Meet Skye

Wordless Wednesday #1

2011-10-05T10:34:00.000+01:00

Brain surgery gone wrong

2011-03-29T13:58:00.002+01:00

Right, well, eeeeerm .........

So after some reconstructive surgery (by me), we've got ...

one happy monkey ...

and an even happier Skye.

The big move!

2011-03-28T13:17:00.000+01:00

Skye has emigrated! A few weeks ago we moved back to the Netherlands, because the project that Joost had been working on for his employer came to an end. We had a great time in the UK. So many good things happened there in the last two years.

It still feels a bit strange being back home. But it's also very nice being close to my family and friends again. And I've found a great agility club for Skye, so we're finally getting started with training. Which is such a good thing as Skye is soooo ready for a new challenge. I'll tell you all about it soon!

Skye, learning about all things Dutch ;)

Introducing Hidde!

2011-02-14T21:58:00.000Z

It's been a while and lots of things have happened. Most important of all, our little boy Hidde was born in October last year. So Skye has a new little friend! It's been quite a roller-coaster ride so far. Gosh, does a baby change your life! Fortunately Skye seems to be taking it all in her stride. Although she seems a bit more clingy since Hidde's arrival. Like she wants to make sure we don't forget about her. She's very sweet with Hidde though.

Who's that little fella?

He smells a bit funny ;-)

Staying close to me and Hidde.

By now Hidde is almost four months old and doing very well. He's such a sweet little boy! And growing so fast! Isn't he cute?

Let it rain!! Or maybe not ;-)

2010-08-25T20:01:00.000+01:00

Skye's birthday present finally arrived today!! I'd ordered a nice Hurtta raincoat for her (which turned out to be out of stock, so took a while to get here.) I really like Hurtta dog gear, Skye has a harness by them as well and it fits her so well.

I am not really into dressing up dogs, but I think a raincoat is really practical, especially with heavy coated dogs. When Skye was a little puppy, she had one as well and it always kept her coat nicely clean and dry in really bad weather.

Her new rain coat came just in time. About an hour after the mail man handed it over to me the sun disappeared and the sky turned grey. The weather is rather horrible here at the moment. Rain has been pouring down for hours now.

I must admit Skye isn't too keen about wearing a coat. When I put it on, she just stands still and won't move a paw, looking very sorry for herself. On the photo above she looks quite happy though, but that's because I have a nice dog treat in my hand. ;-D

Fortunately, as soon as she's outside she forgets about the coat and behaves just as she always does. And when we come home after a walk she's happier too, because drying her hair with a towel takes no time at all.

Reunion

2010-08-22T12:39:00.004+01:00

Last Thursday Skye met up with her mum, dad, sisters and Lian's other dogs at the Dogs in Need Agility Show. Skye was over the moon, getting to play with all these shelties. She turnes into a complete loonie as soon as she sees Lian and her boys and girls again.

Skye loved playing with Sipzie.

Sipzie having Skye for lunch. ;-)

Soon Saturn and Samber joined in as well.

Skye and Samber flattening Sipzie. Oops.

But don't mother and daughter look alike!!

In the mean time Seagull looked after little Sunny. Sweeties!

It was really nice finally catching up with Skye's sisters in real life. I had seen them when they were just six weeks old and after that only on pictures. But you can definitely see they're sisters, all having such sweet little faces.

Of course we took a group photo. From left to right: Sunny, Seagull, Sizzle, Saturn, Sipzie, Sing, Samber, Tiggi, Skye, Sadie and Tiggi's mum Sally. (Click on the picture to make it a bit bigger.)

After the shelties had their picture taken by Chris the photographer as well, we had a great bbq lunch with lots and lots and lots of sausages, hamburgers, steaks and lamb chops (those last ones just for the dogs ;-D), prepared by Colin and Lian.

I looooove bbqs, can I join you?

And after that some delicious birthday cake. Phew, we definitely weren't hungry at the end of the day!

Skye and Sadie with the birthday cake.

And of course we watched some agility as well. Skye seemed to like it a lot, she really followed the dogs running the course.

Thank you so much this lovely day, Lian and Colin. We had a great time!

Lian with Skye the parrot.

