Tatum Tot Spice

What’s In There? April 30, 2008

When we went to the camping place Chase found something in the ground and me and Muffit wanted to check it out, too. But we didn’t find anything… though we did have fun digging this big old hole!

I went with the Mum, Chase and Levi to an agility trial last weekend, and we had tons of fun, too. I was really excited when we got there, to see what all was going on. And I wasn’t nervous at all when I got out of the car. It really is fun to go places! Before I’d be really nervous when we went anywhere new, ’cause I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it seems like the Mum is making sure we go to fun places! And this one was fun, too.

We ran around on the grass and got to watch the dogs doing agilities, and it was great. And the Mum says we gotta work more on me so I can learn how to! I can’t wait!

Tired from Flyball April 6, 2008

I am beat tired! The Mum, me, Chase, Levi, and Muffit all went to flyball practice today. We had to take Dad’s little car ’cause the Mum’s big car is in the shop, it has a big dent in it.

Anyway… you know how I’ve been going over jumps to a lid with a liver on it? Well… we did that at the flyball park! And it was fun. The Mum said she was so proud of me, because I went over three jumps in a row for the livers on the lid! But then I got silly again and had to just run and run and bunny hop around the park! It was lots of fun. But then people had livers so I would go up to them and see if I could have some, and I could!

The place I used to live, where there were tons and tons of dogs… the people would grab my collar and drag me around, and I’m always afraid people will do that to me now. They haven’t in a long time, and the Mum said no one will ever do it again, but I’m still a bit afraid they will.

So it was fun, and now I’m tired!

This Jump Thingy April 4, 2008

So the Mum has been taking me outside a bit now that there is not any slippery snow on the ground, and she brings out this white thing and when I jump over it I get a click and a treat. So it’s been fun and I’ve been jumping over it! I was pretty excited… I ran and bunny-hopped over and got the treat on the white plastic lid on the other side.

But then, at the last minute, I thought maybe I’ll go around the jump this time… the Mum had dragged the Dad out to take pictures of me, and so of course I had to do something different! If you want to see me really go over a jump you have to go to the Mum’s blog, Tip Tail. LOL this is funnier!

And then I ran right up to the lid and the Dad didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to get the treat if I didn’t go over the jump and so I ate it anyway and it was yummy. LOL it’s so easy to trick these silly humans. But it is really fun to do these jump things too!

The Mum thinks it might be weird for me to start bouncing off the wall like Chase does, she thinks I’m more delicate than him. Hrmph! I can do anything he can do! Except jump off the side of the couch like Chase and Muffit too.. that’s a bit too high.

Touching the Stick with my Nose March 7, 2008

So Yesterday the Mum puts all the other dogs in the kitchen and gets out the phone book and yay! I put my feet on it. The Mum likes that and clicks and gives me a treat when I do. Then she started to move around me and I’m not sure what she is doing.. she said something about ‘rear end awareness’ but I don’t know what that means yet so I just try to move around a bit and get that click and treat.

She also brought out this funny long thing with a yellow ball on the end. And every time I sniffed it she clicked and treated. So that was easy! I touched the ball with my nose and got the click treat!

Then the Mum brought out this weird long thing with high sides and I just kept walking around it. When I did put my foot over it I got the click and treat! So I kept doing that… the Mum said it was a jump and I will get to do it much higher in the future, when we can go and train outside.

Then I got to go in the Kitchen and the Mum got out Muffit. Gah… only I should work with the clicker! But the Mum said that Muffit has to learn this stuff too for flyball.

A Little Bit Scared February 27, 2008

Well, the Mum says that she is packing up me and Chase and we are going to go to a Flyball Seminar this weekend.

The Mum says it’s a really long drive, about 7 hours. And I don’t know how I’m gonna play with Chase in the car because the car is really small, but the Mum says I can get out sometimes and take breaks and stuff. She says that we will mostly sleep the whole way there.

I am nervous ’cause I haven’t slept away from my new home since I got here in September of last year. But the Mum says we will have fun because we get to stay in a Townhouse with the other flyball team people and dogs, and it won’t be as scary as a hotel with the people walking around. Because I really must bark at people when they walk around. And Friday I get a seminar day all to myself but it will be a strange place. I’m so glad Chase and the other dogs will be with!

Wish me luck, we leave tomorrow!

So much to Learn, So much to Play! February 20, 2008

Wow the Mum wants me to learn so many things! But I am not only beautiful, I am also very smart. I like to touch her hand with my front feet now. When I do, I get the click and the treat to happen. And when I get on my mat, the Mum has made it harder. Now I have to do something else, and I think it’s the lay down but I’m still figuring that one out. Sometimes I’ll stand on my mat for a while before I lay down. Sometimes I paw her and I’m not sure which she wants! But I’m learning fast, and soon I’ll be knowing it all and I will get to teach the Mum.

After the Mum teaches me with the clicker then she teaches my new brother, Muffit! Did I tell you I have a new brother? Well, his name is Muffit. The Mum calls him WhosaMuffit but that’s just weird. I guess he lived here a while a couple of years ago, then went to a new family. But they didn’t end up wanting to let him live there anymore, so they put him in a really icky place, a scary place, and he got really sick until the Dad found out he was there (’cause of some chip thing) and went to get him out.

