Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Bella is a year old now but still very much a puppy. Thankfully, she seems to have stopped growing and is a small/medium size. Just right for us. She keeps us constantly amused with her behavior. Here are a few recent shots.

Bella playing with a brown paper bag

Bella asking permission to jump up on a chair

Bella comfortable on the chair

Bella, our puppy, is so nosy. She likes to know what is going on outside the section and has started jumping up and balancing on the window ledge to watch everything.

During the hotter summer days we make our puppy an iceblock. It not only keeps her cool but also helps keep her amused if we have to leave her alone for a few hours. You have no idea how much mischief one puppy can get up to if they’re left to their own devices!!

To make an ice block you need:

1 x plastic container plus lid.
an assortment of doggy treats.

We use margarine or ice cream containers. For the treats we use meat scraps, chopped sausages, cubes of cheese etc. If we have them on hand we also use meat juices/stock to flavor the water.

Method: chop up treats and place in plastic container. Fill container with water and place in freezer. Once the ice block is frozen, tip it out of the container and give to your dog on a hot day. The treats tend to sink to the bottom so you might like to fill your container up halfway, freeze, then add some more treats and water so you have treats in the middle of the ice block.

Do you make any special treats for your pets?

Our puppy Bella is a real terror with her toys. She chews them and rips them to shreds until eventually I need to confiscate them for her safety. I decided I’d try to make her a chew toy.

I cut up this old blanket, using the checks as a cutting guide. I cut the fabric three squares wide and cut down the lines, leaving one end intact. I ended up with long tassel-like pieces, which I plaited and tied with a knot. The photo below is what I ended up with after the plaiting/braiding.

Bella took to it straightaway and had a fine time tearing around the house with her new toy. She ends up chewing it to pieces but has a few hours of entertainment. When she sees me making a new toy for her she’s there trying to chew it as I’m braiding.

Mr. Munro came home from hospital today. He has his right arm in a plaster and needs to wear a sling. He can’t drive for eight weeks and has four weeks off work. I can’t see the scar but hubby said it looks like a lightning zigzag – sort of Harry Potterish. Bella and I are pleased he’s home, but I can see that frustration and impatience will make tempers flare during the coming weeks. Mr. Munro is not good at sitting around doing nothing.

Bella continues to do well. She weighs 10kgs and hasn’t gained any weight during the last few weeks. We’re hoping she’ll take after her Jack Russell side and won’t grow too much bigger. When we first adopted her she was mostly white, but I’ve noticed a few spots coming out in her coat. They say people and their dogs resemble each other, and Bella is coming out in freckles to match me!

Since she graduated from puppy school, we’ve continued her training. We’ve started letting her off the lead a little, although this isn’t always successful. One sighting of another dog and it’s a fifty-fifty chance of her obeying a command to return to us. Food isn’t always as attractive as the company of another dog.

We’re teaching her not to jump on visitors or to nip them. Mostly she’s pretty good, although sometimes the temptation is too much for her. We have a plastic bottle with a few stones in it. The instant she does something she shouldn’t we shake the bottle and this is a great deterrent.

She loves it when my husband is at home and decides to work in the garden. She follows him around and tries to help, generally getting in the way. It’s very cute to watch.

I put the basket of dirty laundry down for a few minutes to do something in the kitchen, and when I came back to put the wash on there was a puppy in it!

We’re having lots of fun with Bella. She’s behaving better with me now. Most days I sit in my chair working away while she creeps into my husband’s chair and has a snooze. I think she’s decided the chair belongs to her since Mr. Munro has to forcefully evict her most nights.

We’ve attended four puppy school classes and are halfway through the course. She’s usually very well behaved in class and learns quickly. At the last class we talked about tricks. We hadn’t tried teaching Bella any tricks and decided we’d attempt something basic first — a high five. She caught on really quickly and I had her high-fiving like a champ. When Mr. Munro arrived home from work we proudly demonstrated.

Here’s the process if you’d like to teach your dog to high five.

1. Hold a small treat on your right palm with your thumb covering it.
2. Hold another treat in your left hand out of sight of your dog. (I hide my left hand behind my back)
3. Get your dog to sit.
4. Hold out your right hand and say “High Five”. Your dog will sniff at first then automatically start to paw at your hand.
5. As soon as your dog slaps your hand with their paw give them the treat in your left hand and praise them.
6. Repeat process several times.