Camping

2010-08-21T16:38:00.004+01:00

Yes, we've been away again! This time we've been camping in North Norfolk for a few days. And as always, Skye came with us. The camp-site was near the beach, so you can easily guess where we went every day. Skye really enjoyed herself, running like crazy on the sand. We still weren't able to convince her to get into the water though. Well, only a bit, just to collect her biscuit, but then she'd run back out right away. She had a really good time though. I think she enjoyed sleeping in the tent as well, being so close to us. And the fact that in the tent our food was always pretty low to the ground was pretty interesting too.

On the beach:

'Come', the water is lovely.

Eeewww, that's quite deep enough for me!

Doggy long legs

Wet and windy!

Although Skye looks very much like her mum Samber,

she's also starting to take after her daddy Sing:

she loves chasing tennis balls!

Ready, steady ...

At the camp-site:

Relaxing at the camp-site.

That smells good, I'll have some of that!

Skye would sleep right next to me in her crate.

Pretty girl!

The weather was not great all the time,

we had a few pretty bad showers too.

Skye was looking very sorry for herself after getting soaked. ;-)

Celebration time!

2010-08-04T18:30:00.000+01:00

Our little sheltie girlie is 1 year old today!

Happy Birthday Skye!!

A bit of an update

2010-08-02T23:27:00.001+01:00

It's been a while, quite a while actually! But we are doing very well. I haven't been doing much on the blog lately, because this took all my energy:

If everything goes well, Skye will get a new friend in only a few months from now. I hope she's going to like being a big sister ;-)

Fortunately this all didn't mean that nothing has happened in Skye's life the last few months. We've done lots of fun things and Skye has seen many new places.

In March Skye and I have been to a clicker training course at 'Learning about dogs'. We stayed in the beautiful Cotswolds for a whole week, so I could learn all the basics to become a good clicker trainer. We had such a great time. And Skye earned so many treats!!! Even though the course was quite intensive, Skye did really well. She just loves to work. The trainer said Skye has a great work ethic, especially for such a young dog. She was just under eight months old at the time.

Our little training area in the Wag More Barn. Of course Skye wants

to get started immediately and doesn't have time to sit still for a photo. ;-)

Fortunately all of the training was indoors. The weather was pretty bad: we even got caught in a hail shower.

And in the evening Skye would sleep like a baby.

In June we could finally take Skye with us to the Netherlands to meet family and friends. Because of the Pet Passport Scheme here in Britain, Skye had to wait six months after her rabies blood test, before she would be allowed back in the UK. And finally these months had passed. Skye is such a great traveller. As soon as we start the car, Skye settles down in her crate and goes to sleep. She's no trouble at all, contrary to our cats who scream like crazy, even on the shortest rides... The ferry crossing from Dover to Calais went well too. We had given her a nice chew bone just before we left the car (unfortunately you have to leave your pets behind in the car). But I think she hardly touched it, she just slept a bit more!

In the Netherlands, Skye met many of our friends and family. She also met some animals she'd never seen before. And she's so curious...

... but so was the horse.

The calves were so funny, they all ran to the edge of the field to take a look at Skye.

And then there was Spike the parakeet.

In the Netherlands we also found out that Skye can swim. Not exactly the way I imagined it, but she did fine fortunately. We went for a walk in a rural area with lots of woodland and also some ditches with water covered with duckweed. You probably feel this one coming... When we crossed a little wooden bridge, Skye thought she could just as well walk next to the plank and unknowingly jumped straight into the water. You should have seen the look on her face!! Fortunately she had her little harness on, so I could get her out of the water in a matter of seconds. She looked really sorry for herself, but was her happy little self again after we cleaned her up.

Just out of the water, soaking wet.

Getting cleaned up...

... and dry again.

Only a few weeks after we returned from the Netherlands, we were going away again. This time to the French Alps. And of course Skye came with us again. We made some beautiful walks in the mountains.

After a walk, back at the chalet, Skye would always make sure she'd find the most comfy place for a nap.

When we went back to the UK, our drive through France went so smoothly, we were a few hours too early for our ferry. But that was good news actually, because now we could go to the beautiful sandy beach at Calais. Skye loved it, even though she wanted to eat all the little curly heaps of sand the sand worms leave behind. Yuk!

So, now you're all up to date again about Skye's little adventures. I'll try to not let you wait for so long again... ;-)

We're getting there...

