The Dog - part of the family

Our little Petite Peu (“little bit” in French) dog is part of the family. We have been a very reluctant family. But slowly she has made it into our hearts (sic), and into our living room. She made it into Arnia’s room (and bed) as well, but lost the privilege when the teen’s room started to smell...

The normal doggy stuff still gets to us, especially when she upsets the neighbourhood, such as the VERY LOUD barking. Or running around like a dog on espresso when she gets out of the garden. Or jumping up on our guests. I am sure the Dog Whisperer would have a field day at our house. We know now that it is not the dog, but the OWNERS who are the problem! (Guilty!)

The clicker training helped some, but also guilty! We did not continue with it...

The bark is the worst. It seems abnormal for such a small dog to have such a loud yap! She is supposed to have been a Miniature Pinscher, but turned out to be a cross with a Dachshund and some other genealogical mixes on her family tree. She got the loudest and most irritating bark of them all! The toddler has been copying her Dad: when Petite Peu barks, she calls out “Hay!” while showing the little finger! We cannot help but smile every time it happens.

But strangely we like our little dog more and more, and love it when she awaits us with her welcoming yaps! She stays in our vicinity while we are busy or watching television; moving with us when we does; and sleeps in her doggy bed at our feet. We have even caught Dries with the dog on his lap, even though he threatens to not take her to the vet ever again, or to help her out of her existence here on earth... (But who is the one who takes her to the vet every time? Or make sure that she has her extra blanket with her?)

This dog is more work, more money and more everything than we anticipated... The thought remains that another dog would have been easier. (?) But now we have our “little bit” of Big Trouble! Part of our family!

Related posts:

Petite Peu of a mistake

Clicker training #8: CRazy, psycho dog got her certificate

Wordless Wednesday #31 - Teen's BDay

Arnia, the teen, with the hat
made for her by the day care where she is working
during the holiday.

Petite Peu of a mistake

Little Bit of a Mistake! That’s what our little bit of a dog IS! The problem with dogs and with children: You can’t give them back. (You can!)


Noooo! You can’t!

Our Petite Peu dog got an eye infection after we washed her yesterday! Hubby had to take her to the vet today. R600 ZAR money later and armed with three bottles of eye drops he was back. And visibly upset! We took the toddler to the doctor as well yesterday. The same amount of ZAR money was spent. The only difference: the medical aid paid for it! Ouch! Vets ask the same as normal doctors for their consultation fees.

And now we have to get the eye drops into the dog’s eyes. It is as mission impossible as giving medicine to the toddler...

Our dog has calmed down since we allowed her more into the house. Or maybe it is because she is getting older? She sleeps with the teen in her room, and we do not hear a peep from her until the next morning. She still dashes out of the gate when she gets the opportunity. She also barks her very loud yaps at mostly unknowns, and the doves who try to steal her food...

We have to smile (sheepishly) at ourselves: we got a “little bit” more than we imagined our little dog would be!

Clicker training #8: Crazy, psycho dog got her certificate

The dog completed her clicker training, and got a diploma certificate awarded to her:

“This certifies that
Petite Peu
Has successfully completed

Puppy 2

And is hereby awarded this diploma by

The Eukanuba Puppy School

For extremely gifted pooches”

Yeah, right! ;-)

But I must give credit. I never thought we would be able to get her to do most of the things that we are now able to get her to do with treats.

The teen and the boyfriend took the dog through her last training, while we were watching. The dog was sitting and watching them intently (mostly because she knows there’s food involved – but that’s what it is all about), and did most of the commands very well. She did not respond at all when the teen only had to call out the commands without the hand signal. She gave them a blank look, and that was that... Very funny!

The trainer called her crazy and psycho dog, again.

We will not be going back for the advanced training. It is possible that she would be able to advance from where she is now. But we have had enough, for now! We want our Saturdays back to ourselves. We think we accomplished most what we set out to do. If only to understand our little bit of a dog a little bit better... She is a bit of crazy, but she is our bit of crazy!

I have learnt something about behaviour as well, which can be successfully used for the toddler as well. Catch them doing something well, and reward that. Ignore the rest!

