Snow - Finally!!

You know how jealous we have been of all of you who have had lots of snow. Well last night all those alarmist weather people on TV finally got it right. We have two inches of snow and are going to get more.

I love snow!



You can see how much I enjoyed my run through the woods in the snow.




Ambrose has only seen snow once when he was very little, so he got very excited this morning and went completely cracker dog trying to dig a hole to China in the snow.



He likes to make a snow beard on his goofy face.





He is whining now because he wants to go back outside to play in it.

I don't know why people here in NC get in such a twist about getting snowed in. We have enough dog food, stuffies, treats and chewies to last a long time. What is the big deal?

You still have time to enter our Train Your Dog Photo Contest. I've gotten quite a few entries in the last few days and the competition is stiff. However the prizes are excellent. Both you and your person will win a prize if you are one of the top four placements. You have until Sunday, January 31st at midnight to send in a photo of you and your person training together. It doesn't have to be obedience, just any skill, trick or game that you like to do together.

Demo at Duke

We have been very busy lately going to a match, practicing for the Drill Team and hanging out with friends at the dog park. The highlight of the week was going to Duke University (even though we are UNC fans).

You may remember that I participated in a research experiment at Dr. Brian Hare's Duke Canine Cognition Center last fall. It was very interesting and I enjoyed the experience. Barbara, Ambrose and I were invited back to give a talk and demonstration about dog training and handling to the students who work at the center.

The students got rewarded with chocolate for sitting in their chairs! We never get chocolate treats.



They learned about clicker training by practicing it on each other. I think that this student is being clicker trained to do a down stay.



I demoed some of my skills and then one of the students got to train me. She had me go around a cone to practice distance work. Of course I did it very well and got nice salmon treats.



Then it was Ambrose's turn. I knew that he would embarrass us and of course he did by lifting his leg on a plant in the center!! Then one of the students had to train him to go around a chair.



It took a while but he finally got it.



Then Barbara talked about canine body language and calming signals and demonstrated safe handling skills.

We were very happy to meet Dr. Hare who liked us very much and made a big fuss over us. He is doing important work on cognition and evolution. Dogs are part of that and there are lots of questions about how we think that need to be studied.




Please enter our Train Your Dog Contest.



You have until midnight on Sunday, January 31st to enter. We've had some good entries and the prizes will be great. And don't forget to check out the action at Mango Minster 2010.

Practicing

We have already received several entries for my Train Your Dog Photo Contest. I know that others of you have said that you are practicing and trying to get the perfect photo to enter. Remember that entries close at midnight EST on January 31.

While Ambrose and I will not be entering, since we are judging, Ambrose has been practicing his training regularly. He is working on his attention while Barbara holds treats out to distract him. If he can do this exercise, anyone can. So I encourage you all to get to work on whatever skills you enjoy doing with you people and get those photos in. You and you person can win great prizes.



Last Saturday Barbara and I attended a great, fun workshop given by Carol Maupin and her dog Topper. They have such terrific teamwork and watching them was very inspiring. Carol taught us some heeling exercises that involved lots of playing with toys and eating treats! It was excellent fun and I learned a lot.




The people had to learn to walk in straight lines with their eyes closed!!! They were not that great at it. If they can't walk straight it is hard for them to expect us to walk in heel at their sides.





Trotter practiced precise left turns by heeling around dog crates.




I can not tell you how many hot dogs and bits of cheese I got but it was alot and I enjoyed every minute of the workshop although I was quite tired when it was over. Unfortunately Barbara forgot to give her camera to someone to take pictures of us working together. Bummer.

Here is a picture of me out in the sun today.



So practice your training and send me a photo for the contest. Don't forget to enter Mango Minster and also Biggie Z's Dog Pile Contest. I am going to see how many items that I can stack on Ambrose!

National Train Your Dog Month Photo Contest!!!

To celebrate National Train Your Dog Month and as an officially sanctioned Mangominster 2010 event, Ambrose and I are sponsoring a Train Your Dog Photo Contest!



We will be giving out prizes for the best photos of a dog blogger and their person training together.

Here are the rules:

1. Send a photo of you and your person doing training. It can be basic obedience skills, tricks, any dog sport etc or any activity you like to do together.

2. The photo should be taken between January 1 and 31, 2010. Only dog bloggers and their people are eligible. One photo per dog please.

3. The photo must be natural but if your person is shy about appearing in a blog, they can blur out or photoshop their face.

4. Training method should be positive and reward based.

5. Send it to us by midnight January 31, 2010 at pawinhand@msn.com
Make sure to put your name in the subject line and your blog address in your email. You can also write a few sentences about what you and your person are doing and why you enjoy training. You can of course put the photo on your blog and link to us.

6. We will post the photos on our blog on Monday, February 1st and Ambrose and I will judge them and post the results on Thursday, February 4

7. Winners will be the photos showing the best training and relationship between the dog and their person and the top 1-4 will get prizes (a people prize and a dog prize).


Not sure what picture to select? Here is a picture of Barbara and me practicing my leaping trick for the drill team. I love to do this trick because I get to jump high!



Of course Ambrose and I won't be entering the contest (since we will be judging) but I thought I'd give you an idea.

We hope you will all want to enter and show off your skills.

National Train Your Dog Month

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers has declared January to be NATIONAL TRAIN YOUR DOG MONTH!!!



This is a great opportunity for you and your people to learn new skills and brush up on old ones. I know that many of my dog blogging friends are already doing lots of training. The Happy Heelers herd, Ludo does tricks, Honey does freestyle, Big Pupi is a therapy dog and Mango's momma is always training him to stand in a cardboard box.