2010-02-12T12:24:00.000Z

Skye and our cats, Poes and Raisa, aren't best friends (yet). Skye always wants to play with them, but they think she's much too boisterous. And Skye just doesn't get the message. When they start hitting her with their front paws, she thinks it's all part of the game. She even paws back at them. It's so funny to watch. And when the cats start to run, she chases after them. We really have to keep a close eye on them at times to give the cats a break.

Wanna play?

Back off!

I said: BACK OFF!

But sometimes it seems the cats like a bit of play too. Especially Raisa.

All together now!

Afterwards, it's all peace and quiet again.

Six months already!!!

2010-02-04T13:19:00.000Z

Today Skye is six months old. How time flies!
And she's growing into a beautiful little sheltie.

Only four (!!!) months ago: Skye, 8 weeks old.

And today at 6 months.

Can we play now? I'm fed up with having my picture taken. ;-)

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-06T21:54:00.004Z

It's been a bit quiet here at our blog the last few weeks. That's because we were actually rather busy. We had guests staying with us, so Skye had lots of entertaining to do. Which is easy for her: who doesn't like playing with a sheltie puppy!! She even has Santa wrapped around her little paw. He spoiled her with lots of presents. Yes, I think Skye enjoyed the festive season!

Skye chewing away on one of her gifts!

When all the festivities were over, it was time to go to school again. Last Sunday we had another puppy class at Whirlwind. There were even more puppies this time. And Skye had a really good time. Of course there was a lot of time again for the puppies to interact. And Skye keeps improving. She's playing with most of the puppies now and if she's had enough or another puppy is too rough with her she comes to me. But I can also see other puppies learning to be a bit more careful with her, because she is the smallest. It's good for both sides really.

After some recalls, sits and downs, Sue, our trainer, took us all outside and the puppies got to experience a bit of the real stuff: the agility equipment. We started with an exercise on the contacts of the A-frame. The puppies had to stand with their back feet up the contact, while we praised and rewarded them. The goal was to teach te puppies that the contact area is a really good place to be. After that the puppies went for a run through the tunnel. A helper held the puppy, while the owner stood at the other side of the tunnel. As soon as the helper put the puppy a bit into the tunnel, the owner would call the puppy and start running away from the tunnel. All the puppies did very well and zoomed through the tunnel. As it was very cold, we didn't stay outside for too long. After some more playing and a few exercises indoors, it was already time to go home again.

It's still quite cold here. And last night and today we had snow again!! Even more than we had a few weeks ago. This morning I had to take Skye to the vet's to pick up her pet passport, as she passed the rabies bloodtest!!! With all the snow I didn't fancy taking the car, so we went on foot. The route to the vet is very nice, as the practice is on the other side of the park we always go to. It was absolutely stunning outside. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow. And Skye loved it too.

But anyway... what I wanted to say:

Have a wonderful 2010!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T17:54:00.001Z

We'd like to wish you all a ...

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-24T16:47:00.001Z

Last Monday we had a lovely walk with Lian and Colin and their shelties in Epping Forest. The weather was good and the woods were still covered in lots of snow. It was absolutely beautiful. And the dogs loved it too. Skye played with (or should I say harassed) her mum a lot again. She just won't leave her alone and keeps going after her. But Samber doesn't seem to mind too much. I guess she is a bit of a loonie too.
Lian took some lovely pictures of them. (I forgot my camera ... again, aaarrggghhh!)

And one of Skye, Sizzle and Saturn.

Thanks Lian for sending me all these lovely pictures!

Afterwards we went to our home for a drink and a meal. After a few hours of walking we could surely do with some refreshments. But as we were happily chatting away, the weather started to change. First it started to rain. And then the rain turned into sleet and then into snow. It was a beautiful sight and soon everything was covered in a blanket of snow. But for Colin and Lian it wasn't good news at all. They still had to go home.

After a short walk with the dogs in the communal gardens surrounding the apartments, they set off. And what a journey it would be. It took them more than six hours to get home!! You can read all about it on Lian's blog. I felt so sorry for them. We had such a lovely day and now it had to end like this.

More snow!!

2009-12-18T18:04:00.003Z

Last night and early this morning we had some more snow. Not quite the eight inches the weatherman was warning us about, but a nice amount for Skye to play in.

Yummie! More snow!!

