Archive for April 2011
Who’s a rock star? Lu’s a rock star!
Remember how overwhelmed I was last week? Well it was all for nothing.
Lu was amazing this week in freestyle class. She backed up like nobody’s business! Check this girl out!
The between the legs method that we learned last week was not working for us, so I opted to try a different method. I used our hallway as a ‘channel’ to keep her from turning around. I slowly stepped forward and said “back”. It worked perfectly, EXCEPT we never got past needing the extra physical cue of me taking a step forward to her understanding just the verbal cue…
When we got to class, we were given a foam mat to teach the dog to target on. BINGO. I knew this was the key. Lu has a VERY strong target command. I put the mat down, called her in front of me, looked at the mat and said “BACK”. She stared at me for a second… then scooted her little self backward, right onto the mat.
This is what makes training almost an addiction for me. I absolutely love seeing that light bulb moment where it just CLICKS in their head. Where they say to themselves “Ohhhhhhh. THAT’S what she wants!!!!” Even though we both sometimes get frustrated and overwhelmed, that one single a-ha moment makes it all worth it. There’s no better feeling than making that connection with my dog and seeing her eyes light up with delight when she learns something new. You can tell that she loves it as much as I do.
This week, we will continue to work on transitioning to verbal cues vs. visual cues, but man, that girl is good!!!!
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ABC’s of Us
Our friends at According to Gus posted their ABC’s and asked their readers to do the same. So here are our ABC’s!
A. Age: Hubby and I are both 33.
B. Bed Size: Queen. Would love a King, but our bedroom is too small. *pout*
C. Chore You Really Dislike: Dishes. I don’t mind loading the dishwasher, but hand-washing the dishes grosses me out. Thankfully, he doesn’t mind doing the hand-washing, as long as I stand next to him and dry the dishes.
D. Dogs: Lu and Wally! :)
E. Essential Start to Your Day: Every morning, Lu and Wally roll over and demand their belly rubs. It always puts a smile on my face and is a great way to start the day.
F. Favorite Color: Blue.
G. Gold or Silver: Gold.
H. Height: I’m 5’0″ and hubby is 5’10″.
I. Instruments You Play: I haven’t played since high school, but at one time or another, I have played the trumpet, french horn, trombone and mellophone. He played the saxophone for a few years and took guitar lessons for a while.
J. Job Title: I’m a domestic goddess and hubby works as a chief electronics technician for a major pharmacy chain.
K. Kids: We have two. “The girl” is 16 and “the boy” is 10.
L. Live: In central MA, just a couple of towns west of the town in which we grew up.
M. Mom’s Name: My mom is Dee, hubby’s mom is Anne.
N. Nicknames: Angel is my nickname. My full name is Angelique. Besides “honey”, hubby doesn’t really have a nickname. His given name is Ben, just Ben. That’s short enough, I think!
O. Overnight Hospital Stays: A few operations and a couple of births.
P. Pet Peeve: Owners who let their dogs wander off and don’t even bother to keep tags on them. Nothing chaps my hide more than picking up a stray dog and having to drive around trying to play detective, then having a completely unappreciative owner say “oh, he does this all the time.” (True story. Ugh.)
Q. Quote From A Movie: Man, there are SO many! My brother and I joke that we remember every line from every movie we’ve ever watched. How about “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”? Name that movie! ;)
R. Right or Left Handed: We are both right-handed.
S. Siblings: We each have a younger one. Mine’s a brother, his is a sister. I also have an older sister from my father’s previous marriage.
T. Time You Wake Up: I get up around 6:30 during the week. He gets up at 4:30. Yuck!
U. Underwear: Yes, please.
W. What Makes You Run Late: My 10 year old. No matter how many times I remind him of what he has to do, he’s always doing SOMETHING last minute before we run out the door.
X. X-Rays You’ve Had: Probably a little bit of everything!
Y. Yummy Food You Make: Everything I make is yummy, just ask my family! LOL
Z. Zoo – Favorite Animal: Red Panda. Those things are SO adorable. I could just squish them!
Wall-eyed Wednesday – Good Mornin’
Turn that frown…
Upside down!
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Lu’s Day – Just hangin’ around
It’s tough being this gorgeous.
Really, it’s exhausting.
Yawwwwwn! I need a nap!
