from BlogPaws around 9 o'clock Sunday night. We left Virginia at 10 a.m. but oh the traffic was tragic from NJ through CT.
I have a bunch of stories I want to share and thoughts to pass along but I'm still exhausted and recuperating and taking the easy way out tonight with a video of our welcome home greeting from Bella. Vacations are fun but I think everyone in Casa de Bella thinks coming home is better.
I do want to congratulate all the nominees and the winners of the Nose-to-Nose awards especially our special friends Mrs. Taleteller from Tails and Tales on their win for Best Photo and Jodi from Kol's Notes for Best Bark Blog. You ladies rocked the house and we are so proud of you!
So for now, allow me to leave you with a little video of my pretty pup who was, apparently happy to see us even though she had a grand time at Camp Nana's. (Watch the tail.)
(PS - THANK YOU, Nana, for taking care of our little girl! I don't know what we would do without you.)
Monday, May 6, 2013
Bella blowing bubbles (video)
One of the approaches we tried to work out Bella's injured shoulder was rehabilitation therapy. Specifically, an underwater treadmill. Bella, the scared-y dog was, obviously, thrilled. (No, not really.)
However, the vet, being a pretty smart cookie herself, started playing this little game with Bella to help her get over her fear of the water. She would throw small treats into a water bowl to entice Bella to interact with the water. The results were hilarious.
This was a first for me. Have you ever seen a dog blow bubbles before? Does YOUR dog blow bubbles? Will they dunk for treats or are they more likely to pussy-foot around? Happy Monday, everyone!
However, the vet, being a pretty smart cookie herself, started playing this little game with Bella to help her get over her fear of the water. She would throw small treats into a water bowl to entice Bella to interact with the water. The results were hilarious.
This was a first for me. Have you ever seen a dog blow bubbles before? Does YOUR dog blow bubbles? Will they dunk for treats or are they more likely to pussy-foot around? Happy Monday, everyone!
Friday, February 8, 2013
{This Moment} See Beautiful - Sometimes she's just a normal dog
Every day that Bella has a "normal" dog experience is one of absolute beauty to me...
Last week, we received a package in the mail and it came wrapped in heavy paper.
In her almost 5 years with us, Bella has never stepped on paper or a box...
Last week, she traipsed right over the packing paper and even initiated play with me.
What many might find an every day occurrence, an annoyance even, for us became an event of unique beauty.
Bella.
Playing.
With paper.
There is beauty in the smallest of life's moments.
We need only remember to look for them.
Last week, we received a package in the mail and it came wrapped in heavy paper.
In her almost 5 years with us, Bella has never stepped on paper or a box...
Last week, she traipsed right over the packing paper and even initiated play with me.
What many might find an every day occurrence, an annoyance even, for us became an event of unique beauty.
Bella.
Playing.
With paper.
There is beauty in the smallest of life's moments.
We need only remember to look for them.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The "Agility" part of Agility for Reactive Dogs class
Last week I started telling the story of Bella's "Agility for Reactive Dogs" class focusing on some very basic considerations for handling reactive dogs in a classroom setting. Today, I'm going to talk about the first steps of the agility part of the class.
The class breaks down into two sections: reactivity training and agility training. But the agility training part, at least for us, breaks down into 2 further areas of concentration: the reactive part and the scared-y dog part.
The "reactive" part:
In the very earliest days of the class, we handled the reactivity part of our training in one of two ways. We'd click and treat positive interactions with the other dogs (and by interactions, I'm just talking about a glance or vague interest in the other dog.) And we'd divert and distract when the interaction was not so positive. If Bella "reacted" to another dog, we could retreat from the scene (divert) or throw a handful of treats on the floor in front of her (distract).
Initially, each dog worked on an obstacle at one end of the room while the other dogs wait calmly, or not, on their "mats". It's one thing to be calm and composed when in the same room with another dog but staying that way when they're running and jumping and making noise is a much more difficult task to achieve.
Baby gates covered with sheets provide a means of shielding the dogs from one another entirely if tensions erupt. But the classroom is very large and the dogs generally remain far enough apart to keep them under threshold for most of the time.
If the dog on the mat begins to get too aroused, click/treat or divert/distract. The dog learning the obstacle is generally too involved in what they're doing to pay a whole lot of attention to the other dogs. That's what makes agility such a fabulous tool for teaching/training reactive dogs.
The "scared-y dog" angle:
It can be argued that most reactive dogs are scared-y dogs. They are "reacting" to something that frightens/bothers/distresses them. But there's another kind of scared-y dog like Bella whose MO (modus operandi) is run first, ask questions later. She's pretty much afraid of everything new and teaching her not to be afraid is an art and science unto itself.
While some of the other dogs worked on mastering their reactivity by learning new obstacles, we worked on Bella's reactivity while trying to get her to just be comfortable near an obstacle.
One of the easier obstacles for most dogs is the jump. Dogs generally like to jump, they instinctively know how to and it's something they've probably encountered in their world outside of class.
Except for Bella. Luckily, we had anticipated she might have some issues about sticks and poles and other agility stuff so we had begun working on the "jump" obstacle months before we signed up for the class. In fact, we started by simply placing a stick on the floor and asking her to step over it. Yeah. For realz.
Learning as we go.
One of the first things we learned about agility was the difference between "luring" and "shaping".
When you lure a dog to do something, you're tempting them to perform a behavior they may or may not want to do with the reward of something they really desire. It works with lots of things, especially things that aren't terrifically scary.
Alternatively, shaping a dog to do a particular behavior involves rewarding them whenever they do something close to what you want them to do. Where a lure instigates a specific behavior, shaping reinforces a behavior offered by the dog. As such, there's less pressure and the dog's focus is more on the behavior you want them to learn than on the reward.
With shaping, the dog is trying to figure out what you want them to do, they are engaged and thinking and that makes it especially useful when trying to work with a dog on really scary things.
Luring a dog on a particularly intimidating obstacle could have the dog so focused on a reward that they don't realize where they are. And if they suddenly 'notice' that they're on something really scary, it could frighten them to the point of sabotaging the reward entirely. They could associate the reward with the big scary. They could also associate YOU with the big scary. Not cool.
Shaping a dog on a really scary obstacle allows them to focus on the obstacle and learn how to approach it. If they choose not to approach it, there is no punishment but if they do choose to do so there is a reward and therefore, a positive association is made with the obstacle.
Luring and shaping both have their place in agility training at least for us. But we stick to shaping for the scariest of obstacles.
