Puppy Training or Training Us?

 

Daisy Dog has now attended day two of puppy training! She has completed lesson two of six lessons at Petsmart, and we are coming along wonderfully.

One of us though is learning more than she ever thought she would...me!

I was pretty skeptical when my husband decided to sign us up for this, but I've learned a lot.  Luckily for Daisy, she has too!

She's still learning her name, but the cat chasing and the shoe fetish is disappearing so we're good here.

Lesson two was mostly about walking Daisy on a leash which was really needed.  Her method was either to sit and refuse to budge or the "get the hell out of my way, I'm coming" dash through the store, so we were glad to get some tips.  She was doing better by the end of the lesson! 

Our homework for this week is to practice the walking bit each day increasing the amount each day.  So the first couple of days we're supposed to practice walking down to our neighbor's mailbox without any problems and then each day a little further.

On another front, the dog crate we invested in is proving to be the best $20.00 we have spent in a long time.  We are now able to sleep at least 7 hours without waking up to any messes in the house.

She's also becoming a bit cheesy...look at that pose!  Here she is on the porch with her tongue hanging out cause it was 98 degrees!  We had been practicing her sitting commands, but she got lazy.

I can't say that I blame her....it's hot here in Texas!  

Where Are the Made in America labels?

Imagine my surprise when I went to my local grocery store and tried to buy a new doggie toy for Daisy our rescue puppy, the newest addition to our household, and came home without one.

Made in China labels were everywhere. 

I know some people think that a dog or a cat are just that...animals. But they are to me, and many people, family members. They are loved ones. They are our babies. And I for one, am not taking any chances with them. Just look at that face, would you?

That being said, I think Daisy deserves the best, but getting the best is proving a hard thing to get. All the toys said: Made in China. And I mean, all the doggie toys! I could not find one doggie toy that wasn't made in China.

Even most of the doggie treats are made in China. Now I am not totally against all things made in China, but there have been many reports of dogs that have died and gotten sick from pet treats made in China. So I was pleased to read an article about how Petsmart and the other major pet retailer are committed to stop selling Made in China pet treats.

By March of 2015, it will be a lot easier to find Made in America or Made Anywhere Else, but China labels.  Yippee for all pets out there!

Poor Daisy did not get a new toy today, but she did get some wonderful chicken-flavored chew rawhides made in Columbia.

Daisy Does School!

 

Daisy had her first day at puppy training. She was wonderful!

We adopted Daisy through San Antonio Pets Alive when they were hosted by Petsmart. A couple of times a month they set up shop in the aisles of Petsmart to find new homes for dogs and cats that have been saved from certain death at kill-shelters.

In exchange for adopting a dog or cat at one of these events, Petsmart gives you a coupon book worth over $200.00 in savings on supplies and food at Petsmart. Included was a $20.00 coupon for their 6 week Training Course.

Since adopting Daisy, she has only been about ninety percent accident free, and we've discovered she has a shoe fetish.  A training course?  Let's try it, we thought.  What could it hurt?

Daisy attended lesson one a couple of days ago. They presented us with a free bag of training treats and a clicker. We learned about using a clicker to reinforce good behavior.

Daisy seemed to understand the general concepts.  Now we have to keep practicing and reinforce what we learned in the class at home.  Apparently consistency is the trick to training.  We even left the class with homework for Daisy to work on until our next training class.

Will this help us over-come her shoe fetish? 
We'll have to wait and see! 
Wish us luck!

Remember Daisy Duke?

 

Remember the Dukes of Hazard? The TV show from the late 70's with Bo and Luke Duke and the General Lee, the orange suped-up Dodge Charger stock car? Well, I'm sure there's lots of men out there that still remember Cousin Daisy with the skimpy shorts and the legs that went on forever?

Well, meet the newest member of our family, a four-month old Lab mix, Daisy. We got her yesterday when we went to PetSmart. I swear, we only went there for cat food and cat treats. I imagine we must have looked pretty funny walking out with this dog and box of cat food and bag of cat treat.  People were probably thinking that we had no business owning a dog if we didn't even know how to feed it.

However, PetSmart was hosting a dog rescue organization named San Antonio Pets Alive. Several foster parents were there with puppies and dogs that they had rescued from kill-shelters in the area. These people rescue these abandoned or forgotten pets from being euthanized.

In some cases, they give medical attention and in most, they have to work with the animals to get them ready to receive (hopefully) a new home. Every time one of the puppies or dogs gets adopted, two animals are saved because then the foster home has a space available to rescue another animal. When we heard all this and saw the dog formerly known as "Angie," we knew we just had to have her.

The foster mom told us that "Angie" had never really bonded with her name so my husband picked the new name Daisy, even before we left PetSmart. It brought back memories. As a teen-aged girl, I had spent many a night dreaming of Bo and Luke Duke.

Isn't it funny how things in everyday life can trigger memories long forgotten and take us back to yesterday?

I've been calling her Daisy Duke ever since!

Do You Donate?

This is Champs or as I like to refer to him...Champers!  When he first showed up at our house obviously abandoned, we couldn't tell if he was a boy or a girl cat because he wouldn't let anyone near him.  He did develop a knack for showing up for meals on time though.  Then he would hide again.

As he started to get braver, he would climb on the porch for small periods of time, but before you knew it, he was gone again!

It took time and patience, but now he is much more trusting.  He's still a big fraidy-cat and loud noises tend to send him scurrying from sight.  I believe there are some bad memories hidden away that come out to plague him from time to time for he will find a dark corner to hide sometimes.

These days Champs is doing great!  This is a recently picture of him napping on the diagonal counter that separates the dining area from the living room.  It's become his favorite spot!

Cats are wonderful, loving creatures if you just give them a chance.  It's too bad that many are abandoned when they get too big or inconvenient to have around.

Every time I go to PetSmart, I make a point of donating a dollar to help the PetSmart charities when going through the checkout line.  Can you imagine how many cats and dogs could be helped if everyone donated just one dollar?