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Tag Archives: CKCS
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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.
Filed under Tilly
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.
Filed under Tilly
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 😉
Filed under Tilly
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.
Filed under Tilly
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!!!!!!
Filed under Tilly
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!
Filed under Tilly
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?
Filed under Tilly
Finding a Cavalier King Charles Breeder
We have chosen our breed, now comes the big task of finding a breeder. For me, finding the right breeder is almost as important as finding the right breed. A good breeder makes sure that they only breed the best of the best. Their breeding stock has thorough health evaluations and their puppies are well socialized before they go to their new homes. I want a breeder who wants to know as much as possible about the people who want to adopt their puppies. Ideally adoptive families should have to sign contracts to make sure that if they no longer want the puppy, it must be returned to the breeder and not abandoned on the street or surrendered to a shelter.
I looked up breeders on the Dogs in Canada and CKC websites. I also got in contact with people who have Cavies and asked about their breeders. I contacted two breeders in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. I quickly eliminated one of the Alberta breeders. She never asked one question about us or our lifestyle and she said she didn’t do any health testing of her breeding stock. I was very impressed with both of the remaining breeders. They clearly loved their dogs and asked me a lot of questions to make sure that they were satisfied that their puppy was going to the right home. These are the kind of breeders I want to support. It is going to be hard to choose one breeder…..I wish we could get a puppy from each one. Regardless of which breeder we go with, I will definitely recommend both of them to anyone who is interested in adding a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to their family.
Filed under Tilly
And the winning breed is……
Over the last 2 months I’ve googled, spent hours on YouTube and done research at the library. The good news is that I think I have found the perfect breed for us. The more I read about them, the more I am sure that we have made the right decision. We have chosen the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (CKCS). Its personality reminds me of a Golden Retriever. Now I know that they are a different breed but they do share so many similarities that I know that we are going to be a perfect match.
This is how the Canadian Kennel Club descibes a Cavalier King Charles Spaniels:
The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a much-admired Royal Spaniel. Descended from the Toy Spaniels of Europe, the breed was variously known as the “comforter” or “Spaniel Gentle” and first appeared in the courts of England with the reign of Queen Mary I. The breed, which appears in many of the great paintings of the Masters, received its name from King Charles II. It became virtually extinct in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, as short-nosed breeds took the fore. By 1923 the King Charles Spaniel (today’s English Toy) with its flat nose had replaced the old-type Toy Spaniel. In 1926 the incentive for the revitalization of the old-type Toy Spaniel was provided by Mr. Roswell Eldridge, an American who offered prizes of 25 pounds for the Best Dog and Best Bitch of this type at Crufts. The name Cavalier was added when the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club was founded in 1928 to further develop the breed. It was not until 1945 that The Kennel Club (England) granted separate registration from the King Charles. The popularity of these companion dogs has spread around the world and in 1957 the breed gained Canadian Kennel Club recognition.
General Appearance
An active, graceful, well-balanced dog, very gay, and free in action.
Temperament
Fearless and sporting in character yet at the same time gentle and affectionate.
Size
Height 30-33 cm (12-13 inches). Weight proportionate to height 5 – 8 kg (12-18 lbs.). Slight variations permissible. Feathering on ears, legs and tail should be long, and the feathering on the feet is a feature of the breed.
If you want to learn more about the CKCS here are a couple of great YouTube videos :
Filed under Tilly
Life In The Dog House 