Tomorrow, on Halloween day, will mark 2 years since we first brought Bonnie home! It’s unbelievable to think how this little collie has changed and influenced my life ❤
This week was fairly uneventful except for the many fireworks let off! Thankfully Bonnie was not bothered by 95% of them and only barked at the loudest ones after being bombarded by them most of Saturday evening.
Not amused after having a bath – she was covered head to toe in mud but we didn’t get a before photo!Make sure you haven’t missed any spots!
On Wednesday we were disappointed in the result of the Great British Bake Off final as we were rooting for Andrew – he’s from Northern Ireland too and such a fab baker.
Bonnie was prepared for the bake off final – well as chief crumb cleaner at least!
With the fireworks and general festivities this week we didn’t have too many exciting walks to avoid putting Bonnie into any situations she couldn’t cope with but we did manage to get a nice trip out to Hazelbank park today for a good run around!
It’s such a beautiful park especially with all the autumn foliage but it is slightly ruined by out of control off-lead dogs. I wish their owners would respect others’ space, I just don’t understand how they can’t see that their dog is a problem when it won’t recall – if you don’t have a good recall use a long line! I used to be afraid of dogs and remember the feeling so well that I would never want anyone to be afraid or wary of my dog’s actions whether they are an adult, child, runner, cyclist, a reactive dog owner etc.
Off lead fun – dragging a long line just in caseLift off!Incoming!We love practising recalls 😀
We tried being artsy and getting some photos of Bonnie on this fallen tree trunk but it didn’t work out so well and I somehow ended up standing in poo of god knows what type of animal xD
I spent another Saturday with the dog trainer and really enjoyed it again – I’m learning so much! I also had my first experience of holding onto a large breed while it tried pulling and lunging – thankfully I was able to hold my ground! I’ve only ever walked small – medium dogs before so I was very proud of myself xD
I’ll end this post with a very typical looking nail cutting scenario – note the packet of ham, phone used as a torch (black nails are the worst!) and plenty of belly rubs along the way!
Hurry up and give me the ham!
I hope you all had a safe Halloween weekend and that your pets weren’t too disturbed by all the commotion.
I have a bit of time between work and my dog behaviour class so thought I would throw out a very brief week in review post! This week was very much a case of same old, same old. Bonnie is getting on well, the degus are well, work and the course is going well. I shadowed the dog trainer for another Saturday which was just as interesting as last weeks and I’m loving absorbing all of the information!
The weather has got very chilly suddenly and it feels like winter is just around the corner. This time next week (on Halloween day) we will be celebrating Bonnie being with us for 2 years which is very exciting! Hopefully I’ll get a few more regular posts up about her gotcha day celebrations. We are usually more active on social media as it’s much quicker than writing a post so check out our links below if you’re interested in keeping up with Bonnie’s adventures! We didn’t take many photos this week but here are some of my favourites 🙂
I love belly rubs!More belly rubs please!Rare photo of all three at once! Love little Azoth posing for the camera ❤Bonnie wrapped up in the cold weather behaving lovelyStopping to “smell the roses”Those cold autumn walks sure do take it out of her!Sleepy little tongue sticking out ❤
These weeks just seem to getting more and more busy which has left me a bit exhausted but I’m learning to cope and I’m very happy with how things are going. I have a week long holiday in a few weeks time though so I’m really looking forward to that although we still have a few things we need to buy before we go away. Anyway onto what happened this week!
On Monday I attended the 2nd class of my dog behaviour course. I’m still getting used to Monday routines as it means a full day of work, having dinner in the office, travelling to class then getting home around 9.30 and by that time I’m ready for my bed! In case anyone is worried Bonnie is catered for as we have a dog walker at lunchtime and my partner arrives home at the normal time.
How we feel about Monday mornings!
On Tuesday we worked from home and at lunchtime we took Bonnie into town with us to get some milkshakes as a treat (this may be becoming an awful habit xD). She wore her “Do not disturb” vest and it seemed to make some people aware. She was on her best behaviour and as we were heading back to the car we came across a westie that was barking and lunging at Bonnie while tied outside a shop. Bonnie startled a bit but kept her cool and walked beside me calmly then.
Then at the top of the street there was a woman with three dogs – one terrier type was again barking and lunging, but Bonnie still kept her cool. The woman seemed to purposely avoid coming near us so hopefully the vest is working! It was quite funny as some elderly women nearby seemed to be commenting on how well behaved Bonnie was in comparison to the two shrieking dogs xD Tuesday was a long work day and I didn’t get finished work until well after dinner time so I didn’t have any energy to do a blog post or progress on my assignments.
