Mom and I are hosting a Tricks Workshop every third Sunday from June through September at Crews Lake Wilderness beginning at 6pm, if your interested be sure to meet us at the Earths Stage, park in the Pavilion 2 parking lot. 
http://www.meetup.com/trickdogsofwestpasco/events/186555432/

Finally,  I will be stopping by to visit Lisa of RaffleRescue.org during Yappy Hour at Gill Dawgs in Port Richey.  Planning to drop off some more pet food and to see how the Raffle is going for my painting "Purple Haze" that will be auctioned off at Pasco Pet Fest in Land O Lakes on October 4th.  Stop by Yappy Hour to purchase your raffle tickets or contact me on my Facebook page to purchase raffle tickets through the mail.  https://www.facebook.com/BrodyTheBorderCollie

Don't forget you can pre-order my paintings and purchase other merchandise to benefit homeless animals here:
http://happytailpetsupply.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=brody+


Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a thing!
Have safe and happy Summer  -Brody

With so many happenings in the month of March, I thought I would discuss a few of them in this months blog.

Lets begin with this weekend, don't forget to turn your clock an hour ahead tomorrow night before you go to bed cuz it's Daylight Savings Time or as I like to refer to it... Frisbee time, that's right it stays light out longer so when mom gets home from work there is still plenty of daylight for Frisbee practice after my walk... This makes me super happy!

I got a couple of events scheduled this month, I have been invited to paint on stage for the audience attending Mutt Madness at Highlander Park in Dunedin, Florida on April 15th at 2:15pm and mom will give a brief speech about me being a successful rescue story.  During the event my painting will be auctioned off, the proceeds will benefit the Suncoast Animal League.   Mom says we are going to stick around and enter the Dancing with Paws Contest, this would be the very first Canine Freestyle Contest we have entered so we been practicing quite a bit.


Also this month I will be performing my tricks and painting at Gill Dawg's Yappy Hour in Port Richey, Florida.  This event is on March 30th from Noon to 3:00 pm.  You can purchase a raffle ticket for $5.00 to win my painting "Purple Haze" money raised goes to http://rafflerescue.org/ a pet food assistance program benefiting senior citizens in the Pasco County Florida area.  The winning raffle ticket will be drawn by me at the Pasco Pet Fest on October 4th for more info visit their website at http://www.pascopetfest.com/ Watch me paint this one of kind masterpiece at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cC4DBXhsVI&feature=youtu.be

The first day of Spring is March 20th and ice cream weather is right around the corner, so Chef Brody would like to share his favorite Strawberry Banana Ice Cream recipe.

You will need 2 Cups plain non-fat yogurt (all natural), 1 Tablespoon of honey,1 Banana and 1/2 cup fresh Strawberries.

Mix ingredients in a blender until creamy and pour into ice cube trays, freeze for about an hour before serving.

Also this month, I am having a contest on my Facebook page, you could win my Painting "After the Fair", you can enter the contest at this link: https://apps.facebook.com/my-contests/cqmqc  enter daily to increase your chances of winning.  The winner will be chosen on St. Patricks Day, March 17th.

Look for another blog from me next month and another pawsomely delicious recipe from Chef Brody... Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Wuff Brody xxx

I just wanted to take a moment to apologize for not blogging in quite a while... I have been super busy performing my tricks skit, learning new tricks, teaching tricks class and painting for charity, I never expected my paintings would be in such high demand.

With that said I got a special announcement... I started this painting while I was performing at the Florida State Fair this month and finished it off from home and I am now going to give it away to one of my lucky Facebook friends.  To enter for your chance to win go to this link: https://apps.facebook.com/my-contests/cqmqc like my Facebook page, leave your email (no worries, I am only going to email the winner to notify them they won) and share and then do it all over again the next day... Every time you enter and share you build points and the person with the highest points will win but you got to hurry the contest ends March 17th, 2014.

Be sure to take sometime to watch me paint this masterpiece that I have cleverly named "After the Fair" at this youtube link:   http://youtu.be/Wpasxhy8Tqo

Look for a new blog later next month, I am going to share with you some simple behavior that you can easily build on.


Until then... Wuffs Brody xxx

Welcome back to my blog!

Today I want to share some thoughts about my three siblings... That's right I am not an only child, I live with one male and two female full time indoor cats, in fact mom had them long before she adopted me and they had to accept me as part of their family.

This is my 15 year old sister Angel,  She is a Persian and the only non-rescue in the family, she is the most ornery one in the bunch.  She may look cute in this picture but one wrong move and she will give you the stink eye and you best run cause she will cut you to shreds with her claws and pierce you with a single bite.  She does one thing I think is super cool... She can play dead in moms arms on command.

