Clocks, snow, and walking to heel

Clocks going back

It is now the 5th morning since the clocks went back and I am yet to be successful in my bid to persuade Inko that she needs to stay in her crate a bit longer in the morning because her body clock is still clearly on British Summer Time? Unfortunately my body clock has now adjusted to the new time so each day the pre-6am starts feel earlier so I feel it's more of a strain getting up (on Sunday and Monday it wasn't too bad as it still felt like BST to me too!). As I still hadn't fully adjusted to getting up some time between 6 and 6.45, this is even more painful!! Although it does give me plenty of time to write this update before I even need to think about getting ready for work!

"I like snow!"

On Tuesday evening we got snow!! Inko seemed to quite like it, trying to eat lumps of it off the ground (she must have thought it was great - liking having one big ice cube to play with!!). Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a decent photo of her outside as it was coming down because I only had my phone camera with me and despite it being a reasonably good camera for one on a phone it was just too dark to get a good pic without a decent camera. I did, however get this picture of her looking like she had rather a bad case of dandruff when we finally got her in!!




On Wednesday morning much of the snow was still on the ground but it had turned rather icy over night so Inko had the very strange experience of the ground crunching under her feet so it was quite slow walk around initially until she got used to it...she quickly discovered that this weird new crunchy stuff also tasted like ice cube so had fun eating some more!! She was rather confused when she wandered over to the lid of her sand pit to have her usual drink out of the swirly grooves in the top which collect rain water (which she likes to use as a nice outdoor drink bowl!) to find that the grooves has disappeared and had been replaced by more cold stuff - rather like a long swirly ice cube!! So she had a lick!

Training update

I was very pleased with Inko's 'stays' last night at training class even with all the distractions of the other dogs who, despite her reluctance to interact with them in the first couple of weeks, are now great fun to play with she thinks!

Our main issue now is walking to heel, or even just consistent loose lease walking - we need to be much better at investing more time in this than we have...we've been too lazy and not always doing as instructed, such as changing direction or stopping every time she pulls. She's quickly learning to walk how she wants, not how we want! We need to get this right, or at least vastly improved on what we've got now if we are going to get the KC puppy foundation certificate at the end of the training class. It would be such a shame not to get this when her other stuff is coming along so well.

I have found that on some walks having a small amount of food in my left hand while walking along helps keep her pretty close to me as long as I am regularly giving her the treats along the way so that she doesn't feel like she's just being teased. I find that when I have done that for bit she will walk with just my left had down at my side without a treat for a little while too so I need to make sure we do more of that, as this seems to show that she is starting to work out that my hand at the side and walking near it is a good thing. Other times she pulls either to the front or occasionally to the back, or weaves in front of me or behind me, nearly tripping me up on occasions. And then other times, when she's really not up for doing as she's told she just won't walk without jumping, barking and chewing at my ankles. I've tried pulling her away with the lead but this is tricky if I want her walking on my left and have the lead in my right so that I can have the treat in my left hand! All very confusing!

I'm wondering whether she is doing this is she needs to go to the loo when she's out. She's really reluctant to poo or wee when out on a walk around the roads. She'll do both fine when off lead (or on lead for that matter) when out in a field or woods as grass is definitely her preferred place to go. I've started taking her out for a short walk up the road as soon as I get her out of her crate so that I know it's a time she'll be desperate to go. I've managed to get her to do a wee on the pavement (well actually in the gutter each time so far - she just steps off the kerb to wee!) but still haven't manage to get her to do a poo. It's after the wee that she actually starts her jumping and nipping. I always take her into the garden when we get back and she usually then does her poo, which does suggest to me that maybe that's a big issue here. Just don't know how to make her do it outside. It's hard to just stand around to allow time for her to give in and just do it on the pavement when she's yapping and barking because I'm not sure it'll endear me to the neighbours having her do that at 5.30am!!!

Paula

New fave snoozing spot

Inko has discovered that a very comfy place to snooze is on top of the cushions of the sofa!

You will have to forgive the utter un-tidiness of our lounge which is revealed in this shot below, but as you can see, she's happy to be sat up on top of the cushions on either sofa!!

