Skye's News

Skye's had a busy few weeks, here's what she's been up to!

Abby, AADI's new puppy, a 9 week old Labradoodle, came over to our house and Skye had lots of fun playing with Abby and sharing all her toys. Abby is a lovely little puppy.

 

Skye's been on lots of different free runs/walks - she's been up the mountains, to two different forests and the beach this week, much to her delight!

 

I've trained Skye to sit/lay down beside the dishwasher while we stack it as her licking the plates can be a pain. Now she's a good girl and knows if she waits patiently she can have a treat when we're finished.

 

 

I have been working on Skye's leave it command (for food). I can place a piece of kibble on the floor near where Skye is and tell her to "leave it" and she can leave it for 10 seconds until I say "OK Skye" to let her eat it. She will also leave a piece of kibble that I throw on the floor for up to 5 seconds. For Skye's mealtimes (since she was a tiny puppy) she has had to sit, wait (with the bowl of food down on the ground) until I release her with an OK. Sometimes I feed Skye on her blanket in the sitting room, and if I say "go to bed" with the bowl in my hand she runs over to the blanket as fast as she can!

 

I've also been doing the leave it with toys. She loves tennis balls and can be really distracted by them. I now have her leaving a toy (not a tennis ball just yet - but hopefully in a few days) that I throw.

 

Amber and Skye have fun in the frost!

 



 

 

 

 

That's all for now, but I'll update the blog again soon!

 

Beach fun!

 

 
 Yesterday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's. As they are so close to the beach, we took Amber and Skye for a walk there. They had a great time. It was quite a cold morning so Skye didn't go swimming but she did paddle in the water. They met some other dogs to play with and climbed on some rocks. Her recall was perfect. She had a great time!

 She settled down on her bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then in the afternoon we went for a walk down the lane. I put Skye in jacket so she had another fun in jacket experience. It was a long walk and Skye loved it. She was quite distracted by the swooping birds in the field, and once or twice tried to cross over to my right hand side otherwise she did great. She didn't mind the rain but was in need of a good towel off when we got back!!





running around in the sand

pawprints in the sand 



More jacket work



Training in the garden (Amber does not want to be left out!)



Skye starts to like her jacket

Skye's now back from her weekend in Cork. Maggie said she did very well. Amber was very quiet over the weekend but was so excited when Skye came home again!!

I have been really working with Skye and her jacket and Maggie had also worked on it over the weekend (she had been leaving it out by Skye's bed and putting treats on it for Skye to lick off). I can certainly see a difference, and slowly Skye is really starting to get more relaxed in the jacket.

Something Skye LOVES is a game of fetch. So what I'm doing is putting her jacket on, and then playing fetch so she associates the jacket with good things. Also, as Maggie suggested, I am leaving the jacket out in the house so she gets used to it being around.

Today, when we went down to Abbeyleix to meet with our home education friends, it was also a very positive jacket experience for Skye. We were meeting in a hall and brought Skye inside in-jacket. We brought her bed and she settled down there for a hour or so. Then I took her for a long walk down the road & afterwards played off-lead on the grass (both in jacket, and both fun for Skye) There was also a play park nearby where my brothers and sisters went to play. Skye got to see them on the zip wire (for what I think was the first time) and it didn't faze her at all.



On her bed at Abbeyleix




Enjoying a free run

 Every day I'm going to do a fun-jacket-experience time for Skye, and I hope that by Christmas she shouldn't run away when I try to put the jacket on and enjoy "working in jacket" (at the moment she does settle and enjoy it but I want to get it so she enjoys having the jacket put on and looks forward to working.)

While Skye was away, we brought home two other pygmies, Harry and Neville. She often goes over to see them while their in their pen and she looks surprised when they start bleating! We're taking the four of them into the vets tomorrow so that could be a challenge!!!

Skye's Weekend Away

This weekend (from Friday until Tuesday) Skye has gone to Maggie, another AADI fosterer/boarder so she gets used to being away from us as a family, including Amber, as well as being in a different envirorment .

On Friday I went with Eleanor to drop Skye off in Cork. I had packed all of Skye's things she would need; her bed, food, lead, jacket, toys etc. I also had written down everything about Skye, her normal routine etc to assist Maggie and ensure Skye was settled.

We are a very busy household and it was felt that she should experience a less chaotic home but in a noisier place. As we are out in the country it is silent here at night so she needs to get used to the noises of town.