The better behaved you are the more places that you get to go with your person. Because I am well behaved I get to go to outdoor cafes. Barbara wouldn't take me if I went all cracker dog in public.



It doesn't have to be hard. You can incorporate training into all your daily activities. When you are on walks, practice your sit stays at every traffic light and stop sign. Even Ambrose has learned how to do that. Practice tricks while your people are watching TV. Every time a commercial comes on they can do a trick with you!

Learn a new dog sport with your person. As you know I like to do tracking.



I also practice my rally exercises.



Here is a video of me last year while we were learning our freestyle routine. Barbara rewards me as we practice. Sure, we made some mistakes but that just meant that we had to practice some more.





I love training. It is always fun, full of rewards and I have Barbara's undivided attention when we practice together. The funny thing is that the more that we practice, the more that I want to train. The training time with Barbara becomes its own reward (although I do love all the treats, praise and petting that I get).

Don't know how to get started? Get your people to sign you up for a training class or get help from a local trainer. APDT has a trainer search where you can find a trainer in your area to help you. Or get a group of your dog pals together and go for training walks around town. People will be impressed with how well behaved you are. Learn some new tricks. There are lots of training books and videos available.

Keep it positive in 2010. Training should be fun, fast and effective. No rough stuff. Reward based training is the best!

So get training and take some photos. Check back here because we will be announcing a training contest that will be an officially sanctioned Mango Minster event.

Happy New Year!!

I Am ONE!!!

I am one year old today and because of that I finally get to post on the blog! It is called Settertails, which is plural so the blog shouldn't just be about Niamh (and her complaining about me).

I've put a lot of pictures in my post so you can see how I've grown from a little puppy to a big dog.

Here I am at 7 weeks old with some of my littermates. I'm the one in the red collar. This is the first time that I met Barbara. She liked me right away. She said that she wanted a "mushy male" puppy.



This is the day she came to pick me up from my breeders. I was sad to leave my siblings but little did I know that I was going to have a new sister and lots of adventures.



We had a long drive from SC to my new home. I did a little exploring and then crashed on my new bed (a bed that I eventually ripped to shreds).



You can see that Niamh was not really thrilled with me at first. I wanted to be close to her since I missed my littermates. She did not think it was a great idea for me to share her bed or her toys. She had to teach me to respect her.



I had a lot to learn. Barbara exposed me to lots of people, places and new things to socialize me properly. I love to go in the woods and explore.



My first time in the snow.



Niamh decided that I could stay and I learned to play great bitey face games with her. She was very gentle with me when I was little and taught me excellent bite inhibition. I never put my teeth on human skin and I have a soft mouth.



To help me be a well socialized pup, Barbara introduced me to dogs with good social skills. Here I am with my friend Cherie.



This is me on my first track. I love tracking. The smells are great and I get good treats too.



Of course I went to puppy class. I learned to make nice new dog and people friends. We also practiced obedience skills. My recall is great. It is all positive reward based training so I really enjoy it.



Barbara took me to interesting places so I would get exposed to lots of new things. Here I am at a garden center.



Scout is my best friend. We get together frequently for walks and for bitey face and chase games.



Niamh always says that I am goofy. Well sometimes I am. But mostly I am very sweet. Barbara says so.



Since I am a Gordon Setter, I am going to have a lot of long hair which requires quite a bit of grooming. Barbara got me used to the grooming table by putting me up on it for short periods and giving me lots of treats. It is really not that bad. I don't know why Niamh makes such a big deal about it.



You can see in this picture with Scout, that I am growing up.



We played in the pool during the hot summer.



We like to get silly together. We are puppies after all.



I get to go to the dog park and meet other dogs. Barbara is very careful about who I am allowed to play with. Here I am making friends with a Boston Terrier. I do like little dogs.



Look how big I am in this photo taken last month.



I'm still a pretty goofy boy though.



It has been an exciting year. I know that Niamh complains about me a lot and she is sometimes horrified by my behavior but I am trying hard and I am just a teenager. Barbara is my special person and I am the mushy boy that she wanted. She thinks that I will make a great therapy dog when I am older. I know that I still have a lot to learn before I am grown up. I am very glad to have all of you as blogging friends.

Since this is my first birthday, I am not sure what to expect. But I understand I may get some presents and treats. I hope so!

The Weatherman Lied!

The weatherman on TV was very excited yesterday predicting all sorts of bad weather and a lot of snow. That made me excited because I love the snow and we don't get that much of it here in the Triangle of NC. We got a few flakes and then some freezing rain. Unfortunately it rained all night and there was no snow.

I looked for it all over the yard.



Ambrose did too.



Where is all the snow we were promised??



I know that our friends up north are getting a lot of it. You are welcome to send some down here to us so we can play in it and track it all over the house!

In other news, Ambrose is up to his old tricks. We had gone for quite awhile without him destroying anything. He was starting to get the hang of chewing on appropriate chew toys and leaving Barbara's stuff alone. Unfortunately the wrapping paper roll was just too much for him. She had only wrapped one present when the phone rang and she went to answer it. A huge mistake. Ambrose took the opportunity to steal the entire roll of wrapping paper!!



Several choice HBO words were said and Barbara had to go out and buy more wrapping paper!



Of course I would never do something like that. I love the cardboard rolls inside of paper towels and toilet tissue but I wait until the paper is off the roll and Barbara gives it to me. I am such a good girl.