Easter holidays

Not having children I completely forgot that today was the first day of the Easter holidays. What a brilliant and unintentional time to improve Oscar's skills at walking near children. I was so proud of my boy.

It's amazing how suddenly you can have insights into your own behaviour and how it affects your dogs. On seeing all the children about on our walk this lunchtime I have to confess that I did get a little nervous. Oscar is very enthusiastic to meet both people and dogs but I am more than aware that for a lot of people and dogs they don't want to meet every passing dog and due to Oscar's size this is more often the case with him than it probably is with a chihuahua!

I suddenly became aware that as soon as I spotted a child in the distance all of a sudden I held my breath, tightened the lead and called to Oscar in a more frantic tone than I would usually use. I have spent 15 months training to be a dog behaviourist and trainer and it always amazes me how difficult it is to see your own behaviour objectively. I know perfectly well that all those things are more than likely to get a dog to react to whatever you are wanting them to not react to, yet it appears to be human nature and certainly was my automatic reaction to the situation.

Mid way through the walk I suddenly realised what I was doing and immediately loosened the lead and rather than Oscar trying to bomb off to meet any child within a mile radius, he just pottered along, looking at them but not trying to get any nearer. We even did a bit of parallel walking with a kid on a bike (not that the kid realised!!) and he was brilliant. Not once did he try to dive in the kid's direction.

I am also always amazed at how well Oscar responds to just praise. It seems to be, for some unknown reason, drilled into my subconscious that I can only reward Oscar with food or rather that food is the only reward what will count. However, he just soaks up praise and I think it means as much to him if not more, especially when I am genuinely over the moon with his behaviour.

What a lovely day and I wish I could stay here all afternoon with my lovely boy instead of heading back to work! Ho hum!

The nosey neighbour

Oscar cannot understand why more people don't take a healthy interest in their neighbours' activities.

From an early age Oscar has gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep himself abreast of all activities in his area...



11 weeks old Oscar is checking nobody is by the river who shouldn't be!


12 weeks old...checking out passers by



You can never be toooo careful! (12 weeks old)

This is dedication - wedging the head between gate and concrete step...he will stop at nothing... (15 wks old)

Oscar checking out some girls by the riverside...another good reason to keep a careful watch on proceedings (4 months old)

At 6 months old - Oscar is now able to see into the neighbour's garden where he can carefully monitor their activities and tell them off when they don't pay him enough attention!

However this doesn't mean he's forgotten his other responsibilities...

Which he takes VERY seriously...

At 7 months old - Oscar has discovered he is big enough to continue his surveying of all that goes on in his kingdom from inside...clever boy!

These are a few of my favourite things!

You know how you spend money on buying lovely plush toys for your dogs to enjoy and then they show more interest in the packaging of what you've been sent that day. Well today was Oscar's lucky day as I've got some frosted window film (to help him realise it's not necessary for him to bark at everything he sees out of the patio doors!!) and so he got the packaging it came in!


"Right I better try and balance it while I work out how to get it up on the sofa"






This is how people first worked out you could play the didgeridoo!!

"Oh I just LOOOOOOOOVE cardboard"

"Anything outside more interesting...?"

"I thought not!"

"The lazy boy's way of dealing with the item you want falling on the floor!"

"This is a tricky manoeuvre!"

Mummy's little helper!!

Oscar just loves to help his Mum...even when I don't want any help! I've decided it's both easier and more fun to let him help and try to guide this "help" into ways which are useful!

Take a boring task like emptying a bin and add a Newfie 7 month old pup and it becomes more interesting...



"Okay so I only get to carry this small bit and you get a WHOLE bin? Hmmm...not sure about this"


"I'll just keep an eye on yours...check it doesn't go anywhere..."


"Can I help yet? Pleeeeeeeeease!"



"Bins.....YUM...smells gooooood!"

"Well I could help distribute this rubbish to all the neighbours ... but I guess I'll let you put it in the big bin...as long as I get the small bin when you're done!"

"Yipppeeeeeeee...it's time to help...where to take the bin first...what sorry Mum ...back into the garden...okay then..."

"You coming then??"

"I'm coming in...this bin is heavier than it looks!"

"Sorry...can I help you? The kitchen? Why do you want it in there?? ... Oh okay if you insist..."

"Well if you would put these gates in the way it'll take me longer...better stop for a quick chew.."

"Okay okay I'm here at the kitchen doorway...now what?"

"How about I chew it for you?"

"Oh okay if there are TREATS on offer ...you can keep the bin!"

Treat trees

What a lovely serene walk Oscar and I had at lunch today (well until the last minute but I'll come back to that later!!). We went for our usual potter down along the beach (well river bank) by our house.