Both Inks and I spent quite a bit of time curled up on here this afternoon having a nap after a great walk this morning with some friends, two sprocker spaniels and a labrador! She had sooo much fun running round with the other dogs - she can definitely hold her own with the bigger dogs now - no fear whatsoever!! She had a great time running, or should I say bouncing, though some tall ferns - you could just see this ball of black, white and tan fluff jumping up out of the ferns ever now and then!!

It was somewhat damp this on the walk this morning so I came back with a punk, spiky lappy puppy!! Soon sorted that out with Inko's first experience of the hairdryer!! She was a bit wary at first but soon seemed to get used to it and actually quite enjoyed it on her back (though was less keen when I tried to dry the front of her chest - don't think she liked it blowing in her face!) - soon had a nice dry and fluffy lappy again!!

Sorry...have been very lazy with updates!!

Inko is thoroughly enjoying getting her daily walks now she's had both her jabs. She's been out and about on and off lead and is doing really well with both. She met a Newfoundland the other day but, despite him really wanting to play, she was a bit wary. However she had a great time playing with our friend's sprocker spaniel and our other friend's labrador. She also had an absolutely fantastic time on the lappy walk - it was so hard to keep hold of her to stop her walking - I reckon she'd have kept going for hours if I let her!

She's also still enjoying her training...although 'stay' has definitely been the hardest command so far!! She managed it a few times in the class but something that involves staying still was never going to be Little Miss Inko's best training performance!! Having said that she actually did some VERY good stays this evening...possibly aided by the lack of distractions here at home! So there's hope yet!

Here's a few new photos of the hooligan!

"Yes, this is still my favourite bush in the garden!!"

Inko caught mid-woof!!

"Ok, I'm sitting...can I have the bit of chicken now?

Inko - where's your body gone?!

Cows and helicoptors

We took Inko for a walk down by the Blackwater river a couple of evenings ago. It was a chance to do our first bit of off lead practice as it's a really nice big expanse of meadow (it is a flood plain for the river so a nice big space). We weren't brave enough to have her fully off lead the first time so clipped a 5 metre lead onto her collar and let it trail on the ground while she was wandering around so we could easily step on the end if we had to go after her.

In part of the meadow we had to pop her on the shorter lead again as one section is used as grazing for a few cows! Inko spotted them from a way back and stood staring at them woofing quietly half under her breath - not sure she was quite sure what to make of them!! When we walked past them she was really good and apart from a small amount of tugging on the lead at one point she was very good. Unfortunately, having cows, also meant there was cow poo everywhere and, like all lappys who have gone before her, Inko seemed to think this was quite the delicacy and we spent quite a bit of time pulling her away from the piles so she didn't eat them!!

As we were walking back towards the car we noticed up on the road ahead that it looked like rather a nasty accident had taken place. There were lots of cars stopped and several police cars and an ambulance. The next thing we knew, an air ambulance was landing in the field that we were just walking out of. We thought that this might startle Inko a bit as it was very noisy and there was lots of dust being blown about but she didn't seem even the littlest bit phased by it, which was good, and she just continued pottering around on her lead sniffing interesting things on the floor. Unfortunately we very sadly found out on the local news later that the air ambulance hadn't been able to help - a man on his motorbike had been killed when he rode into the back of a car :(

We are very much looking forward to the lappy walk up near Bath tomorrow morning - it will be great for us, and Inko, to catch up with loads of lappys, especially as it's going to be somewhat of a litter reunion!!

Inko has been having a good week so far.

She's putting on weight really well which is good - weighed her yesterday and she'd gone up from 4.8kg last Thursday to 6.4kg!! No wonder she's feeling so much heavier when we pick her up!!

She's also been getting good at having longer and longer on her own which is such a relief for when we are both back at work in a week and half so that I know she'll be happy after we leave her until I get back at lunch to see her.

Adam has been doing lots of training with her whilst he's been off work the last few days - practising 'watch', 'sit', 'down', 'stand', 'paw' and 'come' and she's doing really well with these...although 'come' could still do with some improvement as it falls on somewhat deaf ears if there is anything even marginally interesting around!! LOL!! We had a chance to show off her progress at training this evening - she did all perfectly!! The new things we learnt at training this evening were some of the basics around walking to heel. She did really well, even with the distraction of the other puppies (who she took much more interest in this week than last week which was really good to see considering her slight hesitance last week).