This good looking guy is my cool brother Toby, he is 11 years old and he was rescued as a kitten.  He has mom wrapped around his little paws... All he has to do is meow and mom comes running to see what he needs, I have learned to come running too because Toby is usually meowing for his Party Mix Kitty treats and I know I can get hand out too!

I saved my favorite kitty for last... This is my approximately 10 year old sister Fenway aka Photo Bomber Fenway this cute little Tabby is my best friend.  Mom found Fenway in a storm water retention area behind our house during Hurricane Frances in 2005, she actually swam across the retention area to mom.   Mom found out later her humans moved and just booted her out of the family... Good thing  for us because we all wuffs her very much!
                                                                       

Hope you enjoyed todays blog, please be sure to subscribe to receive my next one in your inbox and as always super big thanks for reading! xxxx

Welcome back to my blog!

A couple of weeks ago I shared my latest trick stacking doughnuts on my Facebook page and I also performed it during two demos this week and mom and I have had a lot of inquiries on how I learned to do this, so today I am going to touch on the three core tricks you need to know to eventually perform the stacking doughnuts trick.

Trick #1 Take
You need to learn to have a reliable take on cue.  To begin you will need a favorite toy, yummy treats and a clicker (the clicker is optional).  Sit on the floor with your human in a room with no distractions have your human hand you the toy if you take it with your mouth your human should click or mark with a "yes" and give you a yummy treat, give the toy back and perform several times. Once you are reliably taking the toy your human needs hand you the toy and say "take" this will become your cue to perform the trick.  If you are not a custom to taking the toy from your humans hand this cue can be taught by taking the toy off the floor in the same fashion I explained if it was handed to you (It is good to learn to "take" both ways... but once you learn the cue "take" it wont matter where the toy is).  Humans always remember to positively train your dog, training sessions should last 3-5 minutes, they should always be ended on a good note and I am in favor of jack potting your dog with treats for a job well done... just be sure to adjust his daily food serving to allow for treats.

Trick #2 Hold
The next trick you will need to reliably learn is "hold".  To learn this your human will need to delay rewarding you with a treat after they cue you to "take" an item.  So they will tell you to "take" and then they should count to 2 then click or say "yes" and give you some yummy treats, gradually the time will increase and they will begin to say "hold" after they ask you to "take".  For example when I hold a sign mom says "take" after the paper is in my mouth she says "hold" when I'm done posing she says "all done" and I give her back the sign and I always get a jack pot of the yummy stuff.

Trick #3 Place
The final trick you will need to learn is "place" your human should begin by having you "take" "hold" and then release the item back into their hand, they should say "place" and as always give you yummy treats.  Once you are reliably releasing items to hand your human can redirect where they want you  "place" the item, for example I "place" my basketball in my hoop, or I "place" an object in my trash can... "Place" is different from "drop" because there is specific place I need to put the item.  When mom uses "drop" it usually means you best get that thing out of you mouth right now... BOL!

Special Brody Tip... The Jackpot Face

Always soften your eyes and smile for your human after you performed the task at hand they will melt like putty in your paws and reward you with a galore of incredibly yummy treats..

Hope you enjoyed my latest blog and if you missed my stacking doughnuts video and bloopers you can watch it below... Mom and I are working on a "How to teach stacking doughnuts the tutorial" for her tricks class, I will be sure to share it in an upcoming blog!

In today’s blog I would like to discuss my favorite subject
FOOD!  I wuffs dog food, kitty food, yummy treats and most of all I wuffs human food!  Fortunately for me I have a sensitive tummy and food allergies so I get to eat human food regularly.  Mostly mom serves me chicken, brown rice and pees and supplements my food with necessary vitamins.  On super special occasions mom serves me salmon, it's super yummy and good for me!

Like most dogs I wuffs treats and I wuffs homemade biscuits.  My favorites are any made with peanut butter, here' a yummy recipe for you to try... Your going to need:
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of oil (I use vegetable)
2 yummy eggs
3 incredibly yummy table spoons of peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla 
                                                                      2 cups flour
                                                                      1/2 cup cornmeal
                                                                      1/2 cup of oats
Blend wet ingredients together.  Whisk in dry ingredients together and mix into wet mixture to form a yummy ball of dough.  Roll out and shape (I use a bone shaped cookie cutter).  Put onto a non-stick cookie tray or lightly greased one.  Cook 20 minutes at 400 F.  Turn off oven and allow the biscuits to cool in the oven until crisp and hard.  Store in an airtight container.

My absolute favorite comfort food is ice cream and who doesn't love it!  Here is a dog friendly recipe:
1/2 of a yummy Watermelon
1  Scrumptious Banana
2 cups plain yogurt
Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until liquefied, pour into ice cube tray, place in freezer and freeze for about 2 hours before serving.
                                                                         Mom also things this recipe is super yummy too!

I hope you enjoyed todays blog with special guest Chef Brody and please kiss your very special cook.

