Sunglasses

I invested in a pair to save my eyes a bit. They cost 70 kr a well worth investment.

When it comes to the dog a lot has happened and is still happening so i don't really have time to write. I will try to tell you tonight.

Dinner

Fajsty is practicing his social skills. Having dinner with 3 of marcus friends. Apertifs and barbecue.

Update..

A lot has happened since the last update.

The show went well in terms of what they wrote about Fajsty, but he didn't really behave very well. Also we had a very unstrategic placing of the rest of the family, so he rushed that way and didnt want to walk the other way...

Also we have been to the veterinary station in Helsingborg. I went there because of his moodswings.. And because Siw said that if anything is wrong with him, this particular veterinarian will find it.

She did find pain in his left hip-joint.
His right one is A, and the left one is C or even worse...
Though this shouldnt be very bad, it COULD be what's causing the pain.

To be sure, we also did a blood test to check for tic-borne diseases.

If that comes back negative (will hear on monday probably) we will try pain killers for 10 days and see if his behaviour changes to the better. But the thing is since he has moodswings generally it will probably be hard to see a difference, for example:

Yesterday we were in the city, walking through the city with all the people and strange dogs etc and he didnt bark at a single one, nor on the evening walk in Furet.

Today on the other hand he has barked at a man and two different dogs...

But we will see!

King of the car

I don't care how it goes on the show. He's my king anyway.

Hihi

Look at the tiny paws and the smooth head. On saturday we will see how beautiful he is out of four other dogs. But more than that we will see how he behaves in the ring.

More rally photos

Kisses for mummy!!!



We're the cutest



Can I have a candy? pleaaaase?



Look at the ears... so big and fluffy.

Proud

I should be doing English, but its so boring so I take some time to tell you how proud I am of my dog right now.

We were at the Rallylydnad yesterday in varberg and asides from initial nuttiness he behaved exemplary! He did everything I asked and unusually well too. Sure he got stuck sniffing places but then I used that as external praise, when he performed I allowed him to sniff for a while.

He only barked at turbo once, after having been barked at for about a minute.

Pictures will come when I have them on this computer.

Doggiewalk and then english studies....

Today

Fajsty is 2 years old.

you're welcome to celebrate it in any way you prefer.

New hairdo

For me that is .

Feelings

Pictures of wolf in different emotions of anger and/or fear.

Boxer

Now i have met my first boxer.

The best stick ever

He has carried it and chewed on it for a long way without guarding it or becoming stressed about it. I can take it and give it back without any problem too.

Sunny

The weather just can't decide. It's been loomy and grey all day but now the sun is out and it is very warm. Almost bbq weather. Fajsty is going to spend the afternoon with gary to let me study some economy.

Sun and thunder

On the dog walk we see many types of weather. Today is sun, rain and thunder.

updated

I have updated the Fajsty website, since it has been neglected lately

http://www.annasuss.com/fajsty/

Lazy day

Sometimes you just have to chill and today is such a time. Picnic and some forest tracking. Just chilling out in the sun, practising doing nothing at all. A lot of forest ants around though. They are vicious.

Collar, lead and food.

New collar with matching lead and new food to try for 2 weeks and see if his skin gets better. Will do my best to keep everything else like it is now besides the change of food. If that doesn't help i will ask about it later.

Rally Fajst

Today we will call to see if they have recieved slalom-sticks in the store yet.

asides from that we will go buy a collar and matching lead as I found out that harnesses aren't allowed in competitions. I want to enter competitions with Mr Fajst because I think he/we can win.
He has way more contact with me than many of the dogs participating in Halmstad had with their owners. They have contact with the owners hand (more than likely containing candy). Well I want contact with my eyes, not my hand. And that is what I get.

Only thing that might be our doom is that the grass smells soooo gooood..

Friday's Training class:

click the images to make them larger in a new window or tab

It didnt start out too well:

But I wasn't the only one with trouble....

But after a while it started to go better

and better

Waiting for a release command after being asked to lie down....

Gathering:

This is what a planned course could look like:

Rally

The most confusing sign made clearer.

Hmm

We tried having Muffin over here and it worked fine for quite some time, sure he told her "its MY paper" but I removed all toys and other things on the floor and then he let her sit on a pillow.
Then everything was quiet for some time and we worked at out computers until there was a fit of barking which Fajsty started.