She's also been good with letting us brush her, check her teeth, handle her ears, face and feet, and she has also started having her teeth cleaned every few days. We are using a small child's toothbrush and poultry flavoured dog toothpaste. She seems to enjoy it. I don't know if I'm doing it right or not but I'm kind of just rubbing it around a bit while she has a bit of a chew!! Reckon it's doing the job reasonably ok! Managed to get a quick video of a toothbrushing session!

Puppy Parties & Re-unions

In a bid to try and keep up the all important socialisation we decided to go to a puppy party organised by the people who run the training we go to. So on Sunday morning we headed to the village hall hoping that Inko would relish the chance to play with other puppies.

The guys that ran the party were really good and didn't just let the pups run around like hooligans, we did alot of introductions on leads and they talked to us about the responsibilities we have as dog owners, not only to look after our little bundles of joy, but also to ensure they are properly socialised.

There were six pups in total; A 22-month St Bernard (Benny), who towered above all the others, but still had an awful lot more growing to do! A beautiful 14 week old West Highland Terrier (Flora), a complete nutter of a 16 week old Cocker Spaniel (Chester), an incredibly tiny, but amazingly confident Pug cross (Wellington), the trainer's Czechoslovakian Wolf Dog (Maya) and our little Inko.

Inko wasn't scared of any of them, which is good, but she also wasn't really interested in playing. She was more than happy exploring the hall on her own, sqeezing through tiny gaps between chairs as she likes to do! By the end of the session she had decided that now was the time to play and proceeded to introduce everyone there to the Lapphund's unique bark!! She spent the last 5 minutes barking at the others asking to be chased...maybe next time she might decide to play a little earlier.

At lunchtime we had Paula's sister Michelle over and she bought her boyfriend's 9 year old daughter Rhianna with her, Inko loved having her here and she was definately a big hit with Rhianna.

Later in the afternoon we went over to visit Liz, her family and her TabanyaRuu lappies and Zinty of course...not only did Inko get to meet Liz's Tuuka, Sisko, Smuu & Zinty, but Jennifer and Jay came over as they were visiting family and bought Inko's sister Maija with them. It was really great to see Jennifer and Jay, they live down in Devon, so we don't get to see them as much as we'd like.

It really was a houseful as Liz had a couple over who are beginning their search for their own Lappy, all I can say is good luck Rachel and partner (sorry, I forgot your name) they are definitely worth the wait!

Inko & Maija had the best time playing in Liz's garden, we really don't know how they kept going so long...

All in all it was a lovely afternoon spent in the sunshine, relaxing and chatting, it was also great to meet Liz's daughter Rell, if you haven't heard her sing, you really should!

Adam

Where's the off switch?!

Wow...Inko had a lot of energy yesterday afternoon and evening!!


She has often had the normal puppy crazy half hours where she runs round like mad, but yesterday this lasted all afternoon and all evening, with maybe only a total of an hours peace in several hours of craziness!! We tried tiring her out with some training, playing with toys, and puppy ping pong, but none of it worked so we just had to keep a real eye on her as she was into everything!! We had visitors over last night to meet her and they were introduced to her full level of energy with her pouncing, running, woofing and chewing!! Luckily they still seemed to like her LOL!!


We thought she'd never settle in her crate last night, but actually she was very good and was very quiet and then when I woke at 6.30 this morning she still wasn't making a sound...I think she had completely tired herself out!!


She has been much calmer today! I went out and left her in her secure area for nearly three hours this morning while I did some shopping and she was completely settled in there when I came back, which is great.


Because she has been chewing so much I bought her a new spiky chew toy and a new bone to chew on while I was out shopping, which she seems to like. Guess she might be starting to teeth (? not sure what time this happens really). I also bought a football shaped cushion for her to play with! It's nearly as tall as she is but she has been having great fun dragging it round and shaking it!! Hopefully she'll be able to use up some of her excess energy on all her new toys, rather than on furniture and visitors LOL!! It seems to have worked so far as she is currently curled up quietly at my feet!

