Poor Al! Someone had a little too much fun last night!

So I found a fun little app where I can add captions to Al's photos using speech bubbles! Woo!

So I figured it was time for an update on all of the Alfie excitement! I've been so busy lately that I haven't had any time to add photos or tweets or anything! Eep!

Well since I last posted, Alfie has successfully (very successfully I should say) completed his second set of agility classes! I am so proud of my boy! I wish I had footage from his last class! He ran the course like a pro! For a little dog he doesn't have much trouble working away from me which is nice too! I can send him off to a tunnel from a good distance now. 

The weave poles are also looking good and he is getting faster and faster! For such an itty bitty guy he sure can step on the gas! Ha ha!

We also had our first real snow fall of the season this week and Al was shocked at first, not sure what the deal with all the white fluffy stuff was. Then when he realized he could chase snow balls and leap and bound through it he was hooked!

Sadly most of it has been washed away now in all of the rain, but it was still loads of fun while it lasted and I have tones of footage and pics!

Also! Alfie attended his first protest with me this year in front of the Vancouver Aquarium. It was a successful day and Al was such a trooper despite how cold it was. I was appearing as the Vancouver Mermaid so you can imagine I was pretty cold too. Towards the end I gave in and wrapped Al up in my poncho with me. A warm puppy was really comforting.

Before I forget let me insert two quick pics of Al and his pal Ginger in their Halloween costumes! So cute!

Alfie did get sick last month and had to miss an agility class which was a bummer. He had a mild case of kennel cough (dog flu). 

For people who aren't aware and are judging me for not vaccinating my dog, Alfie is vaccinated. However, the vaccination only covers one type. It's like colds in humans. No human ever gets the same cold twice and the same thing with dogs. So even if your dog is vaccinated, please be extra careful and avoid coming into contact with other dogs that may be sick or are exhibiting symptoms. Also note that it is possible to spread the virus for anywhere up to two months after they have had it. 

This is the main reason why Al always has his own dish wherever I go. I believe he caught it when he accidentally (I looked away for a split second) took a drink from a shared water dish...

Ah well. He had to be on some meds for a bit but he is a healthy and happy puppy once more!

Cheers!

So this is a photo from Alfie's last agility class at Zoomies! It was his very first class off leash and I have to say that I have never been so impressed with a dog before! He is so eager to please and so enthusiastic about agility that he almost seems like a different dog on the course! He's been steadily picking up speed as he's becoming more and more confident with the various pieces of equipment. This will be awesome down the line, but it definitely means I will need to work extras hard to keep up with the little guy! You would not believe how fast he can run! Ha ha!

We also went to a Halloween event for dogs and their owners at the local Bosley's along with our own party this weekend so you could say it was an Alf-tastic two days! 

I'll post some more photos this week and you can definitely expect some videos coming up soon!

Have a great start to your week everyone!

So I thought in celebration of the fact that this month is Adopt a Shelter Dog month, I would share with you a little information about my little rescue dog Alfie!

Alfie was rescued from a puppy mill in the States. Our best guess is that he is a Chinese Crested/Border Terrier mix. He was rescued and spent 6 months at the Dhana Metta Rescue Society.

Lots of people met Alfie and lots of people liked him, but no one wanted to adopt him. When I found out about Alfie, I was really interested in meeting him. My boyfriend's cousin was fostering Alfie's brother and said that Al was a real little sweetheart.

So I applied for him! I was pretty excited to meet him, but as luck would have it, there was another couple interested in him! After 6 months and then BAM! Two sets of people interested! I was so worried that things wouldn't work out, but they did! I will be forever grateful to Yuana at Dhana Metta for picking me!

Alfie has truly completed our little family. He is the sweetest little guy! He even gets along with my three year old Parrotlet named Tinkerbell. The two of them hangout together and I am yet to have an issue with Al. Tink on the other hand thinks it's fun to dive-bomb Al and tease him... Silly bird.

He is the smartest little guy too! I'll have you know that over the span of about 20 minutes he learned how to shake with both paws depending on which hand I offer him. 20 minutes!! He's even picked up more complicated tricks like "bird dog" and can go from "down" to "sit" without much more than a hand signal!

All this is in addition to how amazing he's been doing in his agility classes and how wonderful he is with people and other dogs! Alfie is yet to meet someone who hasn't adored him! 

I tell you all of this because when Alfie first came to me he was really shy, very timid and easily frightened. He has transformed into an adventurous, social, outgoing little guy all because people were willing to give him a chance.

Rescuing a dog is a really special gift especially when your dog can rescue you in return. Alfie makes my days so much brighter and happier and I don't know what I'd do without him!

Thank-you so much Dhana Metta Rescue Society!

So we've now had two agility classes and are looking forward to our third one tomorrow afternoon!

Alfie has been absolutely amazing! We have had no problems with any of the equipment so far and he is picking it up faster than I ever thought possible!

So far we have tried everything but the teeter. He hasn't shown any fear of any of the pieces of equipment so far which has been really nice!  He even went through the tunnel on his first try without too much help! After two tries now he just powers clean through them!

OH! Before I forget! Last night we met another Chinese Crested and Al was so pumped! It was really cute! The more Chinese Cresteds I meet the more of the breed I see in Al! They are pretty rad little dogs for sure!

