Decision made

I've ummmed and ahhhed about it and decided I am going to merge my two blogs into one.

It's going to take a little while to get the videos and things up so I'll leave this blog open but please come check out my blogs new home at Mastiff Maiden

Thinking of change

At the moment I actually have two blogs running this one and my personal blog SaP (I still have to come up with a better name) and I've been thinking it might be better to combine the two together and just focus on the one blog.

I've been working on pros and cons and this is what I have so have

Pros
One blog is easier to manage.
I will have more things to blog about instead of splitting my posts between two blogs.
I will be able to have just one Facebook and one Twitter account.
I can re write the training tutorials better.

Cons
It's going to be a pain uploading videos and pictures again.
I will loose my wonderful comments.
The blog wont just focus on my training of Griffen.

I'm leaning towards doing it but I'm still not sure.

What do you think?

Trying something new Bloglovin

Follow my blog with bloglovin

I've been looking at different ways to get my blog out there and in my travels I found BlogLovin.

Not sure if it will help but hey it cant hurt.

Thanks for indulging me, now back to dog stuff.

Model dog

Training is going a little slow at the moment, just a lot of repetition of what we're learning.

So I'm going to have a little brag.

About 2 years ago while we were out at a doggy event I was asked if it would be ok to film Griffen for an intro to Talk to the Animals. I was so excited I couldn't say no. All they needed him to do was walk next to Nicky Buckley on one side while a Neo puppy walked on the other while she said the into. I wasn't too sure how he would go, his leash manners leave a lot to be desired. But I'm happy to say Griffen did wonderfully, he walked straight with his head up and didn't trip Nicky or pull her over once.

Unfortunately no one could tell us when the show would air. I made sure I didn't miss an episode for months after and there was one about 8 months later that mentioned the event we were at but sadly no Griffen. I'm not sure if they cut him or I just missed it, but I can at least say he came close.

Griffens also been in four calendars. 

Two were Dogue de bordeaux calendars with proceeds going to ddb rescue. I submitted photos I had taken and was lucky enough to get 3 photos in.

The photos for the other 2 calendars were taken by a local  photographer Helen Green. She was looking for pure breed dogs for a city calendar she was planing and I thought why not, Griffen is very photogenic and it sounded like fun.

The photos were taken at Geelong, near the beach. Helen was fantastic given Griffen was so distracted by everything, for the most part he sat when he needed to but the lure of the beach was too much and at times he wouldn't listen to word. 

I was very proud when I found out Griffen was on the front cover of the Black & White  calendar and made it into the City Dogs  calendar as well.

Bed dilemma

When Luke and I first moved into our house we decided to give the dogs our old couch to sleep on in their own room. unfortunately that only lasted a week before they started ripping it up.
So then I got them nice new cushy beds but they lasted a couple of days before I found them ripped to shreds.
The next step was hessian mats. These seemed to work for a while, then I came home to this

If it was just Griffen I'd give him an old blanket and say tuff luck that's what your getting but Madeline needs a bed. It would be better if she had something nice and comfy but at least the mat gives her some protection from the ground.

I might try one of the trampoline beds and see how long it takes for them to pull it apart.

A bit more work on Bang

Bang has been going really well.
Griffen was hesitating between the sit drop and rolling on his side, meaning I had to give the command again between the dropping and rolling over. Slowly that hesitation is getting smaller, hopefully a few more training sessions and it will be gone.

So I'm working on what to train next any ideas?

Meet Madeline

I was thinking I really should introduce Griffen's doggy sister. Madeline is a Dogue de bordeaux cross Boxer and she's almost 5 years old. Despite being the older dog she's still my baby girl.

Madeline has recently been diagnosed with Canine Spondylosis, a degenerative spinal disorder. Basically it means bridges of bone are growing and fusing her spine together, limiting her movement.
In general it doesn't cause pain although she does have trouble getting up in the morning and going up stairs but occasionally the bone bridges will break causing swelling, she has meds for those times.
Unfortunately this is something that cant be cured and will get worse as she gets older but in the mean time she's a happy girl.

As well as being smaller than Griffen she's the complete opposite of him. She's high strung, loves playing games like fetch and tug, loves water and will try anything to please you and get a pat.
One thing Griffen and Madeline have in common is thinking they are lap dogs, I cant sit on the floor without both trying to crawl into my lap.

Training Madeline has had it's own difficulties, being so eager to please means she'll try everything she knows if she's not sure what you want. It is kind of funny watching her try to Beg, Roll over, Shake and Touch all at the same time. (she's not aloud to Beg any more, unfortunately she doesn't seem to know this)

Just ummm ignore the state of the house, this was taken a couple of years ago in the middle of winter at a house that had no grass in the yard, didn't matter how often I mopped there was always more mud. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.