(Somehow she looks tiny in this picture.)

Snowy face

This afternoon we went for a walk in the park. Even though the snow was already starting to melt, it still looked absolutely beautiful. And Skye enjoyed herself so much!!

We met a lovely hound called Jack. He is such a sweet boy. He is only nine months old and played so gently with Skye. It was a joy to watch them run after each other through the snow covered grass.

Run Forrest, run!

What amazes me is how easily Skye comes back to me when she's playing with another dog. After Skye and Jack had been playing for a while, it was time to move on. I started to walk away from them slowly and only had to call her once or twice and she came straight to me.

The light is so beautiful right now, even in the middle of the day. I'm not a very good photographer, but I quite like this picture.

And one last one of my little girlie.

What's that white stuff?

2009-12-16T16:25:00.001Z

Today we had a little bit of snow!! Ok, it wasn't much, but it looked nice.

Skye didn't quite know what to do with it though.
At first she wanted to eat it ... all.

But some further investigation showed ...

... that snow is really funny stuff.

Little poser

More puppy play

2009-12-13T17:16:00.002Z

This morning we had another puppy class at Whirlwind's. There were quite a few puppies this time. Besides the ones we met the first lesson, there were two new puppies as well: a border collie (Squiffy's sister) and a lagotto romagnolo. Still no smaller breeds unfortunately, but Skye did quite well anyway. If she got knocked of her feet by a bigger dog, she usually was quick to join in the fun again. Still, some puppies were quite rough with her, so I had to protect her a bit at times, too.

After some play, we first did a few handling exercises. We held each others puppies and looked in their ears, eyes and under their tails. I quite like this part of the lesson. Although I'm not sure Skye likes it that much too. She doesn't feel comfortable when people she doesn't know, touch her all over right away. She needs a bit more time. But she didn't do too bad. We'll keep working on this.

We also let the dogs walk over a ladder which was lying on the floor. The idea was that the puppies would carefully and deliberately put their feet in the holes between the rungs. Skye did this very well. Her co-ordination is very good. Lian's early work with wobble boards, mini dog walks and such, is really paying off.

After some more play time, we did a recall and some 'sits' and 'downs'. Skye's recall was pretty good this time. Even with all the distractions that were thrown at her. Skye was held by a helper on one side of the room, while I walked all the way to the other side. The others would sit in the middle with their dogs on a lead. So Skye had to go past them, before she would reach me. I brought some cheese, especially for this exercise. Skye loved it and came running to me quite quickly.

We ended this lesson with an exercise where the puppies had to step over two bars lying on the floor. Skye sat next to me while I threw one of her favourite toys over the bars. Skye went after it, picked it up and came back to me for a game of tug. I was so proud that she did this so well. She was very distracted by the other puppies at first, but she liked her toy enough to play this game with me. Clever girl.

I took a few pictures this morning, but most of them are pretty blurry. Here are a few of the ones that weren't too bad. ;-)

A blur of puppies.

Skye and Fiona (I think her name was...)

Skye and Toby

Anto and Squiffy, both trying to reach the little piece of cheese

in the middle of the table.

On our way back home, we picked up Joost, who had been mountainbiking in Epping Forest. A very muddy Epping Forest that is. So Skye had to share the car with a very dirty bike.

Teething

2009-12-12T16:52:00.001Z

It's official: Skye's teething. I tried to save one of her tiny lower teeth when I saw that it had become very loose. But the next moment I looked in her mouth, it was gone. She had eaten it!!

Meeting up with mum and dad

2009-12-10T22:30:00.000Z

Skye's been living with us for more than two months now! So it was about time we visited her mum and dad again. And she surely hadn't forgotten them. As soon as we set foot in Lian's house, she turned into a complete loony. She seemed so happy to see everybody again. She zoomed through the rooms, trying to play with everybody all at once. But she was especially keen on playing with her mum.
We had a very nice walk on Mitcham's common. That's where I took the pictures below.

Playing with mum ...

... with daddy on the watch out.

When we came back, we dressed Skye up in Samber's Christmas costume, which she liked very much of course ... not!! But we had a great day anyway!