Tuesday not much better!
Wednesday was a fairly normal work day for us and I was finally able to do the blog post on the class and made some more progress on my assignment.
On Thursday I worked from home and had planned to go out for drinks with co-workers after work but that didn’t quite work out! At lunchtime I took Bonnie out for a walk but we had a bit of an incident with a wasp which was just inside the front door of our house. As you might know Bonnie got stung 7(!) times in total a while back now and clearly is still terrified of them.
Don’t jump Bonnie! – there’s a stream lower down over this wall and I’m waiting for the day I need to pull her out of it!
We did a normal walk and when we came back to the house Bonnie wouldn’t go through the front door. I eventually managed to get her in but she went out to the kitchen and lay down for a few hours totally avoiding the living room and front of the house. Needless to say I wasn’t going to go out and leave her alone and terrified in the house so I sat with her to make sure she was okay and she eventually came around. Later that night I collected my partner from the night out and by the time we went to bed it was well after midnight!
Friday was a normal work day and I was pleased that I had finally got a project sorted which I’d been working on for some time. But with how busy we had been this week when we came back from work we pretty much feel asleep without even having dinner. Thankfully we had the animals fed and sorted and Bonnie was very accommodating and just snoozed with us!
That was a tough work week!
Saturday was a very exciting day for me! Earlier in the week I had contacted one of the trainers who runs the dog behaviour course asking if I could help out or observe at any of his classes and events to gain more practical experience. He very kindly offered me the opportunity to come along to his classes on Saturday morning and also that I was welcome to attend his behavioural home visits afterwards. I couldn’t believe my luck! I set out to met at his house for 9am and we travelled down to the location for the classes together.
The first class was a puppy class and the puppies were absolutely lovely and the owners were really keen and did a brilliant job. We had a Newfoundland, a Chihuahua, an Akita, a Cocker Poodle cross and a Cocker Spaniel so was a good mix! A Mini Schnauzer didn’t turn up so maybe we will see them next week. The second class was for adult dogs and it was great to see the owners try their best especially as some of them were rescue dogs.
Then we went on to do three home visits which was really interesting to see different behavioural issues and solutions for those. All the owners seemed really keen and committed which I was really impressed with.I finally got back home before dinner time so was almost like another work day this week! I am welcome to come back again next week so we shall see if I can hack it!
Bonnie’s crisis – why does mum smell like so many other dogs
Finally today on Sunday we travelled to Pet Warehouse again to stock up on Bonnie’s raw food and also some treats for her Birthday coming up on Halloween day! Then afterwards we went out on a lovely walk in a local park. It felt very autumnal and we had a blast with the frisbee – Bonnie is starting to get the fun of the game!
Feeling like Autumn now!Wee poser!Look at her go!Both ears up!Ahh so exciting! I love the frisbee now!Throw it that way!
Needless to say we are taking it easy the rest of today! Hope you guys had a great weekend and are re-energised for the week ahead!
This week I felt pretty tired, unmotivated and like I hadn’t achieved much but now looking back it was actually a pretty busy and productive week, funny how that happens! This time last week I got a new phone and I have been really enjoying using all the new functions and the camera on it, it’s definitely a big upgrade from my previous 3 year old phone and it’s nice to not have to always be bugging my partner to take photos or borrow his phone haha.
For this week’s walks we did a mixture of walking around our neighbourhood, into town, along the seafront and also to our favourite park Hazelbank to take final advantage of the summer opening hours as it now closes early at 8pm 😦 As always we are continuing our loose lead training, general focus outside and muzzle training.
Nothing too out of the ordinary happened this week on walks except 1. A small grumbly match between her and an off-lead lab but it wasn’t really anything to worry about and she came away easily 2. In Hazelbank while me and Bonnie were playing off-lead another off-lead dog came out of nowhere with owners halfway across the park and started a chase game with Bonnie. Thankfully since Bonnie was already in a playful mood from playing about with me she didn’t take offence and just had a bit of fun with it, but it was really difficult to get them to stop and the other dog’s owners didn’t attempt to call it back or even walk closer to help out.