The anatomy of a jump
The video below probably shows a lot of the wrong ways to do things. Much of it was shot before we started class and learned the correct way so you'll see luring and a pretty stressed out dog in some parts. My aim with Bella is always to make a 'game' of things and that's what I was trying to do with the jump. It worked and it's not the worst mistake I could have made but I've learned better ways to do things since.
Here's a quick recap of what it took to teach Bella to "jump".
The clips used in the video span the date range of 3/2011 to 8/2012. That's a year and a half. Working with fearful dogs isn't glamorous or exciting and it doesn't happen overnight. But I think you'll agree, the pay-off is spectacular. I've never been more proud of what we have all accomplished.
The music used in the video is "Trip the Light" byt Garry Schyman. I loved it, bought it and hope no one arrests me for it. If you like it, you can purchase it on Amazon or iTunes.
The class breaks down into two sections: reactivity training and agility training. But the agility training part, at least for us, breaks down into 2 further areas of concentration: the reactive part and the scared-y dog part.
The "reactive" part:
In the very earliest days of the class, we handled the reactivity part of our training in one of two ways. We'd click and treat positive interactions with the other dogs (and by interactions, I'm just talking about a glance or vague interest in the other dog.) And we'd divert and distract when the interaction was not so positive. If Bella "reacted" to another dog, we could retreat from the scene (divert) or throw a handful of treats on the floor in front of her (distract).
Initially, each dog worked on an obstacle at one end of the room while the other dogs wait calmly, or not, on their "mats". It's one thing to be calm and composed when in the same room with another dog but staying that way when they're running and jumping and making noise is a much more difficult task to achieve.
Baby gates covered with sheets provide a means of shielding the dogs from one another entirely if tensions erupt. But the classroom is very large and the dogs generally remain far enough apart to keep them under threshold for most of the time.
If the dog on the mat begins to get too aroused, click/treat or divert/distract. The dog learning the obstacle is generally too involved in what they're doing to pay a whole lot of attention to the other dogs. That's what makes agility such a fabulous tool for teaching/training reactive dogs.
The "scared-y dog" angle:
It can be argued that most reactive dogs are scared-y dogs. They are "reacting" to something that frightens/bothers/distresses them. But there's another kind of scared-y dog like Bella whose MO (modus operandi) is run first, ask questions later. She's pretty much afraid of everything new and teaching her not to be afraid is an art and science unto itself.
While some of the other dogs worked on mastering their reactivity by learning new obstacles, we worked on Bella's reactivity while trying to get her to just be comfortable near an obstacle.
One of the easier obstacles for most dogs is the jump. Dogs generally like to jump, they instinctively know how to and it's something they've probably encountered in their world outside of class.
Except for Bella. Luckily, we had anticipated she might have some issues about sticks and poles and other agility stuff so we had begun working on the "jump" obstacle months before we signed up for the class. In fact, we started by simply placing a stick on the floor and asking her to step over it. Yeah. For realz.
Learning as we go.
One of the first things we learned about agility was the difference between "luring" and "shaping".
When you lure a dog to do something, you're tempting them to perform a behavior they may or may not want to do with the reward of something they really desire. It works with lots of things, especially things that aren't terrifically scary.
Alternatively, shaping a dog to do a particular behavior involves rewarding them whenever they do something close to what you want them to do. Where a lure instigates a specific behavior, shaping reinforces a behavior offered by the dog. As such, there's less pressure and the dog's focus is more on the behavior you want them to learn than on the reward.
With shaping, the dog is trying to figure out what you want them to do, they are engaged and thinking and that makes it especially useful when trying to work with a dog on really scary things.
Luring a dog on a particularly intimidating obstacle could have the dog so focused on a reward that they don't realize where they are. And if they suddenly 'notice' that they're on something really scary, it could frighten them to the point of sabotaging the reward entirely. They could associate the reward with the big scary. They could also associate YOU with the big scary. Not cool.
Shaping a dog on a really scary obstacle allows them to focus on the obstacle and learn how to approach it. If they choose not to approach it, there is no punishment but if they do choose to do so there is a reward and therefore, a positive association is made with the obstacle.
Luring and shaping both have their place in agility training at least for us. But we stick to shaping for the scariest of obstacles.
The anatomy of a jump
The video below probably shows a lot of the wrong ways to do things. Much of it was shot before we started class and learned the correct way so you'll see luring and a pretty stressed out dog in some parts. My aim with Bella is always to make a 'game' of things and that's what I was trying to do with the jump. It worked and it's not the worst mistake I could have made but I've learned better ways to do things since.
Here's a quick recap of what it took to teach Bella to "jump".
The clips used in the video span the date range of 3/2011 to 8/2012. That's a year and a half. Working with fearful dogs isn't glamorous or exciting and it doesn't happen overnight. But I think you'll agree, the pay-off is spectacular. I've never been more proud of what we have all accomplished.
The music used in the video is "Trip the Light" byt Garry Schyman. I loved it, bought it and hope no one arrests me for it. If you like it, you can purchase it on Amazon or iTunes.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Brain games and my "Le Penseu"
In last Friday's post, I mentioned that Bella and I were joining You Did What With Your Weiner's 30/30 Challenge.
With caveats.
You see, Bella has been sporting an injury for a few months now that, try as we might, we can't get diagnosed and on a road to recovery. So at the moment, the dog who needs exercise to manage her energy and behavior is on a restricted exercise regime. As of this writing we're up to a whopping "15 minute walks".
However, in an effort to maintain household harmony and keep the holy terror otherwise entertained, we have added 15-minute brain games to her activity roster. So she's getting a few 15-minute walks per day and at least one 15-minute "brain game" session. We're hoping this both meets the 30/30 Challenge requirements and keeps her from going 'postal' on Jan again in the near future.
And she's so good at these games.
She cheats, of course, any way she can figure out how. She knows the objective is to "get the treat" and doesn't much care for how the inventor of the game saw that happening.
We haven't had a cute Bella video here in a while so viola, ask you and you shall receive.
What do you mean you didn't ask? Really? I could have sworn I heard someone out there say "We really want to see a video of Bella and her 'brain games'!" No? Oh well, it's all I've got for tonight** so you're kind of stuck with it.
If you can't see the video here, click this link to watch it on Vimeo.