We think she sniffed his other bed. . .

Then I picked him up and muffin tried to bite his tail and we eventually got them calm.

I released my monster and he went to M and Muffin, wagging his tail low, sorta saying sorry, looking very calm..

Then Muffin moved and he started lounging at her again.
Completely out of the blue it seemed.

The only thing that creates "out of the blue" behaviour is pain.

Maybe I will not use the money I get from grandmother for my trips but to see if anything actually is wrong with Mr Fajst.

His behaviour does look like the behaviour of Siws dog, 'Gissa', and she has (documented) pains that makes her need to lash out sometimes.  They come from a long lasting borrelia infection. Perhaps F has something similar, that is only present sometimes?
I have squeezed him everywhere and nowhere seems to hurt, but I dont know how to check every joint or muscle like a vet does. . .

I cant have a dog who intermittently goes nuts for no apparant reason. I want to be able to have other dogs over.

I will ask Siw which vet she thinks I should go to.
The thing is I doubt the insurance will cover it since its such an abstract problem.

We'll see though..
 

IMMI

Look what I got ...

Additional

We also need to learn how to reverse.

I have been thinking ahead and have said "reverse" when he walks reverse "by accident" but I dont think he has connected it just yet.

I dont think reverse is in "rally step 1"  but it is something I would like to teach him, so the studying starts now.

I have additional criteria, he has to walk backwards in a straight line.
(this can be helped by walls, fences or even just sticks on the ground)

I have printed one way of teaching reverse that I havent tried yet that I will try tomorrow.

this includes teaching a "stand" word too, which is never bad to have.

This is what we did today ...

Click the image to make it larger!

I'm gonna invest in:

http://www.rusta.se/search.asp?s=slalom&action.x=0&action.y=0

Fajsty

We concluded today that something happened on the dog-hotel when I was in Italy.

Perhaps he got attacked by another dog, it's probable he did.

This seems to have made him doubt other dogs intentions, no matter how friendly they are.

(Much like how a person once bitten (for no apparant reason) is more reserved around dogs in the future)

So what we're gonna do is click for dogs. Dog will equal click which equals candy. In the end he will see a dog and think candy.
Next time I will ask her how we will eventually move forward to sicial interaction (after acceptance of) with dogs.

correction

She was not 30 minutes late last time. We did start at 18:30.
I had misread.

I apologize.

Car dog

Mummy's jacket is the shit

Fajst

This is what the Fajst looks like when i'm not home. Just sitting there waiting most of the time.

SBK training

Today we drove to Halmstad SBK to train in their grass (which smells different than the grass here) and that was a challenge. Whatever was in the grass was way more interesting than mummy and meatballs. I managed to find a spot that didnt have much of that smell so we could do some perfect turns.. It doesn't help that I say the wrong way, I say left when we turn right and vice versa... I need to get better at that.
There were no other dogs but I think the grass was a big enough distraction to start with.

Soon off to school and then away to Värnamo to listen to Eva Bodfält . I think this will be a very interesting lecture. If she doesnt keep it at "Svensson" level too much. But I think even if she does it will be educational.

Blogging from MS word

Heya,

My dog is amazing.

He can do all the tasks we were introduced to Friday and then some.

Now its time to go to SBK Halmstad (public dogclub) to practice, I should use my membership fee for something.

Now I'm gonna try adding a picture through word, if that works Word will be my new way of blogging (horrible isn't it?).

(picture added after)

Rolling Rolling Rolling….

Rally dog

A picture to show the best dog today. Today once he got his nose off the ground he was excellent. Did everything i asked and very well too. I think it is time to do left turns now. They are a tad trickier but i think we can nail them this week :)

First Caller

Today I had my first caller for www.caninetricks.net services.
Though what she needed was over my head so I forwarded her to Matilda Sjöö. I'm sure she can help.

Training diary

Sit and Ligg.. 

Fajsty doesn't know sitt from ligg.
He did when he was small because I remember testing him.. But now he just chances and normally it doesnt matter, but now if there's a sign saying "sitt" he should sit, not lie down.
So I have decided to train sit as sit and lie down as down. Then the audible difference will be larger.
And hopefully he will stop chancing the behaviour. I have consistently not inforced the incorrect action but still he chances. I think he's just too eager so he takes a chance, whats the worst that could happen?