Carrickfergus castlePosing outside Shake Shack – we have become slightly obsessed with their milkshakes!Muzzle training on our walks – not paying attention at all as there is a bird over there xD
I have been having a lot of fun with recording videos especially slow motion as it’s so fascinating to watch things slowed down! The first video is after a few attempts at learning a switch sides cue while walking. And the other two are just fun slow motion videos 🙂
We bought a frisbee this week to see how Bonnie would react and if she would like to chase it as when we first got her she didn’t really know how to play at all. As you can see below she didn’t quite get the appeal!
After so much muzzle training recently this is what she came up with haha
Our office took part in the Macmillan Cancer coffee morning on Friday and we baked some chocolate brownies to contribute. Bonnie tried her best to convince me that she deserved a brownie too – sorry Bonnie but not a chance!
We went back to Pet Warehouse NI to buy more Nutriment as she is really getting on fab with it. We have had no upset stomachs yet since switching her over so fingers crossed! She did great in the store but we got ambushed by a man who encouraged her excitement and when we said sorry please ignore her we are training rather than him acknowledging that and backing off, he instead encouraged her jumping, petted her and asked what she was training for and asking us to clarify multiple times. God I was so mad as both me and my partner tried to make it clear that we didn’t want to be disturbed but anymore we are just going to walk the other way than try to explain ourselves. When we came home we ordered a slip lead and customised vest/jacket thing to hopefully get the message across to ignore us as her little training bandanna is quite hard to notice so we will do a post on those items when they arrive.
Later that night I had a little chilled out grooming session with Bonnie (cutting her nails, trimming her hairy feet, brushing) and I thought it was adorable that she feel asleep between my legs afterwards although my legs were starting to go numb hanging off the sofa as I didn’t want to disturb her haha
Today we don’t have anything too exciting planned – we are going to have a relaxing day since tomorrow I will be starting my dog behaviour course(!) which means I have a 14hr day ahead so think I’ll need the energy for then! Hope you guys all had a great weekend and are refreshed for the week ahead!
Looking super fit at the minute 🙂 not that you can see much because of the long fur!
This week brought cooler temperatures, darker nights and plenty of rain! It’s definitely starting to feel more like autumn now. We have had to bring out Bonnie’s raincoat and my hat and scarf for some of this week’s walks.
Bonnie’s little rain coat for wet weatherAt our favourite park – starting to get chilly!
Bonnie is still enjoying her Nutriment raw food and is getting on great with it. We have got used to storing, defrosting and serving it and it’s really no more inconvenient than kibble. As it is a complete and balanced meal it’s straightforward but I imagine DIY raw would be much more involved because of research, finding suppliers for each component and balancing the diet.
Bonnie doing her best begging poseBegging over now give me the food!
On the training sides of things we have got a new bigger muzzle which fits Bonnie much better and have been getting her used to that. We are also getting her used to leaving her alone and be happy in her pen by feeding all her meals in there.
New muzzle at the top (size 4) is much more comfortable on Bonnie
As I love to take videos of our training sessions to keep track of our progress, critique my technique and also to share with you guys I bought a Tripod for my phone so I could record videos easier without my partners help. It’s quite a cool design and will definitely be used a lot in future!
Love the design of this – can be used in so many ways!
She is getting better with the potty bells and is now nudging them while they hang on the door handle with her nose. She only rings it when I am near the door so just need to work on adding distance so I don’t need to be near the door for her to ring them herself. That’s really all for us this week, we haven’t really been up to much special or even taking many photos so that’s all folks!
All snuggled up – best thing to do on a chilly day!
This week started on a high note on Monday as we collected our portrait of Bonnie. Unfortunately the rest of the week was a bit of a bust! On Tuesday night I became ill with a bug and had to take Wednesday off work. Bonnie was my faithful companion and stayed by my side the entire day.
Nurse Bonnie looking after me
On Thursday I was still recovering but felt more rested so I was able to work from home. I was still very lethargic so instead of our usual lunchtime walk we played some football in the garden instead. It was a great way to tire Bonnie out without draining my energy too much.
Bonnie trying to fit the entire ball in her mouth!
On Friday I was well enough to return to the office but when we had came back we discovered Bonnie had an upset stomach and had a little accident (she does have a walker that comes by midday but this must have happened just before we came home). She had somehow managed to get a little bit in her “trousers” so that’s now a lot shorter and tidier. We were both pretty drained from being ill so we didn’t do anything adventurous together that night.
