Tinkerbell is now going straight into her crate at night of her own accord. She is whining and whimpering for less than a minute. She’s not even been with us a month yet. I’m so proud and so very grateful.
Unfortunately our restful sleep was short lived as something woke Bluebell up at 3.15pm. A combination of sleep deprivation. laziness and softness meant we allowed them both up on our bed.
Tinkerbell saw her first horse today. We were a little apprehensive but we need not have worried. Her reaction was to give him a kiss, thankfully the horse didn’t mind.
She has discovered a passion for flip flops, chewing them that is and non are safe around her. She’s already eaten one and pulled the flower off another.
Bluebell farted really loudly, it took her completely by surprised and she started barking, wondering what that noise was.
They are now both barking at the next door dog and it is deafening.
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Puppy Power
Puppy Power
Oh my goodness what have we let ourselves in for. We have agreed to look after a friends puppy whilst they are on holiday for a week. They hadn’t planned to get a puppy yet but they spoke to a breeder and someone gave back word so Pippa is now in their lives. Luckily K’s mum has offered to look after Bluebell for a few days if it gets too much for him. It’s a lot to expect of him to accept a new dog and a puppy in just a few weeks.
What am I thinking? Tinkerbell has only been with us for a matter of weeks. They were stuck and we are soft, what more can I say. We took Tinkerbell and Bluebell to meet Penny. I was petrified! She is only 14 weeks old, she is not that much bigger than the size of Bluebells head. She is gorgeous and full of fun, I think Tinkerbell is going to have a second puppyhood.
Our bedtime routine is now settling down. The routine has become we have family cuddles on the bed before getting into her own bed for the night. I am hoping that this doesn’t feed her anxieties and does build her confidence in us and helps her feel more secure.
Today we went to our first obedience class and either I showed Tinkerbell up or she showed me up. She was suddenly blind and also deaf. I’d used freshly cooked chicken as a reward which until now has been her favourite food. Today she wasn’t at all bothered about it. Thankfully things improved no end when someone donated some of their spicy sausage. She loved training though and she did start listening to me eventually. To be very fair to her and me, it was a busy course with lots of dogs and lots of new people. She was so excitable it made me wonder if she’d every done anything like that before. She was shattered afterwards and slept in the car all the way home. Bliss.
We appear to be getting the mouthing under control. She mouthed my cousin a little but we ignored her bad behaviour and rewarded the good. She hasn’t mouthed me in a while now so I guess she was just trying her luck.
The day ended with Bluebell and Tinkerbell sound asleep on the bed. It was so very cute to watch.
Oh my goodness what have we let ourselves in for. We have agreed to look after a friends puppy whilst they are on holiday for a week. They hadn’t planned to get a puppy yet but they spoke to a breeder and someone gave back word so Pippa is now in their lives. Luckily K’s mum has offered to look after Bluebell for a few days if it gets too much for him. It’s a lot to expect of him to accept a new dog and a puppy in just a few weeks.
What am I thinking? Tinkerbell has only been with us for a matter of weeks. They were stuck and we are soft, what more can I say. We took Tinkerbell and Bluebell to meet Penny. I was petrified! She is only 14 weeks old, she is not that much bigger than the size of Bluebells head. She is gorgeous and full of fun, I think Tinkerbell is going to have a second puppyhood.
Our bedtime routine is now settling down. The routine has become we have family cuddles on the bed before getting into her own bed for the night. I am hoping that this doesn’t feed her anxieties and does build her confidence in us and helps her feel more secure.
Today we went to our first obedience class and either I showed Tinkerbell up or she showed me up. She was suddenly blind and also deaf. I’d used freshly cooked chicken as a reward which until now has been her favourite food. Today she wasn’t at all bothered about it. Thankfully things improved no end when someone donated some of their spicy sausage. She loved training though and she did start listening to me eventually. To be very fair to her and me, it was a busy course with lots of dogs and lots of new people. She was so excitable it made me wonder if she’d every done anything like that before. She was shattered afterwards and slept in the car all the way home. Bliss.
