Thursday 27 February 2014

Velociraptors!

mmm I'm getting a bit worried. When the minions told me we were going to host chickens, well I thought that will be fun... Then mum brought back some bite size tiny cute things, I thought yeah great.
However,  the tiny things have been growing quite a bit lately, and as I said earlier, they have become needy and noisy. But that's not the worst... I think that mum actually got something else than chickens... They look like the velociraptors in Jurassic park!!!!
And from the ouchies I hear coming from mum when she's in with them, I think that they are quite as aggressive! They have big strong hard beaks and they keep trying to eat mum's hair!!! Help!
Look how the've grown!
And they look tough...
not sure they'll want to play chase with me...

Wednesday blues

Not feeling up to scratch today. The minions gave me a quarter of lamb's neck this morning and I think the bones are staying on my stomach... *sigh*
And the minions have got something with work tonight so I'll be all alone until late... *sigh again*

The life of a puppy is so hard *big SIGH*

feeling sorry for myself

Tuesday 25 February 2014

*giggles*

Well as mum is, as per usual I shall add, useless...Trick and treat Tuesday has been postponed for another week! So I thought I would show you MY new trick :)

It is the end of the summer here and we've seen the sun getting up later and going down earlier (sniff!!). In addition to that there seems to have been a boom of Wabbits around... I love Babbits, in any shape and form.
The twilights are my most alert times for rabbit detection, mum isn't very happy about that because we do a lot of training then... tough luck mum, you'll have to grin and bear it as they say... mwahahaha!

And even better, the grounds of the dog training club are surrounded by national parks, and I can smell wabbbits EVERYWHERE. So now as soon as we go for anything outside, I keep a good look-out for my little friends by sneaking about and point at all smells and moves I detect... just in case some rabbits would appear and want to play chase, or have a tight cuddle with me *wink wink*...
new..ish?? trick: the point... Babbits that way ->

Monday 24 February 2014

Wot have I done now??

Wot??? daddy wasn't using them... He threw them on the floor and they were all alone crying, yup heard them. No I'm not lying...tis true!

Sunday 23 February 2014

So much work...

The minions have been working on the chicks coop again today! They also had to do some "work" but I won't talk about that because the only thing they do is tippeetyping on their computer... Boooooring.....

Anyway, on their big rush to do the coop they spent another good few hours sawing and drilling and crewing and hammering... puff just tired looking at it... lucky I had my ball to keep me company and try to get them to play with me!
They weren't very cooperative and things kept dropping so I kept a bit of distance... better be safe than sorry...
Then we went to the front to start assembling things. I had a quick inspection to verify that the work was of the required standard and quality... Mmmm not perfect but that will pass for this time, they said they will do some tidying up so, I gave the ok to continue...
Once again, I got banished and abandoned all alone in the wilderness... alright they put me in the car on the other side of the car port... but still too far to supervise properly! It might have been the best option though as the minions seem to have an amazing way of getting things to fall. Mum narrowly escaped a big DIY knife razory blade type thing, was falling of course... nearly on her head... 
They did so much work I had a snooze and a whine also to make sure they weren't forgetting me... Then finally, they let me come and check the work they had done. Not too bad, but I must say a bit too airy still. There's only two sides and they are not even full!!
But at least I suppose there is a roof, and it's off the ground, and there are some little holes that might be the start of doorways... and also some weird places that look like a toilet row without too much privacy, mum keeps calling it nest boxes, to me they look like loo cubicles :P
So here are side views, first from the loo side, oh sorry mum, the "nest boxes" side...
Then from the run side. You can notice that they have still.. not finished the top of the run, how long does it take them to do anything?!? 
So that's it for the day's construction. Sorry the pics aren't fantastic, had issues with my paws. But mum said she was going to get some better ones a bit later.
Hopefully, I'll be able to send those noisy nuggets out soon, but could be a little bit longer until they can go out. Mum is all going softy on the fact they might be cold outside being so small still. Yeah right, have you seen them? They look like a gang of meanies to me, well able to cope for themselves...

