What’s going on Romeo?

It’s more of that 5 minutes a day dog training thing Mother is doing with us.

OHYAY! *jumps around like popcorn*

What yay, they just want us to respond immedia….”

Mother: JULIET!

Father: ROMEO!

*runs to Mother*

*runs to Father*

………………………………………..

Day 5 pre-course

Collar Grab – cooked meats – patio at night – 6 tries per dog – both very attentive – no one was bothered with the collar grab outdoors

Call Once game with Collar Grab – cooked meats – living room – at least 35 tries per dog – with co-trainer – Romeo broke into a run and was very attentive; Juliet ran slowly but missed her name a few times (might be because her name was called at the same time with Romeo’s? Not a problem if called just after or before), also very attentive; no problem with collar grabs.

YAY! More training! More treats! I’m so loving the course already! It’s so much fun!

What exactly is fun about having one’s collar grabbed?!

That’s not all there is! There’ll be more soon, it’ll get more interesting! But the idea is that Mother has to follow the e-course and train for at least 5 minutes a day! She says this will help improve our recall. I don’t really need to improve mine coz mine is FAB-U-LOUS. *beams*

Uh huh.

………………………

Day 2 pre-course (course starts 1 August)

Collar grabs – cooked meats – living room / study - >25 reps per dog – 10 with name being yelled before collar grab – both R+J looked happy to have their collars grabbed and “dragged” to Mother – both ok with name yell

Call Once game with Collar Grab – cooked meats – living room – 5 tries per dog – no co-trainer – Romeo didn’t break into a run but cantered to Mother; Juliet ran of course!

Look at the pretty flower Mother put on me. She’s trying to doll me up for the wedding. She really needn’t try so hard. I’m a gorgeous little girl as it is! *primps*

Yes! I’m back online. The last few months have been a whirlwind of crazy activity. Let me tell you about the biggest change.

I now have a sister. Her name is usually Juliet. But when she’s doing something wrong, her name is “Sharndah Star Crossed Luva JULIET!!!!!” When she’s being a good girl, her name is “oh Julietti~!”

This is her.

Mother told me I was getting a sister months ago and she showed me this picture of her.

I thought Awww. She’s such a cutie! Mother would tell me all the little things she gets from Aunt T about Juliet. Juliet is an active puppy and even does sit ups!

Mother was really worried when Juliet first arrived coz I started to hump her. Mother thinks it must be because Juliet smelled like a female in heat as there was one at the breeder’s when Mother went to get Juliet from Melbourne Australia. But, no one had to worry, except for me. The next morning I found out what Juliet was really like – a fiesty lil’ bitc… *sigh* Yes Mother. No cussing.

Anyway, Juliet snapped at me and chased me around whenever I tried to be fresh with her. I learnt pretty quickly not to mess with this little miss. Her breeder calls her “pocket rocket”. That is very true the way she runs circles around me.

She’s been with us since April and she’s now almost 6 months old! She was born on boxing day 26 December 2009.

Now those who know me, know that I have a very large circle of personal space around me. I don’t like to be touched much by other dogs. Juliet knows no such concept. She can be so annoying. She chews on my ears, pulls my tail, bites my legs and tries to stand over me. I didn’t like it at first but I figured I should get her at her own game so now I mouth her as well. I’ve learnt how to get her to play games my way too! She’s so silly and falls for it all the time. I take a toy and toss it around. She wants everything I have so she’ll come running and when she does, I take off and she’ll give chase! My favourite! Chasies! Sometimes we play tug together also.

Did I mention she can be annoying? She always takes my things! Mother gives us the same toys the same treats the same pigs ears, but she always wants mine! It’s as if she sees me having so much fun with mine but she doesn’t know how to eat/play with hers so thinks there is something wrong with what she has and wants mine instead. SIGH. Oh yes, that’s my bed she’s standing on in the first picture. Hers is EXACTLY the same just it’s purple. DOUBLE SIGH. Oh and Mother says I need to change my blog coz I should let Juliet write too. But she’s a puppy! She doesn’t know anything!! I swear, if I have to make my website PINK… *grumble grumble* TRIPLE SIGH.

But you know, for all her annoying habits, I really enjoy spending time with her (with the occasional need for solitude). Mother says I seek her out sometimes to play and it’s not just Julietti who comes running to me. I also benefit from her stealing my treats coz sometimes I end up eating more than I would have (most of mine and almost all of hers) if I only had my treat. She’s also helping me with my weight loss coz I’m running away from her alot or chasing her for taking my stuff.

She may be like the pesky fly that doesn’t seem to go away but she’s my little pesky fly sister and I love my wee sis, Little Miss Juliet.

“Uh-oh. What did I do now?” I wondered as I slowly made my way to Mother’s “office” (aka her room but she likes to feel important).

“Romeo, please sit. Sit. SIT I SAY!”

I comply and look at her with the saddest face I could muster hoping I won’t get into too much trouble. Ohmigod, what if she takes away my treats?!

“It has come to my attention that your adolescence has not ended. I don’t understand. I thought you were all grown up. Explain yourself.”

“Err.. I have urges. I have strong desires to sniff and meet every female I meet and suss out every male competition I come across! I didn’t mean anything by it!” I cry, keeping my legs closed tightly in hopes she doesn’t realise the true cause of my behaviours.

“You can uncross your legs boy. I cannot neuter you.”

PHEW!!!