We appear to be getting the mouthing under control. She mouthed my cousin a little but we ignored her bad behaviour and rewarded the good. She hasn’t mouthed me in a while now so I guess she was just trying her luck.
The day ended with Bluebell and Tinkerbell sound asleep on the bed. It was so very cute to watch.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Small successes
We are finally all in the same bedroom.
I go to bed early with Tinkerbell and she only takes about 15 minutes to settle. K then comes up at about 10.30pm which disturbs her but she is usually settled again by 11pm.
I’m just glad Tinkerbell barking doesn’t set Bluebell off, it would be like the Twilight Barking if it did.
Tinkerbell in now settled in her crate until the reasonable hour of 6.30am. I then get up, let them both out and we go back to bed for family snuggles. This is my favourite part of the day. All four of us in bed snuggled up together snoozing.
We have discovered her favourite food is chicken, sausage comes a close second. Give her a chicken and sausage Kong and she is in doggy heaven.
The mouthing is calming down, she now seems understand that it has the opposite effect to the one she wants as I ignore her and walk away.
She has been introduced to the neighbours dogs and that went well. It wasn’t planned. The dogs escaped and ended up in our garden. K brought them into our house whilst he put shoes on to take them back home.
She loves to chase things, we have a rope toy and a bouncy star which seem to be particular favourites. We are just playing in the house at the moment as we are taking our time with letting her off the lead.
I feel like the house is a tip as we haven’t cleaned properly for ages. A ‘lick and a promise’ as my mother would say, is all it’s had in weeks. Tinkerbell needs us to spend time with her, cleaning can wait until she’s settled.
I go to bed early with Tinkerbell and she only takes about 15 minutes to settle. K then comes up at about 10.30pm which disturbs her but she is usually settled again by 11pm.
I’m just glad Tinkerbell barking doesn’t set Bluebell off, it would be like the Twilight Barking if it did.
Tinkerbell in now settled in her crate until the reasonable hour of 6.30am. I then get up, let them both out and we go back to bed for family snuggles. This is my favourite part of the day. All four of us in bed snuggled up together snoozing.
We have discovered her favourite food is chicken, sausage comes a close second. Give her a chicken and sausage Kong and she is in doggy heaven.
The mouthing is calming down, she now seems understand that it has the opposite effect to the one she wants as I ignore her and walk away.
She has been introduced to the neighbours dogs and that went well. It wasn’t planned. The dogs escaped and ended up in our garden. K brought them into our house whilst he put shoes on to take them back home.
She loves to chase things, we have a rope toy and a bouncy star which seem to be particular favourites. We are just playing in the house at the moment as we are taking our time with letting her off the lead.
I feel like the house is a tip as we haven’t cleaned properly for ages. A ‘lick and a promise’ as my mother would say, is all it’s had in weeks. Tinkerbell needs us to spend time with her, cleaning can wait until she’s settled.
Small steps towards success
We are taking small steps towards success. She actually slept from 10.30pm to 4am. We have started getting to bed really early so if she does bark her head off the neighbours can’t complain.
She barked/rattled/howled and whined for 25 minutes but she barely touched her Kong. The sad cow that I am I am actually timing just how long she barks for and whether it is continuous or broken up. One of our neighbours is very nasty and complained about Bluebell barking even when he wasn’t in the house. I’m documenting everything just in case they complain.
Tinkerbell woke up at 4am. It was possibly the nasty neighbours moving around that disturbed her. They clam to be retired yet they go to work to a cleaning job at 4.30am! As it is cleaning at the golf club they consider it to be a posh job. The really weird thing is they are not unskilled, he was a builder and she was a seamstress! Not the retirement I have planned I can tell you.