This was Skye's first time being away overnight. It's very quiet here without her and Amber is missing her. Hannah a friendly Greyhound, who is one of Amber's friends is here today and Amber is enjoying her company. They both were out in the garden together earlier and that is helping Amber. She was lonelier last night when Hannah went home, but at least Skye will be back soon.

Skye is such a lovely dog and I really miss having her around. I love everything about her and she's so special, it's going to be tough giving her back because she's really one of our family now, and not having her this weekend has made me realise how different it is without her around, how empty it feels. At least we've got a few more months left with her and we can enjoy them to the full.

Skye seems to be getting on well, which is great. She is such as friendly dog and loves meeting new people. Maggie said she barked a bit last night when Maggie went upstairs but then settled down, she also said Skye enjoyed her walks. Here are some photos Maggie emailed me, it's been very reassuring to be able to see photos of Skye.

Skye & her jacket

Skye (even since a 9 week old puppy) has never really enjoyed wearing her jacket and tends to run off when you first put it on. I can remember the day after she came home to us, and we were taking her out to her first trip to a garden centre. I had her on the lead and put the jacket on - she changed from a confident, happy, relaxed pup into a timid one and was trying to hide. As she is so sensitive to the jacket we are now working on this issue because although not overly major, it does affect Skye's enjoyment of her "working time".

When you first put the jacket on, she's not keen, but after 5-10mins will settle down and be happy to be working and out & about. However, she dislikes the Halti even more and with the jacket & halti on together doesn't fully relax.

To work on this problem, we have one of my brother Tiarnán's t-shirts (that he doesn't need anymore) and are putting it on Skye for a few hours a day to try and desensitise her. This helps her get used to the feel of the jacket and we put the t-shirt on when fun things happen, for example, when we go for a walk or at feed time. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the t-shirt which is great.

I've started putting the jacket over the top. I'm not using her normal "puppy in training" jacket though - we're trying the trained dog ones that the fully trained dogs wear. It is slightly different and Skye doesn't seem to mind it as much. She still doesn't like having it put on at first (if she was out in the garden and I called her over with the jacket in my hand she would know and dodge me!) however once it's on (over the t-shirt) she seems a lot more relaxed than normal.

I'm trying to make it positive and fun to wear the jacket with treats and praise. I haven't put the Halti on at the moment as that for now isn't really needed. In these photos you can see Skye wearing the t-shirt under the jacket, including when she's eating her dinner.


 

Some Photos

Here are some recent photos of Skye. Tomorrow night we are taking her to Dog Classes, where she gets to play and meet lots of other dogs. Last week the new AADI puppy Zoe came (a chocolate Labrador who is gorgeous!) and Skye got to meet her.

Skye's actually getting much better about chewing, she doesn't seem to pick things up off the floor anymore to chew them, like a piece of Lego or teddy, for example. She does still really chew her toys though (and loves to destroy tennis balls - squish them and rip the felt off!!)

Her food stealing is so much better now, she only jumps up onto the table if there is a dirty plate left and no one sitting in the seat. I think she also understands now what "off" means because she does seem to respond much quicker now when you tell her 'off''. Next up I think I need to teach her not to lick the plates in the dishwasher because she tries to do that sometimes!

 

 



That's all for today. I hope you like the photos!

Skye's walk in the forest!

Today we took Amber and Skye for a walk in the forest. This was Skye's first time going to this forest and she certainly enjoyed herself! She had a great time running around exploring and playing with her tennis ball. She got to meet some other dogs and her recall was amazing considering it was an exciting new place. It was hard to get photos because the camera kept going out of focus but here are a few of the best ones.

Back home Amber and Skye cuddled up together

Training Update!



Whenever any of us go outside into the garden (for example, to feed the hens or ride our bike) Skye always follows us. She often has a toy or ball and is constantly dropping it at our feet so we will throw it for her! Sometimes she gets really impatient and starts to bark. We always ignore her and walk away when she does that so she realises that demanding will not work. Every now and then, if she sits and waits then we throw it for her. At the moment I'm teaching her (or at least trying to!) to wait until I say to go after the ball/toy I throw. I'm starting off with very high quality treats that I know she loves, and a toy she's not too bothered about (though she does like them all!!) The problem is that she's normally more interested in the toy than the treat, even if it's sausage or mince!!!

