[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

I subscribe to that also!!! Did you get it when you registered Toby? That's when I first got it. I also love Animal Fair! That's a really cool magazine. I also subscribe to Dog World, Dog Fancy, and there's more---but they're at home. I mostly look at pics!! LOL

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

I forget which magazine had the maltese doing agility. it looked really cute. it got my sister liking agility--so now we have a tire jump, the regular jump and weave poles. that stuff is all in storage (we barely have room in the house we're renting now) so we bought a hula hoop and have the dogs jump through that. gruffi is still a little confused---he wants to walk around it. and sprite just walks over the hoop. ellie is all into it. lol. she knows how to use all the equipment.

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

LOL. We trained each dog seperately at first. We were going to a dog trainer (who was horrible) and she had us each handle a dog and we did that for 6-7 months. <---which is waaay too long considering what we know. Sprite and Ellie finished this womans whole training program. they dont go off leash, but we can hook a 6 foot leash to our belt loop, we cant touch the leash, and we can do commands quickly "sit, heel, down, sit, up, stand, stay, return to dog, heel, trot" it was really hard for us at the time. lol. and we had to do it soo quickly, and if you missed one thing then you didnt pass. sprite and ellie also got their canine good citizenship license (but you cant really tell). and it turns out that you only have to have been training for a year to become an evaluator for Canine good citizenship---so i became an evaluator. lol.

so wally is alpha dog, right? just remember that you give him treats first.

oh, this takes some time, but my dogs can do this:

have everyone sit stay, walk out 6 feet, and then call each dog to you. so i have all three sit stay, now i can walk out to around 20 feet, i call sprite, and she sits in front of me, then i call ellie and then gruffi. and i say "down, down down" and all three go down. and im trying to teach them to wait for the command. its a little hard, but it looks pretty awesome when all three wait and then do their command.

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

oh my gosh!!!! he is smart. i'd freak out though. lol. im scared of someone stealing my dogs. <_< gruffi, sprite, and ellie were on a walk with my sister--and this dog off leash came to attack or scare them...gruffi gets out of his collar (his head is way smaller than his neck) and started running. my sister was soo scared. they had been two streets down, she ran the direction he went, and it looked like he ran home----and he did! he was waiting at the door. i felt soo bad for him.

anyway, i was watching good dog u or something like that on animal planet---the way he trained off leash was by first making sure the dog knows all the commands on a 6 foot leash. then you go onto a 20 foot leash, and eventually you put on a thin rope (like a laundry line) the dog will think he's not on a leash. and think that you will have some godly power and keep him in control. lol. I havent tried it...but it would be the perfect thing to do especially since you dont have a fence. can you get a fence? since wally and toby are so small--you wouldnt need anything high.

 

[LoveMaltese6820]

I've got the Maltese magazine they sell at Petco a couple of times. I've already picked out the pictures of how I want him groomed too!

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

that is sooo scary! we just moved into our rented house a few months ago. before that we had a townhome that didnt have a yard. the dogs went CRAZY in the back. running around and having fun. its just safer for you and the dogs. did you ask a contractor or something for a price? i dont know how it is over there--but here, near Los Angeles...there are a lot of immigrants that want work...and work for cheap. and they'll work fast. just give them a few hundred dollars and free food and soda--they work great. (thats what we gave for when we moved from our house)

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[LoveMaltese6820]

Nichole- That is such a cute face! Your Maltese will be so cute! But, I am sure he already is.

 

[Toby's Mom]

:lol:

 

[doctorcathy]

I think i got it a couple of days ago. i got dog world yesterday though. i havent looked through the magazines yet. well---i looked at the pics. lol. and i havent seen emergency vets yet though ( i Tivo'd it). but i'm pretty sure i've seen all the episodes. lol. i wish they would come out with new ones. but yeah---snakes, spiders or any other animal that's not a dog--freaks me out. like you know how there are vets that only allow cats---i wanted to be one that only allowed dogs. (i just dont like cats and im allergic). but my sis wants me to have other vets working for me and all that stuff. she wants it to be a big facility--which i think would be cool. i really want to buy a lot of land for it though....so i could have a big yard area for dogs to play in and stuff.

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[doctorcathy]

ok...im not THAT friendly towards stragers dogs. LOL. i'll pet them and say that they're cute---but i dont know whats been in their mouths!! like my brothers sharpei is cute and everything---but they dont brush his teeth and they let him eat poo. so i'll let him lick my hand...but i'll wash my hands after and i never let him lick my face. i feel bad. but some dogs are allowed to be disgusting, you know?

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[kit001]

I was the kid growing up who was always dragging animals home with the "can I keep him?" line lol I love aniamls, Almost all animals. I am so bad, at one point, I had a tank of fish, two birds, a hamster, three cats a dog and turtle and a guinea pig. My husband told me if I brought home one more animal, they wouldn't go, I would! lol The poor man grew up his whole life with NO pets! lol My kids sure did love me though! lol

But I am the same, I can pet someone elses dog but put my face in front of his? Noooooooooooo way...I am no fool! lol