I practiced this today along with walking in a pretty large circle around him. "sit plus circle" & "down plus circle".

I also practiced Right turns around a pole.
I put up a pole with a sign on it saying Right Turn (so I wouldnt forget) and then we walked around and when I had his attention I praised and headed for the pole and as we were turning I said "Höger" (Right) .. idea stolen from Hanna & Signe.

Then after a million repetitions I tried saying höger when walking straight and he did start to turn so I completed the turn and gave him lots of treats and played with him.

Then we did some sit/down discriminating again.


The one downer, He barked at an old lady walking by.
Not good. I could stop it and divert but it took some time.

Rally

Rally-obedience is a relatively new dog-sport in Sweden. I have read a lot about it and Marie has had classes in it.
Look here for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_obedience
and http://www.charsobediencetraining.com/rally_classes.html

Me and Mr F started a rally-obedience class in Varberg (because there is a new(?) IMMI certified doggietrainer there) ..
http://www.charsobediencetraining.com/rally_classes.html

The Rally was fun.
It was an old lady who had it, and I noticed I was a bit prejudicing thinking "uh-oh" but then again she can't be too bad since she is IMMI certified. And indeed it was a good lady, she knew a lot about the dogs language and sensitive dogs. I didnt agree with all her clicker-methods but I'll give 'em a try and see what happens.

only think I reacted a bit on was that the dogs were ABSOLUTELY not allowed to sniff eachother because "then everything else in there *points to gate* gets ruined" I didnt quite understand that reasoning... maybe she'll explain it.

One thing I didnt like was that she just took other peoples dogs to show things on, without really asking for permission. Also we started 30 minutes late. Not impressed. We were there 15 minutes early to make sure we found the right place ... so we stood around for 40 minutes. Crazy!

The area was good, a pretty large field with good grass, though in need of mowing (fajst found smells everywhere) .


But he is a Cocker Spaniel so I guess anything else would have been surprising.

Forest Fajsty

Chasing some interesting smell.

Doggie classes

And now upon being a doggietrainer I will start having doggieclasses.

http://www.caninetricks.net

I will also with Fajsty go to an activityweekend in Varberg and on Friday the 8th Rallylydnad starts in Varberg. This is both for to do something with the dog and for me to see how other IMMI instructors work. I have only seen thow thus far, so it will be interesting to see two more.

On 30th to 2nd he will stay at a "dog hotel" because there is a wedding on the 1st and we dont know how busy we will be around that date.

Pictures

I have now recieved note that I am finished so now I am diplomed doggye trainer (will post the diploma when I have it) ..

Havent been enough pictures lately so here are two..




I found that scarf when I was cleaning out my storage and I thought he looked cool in it. It reminds me of his first collar...


(he had a red one like that too)

Look how grown up he is now...

I'm still reasonaby good at training what Matilda Sjöö told us, and we have started "search and tracking" in the forest. I have bought a special harness for that so that he knows when its time.

Click the images for bigger versions..

Dinner company

Having dinner with unusually good company.

Tired Fajst

Have run for about 45 minutes and he has been great. Now with 200 meters left he barked at a kid. He was completely gone. No contact possible. I told him off pretty loudly so i hope he got it.

Shadow

The shadow of me and Fajsty out running. I have him tied to my waist to help my arms move freely

Desk puppy

Well not so much of a puppy anymore but indeed under the desk. .

Chewy

Fajsty figured he can eat through the chewy stick without chewing much at all.

Funny

Muffin sits nicely and hopes Fajsty will give her bone back. .

Skidboot

http://hillybillyfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/skidboot.html

Too lazy to do youtube insert so watch it from above...

Spring

Again it seems spring has arrived. . But just wait, in a few days it's probably snow again.

Photo

Brought the camera today and took 30 pictures. One was decent enough to post.




Fajsty Spaniel walking the line ...

Fajsty being social

Muffin overlooks the meal and Fajsty hopes for crumbs. . .

Stick dog

Play is essential in life.

New harness

Sitting on the hill showing off the new harness we got from hanna and signe. :)

Picnic

Having a picnic out in the open. Eating pancakes and sniffing about.

Morning

Do we have to go out? I was sleeping so well. . .

Bath!

