Tuesday 21 February 2017

Mini-Holiday: In Which Ava and Darcy Are As Sweet As Ever

A holiday is always nice, isn't it? Ava and Darcy spent the weekend with me while their humans did human things.

They were dropped off in the morning, and as I was putting things away I turned around to find this...


Both dogs in one crate looking at me

How sweet are these two?

Big and little cavaliers in one crate, wide-eyed
Who, us?

Ava and Darcy sit behind baby gate
Whatcha doin'?

Seeing how close these two are seems extra sweet to me after my most recent boarders, two dogs who were from the same household but didn't like each other very much.

Darcy and Ava sit outside behind glass door
We pooped, can we come in now?
And yes, I let them in -- they were both very good dogs all weekend. Gotta love 'em.

Friday 17 February 2017

An Exposition: In Which Melon Waxes Lyrical on Multi-Dog Management

Hello blogfriends.

Scruffy and Charlie, my most recent boarders, have gone home. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed their holiday and I refined my skills at multi-dog management.

Scruffy and Charlie: a rare snapshot with both boys

I owe a lot of this to another little guide: P. McConnell and K. London's Feeling Outnumbered: How to Manage and Enjoy Your Multi-Dog Household. I loved its advice on body blocking, and its general approach of 'teaching every dog good manners is the key to peaceful coexistence'. Makes perfect sense to me.

Most of all, though, I think this sudden foray into multi-dog management -- with Scruffy and Charlie at home, and Ava and Darcy at work -- has made me feel like the key here is management. Don't get me wrong -- dogs do need to be trained and you can almost always teach something new to improve situations. That's why I'm a dog trainer.

But I've also realised that management can be enough.

Ava: You call this management?

With multiple dogs, your time is split between them. Add to that normal life commitments -- for example, a homework assignment to finish, another dog job, and trying to fit in driving practice -- sometimes it's just about getting the dogs fed, walked, and getting in a little mental stimulation, whether that be with toys or training.

And I feel like part of understanding management is understanding that you won't be able to treat both dogs the same. Little Darcy, being only a few months old, spends half the day in his pen, while Ava can be trusted free in the house. Scruffy has to eat outside by himself while Charlie is inside with the humans, because Charlie needs to be coaxed to eat and Scruffy will steal his food.


Dog days of summer: I shut Scruffy in so Charlie could enjoy his iceblock

You won't even be able to treat your dogs equally all of the time. Some days only Darcy gets walked, because I can only take one dog with me to the cafe, and some days only Ava gets walked, because I'm out of time. And you know what? I'm realising that's okay.

Don't get me wrong, I wish Ava and Darcy could loose-lead walk nicely right now so that I could just walk them both together, and I really, really wish Scruffy and Charlie's owner could implement some more strategies so Charlie doesn't have to live timidly in the shadow of his brother. But I'm hoping that the more dogs I work with the more skilled I will become, so that I can achieve more in the same finite amount of time. Until then, though, I'm only human, they're only dogs, and we do the best we can.

Saturday 11 February 2017

Silly Saturday

Just a silly video of Charlie the mini labradoodle to brighten up your Saturday!

Thursday 9 February 2017

Throwback Thursday: A Piece of Serenity

It's been one of those weeks.

So here's a piece of serenity from almost six months ago; before Ava's knee surgery, before the arrival of Darcypup -- just the two of us on a quiet afternoon.

 

P.S. Yes, this is the dog who hates water -- think we'll make a water baby of her yet??

Thursday 2 February 2017

Puppy Play: In Which We See Just How Much Fun Ava and Darcy Have

During Ava's year with me, I've introduced her to a few dogs. They all interacted with her differently, but I wished I knew a stable, playful dog of similar size and strength for her to really play with.

Enter Darcy.

Yes, 9 week old Darcy.



Like the old saying... it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the amount of spunk and willingness to sit on another dog's head that counts!