The vets

Inko has just had her second jabs at the vets and was also micro-chipped. She squawked a bit when the huge micro-chip needle went in but soon seemed to forget about it! She has put on a reasonable amount of weight this week. She was 3.86kg last Monday and was 4.73kg today - can definitely feel it when picking her up!!

They said that it was time to worm her and I asked what worming tablets they were going to give me and I was pretty sure they were the ones that lappys can't have (milbemax). So I text Jennifer to check and she let me know the correct ones so I explained the potential issues to the vets and he gave me Drontal instead.

At the vets I bought a dog toothbrush and toothpaste. I have tried rubbing my fingers on her teeth when she is sleepy and she seems to have been ok with that so far (most of the time!) so will now have to see how she reacts to toothpaste too!!

Saying hello to people and puppies

Yesterday afternoon Inko and I had our visit over to Reading University. The friend I was meeting up with completely fell in love with her and Inko was really good sitting in her office while we had a catch up. I had been a bit worried that she have an accident on the floor so went armed with cleaning products but she was really good. I took some of her toys with me and she sat on the floor playing with them. My friend also gave her a small penguin toy that had been sat in one of her filing cabinets for ages - Inko loved this!

Playing with the Penguin back at home - "I like my new penguin!"

When it looked like Inko needed a wee I took her downstairs and then we wandered around the department so she could meet lots of new people. She met several lecturers and support staff and also several students who were wandering around. She also met a lady with a toddler and a baby in a pushchair and very gently said hello to them. I was walking her around on her lead to continue getting her used to it and she was doing really well on it.

Then yesterday evening Inko, Adam and I went to our first puppy training class. She was the youngest one there but definitely not the smallest - that prize has to go to a teeny tiny 14 week old cavalier king charles spaniel, closely followed by a very small black and tan terrier of some sort! On the other extreme there was also a 5 month old german shepherd who was huge (with a very big woof!)!! We covered 'watch' (getting her to look up at our face when we say the word and gesture upwards), 'sit', 'down' and 'stand'. Most of the time she did all of these fine, although she was definitely tiring towards the end of the course. Next week may be tougher as it is going to be some heel work - not her strength at the moment, but something we really want to work on as we don't want to have a dog that is dragging us down the road.

Inko did not seem overly keen to go over to see the other dogs, but she didn't seem particularly nervous - she was just lying down by our feet. It was almost as if she just wasn't really interested. We are really hoping that it is not that she is nervous of other dogs. As we were finishing up at the end she wandered nearer a couple of the dogs and had a bit of a sniff. Hopefully the puppy party we're going to on Sunday will help increase her liking of other dogs, and we'll also probably have another visit over to see our friends with Sammy, the sprocker spaniel this weekend to see if they will have a play this time. We really want a dog who is happy and comfortable around other dogs so if anyone can give any tips on what else we could try that'd be great - thanks.

This morning Inko is going to the vets for her second injection and to be micro chipped. I'll be interested to see what she weighs now as she definitely feels bigger and heavier and she's been eating well. Not sure she's going to be fitting under the sofa much longer - she'll be gutted because she loves sleeping under there at the moment! Will report back on the weigh in later!

Inko in one of her angellic moments...normally followed by running round chewing things she shouldn't be chewing! LOL

One of the things that Inko has started doing, which I know she shouldn't be doing, is climbing. When we first got her she thought she loved crawling along on her belly under small spaces and squeezing through small gaps - she would choose a tight gap over the normal route any time. She still likes this but as there seem to be slightly fewer places she can fit now, she has now taken to trying to climb on things too. This morning I turned my back for a second and when I turned back she had climbed on top of a filing box we have behind one of our sofas and her paws and head were suddenly peeping up over the top of the sofa where she was standing up on the box on her back legs!! As she discovers each of these things to climb on I'm trying to move them so that she can't get on them (our upstairs is going to get very full of things as that is one place she isn't allowed and can't get too because of a stair gate - although that doesn't stop her trying!!).

