When we were trying to decide which breed we should get, one of our most important criteria was that the dog had to be great with kids. Up until now, the only interactions Tilly has had with children was walking by a few at the off-leash park. Today we spent the day with Susan and her granddaughters Petra and Gwen. Tilly definitely lived up to the Cavalier promise of being great with kids. Even when the girls got excited, jumped and made loud noise……Tilly seemed to take it all in stride. At first she was far to excited, jumping up and licking the girls like crazy. It took a few minutes but she quickly settled down and just enjoyed being with them. The visit ended with Petra and Tilly curling up on the couch together……so sweet!!!
Tag Archives: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
4 Months and counting…..
Today is kind of a bitter sweet day for us. On the happy side, we are celebrating Tilly being 4 months old but on the sad side, this is our last play date with Garnet. Tonight Garnet will be leaving his foster family that he has been with for the last 14 months, and moving on to a new foster home. He is such a sweet, wonderful dog and of course he is incredibly handsome like his father Wally. Yes, Garnet is another one of Wally’s children who hopefully will go on to help someone as a Guide, Assistance or Autism Service Dog. Goodbye Garnet…..you will be missed by everyone!!!
Here are a few pictures and a video from our last puppy play date:
Bath Time
Does this look like a happy face? Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she didn’t seem to mind getting bathed in the kitchen sink. She just stood there quietly and when it was all over she climbed into the towel to get dry. Now she smells like a combination of lavendar and rosemary. Very smoochable. Of course, as soon as she was dry she went outside and starting digging in my vegetable garden. I think we are going to have to put up a Tilly-size fence to keep her out.
I was thrilled to discover that spring may have finally sprung. I noticed that I have some beautiful crocuses blooming. I just love the first sign of spring. I look forward to going out into the garden each morning to see what is peaking up out of the cold ground.
Perfect puppy weekend
On the weekend we always try to get the dogs out for a few off-leash runs. Tango lives to play with her chucker and Wally and Tilly are just happy to be outside with us. Here are a couple of videos from our weekend. The first one is just video of Tilly and Wally enjoying being at the off-leash park. The second one is Tango playing with her chucker. She is obsessed with it. If you watch her closely you will see that when she is chasing the ball, she makes herself more aerodynamic by flattening her giant ears against the top of her head. As she closes in on the ball they stand up straight almost like air brakes to help her slow down.
A real dog house
I walked into the family room this morning and got a real chuckle…..it is not hard to tell that this is a ‘dog house’. The carpet was covered with toys, stuffing and of course dogs.
When Tilly wants to cuddle or sleep she seems to prefer Wally but when she is in the mood to play, Tango is definitely her first choice. Here is a cute video of her doing her best to get Tango to play with her. When she does succeed at getting herself a playmate…..she is almost overwhelmed by the intensity of the game.
Many new firsts for Tilly
Today was a big day for little Tilly. This morning, bright and early, I took her to meet our Vet and get her 3rd set of shots. She did really well, with just one small cry when he stuck the needle in. She weighs a whopping 2.8 kg. That means that she has only gained .1 kg in the last three weeks. She was a big hit in the office and one of the Vet techs took her in the back so that everyone could oooh and ahhh over her.
We got Dr. Scott’s blessing to take her on her first trip to the off-leash park. I wanted to go at a quiet time so that her initial visit wouldn’t be overwhelming with all the dogs and people. She was true to her Cavalier heritage and was a complete social butterfly. She had to run off and meet every dog and every human. I was really proud of her. She even managed to come back when she was called.
Then it was off to Don’s office to meet his co-workers. She was pretty tired from all the running at the off-leash park so she was on her best behaviour. They all smooched her up. It turned out to be a very long day for wee Tilly. We left the house at 8am and didn’t get home until 2:30pm.
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Happy Easter
We hope that the Easter bunny hid some tasty treats for you to fill your basket with!
Another life lesson for Tilly
I am laughing so hard that the tears are running down my face. Poor Tilly just learned another life lesson the hard way. I’ve been in the den getting caught up on emails for the last hour or so. I looked around to see where Tilly was and I saw her curled up and sleeping with Tango. She had positioned herself between Tango’s tail and her hind legs and she had her muzzle parked in Tango’s butt. I mean she was literally nose to rectum. I quietly grabbed my camera and took this picture all the while thinking what a crazy place to sleep.
Then I hear the all to familiar sound that most dog owners can relate to……pheewt….Tango has farted and its a whopper. It takes a couple of seconds….but poor Tilly’s peaceful sleep has been rudely interrupted and she is shaking her head and snorting her nose trying to figure out what happened. Ok….I admit it…..I’m like a child when it comes to flatulence…..it just cracks me up. I’m still laughing and having trouble typing this out. Life in the dog house……you’ve gotta love it!
Nurse Tilly
Don has been convalescing at home this week. Not to worry…..he has had Nurse Tilly to keep him company. Here is a series of pictures of her snuggling and keeping a watchful eye on her patient.
