I have to rave about the wonderful, incredible people we found who taught us how to train puppies. John and Sue Anderson run Dogs In the Park, a dog training facility in Guelph, Ontario. I've mentioned them in passing before, but this afternoon we were once again blown away by how effective their training methods are.
In the space of about an hour, we taught Lance how to behave around a working lawn mower. Up 'til now, we'd left him inside when we mowed the grass, but it made him (and us) unhappy, so we decided to try and teach him to stay away from it. At first we thought we'd teach him to be scared of it, but then we realized that might mean he'd bolt into the street if someone started a mower right next to him. He needed to respect it, not fear it.
We started out by "popcorning" treats until the noise didn't bother him. This didn't take long. Soon enough, he wanted to "play" with Daddy while Daddy mowed. We took care of this by commanding "Leave It", which Lance knows well, every time he got near it, and by feeding him treats when he moved away from it and when he payed no attention to it. Using this dual approach, by the end of the hour or so it took to do the lawn he was unconcernedly sitting about 30 feet away, content to watch the action.
Lance is pretty smart, but he's not that smart. If Don and I hadn't been taught how to teach puppies from a well-respected animal behaviorist (Sue Anderson), it would probably have taken either all summer or all manner of unpleasantness to accomplish this.
Thank you, Dogs in the Park!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
365 Pictures
Apparently I just don't have enough stress in my life. :)
I joined the 365 Project today. The idea? To take (and upload) a picture a day for a whole year. A WHOLE YEAR! I think I'm crazy! I've never had that kind of discipline. Never. I'm always the one who quits because she gets bored, or tired, or finds something more interesting, or . . . you get the picture, pardon the pun. But now the whole world (or at least the portion of it who is also a part of the the 365 Project) will know if I slack off! Horrors! Time to reach deep down inside of myself for some reserve of self-control, I suppose.
Why did I do it? Other than insanity, that is? I guess I'm just starved to do something creative. Besides signing up for this today, in the past couple of weeks I've bought more art supplies, looked for a book on how to write poetry, starting drawing design plans for my herb garden, and signed up for an online creativity class. All while ignoring things I really should be doing.
The Goddess is obviously trying to tell me something. I had best listen.
(If you're on the 365 Project also, look for me as CousinLinda.)
I joined the 365 Project today. The idea? To take (and upload) a picture a day for a whole year. A WHOLE YEAR! I think I'm crazy! I've never had that kind of discipline. Never. I'm always the one who quits because she gets bored, or tired, or finds something more interesting, or . . . you get the picture, pardon the pun. But now the whole world (or at least the portion of it who is also a part of the the 365 Project) will know if I slack off! Horrors! Time to reach deep down inside of myself for some reserve of self-control, I suppose.
Why did I do it? Other than insanity, that is? I guess I'm just starved to do something creative. Besides signing up for this today, in the past couple of weeks I've bought more art supplies, looked for a book on how to write poetry, starting drawing design plans for my herb garden, and signed up for an online creativity class. All while ignoring things I really should be doing.
The Goddess is obviously trying to tell me something. I had best listen.
(If you're on the 365 Project also, look for me as CousinLinda.)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
iPhone 4
*&^%@#& Apple! Just when I thought I'd be able to stay with one phone long enough to finish my contract's required years, they come up with folders! FOLDERS! (So now maybe I can actually have all my 723 apps on the darn thing!)
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