Two things that we can't move are the sofas, and she has started running at them at full speed and trying to jump on them - she can launch herself with quite a bit of force. She can't get up yet but I'm very aware of the fact that the jumping can't be good for her legs. I guess maybe this may be our fault as we do allow her up on the sofa but we have deliberately only been lifting her up to join us when she is sitting calmly in front of us, and not jumping up...but maybe she doesn't understand this distinction. We have consistently been using the word 'off', pushing her down, and then trying to distract her with one of her toys if she is jumping up (I think our neighbours must be sick of hearing this is they can hear it through the walls!! LOL) but I think this command is going to take quite a while to learn - she's definitely not got it yet - or maybe she understands and chooses not to follow it LOL!! We will keep persisting but any tips gratefully received in the meantime!!

Digging sand

Got my delivery of play sand this morning and the weird, slightly scary plastic box in the garden suddenly didn't seem so scary!! After helping me put the sand in (mostly by standing on it and poking her nose in it!! LOL) Inko then proceeded to have great fun digging in there!! See video below.

I can see me having to keep buying more sand, and our garden gradually becoming a beach, because there was sand flying everywhere!! We have a nice pile starting to form on our decking next to the sand pit.

Nice collection of sand on the decking!!

So that I could get her back in the house, and to prevent to local cats thinking they'd got an exciting new litter tray to use, I popped the lid on, and Inko then thought she had a great new vantage point on which to stand to survey the garden!!!

I'm the queen of the castle!

I also took delivery of two new door mats this morning so that I can try and keep the door ways a bit drier after all the trips out to the garden. You will notice that Inko can obviously read the note on the mat to 'wipe your paws' - unfortunately she also took that to mean 'and also eat the mat'!! LOL. See video below.

"There must be some treasure buried in here somewhere!!"

"What do you mean, 'leave'? If you look very closely, mum, it says in very small writing that I should also chew the mat...honest!"

I'm going to be taking Inko over to Reading University later. I did my degree there and then worked there for a bit so I'm going to go over and meet up with someone I used to work with for a chat and a coffee and Inko is going to come along too. I'm sure that the students will like having a puppy to say hello to so will be a good chance for some more socialising.

Inko is also going to her first puppy training clas this evening! Let's hope she remembers the commands we've been working on! It's also going to be another good chance for her to meet other people and other dogs - think she's going to enjoy having a bit of a run around!

Meeting Blue

Inko went over to meet Adam's dad and his dad's girlfriend yesterday afternoon, and also got to meet their 10 year old border collie, Blue. We had been keen for Blue to be one of the first dogs that Inko met because he is very calm and gentle. Inko was a little wary at first but seemed to settle down pretty quickly really and was soon running around trying to invite Blue to play by bowing down and barking. Unfortunately for Inko, Blue was feeling a bit tired and achy yesterday (he's got problems with his joints) so didn't really feel like playing, but it was good to see that Inko was happy to get really close to him, and clearly felt comfortable enough to want to play. She even showed off by showing some of the stuff she's been doing in our training. She seemed to take a bit of a liking to sitting on the shelf of Adam's dad's coffee table! She also thought that the Tesco Direct catalogue looked rather tasty!!

I'm off to pick up a sand pit for her today for the garden, to try and prevent her from digging up the flowerbeds. Managed to get it free from freecycle - can't complain about that! It's a 45 minutes drive to the lady who is giving it to me so it's a good opportunity to do more 'leave on own' training!

Frozen peas

Forgot to say on the last post that Inko has discovered a most exciting new training treat - frozen peas! She thinks they are fantastic!!

Here's a quick video of her doing some of her clicker training...with peas!!

Next thing we are going to try and do, having got the idea from Nik, is to buy a bell to try and get Inko to ring it when she needs to go outside to the garden.

Meeting a dog

Yesterday afternoon we decided to take Inko over to our friend's house so she could meet their sprocker spaniel (cocker spaniel crossed with springer spaniel), Sammy. He was very excited to have a visitor and Inko was a little bit wary so we decided to keep Sammy on a lead for a bit while Inko explored the garden and settled in. She wandered over near him quite a few times and was very soon wandering around with her tail up and seeming fairly happy but she wouldn't go right up to him. Whenever she got too close and he tried to get nearer to her she took a bit of a step back. Sammy is only quite young himself (about 9 months old) so gets very excited by visitors, and we didn't want to risk him getting rough with her when playing - he's a lovely friendly dog but as he's so much bigger than Inko we didn't want things to get too boistrous for her.