Fajsty spaniel is a "stinky shit" today so he's gonna get a bath tomorrow.
Good thing is that its laundry day so I can wash all the towels afterwards =)

Wohoo!

Matilda Sjöö has a lot of courses, they never start until they are full and the one I wanted to go had 4 people left ...

I asked Hanna and Signe and Ann & Muffin if they wanted to come too. Both wanted to come so now its only 1 person left until it's full.

I will try to recruit a cocker that lives near Muffin. That family could use some positive thinking indeed.

Yay!

Well

I havent followed my schedule to the dot. Partly because of illness, rain and lazyness.

BUT we have made major improvements in our teamwork. We can now go past other dogs and focus is on me, if it is not all needed is a point in the right direction and we're back on track.

I had a feeling that if that went well, everything else would go well alongside it.
And it's pretty much true. I've become clearer with my intentions so he's got it easier to please.. and he is eager to please, although chasing rabbits is still more fun than getting snacks from me...

We had him loose around galberget 3km, 80% he was brilliant. Attentive and near... then he saw a rabbit or something and shot off...

I dont know what brought him back, my saying "Fajsty Spaniel, get back here" or the fact that the rabbit disappeared. He did come back and give me puppy-eyes.
I'm annoyed I could not stop him but I'm happy he came back.


There are still a few issues to be resolved, but I think we are ready for walks in the city now. Or at least the outskirts of the city as we can pass all the dogs on kärleken now without many problems. yay.


Today has been miserable weather, I really hope its better tomorrow. Last time we were there it was wonderful weather, so I have high hopes.



Think of us tomorrow at 13:00 hrs and pray we show her what we're made off, and I am not too shy.....

Hm

Hanna was ill today so we couldn't do training according to scedule.
Will be with dad in the city tonight so will then do some city-training and "wait" exersices.

Now a short pee-walk and then we're off..

Info

BERGKÄLLANS DODGE LANCER

Reg.nr/Reg.no S48906/2007
Kön/Sex hane/dog
Födelsedatum/Born 2007-06-04
Färg/Colour black & tan/black and tan
Inavelsgrad/Inbreeding 0.0% ( 5 gen., 61 av 63 hundar finns)
Efter/Sire SU(U)CH DKUCH Soolon Sunny-Boy S63391/2005   2004-09-11   röd    
Undan/Dam Bergkällans Yamaha Virago S20079/2004   2004-02-09   svart    

Stamtavla / Pedigree

These are the names I'm looking for pictures of ...

http://www.rasdata.nu/cocker/stam/10/00010299.htm

I found some blue roan in his genes.. .

Video

Snow

Well it could be snow energy or something . .

Psycho dog ^_^

Last night and this morning the crazy dog was back.

There were two main differences compared to the "lovely dog" walks.

1. I was not alone with him.
2. There is more snow outside.

If it is number 1 I can check soon, on the next walk.

Now I am studying in the yellow book. Boooooriiing...

Took a break from studying and played with a picture of Fajsty from yesterday. (see below)

Fajsty - the demonic snowdog

It just keeps snowing...

Tomorrow on the schedule is practicing recalls.
Will take him to "rotorp" and let him blow off some steem in the fenced in area while practicing recalls. I might also practice walking past odd looking people if I can think of a good place to do that at. A park in the city perhaps... Will see.

Oooo...

... my dog is smart.

as planned I practiced with Ann today and I got to practice "not barking at strange things" as well as "be calm before greeting someone".

We have two busstops nearby and I had told Ann to meet me on the lawn behind one of them (well, there is only one with a lawn behind it). As me and F were on the lawn, Ann walked passed and she had a hat on so he didnt recognize her so he barked. all I had to say was "Hrrrm Mister" and he was: "What do you mean, I have done nothing but walked next to you like this" with twinkles in his eyes. Soo lots of praise and I walked up to and passed the busstop. I let him sniff a bit and then walked passed it (and Ann) again. Then he was calm and attentive so I released him to greet.

Then we put it up a notch, I asked her to talk to him (she misinterpreted and called him - another step up the ladder of difficulty) but he stayed with me, quite attentive. Good dog!

Proud mum

Well, we went out for a short walk as I was studying and didnt have time for a long one then.