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Tilly loves rawhide
We gave Tilly her first piece of rawhide. She wasn’t sure whether it was more fun to eat or play with it. She learned a valuable life lesson though. If you live in a multi-dog household, and you leave your rawhide unattended…someone will steal it!
Puppies have spring fever
Last week was so beautiful with temperatures well above normal…..almost all the snow was gone but that all changed. Here it is the first official week of spring and the temperature has fallen and we’ve had snow 3 days in a row. Everyone, two-legged and four-legged, is sick and tired of winter. The dogs have got so much energy but nowhere to burn it. Wally and Tango were having a good wrestle in the back yard and little Tilly really wanted to join in. I love watching them interact together but I’m always watching to make sure that she doesn’t get trampled accidentally.
Puppy mosh pit
Generally speaking, most German Shepherds are fiercely loyal and love their family but they often don’t really warm up to strangers. Tango is quite different. She is extremely affectionate and just loves all people When Don takes her out training, we have to warn the people that are hiding that when she finds them she is going to plant at least one big, wet puppy kiss on their face. When it comes to other dogs, she is not a real social butterfly. At the puppy park she is only interested in playing with the chucker and she doesn’t interact much with the other dogs. Over the years, Tango has welcomed all of our foster puppies. She is the first to play with them but for some reason she will not allow them to touch her. If they try and snuggle up with her….she will just get up and walk away. It doesn’t matter how many times the puppy tries….snuggling is just not permitted. It can take a month or more before she will start relaxing the rules….that is until now. It has taken Tilly less than 2 weeks to have a break through. It was amazing to watch. That little puppy had a plan and she carried it out to perfection. Inch by inch she dragged herself closer and closer to Tango until she reached her goal of snuggling up against her. It probably took almost 20 minutes to complete….but she was successful. When Don got up to grab the camera, Tango and Wally were muzzle to muzzle…unfortunately just before he snapped the picture Tango sat upright.
Clicker training begins
Now that Tilly has been with us for a week and she has settled into her new life, it is time to start training. We started out with ‘charging the clicker’ to teach her that a click is a very good thing and it means that a reward is coming. Then we moved on to clicking her for making eye contact with me and she caught on to that fairly quickly. Yesterday I introduced her to the Staples Easy Button and I clicked and treated her for any contact. Today she started offering a paw target, she got a big reward for the first hit and from that point on she just kept progressing. Unfortunately I didn’t have the video camera going the first time that she actually got the ‘That Was Easy’ sound but I was able to capture the second time she was successful. She is so tiny that she needs to jump on it with both paws to get the audio. As you watch the video you can see her thinking and processing all the things she has learned and when she decides to hit the button you can see the pure joy in her face and her body language. That little tail is wagging like crazy.
Filed under Clicker Training, Tilly
Celebrating 3 months
Today Tilly is 3 months old. She has really fit well into our ‘Dog House’. Wally and Tango seem to be accepting her and she is thrilled with them. Wally will allow her to snuggle with him but he doesn’t play much with her whereas Tango loves to play ‘chase-me’ with her in the backyard but she still has her ‘no touching’ rule. It usually takes Tango a month or so before she will let a new puppy snuggle up with her.
Yesterday we captured this great video of Wally and Tango holding a tug toy and little Tilly trying to take it away from each of them. Too cute!!
Angel or Devil???
These two pictures perfectly capture Tilly’s dual personality. When our little Tilly is sweet….she is very sweet. She cuddles and licks and loves to be smooched……..but……when our little Tilly is bad…..she is really bad! She jumps and bites and races around like a possessed devil. The good news is that the sweet times are more frequent than the devil child times.
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Everything is a toy
People can spend a fortune on toys to entertain their puppies. In reality, everything is a potential toy … as long as it doesn’t have sharp bits or is small enough to swallow. Here is a video of Tilly enjoying herself with my garden kneeler. It is twice her size but that doesn’t slow her down.
Puppy camouflage
It has been really hard leaving little Tilly at home while I go to work. I know that Don is taking good care of her but I still miss her. He brought her with him when he came to my office to pick me up. Everyone fell in love with her. So many people thought that she was one of Wally’s puppies because her colouring is almost identical to his.
Later in the day Tilly decided to curl up in Wally’s belly for a little snooze. All of us were amazed at how she just seemed to disappear. If her eyes weren’t open she just blended into all of Wally’s long golden fur……talk about camouflage….it was perfect.
Tilly exploring her new world
We had an incredibly beautiful, sunny and warm day today. A little unusual for us to be this warm in mid March. Tilly got her first introduction to the backyard and it appears that she likes to go exploring. So many things to smell and chase…including Tango’s tail.
Who switched my puppy??