Saturday 22 February 2014

Happy B'day daddy

It's dad's birthday today! He's a lot of dogs year old... I don't have enough tootsies to count. We had a fun day and I tried my best to be a little angel!
Didn't start the best (not about me being an angel, cause I totally was!), when we went to do some agility this morning, they drove the car on a big nail and got a tyre doing floppy flop... Thought I would have to walk all the way, but dad and I convinced mum to take the red hot rod. Phew...
The agility course was tough but we did some good things and I was very brave and didn't even get scared by the giant inflatable clown from the circus! We got some new cool jumps for my training, really got a nearly full set of equipment now yay!!
After that the minions got back onto constructing the chicken coop. I think they heard of my complaints about the chicks. They'd better go quick or I will serve them with the eviction letter, coop ready or not! Of course I was supervising...
As for some reason they don't let me handle the screw driver, I had to look from a bit further away later on. But I made sure I was training mum and dad. I kept repeatedly throwing my ball just out of reach and slowly whining. Got mum to go and pick up and give me back my ball, and repeat... And that's how you train a minion.... Still they did some good progress, It's a bit of a shell still but hopefully well on the way to get rid of the noisy nuggets!
Now I'm fighting with dad about the pillow space we each get, I know it's his birthday but that doesn't mean I have to sleep on the cold hard bed uh sorry cold hard floor...

*yawn* guess I'd better get to bed, all that partying for dad's birthday got me real tired...
Night night...

Friday 21 February 2014

At the oval

Just hanging at the oval with the minions, it's a cool spot with a lot of space for me to run and there are great fire trails on the side of the national park where I can go sniff some wallabies! Went with dad this morning and was lovely and sunny. Well at least after a while because it's getting darker and darker every morning lately. But that let us admire the sunrise together... ahhhhh!!! uh not that I care obviously, cause I'm a big tough boy... of course... ahem... 
mmm no rabbits that way...
argh! oh sorry it's you... scary sight...
mmm no wallabies that way...
oh look! a treat...

Thursday 20 February 2014

Neglect

I don't want to complain (actually I DO!) but I have to say that the service from the minions has been pretty poor lately. They say that they are supposedly "working"... yeah right we all know what that means... drinking coffees all day long, hey!
And what's worse, my access to the computer has been really restricted, because they are hugging everything! How am I to keep in touch with all my buddies if I get access only a meagre couple of times a day hey?!? And at what times? I need my beauty sleep.

My welfare is not even taken into consideration... To add insult to injury we didn't even go to our agility training with my mates Jaxon and Coco... again.. they were "working"! I don't care if you have to read grant submissions and review stuff, I want to RUN!!! tsss the Help these days...
you still typing on your laptop?
does it throw the ball that laptop mmm?

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Eviction letter

That's it! Those nuggets are getting the paw (sorry but don't have boots!). They are getting so noisy I don't even hear myself sleeping. Mostly that little brown thing that would just be a tasty bite if the minions were not looking...

And they have such a cheek! They went and hacked into my twitter account last time and posted a pic  of themselves on it!!! All my mates on there saw it! They even called me a "silly furry dog" *shocked*!

Even worse they take up all of the minions' time and make mum's eyes all leaky... a few days ago she came back out all sniffly saying that one of the 3 nuggets left had suddenly stopped eating and was very poorly... I had to give her a big cuddle and lick her face to make her feel better. Even offered my assistance with the chick but she didn't take up on my offer... Anyhow, after that mum went back with them and spent ages in the room. Barely had a cuddle for the whole evening. See I'm being neglected!

So I don't care if the minions haven't finished with the coop yet, I'm preparing an eviction letter. It's me or the chicks, this house is too small for the both (mmm "all") of us. And actually there is no or there, it's only ME!!! Na mais...

Now need to open that document and type that letter... mmm not sure if the printer is still connected and damn there's no paper... How does that thing work?...
 They've even been upgraded to a full crate like mine except a tad smaller! I have the same accommodation as the nuggets!! That will definitely not do!
Ooooops, I think they saw me, quick let's go they're going to grass on me to mum

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Trick and Treat Tuesday: pretty please

I realised that Mawson and I have not presented our favourite trick yet! This will then be sorted out at once... And it is *drum rolls* the begging pose, or pretty please, also sometimes called the bunny rabbit!!!

Training this needs a few things from your pup:
- need a pretty stable sit for the start
- a bit of back strength which will bring the stability (but good trick to build that slowly)

As usual for training tricks, YOU need a lot of patience and also a lot of yummy treats/rewards.

I concur on the yummy treats!!

So how does one teach the begging pose you might ask? Well the way we went with Mawson follows approximately the guide below. Some pup will catch on quickly and some will need a tad longer... The main target is to go at the speed that is adequate for your pup and make sure that pup understand what you are trying to get him to do, make pup use that neurone!

Oy again... what is that defamation towards us pups!! NeuroneS please... Gosh, she thinks she can allow herself to write everything on here... I'll contact my lawyer soon me!