On Saturday I was finally feeling better enough to take Bonnie on a more exciting outing that would require a bit more concentration than our usual walks in the neighbourhood. We decided to go to Pet Warehouse NI which is an independent pet supply store nearby in Hillsborough. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos in store as we were trying to keep Bonnie calm and get our shopping done, but we were really impressed. There was a big variety of items that you wouldn’t usually get in other stores like Pets at Home, prices were pretty reasonable and the staff were all lovely and doted on Bonnie even though she was all overexcited.
It’s much bigger on the inside than it looks!
We bought Frozzys blueberry frozen yoghurt treats as we had tried them recently in Portrush and Bonnie loved it. It’s perfect for cooling her down on warm days but it is pretty expensive for what it is so it will be a rare treat.
We also purchased 7 tubs of Nutriment in the Duck flavour. Nutriment is a raw food that is highly rated and we have been wanting to try Bonnie with raw food and see how she gets on. She is currently eating Eden Country Cuisine which is one of the best dry foods and gets added fresh vegetables and fruit but after reading so many peoples’ positive experiences with raw feeding and reading about reducing risk of cancer and increasing lifespan from Rodney Habibs work, I just want to try my best by Bonnie to give her the longest and healthiest life I can. She will be starting it from tomorrow and I’ll keep you guys updated on how we get on.
Ooohh what’s this? This is for me right?
Today Bonnie was still feeling a bit under the weather as she had another upset stomach during the night so we haven’t done anything out of our usual routine. In other news I’m nearly finished reading through In Defence of Dogs and will be moving onto Don’t Shoot The Dog soon. I’m trying to read through as much as I can before class starts but I am also trying my best not to rush too much in case I skim over something important or not fully take in what I’m reading so it’s all about getting a balance!
Pensive little doggy sunbathing
I’m hoping this week I’ll be back to my usual self and can get stuck into reading, go on more adventurous walks with Bonnie and make some progress on my DIY project as I haven’t had the energy to work on it this week!
We have been off work most of this week and we have had such a blast! I wont be able to fit in all the pictures and everything that I want to include in this post but I thought I would briefly cover what adventures we had!
On Monday we didn’t do anything too special as I was still in work. On Tuesday we decided to go back to the Valley park and afterwards went to Hazelbank park which is quickly becoming one of our favourite spots! Here’s our full post on this day out.
DuckiesMet this lovely collie and owner
Also on Tuesday morning I had received an email from Louis at Select Portraits (Facebook page here) asking if I would like a portrait of Bonnie which was so lovely for him to offer. I was more than thrilled to accept the offer and the finished piece is absolutely amazing – I am always in awe of artist’s skills I just can’t comprehend the time and talent that goes into such wonderful art. I will be collecting the piece tomorrow so I can’t wait to show you guys! Find the post here.
On Wednesday we decided to pay another visit to Pet & Country Dog Friendly Café and Pet Shop. Afterwards we went into Portrush to have a dander about and get some fish and chips to eat at the seafront – it was total bliss until Bonnie decided it was a bit too peaceful for her liking! Again I’ll be doing a separate post because there’s too many photos to include here!
Chilling at the caféFeeling the sand between our toes!
On Thursday me and my partner went to visit my mum for half of the day (she lives 90 minutes drive away) and Bonnie got a walk with her usual walker while we were out. When we came back I fancied buying a game so we took Bonnie into Belfast city centre with us – she was fab!
So hard to get action shots that aren’t blurry! She’s turning into a proper city dog though!
On Friday we didn’t do anything special. We all had a bit of a chill out day as we were a bit tired from all our travelling which I think Bonnie appreciated as she was so sleepy and snugly all day.
On Saturday we spent a bit of time in the garden in the afternoon and finally got around to cutting the grass – this warm and wet weather means it was turning into a bit of a jungle! We even found a little frog which we transported over the wall just in case Bonnie thought about eating it!
Sorry for destroying your home!
In the evening we took Bonnie to Loughshore park and let her have a bit of fun in the shallows on her long line. We tried throwing her ball to see if she would fetch it as she had learned to do it at our visit to the hydrotherapy pool but she just chased it and then immediately dropped it! Fortunately the tide eventually brought it close enough so we could grab it but it left both me and my partner soaked! It was a really mild night though and Bonnie was having so much fun that we couldn’t take it seriously and just had a laugh 🙂
Belfast city in the background
Today we haven’t made any plans yet because we are getting ready to go back to work – laundry, tidying etc. But I think a nice walk with Bonnie and chilling with some takeaway for dinner will be the perfect Sunday and the perfect end to a great week!
