Wednesday

Saffy - 28/10 - 11 Weeks old


a friend gave me several helium balloons for the children and Ashleigh brought them in and put them in the living room. Most of the dogs surprisingly didn't take any notice of them but Saffy and Ruby were rather worried about them. Saffy left the room and then would come back in, suddenly remember about the balloons give them a horrifed look and leave again. We just ignored her and she could see the other dogs around in the room. Then she saw Amber had left a bone unattended and started to chew that. Pretty soon she was in the room and taking no notice of the balloons as long as they were still. later on she decided the weight holding one of the balloons looked like a toy so she picked it up and started walking with it, then looked up and saw the balloon following her. She looked surprised but not worried enough to put the toy down. Ruby still isn't keen on the balloons but Saffy is fine with them.

Saffy is now starting to respond well to verbal cues. she deifinitley uderstands "sit" and "touch" and understands "stand" if I am sitting at my desk. need to work on stand in other places. She knows a hand signal for down and paw amd twist and spin. She can't stand still for more than a millisecond which does make it difficult to take good pictures of her standing. It usually takes about 20 attempts to get one reasonable picture. Most of the pictures I have are of Saffy asleep




Tuesday

Saffy - 27/11 - 15 Weeks old

Have had several technical problems so have not updated the blog for a couple of weeks. these now seem resolved.
Saffy had a very busy day today. I went to Lynn Lucocks training day and Brought Saffy along. She had a wonderful time meeting the people and dogs. She was a little unsure at first but soon settled as she usiually does. Lynn used her as a demo dog to show several thngs to work on and Saffy was very happy to work with Lynn.

i have uploaded video I took last week of Saffy moving
Sideview:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a9FuG3zXnXQ

Away and back:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZaE_I5BFkjk

Wednesday

Saffy - 14/11 - 13 Weeks old

Went for a walk around the pond again today. We met a lovely peke there. Saffy had a great time playing with him. We went up to the petshop and weighed her again. She now weighs 11.2kg.

Ringcraft tonight. not many people were there but her firend the bull mastiff was. She does like him. maybe because he is the same colour as she is. Saffy is still a bit wriggly when standing but is getting better if there is food involved. She is happy now to let me look at her teeth. She is not bothered about other people looking at then either. Saffy is getting the idea of offering behavior if she wants something. She has recently discovered the down and keeps looking at me and going into a down hoping I will give her a treat.

Tuesday

Saffy - 13/11 - 13 Weeks

Just joined youtube and have put a video up of Saffy doing her tea dance. It is rather dark and the quality is not very good. Will try to get a better one now I know how to do it.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-xVF25GrrYI

Sunday

Saffy - 11/11 - 13 Weeks old

Went to an obedience show today. Saffy was noticeably more confident at the show this time. Much happier to talk to all the people who wanted to say hello. She loved all the attention and everyone agrees that she is a very pretty puppy. We met a lady who had 2 Malinois from Pam york years ago and she kept coming up to say hello.

We met again on the exercise field with her collie. Her collie looked suspiciously at Saffy for a bit and then started play bowing and trying to get Saffy to chase her. They started chasing all over the field, through the puddles. They has a lovely time. one good thing Malinois don't show the mud half as much as a mostly white collie does.

Thursday

Saffy - 08/11 - 13 Weeks old

Dog food was delivered today so she came and said hello to the lady who brought it. I put 5 big marrow bones out for the dogs and left them in the garden. A few minutes later i looked outside and the dogs were all pacing around , not chewing the bones as I expected. Saffy was sitting by all the bones going from one to the other so the other dogs wouldn't go and take one off her.
I distributed the bones to all the other dogs and left Saffy outside with her bone. a bit later it started to rain really heavily. I looked out and there was Saffy still determinedly chewing on her bone, stopping every few seconds to shake her head to get the water off. I opened the door and called her in. At first she didn't come preferring to stay with her bone but the rain continued to pour down so she did eventually decide to come in.

Saffy - 08/11 - 12 Weeks old

Went for a walk round the pond this morning. it was very busy. Loads of dogs there to meet and lots of people to tell Saffy how pretty she is.

Dog training again today. Robin trained her this time. She is listening to the children more these days and they seem to enjoy training her.

In the mornings when I go to get RIbin up for school Saffy comes with me and as soon as I open his bedroom door she leaps onto the bed and starts burrowing under the covers to find him. She bites is nose when she can so he usually gets up pretty quickly.

She is still a real nuisance with the water bowl. I had to put it back inside as the others just kept going to where it used to be and looking confused. Saffy still often puts at least one foot in the bowl when she is drinking. and flooded the kitchen again today digging in the bowl.