Friday night and Saturday Tilly was an absolute angel. Very quiet, sweet and gentle. She was just content to snuggle up in my lap and sleep. Then came Sunday morning. I’m guessing that little Miss Tilly is feeling more confident in her new surroundings. So confident that she is now letting her true personality shine through…..meet Tilly’s alter ego……the devil child!! This morning I was greeted with a sweet little face and lots of kisses but all that changed once she was ‘unloaded’ and ‘reloaded’ again. It was chilly in the house this morning and everyone else was still in bed so I decided to go back up stairs and snuggle up to Don to warm up. I thought I would let Tilly hang out on my side of the bed to keep me company. Big mistake! My sweet, cuddly puppy was replaced by a jumping, chewing, pulling and digging machine. She was especially interested in trying to detach my pony tail from my skull.
I want a refund…….or maybe a replacement 😉
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Tilly meets Wally and Tango
Just a short video clip showing Tango and Wally meeting Tilly for the first time. Tango has this habit of using her long, pointy muzzle and ‘boinking’ other dogs when she wants to play. She almost knocks poor little Tilly right over with her first boink.
What a good puppy!
Last night everyone was just so exhausted after our long trip so we all curled up on the couch together. I just love this picture. It really helps to put into perspective just how small Tilly is compared to Wally.
I am thrilled to announce that little Tilly slept through the night. She woke up once around 11:30pm and let out a big cry…..maybe a scary puppy dream or she thought she was all alone. I stroked her a few times and she settle down and fell back asleep. By 03:00am I was starting to worry that maybe something was wrong with her. I didn’t want to turn on a light so I used my cordless phone with the backlit keyboard to illuminate an area above Tilly to make sure she was ok. By 05:30am I couldn’t stand it any more …I had to get up and check on her. Her little tail was wagging a mile a minute and I got a dozen kisses as I carried her downstairs to go potty. Its now 0630 and she’s had 3 poops and 1 pee and all is good.
She’s Ours
We had a lovely visit with the breeder, signed the paperwork and we are heading home with the newest member of our family.
Tilly seems to be pooped from all the excitement She is curled up against my neck and it looks like she is going to sleep most of the way home.
We also got a quick video of Tango and Wally meeting Tilly that I will post later.
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3 more sleeps
I can’t believe that the big day is almost here. Back in January it seemed like it was an eternity to wait. Now we are running around buying ‘stuff’ to make sure our new little princess has everything that a puppy would need. We are digging out the baby gate, kennels and X-pens to get both our home and our cars puppy-ready.
On Friday we head up to Cold Lake to sign the papers and then Tilly will be an official member of our family.
OMG 3 more sleeps!!!!!!
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Meet Tilly
We had a lovely drive up to Cold Lake to meet the puppies. When we got there the breeder said that she had a puppy in mind that she thought would be perfect for us. She is from the first litter born on December 22nd and she is identified by the red collar. She brought her out to us and of course it was love at first sight. Look at that face…..is she not smoochable????
She has the cutest little sliver of a white patch on the bridge of her nose and on her forehead (which probably will go away as she matures….too bad!) and look at that white chin. She is quite the little snuggle bunny and gives great french kisses.
We hope to go back to Cold Lake in a couple of weeks and bring her home. Hopefully it will be perfect timing so that Chris and Michelle can meet her while they are here visiting us.
Our little girl is 7 weeks old
Our breeder sent new pictures today. It looks like both litters get to play together now. Aren’t they cute?????
We are allowed to go and visit them now. We are planning for Feb 27th……I can hardly wait.
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More puppy pictures
The breeder sent us a new batch of puppy pictures. Aren’t they just adorable. They will be 6 weeks old in a few days so that means we are at the half way point of our wait to adopt our little girl. The end of March can’t come soon enough for me.
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We have a breeder
Although both breeders were excellent, we have decided to go with the breeder from Alberta because she was the first one to get back to us. In fact she responded to my email the day I sent it. Talk about good customer service.
Cavies have on average 3-4 puppies per litter . This breeder was incredibly lucky because her first bitch had 6 puppies on December 22nd and her second had 7 puppies on Christmas day. They are all Ruby babies but a few of them do have the odd white spot. She likes to pick the puppies for her clients based on the needs/wants of each client. She knows the puppies best so she can help make the perfect match.
We mailed our deposit this morning hoping that it would get to her before all the female puppies were spoken for. I am secretly hoping that we get a little girl with a white spot but truthfully I wouldn’t be disappointed with any puppy. We received an email full of pictures today. They are soooooo cute!
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We have a name!
I am embarrassed to admit that I have already picked a name for our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel……before we even have one. I am hoping to call her Tilly. The reason I say “hoping” is because I generally prefer to meet the puppy before giving them a name. It is nice to get a feel for their personality to make sure that the name you pick is a good fit. I do have a couple of other options on my list just in case Tilly really doesn’t suit her. What do you think of Paisley or perhaps Kahlo?
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Life In The Dog House 