Twiggy Update June 04.

Twiggy Update 2005-10-08

Due to a personal bereavement in July I have not been able to do many agility shows with Twiggy. She has progressed well and can now do all the equipment at speed. Being the complete opposite of Ozzie she is very sensitive and so if I correct her she often stops and freezes because she hates to do anything wrong! I have been told the best thing to do is just keep working and ignore it. However, at my agility club show she got her first clear round in the helter skelter and so I am hoping she will do even better in 2006.

Unfortunately during 2005 both my dogs were attacked whilst on the lead by other dogs being allowed to run free! Oz got a bad bite on the back and Twiggy was grazed. This has not helped her confidence one bit as you can imagine! There are many owners out there who have little or no control over their own dogs and do not know it is courtesy not to allow them to annoy others that are confined on a lead.

Twiggy has also had a few jobs in the film world and I am so proud of her. I have vetted the jobs she had to do and she seems at home on the set licking anyone on the show who comes over to say hello. You can read about her on the K9 Actors Diary Section.

Not knowing her formative months and what she went through I can only guess at her hang ups! She does try and be brave when sometimes she is not! Her little tail is a barometer and as soon as it goes down between her legs I know she is frightened Children shouting and screaming upsets her and do dogs approaching from behind. I am hoping eventually she will not be so scared but she has made great progress since coming to live with us. She may never get over everything but she really is the most loving and sweetest little lady and I am so glad I found her! Oz is still the love of her life and she copies him in everything, good and bad! Without him I think she would be lost now!

Twiggy has been doing agility training for some time now and is finally getting it together in training which she is now enjoying. The biggest problem has been that when she gets the wind up her tail she just loves to run and run to get it out of her system. Thus initially we would do some obstacles together then she would do several rounds of the ring at full speed but always finally coming back! She has now stopped that in training and so I entered her into some real live agility competitions outdoors.

I confidently took her to the start line and when given the signal to start instructed her to jump the first hurdle thus starting the timing clock! She did this but then ran to one side, rolled over on her back and stayed there!!!!! Feeling a bit of an idiot I had no option but to pick her up, thus eliminating myself and her and tried to get her to try another jump! No good, same result! The best thing then was to leave the ring. This big open space, the noises, all those people had freaked her out!

The next day I tried again. Giving her a lot of verbal encouragement we once more started off! This time she saw the pipe tunnel and ran straight into it, turning to poke her little head out of the end and seemed to say 'now get me then'. Mortified I had no option again but to pick her up and leave the ring.

However, I was not going to give up that easily. Little by little she overcame her fear and decided that it just might be fun. Instead of hiding I was treated to a series of circles around the ring at full speed stopping in the middle to occasionally do a jump or two! The main thing was that she was at least seeming to enjoy it now.

I have continued to enter her in one class per show and she is slowly improving. The last attempt saw her doing the first six obstacles in order before going a little haywire but then doing more and finally the last three in order too!!!! Pity it was not a Take Your Own Line Class!

When I left the ring I was so happy! People must have thought I was mad! But to me this has been a big step forward. I expect I shall have lots more crazy moments and it will be a long time before we finally get it together as she is so very young and still unpredictable.

She is now a well established member of the Westgate pack and her love for Ozzie is obvious! He now plays a lot more with her and she affectionately nibbles his front legs and face and to my amazement he puts up with it without complaint! She still copies everything he does! As far as Sam she tends to leave him to himself as befits his advanced years. He tolerates her well really!

TWIGGY UPDATE April 2003.

Twiggy has now been a member of our family for nearly eight weeks and during that time she has progressed rapidly.

Housetraining was my main priority but also a good recall to her name. I am pleased to report that we have achieved both. Using the clicker certainly made housetraining so much easier and quicker. I am able to let her off the lead already as her recall is excellent. I practised it daily in the house and at every opportunity indoors and especially coming in from the garden after doing calls of nature!

I am continuing to treat her every time she comes back when out and also now include Oz and Sam because it is reinforcing their recalls too!!!!

However, she is a lively little monkey! Her favourite game is running off with whatever article of my clothing she can steal especially my slippers! Cloth seems to be attractive to her. The plants in the garden are having nibbles and two snails have found themselves suddenly in the comfort of my lounge! Yuk!!!

Sam she leaves mainly alone but poor old Oz gets a regular duffing up! Surprising he does not retaliate. She follows him everywhere and gets in the basket with him only to have him get out and go and lie with Sam. She copies everything he does so I think it may be infatuation as well as finding out how much she can get away with

Socialisation continues and I am starting a class with her soon and am trying to introduce her to as many dogs as I can as she is nervous in this regard. I cannot stress how important it is to do this as early as you can. Obviously she was not! All household sounds are O.K. with her now and on our walks she has got used to traffic and road noises. There was even some fireworks being let off one evening and although she barked initially she soon stopped and paid no further attention.

I took them all to an agility show and walked her around with all the hundreds of dogs in attendance. Her tail was firmly down between her legs but she did not bark! I hope in time she will come to realise there is nothing to fear. If a dog approaches her quietly she will say 'hello' and give them a nose to nose sniff, back off and then give a couple of barks! But if one tries to jump all over he she is terrified! I wish people with big lively animals would not allow them to do this especially to their smaller cousins! Hopefully time will improve this.

She adores clicker training and is responding well. Her sit is excellent and her down is progressing along with her watch me. I am having a little bit of success with a speak on command too! It is a problem when you have other dogs because you have to find a quiet place to train as they are always keen to join in. This is not something to be discouraged though.

Last thing at night when they have their evening biscuit and are all sitting in a line looking at me expectantly waiting if you could see her dear little face it would break your heart and I cannot understand how anyone could do what they did to her!

Agility training will start in a couple of months time but only if she likes it and shows an aptitude. First and foremost she is part of the Westgate family.

Twiggy has been part of our doggie family now for six months and it feels like we have had her forever.

To say she has made progress is an understatement. In agility she can now do all the equipment with no sign of fear and she loves training! The clicker has helped greatly and when at one stage she decided going under the jumps instead of over was the quickest option clicking and treating for jumping over and getting nothing for going under soon made her realise what was in her best interest to perform correctly!

Her big hang up was other dogs especially BIG ones! This has improved tremendously and she now plays with other little dogs. She also is now beginning to greet the larger ones too without barking! Over the summer we have attended many agility shows and with the amount of dogs at these events it has really thrown her in a the deep end! If she had been socialised earlier this would not have happened but it is no longer a problem and she realises that most other dogs are not a threat.

She still takes liberties with the ever patient Ozzie! She copies him in everything he does and tries her hardest to get him to play. She is a nosey little pooch and inspects everything. She loves to nibble paper and did have a little bite of my artificial flowers! All in all however she is a little darling and gets fussed over wherever she goes although when they say what breed is she I am stumped!!!!!

I think I am very lucky to have her and fate decided she should come to the Westgate family. Further progress reports will follow.