Alfie's stomach has still been a little upset over the last month, but we seem to have sorted it out now. He is back to dry kibble only but the big change is we are leaving his food out all for him to eat whenever he wants now. This seems to have cleared up all his anxiety around his food which is AMAZING since now he is finally eating a proper daily portion of food! Hopefully this will mean he puts on a little more weight as well! With all of the walking, running and agility we've been doing he doesn't seem to keep weight on, but the muscle is definitely starting to build a bit though! I've noticed it in his legs mostly. Plus his coat is starting to look a little thicker and glossier (I'll thank the Blue Buffalo food for that).

Well! All in all, Al is fitting in with the family really well and I am so grateful that I get to be his forever home!

Well tomorrow is the big day! We start our agility classes tomorrow and we are both totally pumped! I started Alfie on some target training a few days ago and he is such a fast learner it actually completely blows my mind... When I say fast, I mean over the course of twenty or so minutes he learned to touch the target when asked. He also learned how to deal with it when the target wasn't within reaching distance. Meaning that he now understands to go to the target (wherever it is), touch it and stay there. Crazy right!? How did I get so lucky!? 

I have been sick all this week which has really sucked and so I haven't been able to do anymore jump training with him, but I think he'll do great regardless.

It's pretty rad to see what all of this work has been doing for his confidence too! When he sits now, he doesn't tuck in his tail or flip right over onto his back when you go to give him a cuddle. 

He has come so far that even people we meet in the park who have seen him a couple of times have noticed and complimented me on my work with him! It's pretty rewarding for sure!

I can't wait to get started on agility tomorrow! It's been years since I used to train with Lucky so I really hope I don't goof up too bad...

Wish us luck!

So I thought, since I seem to have mastered this issue (I say this knocking on wood of course hehe), that it might cool to share some of the things I have tried and what has worked for us so far!

Now for those of you who know me, you will know that I am a pretty huge Cesar Millan fan. He is brilliant! No kidding! His method of exercise, discipline and affection really is the answer! I've made a few changes, but have based my method mostly on his.

First off, nothing is going to help if your dog isn't tired. A tired dog is a relaxed dog. So here you will need to experiment with how long a walk it takes to drain your dogs energy. If you have a treadmill that works too.

Next you will have to decide whether you will crate your dog, keep him in a pen or section off an area of the house. I keep Al in my office with my parrot (the two of them are buds so I wouldn't recommend this if your dog has a strong prey drive).

Here is a snippet of our morning routine. I wake up at 6:15am and am ready and out the door with Al by 7am. We go for a walk up to the park, around it and back. We get home by 7:50am. Then it's breakfast for Tink, breakfast for Al and then breakfast for me! Then by 8:15 Al is in his crate and I'm out the door shortly after. This schedule has really worked for us, but you may need to experiment and see what works for you!

Try not to give your dog an excessive amount of affection (don't judge me yet, let me finish) right when you both wake up. Get suited up and head out for your walk. Don't make a big fuss about it, just do it. Think positive thoughts!

I'm no expert, I just go by what feels right. What I do know is that "bad manners" as I like to call them are not allowed. You are the leader, so make sure you are in charge of the situation. Trust me, it will make your dog feel a lot better if he knows you are in control of things.

Make sure your dog has some "dog" time too though. I take Al up to the park and let him roam around and do his own thing for a bit. But it's always up to me when we stop and when we go.

After our walk I give loads of cuddles and snuggles to my little guy. Now we can start our day since we have woken up, traveled, had a successful walk and now it's time to eat!

Dogs will often become anxious if they feel hungry when you aren't home. We've experimented on this and can say so with certainty that when Al hadn't been fed beforehand he would whine and if he had he would sleep. Please don't misunderstand me, Alfie is always well fed and never goes hungry!

Once you know you need to start packing up to leave, you need to realize that your dog is watching you. You'll probably notice him following you, maybe he's whining a little bit or maybe he's just staring without blinking... Yep, Al is guilty of all of those behaviours.

The trick here is not to ask why, not to say things like, "He just won't stop!" and not to get frustrated. Believe it or not, if you take charge of the situation and stop thinking it's up to your dog, you can stop these unwanted behaviours pretty quick.

First off, as hard as I know it is, don't feel sorry for your dog. He will pick up on this and start to get anxious. Here is what you need to do:

If you have a computer and a mic, download Audacity and record your dog! Listen to what he's up to!

Now now Al you know you aren't supposed to be jumping up on people... He he...

So I thought I would drop in and give a quick progress report on how Al has been doing!

It was looking a little grim there for a while, but with patience, LOTS of exercise and crate training him again from scratch he now makes no noise at all during the day! Not a peep! He's been consistent too! It's been really nice knowing that he's feeling happy enough to just relax during the day when I'm at work.

We had a little hiccup though last week when Al got really sick and we had to take him to the vet. He had bloody diarrhea and I was really scared that something serious was wrong. Good news though, everything is fine and it was just a reaction to a different flavour of canned food we switched too. Turns out he dislikes lamb as much as I do, who knew? He he... (I'm actually a vegetarian now, but when I did try it that one time I got pretty sick.)

ALSO! Very exciting news! We've signed up for our agility classes starting on Sept 22nd! We are really pumped! I've been working with Al and the one jump that I have and he is a natural! I can't believe how high he clears the ten inch jump!

The only other change that we made was he now sleeps in our room on either his chair (with loads of blankets and pillows) or under my arm in bed (which he does in the middle of the night without waking me up so in the morning I have a little pup under the covers with me haha).

All in all he is such a good boy and I love him to pieces!

I thought it might be fun to share one of Lucky's old agility videos! She's such a good girl! I really miss having her around.