Pfff Mawson... So get your pup in a sit position in front of you. Take a treat in your hand (show pup of course but smell should be enough!!) then slowly move your hand backwards from the front of his nose to a little above his/her head in a circular manner. Not too far of course you don't want pup to fall on his/her back... Do this by small increment first getting pup to lift the paws a little off the ground. When that happens, click/reward. Repeat a bit by bit get pup to lift the paws higher. Continue the succession of lifting the paws further and further while rewarding until you reach a pretty much straight position without hanging on your fingers... You want pup to stay straight and with the bum on the ground, similar as for the sit. You do not want pup to lift entirely the body up on the back legs for this trick. So if the movement becomes a bit too loose, go back a step and get pup stable.

Then it is just a question of repeating the movement and position up with the luring for a while. When this becomes quite steady, think of  a cue word/hand signal and start slowly associating first the cue word after the movement. Then try to get your hand and lure slightly away from pup after placing in the begging position and before the reward. Remember if pup gets a bit confused or unstable go back one step and consolidate the basis.

After that it is all about slowly getting some distance and getting a stable position. And obviously removing gradually and completely the luring and working the trick only on hand signal/cue word.

This will take a while to get the full begging trick right and solid. So don't despair if you don't have a bunny rabbit within 5 seconds. Or you might get it and then well done!
Here is Mawson doing the bunny rabbit! Just need to modify the ears and the tail!!
Now for the big prize, and the favourite begging opportunity: PIZZA
You see what I have to do to get a meagre piece of food in this place... shame on you minions... shame on you!

You might notice a trend in all those pictures... Mawson's begging seems to be concentrated around the kitchen area...

Monday 17 February 2014

Professor Mawson: will it float or will it sink? (2)

Well my dear viewers, I am back again for a new episode of "will it float or will it sink?".
This morning, I was at the "new" dog park, assisted with the excellent minion that I like to call "daddy". Our experiment consists of 3 Hi bounce balls (extremely good for stoopidly high bounces that make mum swear) and a rather large storm drain with a gapping hole on the side.

Anyhow, the whole experimental procedure is as follows:

- Make the minion throw the ball for an innocent game of fetch
- Retrieve the ball a few times, so the minion becomes relaxed and throws the ball further
- When the perfect long throw arrives, catch it (easy...) and rush towards the storm drain before the minion's interception
- Drop the ball in the gapping hole on the side of the storm drain
- Look down to check if the ball floats or sink and tadaaa
- Last but not least make sure that the assistant concur with the result of the test

Obviously every good scientific study requires multiple replication of the experiment, so I carried out this three times... :P

I do apologise for the lack of pictorial illustrations, the minion was too busy avoiding the drops of rain... but I whipped up this little drawing for better understanding...
scientific hypothesis and experimental design
experimental procedure and observations
And just so you know, when the ball goes into the big hole, the Hi bounce ball floats but then disappear... dunno where?!

Sunday 16 February 2014

Week end sum up

Hmmmm I see you are still here on the other side of the screen, well I'll tell you what we've been up to with the minions this week end then, if you like...
Mum was supposed to write something yesterday but she had a big throbbing headache, so she didn't... Lazy if you ask me...
Anyway, we started the week end with my favourite occupation: begging for pizza from the minions. Obviously, mum took this opportunity to torture me by waving some tasty pizza in front of me and not let me eat it. She's so mean! I only just got all the crust... so cruel... 
Then on saturday we went for agility training at the club, was really wet! I started ok but then I decided that it was funnier to do the whole course without them cause I memorised it all. Who cares about waiting on the table for 5 seconds! Tsehehe... And I got a bit spooked, because there's a big inflatable clown setup right next to the club!! That was definitely there to attack us all when we had our back turned... grrr... T'was ugly anyway... After the rain it got pretty hot and steamy. We were all quite exhausted and ready for a rest.
We went home and had a bit of a rest before I could go and torture mum during the afternoon training. It was really really steamy and I couldn't be bothered, there was too many things to look at around because they could have come and tried to sneak up on us... Mum wasn't very impressed, she was talking about ideas for training... gosh what will she invent again... maybe I should have behaved a bit better... Ah well...

This morning we woke up to a grey sky and it started raining after a while. Mum had decided we were going on a big walk through the fire trails, and even though it was pouring we still went... Nothing better for the skin than a bit of mud :)
 Even the clouds hadn't got up!
We covered close to 13km! And I still wanted to have a bit of a run but it kept raining all day. So after a hot shower (well could have skipped that one but mum insisted that I was filthy, and because of whom shall I add???), I decided that the best occupation was snoozing, following the minions, and did I mention snoozing...
Ok peeps need to go now, I've got to try and beg for some of the minion's dinner...

