Aren't we pretty and well behaved?

I told you Izzy Snores

This is a quiet night. It gets A LOT worse!!

Training Week 3

Ok, so we've all been working really hard this week on our training and things are going really well. I have a bit of a leg up because I've been through this before and am basically doing some refresher work and learning new skills. Dad is changing some of my commands to make it a little easier for me to help Izzy and Jaxon. I really like this training. It helps us understand what our humans expect from us and it eases stress levels around the house. Izzy is really stubborn but she is starting to come around really well. Jaxon is a nut. All he wanted to do this week was eat his leash but tonight he did really well. Dad says that part of this is human training also. Just as we learn about our humans, they also learn more about what makes us tick and improves the all around communications between us. Dad has been working with all three of us but Mom says she's gonna help more now. She gets a little frustrated with Izzy but that's not hard to do sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love Izzy but she can be a bit intense at times. One of the best parts about it is that we are able to be more confident and less confused in what our humans want us to do. It also makes our humans more confident in their ability to take us into the public without fear of us getting into trouble. See its not that we are bad dogs, it's just that we each have our own personality issues that not everyone understands as much as our humans do. For example, being a hound dog I LOOOOOVE to smell everything. Well, Dad says that isn't always polite when we're in public. Izzy and Jaxon simply want to do their own thing which makes it difficult for our humans to take them places because they have to concentrate so much on keeping them out of trouble that they can't do the things that they went out to do in the first place. Our trainer is great. He is teaching us to keep our attention on our humans. This is really important as the world can be a dangerouse and scary place sometimes. Since we can't read signs and things we have to trust them to keep us safe and healthy. It sure made it easier for Dad to do that when I did my training before. Izzy is doing a lot better with her "come" and "sit" commands. (Now if we could just train her to not snore!" Jaxon is learning that the leash is not a killer monster snake that is trying to eat him all the time and is doing a great job at sitting and waiting till he is called to move again. All in all this is an exciting and fun time. I'm really enjoying fine tuning my skills and I'm extremely proud of the progress that Izzy and Jaxon are making. Just do t tell them I said so. Well I'm hitting the sack folks we'll be back in touch soon. I'll post some pics later.

Training Week #2

Ok last week we were just kinda getting to know each other but now it's time to get it on. We all worked hard tonight, even Jaxon.

Ok, Ok So it looked more like this:

And this:

I told you he was special.

Izzy wouldn't let me take any pictures of her training so I took some of the aftermath. Enjoy folks, I'm whooped and going to bed. Goodnight. 

Training Time!!

Hey folks, sorry it's been so long since we've updated the blog. Izzy keeps barking about "That is my blog and I don't want you hogging it up! ARRF ARRF". Well, she gets busy sometimes and doesn't have time to update it so I'll just have to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission. Ok, so we have started our training. Actually we started last week. Personally, I'm having a blast. This is a piece of cake. As for the others, HA! not so much. I laugh so hard watching Izzy being DRAAAAGGGGEEED across the yard. She just doesn't get it. If ya just go with the flow, everyone's stress level will go way down. She IS stubborn though. We're taking it easy at first with Jaxon. He's special! Well the training company is called "Sit Means Sit". They're out of Houston. I really like our trainer. He is a very nice guy. He is always petting me and telling me how good I am. Lol, I keep telling Izzy and Jaxon that they'll get there eventually. Right off the bat, we got goodies from the trainer. We got these nifty beds that are raised off of the ground.

My Dad had one of these before. He liked them because when we went to the beach I could lay on it and not in the sand. I like it because when there are a lot of people over I have a "Special Place" I can go to and not be bothered. We also got new collars and leashes. Now I have had these collars before but Izzy and Jaxon didn't know a thing about them. Dad says that they are "E" collars because they are electric. OK PEOPLE, don't get excited, I have had one for most of my life and they're not bad. In fact they help me to understand better what Dad wants me to do. He doesn't speak good Dog so this helps with translation. Let's face it there are lots of smells and sounds that will draw a dogs attention off of his human and since humans run the earth, they are aware of dangers that we may not understand. Case in point, I got to chasing a rabbit one time and all I had on my mind was getting that rabbit. Well, I didn't realize it at the time but that dumb rabbit was headed straight out across a busy road. If my Dad hadn't got my attention with that collar I would have chased that rabbit out into that road and there ya go, SQISH LIKE GRAPE.

