Tatum Tot Spice

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.

My Crate is a Safe Place March 5, 2008

I’m back! Back from the flyball seminar that the Mum took me and Chase too. It was fun. Well, at first I was pretty nervous. The drive there was super long but went by pretty fast. And then when we got there we had to stay in a whole brand new house that was very different than our regular house!

But there were seven other dogs there, including Chase. There was a puppy named Bandit who I really played with a lot. And then there was a Jack Russel named Chase Me who wanted to make Collie-Jacks but I don’t know what the Mum was talking about!

Then after we spent the night in that house, in our own bedroom, we went to this pretty scary place. I have never been there before so I was nervous. But I got on my mat and did the stuff I already knew like sit and down and shake and eat Livers so that wasn’t too bad. But then I really wanted to go back into my crate because it was safe.

The Mum said I had to come out once in a while to meet people and dogs and practice our tricks, so I did. It was okay but I didn’t want to do much. The next day was a little better, I wasn’t quite so scared. But the last place we went to was different again, and I’m not really used to different places too well.

But by Monday morning at the new house I was relaxed and playing with the other dogs and then I started to bite the humans on the butt, too, and make them squeal. LOL that’s my favorite thing to do!

The Mum says I get to go with the end of March, too, to a flyball tournament with Chase and Muffit. And stay in a hotel. But I’m a pro at it now!

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!

Me and my Sister February 23, 2008

I just wanted to show you this cute picture of me and my sister Lucy. Lucy is the pack marm though I really want to be. I usually respect her place but sometimes I want to push her around and I try really really hard to listen to the Mum and not push her around but.. it can be hard.

Lucy doesn’t let me push her around, though, she growls and snarls and doesn’t let me. Gah! It’s frustrating. But I do like Lucy a lot, and the Mum says she’s sick and might have cancer and might not be with us very much longer. But for now Lucy is still boss and I have to listen to what she says!

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.

Levi is Braver than Me February 13, 2008

The Mum’s been taking me to a scary place the last little while, it’s called Ma and Paw’s Dog Bakery. The good thing is whenever we get home we get super yummy treats that we all love. That are home made and great!

Well I’ve been going there just with the Mum and I get scared. I tuck my tail and I try to do scary dog darting out the door. The Mum says she hasn’t seen me get any better… and she hasn’t! I’ve gotten even more scared. Just a little, but not too much.

So today the Mum brought Levi with us. Levi is such a great older brother. He wasn’t scared at all and I followed him around to all the fun stuff and guess what? There is really yummy stuff there! I ate treats for the first time and they were really good. I was able to relax with Levi there and really check stuff out. The Mum is great and all but if she were a dog she’d be better.

Levi even jumped up on the counter and the lady back there gave him a treat ball. He swallowed it whole! Then I got one and I ate it slowly and enjoyed it. There was even a strange man there shopping and guess what? He had Livers! Wow! So I ate some Livers from him and they were good.

Then we got home and the Mum gave us what she bought, some heart shaped valentine dog cookies. Oh boy they were great and all 7 of us got one! I want more!

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.

Scary Place Fun Place February 8, 2008

Today the Mum took me to a scary place. It had strange noises and people and smelled really funny. Tomorrow I get to go with to an agility trial, and when there are lots of dogs around I have fun!

The place today the Mum called a store.. and had weird things for sale. We only walked in one door, then out the other door, and then went home. And I’m fine when I’m home or back in the car. I only tried to bolt from the Mum once, right after we went out the door. It probably wasn’t more than one minute we were in the store. And no one bothered us, so that was good. I wish there were more dogs around.

The Mum said she wants me to do Therapy someday. Well, I don’t know what Therapy is, but it’s supposed to help people to feel better. But I need to feel better first! So the Mum wants to do this lots, almost every day (she said we were going to do it every day but we haven’t, dorky Mum).

I’m excited for Tomorrow.

Oh, and I have some sad news.. or the Mum says it’s sad. She says my big sister Lucy might have Cancer. And the Mum was crying today because of it. But Lucy is my big sister, so she’ll be around forever, right? I think so.