A few days away from home

Last week Joost left to go hiking with his friends, and while he was gone I decided to visit my aunt. She wanted me to visit her because she also has a dog, a male dog, and thought that maybe if Tjido and Pieter met each other as early as possible they would be ok together.

Sadly I waited until now, when Tjido is 7 months to visit..

I had 2 big fears: (1) that Tjido would bark the whole way to get there and (2) that he would not toelatre sleeping in the kitchen instead of upstairs with me.

Tjido is not scared of the car, but the few time he had been in one he would get fed up or something and started barking and whining.  This time, we put him between my feet at the front. This was great! I think that the fact that he doesn't get distracted by the window makes him calm. So the whole ride was without an incident. He even got a nice Kong to chew on.

The first day was of course without rest. He couldn't keep calm. He was nice to Pieter, but sadly Pieter was bitten not so long ago, so Tjido had the upper hand and became the main man in the house... sigh, I had wanted him to be taught a lesson by a wise older dog.. We had really nice walks, but had to keep an eye on both dogs when they were eating - food snatching became war. We also visited my cousin who has two labradors. Oh it was so much fun!

At night Tjido did make a whole concert about being left behind, but it took just a few minutes before he stopped. I must say that the 5 days I was there I had terrible sleep thinking that Tjido would make all efforts to jump the wooden plank barrier. I have so little faith on my precious icie T_T sorry! But now I understand how people in big houses can teach their dog to be alone in a much easier way.

His recall in the forest was amazing! With a new squeaky toy, I make the sound call him and praise him. He does not get the squeaky toy, but i do play with him with a tug toy. This has been magical! Until now it has been quite fire proof, also against other very very interesting dogs, so  I'm very happy! Our week away was nice, but he and I slept better when we came back home ;)

Next posts will be about: leash reactivity and the easy walk harness.

I leave you with a cute video of Tjido and his best buddy!

Home Alone: Part 2

Hello hello!

I know I would write the next post about dog food, but I have encountered more people on the Facebook page of icelandic sheepdogs who are having issues leaving their dogs alone. Regarding barking specially. This is why I decided to continue this theme and show our progress (questions regarding anything are welcome, this is in the end a trail-error-amatuer owner approach).

So on the last post we were building up slowly. But after 30min-1 hour we started stretching it more. He only had 2 pee accidents but finally Tjido just slept after he ate his Kong, and judging from the video footage, he played with his toys a bit as well. We have been able to leave him for even 4-6 hours at night without a problem! (Finally being able to go out together on dinners and stuff!!!)

We take him out of course when we get back, but he tends to be very sleepy and just does his business and wants to go back inside.

Then one day we had to leave in the day time for a lunch date. Oh-oh... we did our usual ritual:
- Take him out for a decent walk
- Prepare a Kong
- Get our stuff ready
- Give Kong and leave without a fuss.

But he followed us to the door... and barked at us and whined. So I went for a stronger goodie: dry intestines/stomach (which he loves and it stinks enormously). But Tjido chewed it quickly still keeping an eye on us. So when we left he started barking! Joost considered going back inside, but I told him we had to let it go, we were filming everything so we would know if we went too far.

That day we left for 3 hours and came back. He just woke up :) on the footage it showed us he had barked for about 3 minutes before settling down and eating all his goodies, but this time on the door mat instead of his bed.

Since then he has been great when we leave, no matter at what time, although the kong keeps being essential. I guess it is a way of making a truce: "for your effort you get this amazing treat" and maybe it works as a good cue as well. He now knows we'll come back.

I hope we get more tips on the new "teenage puppies" classes, on how we can improve our method. Also the barking at other dogs outside has come back full-on and it it ANNOYING to no end.. He doesn't snap at dogs or anything but just barks his lungs out. When the other dog is close enough its all "ohhhh you're my best friend everrrr". I will keep you posted!

Picture taken at our local animal shop :) Tjido 5 months

Finally a tip for the day: Home made treat dispenser- milk carton!
Tjido loved it and was busy for quite a while haha! I have some footage of this, so I will make a video soon ;) but I herby post the original idea:

Using Public Transport

Hello dear readers!