Puppy playtime

2009-12-07T15:58:00.000Z

Yesterday we had our second puppy class at Whirlwind Agility. There were only three puppies this time. But that was actually quite a good thing. Now, Skye got the chance to play with the other two (bigger and heavier) puppies in a more controlled way. At first Skye tried to hide behind my legs, but after a while she became more confident and really started to enjoy herself.

Even if Squiffy wanted to sit on her ... again ;-)

Toby made himself a bit smaller for Skye. What a sweetie.

Having a good time!

Squiffy's mischievous little face!

Of course we did a few other things as well. We practised some 'sits' and 'downs' and our trainer Sue explained to us how we could teach our dogs to stay in these positions for a while. We also picked up each other's dogs, carefully looked in their ears and mouth and checked their feet. Both the boys didn't really mind. They were very good. Skye was a bit more reluctant, I think. So we need to practise a bit more on that. Handling the other pups was quite a nice experience. They felt so different compared to Skye. They both are a lot chunkier than her and quite a bit heavier too.

I think these classes are very good for Skye. It's nice to see her develop into a confident little girl. Can't wait to go again next week!
All the photos in this post were made by Sue White.

Christmas time in London

2009-12-05T18:06:00.001Z

Today we went to one of London's many Christmas markets. We chose the one in Hyde Park, so we could take Skye with us as well. Even though it's quite a long journey on the tube for us, Skye didn't mind at all. She just dozed off on my lap. The Christmas market was a bit different from what we expected. They didn't sell many things for Christmas, it was more like a fun fair with lots of food and drink stands. But we had a good time anyway. And Skye got a lot of attention of course. Everywhere we go, people always want to say hello to her. Maybe I should start charging a pound from everyone who wants to pet her or take a picture of her. We'd be rich. Haha.

Later on, we went for a stroll through Hyde park, Green park, past Buckingham Palace to St James park, all the way to Trafalgar Square. And Skye of course wanted to go after every bird and squirrel in sight. She is very intrigued by birds. It was very funny to watch her near the Serpentine in Hyde Park. The birds there aren't very afraid of people (and dogs!), so she could take a good look at them.

On the steps of a statue in front of Buckingham Palace (OK, you

can't see the statue nor the palace, but I think she looks very

pretty in this picture.)

On Trafalgar Square the big Christmas tree was already up. Even though it wasn't dark yet, it looked really nice. We tried to make a picture of Skye between the paws of one of the big Lions surrounding Nelsons's Obelisk. But she wasn't too keen...

Can anyone get me off please?

We decided to go back home early, before the tube is completely overcrowded. This time of the year, when everybody seems to be shopping for Christmas, it can be so incredibly busy in the tube. I didn't want Skye to go through that. When we got on, a nice lady immediately offered me a place to sit down with Skye. I guess the dog-eat-dog mentality, the papers keep writing about, hasn't infected everybody quite yet.

Agility puppy class

2009-11-30T18:04:00.002Z

Yesterday morning I took Skye to a puppy party at Whirlwind Agility. It was completely different from what we did at the 'regular' puppy course the last five weeks. It was much more focused on experiencing all kinds of different things and less about basic obedience. Our group consisted of five pups: two border collies, two border collie crosses and Skye. And even though Skye was the eldest puppy, she was the smallest one as well. So when the puppies played together she often got kind of run over by the others. Fortunately, she wasn't too impressed by all this. Still, I think it is a bit of a shame that she is the only small dog in this group. I had to watch her carefully when she was playing with the other puppies, while on the other hand not protecting her too much.

Besides playing together, the puppies also got to meet the horses in a paddock nearby. They watched them from our arms. Skye didn't like the horses too much. But she wasn't overly scared either. I was quite happy with her reaction. She still liked to eat the chicken I offered her, so she wasn't too stressed. We also went to another field where older dogs were being trained. The pups watched the dogs jump over some obstacles as they walked on the sandy ground of the training field. Skye really liked this.

After some more playing, the puppies had to step over some poles that were lying on the floor. This exercise was done to make them more aware of their hind legs. This was quite easy for Skye, as she had done things like this last week at Hannah's workshop. All in all, we had a really good time and the lesson was over before we knew it.

And of course Skye slept like a baby afterwards.

Crows, squirrels and sticks

2009-11-27T17:24:00.000Z

When I take Skye out for a walk she loves chasing crows and squirrels. She doesn't get anywhere near them, but that doesn't matter to her. It's very funny to watch.