Note the smaller contacts on the collar on the right for smaller dogs.

Really though, when used correctly these collars are no different than someone poking you on the shoulder to get your attention. My Dad says that sometimes they get a bad rap cause people buy them and don't know the proper way to use them. Well, the trainers here so I gotta run but I'll let y'all know how it goes tonight. Take care y'all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Hey y'all, good to see ya again. We have been really busy lately. We had a great Christmas and we are getting the New year started now. So, what did y'all get for Christmas? I got a couple of nice bones, some new toys, and all three of us were enrolled in a training class. This is gonna be great!! Ha ha ha, the thing is I've been there and done the whole training thing but Jaxon and Izzy don't have a clue what they are getting into. Dad keeps making it out to be this magical process but I know better. It was really tough for me at first but it soon got a lot easier and I began to not only succeed in it but excell. They will too but if they knew what was about to happen they'd probably run and hide. It's like anything else though if you work for it you will reap the benefits. I have slacked off some, so even I will do some refresher training and who knows, maybe even learn a few new things. Ya know, things sure got a whole lot more fun once I was trained. Dad trusted me a lot more. I learned to potty outside so dad could stop leaving me in that cage while he was gone. I learned that chewing on the wrong things was BAAAAAD! I was taught a bunch of things that gave me better manners too. When Dad sits down to eat, I go lay down because begging for food is not cool at all. Besides, people food isn't always good for us dogs. Let's face it, as intellegent as we are, our humans job is to know more and to protect us in there way much as we would protect them. It's important to listen to what your human tells you especially out in public. Humans are really complex and you never know what kinda goofy rules that they have put in place in different ares. I rely on Dad to let me know what I can and can't do in a particular area so that we don't get in trouble. Once I learned to do that, Dad learned that he could take me with him to a lot more places. Like I said Jaxon and Izzy are NOT gonna like this training thing at first but I'm confident that they will soon realize how much they have gained from all their work. Ok well I'm gonna leave y'all with a few pictures from Christmas. Hey y'all feel free to leave some pictures of your own. We'd love to see what y'all got for Christmas too. Catch ya later.

Uh...Is this thing on?

Hello, I'm Jaxon. Izzy has been bullying me about writing on here, so here goes. For the record may I just say that I'm not real sure about this whole "Blogging" thing. It requires me to crawl out from under of the cozy comfort of my Mama's bed sheets. People say that Mama spoils me too much but hey, I'm not complaining. Ok back to the point. My Mama and I came to live with Izzy and Jack a few months ago. It's a lot different from where I used to live. There are many similarities too though. I mean, I still have a bunch of toys (although toys seem to be a lot more communal here), Jack and Izzy's Mom and Dad make sure that I have good food to eat. (more on hat subject later), and I can play whenever I want to. The problem is that there is a new concept that I just can't seem to wrap my head around. Maybe you have heard of these things called uh - wait - OH YEAH - rules, that's it rules. It's strange but I guess I'll have to accept it the way Jack and Izzy have. Jack says that his Dad (I just love that guy) has always been good to him as long as he abided by these uh - oh, what's the word, oh, Rules. He just gets upset with Jack sometimes because as much as we have learned from him, Jack has learned some things from me and Izzy too. (And he doesnt seem to like it much!)Izzy on the other hand is fairly new to this too although she has a pretty good head start on me. She tells me about how weird it was getting used to these ruuuulllleees at first. (I shiver at the mere mention of the word.) I guess the good thing is that when we do as expected, the house is a much nicer, and relaxing place to live. It's a lot of work on my part though and it's tough to remember all the new things I am supposed to do and more so, what not to do. However, Jacks dad keeps talking about a program that is about to start that is going to help us all to live in harmony with eachother and our humans. He says that everyone will be much happier and our house will fill with love. It's something called "training". Ever hear of it? Evidently, the Guru comes and teaches us things and POOF, like magic everybody is happy. Well we'll see how this goes. I'm sure that we'll all have something to say about it in the weeks to come. I can't wait, sounds like fun. Ok, enough blogging for today. It is January in Texas, about 70 degrees so I have to go warm up under my Mama's covers again. Later