Weekly Training Update (Sept 25)
PERSONAL AD: Fearful, occasionally snarky 5yo, F, BC seeks suitable dog friends for play dates. Must take well to clumsy, sometimes grumpy, and often bossy attempts at social engagement. …
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Lilly Laughing
Back in 2005, researchers from the Animal Behavior Center in Spokane, Washington, and from the Spokane County Regional Animal Shelter published a study on the affects of the sounds of dog laughter on stress behavior in shelter dogs. It got a fair bit of media attention at the time, including this segment from ABC news. Over the weekend, I captured video of Lilly laughing as Tom roughhouses and tickles her tummy. Take a look and listen. Notice in the video that Tom makes the ah-ah-ah dog laughter sound back to Lilly, and she indeed seems to …
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LuLu Tribute Video
After posting that series of photos and video from the training Lilly perspective last week, I threw together a little tribute video for Betsy that shows tiny LuLu showing off skills that will come in handy in her future a quest for an agility championship. Enjoy! …
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Lilly Meets LuLu, Part 3
You know I had to dissect the one instance from our time with LuLu where Lilly gave the youngster a correction. I’m glad I got it on video so that I could really look at the sequence. I’m calling it Anatomy of a Puppy Correction. While I’ve broken out clips and added transitions, which make the video around 2:30 minutes, the actual encounter was just over 1 minute in real time. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of too many running bumps in quick succession or if there may have been razor-like puppy teeth used. I tend to think …
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Lilly Meets LuLu, Part 2
As promised, here is a video showing how Lilly coped with meeting a very young puppy (just over 8 weeks). You can see in her body language that Lilly is a bit nervous. Watch her offer various calming signals. Notice (IMHO) how tolerant she is of puppy antics. FYI – I muted the audio because it is incessant praise of both dogs and gets TEDIOUS. :o) So, instead watch this silent movie that offers another study in canine body language.
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Kisses!
You all know that Lilly can be SUCH a border collie — bossy, controlling, down right mean. BUT, often after such an outburst towards Ginko, she’ll deliver a flurry of appeasement kisses. I’ve put the behavior on cue. Ginko is a good sport for putting up with it. Those of you who’ve received such kisses know she’ll also kiss certain people on cue too. I find having kissing on cue (or “under impulse control” as the lingo goes) especially helpful with little kids, whose faces are at prime height for Lilly smooching. This way she generally won’t kiss them, unless …
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Farewell, Katie
Today is a rough day in Lilly Town. First of all, my sister meets with her oncologist to get the full diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan now that she’s 10 days out from her mastectomy. She has been up for hours already, steeped in anxiety, so if you can send her a prayer for inner peace, I know she would appreciate it. Secondly, today is Katie’s last day in Lilly’s life. We. Are. Crushed. …
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Trust & Silliness
Shot this video clip this morning. It demonstrates things Lilly has learned from Ginko and from Katie. It takes a tremendous amount of trust for Lilly to A) go belly up in front of another dog and B ) actually play a little in front of another dog. …
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Ginko Loves Green Grass
I tried getting Ginko to do his one and only trick on camera last week. Instead, he chose to do this. If all those dog body language books are right, then this clip shows unadulterated joy. …
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Another Video Study: Dogs at Play
During the summer, Lilly and Ginko ONLY play like this after it cools off. In fact, once Ginko turns into a wild monkey we know the temperature has finally dropped. I’ll call your attention to a few things. …