Georgie v. Payton
Thursdays are my odd day because the class I like to take at the gym doesn’t start until 6:30. So I spend about an hour just sitting around waiting to go to the gym. What better way to blow the hour than take the dogs outside and encourage them to terrorize each other?
Georgie says “I LIKE THIS GAME”
Butts. Unfortunately where I was sitting I got a lot of views of their butts as they blew past, because they weren’t looping the garden the other direction as I’d hoped.
Not focused but these always crack me up haha.
LOL.
Payton could so kick her butt if he wanted to. It’s a REALLY good thing he adores her.
“I MIGHT JUST EAT YOU UP ONE DAY”
More butts! That’s the end of it.
Oh, what Auggie was doing while this was going on:
Dumb puppies.
Sunbathing. I’m not sure he knows that dogs don’t tan.
Henri
Henri is my sister’s new puppy. He came home the weekend before last, but he was wormy so we waited until this weekend to introduce him to our dogs. Auggie came out first and kept looking at me like “ANOTHER ONE??? Take it back!!” Poor guy. No, he wasn’t staying. He didn’t want to play with Henri at all. I don’t get it, he LOVED Payton and has never snarked at Payton, but he doesn’t have tolerance for other puppies now. I guess Pay was just special.
Georgie came out next and Henri wasn’t sure what to think of her. She was loud and didn’t stop moving. She got him to play a little bit but he just didn’t know what to think.
So then we brought out the Wild Child.
Oh Lord.
PAYTON will not rest until you play with him. PAYTON will not stop barking in your face until you play with him. PAYTON WANTS TO WRESTLE AND BY GOLLY YOU ARE GOING TO WRESTLE. So they became pretty fast friends actually, by necessity of the wild one being obnoxious until Henri obliged, and then Henri decided Payton was pretty cool and he wanted to play play play!
They did get into it a little twice, and I still can’t figure out what it was that Henri did that Payton didn’t like. I think it was Payton who would lose his cool but maybe not. Certainly Henri wasn’t doing anything that Georgie doesn’t do and get away with, but maybe because Henri was still new he wasn’t allowed the way Georgie is?
Anyway, what you really want is the pics:
“This thing won’t stop following me!”
Slightly blurry… he is a cutie!
Auggie sniffing at the puppy. He’s allowed to sniff the puppy, the puppy isn’t allowed to sniff him.
Oh here is my tongue.
Cutie cute cute!
Mom: “Are you sure Payton is wilder than Georgie?”
Umm… yes.
Yeah play!!
Imma bite all this fluffy hair you has! (I think this may have eventually become what Payton didn’t like even though Georgie – AND AUGGIE – do the same thing.)
Oh there’s a tennis ball.
I nom ball.
There’s another toy!! So many toys!
His tail kinda curls up over his back sometimes, haha. It’s adorable.
Mommy that cookie lady put me in this bucket.
I want out!
My sister was sitting right next to him getting him to pose like this and so she could keep the bucket from tipping over hahaha.
Ugh he’s terribly sweet too.
Getting sleepy… it’s about time to recharge my batteries…
head going down…
huh wha?? No I wasn’t sleeping!
Puppy butt!
The end… or just the beginning.
Impromptu Flatwork Session
The other day I decided to do some impromptu flatwork with the puppies. Click to watch the video below…
Admittedly I haven’t done hardly any flatwork with Georgie at all. Sometimes I’ll do a few handling maneuvers with her, but that’s about it. So her, uh, interesting take on flatwork in the video is not exactly her fault! She just needs more work. Lots more work. It’s okay, we’ll get there. She’s not even a year old yet, she has time.
Payton is improving a lot. Our biggest struggle is that instead of chasing the shoulder so to speak, he was more interested in trying to bite my legs. We have gotten past that at least, though the barking, THE BARKING. It doesn’t stop. Hopefully once he has something to do besides just chase the shoulder he will use his brain more and stop using it to vocalize!
Auggie was stuck in there just for fun. His session is rather different since we are working more on building drive and speed, though admittedly, we don’t really have drive or speed problems in the yard… only at agility trials… but whatever. We’re working on it. After this we had an impromptu game of tug and fetch, in which I threw the toy, he went to retrieve it, and as soon as he reached the toy, I turned around and ran the opposite direction and he had to catch up to me with the toy. GREAT fun for Auggie and I was dying before long, sprinting in circles around the yard and trying not to break my ankle stepping in any of the holes in the ground or trip over the garden or whatever. This is definitely a game we’ll play more.
All three dogs want to squirt behind me and take the wrong side, so there’s more to be done. It would obviously be nice to have a larger space to work in too… working on that one…
Pool time
First, a handful of pictures from yesterday…
Auggie still takes better posed shots than Payton LOL. He’s such a supermodel.
A dur durr?
Then we got out the pool. I bought these at Target last week… pool Weebles. They wobble but they won’t sink. I thought they would be fun.
Payton says OMG THEY ARE WOBBLING
Georgie isn’t sure what to think…
Payton says “I bite?”
Every time he would go to grab one it would bob into the water. He had no idea how to deal with this hahaha.