First of all, thank you, this blog has surpassed the 500 views yay! :D

Today I want to talk about public transport. As you have read before, we don't have a car, and well, there are just many places you cannot reach with a bicycle... So how to take your dog in public transport?

I was looking for advice in the internet, but didn't find much so hence why I want to share our experience.

When we got Tjido, on the first week we tried to take the metro with him. But we basically did everything wrong... We were stressed, we carried Tjido and tried to sooth him, didn't have any treats with us, and just to make it more fun.. it was rush hour... So half way our trip we aborted the mission and had to go home. Since then we avoided public transport because of our own fears.

On Saturday we decided to get over it!

We had to visit Joost parents, that means a bus ride (20min) and then a train ride (a bit more than 20min).

• We took a nice walk so Tjido could do his business before getting in the bus.  We carried him in.
• We made him sit, but realized he was a bit anxious so we gave him some dry meat to chew. This lasted until the end of the ride. 
• At the station we had a nice walk and he relaxed enough to pee again. 
• In the train he got a second dry meat.

The first time in Joosts' parents house, he didn't relax at all. Now we has better, less barking, but still wanting to sniff everything and going outside and inside the whole time. He finally fell asleep after a few hours. 

On the way back we did the same, although he now got his evening meal in a kong at the train.  We also decided to take the metro back. And it went great! This with only sweets and a bit of training. 

So my tips to you: 

• Do take a walk before you enter the mode of transportation. And if you have to take two like us, take your time, let him relax (mostly, when they finally pee it means they are relaxed) and don't forget to give him water

• Carry your puppy into the bus/train/metro. Most dogs tend to be scared of the tiny gap and this means they get petrified, then you get stressed because your train will be leaving etc... Not nice.

• Get some nice treats your dog can chew on. Carry more than you think you need! This also makes you feel relaxed at the thought that your dog can chew and feel happy for hours if necessary ;)

• Try to sit somewhere were he can lay down and not be constantly alert of everything around him. When we sat at the metro he had to sit under my legs and I think this made this ride more successful. 

I would have to say that if you can, you should start slowly. We will continue travelling short distances as to make him more relaxed and not so dependent on his chew yummies. The goal will be for him to be in any public transportation and feel relaxed enough to lay down and hopefully sleep!

To end this post I leave you with a more decent video of Tjido (he was still quite small then)! Enjoy!

If you want to leave a comment but don't have a blogger account, you should be able to leave comments as anonymous or openID :)

Amsterdamse Bos

This will be a bit embarassing, but I have lived in my current home for 5-6 years and have been twice to the Amsterdamse Bos (a huge forest/park) which is less than 10min cycling from my doorstep...

But thanks to Tjido :P we now have been three times, and have decided to make it our weekly trip on sundays. He goes on the bike, so he can have the real walk in the forest.

We keep him on leash until we enter the forest path and leave the grass areas. Here he can go off leash and we train re-call with yummy stuff. But he is a good herding dog ;) keeps an eye on us.

Encountering other dogs has actually helped diminish his barking on-leash in our neighborhood, since in the forest he now goes, sniffs, and leaves. Or other dogs approach him, in most cases when he is very concentrates with digging. So he understands he shouldn't make such a fuss, or that's what we tell ourselves!

After we come back, the rest of the day he sleeps :)
And I must say that I enjoy these days the best!! The walk in the forest is incredibly enjoyable.

I made a small video the other day with my iphone and uploaded it to youtube (1st video ever uploaded haha) so I'm sharing it although quality is not awesome or anything.

I wanted to write about our puppy classes, but I would prefer to have some pictures to make it more fun!

We are also keeping track of the barking, we now have realized he barks for:
- Attention
- Frustration at 'smart' toys or training
- When the door shuts downstairs
- When one of us leaves -> which is worrying us as we don't know how to handle separation anxiety that well.

So this topic will be a completely new post! - Yay for more ideas to keep the blog going!

GRRRRR-ass!!!!