Mint learning to Stay at his puppy school

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Mint had his puppy class last night.

The first exercise they did in the class was attention exercise by cruising around the training centre with the leash loose while dogs kept attention on their handlers. Mint is really good at this type of exercise because he keeps looking at Mum whenever he wants some treat.



Next, after practising Sit and Down, they practised Stay with the handler standing a leash length away from the dog. Mint cannot stay laying down quietly, although he is pretty good at staying sitting. So, when humans were told to make their dogs stay in the either sitting or laying down position, Mum made Mint stay sitting, which he did really well as usual. She also tried to make Mint stay in the laying down position, but he couldn't stay laying down without mouthing Mum's hand. I am sure that Mum will do lots of Stay practise in the laying down position with both Mint and me, as it is one of things that I am not good at either.



After a Q&A session, they also learned how to go through a gate nicely. The handler makes the dog sit and wait, clicks if the dog stays sitting when the gate opens, and goes through the gate with the dog following behind. Because it was almost three quarters into the one-hour class, Mint was so tired that he couldn't do it well, Mum says. It took a while for him even to sit, and when he sat, he couldn't stay sitting.

My humans say that they were again impressed with how good all the puppies in the class were!

Mint had his first bath!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

On Sunday Mint had his first bath.

I had a bath first, and then came Mint's turn. As usual, I couldn't soak in the tub. All I could do was putting my forepaws on the rim of the tub.



Mint didn't seem scared of the water at all.




After having a shampoo, he stayed in the tub comfortably, although he didn't stay in there long.




My humans think that Mint is likely to become a bath lover like Cookie!

This is my first dance routine

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

As you know I did my first dancing demonstration in front of an audience last weekend. I think I did very well for my first time, but Mum was not entirely happy with it, as I was busy picking up and eating acorns and skipped some tricks in the routine. That's why she didn't let me show you any video of my routine last week. But, I have finally convinced her that some, if not all, of my blog friends might enjoy watching my first dancing demonstration.

Here is a video of our dancing team's demonstrations last weekend. I hope you don't mind that Mum has cut off some parts of my routine, where I was enjoying fresh acorns, from the video.



If you want to see the whole routine, you can view the following video taken a couple of weeks ago when I was practising in preparation for my first demonstration. Unfortunately Mum had to change the audio, but you can still see what my routine should've been like.

Mint's first day at his puppy school

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

My little brother Mint went to his puppy school for the first time on Tuesday. Because I couldn't go with him, here I am going to tell what I heard from my humans.

His puppy school is taught by a great dog trainer, Flip at Flip's Top Dog. In Mint's class there were seven puppies including Mint. What impressed my humans most is most of the attendees had brought a clicker and treats to the first class and most puppies had already learned to sit and down very well. Remember that this is a puppy school, not an ordinary obedience class!



My humans say they were glad that they had taught Mint some tricks before attending the puppy school so that Mint could do what other puppies did.



They did attention exercises as well by calling the puppy and doing a click-and-treat if he looked at his human and preferably followed his human with the leash slack. But, of course, Mint had to do his job as a Beagle, i.e. sniffing, during those exercises.



At the end of the class, they were given homework; 1) practising to sit and down more, 2) doing more attention exercises, and 3) reinforcing good behaviours using a clicker. This is a four-week course. So, I will keep you updated with how it is going for the next three weeks.

Humane Society's Pets Picnic in the Park

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Yesterday I went to the Humane Society of New Zealand's Pets Picnic in the Park at Cornwall Park and did my FIRST dance demonstration in front of an audience!!



Yesterday's event was to promote the activities of the Humane Society which is working to 'improve the situation of needy animals'. Three dogs and their humans from our dancing team ChoreDOGraphy Connection performed before various dog competitions started.

Because it was my first public display, I went first, Apollos second, and then veteran Skye performed last. After Mum and I were introduced to the ring and I did some sniffing to make sure everything was all right, Mum gave the event staff a cue to start the music. But, nothing began and after a while Skye's human came to us to let us know there was a technical trouble. Being unable to begin our routine, we were doing some tricks without music in the ring, and then all of sudden the music started!






