Laxie through the Looking Glass

[Laxie]

We used to buy disposable nappies for Lily when she was in heat.  I'd cut a hole out of the middle for her stump of a tail and she'd wear them while in the house.  Trying to decide if they make nappies big enough to fit over Cassie's huge arse.  I can manage the tail...just cut a hole in the nappy.  It's the rest of her backside I'm not so sure of. 

[EvilPie]

Cassie must have been trained with a whistle back in the day.

Well, she wasn't - you've just got lucky.

Most dogs respond to a whistle Dawn but they don't necessarily associate it with recall.

If you want to whistle recall her then do it but if you don't make it clear to her that the whistle means "come to me I've got a treat for you" she'll just do random things.

Good to know...cheers.  Sinéad says she gave them a treat each time they came back.  Lily just follows Cassie, so she luckboxed the treats.  Will make sure the kids know not to randomly blow the whistle.  Random isn't so unusual in our house, so this will be a new thing for all of us.   

A great way to train whistle recall is to whistle and then run off. The dog will naturally chase you and then when it gets to you have a really fun game of tug or throw a load of treats on the floor for them to gobble up.

The most important thing is to make a big fuss whenever they come to you so they know it's worth doing.

Random whistle blowing could be a great btw. Whenever you're out just blow the whistle for the dog to come back but make sure you fuss or treat the dog. The thing most people do wrong with recall is not practising it until they need it to work. Practice at random times when there aren't any distractions then hopefully when you need it to work it will have become a reflex response.

[The_duke]

Only in Ireland Dawn....

Fingers crossed for lily.

XX

Never met a sober Vet in Ireland ever - it goes with the job (should have studied harder at school)

[Laxie]

I'm just glad we're his second call of the day.  Last time he landed some time after 5pm...and was abso blotto! 

[Laxie]

Mike hasn't turned up yet.  Just phoned him and he was 'sidetracked'.  Sigh.  Won't be calling to us until either tonight or tomorrow morning.  I reckon he's gone off to the pub and will land this evening...after his day of drink and dinner.  Ran out of beer last night.  That's a whole other story.  Will deffo have to buy more.  Should be an interesting visit when he lands. 

Have some exciting news, but must run to the hairdresser.  Will post when I get back.

[The_duke]

Have some exciting news, but must run to the hairdresser.  Will post when I get back.

 

[Claw75]

Have some exciting news, but must run to the hairdresser.  Will post when I get back.

 

[Laxie]

My exciting news?

I got a haircut.  And colour.   Couple of new outfits too.    Happy April 1st! 

(At least it wasn't as long to read as Red's news.)


No sign of the vet yet.  There's a shocker.  Pubs closed tomorrow so he'll probably do house calls all day to make up for it.  Just hope he gets to us earlier in the day.  I'm kicking around catching the train to Dublin (because I'm on the right side of the sea and can do that Cos).  Figured I'd hang out for the night and come home Saturday.  Will have the house to myself Saturday - Monday as the rest of them are off to Galway.  Just Lily, Cassie and I kicking back shooting the breeze.  Looking forward to it.

[Laxie]

Mike landed bright and early this morning.  Lily usually sleeps until around 10:30 or thereabouts, but Cassie and I are up and about from around 7:00.  We were the only ones awake when he landed, so he gave Cassie some time to get to know him while I made him a cup of tea.  TEA!  Was gob smacked.  Turns out he'd a late night of it at a party last night and was a wee bit worn from it. 

While he supped his tea and chatted about Cassie, I went upstairs and tore Lily from her slumber with the girls.  She was less than impressed and walked down in a daze.  Mike was actually quite surprised by how well she looks since her operation.  Not sure what he was expecting, but happy to surprise him.  Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised that he'd remember to zip up his zipper for a change when he got dressed this morning.  Said I wouldn't mention it though.

Sarah and Sinéad followed soon after.  They figured I'd be busy holding dogs for Mike and offered to take the pictures.  They were careful to spare ye the rear shots.  Mikes pants were falling down.  Sigh.

We managed the vaccinations on both with no hassle.

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If you try to pick Cassie up from under her front legs, she lets out a yelp.  Not sure why, so Mike had a check there too.  He didn't find anything to warrant her upset.  We just won't try to pick her up like that in future.