Crazy dog: Clicker Training #7

The dog trainer: “Come here, you little crazy dog! Are you a crazy dog?” Patting the dog on the head.


It is nearly the end of our clicker training sessions. We see her respond to our commands, or some of them... When we get her to focus... Sometimes...

But Petite Peu is still all over the place. If ever there was a dog that needed Ritalin, it is this one!

The teen was walking the dog at the training grounds when a lady with her dog from the previous session started to walk a circle around them: “Ooh, there’s that overexcited dog again!” Arnia felt offended... (I think it is the same with busy children. You somehow feel responsible for them being so excitable; even though it is an inborn genetic trait.)

Did I mention that our Petite Peu; which means Little Bit in French, is also not so little bit anymore. She is even bigger that a Dachshund.

Maybe we should call her our Little Mistake? It was a mistake to buy a dog at a pet shop, and we should have looked more closely at the type of breed we wanted. (But she is here to stay; do not worry. Smile!)

Mieka and the dog played with her wax crayons this afternoon. Mieka throws a crayon to the ground and Petite Peu grabs it and chows it. I caught her time and again feeding the dog the crayons, although I reminded her again and again not to give it to the dog. They are a naughty team together...

Clicker training #5

I was waiting for the dog trainer on Saturday to call our dog “pycho dog” again. I wanted to question her about it. Maybe she thought about it as well, because she did not do it again...
Petite Peu really did well with her commands on Saturday. I felt that she and I were getting on very well. She is getting used to me being the Alfa dog as well, and not only the teen. (The teen is occupied with hockey on Saturdays.)
The dogs were taught to go through a tunnel. It is not that difficult when food is thrown through the tunnel, and they are being called to the other end of the tunnel. The dog trainer made the tunnel longer and longer, and the dogs had to run through. It is a bit scary, because you have to let go of the leash. I am still not sure that I will be able to get Petite Peu coming back to me when she gets a free reign in the park. She wants to take on all the big dogs that are in the class with her. Very cheeky!
Dries is still threatening the dog’s survival when she barks her very loud barks in the house, or when she starts barking at the neighbours outside, or when she makes a dash for the gate. Translated: he threatens every day to get rid of her...
The toddler enjoys the dog the most. We sometimes catch her feeding the dog some of her food through the gate. She laughs when the dog bumps into her, and she laughs when the dog licks her face and hands. She also finds it irresistibly funny to kick at the dog when she is underneath the chairs; which makes the dog bites at her feet. She is not at all bothered by the liveliness of the dog’s nature. She gets the dog more than we do!

Related post:

Psycho dog

Psycho dog

Clicker training #4: I had to take the dog through her training on Saturday, because the teen was busy with hockey. The dog is doing “sit” and “paw” and “lie down” very good by now, but I struggled to get her to learn the new stuff. The teen gets more out of the dog...
The “look” command was not too difficult, but the “stay” command did not really make an impact. Petite Peu was tired after half an hour, and the treats not that inviting any more. She was lying in the shade, panting, and I struggled to get her to get up again. In the end the trainer said I could practise the “stay” command by letting her be, showing her the hand, and rewarding her for staying where she was. (I am not sure she made the connection?)
Walking with her in an eight-figure circle proved to be impossible. I got tangled in her leash, and could not get her to walk the desired way. We will have to practise more...
Petite Peu also barked at all the other dogs, and at one stage we got tangled with another dog (cross-breed fluffy dog), and fluffy dog yelped in distress. Fluffy dog got so traumatized that her owner had to walk her up and down for the rest of the class...
I got a ball on a stick to show to Petite Peu. She had to sniff it for me to treat her. Petite Peu was scared of the stick-ball. In the end I had to reward her for looking in the direction of the ball. The goal is to get the dogs to follow the stick with their noses (without the use of a leash). Apparently it is going to take a bit longer to get Petite Peu to learn this trick...
I was a bit taken aback by the trainer calling our little bit of a dog “psycho dog”. Does she know something that we don’t?