Why does it keep running away??
I’ll just hop into the pool…
Payton is my pool puppy. He likes it. He’ll go run laps and then hop in the pool, go run laps, hop in the pool. No big deal.
Dribbles. Nice.
What? Who’s being gross?
I want to get this ducky.
Look who else is in the pool!!
Auggie hates the pool but yesterday I grabbed some treats and a clicker and taught him “get in the pool.” He did this on his own today… he walked up and kept looking in the pool and thinking about it, and finally, he climbed in. It’s just so HOT.
Hmm, it’s much cooler in here.
And all I have to do is lean over and get a drinky.
I’m not really sure what the big deal is actually.
I quite like it actually now that I’m in here.
Aaaaaahhhhh Auggie <3 <3
Somehow Payton splashed around so much he got his eyebrow wet. But only ONE eyebrow. WTF Payton.
LMAO we were trying to clicker Georgie into the pool too. She wasn’t doing it for treats though, we finally had to get out frozen green beans. Auggie also loves frozen green beans. Trying to give the green bean JUST to Georgie was funny LOL. Her face, and Auggie’s, hahahahaha.
Auggie’s face again LOL. I love how Payton’s like “mine?”
Happy Auggie!!
Payton will even sit in the pool LOL. “The water is cold on mah balls. I likes it.” Weird dog.
My Auggie <3 I'm so proud of him for getting in the pool all on his own today. I think he's going to get in it a lot more this year, so hopefully he'll be able to keep cool!!
Easter Egg Hunt – VIDEO!
Unfortunately I couldn’t wield both the video and DSLR, so I gave Mom the video camera… and she doesn’t really know what she’s doing… so not the greatest video, but I think it carries the idea LOL.
Easter Egg Hunt 2012
Rockstar Auggie who LOVES this game… I have video… I just have to edit it.
Eggy eggy eggy eggy
Payton found one!
…but he doesn’t really know what to do with it and neither does Georgie.
“I think you eats it.”
Auggie stole it and was going to open it, but apparently after being in Payton’s mouth it tasted bad because he spat it out and started pawing at it LOL.
Payton thinks that was his anyway and he wants it back…
“MAH EGGY”
He lay down and started chomping it a bit and I thought he might pop it open and get the cookie…
But then this happened. *sigh*
Meanwhile Auggie was running around finding and opening all the other eggs.
Payton DID finally open his yellow egg and was surprised there was a cookie inside. Then Georgie found another yellow egg but didn’t know what to do with it, and Payton stole it, then opened it by accident and was again surprised to find a cookie.
By the time he found this one he seemed like maybe he was figuring it out… but this was the last egg!
Auggie had found all the other eggs because he is a rock star at the egg hunt.
Payton with his three eggs!
“I lick my eggy.”
“What? There’s no food in them anymore? Rip off.”
And poor Georgie with her empty basket LOL.
All three! Payton knocked over his basket by laying down when I didn’t want him to, but it was kinda cute, so I allowed it. =P
Baby Georgie with the GIANT EGG
Auggie monster with the giant egg (effing blown whites!!)
Payton with the giant egg.
Okay, Payton is NOT a “head tilt?” kind of dog… I didn’t even notice this happened until I was editing photos later and was like “FFFFFFFFF WHY IS HE SO ADORABLE OMG.”
Because it’s funny.
Watering the Payton
OMG WATER
*gargle*
Georgie: What are you doing?
Payton: GETTING THE THING
Payton: AHHHH
Georgie: you’re stupid.
that’s Georgie’s tail in the background. She really can’t figure out WTF Payton is doing.
Meerkat impression!
IT MAKES ME DO THE PEEPEE DANCE
Gonna get iiiiiit
I GOT IT
It makes me so haaaappy!
Just right in the face. Over and over.
He sometimes seems to mind and other times doesn’t care at all LOL.
I really don’t know LOL.
Streeeeetch!
She tried watering higher so he couldn’t get it and he kept trying to get it anyway, including putting his muddy paws on her legs like “HEY LADY, GIMME THE WATER!”
At this point he realized he was SOAKING WET and tried to roll around in the grass to dry off. Of course this is the same grass we are watering so he was basically just rolling around in mud. Fantastic.
Georgie trying to figure out if this is a game she wants to play…
is this… is this a game?
No, no… it’s… well maybe. But no, you don’t want to play, Georgie.
Georgie: Seriously. What’s wrong with you?
Payton: Oh, LOTS of things!!
I really do like the way this dog moves, as an aside.
Aaaaand right back at it when she started watering low enough for him to mouth water again.
RAWR!
And some killer dance moves.