We finally got a calmer week after the excitement of the past while and even better we are off work from tomorrow until the end of the week so good times ahead! We don’t have too much planned but we’ll be sure to get out on some nice adventures with Bonnie 🙂
Bonnie is glad of the restful week
At the doggy event we went to last week we got Bonnie a teddy bear from the teddy tombola at the event for only 50p! Total bargain and as you can see below it has been a huge hit – total devastation to the poor bear.
The after math – guts everywhereThe innocent victim
To the frustration of Bonnie I have re-stuffed it and I’m even considering sewing up the holes to make it last that bit longer since she seems to enjoy it so much! Talking about sewing I have a sewing project inbound – I’m just waiting on a delivery of a quilting ruler before I can start properly as apparently I do not have a straight eye in my body! Anyone want to take a guess at what I’ll be making?
Guess what I’ll be? Hopefully it will be completed sometime this week!
We didn’t get up to much out of the ordinary this week but on Sunday we went to the Valley leisure park for a visit with Bonnie (we were on the hunt for Kabutos in Pokemon Go but no luck unfortunately!). We had a fun time walking around and building up Bonnie’s endurance with her backpack as well as doing some off lead time and practising tricks.
She was fab walking past adults and children but we had to retreat back to the car when a woman with a small dog on a retractable leash and who would not stop squeaking a squeaker toy near us caused Bonnie to become really frustrated, so we had to quickly leave the area. We had a bit of fun with tricks at the car park to calm her down and hopefully not leave any bad impressions of the place but she recovered really quickly the little star!
Learning to chillLove her tail and butt wiggle in this – her enthusiasm is infectious ❤Something we always did as kids – walking along the wallsSome tricks in the car park“This is so much fun!”
After we left there was a bit of a delay in our journey – some geese decided to cross the road! Thankfully all the drivers were very respectful and gave them plenty of time to get past.
So why’d the geese cross the road?To immediately turn and cross the road back to the original side apparently!Needless to say they really caught Bonnie’s eye!
We have also been trying out some new tricks this week but since this is getting so long already I think I’ll do a separate post with our training updates! We found this photo from the event last week so I thought I would share it. I’m so proud of her being able to be this calm so close to other dogs considering we had to drop our training classes earlier this year because she wasn’t able to cope. She continually impresses us with her improvements ❤
This week was super long and stressful due to work so we were really glad to make it to the weekend all in one piece! During the week we didn’t have much time to go on any special adventures with Bonnie but for our walks at night we decided to take her into town for some extra stimulation and training while it was quiet out.
We did some “barkour” which is like the sport parkour but for dogs, so she got some time to go off lead and play with obstacles – jumping over, onto and crawling under things like benches etc. It’s great stimulation for her out as the town is always filled with new and exciting smells for her to sniff and combining it with the “barkour” means she comes home mentally and physically tired.
Performing a wait on the benchWhat next?Hehe this is so much funWoo look at her go!
Yesterday we went to a dog event that was held in Crawfordsburn Country Park which was the same place as the last event we went to. We went hoping that it would be a better set up and thankfully they used a different part of the park which meant it was lovely and spacious so Bonnie could get in and involved without being overwhelmed! It was such a beautiful day but it wasn’t packed so it was really relaxing and Bonnie totally rocked it.
Lovely viewPhotogenic even while running 😀Taking part in a competition – look at her focus ❤
She was able to settle as we stood about and kept her calm even after a boisterous pup unsettled her (I don't think the owner was too happy as she didn't seem to understand Bonnie was teaching it some manners as it was a very rude puppy but what the owner only saw was Bonnie telling it off haha oh well). She was doing so well and since the ring wasn't too crowded we decided to enter her into two of the competitions – Most Fetching and DICE Dog's Got Talent – and she managed to come 2nd in Most Fetching and 1st in DICE Dog's Got Talent which was great fun. We left afterwards as it was too hot out to stay much longer.