Related posts:

Clicker training #3

Clicker training #2

Clicker training #1

Clicker training for the dog (week 2)

“Petite Peu! Come! Sit!” Click! Snack!
“Petite Peu! Lay down!” Click! Snack!
The dog is sitting and laying down on command! But when she got to the dog training grounds on Saturday, she was all over the place. Strange dogs and people, and smells…
Dog, and dog! “Yap!” People! “Yap!” Smells! Birds! Trees!
“Yap! Yap! Yap!”
“Yap, yap, yap, yap!”
We love our Little Bit of a dog, but she gets a bit much with her constant barking! Nicola (the dog trainer) is positive, telling us that she is very smart, and the more we get her to listen to us, the less she will spend time barking. And hopping all over…
Arnia and I had to call her, and when we go her attention, to get her to sit and to lie down. Arnia had to count to five seconds, before she gave her the snack. It worked for a couple of times…
Nicola says that next time we are supposed to not give her food before we go to the training classes. She turned fussy on us half-way through the class!
The bigger dogs seem to learn a bit quicker. There was a German Shepherd puppy with us in the class, and he was not fazed at all by the yapper!
The owner showed us a few TTouch massage techniques to calm her down at the class, but I did not see much of a difference. Arnia and I have been trying to massage her over the weekend, but it is more like trying to pin her down to not being chewed than to get a good rub in.
We will get there… I really hope so, because Dries is threatening to kick her, and the threats are getting more violent by the day! I was listening to a phone message at work – his cell accidently phoned my work number – while he was busy running after her when she got out on Wednesday night! Hubby was not a happy chappy…
The clicker training is our dog saver! It must be!

Related posts:
Dog (owners) clicker training
The dog
Children and dogs are expensive

Dog (owners) clicker training

The dog (actually us) got her first clicker training on Saturday. We thought she was unmanageable and it turns out she is very smart! We bought a Miniature Pinscher, but we got more of a Dachshund in the deal. The constant yapping is a good indication of the mix between the two breeds! Unfortunately you cannot give back a dog like you give back faulty equipment, so we are stuck with her. (And we love those big brown eyes too much in any case). But we had to make a plan to make her more pleasant to be around with…
She was spayed as well on Thursday, and when we got her back, she was the pleasurable dog we always wanted. Shame! It must have hurt, but we enjoyed her lying quietly with us on Thursday evening. Arnia even kept her in her room for the night, but by Friday morning she was her bouncy self again. (What other operations can we send her for? Smile)
I am very impressed with the clicker training. After 30 minutes Arnia got her to sit and to lie down. And we are seeing a remarkable change in her behaviour already! Not the all-over-the-place mad dog we were getting fed-up with! The secret is apparently to catch the dog doing the thing you want them to learn. The dog’s bum hits the ground; click-food. Now Petite Peu sits whenever she is around us. The promise of food works every time.
I was contemplating of incorporating the clicker training in my disciplining of Mieka as well. If it works for dogs, it will surely work for kids as well? Rather catch them doing positive things, than focusing on disciplining the negative…

Related post:

The dog

The Dog

Dries found the dog cowering in the corner today with a big cat busy eating her food. Now we have to teach her how to chase cats as well… In her defense, Dries said that it was a cat much bigger than her!
We had to lower our high expectations of her in any case: Petite Peu (little bit), the dog, is definitely not a Miniature Pinscher. She got a lot of the Dachshund genetics as well. We were still hoping that she would suddenly turn into the Pinscher, but the ears never got pointy, and the legs are too short. She seems fully grown by now.
I am not pleased (to say the very least) that we had bought her at a pet shop as the real thing! She came with a very steep prize for a cross a well. Where do we report such a thing?
And now she is part of the household. She is a family member whom we love with all her quirks. She is also still very much a baby at five months old. Chewing and barking (very loud for such a small thing) and jumping up and down. But she is sweet as well. She sometimes turns her head, looking at you as if to say: “What are you on about?” (See photo)

We usually get her in to “vacuum” the floor, especially underneath Mieka’s chair. She loves sitting on us or underneath us when we are on the floor. She loves gardening, and we get lots of upturned plants in the garden and leaves in the garden. She loves carrying Mieka’s toys and socks around, and we find most of it buried in her basket in the house. Luckily, because she is so small, she doesn’t bite through the stuff that she is chewing on.
It was said to us that she is not very bright, because she peed in her own bed, but we think she knows what she is doing. She marked it once and for all… And she is the Queen, for goodness sake! She sees blankets and cushions on the floor as the ultimate in invitations for using the toilet…