I had to go get him a towel when all was said and done. Then I finished toweling him off and my mom wasn’t done watering so BACK AGAIN HE GOES… sigh…
Family photos and a few more
A few I took with my cellphone down in Louisville, sorry for the crappy quality but I didn’t buy my cellphone for the camera… it rained pretty much every single night down there (MUD EVERYWHERE. PAYTON UP TO HIS KNEES IN MUD PUDDLES EVERY DAY, LOOKING JOYOUS. SO GLAD FOR WASH AND WEAR COATS.) so camper lighting, not the best:
Payton, Auggie, and Grandma/Great Grandma! You can see Payton’s right leg is filthy dirty… =P
Payton, Auggie’s Dad Raleigh, and Auggie. Ral is the one Payton heavily resembles. I can’t remember if I posted about this here but I saw a picture of him at a show when he was eight months old, and it was about when Payton was eight months old, and we were all like “D= D= D=” looking back and forth at the picture of Ral and at Payton… Payton looks more like Ral than Auggie does and Auggie’s his kid, LOL.
Then we came back home and I took a really long shower in which I kept thinking I HAVE NEVER FELT SO CLEAN and then washed the boys.
The baby Georgie! I took a few photos of her sister this weekend but they’re not very good LOL. And I don’t think you guys would appreciate the photo of her trying to attack my phone the way I do… hopefully we can get the sisters together again soon and I can take a good photo of her.
Paytonmobile. Pay and Georgie’s sister, neither of whom were down in Louisville to actually do conformation, were attracting a LOT of attention. Which cracks me up considering how much time Payton spent diving into mud puddles like “=D =D =D THIS IS THE BESTEST”
My Auggiedoggie. <3 I was chasing the babies around the yard and looked over and here he was, laying down on the retaining wall. My little sun worshiper.
The Dog Training Robot
I feel like I’ve become a bit of one.
As I posted earlier, I’ve spent the last 8 weeks or so enrolled in Susan Garrett’s Recallers e-course. I’ve been re-reading Shaping Success for a while since getting Payton; I got the 2×2 weaves DVD for Christmas (which I had been wanting for a while), and just got myself Crate Games a few weeks back too (which I had also been wanting and Recallers gave me the push to go ahead and order it.)
Basically, I have been so immersed in SG that I’ve found myself using her terminology in just about everything I do training-wise. My thinking has changed to be very “Say Yes” oriented. I was never the kind of person who would put a shock collar or anything on my dogs, but Auggie was trained with corrections – so being that I’ve trained with corrections in the past, I guess you can officially call me a cross over trainer into The Land of Do, as SG puts it. See? There’s yet another SG term. I feel like if I say (or think) “where’s the value?” one more time, I’m going to smack MYSELF.
But the odd thing is that it’s also become kind of therapeutic to start thinking this way.
Baby Georgie thinks (and has been reinforced for it, so “knows”) the fastest way to get out of her crate is to yip at the top of her lungs in her high-pitched baby bitch voice. So we are now trying to un-do the damage, train it out of her, and, basically, play Crate Games.
So this afternoon I came home from work, let the boys out, and put Georgie in Payton’s crate while I fed the boys. I was going to go get Georgie, but my mom came home right then, which caused Georgie to start yelping and screaming and biting the crate trying to get out and get to my mom. I already knew my mom had a migraine earlier and wasn’t in a mood to deal with the barking and yipping, but I’ll be damned if I was going to let a migraine tear down all the work we had done… so I shut my mom out of the room and decided to take care of it myself.
I walked out of the room and stood in the hall, waiting for her to stop barking. When she was quite for five seconds, I would go into the room. At first this was her cue to start screaming at me again, so I would immediately, silently, turn around and walk back out of the room.
I’m standing in the hall, having done this for several minutes, and feeling irritated because I’m freaking starving for my own dinner, not in a very good mood already having just left work, and this isn’t even my dog!! I sure didn’t encourage (even inadvertently) this bad habit, so why do I have to stand here and deal with this?! It’s bad enough to have to struggle with Payton’s brattiness but at least that is all a direct result of the work I have or have not put into him; this one has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME, and yet here I am with the dumb baby bitch barking at me every time I walk into the room, preventing me from just feeding her and getting on with the rest of my life. And suddenly my head starts going “It’s her choice. Control the resources, NOT the dog. It’s her choice.” Like a calming mantra. Control the resources… not the dog. It’s Georgie’s choice to keep barking and not be let out of the crate. It’s her choice to stop barking and have me walk in the room. It’s her choice to start barking when I approach the crate and make me turn around and LEAVE the room. It’s all her choice. I’m not really DOING anything. Just letting the dog make the choices.
And it’s actually VERY calming, really, when you think about it. It sure makes it easy for me. Well, “easy” may not be the right word, but it takes the pressure off me, at the very least. I’m not here to make the dog do anything. I don’t have to force it. We’re not having a battle for control. All I’m here to do is allow the dog to make her own choices, come to the correct choice (what I want), and then reward her for it! You get that? I’m just here to allow her to experiment, make her own choices, and then deliver a reward when the right choice rolls around. Nothing else. I don’t have to sit there having a shouting match with her, screaming, “Georgie QUIET! Georgie STOP BARKING! QUIET! SIT! SIT!”
I just stand there in the hallway with the lights off… and wait.
It really didn’t take much longer than five minutes for her to stop barking, stay quiet as I walked into the room and approached her crate, sit nicely when I unlatched the crate door, OPEN the crate door, and then release her from her sit so we could finally leave the room and go get her dinner.
And all I did was stand there and wait patiently.
I like this kind of dog training.