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Then came Cassie's worming shot.  Holy crap, she yelped and yelped for nearly 5 minutes after!  She was NOT a happy bunny.  I held her and talked to her until she calmed down, but she gave Mike a fierce hop.  He very nearly considered the whiskey after that.  lol

While I stayed calming Cassie, he had a feel of the latest lump on Lily.  He's not thrilled with it, but not sure it's a bad un yet.  He's given me a 10 day supply of steroids for Lily to see if it'll shrink a bit.  If it doesn't, he'll be going in and removing our new mystery lump.  Either way, she should be grand. 

After all was said and done, he added the latest vaccine stickers to Lily's record book.  He asked to see Cassie's papers and vaccine book, as I knew he would do, but Rook's has to get those off the trainer for me.  Meanwhile, Mike's holding on to the info/stickers from today's injections so he can add them when the papers land from England. 

One more cuppa to settle his nerves (he still wasn't right after Cassie's yelp fest) and he was off. 

And so were we.   More to follow.

[Laxie]

€40 lighter in the pocket (which wasn't bad to be fair), Cassie settled down after Mike left.  In fact, she was wired for sound within a few minutes.  Tail wagging and running around the place with Lily as if nothing had happened.  Sinéad gave them both treats.  Then Sinéad had the misfortune of picking up the leads.  She was only putting them back in the cupboard, but the dogs went ape shit.  Walkies time.  

Spring has arrived.  The sun was shining.  Birds were singing in the trees.  Cute bunnies  appeared in the fields hopping around enjoying the sunshine, doing whatever it is bunnies do.  We've bunnies in our fields.  Lots.  Cassie REALLY likes to chase them.  Lotser.  I know 'lotser' isn't a word, but work with me here.  

From the very minute we left them off the leads, Cassie looked up...and tore road - leaving us for dust.  She was a doggy on a mission.  And catching Bugs Bunny was her mission.  She was at the other end of the field before we knew it.  I was scuffling around looking for the whistle trying to find it before she got too far ahead of us.  Searched every pocket as fast as I could.  Cassie was heading for the second field.  Oh crap.

'MOM!!!  It's attached to the lead fer feck sake!  Hurry up!'    

Oh yeah.  I'd put it on the end of Lily's lead so I wouldn't lose it.  But I'd forgot where I put it with the worry and rush of things.  

'Cheers Sarah, but watch yer language fer feck sake.'  Where does she get it from?  I'll never know.

One blow of the whistle and Cassie stopped in her tracks, looking down the field at us.  One more blow of the whistle and she was barrelling back down the field towards us with that cheesy grin on her face.  RESULT!  The few days of recall practice with the whistle had paid off.  Bugs thanks us for it too.  Well, he didn't really, but I'm sure he would have if he weren't busy in the bunny A&E getting over his heart attack.

More bunnies were spotted as we rambled the fields, but I was ready for them.  Whistle to hand just in case.  Good thing, because Cassie wasn't finished yet.  Lily was clueless as to what they were chasing, but she knew something was up and didn't want to miss out.  

Sarah tried to talk them out of it for a few, but no joy...off they went.

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I love this whistle.  Seriously.  I'd be screwed without it.  Don't do running.  We left them off as long as they were in sight, but when they'd get too far it only took a toot of the whistle and back they came for their rubs and praise.

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Sarah and Lily having a chat while Cassie goes back to sniff mode.

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We spent the bones of an hour in the field this morning.  It was such a lovely morning, none of us wanted to go home.  But eventually the dogs were wrecked and Cassie was nearly begging us to head home.  All that bunny chasing will do that to you apparently.  She's been thrown down since...lazy bones.  Meanwhile, the bunny A&E is packed to the rafters this morning.  

Click to see full-size image.

  

[EvilPie]

Wow!

Recalling a dog from chasing a rabbit is really impressive!! My Ronnie's recall is almost perfect but when he's chasing a rabbit or a fox there's no chance.

Make sure you keep up the massive praise for recalling to that whistle and you've got easy street.

[Ismene]

Fantastic pics and stories TY.

She's such a good girl - I'm so pleased she's become part of the furniture so quickly - I love being part of Cassie's life vicariously through this thread - so please keep it up!

[The_duke]

Recalling a dog from chasing a rabbit is really impressive!!

Impressive? that's unheard of

[cia260895]

Cracking thread, well done Laxie fair play to ya 

[Bigfella]

Just discovered this thread - great read, well done Dawn