When going after squirrels, at first she didn't understand that they go into trees. They usually do so on the backside of the tree, so you don't actually see them do it. The first time this happened, Skye was so confused. All of a sudden the squirrel was gone! And no matter where she looked (well, except for up of course), she couldn't find it. She gave me a look like: do you know what just happened here?

Skye also loves sticks. I think she's about to start teething. She just has to have something in her mouth to chew on.

Uh-oh

2009-11-26T22:15:00.000Z

Last Saturday I talked with Lian about how great Skye's ears were looking, the tips falling forward nicely. Well, I shouldn't have done that. The next day her left ear went up. As it didn't go down again after a few days (like her right ear did a few weeks ago), we decided to get the kaolin poultice out.

Before ...

After!

Co-ordination and Balance

2009-11-22T16:22:00.001Z

Yesterday afternoon Skye and I went to Hannah Banks' workshop: Foundations of Co-ordination & Balance for Agility Dogs. We had such a good time! Even though at first I wasn't sure we would. Skye was quite shy when we entered the hall where the workshop was going to take place. There were lots of new dogs to meet and strange noises to get used to. She wasn't too keen about the first exercises we did either. But fortunately, after a while, she started to enjoy herself. Very much actually!

We did all kinds of exercises to make the dogs more aware of their hind legs and to strenghten their muscles in that part of their bodies. It was very nice to see the dogs doing the exercises that Hannah had set up for us. All the dogs did very well. And even though Skye is still quite small, she didn't have any trouble doing what was asked from her. Here are some pictures of a few of the things we did.

She loved the wobble boards. This is the square one.

There was a round wobble board too, which was very wobbly indeed!

She just couldn't get enough of that one and even did 'sits' and 'downs' on it.

'Stepping' over the little jumps.

After some initial hesitation, Skye loved going up and down the ramp:

such an easy way to earn some chicken!

The wobble cushion.

And last but not least: walking against a ball.

At first I thought Skye might be a bit small for this exercise,

but she was more than happy to do it.

During the workshop Lian and Colin, Skye's breeders, stopped by to see how Skye is doing. It was so nice to see them again. And Skye certainly hadn't forgotten them. She just loved playing with Lian.

Cry baby

2009-11-09T17:33:00.000Z

I don't know what was wrong with Skye last Saturday. During puppy class she just wouldn't stop crying and whining. She wanted to go either to Joost or to the golden retriever puppy next to us. But I wasn't very interesting, that's for sure! Even my homemade tuna flapjack couldn't convince her otherwise. (Or maybe that was the problem, hahaha). Our trainer said I shouldn't worry about it too much, it just happens sometimes. But it was a bit frustrating, I must admit. After about twenty minutes, she fortunately changed her mind and we could do some exercises. The 'settle down' exercise and the recall went quite well and walking on a loose leash is going better all the time too. So over all I am very happy with her progress.

And who could get angry at those sweet brown eyes?

Mole

2009-11-04T19:15:00.002Z

When I came home this afternoon, I found a package on the doormat. A few weeks ago, I renewed my Dogs Today subscription and as a gift we received a toy mole! And Skye absolutely loooooooves it. But it had to be killed first, of course!!

Doggy shopping

2009-11-04T19:09:00.001Z

Over the last few weeks I have gradually been getting Skye used to being alone for a while. I've taken it slow, and today I reached the two hour milestone. So far Skye has been doing very well. Only the first few times, when I left her for only a few minutes, she would cry sometimes. But now she seems to be alright.

As I only have a bicycle at my disposal (Joost takes the car with him to work), I try to think of little errands I can do every day. But I must say, after a few days I don't need any more veggies, pasta or other groceries. So today I did something different. I went to a real doggy boutique which I spotted a while ago. And of course I couldn't come home empty handed. So I went for a nice flavoured chew bone. Being a boutique, they put it in a posh little bag. Haha!

Skye and the city

2009-10-31T20:43:00.006Z

This afternoon the weather much improved, so we decided to go to the city with Skye. So far I had only taken her in the overground part of the underground. This time I wanted to go a bit further. We took the tube to St. Paul's, the station near St. Paul's Cathedral. From there we walked over the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern. We took quite a few pictures, I thought I'd show some of them here.

Skye at Woodford station.

