31 July, 2011

Happy Birthday Hyssy!

Can you believe Hyssing turns 2 today? Me neither! We've got a surprise for him, but not until tomorrow! You'll have to wait and see, just like Hyssy!






27 July, 2011

Gummi goes surfing

... well, not quite!
Gummi has been a little uncertain about the water (nothing strange, there, Bajas didn't get into a pool or lake voluntarily until he was 3 or 4 yrs old). But we got out a toy, the clicker and some treats and headed for the beach!

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Mom!! What are you DOING out there?!!

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No, no way, I'm not getting into that stuff!

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Oooh..

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Let me see - I'll just drink it all up, so I can come out without getting my toesies wet!

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OMD! OMD!

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Turns out he's actually waterproof and doesn't dissolve in the stuff! LOL..

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Waves and everything!

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Still not entirely confident, though.. Ha ha.. But we're working on it!

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Not a bad, start, though!

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Ane

25 July, 2011

Blueberry trip

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We took a little trip yesterday looking for blueberries.. the weather was a little unstable.

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You know you've gotten into the woods when there's sheep by the road.

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The one on the right looked SOOO content.

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We parked by this cute little house and had some lunch before we started out.

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Happy puppy!

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So pretty!

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It soon started to rain a little again, though.

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Gummi is crazy about picking the berries! Silly pup.

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Nom-nom-nom!

There were not too many berries, but we had a good time.

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We had to cross this river getting to and from the area.. On the way back I almost lost my footing and had to put poor Gummi down.. I hoped he's stay on one of the larger stones, but he had a little swim.. Poor guy - but I got hold of him again and he got safely across in the end.

24 July, 2011

Click?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your kind words about the terrible tragedy that occurred here in Norway on Friday. We also got our power back yesterday, after almost 5 hours. We have no idea what caused it, but it was fairly local (as the pizza place had power.. BOL!). We had ham and pepperoni pizza, and PA had jalapeños on his half.

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We've already shown you some of the tricks Gummi has been working on with Mom and the clicker. http://wrigglebutts.blogspot.com/2011/07/talented-puppy.html And we thought we'd talk a bit about what that's all about.


Clicker training is mostly associated with the clicker, like the one above here. Clicker training, however, generally refers to a special way of training where the sound from the clicker signals the dog that "yes! that's it!". It's called operant conditioning - think of Pavlov's dogs: the bell signaled to the dogs that the food was coming, making them salivate. In the same way the click tells the dog a reward is coming. It's usually treats (especially in the beginning), but it can also be a game of tug or something else the dog enjoys. The treats to be tasty, soft (easy to eat), small enough that they don't have to chew a lot and big enough to be worth working for. The main benefits of clicker training is the precision you get and the ability to shape behaviors. Shaping refers to clicking for random action from the dog - you teach the dog to sit by clicking when the dog happens to sit down. You teach the dog to close the cupboard door by clicking for him looking at it, then touching it with his nose or paw, then by giving it a push and so on. Instead of luring the dog to do what we want, we use what the dog does to shape into something we can use. Or just for fun, like with Gummi and that tire.

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Mom signed up for a free one week on-line clicker class just over a week ago and today we discovered that it's also available in English, so we thought we'd let you all know about it. http://www.canisclickertraining.com/ Just sign up and every day you'll get an e-mail with the theory and you/your dog's homework. It will work great with a cat, too. Virus has done a little clicker training, but Mom didn't really continue his training. You can find some more free classes here: http://www.clickerlessons.com/clicker.htm but it really was nice to get an e-mail reminding us to do the work every day. Gummi is signed up for puppy classes at the dog school the people from Canis is running - you can be sure you'll hear more about this in the future. BOL!

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Interested in a good read this summer? For anyone interested in the principles we warmly recommend the book "Don't shoot the dog" by Karen Pryor. http://store.clickertraining.com/dontshootdog.html Here's a link to it at the author's site, but it should be available many places. It's not specifically about dogs, despite what its name might suggest, but about how to make your kids go to bed on time, the angry bus driver to become happier and your cat stop using its claws when playing.. Just generally about how to shape the world around you into a better place.

Kisses,
B

23 July, 2011

No power

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you see my cute face. We're not able to get on line at the moment because our power went out. Mom and PA just got home with pizza, they've god power not too far away so we don't have to go hungry. BOL! Would be nice if it would come back, though..