Some of the things I was working on here was her "wait" (Bella has trouble with impulse control) and a 'raised' playing field. (Bella just recently started having trouble reaching the floor due to her injury so I raised the game up instead of having her reach down for it. She has an elevated food station for dinner which is where I got the idea to raise the game.)
Of course, ultimately she out-smarts me and, as soon as I lift my hand from holding the game in place, she knocks it off the riser essentially winning 'the game'.
She's a smart one.
** I've been trying to create/publish this post since Monday evening but my computer is giving me nothing but grief. If this keeps up, I may be getting that Macbook sooner than expected.
With caveats.
You see, Bella has been sporting an injury for a few months now that, try as we might, we can't get diagnosed and on a road to recovery. So at the moment, the dog who needs exercise to manage her energy and behavior is on a restricted exercise regime. As of this writing we're up to a whopping "15 minute walks".
However, in an effort to maintain household harmony and keep the holy terror otherwise entertained, we have added 15-minute brain games to her activity roster. So she's getting a few 15-minute walks per day and at least one 15-minute "brain game" session. We're hoping this both meets the 30/30 Challenge requirements and keeps her from going 'postal' on Jan again in the near future.
And she's so good at these games.
She cheats, of course, any way she can figure out how. She knows the objective is to "get the treat" and doesn't much care for how the inventor of the game saw that happening.
We haven't had a cute Bella video here in a while so viola, ask you and you shall receive.
What do you mean you didn't ask? Really? I could have sworn I heard someone out there say "We really want to see a video of Bella and her 'brain games'!" No? Oh well, it's all I've got for tonight** so you're kind of stuck with it.
If you can't see the video here, click this link to watch it on Vimeo.
Some of the things I was working on here was her "wait" (Bella has trouble with impulse control) and a 'raised' playing field. (Bella just recently started having trouble reaching the floor due to her injury so I raised the game up instead of having her reach down for it. She has an elevated food station for dinner which is where I got the idea to raise the game.)
Of course, ultimately she out-smarts me and, as soon as I lift my hand from holding the game in place, she knocks it off the riser essentially winning 'the game'.
She's a smart one.
** I've been trying to create/publish this post since Monday evening but my computer is giving me nothing but grief. If this keeps up, I may be getting that Macbook sooner than expected.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Bella gets a video message from Santa....
PS - If the video doesn't work for you here, you can watch it on YouTube.
PPS - You can get a video from Santa customized for your child at Portable North Pole. They're free! (Although you have to pay if you want to have an HD-quality copy to keep.)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Bella's week at the beach
We're back from vacation and do we have stories to tell. But first, we need to recover.
In the meantime, we offer you: Bella's first experience with the beach. (She loved it!)
(Please pardon the parts where she's not actually in the video. Bella is not only fast, she never runs in a straight line.)
Thanks for visiting and commenting while we were away. We hope to catch up on everything that's been happening in our friends' lives very soon.
In the meantime, we offer you: Bella's first experience with the beach. (She loved it!)
(Please pardon the parts where she's not actually in the video. Bella is not only fast, she never runs in a straight line.)
Thanks for visiting and commenting while we were away. We hope to catch up on everything that's been happening in our friends' lives very soon.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thankful Thursday - For Pamela and Blog Paws Swag
I have so many thankfuls and thank yous due, I figure I have to start participating in the Thankful Thursday blog hop just to make sure I get them all in. Over the next few Thursdays, I promise I will get to saying thank you to all the kind folks who have graced us with an award over the last few months.
But first, since I'm tired and somewhat lazy today, I'm going to start by saying thank you to just one person -- Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes for the massively monster bag o' swag she sent us after we won the Match Game contest she ran in July.
Thanks to her fabulous clues (and my obsessive-compulsive analytical nature), I was able to match the bloggers with the pupsters and won her Bag O' Swag contest. This meant we were sent a huge bag of goodies that she picked up when she was at Blog Paws back in June. Well, I'm just going to let video speak louder than words to show you just how awesome Bella thought that was.
As you can see, Bella definitely approves.
So, thank you, Pamela. It was fun opening the package. Tons of neat treats for Bella, new products we're going to check out as well as lots of info for me to read up on. Her favorite thing in the bag, however, were the samples of "Whole Life" freeze-dried treats. A few had fallen out of their baggies and were at the bottom of the totes. This would be why I couldn't get Bella's head out of the bag.
But first, since I'm tired and somewhat lazy today, I'm going to start by saying thank you to just one person -- Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes for the massively monster bag o' swag she sent us after we won the Match Game contest she ran in July.
Thanks to her fabulous clues (and my obsessive-compulsive analytical nature), I was able to match the bloggers with the pupsters and won her Bag O' Swag contest. This meant we were sent a huge bag of goodies that she picked up when she was at Blog Paws back in June. Well, I'm just going to let video speak louder than words to show you just how awesome Bella thought that was.
As you can see, Bella definitely approves.
So, thank you, Pamela. It was fun opening the package. Tons of neat treats for Bella, new products we're going to check out as well as lots of info for me to read up on. Her favorite thing in the bag, however, were the samples of "Whole Life" freeze-dried treats. A few had fallen out of their baggies and were at the bottom of the totes. This would be why I couldn't get Bella's head out of the bag.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Thankful Thursday - For Bella
I wasn't planning to post today but, in light of the seriousness of recent posts here on Bringing up Bella, I thought you'd all like to see a short video of Bella in her reactive dogs agility class last night. We were all very, very proud of her.
We've been working a long time to get Bella comfortable with some of these obstacles. Today she even showed some excitement about the opportunity to run a course.
Willie, Bella's "Agility for Reactive Dogs" classmate, is on the other side of the gate visible in the doorway behind the tunnel. He was a very good boy while she ran the course and Bella wasn't even remotely distracted by him being there. This was a HUGE accomplishment for both of them.
So we are thankful for Bella's resilience, enthusiasm and curiosity, our trainers' patience and wisdom and all the good people out there researching and advocating for better ways to help fearful dogs, not only cope, but actually thrive.
We've been working a long time to get Bella comfortable with some of these obstacles. Today she even showed some excitement about the opportunity to run a course.
Willie, Bella's "Agility for Reactive Dogs" classmate, is on the other side of the gate visible in the doorway behind the tunnel. He was a very good boy while she ran the course and Bella wasn't even remotely distracted by him being there. This was a HUGE accomplishment for both of them.