So now the Dad told the Mum that he’s going to stay! Yay! I like him and he is fun to play with, as you can tell from this picture. And he is not sick anymore which is good, his runny nose was kinda gross.

Click Click! February 12, 2008

So the Mum has been doing more clicker stuff with me. It’s so fun I don’t want it to stop. Why does she have to stop? And then work with Muffit, Chase and Levi? She should just always work with me!

I figured out that touching her hand with my foot makes the click! So now I do it a lot. It’s fun. And then she put down this white cardboard thing and I touched it with my foot, and it made the click too! And then the Mum got me a new mat.. it’s a Mutt Matt and it’s neat! And now when I get on it the click doesn’t happen.. so I stand there for a minute and then when I lay down, that makes the click! This collie likes her mat!

It kinda sucks that just standing on the Mutt Mat doesn’t make the click anymore, but I can lay down, too. That is also fun so I’ll just do that now.

The Mum put the white cardboard on the flyball box too, and I would touch it to get the click to happen. But she’s still not sure how to get me up on there with all four feet. So when until she figures that out, I will just eat cookies.

Flyball Beginnings February 10, 2008

The Mum is confused about how to teach me a good swimmers turn on the box so she is trying some different stuff. There is this blog that has information on clicking and the swimmer’s turn, and the Mum wants me to read it but I don’t want to so the Mum is gonna clicker train me somehow.

So she put a treat in her hand and I wanted it so I just nibbled at it with my teeth. And she was talking and said to herself she said “hmmm, I don’t want you to learn how to nibble fingers” so instead, she put the treat in her fist and then she moved it away from me when I was laying down.

I’d move a bit to see if I could get it, and sometimes she would click, and sometimes she would not. Could it be from when I moved my foot? I don’t know yet but I’m thinking about it. I gotta figure out what she wants me to do. She says we will work on it again later in the day and maybe take some more pictures of me because I’m so beautiful.

My Weekend

Yesterday me, the Mum, Chase and Levi got to go to an agility trial. It was fun. I checked every human out to see if they had Livers. And guess what? They did! Amazing. People are not so bad when they have yummy Livers. The Mum said Chase and Levi had lots of fun too and did really well. She also said I did well too!

It got scary when we walked to the car because stupid Mum dropped my flexi leash. And I dragged it behind me and I panicked! Oh man! It was scary. I tried to run back into the big building but hit my head on the glass and then Aunt Astrid caught me up. I was pretty afraid for the rest of the night, but when we got home I just wanted to play with Chase and then eat dinner then sleep ’cause I was tired.

This morning the Mum took me and Tony out for a walk. It was fun at first but then got stressful ’cause of all the cars going around. I wanted to go home so the Mum took us home, and when we got home I wanted to play with Chase again. The Mum says play relieves stress but duh, I already knew that!

It was a fun couple of days. The Mum says that I won’t be as nervous the more i do stuff. I sure hope so. I don’t like being nervous.

The Mum gave me a bath today (because Chase peed on me yesterday), and it royally sucked. But then the Mum says how gorgeous I am and she brushes me and scratches me. But I already know I’m gorgeous. But I kinda like the Mum too, and the rest of the pack. It’s a pretty good life here.

Ringing Chimes make Scary Noises January 30, 2008

So the Mum pulled out the clicker today and wanted me to learn something new. Man, so many new things! The Mum said Lucy knows how to do this and she’ll show me later.. but she wanted me to try it first on my own.

So out come the liver treats too.. man those are good. The Mum just bakes them in the oven for a while then cuts them up, and we all stand around and I want to eat them, and sometimes I want the other dogs to go away… oooo the Mum is telling me I am blogging about the chimes, not the liver! Okay well anyway so she led me toward the Chimes with some of the yummy liver and made them ring. And it was kinda freaky I didn’t like the noise much.

So after the Mum put all those Livers on the chime, she walked away and sat on the couch and watched to see what I would do. Well I knew that darn liver was on the chimes.. but when I tried to get it off on my own, it would make funny tinkly noise. And the Mum says that’s the point, but I didn’t really like it. So I wanted the Mum to hold the chime steady so I could just eat the Livers off!

Well after I wouldn’t get the livers off, the Mum let Lucy come out to show me how it was done. Oh My Gosh. Lucy just ran right over there and tinkled all the chimes, not afraid at all, to get the livers off! She would push it with her nose then look at the Mum, and the Mum would give her more livers. And if Lucy didn’t get livers fast enough, she would push at the chimes again and again and make them fly all over the place! Wow Lucy!

I am not as enthusiastic when it’s just me and the Mum like Lucy is. Lucy danced all over wondering what the Mum wants her to do so she can get some livers. But me, I am not so sure about being alone with the Mum yet, and not so sure about what is going on. So I’m a bit more slow and I think more (thus I get a thinking award yay!). But the Mum says it’ll come, I haven’t lived here too long yet, and it’s all good and yummy and fun. And then after I got to play with Chase on the couch and that was super fun!

Oh, the Mum says that she wants me to ring the Chimes to tell me when I need to go out potty when the dog door is closed. Whatever. I just stare at the door, and that works!

Oh, and the Mum is going to Los Angelez tomorrow and taking her computer with her so I won’t be able to blog until she gets back! Boo!