I tried saying "wait" while walking to see if he waited where he was as I continued. He did this. I praised him a lot, practicing my tone of voice and everything. Then I tried again and he did it again. So it wasnt just a freak accident, he actually understands what to do.

I also practiced my "no, you cant do that" sound by putting a pile of candy on the ground and walking past it without him taking it. He's a quick learner indeed. No violence or hard words, just a simple "eh-eh" or "nope". Easy.

This afternoon I will try "wait" with a few interferences and disturbances.

Now off to school.

Cute

Just been on the morning walk in snow and minus 5 degrees. Good thing about the really cold snow is that it doesn't get stuck in the fur like the other kind.

He was great on the walk, it was a pure joy after the first 20 meters. He even sat down before every street on his own initiative. Then i practised my praising skills and tried not to care about how silly I thought I sound.

In response to a comment and update...

To you, "Anonymous" who posted: "good way to kill the life out of a dog....":

Nah, I can assure you that he will still have plenty of life left in him. Just a little bit less bark and not be so frightening to small children.

I do not wish to remove his spark. And I seriously doubt I will.

He will just not have so very far to the calm state. Now it can take up to 45 minutes for him to calm down enough to Chill out. My goal is to make that 5 minutes.

He can play and be crazy, when I say he can, not only when he wants to be.


Soo update on today:
My dad had him today and said he was perfect, just a bit barky. and that is what I plan to remove with this regime.
Fajsty is a bit "Dazed" when mummy (me) is not around. The good thing is that he didnt pull in the lead so much with dad, which means my training of that the past few months must have had some effect.

When this "calm" regime is over I think I will induce a "no pulling" regime if it doesnt occur as a byproduct of the "calm" regime.

What I want is a dog I can bike or rollerblade with anywhere without the lead, go to the beach with, without worrying that he will run off and scare some poor sod or chase an innocent dog for hours. Go to picknicks with him and have him loose lurking nearby while we eat, not having to worry that he will chase anyone who tries to come near.
This I will achieve, not so much with the tasks I do but by spending more efficient time with him and bonding more. Also by being clearer on whats OK and what's not.

This is something I will have to work hard on, given my aspie-traits.
It will take time, but I will do it.

Consistency is king

New Beginning

Me and mister F has had a few issues regarding Barking.

Barking at people and barking at other things, both animate/d/ and inanimate.

Today we visited Matilda Sjöö (who seems to not have a website) and she was everything I had hoped for if not more. She was cool.

She gave me the tools I needed to create a plan of attack to deal with his nuttyness.

Soon (I have high hopes) we will have a VERY nice dog in the house, not only cute and charming.




So now this blog will be textbased for a while as I will document each day what we have trained and how well we have done.


This is the plan:

18. Fajsty will stay with dad. Holiday from the program.
19. Practice with Ann E-B. Not allowed to greet her until he's calm (goes for all practices listed)
20. P with M.
21. P with Ann J.
22. P with dad.
23. P with M.
24. P with Hanna & Signe 16:00.
25. P with M.
26. P with Muffin.
27. P with Ann & Fia.
28. P with  Muffin.

 

1.  Practice with Ann J.
2.  Practice with Signe (mayyybe another dog too)
3. REVISIT with Matilda Sjöö

The people listed are just ideas, but I will try to stick to them as I need to do progress, for my sake and for Fajstys. We dont want to look bad on the 3/3-2009.
If by then the dog-meets are better and I have become clearer in my actions (not so easy for a semi-aspie-person) we will start putting some effort into the walks.

Although Lamp-posts and other "extremely important smells" will be treated as people. No greeting until calm.
This will probably be the most difficult one to keep.



So, word of the 2 weeks ahead:

No fun until calm!
The hardest part will be when he sees my father or my mother.
But its good training, as she said: if he cant be calm and keep himself composed indoors with people he knows, then how could he outdoors with fun new potential playmates?
It will be heartbreaking to hear him cry for dad but I agree with what she says, her logic makes sense.
He should be able to Sit and Stay even though someone comes through the door.

View from bench

Sitting on a bench practicing Fajstys patience . .

New bed

As soon as the new bed was inside the dog loved it. He didn't leave it for like 15 minutes. I did not have time to take inspection photos. .

Hmm

He can't understand why i force him to undergo this horrible treatment. But i think he likes it when it's done and he's not so heavy.