Friday 14 February 2014

Mwahahaha

How to embarrass the minions:

Goes out for a lovely walk this morning with my lovely daddy.
All the bins were out because of rubbish collection day.
For a bit of fun, dad was playing trying to make me step on the bins.
I did it perfectly well until a woman crossed our path.
When dad asks me to do it again by gently tapping the bin while woman was looking...
I immediately went and weed on the bin as if was instructed by dad...
The woman looked on and shook her head in disbelief that dad would teach me to go and wee on people's bins...

Job done here *pats myself on the back* mwahaha... ready for brekkie now...

Thursday 13 February 2014

Hey! you know what?

Hey you on the other side of the screen! You know what? 
You don't know? Well ok then, I'll tell you... The minions' lime tree is giving a few nice limes for the first time!! At least for the moment there is one nice round one. I say that but for now I've been keeping the birds away. They might decide to have a Mojito in a bit... those pesky magpies, or even worse bush turkeys!!!!!
put the lime in the coconut, tadidouda

Wednesday 12 February 2014

I'm handsome...

Not much to add or explain really... I'm so handsome! I should be banned, it's unfair to anything else on Earth, the Universe even... 
What did you say mum, I'm also very what? Modest? Wot?!?!
Well if you take it that way... I'm also fantastic at agility!! What did mummy say about me having a crisis on saturday? Well yeah ok, I did can't say otherwise, but I came THIRD in the JD event (that last one where I relaxed a bit after a cuddle) I only got one fault and came 3rd!! They didn't even stay to get my ribbon, now I need to chase it up somewhere!!! Woohoo me :P  beauty and brains!!!
Wot mum? beauty and one neurone? *aghast* how rude!!

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Trick and Treat Tuesday: peekaboo!

So today decided to take things into my own paws. Mum's been slack with writing our Trick and Treat Tuesdays because she's "working"... yeah right... Anyway, so I decided to show you pup a very silly little trick that makes mum laugh every time, even though it's her asking me... It's well worth learn because it can also be used when you get a bit scared of things around. You can go straight to mum or dad and hide in between their legs.
So mum calls it the "peekaboo"...

Mawson, what are you doing? I'm working, I don't have time to look at the blog tonight.

Shoosh mum go away, I'm busy and don't need you! Except... you got a treat? Uh, so where was I? Ah yes, how to do that silly trick... Well for me, that was quite easy, because even though I try and look like a big tough boy, I'm a "bit" unsure of everything, and often when I get too scared, I run between mum's legs. I know I'm safe there. But obviously she didn't do the trick and associated it with something scary... That would be very silly wouldn't it?! She just knew I had no issues with passing through her legs! She used food and very safe situations yay! Much better!!

Obviously, that's a trick that is at its most punchy with an appropriate sized dog, can be done with any sized dog though. But let's be honest minions, a chihuahua would give you a back ache peekaboo (all that bending down to give treats!!).
And well you might not want to try that with a great dane... Ouch!

Whereas I am, obviously, perfectly sized ;P  !!

So the best way for the minions to get that is use food. Get us to sit and wait (uh and come back to give us a treat from time to time if we do that well, cause, well, it's hard work to sit, and treats are cool!). Then move one step in front of us and call us while looking through your legs (I love that trick cause it makes the minions look a bit silly!!) and lure us through by dangling a treat. When we come through and just pass our heads through click/say yes and give us the treat! Repeat that a few times close, and start putting a few more steps distance between us, always giving rewards.

When we get the idea you can add your "cue" word. Mum, in a very imaginative way uses "peekaboo", well *sigh* you see what I have to deal with...
Repeat the trick with treats and the cue word. Then try and get further and further, and/or start changing position so as not to be a straight line for us. Make sure you progress the trick by little steps because, we can get confused! If it starts being a tad too complicated, then go back one step and get the basics right again. Always make sure to have fun and a bag of treats!! That's where mum says that you can slowly start phasing treats away... Do you really think I'll recommend that, hey? Really?! Nope, methinks not...
So now that's it! You know how to do the peekaboo! Apparently mum said it had other uses, like in dancing but don't know what she means cause I'm not dancing?! I'm and awkward teenager! mmm what has she got in her head again?....
I know normally that's much more dignified... but dad's always got to try and poke fun at me...

Monday 10 February 2014

Talk to the paw

I don't care what you say minion, I'm ignoring you, I'm watching telly... shoosh...
Btw, if dad could stop putting his socks on the floor to tempt me and you could put away your shoes I would be able to ignore your presence even better...