Barriers and gates and safety locks for the babies

We had two months of grace. Because Mieka only started to move last week, we could postpone organizing and safeguarding our house until now. In the beginning you still have the grandiose thought that your house would not turn into a playpen… (Stupid smile) Now we have toys and safety stuff in all of the rooms!
(This too will pass! This too will pass! Mantras to me – we will get our house back in the future.)
Dries installed the gate at the top of the stairs this past weekend. It makes me want to utter a swearword every time I try to open it. A baby will definitely not manage to ever figure it out, because I have a hard time trying to open it. Press in, lift up, and remember to lift up your feet high enough when stepping over it… Real pain in the ….!
The locks are on the cupboards, dishwasher and washing machine. We still need to put the ugly corner guards on the tables. Now we must also remember to always keep it locked. There is a baby in the house!
Dries also had to put up a wire mesh at the security gates for our other baby, Petite Peu, the little dog. Now she can’t slip through the gates when we don’t want her to come in. She had her third injection on Saturday. With the drive to the vet she made a poop in the car, and coming back she threw up in the car. She is a high maintenance little bit of a dog, but when you look at the brown eyes, you can’t stay mad at her for longer than five minutes.

(Look at the photo taken by my Dad, James.)

Poop phase

How nice to be able to enjoy going home at the end of each day. We were discussing women being in bad relationships, and not wanting to be at home anymore. I used to be in a BAD relationship – long time ago (previous life) – where I dragged my feet to go home. And I am not a workaholic who lives for my work... The only thing that kept me going home was my daughter, Arnia. Phew! Nice to be able to talk about a different lifetime, and laugh about it…
Now it is nice (for the lack of a better word) to go home to our small little townhouse. We look forward just being together. So boring, but so nice…
Mieka had her first swim in a small inflatable swimming pool on the lawn on Saturday. Petite Peu was trying to eat our feet. The fun stopped very suddenly when Mieka became red in the face. It became a whole operation to extract her from the water, and to clean her and the pool. The dog is also keeping us busy with picking up her poop. The thing with babies - children and dogs – is that poop is part of the deal… We are in the poop-phase, trying to maintain a poop-free house. (Sheepish grin) But we don’t mind, because it is our home, and our family, and we love being in each other’s company! The poop phase is a bonus, compared to trying to survive in a bad relationship.

Children and pets

Children and dogs are expensive. (Sic)
The dog turned out to be not a Miniature Pinscher, but a cross, most likely with a Dachshund. The vet confirmed Arnia’s suspicions on Friday. One of her friends told her that Miniature Pinchers have white triangles on their chests; they have pointy ears and brown faces. Our dog lacks all of these characteristics. But we still have to wait and see what she is going to look like. No wonder she was cheaper than expected at the pet shop. That was one of the factors that made us buy her, when we saw that she was R800, and not the expected over a R1000 as these types of dogs are advertised. Afterwards she costs us a pretty penny at the vet too and now she is too valuable (with regards to the money spent) not to invest in her. Petite Peu (little bit in French) is not so little, it seems, but she is still very cute, and very cheeky. When we want to discipline her, she barks at us. The little cheek of a thing!
Arnia had an accident with my laptop. She went to fetch it, and because I did not zip the bag, it fell out and off the stairs when Arnia picked it up. She had such a fright, and felt so miserable; she wanted to pay for fixing it. Yeah, right! Her pocket money is not going to cover it. It was my mistake in the first place, but it was really not a good thud to hear when it landed on the bottom of the stairs. Dries said that when he heard me scream, that he thought I could have been me going down the stairs with Mieka. Looking at the situation with that perspective, it could have been much worse!
Why do we have children and pets when we know they are going to cost us? Ouch!