Anyway I got up and let her out and then encouraged her back into her crate. She happily went into her crate then came out again with her Kong and promptly jumped on the bed with it. I let her finish the Kong on her bed on the floor outside the crate.
K and Bluebell joined us at about 6am. Did I mention we were in separate bedrooms? It’s really tough but there is no point both of us being disturbed.
All four of us snuggled on the bed together and I fell asleep again. This was a big mistake, huge in fact as I slept through my alarm! I’ve never slept through the alarm! I really must catch up with my work…next week.
This evening I decided to try some lead training in our courtyard only to be disturbed by a nosey neighbour. I was walking Tinkebell very closely to me with a tasty treat in my hand pressed against her nose. She ‘was’ doing really well.
J – ‘What you doing there then?’
Me – ‘I am trying to teach Tinkerbell to walk nicely on the lead, to do this I need her to not be distracted and concentrate only on me’
J – ‘What you doing that for then?’
Me – ‘Because she pulls like a train which makes walking her really hard but I have to have her complete attention for it to work’
J – ‘And what you doing to get her attention’
For goodness sake are some people really that stupid? By this point Tinkerbell had completely lost her focus and was busily trying to munch on her lead.
Later in the evening we had our first casualty. This is the start of a very long list called ‘so far today I have eaten’ I left her unattended for a matter of minutes and in that time she broke into my make up box and stole an eyeliner. She ‘ate’ the eyeliner on the bed. You can imagine the mess.
She barked/rattled/howled and whined for 25 minutes but she barely touched her Kong. The sad cow that I am I am actually timing just how long she barks for and whether it is continuous or broken up. One of our neighbours is very nasty and complained about Bluebell barking even when he wasn’t in the house. I’m documenting everything just in case they complain.
Tinkerbell woke up at 4am. It was possibly the nasty neighbours moving around that disturbed her. They clam to be retired yet they go to work to a cleaning job at 4.30am! As it is cleaning at the golf club they consider it to be a posh job. The really weird thing is they are not unskilled, he was a builder and she was a seamstress! Not the retirement I have planned I can tell you.
Anyway I got up and let her out and then encouraged her back into her crate. She happily went into her crate then came out again with her Kong and promptly jumped on the bed with it. I let her finish the Kong on her bed on the floor outside the crate.
K and Bluebell joined us at about 6am. Did I mention we were in separate bedrooms? It’s really tough but there is no point both of us being disturbed.
All four of us snuggled on the bed together and I fell asleep again. This was a big mistake, huge in fact as I slept through my alarm! I’ve never slept through the alarm! I really must catch up with my work…next week.
This evening I decided to try some lead training in our courtyard only to be disturbed by a nosey neighbour. I was walking Tinkebell very closely to me with a tasty treat in my hand pressed against her nose. She ‘was’ doing really well.
J – ‘What you doing there then?’
Me – ‘I am trying to teach Tinkerbell to walk nicely on the lead, to do this I need her to not be distracted and concentrate only on me’
J – ‘What you doing that for then?’
Me – ‘Because she pulls like a train which makes walking her really hard but I have to have her complete attention for it to work’
J – ‘And what you doing to get her attention’
For goodness sake are some people really that stupid? By this point Tinkerbell had completely lost her focus and was busily trying to munch on her lead.
Later in the evening we had our first casualty. This is the start of a very long list called ‘so far today I have eaten’ I left her unattended for a matter of minutes and in that time she broke into my make up box and stole an eyeliner. She ‘ate’ the eyeliner on the bed. You can imagine the mess.
Shopping
My little brain quickly put two and two together. The poor girl is a victim of her own brilliance ergo bored Tinkerbell means an unsettled Tinkerbell.
We took out a small loan and went shopping at Pets At Home. We came back with every dog distraction toy they sold plus a couple of comforter toys.
All through the day we have been giving every single treat in her crate and feeding her every single meal in there. We’ve not locked the door but closed it. She seems perfectly happy when she has something to do. Tonight she is going in her crate with a couple of her new toys and a frozen stuffed Kong.