So we are thankful for Bella's resilience, enthusiasm and curiosity, our trainers' patience and wisdom and all the good people out there researching and advocating for better ways to help fearful dogs, not only cope, but actually thrive.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Pittie Post Day: Challenging ourselves
One day early in our life with Bella, within the first couple of weeks of getting her, Jan and I took her to a local trail where she could get some exercise and maybe meet some dogs in a safe, controlled way. Lots of dogs and their owners walk here and most have their dogs under voice control if not on a leash outright. But it's a wooded trail that winds and twists and you can't always see what's around the corner.
Part way into our walk, we came to a corner that had a big, bounding dog running around it. A big, bounding Pitbull. Off-leash. No collar. And no owners in sight. Heading straight towards us.
And we with our scared-y dog - presently straining at the end of the leash behind me and just a blink away from getting out of her collar to escape the big, bounding dog. And I admit it, we spooked.
Both Jan and I reacted immediately and strongly out of fear of this dog potentially hurting our pup. While I scurried to gather Bella up in my arms, Jan stood between us and the approaching dog, arms spread to appear as big as possible and yelled a warning to the dog to stop.
To our utter amazement and eternal gratitude, she did.
Finally, her owners came around the corner and introductions were made. She was a beautiful blue and white American Pit Bull Terrier a few years old. She had excellent dog greeting skills and I was truly embarrassed at our own little ruffian's bad manners when she snipped at the greeting. In true Pittie fashion, the beautiful stranger just snuffed and walked away not interested in playing with the snarky little pup any more.
You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this now.
Well, today is Corbin's, of "Oh Corbin" fame, third birthday and for his birthday gift, he has asked folks here in Blogville to say a little something about Pitbulls.
When I first heard about Corbin's birthday wish, I mulled over a bunch of different ways to approach the topic. I could write about the many bully breed dogs we met when we used to visit the Tufts Farm Field or at different dog-centered events we attend. I could recall how I used to jump at the chance to walk the bully breeds at my local shelter because they were always the sweetest, cuddliest creatures in the kennel. Or maybe I should write about the horrid and inhumane breed-specific legislation popping up all over the country? I could talk about how breed stereotypes are hurting beautiful dogs like Ed who sit waiting in shelters for someone to look beyond appearance and recognize them for the beautiful souls they are.
But when I thought about that one unexpected encounter we had in our history with Bella, I couldn't get out of my head how we reacted without thinking. How, even though we knew better, our feelings were still influenced by the non-stop media barrage that paints these dogs as dangerous and inherently vicious. Yes, we can try and excuse our feelings by saying the dog was off-leash, had no collar and no owners in sight. But let's be honest, would we really have reacted the same way had the approaching dog been a Golden Retriever?
And therein lies the problem.
If it's hard even as dog-lovers for Jan and I to let go of the fear being instilled in us by this insidious media campaign against Pitbulls, what can we expect of the average person or worse, those who are afraid of or dislike all dogs to begin with? And how do we reach those folks to overcome the media myth?
Campaigns like this one Corbin is running and the many Facebook groups and blogs that have formed to present a positive pit bull image are a great start. Even better are the meet-up groups like the Chicago-based SociaBulls and Vancouver's HugABull that get the dogs out in front of people and give them a chance to interact with the community. We need to do anything and everything we can to get these beautiful dogs, real animals, real family members, out in front of people so they can interact with them and see for themselves they are not the monsters the media is trying to make them out to be.
Because once you've actually put a face to the name, it becomes harder to devalue the individual soul you're talking about 'eliminating'. And it becomes easier to discount what the media is selling. And when you know these dogs, when you look into their eyes, it becomes impossible to imagine a world without them.
Part way into our walk, we came to a corner that had a big, bounding dog running around it. A big, bounding Pitbull. Off-leash. No collar. And no owners in sight. Heading straight towards us.
And we with our scared-y dog - presently straining at the end of the leash behind me and just a blink away from getting out of her collar to escape the big, bounding dog. And I admit it, we spooked.
Both Jan and I reacted immediately and strongly out of fear of this dog potentially hurting our pup. While I scurried to gather Bella up in my arms, Jan stood between us and the approaching dog, arms spread to appear as big as possible and yelled a warning to the dog to stop.
To our utter amazement and eternal gratitude, she did.
Finally, her owners came around the corner and introductions were made. She was a beautiful blue and white American Pit Bull Terrier a few years old. She had excellent dog greeting skills and I was truly embarrassed at our own little ruffian's bad manners when she snipped at the greeting. In true Pittie fashion, the beautiful stranger just snuffed and walked away not interested in playing with the snarky little pup any more.
You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this now.
Well, today is Corbin's, of "Oh Corbin" fame, third birthday and for his birthday gift, he has asked folks here in Blogville to say a little something about Pitbulls.When I first heard about Corbin's birthday wish, I mulled over a bunch of different ways to approach the topic. I could write about the many bully breed dogs we met when we used to visit the Tufts Farm Field or at different dog-centered events we attend. I could recall how I used to jump at the chance to walk the bully breeds at my local shelter because they were always the sweetest, cuddliest creatures in the kennel. Or maybe I should write about the horrid and inhumane breed-specific legislation popping up all over the country? I could talk about how breed stereotypes are hurting beautiful dogs like Ed who sit waiting in shelters for someone to look beyond appearance and recognize them for the beautiful souls they are.
But when I thought about that one unexpected encounter we had in our history with Bella, I couldn't get out of my head how we reacted without thinking. How, even though we knew better, our feelings were still influenced by the non-stop media barrage that paints these dogs as dangerous and inherently vicious. Yes, we can try and excuse our feelings by saying the dog was off-leash, had no collar and no owners in sight. But let's be honest, would we really have reacted the same way had the approaching dog been a Golden Retriever?
And therein lies the problem.
If it's hard even as dog-lovers for Jan and I to let go of the fear being instilled in us by this insidious media campaign against Pitbulls, what can we expect of the average person or worse, those who are afraid of or dislike all dogs to begin with? And how do we reach those folks to overcome the media myth?
Campaigns like this one Corbin is running and the many Facebook groups and blogs that have formed to present a positive pit bull image are a great start. Even better are the meet-up groups like the Chicago-based SociaBulls and Vancouver's HugABull that get the dogs out in front of people and give them a chance to interact with the community. We need to do anything and everything we can to get these beautiful dogs, real animals, real family members, out in front of people so they can interact with them and see for themselves they are not the monsters the media is trying to make them out to be.
