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Monday, November 12, 2012

Things that are working for us: Part 1

Hello readers!

I'm sorry for the very late post! I have been quite busy but have found a spare moment to update you!

So we have sadly ended our puppy classes.. which is really a shame! We are now looking for a continuation, but many dog schools are very far from our house and we don't have a car. But we are continuing with training :) - I hope I can make a small video soon!

I think today I want to proudly say that Tjido is housebroken! We had some minor accident especially when lots of people come to our house and he gets very excited, and we tend to loose track of time. We trained him to "ring the bell" in order to go outside. In our case we have done this at the balcony, he likes to sit down and look at the cats and birds, but it also helps us and when he rings the bell we check the time and lead him to the door instead for a walk. It is working pretty well. I think when he can walk down the stairs and gets the "going out of the house/building" we will arrange a similar system.


We have made progress in the leaving him alone. With a stuffed kong, he has been relaxed for 15min while Joost when to do shopping and I sat outside in the stairs looking at through a webcam and my mobile (love technology). When he finished his kong he did walk to the door and made two solitary barks before lying down. I decided to go upstairs then in order not to push him over his threshold. So after a few rounds and increasing time, I think we will leave for a bit longer and keep 'recording' what he does... Sadly we are a bit bad with this training, since we are both spending so much time at home.

Finally after giving 2 baths to our dog, I can give some useful tips (I know you should not bath icelandic sheepdogs that often, but when he got to our house he was stinky as hell and the second time he fell into a pond...):
  • To prevent the bath being slippery, I put in a towel. 
  • Tjido was scared of the shower head, so the second time I used and old school, bucket and container to pour the water slowly. 
  • Giving treats makes it a nice experience. 
  • Making drying-off with a towel a game makes it fun and then relaxing for your pup -> dry blower was definitively too much. 
So even though I will not do this often after knowing more about their coat, if you were looking for apartment tips, voila! 

Tjido thought he could walk on water... 

I will stop here in order not to make huge posts! But I will leave you with a great toy tip: Get a plastic container, make holes and put treats/food inside = fun fun fun! 




2 comments:

  1. Falling into a pond is an achievement! LOL! Alisa never managed this one (Stanley did), but she is stinky anyway from time to time ;) I hope you’ll find a new school soon, it’s not always easy to find something suitable, an everlasting problem for all dog owners.

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    1. I know! I hope we find one too! It's so much fun to do stuff with your dog

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