Then we wandered along the grass area to go back to the house and I remembered something I hadn't done in a long while - a treat tree. While Oscar was busy smelling all the wonderful smells (and trying to decide whether to chase after the seagulls) I went to work...

I smeared some cheese into the bark and hid some of his dry food in the nooks and crannies and then called him over for him to start the fun...




"Oooooooh this smells goooooood!"




"I'm definitely on the trail of something....it better be good!"





"You have to dig deep for the really smeared in cheese"




"Anything up here...no...right ...moving on swiftly...more goodies to find!"



"Enough of this sniffing lark...digging...that's the only real way to do it!"




And so ended the serene part of our walk as we slowly strolled up the short path to my house with Oscar off lead and me feeling rather proud of my pup walking so beautifully and calmly. I tested it with a couple of recalls and he came back each time. If only it had stayed that way all the way back to the house...



What happened...well of course as we got to the road (my house is only two doors down from the path and it's a very quiet road...thank god!) Oscar spotted a cat...sadly before I did! He did his usual pose when he spots something of interest...bolt upright with tail right up in the air.

Then I made my next stupid mistake...instead of clipping on his lead I decided to try to get him back with a recall. As you'd expect, with his focus on the cat, he ignored me. He then bounded over to the cat. The cat (being quite sensible) ran when it saw a bear bounding towards it and Oscar of course chased after it.



Thankfully the cat continued it's sensible thinking and ran under a nearby car and I managed to get Oscar's lead on and distract him away.



I was so cross with myself for being so silly ... you live and learn however and today's lessons were:


1) to be more observant about what is up ahead so I spot it before Oscar;


2) to keep Oscar on lead near roads no matter how good his recall is; and


3) we have some work to do with cats and Oscar not chasing them!!!

Oscar the digger

Oscar has been trying out some new skills over the last few days...namely digging!



He has dug before and already had 3 trenches on the go but this is an entirely different affair! This new digging is more like the careful excavations you see on Time Team.



As you can see from the video evidence below there is a definite method to his madness...the hole is carefully dug...usually right by a plant (not much chance of many of those surviving the next few weeks then) and only once all the plant's roots are exposed the chew toy can be dropped in the earth. Then comes the tricky part...to cover it back up. What to use...a shovel??...his paws??...no only the nose will do! He is very careful and takes his time making sure it's nicely covered up. Only to uncover it half an hour later! I'm just hoping we don't have a monsoon anytime soon or we could have a mud bath in the garden! :-)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXRf_UJbbU

Introducing Oscar the Newfoundland puppy

This is the very first post on Oscar's blog so what better way to start it off than to introduce the little man! Oscar is a Newfoundland dog and for those who don't know they are a giant breed who were bred for draught work and assisting in bringing in fishing boats. They are therefore ideal for water rescue and swimming and have a waterproof top layer of their double coat and webbed feet.

Oscar came from a small breeding kennels in the UK called Mollynewf who are based near Portsmouth. I first met Carol and David in August 2007 and met their 4 Newfoundland dogs who are Molly (Oscar's gran), Becky (Oscar's Mum) and Siska and Lani (Oscar's half sisters -both littermates). At that stage I was planning to get a puppy in the summer of 2009 and while I thought I wanted a Newfie and had researched the breed in books I hadn't been interrogated by any breeders at that stage! I passed the initial Molly test as she was outside the front when I arrived and thankfully gave me the Molly seal of approval. As soon as I met their lovely dogs and in particular Becky, I fell in love with the breed and there was no other breed that was going to do! After that first visit in only took a few days for me to decide that I'd get a puppy from the next litter they had which they were planning at that stage to be during summer 2008.

(L-R : Siska, Molly, Lani)

After one failed mating early in 2008, Oscar's litter was born on 23 August 2008. It was a very small litter with only two live pups but in my unbiased opinion the two most gorgeous puppies ever - Oscar and his sister Kira. As I had been on the waiting list for such a long time I had first choice of the puppies. I knew there was no rush for me to make my choice and as I wasn't planning on showing my puppy, I didn't need to wait until they were older to see whether either puppies would be suitable from that point of view. I first visited the puppies at 1 week old and instantly fell in love with the boy. He had a teeny tiny white splash on his chest (which has now gone) and was just a teeny tiny snuggle monster!

L-R : Oscar, Kira - 1 week old

I visited them every week but the most memorable visit was when they were 2 weeks old and I got my chance to have my first cuddle with my boy.

My first cuddle with Oscar

I could have honestly spent every minute of every waking hour just watching them both and as they got older they just got more and more interesting and cute!

Finally after what felt like an eternity Oscar came home to live with me on 1st November 2008! Life hasn't been the same since and I wouldn't change that for the world!

Oscar 10 weeks old - a few days after he came home