Because once you've actually put a face to the name, it becomes harder to devalue the individual soul you're talking about 'eliminating'. And it becomes easier to discount what the media is selling. And when you know these dogs, when you look into their eyes, it becomes impossible to imagine a world without them.
Happy birthday, Corbin!
We truly hope one day you and all your brethren will be allowed to live in peace again.
We truly hope one day you and all your brethren will be allowed to live in peace again.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
This is my dog on flies (and other house-keeping)
This isn't the post I planned to write today. In fact, I have 2 or 3 posts running around my head, jotted down on paper or scribbled into "Notepad" scraps. But those will have to wait while I do some blog-house-keeping here today instead.
First, I wanted to share this short video with you of one of Bella's most recent successes.
Remember back in April when I wrote about Bella learning the agility chute for Something Wagging This Way Comes's January is Train Your Dog Month Challenge? Well, she did it. Bella will now complete the chute with the fabric side completely closed. And I thought you might enjoy seeing the evidence:
Yea Bella!
However, as Pamela recently opined over at Something Wagging, "Progress isn't linear". (What a great line and oh so tragically true). Of course, I should have known this would happen. It serves me right for bragging about my "big, brave girl" in last week's blog post. Bella has overcome much, but the fear that remains can be debilitating.
What you're about to see is Bella's reaction to a fly in our house Friday night through Saturday. It is similar to her response to thunderstorms. Mind you, the fly is not near her, it's not dive-bombing her, in fact, it's not even in the same room with her. The only thing in the room this video was taken in is me and her. And she has been acting like this every time she (or I) goes near the bedroom for more than 12 hours at this point.
(I apologize to those readers who also follow us on Facebook as I posted this there as well but wanted to post it here because I want to talk about it in a way I can't on FB.)
Now normally I don't take video of Bella when she's frightened. As you can imagine after watching that, I'm usually dealing with her and trying to manage the situation. This time, her fear of the bedroom had lasted so long and we were so confused over what she was reacting to (we didn't hear or see anything at the time) that I decided to take a short video to share with her behaviorist and trainers to get their take on things.
Anyway, 18 or so hours later, after I had completely torn apart our bedroom and dusted, washed and vacuumed everything in it; after Jan had found a couple of flies in our sun-room and, shall we say, 'addressed' that issue; after Bella still wouldn't comfortably come in the bedroom, I happened to find a fly in the bedroom closet window, buzzing between the blind and the screen. Finally, this is what Bella had been hearing and I was able to eliminate the real "threat".
It took Bella several hours still to believe all danger was gone and she finally curled up in her bed around 4 a.m (the next morning!) Needless to say we were all done in by the event.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that the blog is probably going to be a bit light for the next couple of weeks (you may have noticed it's already been a bit thin the last few weeks.) This is partly because it's spring which brings many hours of garden prep and yard work with it. (Jan and I are avid, even somewhat extreme, gardeners.)
I will also be traveling on business and, while I'll have a variety of computers with me, I likely will not have consistent internet access nor time to do all the usual blog-gy type stuff. I do, however, hope to catch up on visiting my favorite blogs and saying hello to all you wonderful peeps and pets.
In the meantime, I hope you'll stick with me during these light content days. Because, and I admit right up front to stealing this from Sue over at Greyhounds CAN Sit,:
First, I wanted to share this short video with you of one of Bella's most recent successes.
Remember back in April when I wrote about Bella learning the agility chute for Something Wagging This Way Comes's January is Train Your Dog Month Challenge? Well, she did it. Bella will now complete the chute with the fabric side completely closed. And I thought you might enjoy seeing the evidence:
Yea Bella!
However, as Pamela recently opined over at Something Wagging, "Progress isn't linear". (What a great line and oh so tragically true). Of course, I should have known this would happen. It serves me right for bragging about my "big, brave girl" in last week's blog post. Bella has overcome much, but the fear that remains can be debilitating.
What you're about to see is Bella's reaction to a fly in our house Friday night through Saturday. It is similar to her response to thunderstorms. Mind you, the fly is not near her, it's not dive-bombing her, in fact, it's not even in the same room with her. The only thing in the room this video was taken in is me and her. And she has been acting like this every time she (or I) goes near the bedroom for more than 12 hours at this point.
(I apologize to those readers who also follow us on Facebook as I posted this there as well but wanted to post it here because I want to talk about it in a way I can't on FB.)
Now normally I don't take video of Bella when she's frightened. As you can imagine after watching that, I'm usually dealing with her and trying to manage the situation. This time, her fear of the bedroom had lasted so long and we were so confused over what she was reacting to (we didn't hear or see anything at the time) that I decided to take a short video to share with her behaviorist and trainers to get their take on things.
Anyway, 18 or so hours later, after I had completely torn apart our bedroom and dusted, washed and vacuumed everything in it; after Jan had found a couple of flies in our sun-room and, shall we say, 'addressed' that issue; after Bella still wouldn't comfortably come in the bedroom, I happened to find a fly in the bedroom closet window, buzzing between the blind and the screen. Finally, this is what Bella had been hearing and I was able to eliminate the real "threat".
It took Bella several hours still to believe all danger was gone and she finally curled up in her bed around 4 a.m (the next morning!) Needless to say we were all done in by the event.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that the blog is probably going to be a bit light for the next couple of weeks (you may have noticed it's already been a bit thin the last few weeks.) This is partly because it's spring which brings many hours of garden prep and yard work with it. (Jan and I are avid, even somewhat extreme, gardeners.)
I will also be traveling on business and, while I'll have a variety of computers with me, I likely will not have consistent internet access nor time to do all the usual blog-gy type stuff. I do, however, hope to catch up on visiting my favorite blogs and saying hello to all you wonderful peeps and pets.
In the meantime, I hope you'll stick with me during these light content days. Because, and I admit right up front to stealing this from Sue over at Greyhounds CAN Sit,:
Friday, April 13, 2012
Train Your Dog Challenge: The blooper reel (video)
I seem to be on a bit of a video kick lately. I think that might be the slacker in me realizing it's easier to show than to tell. ;)
I put this video of outtakes together from our participation in the January Is Train Your Dog Challenge so you can all see what I had to work with to get that 1 minute video in last Monday's post. I have to say I'm surprised there wasn't more footage of me hanging my head in defeat.
Anyway, hope it gives you a chuckle on this fine Friday morning.
I put this video of outtakes together from our participation in the January Is Train Your Dog Challenge so you can all see what I had to work with to get that 1 minute video in last Monday's post. I have to say I'm surprised there wasn't more footage of me hanging my head in defeat.