Kisses, B

22 July, 2011

We're Safe

To all of you who have heard about the horrible things that have been happening here in Norway today, we just wanted to let you know we're safe. First a bomb went off downtown Oslo, in a place I passed so many times either on my way to work or when we were going up to the lake or other places with the boys..
Soon after there were reports of a man, dressed as a policeman, shooting kids at a political summer camp..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14256712

7 confirmed dead from the bomb and 10 at the island so far... It is truly unbelievable and our thoughts and sympathy go out to everyone affected by the tragedy.

21 July, 2011

Talented Puppy

Gummi is the first puppy I have used the clicker with almost from the start. He is catching on fast, and we're just shaping silly little tricks to get the hang of it. The very first thing we tried was the "touch". I'm going to transfer this to other objects later, but you use what you have available.

I've tried to take some videos with my phone while handling everything else - making both the quality of the video and of the training a bit below average, but at least we have some proof. :)




20 July, 2011

Walking Wednesday (so cute)

Hi guys!

I just have to show you this video of the boys out taking a stroll. The kitties are only allowed outside when the weather is nice and we are home. Virus LOVES it and Hyssy thinks it's pretty fun to chase the butterflies and bugs but also a bit scary. I generally let either Bajas or Gummi run free as long as I'm outside (the other one will be in the x-pen or indoors). One day I noticed Virus trying to make Bajas come along on a walk with him down the path towards the woods. They looked super cute walking away together, although I was a little worried. But I do think it is important for Bajas to know the area and be able to find his way back in case something happens so I let them leave.

Anyways - they now take their little walk from time to time. They only stay away a couple of minutes, but the other day I managed to get a video of their return.

18 July, 2011

I learnt a trick!

Mom and I went walking and she taught me a trick! I love jumping on top of stuff, so it wasn't very hard at all. When Mom say the word for "rock" I jump up on one of the big rocks!



See? Not hard at all!

Kisses,
Gummi

17 July, 2011

Gummi isn't the only one..

..growing! Our vegetable patch has grown a LOT since we moved.


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On Friday we were able to make the first meal with only veg and herbs from our own garden!

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Mom's impatiently waiting for the strawberries..

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...but we have plenty of wild ones! And blueberries and raspberries, too. The red currants are ripening now, but we haven't tasted any yet as you need proper shoes and clothes to approach the old bushes who haven't been picked for years and are surrounded by stinging nettles.

16 July, 2011

Trouble

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Yeah, that's right.. LOL.. I was looking for something else in the big box of dog stuff, when I saw this.. It was just too perfect!

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Come on, kitties! A little closer, please

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Puppies... ;)

14 July, 2011

Beach Bum

13 July, 2011

WTF Wednesday

?????

People can be so silly...

11 July, 2011

Monday Mousie

I gots it!

Purrs,
Hyssy

10 July, 2011

Sleepy Sunday

We hope you're all having a nice and relaxing day!


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09 July, 2011

My ball

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This is my ball!

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We have a lot of fun

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Sometimes Mom is a little stupid and throws it away..

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but I always find him again!

Kisses,
Gummi

08 July, 2011

A new friend

Now look what Gummi found the other night! BOL..



Mom was happy to see the little guy hop away afterwards. (He's zooming around with it in his mouth at the beginning..)

07 July, 2011

Yeah!

Okay, so we think we're back in business! We're having pretty lazy days, spending more time in the yard than unpacking. Not like the stuff is going anywhere.. We've got the wardrobes up, though, so now we have somewhere to put the clothes at least. The charger for the camera went missing during the move, so we're stuck with cell phone pix only, but we'll survive. Not sure if I want it to turn up again or not.. without it I can finally upgrade the camera. A new charger is pretty expensive, so since I have been wanting to upgrade the camera for I while I'd probably go for a new camera.

Here's a cute picture of Bajas and Gummi (well, parts of them..), don't you think?
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Bajas, being slightly unsteady on his hind legs and way too gentle to say NO, isn't the easiest dog to combine with a puppy. I generally keep them separated (one loose, one in the x-pen or puppy on leash) unless I can watch them constantly. Gummi will learn impulse control eventually, but for now he can be a bit too much for poor Bajas. We are working on his behavior and his impulse control, though. And his attention span is increasing (by seconds, rather than minutes, he he), which is making things easier. He is SO very much like Bajas as a puppy, more or less exactly like I expected. This, ironically, is somewhat unexpected.. He sleeps/relaxes better, though, and is a little more fond of chewing. But, he bites less/less painful places compared with Bajas.

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Now we're going to pick up P.A. who has been in Stockholm a few days. Will be bringing Gummi along, as he needs all the socializing he can get now that we live in the middle of nowhere.

Ane