Since Bella is very good at coming when we call her name, we’ve started letting her off the lead in safe areas. Mostly she’s very good at returning, although tonight we met another dog without warning. The dog was three times Bella’s size but that didn’t deter her in the slightest. She wanted to play!

Can your dog do any tricks?

We took Bella to her second puppy class this week. All the puppies were taken through the things they learned last week and taught two new things. She has learned to drop, to come, to sit at our feet when she comes and to walk alongside. While she’s not perfect, she does pretty well. She’s very good at coming and sitting.

Bella is well behaved with my husband but she’s giving me lots of problems. It’s a fight for dominance and at present, she thinks she comes in at number two in our house. The ladies at the puppy school have suggested some strategies for me to try. The minute she’s naughty, she is instructed to drop. I hold her in this position until she’s calmed down a little. If she persists, she goes to time out and is put outside. We were feeding her first and have now changed our feeding plan so she gets fed after us and, in particular, after me.

I have to keep reminding myself that she is a puppy and not to expect too much from her. I’m not sure that all my changes are helping with the problem much. I’ll report back to the puppy school lady at the next class and take her advice.

Bella had her first meeting with a horse this week. She was a bit intimidated and retreated to a safe distance before barking her head off. It was quite funny. The alpacas didn’t throw her at all.

Our February has been the hottest one on record. Bella went swimming in the duck pond a couple of days ago, swimming well out of her depth and with real confidence. We decided to buy her a kid’s paddle pool. She’s had a ball playing in it today. We toss all her balls in the water and she splashes around and takes them back out. It’s really hilarious to watch. Funniest of all was when we threw some old bones in the water. They sank to the bottom, but that didn’t deter Bella. She’s quite happy to put her head right under the water and grab them.

I watched Better Homes and Gardens last week. They always have a pet section and had a feature on pets and hot weather. They suggested tossing some cheese, sausage and liver strips in an empty ice cream container, add water and freeze. Once it’s frozen you tip it out and hey presto, you have a puppy ice block for a hot day. I’ve made an ice block for Bella. It’s freezing as I type this and should be ready for her to play with tomorrow. Between her sandpit, swimming pool, toys and ice block she has lots to keep her entertained. Here’s hoping she’ll be a little kinder to the plants in the garden!

Hubby and I are on a steep learning with our new puppy, Bella. She’s an energetic wee thing with a very determined nature, and I don’t think either of us were prepared for the turmoil that would come with her arrival. Our two previous dogs both arrived fully grown and were quick to adapt to our rules. Bella is playful and plain naughty about 99% of the time. It’s the one percent of charming behavior that turns us both to mush and keeps us persevering with our naughty puppy.

Jack Russells are known for an aggressive streak. She’s not so bad with my husband but with me she goes through what we call her pitbull routine. She screws up her little nose and bares her sharp teeth. We both have puppy bites, but thankfully the instances of this bad behavior are becoming fewer. She gets one chance. If we have to tell her no a second time she gets put outside.

This week we enrolled her at puppy school and went to our first lesson. The classes are as much for us as they are for Bella. I think we all learned a lot. We learned how to make her drop and practiced coming to calls. She’s pretty good at the coming but the dropping is a bit of a struggle. We’ve been practicing ever since. At the end of the session Bella socialized with the other puppies. She actually behaved very well and we were both proud of her.

Bella at the beach.

Bella and some of her fellow students during the first night of puppy training

Bella during her angelic stage. Isn’t she cute?

We picked up our new puppy from the Humane Society tonight. She’s a Jack Russell X and is fifteen weeks old.

She only has one speed—fast!

Her name is Bella and she’s very cute.

After my post about fostering and our lack of success, today we have a new foster dog. Go figure. Her name is Chrissy and she’s recovering from a fractured front leg. We’re meant to keep her quiet with no JUMPING and no RUNNING. Chrissy is like the Energizer Bunny. She’s not much to look at–she’s a Great Dane X–but is very sweet and has a lovely temperament. She’s one-year-old. I have a sneaky suspicion she might have to go back early because I have no idea how to keep her quiet. She’s currently locked in the garage. Any suggestions to help keep her quiet?