As we didn't want to risk her getting frightened during her first experience with another dog we decided not to push it today and kept Sammy on the lead the whole time. Inko's confidence was definitely improving as the visit went on so hopefully next time we go and visit she'll be much happier with things and we can let Sammy off the lead so that they can have a proper play.

Inko and Sammy in the garden - she got a bit closer to him than this, but only for a few seconds before wandering off again!

When we got back from visiting Sammy she fell asleep for ages! Think all the excitement must have tired her out! Unfortunately this meant that she was completely hyper last night!! We had a couple of friends over to visit her and to have some drinks and a take-away and Inko was running round like a hooligan! We just couldn't believe quite how much energy she had!! In a bid to try and calm her down I ended up holding her to my chest, so that her back was to me and her tummy was up, and kept rubbing her tummy and stroking her head until she stopped wriggling. She kicked up a bit of a fuss for a while but once she stopped wriggling and I put her down she had completely calmed down out of her hyper phase...so much so that she finally curled up at our feet and went to sleep! We could finally eat out dinner! While she was asleep I gave her a good brush and comb through (to neaten up her fur after days of running through plants!) - so much easier when she's sleepy and isn't thinking it's a great game!! Luckily her hyper energy didn't extend into the night and she went straight to bed when we popped her into her crate and she slept through till 6.30.

We are taking Inko over to see Adam's dad this afternoon and she will get to meet his border collie, Blue. Blue is about 10 years old and is a lovely well behaved dog who is likely to be very gentle with her so she'll get to properly interact with him. He is used to having very small children round playing (Adam's step nephews) so should be an ideal adult dog for Inko to meet. Will let you know how we get on.

We have also booked Inko in for a puppy party on 12th October where she will get to meet lots more dogs. Think she'll enjoy having lots of other little puppies to run around with.

We've had a chat with the puppy training class we've found and our vet and they've both agreed that Inko can start her puppy training the day before her second jab when the next puppy class starts. We are really keen to get her started as soon as possible as it will help with her socialisation, and she really seems to enjoy the clicker training we've been doing at home so should really like going to the class. We go on Wednesday evening next week! Hopefully she will do all the things she's been learning during her training here at home!

Visiting HuDaddy at work!

Yesterday afternoon I took Inko to meet some of my work colleagues and she was a big hit! We stood in the foyer at work and some of my team came down to meet her and as it was the entrance to the building, she also met several other people who were walking past who stopped to have a stroke!!


Then we went over to Adam's work to see him and his work colleagues! Inko was actually allowed into the office here which she thought was great fun! She was on her lead and had a good wander round all the desks!! She met lots of people here too, and was once again a big hit!!
On both visits I went armed with cleaning spray, kitchen towel and poo bags, as was worried she may have an accident, but she was good as gold!!


When Adam got home from work we had a game of puppy ping pong in the garden with Inko to try and work on her recall! She thought this was a fantastic game!! Hopefully if we keep doing this regularly she'll get better at coming when she's called and not just when there is nothing more interesting to look at or chew!!


Lat night, on the final garden trip before bed, I saw that Inko had picked something up (as she does most minutes! LOL) so I went to remove it from her mouth as she looked particularly pleased with herself which is usually a sign it is something she shouldn't have!! It was a piece of poo!! Urgh - not a nice thing to have to pull out of a dog's mouth with your fingers!! I must have missed a bit while cleaning up after her during the day, or perhaps she found some that a cat had buried in the garden! Let's hope she doesn't make a habit of that!!!!


She didn't get up till 6.30 this morning!! Most impressive! I was actually awake before she was and wondering why she wasn't up yet! She actually only woke up when someone next door walked down their stairs, as you can hear the sound of the stairs through the wall!! She can keep that habit!!

Inko sitting on the bottom of our computer desk!

Inko having a snooze!! ....yes, we're letting her on the sofa :)

Meeting people, ice cubes and digging

Yesterday morning, Inko was very good at being left on her own while I popped out for half an hour or so to go round to my mum and dad's to collect the new dog guard I'd ordered for the car - looked very relaxed when I came back.

Inko had some more visitors to the house yesterday. My Nan and step-grandfather came over to visit for a few hours in the morning and she was very good - even showing them her 'sit', 'down', and 'stand'.

