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Doggie Picasso

9/30/2013

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Hello and welcome back to my blog!
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Do you got what it takes to be the next Doggie Picasso!
In todays blog I am going to discuss the necessary tricks you will need to learn to start painting your own masterpiece for your human.  This is a very complex chain of behaviors be prepared for this to take sometime to learn.

What you will need:
Paintbrushes  (I use the Melissa & Doug Jumbo Paint Brushes which can be found on Amazon)
Containers  (I use the Melissa & Doug Spill Proof Paint Cups also on Amazon)
Easel  (I am using Little Tikes height adjustable easel... Humans keep your dogs height in mind when making this purchase)
Paper (I use construction paper, drawing paper, canvas paper etc... Mom draws so there is always some type of artsy paper for me to paint on)
Drop clothe (old sheet, beach towel... I'm using a fender cover BOL!)
Paint (Washable children's paint)
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The first steps is to learn to "Take" & "Hold"
Start out with your paintbrush in a container without paint and take the handle with your mouth, your human should mark this with a clicker or marker word and follow up with a yummy treat.  Once you have a solid "Take" your human should have you "Take" and then have you "hold" the brush by delaying the click or marker word by a few seconds after you "take" it and then they should mark it with a click or marker word and then give you several yummy treats.  Humans once your dog is doing a "hold"  you just keep adding seconds to it and start naming it "hold" and then mark it with your click or special word and then treat.  Please note this can be a very long process, training sessions should be brief but often (3-5 minute sessions several times through out the day)  Always end your training session on a good note so you will both want to come back and learn more later!


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Once you have "Take" and "Hold" you are ready to touch the brush to the paper.  Please note at this stage I do not recommend adding paint and you wont need the easel just yet.  We call this part of the trick "Brush".  Let's get started... "Take" and "Hold" your brush and have your human take a piece of paper and touch your brush with it, humans make sure you click or mark with your special word and give a yummy treat, practice this several times a day for 3-5 minutes for about a week and as you touch the brush with the paper say "Brush".  Week 2 you now must touch the paper with the brush, so humans hold the paper about an inch or two away from the brush while it's in your dogs mouth and say "Brush" be sure to reward any movement with the brush towards the paper at first, once you have movement you can change your criteria to strictly touching the paper with the brush, work on this several times a day for 3-5 minutes.  Week 3 continue to add distance between the brush and the paper.  Week 4 you are ready to add the easel, place the paper on the easel at your dogs mouth height, the easel is new to the process so reward any movement with the brush toward the paper on the easel and then slowly reward for only interactions with the brush to the paper on the easel.

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Now that you are comfortable with the holding the brush and touching the paper on the easel we can work on paint strokes.  I like to sit while I paint so most of my brush strokes go up and down and vice versa, sometimes I will have a side stroke if mom pulls out a treat and I get up to go get it.  When I paint the brush is sticking out the side of my mouth so I don't look at the paper I look at mom and watch which way she points and that is how I move my head to make my strokes.  To learn to follow your humans finger they just need to hold a treat in their fingertips and have you watch the treat and reward you with it for following, once you are reliably following they no longer need to hold the treat and you should be able to follow their fingers and they should reward you with a treat after you paint a stoke.

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Couple of things to keep in mind, what do you want to do with the brush in your mouth after your paint stroke, you can put it back in the container or you can drop it on the drop cloth... I drop mine in a snack tray or a drop clothe because mom likes to have my next brush and color ready to go.  It's entirely up to you and your human.  If you want it to place your brush back in the container tell your human not to reward you after your paint stroke and to wait until you place it back in the container.  Because I drop my brush and grab the next one mom usually rewards me with a jack pot after several strokes, but that's only because I been painting for a couple of years.

You are now ready to add paint... Don't forget to pawtograph your work!
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I sure hope you enjoyed this weeks blog... Be sure to subscribe to the right of your screen to get it delivered to your inbox.

Happy Painting!

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My Siblings!

9/22/2013

6 Comments

 
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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!
                                                                       

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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

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Lets learn some tricks!

9/13/2013

8 Comments

 
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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.

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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.

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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.


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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!



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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!

8 Comments

Cooking With Chef brody

9/6/2013

1 Comment

 
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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!

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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.

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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!

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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!

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    Brody the Border Collie
    Talented Trick Dog, Awesome Disc Dog, Great Dancer and
    Loving Companion

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