Little bitty stories

Our little bit of a dog is still alive! Dries and Arnia are doing their fair share in looking after her. Dries go home during lunch-time to give her food. He said that he paid so much for her at the vet that he can’t afford her dying on us. Arnia feeds her, she sleeps in Arnia’s room at night, and Arnia also does most of the clean-ups when there is an accident in the house. Petite Peu is a very lucky dog! She has learnt to climb the stairs, but we have to rescue her, and bring her back down again.
On Friday evening she was gone after our guests left, and just when we were beginning to get frantic, one of our friends phoned and said she was with them. Apparently she climbed into one of their bags, and when they opened the bag, there she was, looking at them very innocently! She is also still very much a baby, chewing on everything, us included, and getting very excited when she hears her dog food bag being opened. To have a baby dog is very exhausting, and Dries said today we must get her sterilized as soon as possible. (Yeah! That’s what I was saying from the time we got the dog.) He concedes that having more of these babies would be too much – on our finances and our patience. Or is it peace?

"Little Bit" of luck

Petite Peu, our 7-week Miniature Pinscher, has pulled through. Arnia said the puppy was extremely glad to see them when they went to fetch her. I thought that she would have been traumatized at the vet, but it seems that she is a happy puppy again. Dries had to pay a large bill, but this time we can at least show a little bit of dog for it.
She was sleeping on Dries’ slippers last night (see photo), and it felt good to have her back after 5 days at the vet.

Break & Petite Peu

The Little Bit of a life is still at the vet. We did not discuss it much today. I think we are saving ourselves emotionally, and trying to not get too attached. I feel extremely sorry for the poor little Miniature Pinscher when I picture her in the strange surroundings. Hopefully she is all sorted out on Friday…
We had a wonderful sunny break day in South Africa. Dries made the barbeque, as is required on National Heritage or Braai Day.
Arnia had to cope with the X’s (cancelled one) sister phoning, and telling her she is murdering her dad. Huh?? (She has made the decision to not speak to him at the moment because of his bad behaviour.) She put the phone down on her, and got a couple of messages saying she is not welcome at her dad’s funeral etc. Luckily she doesn’t play their emotional games, and did not respond to any of it.
Dries told me today that he feels very rich – with me, Mieka and Arnia in his life. I have been feeling the same, very lucky!

Déjà vu

How difficult can it be? We want a little dog!
We are going through the same trauma again of a few weeks back. Little Bit, our 6-week Miniature Pinscher we got on Sunday, is on a drip until Friday. Apparently it’s only worms, but she got dehydrated. I also think it is because she is of a highly sensitive breed. She is traumatized, and we are traumatized. Dries phoned the breeder, and she says all little dogs have got worms, but usually it is sorted within a week. She says that usually there’s a bit of stress with the change of scenery. But this dog stopped eating, and the stomach got upset. I can only imagine such a small dog stressing in new surroundings again, having to stay in a small cage. Arnia says she is shaking. The previous Scottish terrier puppy also had worms, and after that she caught cat flu. I am holding thumbs that we are not going the same route again. And in the meantime the cash register is rolling…

Little Bit of trauma

Wow! What are we doing wrong! The little Miniature Pinscher is at the vet on a drip. Again! We went through the whole traumatic experience the previous time with the Scottish terrier, and now the new little bit of a dog is sick as well. I told Dries to let the dog go/die, but apparently he’s got a softer heart than me. Again, Arnia spent two nights with the little thing in her room, and she is heart broken that Petite Peu is sick. Now we beat ourselves up. We should have gone to the SPCA, or we should not have bought a dog so soon after the previous one? Or we should have gotten an older dog?
We lost all reason when we saw her on Sunday in the pet shop. She was too cute! Please, Little Bit, stay with us!

Petite Peu

We found our little Miniature Pinscher in a pet shop today. Because we were promised a dog of this breed, we got used to the idea. When we saw her in the pet shop, it did not take long for Arnia to convince Dries to buy it for us. Afterwards in the car he said he is now totally overpowered by females, and there is too much estrogen. He should have taken a male. Petite Peu (“little bit”) is very cute, and it looks as if she is going to be very cheeky. She and Mieka are both a bit apprehensive about each other. She starts shaking when Mieka screams (out of delight) at her. But when she barks, Mieka starts crying. It is going to be an interesting relationship…