Anyway, hope it gives you a chuckle on this fine Friday morning.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
January Is Train Your Dog Month!
What? Yes, yes, I know - it's April. So I'm officially 4 months behind in my blogging efforts. (And I bet you thought you were running behind. ;) Anyway, back in January (yes, of 2012, har har har), Pamela over at Something Wagging this Way Comes laid down the gauntlet with her "January is Train Your Dog Month Challenge". I chimed in that we would be participating, and we did - we just never did the follow up. We were supposed to post about this back in February.
Oops.
I suppose I could have declared failure and let it lie but it's just not in my nature. And since I can never pass up an opportunity to brag about Bella, I say "better late than never!"
Bella loves a challenge
One of the most fundamental aspects of Bella's life is training - to help her get over her fear, to build her confidence and to guide her in simply becoming a functioning member of society. It's constant because it's necessary. I've never really done this with other dogs in my life. Sure, most knew how to sit here or give a paw there. I even trained one of my earliest dogs, Alfie, to give me a hug. But it didn't go much beyond that.
 |
| Alfie and me |
As a result, Bella has been through Beginner and Intermediate Obedience, Ruffians 1 (how to work with reactive dogs) and Agility for Reactive Dogs - Beginner and now Intermediate. She loves agility but has always been afraid of the tunnel and now she's also facing the dreaded "chute".
One of the things she has been most afraid of around the yard since we first brought her home are the collapsible bags used to gather up leaves and other yard debris. And the tunnel and chute look an awful lot like them, albeit sideways versions.
In an effort to spare our agility classmates the 10-minute delay that was accompanying any attempt to get Bella through the tunnel/chute during class, I decided this would be what I'd work on with Bella for the Challenge.
Another part of the Challenge was to choose something that would both train Bella and further solidify my relationship with her. Already aware of the benefits of working with Bella to overcome her fear - she learns to trust herself and she learns to trust us - I knew the more of that we could bring to her life, the better.
Our (not especially exciting) training program:
- First things first, we needed to get Bella to be in the same room with the scary thing (for now, just the tunnel without the fabric part of the chute extended). This consisted of nothing more than giving her a treat every time she went anywhere near the object. No clicking, just treats at this point.
- Move on to getting Bella to approach the object on her own terms. Every time she did this, she was rewarded with both a click and a treat. We are beginning to shape a desired behavior here and you can see her start to figure it out in the video below.
- I then began asking for more and more from her before she got her click (and subsequent treat). If at first she just had to look at the object to get a click, the next step was to wait until she touched it to offer the reward. When she was comfortable touching it, then she had to put her head inside to garner a click. Finally, she had to go all the way through the chute to win the rewards of clicks and treats (as well as some good old-fashioned play time).
- Once she was consistently going through the tunnel, I began to let out the fabric of the chute a little bit at a time. Retreat back to step 1 and lather, rinse, repeat.
"Let's go to the video tape" *
One thing I did learn while editing
And while she still won't go through the closed chute, Bella does romp right on through the long tunnel in agility class now and will go through the chute if we hold it open. Given time, and a little more practice, she'll make it the rest of the way, I just know it.
Having cut out the many minutes of Bella just lying on the floor looking at me trying to get her near the tunnel and the numerous "I'm just going to sniff over here for a while"s, I have whittled the evidence of our Train Your Dog Month participation down to a, hopefully somewhat entertaining, minute and a half.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Mumbling Mona (video)
I think I've told you all that Bella's a bit on the vocal side, yes? (Yes, Leslie, many times already, thanks.) Ah yes, well, here's a little demo of her voicing her opinion.
Tell me she doesn't sound like she's trying to say something important here. Like "Get that camera out of my face already", maybe?
Happy Friday, all!
Tell me she doesn't sound like she's trying to say something important here. Like "Get that camera out of my face already", maybe?
Happy Friday, all!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wordless Wednesday 32 - Beau and Frodo, BFFs (video)
This video was taken in 1995 so it's not exactly HD quality. But it is cute. And I promise, this one won't make you cry. :)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Wordless Wednesday 31 - 14 years in 4 minutes (slideshow)
Continuing my "Beau" series, this one's a bit personal so I'll understand if only my family sits through the whole thing. Still, the blog started out as "a journal of sorts" so I had to put it up here. Please pardon my indulgence. Thanks.
The boys in the video are 2 of my nephews, David and Jared. Both are now in their 20s.
The vast majority of the pictures were taken by my Dad. During the first year of Beau's life, my Dad took monthly pictures of us together in (close to) the same positions. It is impossible to express how much that has meant to me.
Trying something new with the video. Let me know if it doesn't work for anyone.
The boys in the video are 2 of my nephews, David and Jared. Both are now in their 20s.
The vast majority of the pictures were taken by my Dad. During the first year of Beau's life, my Dad took monthly pictures of us together in (close to) the same positions. It is impossible to express how much that has meant to me.
Trying something new with the video. Let me know if it doesn't work for anyone.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wherein Bella models her "thunder-wear"
We won't know for sure if we have actually won the war on thunderstorms until we test this combination thoroughly next season but we may have finally found a solution to help Bella cope, at least marginally well, with her unspeakable fear of thunderstorms. In previous posts, I've covered veterinary prescriptions, over the counter medications, scents and herbal remedies but did not mention some of the steps we were using at the same time. This chapter will fill in those gaps as well as review our experience of trying a few 'physical' measures to ease her fear.
Over the 3 and a half years we've had Bella, she has overcome many fears (in fact, I see a list post about that in our future. ;) We've worked with her on some things but also chosen our battles carefully. Bella doesn't have to be the most social dog on the block. Since she's afraid of people, no one expects her to become a therapy dog. But we do expect her to be able to go to the vets without attacking the vet OR the other dogs in the waiting room.
Thunderstorms are a battle we have to, if not win, at least survive. So, like all the battles we have tackled, we used a desensitization, positive reinforcement approach to hopefully change her feelings about the "scary thing". That's a bit tough to do with thunderstorms, however, because, as we discovered along this journey of ours, there's more than thunder involved in a thunderstorm. There's barometric pressure changes, static electricity build up, sights, smells and finally, sounds. Still, we were willing to give it the 'old college try'.
