As you may have heard, my brother and his dog, Deville, have become superstars lately. They both appeared on ABC's show, Shark Tank, a couple of months ago. Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran invested half a million dollars in his cruiser bike company, named Villy Customs. So his dog, Deville, also known as Villy, has become quite the celebrity.
Who?......me?
Today, Ricky and I got to go to my brother's shop, while the Shark Tank crew filmed a little follow up segment, which will air during the fall season.
Ricky was a great sport while all the work was being done. He just kept quiet and stayed out of the way.
He said "Hi" to the new Diva in town, but it took awhile before he got any love from Deville...
Um, hello? Deville, have you forgotten the little people?
Ricky was a little starstruck as Cousin Villy finally came near.
Of course my brother's bikes looked great in the shop! They look great anywhere and everywhere!
But, to me, the most beautiful thing in the room was my Ricky Ricardo~
Me and my boy.
As we were driving home, thinking about the day and what a great boy Ricky was, a silly song I remember from my childhood came to mind... It's the perfect sentiment for Ricky Ricardo-
"You Don't Have To Be a Star, Baby (To Be in My Show)"
Ever since I've been an adult, I've had dogs that don't bark. Zoe and Scout, like Chloe before them, were Siberian Huskies, and true to the breed, they howled rather than barked.
And because of that, I guess, having a dog that barks has been an adjustment for me.
Lucy has a voice. And she likes to use it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that! Dogs are suppose to bark.
Lucy barks at Ricky when she wants him to chase her. And sometimes she offers a different bark when he's playing too rough with her. She also has an entirely different bark she uses when she's in her crate and someone comes to our front door. It's sort of a deep grumble. And then she has this other bark she uses sometimes with strangers that approach her that she's not too sure about. It's pretty mighty, and she makes her point. I figure, Lucy is my first "guard dog" with a bark like that. I feel very safe walking with her at dusk. She's not going to let anyone sneak up on us! But yeah, every now and then, I'm a little embarrassed when she does it.
Ricky doesn't bark much, but every now and then, when he really wants to play, he'll do his little bow and bark a couple of times. It's really, really cute- of course!
The other day we met some older lady and her Schnauzer, and Ricky voiced his call to play. The lady said to him, "Now, no barking!" And he looked at her and cocked his head as if to say, "What in the world are you talking about, Lady?" She then told me, "Well, he's just a puppy- My dog is 9 and he only just now learned not to bark." I told her I wasn't really trying to teach him not to bark. I'm not sure she and I saw eye to eye.
Like I said, I've had to get use to the fact that my dogs bark. It's the voice they have. Why in the world should I try to convince them not to use it?
When I'm training with Lucy and Ricky, I give them treats along with hugs and kisses. If I expect them to work, I gotta pay them, right? Right!!
My two are always eager to learn....
and snack!!!
They're really happy with whatever I give them, happy words of encouragement, kisses, but I do think they love food the most. And since I want to keep them slim and trim, I give them healthy-ish stuff. Sometimes cut up lean meat, or sometimes good snacks I buy at pet stores. But one thing about those packaged treats: They are WAY too big. They are super-size treats. And if I used that size, my dogs would turn into pigs very quickly.
So I cut down the treats into much smaller pieces. Although it's time-consuming and at times bit annoying, other times it feels meditative. I just stand over the counter and cut, cut, cut- making a little go a long way!
I love Half Priced books. For about a gajillion reasons.
I'm so lucky that a huge one is less than a mile from my house! We go there a lot. Partly because it's dog friendly. However, the cafe is not, since there is food in there.
So yesterday when Lucy and I were up browsing around at all the books, I popped my head in the cafe and asked them to save a Napoleon for me and that I'd pick it up later. The girl said, "Oh, what a cute dog! What's her name?"
After Lucy and I finished up in the bookstore, I stopped back in the cafe. The girl had the Napoleon waiting in a box for me.
That is now officially my proudest title--- Lucy's (and Ricky's!) Mom.
I was not the only one that thought the dessert looked absolutely yummy!
Yesterday, while Ricky Ricardo and I were walking in our neighborhood, a
little bitty dog came running over to us yapping and barking. He (or
she) wasn't on a leash, and his guardian didn't seem to be anywhere
around.
I tried to lean down to look at his dog tag so I
could figure out where he lives and try to help him find his way home.
But every time I'd reach down to him, he'd run a circle around us, the
dog leashes would get tangled, and everyone was just getting way too excited.
I decided to walk Ricky Ricardo home, hoping the cute little dog would
follow and then I could focus all my attention on getting him back to
his home.
But then, finally, I saw a woman who seemed
to be the dog's guardian. She was yelling in a very stern voice to us,
"KETCHUM!! KETCHUM!! KETCHUM!!" And I was thinking to myself, " That is the wrong kind of tone to use with your dog if you're trying to get
him to run to you!" She continued yelling to her dog, who at this
point, I figured was named Ketchum. She didn't, however walk towards
us. I thought it was so odd.
Ricky and I turned the other way so she could deal with her dog without the distraction of us. But little Ketchum continued bouncing along beside
Ricky and me. Eventually, the woman walked towards us. But the dog
didn't move towards her. She looked at me and said, "Pick him up!
Pick him up! Can't you catch him?"
I told her
that, no, I couldn't KETCHUM because every time I tried, he just sort
of ran in circles around me and my pup. And then I added, "Since he's
your dog, it's probably easier for you to get him." Her dog just kept running away from her, like it was a game. And it was really funny, and looked like a pretty cool game!
I
gave her some treats intended for Ricky and told her to call him with
the treats in her hand. She did, and finally he went close enough to
her that she could finally ketch Ketchum!
My previous doggies, Zoe and Scout were sweet, sweet, sweet... Very good girls. Great companions for 15 years to Fermin and me.
But they didn't have great etiquette (door manners, greeting guests), they pulled at their leashes whenever we ran or walked, and they didn't know any tricks (other than the really basic ones like "sit" and "down").
Lucy and Ricky, on the other hand are also sweet, but they have learned so much during this first year of their lives. So they do have very good manners, walk on a loose leash (except when we see certain dog friends--- we still have some work to do!) and know lots of tricks.
It's not that they're smarter than Zoe and Scout. (Maybe they are, maybe they aren't- No IQ tests have ever been given.) It's not that I love them more.
It's that teaching methods have changed over the years.
When Zoe and Scout were young, I took them to obedience school at Petsmart. But the methods used back then were mean ! We pushed our dogs into "sit", we used choker collars to teach them to "heal", and none of use had fun. And so of course, we quit the class and just decided we didn't care about that stuff.
I am so glad back then that we didn't stick with it, and ultimately, that Zoe and Scout weren't "trained". (I don't even like that word!) We all had happier lives the way it was.
But this time around, 15 years later, the Ricardos and I are much luckier! Now, positive training is the thing! No choke collars, no pulling or pushing them around, no trying to dominate them, etc. Just fun, fun, fun. It's just such a great way to truly bond with your dog.
I use and believe strongly in clicker training. It's so fun, and in using it, your dog gets to figure things out and use his brain. Here's a great little video that shows just a bit about that method in case you're unfamiliar and would like to know more.
I now know a whole lot more about what a dog needs to live a full life. Mental stimulation is so important! It's not just physical exercise our best friends need, it's mental exercise, too!
So now that I've blogged on the Ricardo's puppy lives for the past year, I think I'll start making this blog a little more geared towards what methods of teaching we use around here that have been so fun, and so rewarding.
I'm amazed at what dogs can do. All we humans have to do is be patient and encouraging!
We started our learning together at Dog City- This was us on our way to the Puppy HeadStart class.