We took out a small loan and went shopping at Pets At Home. We came back with every dog distraction toy they sold plus a couple of comforter toys.
All through the day we have been giving every single treat in her crate and feeding her every single meal in there. We’ve not locked the door but closed it. She seems perfectly happy when she has something to do. Tonight she is going in her crate with a couple of her new toys and a frozen stuffed Kong.
Crate training
This morning we tried a little structured play. I needed some time to be able to get some work done. I’m working from home a little more often to give her time to settle in. I can only imagine this type of play isn’t something she’s done before, she just didn’t get it, I had to show her what to do. Bluebell ‘used’ have a treat pyramid. It worked on the same principal as a weeble. The dog pushes the pyramid that is weighted on the bottom, pyramid leans over dispenses a treat and stands back up again. The poor deceased pyramid didn’t last 10 minutes! Tinkerbell decided it would be much more fun and much quicker to actually break the pyramid open instead. I could see exactly what she was doing but as I had to get my work done I just had to let her get on with it. I promised Bluebell a new toy to replace it.
We also need to break the mouthing habit. If she wants to play she will take my arm in her mouth or grab my clothing. She barely makes contact with my skin but I’m worried she might do it to my young nephew or my elderly Nan. I tried squealing but this completely backfired as it seemed to excite her more. The only thing I’ve found that works is turning my back on her and crossing my arms in front of my so she physically can’t reach me. Unfortunately the clever girl soon learnt that all she had to do was come round the other side of me and there I was in full eye contact. I have ended up stood in corners so she can’t get to me, I look like a character in the Blair Witch Project.
After last nights performance I am determined she'd go in her bed and stay there.
Boy what a night. I am at a loss at to what to do to make her settle. In despair I even signed into MSN for morale support. I spoke with Judith at length and we decided the best course of action would be for me to try sleeping on the floor with Tinkerbell. I was adamant that I wasn't going down the rocky road of allowing her to be naughty and get to sleep with me as a reward. No sireee.
In the end I just sat in front of her crate doing stuff, sorting the washing, writing my diary etc (what a rock n roll lifestyle I lead!) I kept bribing her to go in the crate with treats. The clever little minx would go in the crate, pick up the treat and bring it outside to eat it.
In the end I put her in there with some tasty ribs and locked the door. We managed a whole 10 minutes before she started barking and howling. It’s progress.
She was quite content until she’d finished the ribs then she started squealing like a banshee. I know this is attention seeking behaviour and I have to not give in but it’s soooo hard. She claws at the crate door and rattles it, it’s heart breaking to watch and listen to but we have to get our sleep. I hate that we have to literally lock her away but if we don’t she jumps all over us on our bed or she pesters Bluebell. He’s been a superstar so far but there is only so much he’s going to take before he tells her off.
I'm sincerely hoping this a symptom of her being ignored for so long and once she's got used to us lavishing attention on her she'll feel more confident in us and settle down.
Tomorrows another day and another challenge.
We also need to break the mouthing habit. If she wants to play she will take my arm in her mouth or grab my clothing. She barely makes contact with my skin but I’m worried she might do it to my young nephew or my elderly Nan. I tried squealing but this completely backfired as it seemed to excite her more. The only thing I’ve found that works is turning my back on her and crossing my arms in front of my so she physically can’t reach me. Unfortunately the clever girl soon learnt that all she had to do was come round the other side of me and there I was in full eye contact. I have ended up stood in corners so she can’t get to me, I look like a character in the Blair Witch Project.
After last nights performance I am determined she'd go in her bed and stay there.
Boy what a night. I am at a loss at to what to do to make her settle. In despair I even signed into MSN for morale support. I spoke with Judith at length and we decided the best course of action would be for me to try sleeping on the floor with Tinkerbell. I was adamant that I wasn't going down the rocky road of allowing her to be naughty and get to sleep with me as a reward. No sireee.