Skye isn't allowed to learn to bark when visitors come to the door, however Amber is a very good guard dog and always barks very loudly whenever she hears the doorbell (or somebody walks past) Sometimes Skye will try and join in with her and bark, however I just tell her to "be quiet" and reward her when she does, so she rarely bothers, she still goes over to the door though. She doesn't seem to ever really jump up so thats never really been an issue. She's very friendly though and will always go over to people to meet them with a tail wagging very fast that its a blur!! (Flat Coats are known to be the dogs with never stopping wagging tails, and Skye is defiently true to her breed with that one!)

As it begins to get nearer to Christmas, it also gets nearer to Skye's first birthday, on Stephens day (26th Dec) I can't believe she'll be one year old soon. She's certanily getting much more mature now and less puppy-ish (having said that she still has her crazy moments out with Amber running laps of the garden!!)

 

Hope you like the photos, and I'll write again soon!!



 



 

A Hectic Few Weeks

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted on the blog. I will try to write more regularly from now on!

Here's what Skye's been up to recently;



Hermione and Ron!



We now have two little pygmy goats, Hermione and Ron. (Harry and Neville are still too small to leave their mothers but hopefully will come home in the next two weeks or so) Skye has met them and gets quite excited, trying to play with them as if they were puppies! She is following Amber's example though and starting to calm down around them and realise that they aren't dogs. She's getting used to having them around and goes over to say hello to them when they are out in their pen.

 

Skye is great in the house now, she settles down calmly (normally on her bed) she knows if she wants to run and play that she needs to go in the garden.

Skye got to meet and play with Watson (another AADI puppy in training) they had a great time running around together, they both got on really well. Watson is a lovely puppy.

 

She has excellent recall now which means we never worry about her running off and on walks she will always "check in on us" often. She always comes immediatley when we call her and if she was running towards another dog, for example, she'd still turn around and come back to us. She therefore gets to enjoy lots of freedom and fun on all her walks.

She also got to meet some pigs, she was great with them, just went over to their fence to say hello.

Not too long ago she used to be really licky but now she's much better and only licks when she's excited.

Skye was fine on Halloween, there were no fireworks (though I don't think they'd bother her) just a few bangers which she took no notice of. She didn't mind all the trick or treaters in their costumes & masks, and was very friendly and let everyone pet her.

I'll put up some more photos and news soon!!

 

Fun in Dublin

We took Skye up with us to Dublin when we went on Friday. She was grand on the journey. We went to our friends house, they have a Samoyed called Levi so we took both dogs down to the park. We let Skye off the lead and she had such a fun time running around exploring (she even took a swim in the Liffey!) and she played with Levi. It was a lovely walk. Then we went to Dogs Trust where they were doing a tour of their centre and a talk. Skye stayed in the car as she wouldn't have been allowed in where they had all the dogs. They had some lovely dogs there and it was so tempting to bring them all home!

Skye plays with Levi

After that we went back to our friends house for a while and then headed off home again! We stopped in Kildare Village on the way home where we went to have tea, Skye came in jacket and she was good, but it was quite crowded and she didn't really settle down. She doesn't mind the jacket too much, it's the Halti that she's not fond of and tries to get it off but without it she can pull. I took her jacket off afterwards and she went 'busy' on command before getting back into the van.

At the moment we have the fence men here building a pen for the pygmy goats and hens. They brought a tractor to knock in the posts and a digger to put our trampoline into a hole. Skye had the opportunity  to meet a tractor and digger up close, and she was fine with them. We've had to section off the front area of the garden and are keeping the dogs away from the back because the gardens covered in mud and they'll get filthy, also to try and give the grass seed a chance to grow! The hens have also been moved into the front garden and we've made them a run so Skye and Amber have been having to share the front (which normally they have to themselves!!!) Amber normally comes into their run in the morning times when we give the hens the leftover porridge, Skye sometimes comes in their run but often is over excited and makes the hens flap (even though she'd never hurt them) we're hoping Skye and Amber will get on well with the pygmy goats - I think it's all down to their first introduction so if we make that positive then it all should be fine.

Skye's a happy girl and doesn't mind all the workmen coming and going. Every morning we take Skye and Amber for a walk down the lane, she often pulls at the start with pure excitment, but as the walk goes on she settles down and walks on a loose lead.

Hope you like the photos!!!

Skye Goes Swimming In The Sea!

On Sunday we took Skye and Amber to the beach. It was high tide so there wasn't much beach really, so Skye spent most of her time swimming and retrieving her tennis ball! They enjoyed it and had a great time. Here are the photos!