We got out at St. Paul's.

'Sit' in front of Tate Modern.

Pretty girl.

Skye and me on the Millennium Bridge.

The tube is becoming a bit boring by now.

Even the guy next to us is yawning.

More puppy class

2009-10-31T17:20:00.001Z

This morning we had puppy training again. There were only three puppies this time. I think the others (well, probably their owners) thought it was going to rain again. But fortunately it didn't and we had a really good time. Skye did very well. Although I had to use a lot of rewards to keep her focussed on me. The wet grass did distract her easily again. But her recall went very well. When Skye and another dog were released at the same time, she came to me right away. Even when the Akita wanted to check out my treats first. Skye thought she was a bit big and just waited nearby until she could come to get her reward. Good girl!!
Walking on a loose leash went pretty well too. We worked quite hard on that this week, so it was good to see that she was willing to show it off in class as well. After walking mainly in straight lines, back and forth, we did some (tight) bends too. This proved to be a bit harder. But with a bit of practise we'll hopefully master that soon too.

When we came home, Skye went to sleep straight away.

Sunny October afternoon

2009-10-26T17:22:00.001Z

We had such a lovely walk in the park this afternoon. And I even managed to remember to bring my photo camera!! So here are a few of the pictures I took. It's kind of a miracle Skye is on any of them at all. She is so quick. Many of the photos I took only have a tail, a blur or no dog at all on them!!

I especially like this last picture. Clever little girl.

Busy week

2009-10-26T12:33:00.002Z

Early last week we had some friends staying over at our house. As we're living in the UK and most of our family and friends live in the Netherlands, this is something that happens quite often. So it was a nice opportunity to get Skye used to the hustle and bustle of having people over. We had a really good time and Skye just loved all the attention. She wasn't bothered by it at all.

Skye after a busy day.

Friday I've taken Skye on the bus and the tube to Loughton, so we could meet Joost at work and drive back with him by car. Skye had never travelled on a bus before and wasn't too sure about the whole thing at first. The ride was a bit shaky and there were quite a few people inside. But as soon as we found a place to sit down, she was fine again and had a good look around. And of course she got a lot of attention of the other passengers. Which is ok, although I must admit that I do get a bit tired of the baby voices telling her how cute she is. Even the trainer at puppy class talks differently to her than he does to the other pups.

Travelling on the tube went better this time. She didn't shake too much and as soon as the clicker and chicken came out, she was completely back to her own busy self. I'm so pleased with that. However, so far we have only travelled above ground. This week, I would like to take Skye to the city for a walk along the Thames. Let's see what she thinks of that.

Saturday, Skye had her second puppy class. Unfortunately it was raining a bit. But she didn't mind. She really enjoyed seeing the other dogs again. Most of the exercises went pretty well. Except for one of the recalls. Her nose was just glued to the grass. I think the rain brought out lots of lovely smells. Although in the end I could fortunately get her attention again (with the help of many chicken treats). For this week we got lots of homework again. Sit-stays with distractions, recall in and outside the house, handling exercises. We'll be busy again.

No more pictures!!

Puppy class

2009-10-17T19:49:00.001+01:00

This morning we had our first puppy class. Skye got really excited when she saw the other dogs on the field, although she found the bouncy golden retriever puppy a bit overwhelming. Still, the training went really well. Our trainer, Steve, explained very clearly what he wanted us to do and how to use clicker training to tackle all kinds of training challenges. We worked on introducing the clicker, getting your dog's attention, walking on the lead without pulling and holding your dogs collar for a few seconds. Skye did pretty well, even though she was quite easily distracted at times. Especially by the westie puppy right next to us. She would really like to play with him.

After the training we drove back home and Skye immediately fell asleep in her crate. And at home she did some more sleeping, which gave me some time to read the hand-outs we were given. There is lots to do for the next lesson!

This afternoon we practised a few of the things we had learned. Skye worked quite well here at home, without all the distractions of the training field. And it was a good opportunity to have her eat her meals. Skye is a bit of a fussy eater, but with the clicker her bowl was empty in no time!!

(As I am typing this, Skye woke up and weed on the newspaper instead of outside. Aaargh, I was too late again!! I just have to watch her so well.)