Sunday 9 February 2014

Jump and learn

Yesterday was the second saturday evening agility trial in a row. The idea was to go for a cut down agility training at the club in the morning to work a bit on the contact equipment, then go home for a bit of a rest, and then go for a smashing evening of fun. At least that was the plan...

For all the bravado and cheekiness that Mawson shows on this blog and in some situations, on some days, life is overall a bit too much for Mawson, yesterday was one such day. Our little pup has always been a scaredy pup. He is frightened of people, which we have been able to mostly keep under control, but he is quite terrified of kids. Despite a lot of work and socialisation, we know that it will always be a difficulty for him, and he will never be a people's dog. So far, we have had some highs and some lows along the way. Yesterday was probably a rather low point. Everything was out to kill him... It is always a combination of factors and we think we have a few ideas of what is happening at the moment... There is the obvious fact that he is in the middle of a teenager phase, but we have also realised that for a few weeks he has been a bit more unsettled and that has coincided with our new neighbours coming back from holiday. What would the fact of our new neighbours coming back home do with anything...? Well those neighbours have two lovely little toddlers and they do have fun in the pool. Which is hard for Mawson but also a great training. We usually can manage the amount of stress he is under when we are home, but we think this might get him in a bit of a state while we are away.

Anyway, everybody survived the morning training entire, and after our usual routine we decided to go to the trial at least to see how things went and once there, see if the scaredy monster was going to run. It was even hotter than last week when we arrived... close to 39˚C!!
preparation of part of the evening delights
Obviously the heat was hard on a lot of dogs there. The runs were interesting. Some pups decided that the shade offered by the tunnel was much better than running around and jumping outside. Some ran straight to the shade of the judging area...! Martin tried to run Mawson in the first couple of events. The first was RQH jumping, quite a hard course for a novice dog in any day but all in all, even though nowhere clear and his attention got taken by things on the outside of the ring, he only ran around about 3 jumps and did a pretty decent job of following Martin.
Novice agility was hard work and mister pup wasn't really interested by anything on the course. He started with a fabulous opening of the first 3 jumps and took one look at the dog walk, went a few steps up before said that nope too much before jumping off, and actually the weaves were much better ran next to... However, he stayed in the ring, even though the set up was really close to spectators!

A lot of dogs were unsettled and there was a lot of barking a lot of running around and staying in the cool of the tunnels. And this made Mawson very much on the edge when the sun went down. To the point he grumped at people with who he has never had any issue before and know very well...

Even my mate Bodhi has been testing the resolve of his mum on the agility runs yesterday, though unlike Mawson, he was a lovely sweet pup as per usual. But he is teaching his mum patience and perseverance while on the course, with a bit too much enthusiasm!

Anyway, we decided to skip the open agility event and retire for a snooze in the car. After a bit Mawson relaxed and even fell asleep. Martin was not sure about running the last event, novice jumping, and we wanted to see if Mawson was feeling better. After our snooze I took the pupster out for a walk, he was finally a more happy little pup, much better. Kept him happy and out of trouble for a bit and Martin decided to try to run as novice agility is their preferred event.
And that was a beautiful run, even the judge said it was a great run! They just had one tiny fault as Mawson ran around one of the jump but came back to take it. The overall course was unexpectedly fantastic given the evening, and so close to a clean run!

I'm so proud of my boys and my little scaredy pup is so brave through all we make him do.
So from now, we restart training and continue to try and fill this little scaredy terrified pup with confidence and calm... We'll let you know how it goes...
I'm a bit tired now mum...

Friday 7 February 2014

Chirp chirp?

mmm I fear those nuggets are sneakier than I originally thought. They are super noisy little attention seekers. They keep mum all for themselves, asking her for food, cleaning of the mess they make again and again and again. And as if that was not enough, they have decided to get sickly and sneeze. So mum is spending ages trying to medicate them and keep them alive. She was very upset because she lost another little nugget yesterday evening. They are supposed to become bigger so I can have a snack, how are they going to become bigger if they keep becoming dead hey?? 
And what's with all that keeping mum away from me... I am starved of cuddles... abandoned... all alone... sniff poor me... There are only three left now, we'll see how it goes.
the leader and her own army of evil attention seekers
And look, as if mum wasn't busy enough looking after them and going to work, she also spends time doing some things for their new house. That doesn't look like throwing the ball for a game of fetch or going for a nice walk does it? 
Mum was all proud of herself to have planned the nest boxes, cut out all the little bits of wood and assembled everything nearly all by herself... I think she was more proud that she still had all her fingers after using the electric saw, if you ask me, she's so gauche!


All that smugness for just that tiny thing, doesn't take much to make her happy doesn't it... Ok enough with those chicks, let's go play mum!