Well, actually I was unable to keep my attention on Mum during my routine, as there were so many yummy smelling acorns on the ground. I just couldn't resist and I kept picking up and eating them! Although Mum looked sad after the routine finished, Dad looked very happy because I had done the first and last parts of the routine anyway. While Mum had wanted me to perform as well as I usually do, Dad hadn't expected much of me.

Our Team

Souvenir I got from the event

After our performance, I met my blog friend Lexi the Great Dane! At first I couldn't recognise her, as she had grown so much since I met her for the first time at Honey the Great Dane's birthday party last November. At that time she was only a little bigger than me. But, look at this! She was huge yesterday!!



Unfortunately I couldn't play with Lexi much yesterday, as we had to quickly go home where Mint was waiting. I hope to catch up with her again soon!

Photo Tag Game :-)

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

My great friend and mentor, Honey the Great Dane, has tagged me to play the Photo Tag Game. Thank you, Honey!!

The game's rules are:

1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll down to the tenth photo
3. Post the photo and tell the story behind it
4. Tag 5 more people

On Mum's computer only photos taken with her compact digital camera are stored. The oldest photos in the Pictures folder are those taken in Japan right after Mum bought the camera two years ago. Here is the tenth photo in the folder.



A photo of Mum's niece and Mum's mum's dog, Cocoa the Toy Poodle, who I sometimes meet over Skype. Mum's niece and Cocoa are very good friends as you can see in the photo. When Mum's mum is away on a trip or something, the girl comes to feed and play with Cocoa.

Well, next I will have to tag five friends. But, I am going to tag only one, as her human is a fantastic photographer worth more than tagging five! The friend is:

Sapphire the Beagle !!

I look forward to seeing the tenth photo in her photo folder!

Mint's toilet training - much better now!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Thank you so much for all your advice and encouragement to my humans about Mint's toilet training!

Well, today I am glad to be able to tell you that the training has progressed a lot since my last post. Mum increased the frequency of Mint's trips to his toilet area in the garden, following Honey's human's advice, and also started having him stay in his crate with the door closed for an hour or so, following Lexi's human's hint to use a crate (Thanks both!). In the result, he didn't use his toilet training pad at all today! He didn't wet the floor at all either!! However, his daytime toilet frequency is still very high when he is outside the crate. So, my humans are going to ask the vet about it (some friends are concerned about a possibility of bladder infection) when Mint has his final vaccination in a week, if the frequency doesn't decrease by then.

I am teaching Mint how to handshake :-)

Mint's toilet training - slow progress...

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Do you remember that I told you that my little brother Mint never missed the toilet training pads when he did pee or poo in his puppy pen? But, things haven't been going so well since then.

Mint at 9 weeks old (a week ago)

Our humans have been trying hard to teach him where his toilet is, but he more than often forgets to go back there and pees on the kitchen floor. Whenever his behaviour shows that he wants to go to toilet, Mum takes him to his toilet training pads, but he doesn't want to stay there, and instead he pees at a different spot. What is worse is that now he often pees just outside the toilet training pad, when he is inside the puppy pen, as if he was testing our humans to see how they would respond.

Mum takes him to his toilet area out in the garden every hour, but he often pees much more frequently, perhaps because he drinks so much water! Should they limit the amount of water Mint drinks by keeping his water bowl empty sometimes?

Mint's toilet area in the garden

Our humans would appreciate it if you would give them any advice! (While they are focused on Mint's toilet training, they don't give me much attention, which is not good at all!) Or, are they just rushing all too quickly?

Mint's first trick practise session

Hi! It's Cinnamon!

My little brother Mint has started learning some simple tricks. Here is a video of his first trick practise session. I think he was doing very well for his first time.

While Mint was practising tricks with Mum, I was play-fighting with our new friend, Lion King.



Do you want to know who won? Of course, I did!



I am the queen of the animal kingdom in the house!!

Our new BIG friend!

Hi! It's Cinnamon!

Look! We've got a new BIG friend!!



His name is Lion King. Mum got him second hand for us on an online auction website.



Dad says that he would have been very expensive if Mum had bought him brand new, because he is an official Disney stuffie. But, I don't know what it means. An important thing for me is if he behaves well enough to be our good friend!