Author Archive

Posted on October 19, 2009 - by Guro

Leash Training

Here’s Frøya trying to learn how to walk on a leash. Leash training is pretty basic; still it is not that easy to learn! First of all it’s essential that the doxie pays attention to you - and not all the others that may be all around you! Treats or toys are usually good ways to get attention! Once you have the doxies attention you give the command for walking, e.g. “foot”, and then start walking - left leg first. You always start with the left leg when you want the dog to follow you, and remember to reward often! Changing the tempo between normal walk, fast walk and slow walk also help keeping the dogs attention on you. The same goes for right and left turns, or even a full turn. You should not give any commands when making turns, only when you change the tempo. When you stop, the dog shall sit down without any command - use treats when practicing this!

Posted on October 11, 2009 - by Guro

Snart vinter!

Vi var noen dager på fjellet i høstferien og ble overrasket av skikkelig snøvær på lørdagen! Det kom nok rundt 15 cm, og siden det var kuldegrader på natten holdt snøen seg til vi dro hjem igjen. Som i fjor hadde vi dratt til fjells med sommerdekk på bilen, og måtte frem med kjetting for å komme oss ned på hovedveien; neste år tror jeg vi bør legger om til vinterdekk før høstferien!

Heldigvis fikk vi gått en fin tur på fredag i nydelig høstvær. Det ble riktignok ikke en langtur, Aurora ble operert uken før ferien og var ikke helt i toppform ennå. Til hennes store skuffelse måtte hun gå i bånd hele tiden, mens Frøya fikk lov til å løpe løs og jage etter fugler!

Aller best var det å ligge foran peisovnen og varme seg!

Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Guro

Competition - LP1 Skeidbanen

Skeidbanen, 20.09.2009.
Summer vacation is long gone and it’s time for obedience training, and even an obedience competition to get going again! We haven’t really been training that much this summer and fall, so I wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. However, Aurora has been doing very well on training the last couple of weeks, so we gave it a shot!

Here’s a summary of the exercises:

1. Greeting and Teeth Inspection (”visning av tenner”): 9 points - it was difficult to sit still today!
2. Down and Stay for 2 minutes (”fellesdekk,2 min”): 10 points - I was very nervous, but Aurora did a great job!
3. Walk on a Leash (”lineføring”): 5,5 points - we’re still struggling with this, it’s too easy to get distracted!
4. The Heel (”fri ved foten”): 6 points - same problem as above, however the last part of the exercise was not too bad!
5. Down after stop (”dekk fra holdt”): 5 points - don’t know why we struggle with this one at competitions, first she was slow to sit down and then she wouldn’t sit up at the end of the exercise!
6. Recall from Sit (”innkalling fra sitt”): 8 points - not sure what we got points off for, I think she did this very well - maybe a little slow at the start!
7. The Stand (”stÃ¥ under marsj”): 7 points - a good stand, but lagging behind on the heel part of the exercise!
8. The Jump (”fritt hopp over hinder”): 0 points - I still can’t believe she didn’t jump; she’s been doing this without any problems lately!
9. Overall Impression (”helhetsintrykk”): 6 points - we need to work on better contact/control between the exercises!

In total we got 127 points - a new personal best for us!

Posted on September 13, 2009 - by Guro

Summer Vacation - Bike Trip

This year we decided to take the bikes with us to the cabin. There are a few nice roads for biking in the area around the cabin, and we wanted to see how the doxies would behave on bike trips. Of course, we had practiced biking with the doxies at home, just short trips but enough to be sure that they didn’t have any problems walking/running aside the bike.
For the most part we used the bikes for short trips, half an hour to an hour, partly on small roads partly on trails, enough for us to get some fresh air and for the doxies to get some exercise! They just love to run and were ecstatic when they understood it was time for a bike trip!
Here are some pictures from a trip to Fagerli, this was one of a few days without any rain this summer, and the area around Fagerli is perfect for a bike trip. Very few cars on the road, not many hills and very nice scenery! This round trip was about 13 km long, and we encountered sheep, cows and horses on the road. We have lots of video clips from this trip, but it’s a lot of work to edit the video so it will take a while before the Doxie Bike Trip Movie finds its way to the Internet!

Bike trip to Fagerli

Are you coming or filming?

Let’s go!

A little thirsty!

Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Guro

Summer Vacation - Fishing & Camping

We actually went on a couple of fishing trips this summer, and of course the doxies came along. On the first fishing trip we decided to take the car and take a closer look on a few of the small lakes in the area around the cabin. First stop was only 10 minutes drive from Gålå, a really small lake, but we thought we would give it a try. On the first throw we got a small trout! Unfortunately the only one we got here, so we continued the drive to Fagerhøi. There are several small lakes here, and we stopped at 3 of them without catching any more trout

Looking for fish near Fagerhøi
On the way back to the cabin we checked out a couple more lakes, and found a nice place for a camping trip. So about a week later we brought the tent, fishing rods and lots of warm blankets, and did some fishing all afternoon and evening!

Trout for dinner!
In the evening we had a nice fire going and we kept nice and warm. Both Aurora and Frøya enjoyed the outdoor life and they behaved very well!

Aurora keeping warm
When it was time to go to bed both doxies wanted to go to the car (and go back to the cabin), but after a short discussion they agreed to go into the tent!
Frøya found the blankets and fell asleep immediately, while Aurora insisted to sleep in my sleeping bag! I think the doxies slept much better than me! Around midnight it started to rain and it rained all night long. Next morning it was still pouring down and we decided to go straigth back to the cabin for an indoor breakfast!!

After a night in the tent the couch is very very nice!