Additional routes
And, once again, it was our blessed trainer, Sheila, who provided us with a tool to help try and desensitize Bella to the sounds of the event: a CD of sounds used specifically for behavior modification in dogs. (Therapy CD For Dogs - Fireworks & Noises Desensitisation Training). Teaching us how to sit in another room with Bella playing with her and feeding her treats while the cd played quietly in another room, we worked with her over a period of time (admittedly not as often or consistently as we should), slowly turning up the volume being careful to always keep her below the 'threshold' or point at which she would react. This has worked well for sounds like fireworks, trucks and horns.
Another tool in our toolbox is exercise. If Bella is tired, she is much less likely to react badly to things that would ordinarily upset her. I have to admit, neither Jan nor I (nor the Energizer Bunny) has the energy level necessary to exercise Bella to the degree she would like but we have found on days when she's been worked good and hard, she is much more likely to be able to "roll with" unexpected events.
Finally, we come to a couple of physical options for dealing with thunder and anxiety that have been introduced in the last few years: wraps and capes. As many of my readers have pointed out, the Thundershirt has been a literal life-saver for many dogs suffering from noise phobia as well as generalized anxiety. Another product we discovered much later in the process is the Storm Defender cape.
My dog is afraid of the thing that's supposed to make her less afraid
First, for those not familiar, let me give you a brief explanation of the Thundershirt. Working on the "swaddling" principle, the idea is that consistently applied pressure envelops the dog making them feel safe and secure. A friend of mine called it "a permanent hug", which is very apt and could partially explain Bella's aversion to it if you consider not all dogs like to be hugged. It is made of a somewhat stretchy material that you wrap around the dog and has multiple panels that allow a snug fit over the dog's chest and body. The panels are secured with several pretty heavy-duty Velcro strips.
I know many, many dogs and owners have had great success with the shirt. One of the rescue groups I volunteer with, North East All Retriever Rescue, uses it extensively to great effect with the Labs we bring in. I encourage you to visit the company's web site, watch the videos and decide for yourself whether or not you think the product will work for your particular situation. Just take this input for what it is: one person's experience with a very specifically damaged dog.
When we first got the shirt, as per the instructions, we worked to introduce it to Bella slowly over a period of time before she ever wore it during a storm. We put it on her for a few minutes, fed her treats, took it off, stopped the treats. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The idea is that your dog will come to associate the shirt with only good things.
What we found, however, was, regardless of the quality of treats we were giving her, Bella wasn't "relaxing" at all - she was shutting down.
There is a difference between a calm dog and a paralyzed dog.
There are a few things that might be going on here: Bella, once wild, may not like the "trapped" feeling of the shirt. We know she doesn't like the sound of the Velcro. And since the Velcro is so substantial (one would think that'd be a plus), it frightens her when we pull it off (she also doesn't like to 'pushed/pulled/yanked around'.)
Storm Defender Cape
Last fall we began seeing a behaviorist for some of Bella's other issues and were introduced to the Storm Defender cape. The cape works on a different premise. Instead of the swaddling effect, the cape is lined with a material designed to deflect static electricity building up in the dog's fur. The Velcro is only a single strip and not as 'sturdy' (it feels more like the velcro you would find on any dog coat). It fits more loosely and it's obvious Bella doesn't feel as constrained by it.
We approached her introduction to it much as we had the Thundershirt, however, she never had the 'paralyzed' reaction to it she had with the shirt and we only needed to feed her treats a few times before she seemed (almost) perfectly comfortable in it. We have used it a couple of times since its purchase but it has definitely made an improvement in her behavior. Although I should note, it works best if you can put it on when SHE senses something coming (not after you've heard that first spectacular blast of thunder.)
The proof is in the viewing
The video below shows Bella on a bright and sunny day - no storms around for several days. Each section of the video was taken on 2/21/2012 around 8 am or 3 years after having purchased the Thundershirt and 6 months after purchasing the storm defender cape.
Remember - this is after 3 YEARS of working to improve Bella's reaction to the shirt. She has come a long way.
The ultimate combination
It should be noted that we are also using a low-dose of Clonidine as prescribed by Bella's behaviorist during especially extreme events. (Jan calls them Bella's "Be Brave" pills.) Like all the other meds we've had any sucess with, it works best when given prior to the event but it is fast acting. They don't turn her into a zombie and the after effects seem to be much less drastic than some of the other drugs we've tried.
After all is said and done though, sometimes it's just easier and less stressful on everybody to hang out in the basement for a little while. We're lucky that Jan works from home and can generally deal with Bella when storms appoach during the day while I take the night shift. I'm not sure what we would have done were that not the case. We try not to go out on stormy nights but if it's absolutely necessary to do so, at least now we feel we have options that will help Bella cope in our absence.
NOTE: I'm getting more "third party content" messages from YouTube about the video so I hope you're able to see and hear it. Don't worry if you can't hear it. While you'll be missing some awesome music, you're not missing me missing me wax philosophical about the signs of fear in a scared-y dog. If anyone can't see the video though, let me know in the comments and I'll upload a version to Blogger. Oh, and sorry for the shaky hands - not much I can do about that.
Music: "Walk the River" by Guillemots Buy the disc at Amazon. (I don't get anything if you do, I just like the band. :)
Over the 3 and a half years we've had Bella, she has overcome many fears (in fact, I see a list post about that in our future. ;) We've worked with her on some things but also chosen our battles carefully. Bella doesn't have to be the most social dog on the block. Since she's afraid of people, no one expects her to become a therapy dog. But we do expect her to be able to go to the vets without attacking the vet OR the other dogs in the waiting room.
Thunderstorms are a battle we have to, if not win, at least survive. So, like all the battles we have tackled, we used a desensitization, positive reinforcement approach to hopefully change her feelings about the "scary thing". That's a bit tough to do with thunderstorms, however, because, as we discovered along this journey of ours, there's more than thunder involved in a thunderstorm. There's barometric pressure changes, static electricity build up, sights, smells and finally, sounds. Still, we were willing to give it the 'old college try'.
Additional routes
And, once again, it was our blessed trainer, Sheila, who provided us with a tool to help try and desensitize Bella to the sounds of the event: a CD of sounds used specifically for behavior modification in dogs. (Therapy CD For Dogs - Fireworks & Noises Desensitisation Training). Teaching us how to sit in another room with Bella playing with her and feeding her treats while the cd played quietly in another room, we worked with her over a period of time (admittedly not as often or consistently as we should), slowly turning up the volume being careful to always keep her below the 'threshold' or point at which she would react. This has worked well for sounds like fireworks, trucks and horns.