“BUT you must learn to pay me more heed, do you hear me? I cannot simply cease to exist the moment we walk out the front door. You MUST place Mother above all else – above females, pee smells, whatever. You must LOOK AT MUMMY from time to time. You must check in with me.”

“Whaaaaat.” Oops. Shouldn’t have said that out loud. Mother narrows her eyes to thin slits. Her eyes drill holes into my head.

“I will teach you how to do this since you clearly don’t know how. I will teach you how to give me ATTENTION.”

Uhoh here it comes!

“From now on, you will not have free access to anything outdoors. You will no longer be allowed off leash or to dog parks. You will be tethered to me at all times until you learn the meaning of ATTENTION. You will not be permitted to sniff or mark any tree, pole, bush or other object when we are outdoors. You will (as far as possible) not be allowed to meet dogs anymore.”

“WHAT! No! That’s unfair! UNREASONABLE! I wil call the Sheltie Union on you!” say I as I bang my paw on her desk in a show of false bravado.

“Oh you and your pigheaded demon-spawn stubborn crazy behaviour. Sit your ass down! I’m not done. If you want to be able to do any of what I am now restricting, you may. PROVIDED you look at me.”

Huh. WTF. I stare back at her blankly. Me no comprehende.

Mother purses her lips. “Geez, when you’re a teen your brain goes too doesn’t it? I MEAN, every time you look at me, you will be rewarded with whatever you so really want to do, like tree sniffing. If we are on a walk, for example, you will be required to walk close to me on loose leash and not sniff anything at all. If you do, for whatever reason hallelujah praise the Lord, actually LOOK ME IN THE EYES, I will let you mark and sniff the nearest tree to your heart’s content.”

*mumble mumble* “yeeeea alright….” *more moaning and groaning*

“I’m tired of your teenage don’t give a damn about mum behaviour. It makes Mother feel like a pile of doodoo. Ok, you’re dismissed.

Oh wait. I forgot to tell you. We’ve got a new comer joining us soon. A girlie called Juliet. She will be your sister. You had better buck up before she gets here and set a good example for her to follow! Or else!! Ok now go. Shoo shoo. Give mummy some time alone to play Cafe World and Farmville.” as Mother shuts the door behind me.

Juliet? What? Who??

Here are two old videos Mother made of me playing with the Dog Casino and Dog Brick. Pfffft. Easy peasy!

Check me out in all my graphite glory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

There is a key inside the house which she’d tried to grab but this time she’d knocked it too far for her to reach. “ARRRGGGHH!!!! *censored* How am I going to get into the house!?!?” she screamed.

What then did Mother do?

What every clicker trainer with a dog in the house might do. She clicker trained her way to the key!

She had with her some leftover treats from the morning and of course her trusty clicker. She waved a treat in front of me and pointed frantically at the key in her desperation, telling me to “bring it here” repeatedly. I however, couldn’t see the key and fetched her all of my toys except the key. Groaning in frustration, she stumbled upon a way to get me to notice the key on the ground. She started throwing treats at it, but that didn’t work of course. Then she got me to fetch her a ball toy and tossed that. It did the trick and jingled the key which caught my attention. The minute my nose hit the key for a sniff – CLICK! Mother clicked for every nose touch, then tried to get me to pick it up. But the silly woman never taught me to pick up small metal articles before so I was abit wary of doing that. I think she probably realised she didn’t have enough treats to go through the whole process and decided to click for pawing the key towards her, and I do love to use my paws!

10 minutes later, Mother was at the fridge taking out a knuckle bone as a reward for my hard work. I’m not sure if she’ll learn her lesson and take a key with her whenever she leaves the house or if she’ll see this as a challenge and actually put key-taking on cue! Burglary by clicker training anyone?

Mother took me to Sentosa recently to look at a possibly wedding dinner venue (she didn’t like it in the end) and we were making our way to my favourite “exhibit”, the giant turtles. On the way there, we had to pass a forested area, and as we were walking closer, a monkey appeared. It looked male and it was big. Mother muttered something about it possibly being the leader or alpha of the rest of the monkeys we could hear behind the trees. She eyed the monkey very cautiously, who had made its way down the tree and onto the road. We were less than 10 meters away! Mother stopped of course when she saw the monkey on the road, worried about going further. I don’t know why though coz I can surely take him on!! GRRR *strikes macho pose*

Next thing I knew, Mother turned around and walked back where we came from. I wouldn’t let it go of course and constantly turned around and started to growl and bark abit, which alarmed Mother and she hushed me and tried to distract me from the monkey. Mother turned around at one point and saw that the monkey was hissing, baring teeth and started to come closer. She picked up the pace and practically dragged my “ready for a fight” ass away. Thankfully (to mom) the monkey did not follow.

Mother said her heart was pounding and she was mentally preparing herself to fight the monkey and keep me from harm. I was thinking of all the ways I could tear that monkey apart!! I don’t know why Mother thinks she needs to protect me. Pfft. I am MANLY MACHO RAMBO ROMEO. I can take that puny primate!

After her heartbeat returned to normal, she wondered what we did that could have ticked the monkey off. Then she burst out laughing.

“What? What, Mother?!”

“I think the monkey thought YOU were an intruding monkey. You’re the same colour as he was! And furry! And about the same size! Teeheehee. You look like this! Hahaha! Mommy’s little monkey boy! ”

“…… *grumbles*  I think that monkey’s friggin’ blind.”