Foundations - after 3 weeks

That's right, time for another dog training update. I'm still working on that audio extravaganza from my trip to Ethiopia now two weekends ago. My audio editing powers were severely hampered this weekend with 7+ power cuts during the day on both Saturday day and Sunday day.

I also have a Jane Goodall treat for you coming up in the near future, just need to get an internet connection that doesn't block Soundcloud.

In the meantime, Shaki was super excited to play self control games yesterday and finished off with a great "dead dog".

Natasha closes this session off with a stellar hand touch that require her to jump to hit the target. We also learned that while dogs will do almost anything for a piece of cheese, using small cubes of cheese in this heat leads to sticky-cheese residue-y hands. 

I'm sure if Shaki and Natasha could sing the I love Cheese song, they would.

A glimpse into our improvement in tugging. You see that some socks have been reincarnated as dog tugs. My dogs love socks, so I thought this was the perfect thing to create a motivating toy out of.

Foundations - week 2 self-control

For those of you who were hoping that this wasn't going to become a blog about me training my dogs, you'll have to put up with me for a few more weeks.

But to keep you interested, you should know that I was in Ethiopia last weekend, revisiting "home" in Dire Dawa with my awesome ex-housemate and friend Kaja. We cooked up a scheme when she was on her R&R in Tanzania about two months ago, to go back to Dire Dawa for the weekend and re-live our old weekends. It's been 1.5 years since I left Dire Dawa and longer for her. We wanted to see what's changed and what's stayed the same.

These boys offered to pose for a photo while I was taking a picture of the sieves behind them.

I documented (or tried to) a good deal of our weekend with my handy Zoom. Now I'm sorting through the tape and putting together a pak on our trip so stay tuned for some audio gems from our weekend to DD.

But back in Dar, the second session of our dog training course had begun and we have a new theme - self-control. This is one of the areas where we will definitely benefit. Hopefully taking the baby steps of "leaving" the treats until they've been offered will also translate into less cat chasing (poor Cicero does get a a few good runs in every day) and not "mugging" the cat food bowl (which is basically like hitting the jackpot since cat food is one of the primary food rewards I use with them.

Foundations - after week 1

So, we're one week into our Foundations class with Fanny Gott. We've been playing in short session every day - short sessions in the morning and also after work.

In case you want to see how it's going.... here it is.

If you're really bored, there are plenty more on youtube.

Foundations

I've had this silly idea for ages now to get my girls into some agility training. It looks like loads of fun and I think the dogs would love it too. But I didn't know where to start. I actually bought a mini agility start-up set between Ethiopian and Tanzania that's just sitting in the corner of the study still in the box.

In late January I stumbled across the work of a dog trainer named Susan Garrett who does phenomenal things with dogs. She's a world champion in agility (Her. Her dogs. Who do you attribute that to?).  She has the kind of dogs that make others envious and a little ashamed of our own pets' training. I got completely addicted to her blog and her youtube channel and was trying to figure out, how do I get me some of that dog training? Wouldn't you know it, she offers online training courses, but with no imminent start date for the next course, I was still searching.

That's when I found Fanny Gott, a "a professional dog trainer with a passion for clicker training and dog sports" based in Sweden. And wouldn't you know it, she was offering her "Foundations" class starting in March and enrolment was opening in a few days. And so I kept checking back and as soon as enrolment opening, I registered Natasha and me. I've been looking forward to the course starting and finally it did.

Our first lesson is called "Play with your dog". We get a lesson posted every two weeks, some focus areas and a homework assignment that involves working with your dog and filming the sessions. We then upload the clips and Fanny makes comments, gives tips, and guidance. Dog-training on the internet! Who knew!

While Natasha is my course participant, I'm also working with Shaki on the same things. You know I love my dogs and I'm going to share some of that love with you. Hopefully you'll see us progressing! I have to say, I feel a little bit silly propping my computer up on the bbq in the back yard and hitting record to film myself for an online dog training class. I figure this is just one step further in the re-spatialization of social space.