It was really nice to win the little ribbons and trophy but to be honest I was more proud of how well Bonnie did and the fact she was able to concentrate on me in a situation that would’ve been too difficult for her in the past. She was able to focus and have fun with me and besides the little shake off near the end of the video she was happy and engaged throughout. She did me proud especially because we hadn’t prepared or practised the routine (if you can even call it that haha) we performed. Also she had only just began offering the sit pretty for the pretend gun cue 2 days ago so was super impressed all around with her ❤
Today we didn't intend to go on any special adventures with Bonnie but she had a different motive! It all started pretty innocently as she was playing with a new teddy we had got at the event and we let her take it into the back garden to play with while we made dinner.
Well as usual we look out the window every minute or so to check on Bonnie and wouldn’t you know it there isn’t a sign of her in the garden. I immediately change from my slippers into my boots, grab her collar (because god forbid she bloody would escape when she’s not wearing her collar) and run out the front door while my partner checks the back. My heart is pounding frantically thinking what if she got out to the main road and worrying because she has literally no road sense. I run around and call her name but hear and see nothing so I run back to the side of the house where my partner is.
We see the little poop head then – she had got into the garden past the brambles and branches and across the stream and was having a wild time playing chasies with the black lab and it’s owner. I shout Bonnie twice, she turns around and spots me through the trees and thank god she starts running towards me, I keep calling and saying good girl and praising. She makes it over the stream and through the brambles and I promptly pick her up heart beating like mad, sweating and weak from worry. We make it back home and I feed her loads of high value treats hoping she remembers why to come back if it ever happens again.
You had us worried little pup
All I can say is thank god we have worked so much on her recall and our bond in general that she was able to recall off playing with the dog and from so far away. I will definitely be upping our recall practice to include out of sight recalls as she didn’t respond to me calling her name until she was able to see me through the trees so we definitely need to work on getting Bonnie to track me from voice alone. Also needless to say she will be supervised in the garden until we get the fence fixed from where she dug out -_-
I honestly was so worried that something bad would’ve happened so I am so grateful that everything turned out okay in the end. Hopefully your weekend wasn’t as heart pounding!
So after the eventful start to our week we had a quiet Friday then yesterday we had a little outing to Wallace Park which we had never been to before. We didn’t have an idea of what to expect but we went with the intention of playing Pokémon Go as we walked around with Bonnie as we had heard it was a Growlithe nest! As you can see below Bonnie wasn’t the biggest fan haha
If I don’t look at it maybe it will go away!
It was a lovely little park and we had no bad incidences with other dogs or their owners or children so it was quite a pleasant walk. There was a little event on and there was a small petting farm set up which had the loveliest little donkey – Bonnie was okay until she was about 5 metres away then she seen it walk and look towards her so she got a little spooked, but she recovered quickly bless her.
Practising jumps with a split treeA wee bit unsure but doing greatThe petting farm at the eventI’ll stay over here away from the donkey thank you!
There was a small pond at the park and as we all know Bonnie is not a fan of birds of any type and would chase them all day long if we let her so we decided to do a bit of training around them. She did great and was able to disengage on her own even only 2 metres or so away from the ducks but I accidentally let her get too close and she stuck her head through the bars of the fence to try to get at them the cheeky little monkey!
I guess they’re not so bad from this distanceSnuffling for treats in the long grassI guess they’re not so bad from here either as long as they don’t flap about or make too much noiseSee I’m still a good girl!Sorry mum but the temptation was too much! Silly mummy letting me get too close!Chilled out ducks paying no attention to the silly doggy
Afterwards we stopped off at Pets at Home (yes that dreaded place I said I didn’t want to support any more) as I wanted to buy a new antler for Bonnie and I don’t know anywhere else around us that stock them. Bonnie was fixated on the animals in their enclosures as usual but was very good around the other shoppers which there was quite a few of even though we specifically went near closing time to avoid others.
Bonnie’s nose pretty much doesn’t lift from the ground when we visit hereForging ahead – she get’s so excited in here but to be fair to her we don’t come here often and I never specifically train her in these type of environments
Needless to say she was pooped the rest of Saturday. Today we didn’t do much out of the ordinary except I started doing some mat (tea towel actually xD) training with Bonnie. I started just by reinforcing settled behaviour on the mat such as slow breaths, leg kicked out to the side, laying on her side and resting her chin on the ground. Then I started adding small distractions like crossing my legs, drinking water, playing with my camera etc with the aim of eventually being able to use the mat in higher distraction levels such as sitting at a dog friendly café. So there we go that was our week, hopefully next week won’t be as chaotic!
So if I understand this right I get treats for doing nothing?!
Bonnies Dog Blog NI 