My kitties

Or one of them anyway. Actually, I have two kitties, sisters, almost twins. Their names are Prima and Fina.

We like to play. Sometimes I chase them, and its fun when they run, but then when they stop, I stop. Sometimes they think my tail plume is their own personal cat toy. Once when I was standing in the middle of the living room, minding my own business, and Prima ran up, stopped right in front of me, reared up on her hind legs, boxed my muzzle with her paws FOUR TIMES, and ran away. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to do much more than blink!

We were playing on the couch, but then as soon as Mom got the camcorder, we just watched her instead.

Yeah, the minute I start recording, they stop playing and watch me. I so hard to catch those sweet moments when they are happening. Prima and Fina were the two females in a litter of five, and were the first and last born, hence the names.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Another clicker game

I'm not sure what this was about. I already know how to lie down, but it seems like there was s'posed to be more to it. But, what the heck, I got lots of biscuits!

Some dogs can learn to roll over in a single session. I've seen a number of people teaching dogs to roll over by luring, but, as you can see, that just doesn't work for us. We're not so lucky (or talented). My attempts to lure Emma over just result in her whipping her head around the other way. So we are taking it slow. I'm using a clicker, and Charlee Bears treats. In this session Emma gets down on her side, with a couple of legs waving in the air. I called that a good start for now.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, clicker, training, roll, over, video

Last haircut of the summer (maybe)

Mom says I'm getting a little shaggy. And I must admit that I'm losing the tennis ball in the grass a little more often these days. Perhaps I do have too much hair in my eyes. What do you think?



I don't much like the process of having my face clipped, but I like the nice clean feeling afterwards. And now I can see again!

Emma has been clipped short for the summer, only leaving her tail plume and the rasta-do on top of her head. By now however, it's grown a bit. The only part that bothers me is all that moustache and beard. And it gets long enough around her eyes that she loses sight of the ball she's chasing. And the hair gets in her eyes - I mean actually STICKS to her eyeballs. Emma is my first non-shedder. I had no idea that their eyelashes just grow and grow; I never thought about it.

The second video is after trimming Emma's face. Personally, I like her with a neatly clipped face. I don't much care for the beards and moustaches styled on some PWDs. I must say, I think this is the tidiest face job I've ever done. I have an Oster Sculptor rechargeable clipper that I use on Emma's body, but for her face I have been using a Conair beard trimmer that runs on AA batteries. It takes two AA batteries, and I always have lots of rechargeable AAs around. It's lightweight, so its very easy to handle. And while I hate snap-on combs for clipping Emma's body, they don't seem to be a problem on her face. I think the reason it turned out so nice this time is because I removed the comb and blew out the comb and blade so frequently - every 2 or 3 passes. And I kept going back over in different directions. I also scissored around her paws. Tomorrow I will tidy up her earflaps and then start kind of a "creeping lion cut."

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog grooming video

Me and Boy George

My 2lggd mom found these pictures of me in the family photo album. Boy George was my first kitty cat. Well, I wished he was mine. He would come into the boat for a visit, and a little canned fish, but he would never stay. I think he wanted to play; I sure wanted to. I hit the play-pose, but he didn't get the message.

These pictures from January '04, Emma's about 9 mos. old. Boy George was the friendliest of the boatyard cats. Loved people, but would be owned by no one. Note that Emma is tethered. Boy George willfully entered her perimeter to tease her. Emma's trying hard to figure out how to get this creature to play!

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog puppy cat play video pictures

Teach me to tie a bowline ...

oh ... wait ... no thumbs. Well, OK. I'll just pick it up then.



Mom showed my this video of Moxie. Now I get it!!!

I was inspired by Moxie making herself useful on the boat. There's more method to this though. Except for the three-sided ring used for the underwater retrieve, and the courier pouch, all the objects that PWDs carry for water work have ropes. Some of them MUST be held by the rope. Others, carrying by the rope is optional, but perhaps preferred.

This session was the very first time Emma has ever been asked to touch a rope. She's all about picking up the rope. Holding, as usual, will be the hard part though.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog work waterwork clicker training video

What is this thing and why should I pick it up?

Oh, that's right. I should pick it up because mom will give me a biscuit!

Mom's been asking me to pick up some strange things lately. I've had this toy for a long time, but she never paid me to pick it up before.

Inspired by watching the Movers & Shakers PWD club's Southern Splash Water Trial, I am trying to teach Emma some of the basics. Maybe we will give it a shot in '08. In an earlier session, I already got her touching, and then picking up the sinky-ringy (this is the object used for the underwater retrieve). In this session we are working towards holding it gradually longer periods.

The treats are Charlee Bears. Emma is VERY food motivated, so if I use anything too extremely yummy, she can't focus. My timing is occasionally off, clicking too late so I'm reinforcing dropping the ring instead of holding it. Fortunately, clicker training errors are not difficult to recover from; I just have to get it right MOST of the time. After a while, I added a "negatory" sound when she dropped it too early.

Emma isn't too good at holding things when it's not on her own terms. If I reach my hand towards her, she will drop the item before my hand reaches her mouth. So I won't even go there until she will hold while walking around, while sitting, or while I walk around her.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog work waterwork training clicker video underwater retrieve

Cool dog!

Hey, what can I say. There's more than one way to stay cool, and when you're cool, the sun always shines!

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog heat sunglasses video