don’t mind my comment on the video, clearly I was wrong!

Poodle Puppy sharing Scare’s Mat, originally uploaded by bermudi.

this little puppy is at Carrie’s house where we train chickens. There are actually 7 dogs there, but they werent there today. Well two were but they are german shepherds who have killed a puppy in the past so they were crated while we were there. Scherzo gets nervous of big dogs, not to mention big dogs who eat small dogs! I meant to photograph us training chickens but got totally sidetracked by the puppy. Scherzo was getting upset that we were playing with chickens and she wasn’t so she was on her mat relaxing.

 ”EPA is intensifying its evaluation of all spot-on products…adverse reactions reported range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, death“

-Environmental Protection Agency

This stuff is passed out like candy by many many veterinarians. However,

“before use of these products on weak, aged, medicated, sick, pregnant or nursing pets, or on pets that have previously shown signs of sensitivity to pesticide products, EPA recommends that a veterinarian be consulted.”  - Full Article

Dogs who are fed kibble diets are often, if not sick, weak. These diets are, again, sold to consumers by their veterinarians. Brand names like Purina, Eukanuba, Science Diet etc are high in carbs, preservatives and “animal byproduct” the lowest quality meat possible, often road kill, sick animal carcasses and who knows what else. These dogs are also more likely to be over vaccinated and over medicated with other pesticides such as heartworm medications.  As such these dogs immune systems are compromised and they are at higher risk of experiencing side effects from the spot on flea treatments. These side effects may be the “minor” skin burns or irritation,  but they might also be cancer 5 years down the line.

also see: this article and this study

Scherzo passed level 3 and level 4 on the road! woot woot.

Scherzo’s new folding crate came yesterday and it’s huge! Oh well, better big than small. I got it on eBay so it was cheaper than if I’d bought the smaller size.

I didn’t know what Scherz would think of the new crate but it was awesome, I shaped her to go in and lay down in, I swear, about 30 sec. It was awesome. And very cute her chillin in her palatial crate. just happy to lay in there.

So, I am making some progress as a trainer. This is her when she was a puppy and she HATED her crate because I would just put her in there and close the door. I thought if she was forced to be in there for 30 min a day she would get used to it (DUMB, I know) :

As you can see Scherzo has almost passed level 3. Yes, it has taken a long time. But I realised that its because we don’t have a house, we basically have to learn everything on the road or atleast with lots of distractions. Our main places of training are the library parking lot, Border’s, Mac’s dad’s work, Mac’s mom’s house (where there are 3 other dogs) etc. So Scherz has passed all of level 3 on the road, and most of level 4, she has also passed about half of level 4. So, I guess the fact that it took over a year to get through level three doesn’t sound so bad now. She’s so awesome. Today we tested level 3 and 4 on the road stuff. She was a bit distracted and I was suprised because shes used to going new places, but then on the way out we realised that thing that had had her only a little distracted was a deer!

-20s with wind chill, but the dingo is nice and warm in her van. She thinks when it’s this cold she has to run anywhere she goes!