I decided to take her out for a wander in my arms yesterday afternoon to try and meet strangers who would be willing to say hello and to give her more exposure to the noises of the world. She heard a train go under the railway bridge, lorries and cars went past, people went past on motorbikes and push bikes, and a car beeped it's horn! Took it all in her stride. I then decided to call the chiropractors which is near our house, which Adam and I have both been to so they know us there, to see if they'd mind having a puppy visitor!! They were very excited by the idea! We went in and met two receptionists who each had a cuddle, 3 patients who had a cuddle, and then one of the receptionists took her upstairs to see one of the chiropractors!! We've been told we're welcome back any time!!

Then when we got back we did a bit more clicker training (inspired by Nik's very impressive video!). I have managed to get her to sit when I am standing and cross my arms and I am getting there with 'paw'. She had great fun showing these off yesterday evening when my sister and a friend came over to see her. She even sat for my sister on request! I have decided to try and get her to sit before we go through doors so that she doesn't bolt through like a crazy thing - she seems to be getting the hang of that. I feel rather silly wandering round everywhere with my coachies treat bag attached to my jeans!!

She also had her first ice cube today and really enjoyed it. Thought it was great fun

"I quite like this weird little cold thing...it's shrinking...what's going on?!"

Something Inko has also discovered is digging!! Took a video, but from now on it's a case of me trying to discourage this!! Not really something I want her to think she's allowed to do - any tips anyone?! ~(http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LrCTxH7DX5U) - have decided to put my bigger videos on youtube to free up storage on my blog.

Tried to follow Jo's lead with the nail clipping yesterday and we weren't quite as successful - think we timed it wrong as she started waking up - got half of one foot done!! Will try again tonight!!

This morning she slept in till 6.10 so not too bad really and was her usual manic self for about an hour and a half - she has soooo much energy in the morning!! I have found that she seems to like doing a bit of training in the morning - good way to get her to eat some of her breakfast in her excitement as she will sometimes train for kibble. I noticed lots of people walking past outside on the school run so decided to take her out to see if she could get some more cuddles. She met quite a few adults, and also lots of children and was very well behaved. She also heard a very loud car alarm this morning and didn't flinch.

When we got back I popped her into her crate and headed upstairs for two hours as part of her 'being left alone' training and she was such a good girl!! I took this as a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep and had a nap!! I think all the excitement of going out and meeting people tired her out! ....and me it would appear!!

Difficult start..but got better

Yesterday morning was quite hard, not helped ny having been woken up at 3.50 (see previous posting!!). I decided to start the 'leaving alone process' when I went upstairs to get myself showered and ready for the day. Inko was shut into her crate (her one in the lounge, not the one she goes in at night, as she'd already wandered in there). I headed upstairs and she howled! She kept howling and barking and just wouldn't stop. I didn't want to give in because it is so important that she learns to enjoy time on her own if Adam and I are both going to be out at work. She kept going for an hour!! After she had been quiet for a bit I started making my way down. She then started again so I stopped where I was on the stairs until there was a temporary pause in barking and when there was I quickly came down and let her out. I felt awful because she had got herself so keyed up that she had sicked up the scrambled eggs she'd had for breakfast and had split the water from her bowl all over the crate. I let her outside and felt quite stressed because I just didn't know how to get her to not howl when on her own. She also wouldn't stop whining at me - she just seemed to want constant attention or would whine, and that is definitely not something I wanted to encourage!! She was most definitely being Little Miss Sod yesterday morning!! LOL! I text Jennifer, Jo and Adam and got lovely supportive texts off each of them, and some good tips from Jennifer - thank you :)


After a bit of playing with Inko I remembered that I had bought a DAP collar for her before we got her but had never put it on. I thought it can't hurt, and may actually help with this so I popped it on. After a little bit she went into her enclosed area (of her own accord) and whilst she didn't actually go into her crate she curled up next to it on the edge of the sheet that covers it. I decided to try shutting the gate on the enclosed area - something she had normally squawked at, and there wasn't a peep from her. I managed to sit upstairs for quite a while being quiet in the hope she wouldn't know I was there, and there still wasn't a peep from her! Yay!!