In the end I just sat in front of her crate doing stuff, sorting the washing, writing my diary etc (what a rock n roll lifestyle I lead!) I kept bribing her to go in the crate with treats. The clever little minx would go in the crate, pick up the treat and bring it outside to eat it.
In the end I put her in there with some tasty ribs and locked the door. We managed a whole 10 minutes before she started barking and howling. It’s progress.
She was quite content until she’d finished the ribs then she started squealing like a banshee. I know this is attention seeking behaviour and I have to not give in but it’s soooo hard. She claws at the crate door and rattles it, it’s heart breaking to watch and listen to but we have to get our sleep. I hate that we have to literally lock her away but if we don’t she jumps all over us on our bed or she pesters Bluebell. He’s been a superstar so far but there is only so much he’s going to take before he tells her off.
I'm sincerely hoping this a symptom of her being ignored for so long and once she's got used to us lavishing attention on her she'll feel more confident in us and settle down.
Tomorrows another day and another challenge.
Sunday, 10 August 2008
One sleepless night later
How do I begin to describe last night?
To say Tinkerbell wouldn’t settle is the understatement of the century.
We did all the right things. We made her crate a comfy nest with a brand new bed, we gave her treats in her crate, we fed her in her crate, we sent her to bed with a lovely Kong stuffed with fresh chicken, we even climbed in the crate with her for goodness sake but she was having non of it. As soon as we closed the door she screamed and howled. I was worried the neighbours would complain we were ill treating her the noise was that bad.
Next we tried plan B. We took her bed out of the crate and put it on the floor next to our bed. Still no luck.
Plan C. I got out of bed and laid on the floor with her. This isn’t something I’d normally do but the poor girl had been uprooted, travelled across the country for 10 hours and then stuck with these strange people and a strange dog. I felt she deserved a little pampering.
Still she wouldn’t settle. This farce continued with Kevin on the floor with her and then a combination Blue and Kevin, me and Kevin, me and Blue, me, Blue and Kevin, all of the above but in the spare room away from the crate etc etc
You get the picture but nothing worked.
In the end at about 4am Kevin and Blue went back to our bedroom and I allowed Tinkerbell to sleep on the spare bed with me. Again not something I would normally do but she’d worn us down so much I’d have agreed to sell my children I was so tired.
Eventually we all got some sleep but Kevin and I were determined this would be a one off.
Tomorrow we write to the neighbours and apologise in advance then we go back to basics with the crate training and she stays in there until the morning.
To say Tinkerbell wouldn’t settle is the understatement of the century.
We did all the right things. We made her crate a comfy nest with a brand new bed, we gave her treats in her crate, we fed her in her crate, we sent her to bed with a lovely Kong stuffed with fresh chicken, we even climbed in the crate with her for goodness sake but she was having non of it. As soon as we closed the door she screamed and howled. I was worried the neighbours would complain we were ill treating her the noise was that bad.
Next we tried plan B. We took her bed out of the crate and put it on the floor next to our bed. Still no luck.
Plan C. I got out of bed and laid on the floor with her. This isn’t something I’d normally do but the poor girl had been uprooted, travelled across the country for 10 hours and then stuck with these strange people and a strange dog. I felt she deserved a little pampering.
Still she wouldn’t settle. This farce continued with Kevin on the floor with her and then a combination Blue and Kevin, me and Kevin, me and Blue, me, Blue and Kevin, all of the above but in the spare room away from the crate etc etc
You get the picture but nothing worked.
In the end at about 4am Kevin and Blue went back to our bedroom and I allowed Tinkerbell to sleep on the spare bed with me. Again not something I would normally do but she’d worn us down so much I’d have agreed to sell my children I was so tired.
Eventually we all got some sleep but Kevin and I were determined this would be a one off.
Tomorrow we write to the neighbours and apologise in advance then we go back to basics with the crate training and she stays in there until the morning.
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