“Sisters!
Sisters!
Never were there such devoted sis-ters …”
Well I don’t know if “devoted” is the right word, but Jayda enjoys playing with Raven … when she isn’t being TOO much of a pest! Poor Raven – nobody wants her when she’s being a pest, unfortunately, her little walnut-sized puppy-brain hasn’t quite figured that out yet.
This picture looks like Jayda’s telling her something – captions, anyone?
My good camera came back from the repair shop just in time to catch a rare photo of “Hat” the feral cat! Hat is VERY shy – I rarely seem him/her. This is the first time I’ve seen Hat around in the daytime – it was nice and sunny and (s)he was catching a few rays in my neighbor’s yard.
So for those who don’t believe that I feed a feral cat with “Sheltie ears” …
Those ears have been scarred and folded over like that for at least 2 years, whether from a fight, a bad case or ear-mites or frostbite. I nicknamed him/her “Hat” because it looks like a bad case of hat-head. Other than the disfigured ears, (s)he appears to be in pretty good condition and carries that big, thick coat that ferals get in winter. I’m guessing Hat is a “he” because we’d have a faster-growing feral population if “she” was an intact female, but I’ve never gotten close enough to get a look. Aren’t those eyes beautiful?
Here’s a picture of Cassie (spayed feral female). If she’s hungry and the dish is empty she waits on the steps for me to feed her – very cute!
I suppose it was inevitible. Raven lives with 3 cats, Raven’s the same size as a cat … Raven thinks she’s a cat!
She likes the kitties a lot…
She would like to be a cat doctor when she grows up. A cat proctologist, to be exact… Jasmine doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all!
(BTW, she also MEOWS like a cat if you step on her toes! Not that I go around deliberately stepping on my puppy’s toes, but the first time I did so by accident I was so surprised by the sound that I promptly did a head-count of the cats, thinking one of THEM had gotten underfoot unseen – nope, all asleep!)
Raven is very jealous of the places the cats can go … all the high places. Poor Raven is barely big enough to jump up on the sofa by herself (unless she gets a running start it can take a couple of tries). So what did she do the other day? Jumped on the sofa … then hopped on the BACK and started walking on the back and arm!
Well, the CATS do it!
Sorry, no pictures of that – I was busy swooping the little darling up and putting her somewhere safer. Not a moment too soon – she was eyeing a glass topped table by the time I crossed the room…
And so the fun begins!
Taught these a few weeks ago but just for the record …
I lure shamelessly for sits and downs, but as soon as they start to “get it” the lure goes away and it becomes a big, honkin’ hand signal. Gradually I fade that to something “normal” and introduce the verbal.
Once you teach a sit and/or down, its a good idea to teach #4 – STAY … or else you’ll end up with a lot of pictures like this …
One of the things I like about Raven is that if the other dogs (or I) aren’t in the mood for playing with her she’s perfectly content to play by herself. She could spend hours amusing herself – pouncing on her toys and zooming around the house. She loves to use her paws!
Eventually she brings her toys to the little green dog pillow, where she rolls around and chews them.
With my world class collection of dog toys, she thinks she’s one LUCKY puppy! Every few days she goes to the toy bin and finds something new to play with. The other day she reached way in the back and found Santa and has been showing the jolly old guy NO mercy.
If you don’t get any Christmas presents this year you know who’s to blame!
So the #1 thing to do with a puppy? PLAY with them 
!
After a rocky early start with the clicker (the sound was a natural aversive for her), Raven has finally caught onto it and is becoming more operant so I’ve been starting to teach her a bunch of different tricks. I thought it would be cool to post all the things I teach her in her first year or so here, under the category “101 Things to Do With A Puppy”.
Not in any particular numerical order, here’s the first – I’m calling this one “Puppy in a Tub”…
The object of the game is “put all 4 feet in the tub”. Not too difficult for the size-challenged Raven!