Another tool in our toolbox is exercise. If Bella is tired, she is much less likely to react badly to things that would ordinarily upset her. I have to admit, neither Jan nor I (nor the Energizer Bunny) has the energy level necessary to exercise Bella to the degree she would like but we have found on days when she's been worked good and hard, she is much more likely to be able to "roll with" unexpected events.
Finally, we come to a couple of physical options for dealing with thunder and anxiety that have been introduced in the last few years: wraps and capes. As many of my readers have pointed out, the Thundershirt has been a literal life-saver for many dogs suffering from noise phobia as well as generalized anxiety. Another product we discovered much later in the process is the Storm Defender cape.
My dog is afraid of the thing that's supposed to make her less afraid
First, for those not familiar, let me give you a brief explanation of the Thundershirt. Working on the "swaddling" principle, the idea is that consistently applied pressure envelops the dog making them feel safe and secure. A friend of mine called it "a permanent hug", which is very apt and could partially explain Bella's aversion to it if you consider not all dogs like to be hugged. It is made of a somewhat stretchy material that you wrap around the dog and has multiple panels that allow a snug fit over the dog's chest and body. The panels are secured with several pretty heavy-duty Velcro strips.
 |
| The Thundershirt |
When we first got the shirt, as per the instructions, we worked to introduce it to Bella slowly over a period of time before she ever wore it during a storm. We put it on her for a few minutes, fed her treats, took it off, stopped the treats. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The idea is that your dog will come to associate the shirt with only good things.
What we found, however, was, regardless of the quality of treats we were giving her, Bella wasn't "relaxing" at all - she was shutting down.
There is a difference between a calm dog and a paralyzed dog.
There are a few things that might be going on here: Bella, once wild, may not like the "trapped" feeling of the shirt. We know she doesn't like the sound of the Velcro. And since the Velcro is so substantial (one would think that'd be a plus), it frightens her when we pull it off (she also doesn't like to 'pushed/pulled/yanked around'.)
Storm Defender Cape
 |
| The Storm Defender |
We approached her introduction to it much as we had the Thundershirt, however, she never had the 'paralyzed' reaction to it she had with the shirt and we only needed to feed her treats a few times before she seemed (almost) perfectly comfortable in it. We have used it a couple of times since its purchase but it has definitely made an improvement in her behavior. Although I should note, it works best if you can put it on when SHE senses something coming (not after you've heard that first spectacular blast of thunder.)
The proof is in the viewing
The video below shows Bella on a bright and sunny day - no storms around for several days. Each section of the video was taken on 2/21/2012 around 8 am or 3 years after having purchased the Thundershirt and 6 months after purchasing the storm defender cape.
Remember - this is after 3 YEARS of working to improve Bella's reaction to the shirt. She has come a long way.
The ultimate combination
It should be noted that we are also using a low-dose of Clonidine as prescribed by Bella's behaviorist during especially extreme events. (Jan calls them Bella's "Be Brave" pills.) Like all the other meds we've had any sucess with, it works best when given prior to the event but it is fast acting. They don't turn her into a zombie and the after effects seem to be much less drastic than some of the other drugs we've tried.
After all is said and done though, sometimes it's just easier and less stressful on everybody to hang out in the basement for a little while. We're lucky that Jan works from home and can generally deal with Bella when storms appoach during the day while I take the night shift. I'm not sure what we would have done were that not the case. We try not to go out on stormy nights but if it's absolutely necessary to do so, at least now we feel we have options that will help Bella cope in our absence.
NOTE: I'm getting more "third party content" messages from YouTube about the video so I hope you're able to see and hear it. Don't worry if you can't hear it. While you'll be missing some awesome music, you're not missing me missing me wax philosophical about the signs of fear in a scared-y dog. If anyone can't see the video though, let me know in the comments and I'll upload a version to Blogger. Oh, and sorry for the shaky hands - not much I can do about that.
Music: "Walk the River" by Guillemots Buy the disc at Amazon. (I don't get anything if you do, I just like the band. :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
A little Puppy Bowl fascination (video)
I'm still working on the next installment of Thunderstorms for Scared-y Dogs but in the meantime, I thought I'd share a few moments of cute from Puppy Bowl Sunday. :)
Yup, Bella was fascinated with the puppies but she was also 'stressed' about having 'uninvited guests' in her TV.
Any other pups out there enjoy the games this weekend?
Yup, Bella was fascinated with the puppies but she was also 'stressed' about having 'uninvited guests' in her TV.
Any other pups out there enjoy the games this weekend?
Monday, January 16, 2012
Cheating (but everybody loves a video)
Hi ho, folks. So, I've been both sick and swamped with a work project and admit to taking the cheater's way out for today's post.
I've had this video tucked away waiting for just the right moment to unleash its adorableness on the world. The moment is hardly perfect but today seems to be the day if only because I don't have the energy to pull off anything else. (I promise, I'll stop whining about being sick any day now.)
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this video of the crazy, silly dog waiting at the back door of her (former) BFF, Maggie. This is why I still have hope that the two girls will work out their differences and be BFFs again... (Edited to add: Since many are wondering what happened between Bella and Maggie, I haven't actually written about that yet - it's complicated. But the beginning of the story can be found here: On Meeting Maggie
My apologies to those having trouble viewing the video. I don't know how to get around it not playing on the iPad etc but this version might work to get around the YouTube content dispute (which, for the record, isn't impacting MY playback of the video. Hrumph...) I'll have to work on it tonight. It really is going to be one of those days. :(
If neither of these are working for anybody, can you please let me know in the comments? Thanks.
I've had this video tucked away waiting for just the right moment to unleash its adorableness on the world. The moment is hardly perfect but today seems to be the day if only because I don't have the energy to pull off anything else. (I promise, I'll stop whining about being sick any day now.)
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this video of the crazy, silly dog waiting at the back door of her (former) BFF, Maggie. This is why I still have hope that the two girls will work out their differences and be BFFs again... (Edited to add: Since many are wondering what happened between Bella and Maggie, I haven't actually written about that yet - it's complicated. But the beginning of the story can be found here: On Meeting Maggie
My apologies to those having trouble viewing the video. I don't know how to get around it not playing on the iPad etc but this version might work to get around the YouTube content dispute (which, for the record, isn't impacting MY playback of the video. Hrumph...) I'll have to work on it tonight. It really is going to be one of those days. :(
If neither of these are working for anybody, can you please let me know in the comments? Thanks.
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