Remember to subscribe to my blog to the right of your screen to get it delivered to your inbox... This way you wont miss one riveting moment. 


Next week I will be discussing how to positively train your dog to do a few super pawsomely cool tricks... Big wet kisses for all of you!

When learning new tricks Mom uses a finger clicker or uses the word "yes" very enthusiastically to mark the very point where I performed the trick correctly before rewarding me with a treat.  I like training this way because the sound marks the point where I performed the behavior correctly and lets me know a treat is coming, if Mom didn't use the marker and just treated she could end up rewarding the wrong behavior and I would never understand what she really wanted me to do. 

In the picture to your left Mom taught me to ring a bell on a table while standing on my hind legs and to only ring the bell with my left paw by using a clicker, but clickers aren't just for learning tricks then can be used to correct bad behavior.  I will let you in on a little secret about me... I used to be reactive when I saw other dogs and vehicles when Mom and I would go out for a walk on my leash, Mom said I was being a "butt head" and sometimes she says I can still be a "butt" when the UPS Truck passes.  Mom taught me to look at her using the clicker when I saw another dog and once we passed the dog I would get a yummy treat, now I associate other dogs with yummy treats and I am not a "butt head" towards them anymore. 

My bad reaction towards vehicles was very different then dealing with other dogs.  You see my bad behavior was being reinforced because while I was lunging and barking the vehicle was driving away so I was sure I was doing something right to make that happen.  Mom ended up teaching me an "Auto Sit" when Mom stops walking I immediately sit down Mom would click as the car passes she would step around and block my view and give me a treat and this works with all domestic vehicles.  My issue with UPS, FedEx, etc... is because I am very sound sensitive and I can hear them coming long before Mom can see them if the "Auto Sit" doesn't work Mom uses some of my Canine Freestyle moves as a distraction as the truck goes by... So if you work for UPS and see a Border Collie Twirling down the sidewalk... That would be me!

Time for my walk now... I will be sure not to be butt head!

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Welcome back to my Blog!

I know it has been awhile since I last posted but now that I have earned my Champion Trick Dog Title and all the pressure is off it is time to get my blog back on track... In my last post I wrote about the scent portion of the Champion Trick Dog application, I listed other scent games you could play with your humans and even left some instructions for your humans on how to play the scent game.  I sure hope some of you got to have fun and play at least one of the scent games.  If you missed that blog it can be found in the archives on my website.

Even though I earned my final trick dog title,  Mom and I are still working on new tricks as well as our performance routine.  I never know what Mom has planned next or what she is going to bring home.

OMD... Look what Mom found at Big Lots!
Here is the training plan:
1.  I jump in the box
2.  I lay down
3.  I pull a rope attached to the lid and shut myself in the box.
4.  I push the lid open on command.
Mom is hoping I got this down pat by Halloween in fact the command to open the the lid is "trick or treat" BOL!
If you want to teach this to your dog please do so using positive reinforcement... in other words use yummy treats and lot of praise and remember it is really dark in the box.

It is safe to say I am going to be a Vampire on Halloween day and help Mom greet the Trick or Treaters.  Mom has other plans for the local costume contests but I will save that picture for a later blog.

I hope you enjoyed todays blog and I hope you come back for more... you can always subscribe to my blog and it will be delivered to your inbox.

Remember to always make time for and have fun with your dog!

Welcome back to my blog!

As I mentioned yesterday, I am in my final stages of completing my application for my Champion Trick Dog Title… Last night Mom and I recorded my trick for the scent section of the application, we chose the shell game.  We had to video me choosing which container the treat was under two different times, unedited and in a different container each time…Not sure what the catch was but I sure did enjoy those treats!

So my canine friends… Do you want to play scent games with your humans?

Here are two of my most favorite games to play with my  Mom:
1.  Which hand is the treat in?  Mom gets a treat and passes it between both her palms behind her     back  so I can’t peak… then both hands smell like the treat so I have to sniff extra hard and to figure out which hand it’s in and then touch Moms hand with my paw to pick… If I get wrong I don’t get
the treat and we start all over… but if I get it right I get the treats and lots of praise. 
2.  Hide and Seek – Mom has me go fetch a toy when I bring it back she has hidden and I have to find her, when I do she throws the toy again and the game starts all  over. Mom really likes this game… Don’t tell her, but I know all her hiding spots!

So humans do you think your dog is ready to play the shell game!  Here is what you will  need:
 1.  Three Identical containers (Flower
       pots, coffee cans, pails etc…)
 2.   Yummy Treats 
While your dog’s not looking scent one of the containers and place a yummy treat under it, now add the other 2 containers and encourage your dog to sniff around, when your dog is showing significant interest in the container with the treat say “yes” and lift the container so your dog can enjoy his treat.