I realised that I wouldn't be able to do much actual getting out of the house today because my dad was coming over to fix our broken radiator and to drain the whole system and bleed all the radiators - my dad is fab! He's really good at helping me and my sisters out whenever we need it! So I decided that it would have to be isolation in the enclosed area/crate while I was in the house but well out of the way. We did this in blocks (up to about 30 mins at a time, possibly up to an hour at one point) and she seemed not to fuss at all. I admit that I was only shutting her in the main enclosure area rather than right in her crate, but as this is where we will be shutting her when we are out at work I figured this would be ok. Each time she settled straight down and went to sleep or played quietly with the toys I'd put in there that were safe for her to be left with - such a relief!! I don't know whether it was the DAP collar or just that I had won the battle with the crate earlier and she had learnt that whining doesn't get you out. I don't know...but I hope it continues!

"What? I'm just helping my HuGrandad with fixing the radiator!"

Once my dad had finished the radiators I decided to do a full 'leave alone' and go out of the house as I needed to do some shopping. I popped her into her enclosed area and she settled straight down on the sheet to sleep. I then headed out the door and was probably out for about 30 minutes. When I came back I peeped through the window, which would pretty much be out of her eye line as it is across the other side of the room and she wasn't pacing around or trying to get out or anything, and more importantly I couldn't hear any woofing or howling! When I came through the door I could see that she was still asleep in the same position as before!! Bless her!

Sleeping like a little angel...finally!!

Another thing we spent much of yesterday doing was some clicker training. I had managed to get her to do 'sit' on command a few days ago (with or without a treat now) and had also been working on 'down'. Today I added 'sit' (from the down position) and 'stand' - she seems to be doing really well with all of these. She has been doing them in the house and in the garden and when she's at full attention levels she does all of them excellently!! Very pleased with that. I can see when she starts getting tired with it though because it becomes a little messier with what she does so then I give it a break. We'll be doing some more work on this today. Will try and get a video when Adam is back from work later.

Last night we popped her to bed at 10pm (after much playing and some clicker training to tire her out) and she went straight to sleep (locked in her crate, not just in her enclosed area) and she didn't wake up till 6.10!! Woo hoo!!

Inko...come!

I'd be lying if I said she came this easily every time I called her in the garden (LOL) but here's a quick shot of Inko doing as she is told...and very enthusiastically!!

If you listen with the sound on you'll see how she comes when I call her - before that there is a bit of her favourite game of pouncing through plants :)

3.50am!!!!

I should start with a bit of praise...last night we put Inko to bed and there was pretty much no peep from her. A couple of teeny tiny woofs a couple of minutes after we went upstairs but nothing more than that. It was actually quite disconcerting having her be so quiet! Not that I am in any way complaining - let's hope she keeps that up. I started wondering whether maybe we have cracked the sleep thing.........but then........

.......We got howling at 3.50am today!!! I think Inko could hear the bathroom door upstairs creaking as it was being moved by the wind through the open window, as I have to admit that it woke me too. Before she started making a noise I had crept as quietly as I could to pin the bathroom door open with a book n(as it creaks more to pull the handle down to shut it!) and crept back to bed. Only about 2 minutes later, Inko started making a noise - quite a big noise!! Even though I knew the neighbours would probably be cursing me (I was cursing myself!) I left her to it! I didn't want to risk rewarding being awake at that time of night! She kept going for about 30 minutes!!!!

Once she finally settled we managed to finally get back to sleep. I woke up again at 6.30 and she didn't seem to have stirred yet. As this is the time we'll ideally be wanting to take her out for a walk before work in the future when she's had her jabs, I walked downstairs pre-barking to let her out. I thought this might also help to show her that she doesn't have to be barking to be let out in the morning!

She is now sat on her blue bit of vet bed in the lounge eating last night's Markie!! She seems to do that every morning - doesn't eat it at night when we give it to her, but saves it for the morning!!

I am going to be doing a lot of leaving her on her own today to start really getting her used to it for when we are both at work - I feel I may get a lot of complaining from her at first! I had done a little bit yesterday but I really haven't been doing this enough. If I can manage to get this cracked I'm sure things will be much easier - have a feeling it may be easier said than done - wish me luck!!

Will report back later on how we get on!

Paula