3 peas in a pod

A proper post to come, in the meantime to tide you over, I present to you 3 peas in a pod.

Boxing Day run

Five o'clock rolls around which means its time for my daily outing with the dogs. After a walk on Christmas Eve and a run yesterday, I decided a run today would be good too. After all we did lots of walking (in wellies, well at least me) last week when our usual routes were turned to mud.

I had to wake the dogs up from their afternoon nap. Hardly looks as if they have extra energy to burn off at this point.

We get all harnessed up. Running with three dogs requires some coordination.

We run the the start of our usual route, then branch off along the ocean for a bit of a change - all three were  suddenly like deadweight as they were busy taking in the sea of new smells - and looped around to end the same way we came.

It seems that rather than re-inforce the napping and lounging around, all three have a new spurt of energy. So rather than 3 more-tired dogs, I have three rambunctious dogs. 

Now, time to whip up some pasta with my homemade pesto to re-fuel. 

Puppies

Friday morning I woke up to a basket full of puppies. Four to be exact. And before I left for work an hour later, two more had arrived with it looking like there might be more on the way. Luckily, there was just one more bun in the oven, bringing the total to 7 puppies. Poor Shaki is just a puppy herself, being under a year old still. But she was amazing and knew exactly what to do and popped those seven out without any assistance. Broke the amniotic sac, licked the babies clean, chewed over the umbilical cords and cleaned up the whole mess.

The puppies weighed between 395 and 450 grams on Friday afternoon after about 6-8 hours outside the womb - my kitchen scale came in handy.  There are four girls and three boys. Three of the puppies have an extra dewclaw on each back paw (kind of like a fifth toe). Their poppa is actually double dewclawed on each hind leg. Dew claws are common on the front paws of dogs but more rare on back paws and apparently more prevalent in some races (commonly agility, herding and racing dogs). Tanzanian mutts seem to be one of those races. 

Anyway, they're gorgeous little puppies and their momma Shaki is doing great so far. Poor girl is super skinny now that she's given birth, despite being fed more under her pregnancy, so I'm super-upping her food while she's lactating to make sure she says healthy. I did a puppy weigh in this afternoon and they're all gaining weigh well and everyone seems to be nursing regularly. 

Cicero, my kitten who has been part of the household for just about a month now, is interested in the whole affair. Shaki snapped s at her once but has since be okay, although her ears perk up with he comes too close. I'm hope they'll learn to live with each other. If nothing when the puppies are a little older and she's less protective. I'm traveling for work the next 4 days and this is the first time I've left Cicero "out" while I've been away. He usually gets to spend a little outside time in the mornings while I get ready for work, then is inside while I'm away and comes out again in the afternoon for some quality exploring and leaf-hunting. BUT he's started to be more and more interested in the outdoor world and I thought Sunday-Thursday was an awfully long time for him to be cooped up, so I left the window a crack open and instructions with the guards to keep an eye on him and help sliding the widow open and shut when he's wanting in or out. Let's hope he survives the next few days.

Hello Cicero!

I'm hanging out in airports... again

This time en route to home sweet home in Tanzania. I'm being all grown up and have a day room (or in this case a night room) in the airport in Zürich.

I've just had a wonderful 40-ish hours in London with some of my best girl friends in this whole wide world (and it's a big one!). First time in London can definitely be rated a success. Loads of sunshine, lots of walking past historical type places, and a little wine-drinking in parks - what more could you want from a short stop over to (re) connect with friends?

Tomorrow I'm Dar bound again and am looking forward to being home with my doggy (ies?) and chilling out in the evening before starting a hectic week on Monday.

I really am lucky to do what I do and go where I go. And even luckier because next week my darling cousin in coming to spend a week with me in Tanzania. On our agenda in a trip to Kizimkazi to hang by the beach, snorkel and enjoy some dolphin watching before wandering Stone Town and then heading to a lovely tented camp for a few days in Mikumi National Park. I can't wait!