Socialization

2009-10-14T10:41:00.001+01:00

The last week we have been taking Skye out to all kinds of different environments. Besides her regular walks, we've been to busy roads, a big pet store, Epping Forest and to our local High Street. Skye has taken it all in her stride. She is very relaxed around busy roads and wags her tail when strangers want to meet her. And we have seen quite a few: young, old, black, white, Asian, male, female, a man on crutches, mums with prams, people on bicycles. (Of course I forgot to bring my camera, so I'll just add a few other photos of Skye.)

The only thing she didn't seem to like, was the screeching sound of the brakes of a double-decker bus, stopping right besides us. (I must say I hate that sound myself too.) But it turned out to be quite a funny experience. The chauffeur openend the doors of the bus and asked us all kinds of things about Skye. We took the opportunity to take Skye into the bus and let her snif around. The chauffeur was completely taken by her, in the mean time causing a bit of a traffic jam outside.

Today, I want to take Skye for a little ride on the Tube. I hope she won't be too intimidated by all the noise it makes. We live near the Central Line, which is pretty old and noisy. Hopefully she'll get used to it soon. It would be nice if we were able to take her to Hyde Park sometimes. Next Saturday Skye will go to her first puppy class. They use clicker training and are very focussed on making the lessons a fun experience for both the dogs and the owners. I am really looking forward to it.

Busy bee

2009-10-06T20:32:00.000+01:00

Skye really loves to play. As soon as we get up in the morning she jumps and dances around me. So funny. She loves to tug and run through the mini tunnel we bought at Ikea. We have also started with clicker training. She seems to get the idea already and does some nice 'sits' and 'comes' (aka puppy, puppy, puppy). Sue Ailsby's website has been very helpful. I am new to clicker training a dog and in the descriptions of her training levels she gives some great tips to get started.

The cats are slowly getting used to Skye as well. Both Poes and Raisa are walking around the living room again, although very cautiously. And sometimes the puppy and the cats sniff each other carefully. But Skye often gets a bit too playful with them, which makes them quickly back off or hiss at her. Still, I must say I am quite happy with how everything is going so far.

She's here!

2009-10-04T10:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday morning we drove to South London, where Skye's breeder Lian lives. It is only about 20 miles from where we live in North London, but as the city lies in the middle, it takes quite a while to get there. London's streets never seem to get quiet.

We had a lovely afternoon at Lian's. And after a delicious bbq meal (!!), it was time to take Skye home with us. Our trip back went very well. Skye just went to sleep in her bed and was very calm. When we arrived home, we first locked both our cats in the kitchen with a nice bowl of food, so Skye could check out our living room and the puppypen with all her things. She immediately weed on the newspaper we laid down for her there. She is such a clever girl. However, she also thought Joost's mountainbike magazine would make a good toilet. Oops. We had a good laugh about that.

Later, we let the cats out of the kitchen, one by one. They were not too enthusiastic about Skye. And Skye wasn't too keen at first either. She softly barked and growled a bit at the cats. But I think that was just insecurity, she hadn't really met a cat before. When she sat on our laps and looked at them, she was all right. One of the cats hasn't come into the living room yet, the other one is more curious. It will take a while, but I think they will get used to each other soon.

The first night went very well too. Skye immediately settled in her bed in the crate. She fell straight asleep and was really quiet. At about four o'clock she woke me up and I took her to the newspapers. She did a little wee and went straight to sleep again after we went back to the bedroom. This morning she woke up at a quarter to seven!! We are so proud of her.

Only one day to go ...

2009-10-02T12:31:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow we are going to pick up Skye!! I just can't wait. I've wanted to own a dog for more than twenty years! However, because of all kinds of commitments I've never been able to do so. But now the moment is finally there, and I am going to enjoy it!! Skye is such a lovely little character. Very confident, outgoing and cheeky. Her breeder, Lian, has done such a wonderful job in raising her and her sisters. I feel so lucky. We couldn't have asked for a better puppy.

The last few weeks, we've been preparing ourselves for Skye's arrival. We bought all kinds of things for her and made a lovely little puppy corner in our living room. Our garden is now puppyproof as well. Although I still had to close the last little gap in our fencing this morning. We bought about 25 metres of garden mesh last week. We thought that should do the job. But of course it didn't, we needed about 80 cms (!!) more. Fortunately the DIY-shop is not too far from our home.