Are we finally tackling Cinnamon's barking problem successfully?

As many of you know, I have long been trying to correct Cinnamon's barking problem.

Cinnamon is a happy dog who loves people and dogs alike. But, perhaps because of her excitable nature, she can't resist barking at other dogs she meets on the street. Although I tried many different techniques to correct her behaviour, such as saying 'No' firmly, drawing her attention to me by saying 'Look at me' or showing a treat or toy, and frightening her using a can with pebbles in it or a water gun, nothing really worked.

Being unsuccessful with all these efforts, I decided to ask a professional dog trainer for help. The solution he suggested was to teach her to heel properly. And ... tell you what! It worked almost instantly!! I can't believe it myself, but it really did!!

Now you may think that Cinnamon should have known how to heel already at the age of two. But, it turned out that a real problem had existed in my fear of making too many mistakes. Because I didn't want to fail when I made Cinnamon heel, I had told her to heel only when I was certain that she was going to do it successfully; in other words, only when there were no dogs around, she was giving her attention to me, and I carried some food in my hand or pocket.

Since we had a one hour training session with the trainer a week ago, Cinnamon has NEVER barked at other dogs on the street!! Now, as soon as I see another dog coming, I tell Cinnamon to heel. Although I now use a check chain on her, I seldom need to give it a tug. Simply by saying 'Heel', which I often need to repeat though, I have been able to make Cinnamon control herself successfully. It's amazing, isn't it?

Cinnamon practising heeling in a training session with a professional dog trainer

* The photos have been extracted from videos Honey the Great Dane's human, Hsin-Yi, kindly filmed for us. Thanks, Honey and Hsin-Yi!!

Cinnamon's dancing lesson #1

Cinnamon started practising dancing at beginner Heelwork to Music class about a month ago. I wrote about her first class in a previous post. Today I would like to report how her training is going.

In the first lesson Cinnamon learned some basic skills, such as touching/following my hand and standing in front of me face to face, and in the three subsequent lessens she learned several other basic skills, such as turning/spinning, weaving through and around my legs, bowing, shaking hands/paws, and going through my legs forward and backward.

The following video filmed in the fourth lesson last week shows some of the moves she has learned so far.



We are still practising simple moves only, but I think consolidating basic skills is always important no matter what your are learning.

Cinnamon's meal manners

As I wrote in the last post, Cinnamon and I went to Honey's birthday party and had a great time last weekend. One of the most memorable moments during the party was what Honey calls Cinnamon's "Jaws" moment. Although in my post I wrote something like only Cinnamon had got a second piece of the birthday cake, it seems all the doggies there got seconds, which I didn't realise because I had to keep an eye on Cinnamon around food and I couldn't see what other dogs were doing.

For those who haven't seen the shots of the scene on Honey's blog, here are some photos Honey's human has kindly sent to us (Thank you, Honey and Hsin-Yi!!).

But, I think, for the sake of Cinnamon, I should show you how she usually eats her meals. She sits nicely and patiently in front of her meal bowl, shakes hands/paws, and waits until I say "OK". Here is the proof.

Walk at racecourse and Honey's birthday party

We had a great weekend full of fun activities.

On Saturday morning, after doing the laundry, we went to Ellerslie Racecourse for a walk. It was a pleasant walk thanks to the beautiful spring weather with the blue sky and some cloud.

At the racecourse we watched people doing golf on a short golf course in the infield of the racecourse for a while. It was really an ideal weather for playing golf.

At first we were walking together peacefully, but all of sudden Cinnamon made a dash and was gone far away in the next moment. Although I was a little worried whether she would come back soon or not, she turned around and came back to us after exploring the field for a few minutes.

Back at home, being exhausted from a lot of running at the racecourse, Cinnamon fell in sleep on the deck.

In the afternoon, Cinnamon and I went to our friend Honey the Great Dane's 6th birthday party and had a great time with other dogs and dog lovers, while Cookie stayed home with his dad.

Cinnamon enjoyed playing with a four-month-old Great Dane puppy called Lexi. They looked like really good playmates.

We did some games, including Ian Dunbar's K9 Games, musical chairs and doggy dash.

In the musical chairs we were out after the first round, but it doesn't mean that Cinnamon couldn't sit and stay long enough. We were just unlucky with the timing that she stood up from the sitting position.

In the doggy dash, she beat a Shetland Sheepdog called Finnegan in the first round, but in the second round she was beaten by a German Shepherd called Kira by microseconds. Cinnamon ran very fast, but Kira was just too fast. In this sprint race, the dogs had to sit as soon as they reached the goal where their owners were waiting, and Cinnamon did it beautifully, which I am very proud of.

We also did egg and spoon race and champagne race. In both races, humans, with their dog's lead tied to their wrist, ran a course with their dogs. Something hilarious happened in the egg and spoon race, but I am not writing about it here as perhaps Honey is going to tell you all about it! In the champagne race, a nice cute boy volunteered to be the handler of Cinnamon, while his sister handled Honey. What a lucky girl Cinnamon was!

After all the fun games, dogs shared Honey's birthday cake, which her humans had made.

Actually Cinnamon got the biggest share of it, because everyone was so amused by how Cinnamon ate a big piece of cake at a mouthful that she was given a second piece. In fact, while big dogs were breaking their cake into small pieces and eating them one by one, Cinnamon was chewing up a whole big piece given to her in her mouth without dropping a crumb!

After that, people there were even more excited to see how Cinnamon was cleaning up all the cake crumbs on the floor like a vacuum, although it was nothing unusual to me as I see her doing that every day at home.

It was a really great party!! Thank you for inviting us, Honey!!

The source of Cinnamon's secret treats

Since late September, Cinnamon has been very busy finding and eating something in the garden whenever she is out there.



I had seen Cookie doing something similar before. At that time he was eating cherries from our flowering cherry trees, but now it is too early for Cinnamon to start picking up cherries, as the cherry trees in our garden are just finishing flowering. And besides, the stuff Cinnamon has been eating looks like some kind of nuts.



At first, I thought they might come from a Titoki tree, as Cinnamon was picking up the nuts in the area around the tree. But, according to a reference book, Titoki bears a different type of berries. Then, where do they come from?

I went to Palmers Garden Centre and asked a botanist there what those nuts came from. He said "They are seeds of big palm trees." As soon as I heard it, it struck a chord! There IS a big palm tree in our nextdoor neighour's garden!



Come to think of it, we have been seeing many birds flying over our garden with the seeds in their beak. I just hope they won't harm Cinnamon's stomach as it is hard to stop her eating them. At least it seems she can't digest the seeds, as they always come out with her poo (You can see a photo of it by clicking here).

This is one of the culprits who have been scattering palm seeds around our garden.



In the meantime, Cookie doesn't bother to look for the palm seeds. He would rather lie down in the sun and have a pleasant nap.

Scent of Roses

There was Parnell Festival of Roses at Parnell Rose Garden (formally called Dove-Myer Robinson Park) on the weekend. This was the place Cookie went to in his first walk ever, but unfortunately we couldn't see any flowers then in July, as the roses had just been pruned.

Cookie's very first walk

The garden looks like this at this time of year
(Sorry it's an old photo from year 2000)

Yes, that's right. Roses are most beautiful at this time of year here down under! Roses are in bloom in our garden too.

Cinnamon and Roses

Cinnamon is appreciating the beauty and scent of roses

She wants to have a closer look, doesn't she?

Oh, no, Cinnamon!!