Wednesday

Saffy - 07/11 - 12 Weeks old

went to ring craft tonight. Met Lexie the collie there and had a good play before we went in. We did two classes. She is still not good at standing still, she seems to stand for a bit and then sit as soon as the judge looks her way. She is happy to be gone over, We have been working on teeth and the judges stroked her muzzle and lifted her lips and she was happy to let them.

Tuesday

Saffy - 06/11 - 12 Weeks ...

had to wait in for the man to fix the washing machine this morning so we didn't get a walk. She did say hello to the repair man though.

We were back at agility now Ruby is better so Saffy came along too. She came in at the end of the lesson and said hello to everyone. She was a bit unsure about the building but we just hung around and played and trained and she soon decided it wasn't too bad.

She was really fascinated watching Helen's dog Bruk running the agility course. He is so fast. I hope she is picking up a few tips.

came home and there are still some fireworks going off. Just as we were about to go into the house a really loud one went off. It made me jump and Saffy bolted into the house. Saffy hasn't been too bothered about the fireworks as long as they aren't too loud but that one was a bit much. I will be glad when they finally stop.

Monday

Saffy - 05/11 - 12 Weeks old

Went to the pet shop this morning to weigh Saffy. Dora came too. Saffy now weighs 9.8kg. Dora weighs 22.5kg.

Saffy is really getting to know the people in the shop now and is pleased to see them. She happily clears up the dropped biscuits from the floor for them.

Ashleigh came training tonight and worked Saffy while I took the lesson. Saffy worked very well as long as I was nowhere near. If I was close by then she got a bit distracted.

We have practiced showing teeth quite a lot today and she is happt to hold still while I lift her lips and look at all her teeth. She is a bit more fidgety for the children but getting better. got one of the men at training to go over her and stroke her mouth. She was very happy to let him. didn't seem at all bothered about it.

Sunday

Saffy - 04/11 - 12 Weeks old

Sunday. Went for another walk down by the river this morning. We were much earlier this morning as Dad mis read his watch and we thought we were going out at 6:00am but it was actually 5:00 AM!

Because it was so early it was very dark. The older dogs were quite happy running around in the dark but Saffy obviously didn't like it much as she stayed very close to us and didn't go with the other dogs.

After that we went back to the show for Dora's semi-final. Went for a walk beforehand again and Saffy didn't seem to notice the planes taking off at all this time. She had to be left in the camper for an hour or two while we did our round but was happy with her bone.

Dora did very well in spite of my nerves and came 3rd over all so we have qualified for Crufts again. after we had finished dad went and brought Saffy in to meet people. Dad said she was a bit reluctant to go with him but soon cheered up when she saw me.

Saffy met several people and dogs. She was quite happy in the hall which was very large and noisy. We had a long journey home angd got back about 8:00pm. Saffy was very excited to be home again. She kept running about and jumping on the kids and the other dogs. Of course the other dogs were really excited to see me again so it was rather chaotic.

Saturday

Saffy - 03/11 - 12 Weeks old

Went for a walk down by the river Forth this morning. It is just over the road from the campsite. a lovely place to walk the dogs. Then we went on to the show.

Saffy had to spend some time in the cage while the others were at the show but she was quite happy with a marrow bone for company. We went for a walk in the car park which is right next to the runway of the airport. At first Saffy was quite frightened of the planes but as they were taking off every 10 minutes or so soon learnt to ignore them.

Saffy got to say hello to several of the car park attendants. After the show we went down to the river again. the tide was out so we went down on the sand and the dogs had a lovely time getting covered in sand and mud. Saffy has settled well in the camper now. Like she has lived there forever.

Friday

Saffy - 02/11 - 12 Weeks old

The start of an eventful weekend for Saffy as we are off to Scotland in the camper. Dad and I togeter with Saffy, Dora, Katie and Micou are going to the Scottish Working and Pastoral breeds show.

The Pyreneans are in the breed classes o Saturday and Dora is in the semi finals of the KCGCDS Pre-beginner stakes on the Sunday.

Saffy did not like the camper at first when we got in but went straight in a cage for the journey. She was much happier when we stopped for a break on the way and came out of the cage and had a good explore.

Saffy hasn't seen much of dad since she came home as he has been busy with his conference but she soon decided that he was ok and happily cleaned his face and ears when ever she got the chance.

She soon learned the routine in the camper, onluy falling down the step outside a couple of times. She liked the campsite as it had plenty of rabbits about but She was a but put out that I wouldn't let her off the lead to chase them