Silly Christmas Picture

Remember when I said I didn't have any silly things to wear on my head for the holidays.  Well, I spoke a little too soon.  My mama found some goofy antlers today while putting Christmas away.   She reads a lot of dog blogs and loves seeing all the cute pictures of dogs dressed up for Christmas and thought she should have one for herself.  I don't generally allow myself to have pictures taken when I look less that perfect; today, I humored her.

It's a headband, not a necklace, silly mama.

It's falling...IT'S FALLING!

I think this could be Christmas card worthy.

   Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Merry Christmas

I don't have any silly hats or goofy collars to wear to celebrate the holiday, although I'm wearing one of my mama's special bows. I wanted to wish you a happy day.

I helped my papa open his gifts.

I'm right here if you need help.

Let me get a closer look at that

I got two new toys but I'll show you those another time.  I ran around outside with Linus, then took a nap.  Christmas makes me tired.  Hope you were on the nice list, like me.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Waiting For Santa

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Linus is in the House

Is that a leaf?

Linus is my new foster brother.  The best part about him is that he gets to stay through Christmas!  The last two foster sisters, Jingle Belle and Noel, were here less than 5 days.  I hardly got to know them and they were gone and adopted.  Hooray for them and their new families.

Jingle Belle

Noel

These sisters were 8 week old pointer mixes.

Linus came from the same foster mama that Penny came from.  Remember her?

I loved her and I wrote a blog all about our relationship here.

Linus is pretty cool, too.  Since there is only one of him, it's easier for my mama and papa to take us on walks together.  He's already pretty good on a leash.  When we walk, I'm not on my best behavior...I want to be in front, ALWAYS!  So I pull my mama along until she stops dead in her tracks and refuses to move until I relax. 
Then we are off again, pulling...stopping...relaxing...pulling...you get the picture. 

When we come home, Linus and I get to play together in the yard. 

Don't just sit there, LET'S PLAY!

Tag, you're it.

The weather got colder today so my papa went to the shelter and got Linus a nice, warm jacket.

Check out my new jacket

Strutting his stuff

Sticks are almost as exciting as leaves

My favorite kong toy broke today ;o(  But I still shared with him and we played keep away.

nah, nah, nah...You can't reach it.

You'll have to catch me first.

Who's got it now?

I'm going to hide it in my mouth so Titan can't find it.

It's so much fun having fosters in the house.

On 3...ready, set...THREE

Whad-ya find?

Linus will return to the Animal Welfare Society after Christmas and he'll be available for uh-dop-shun.  He's around 4 months old, nearly house broken and already knows "sit". 

We're getting in the car after New Year's and heading south to Floor-i-duh so there won't be any new fosters until the spring.  I'll miss having company ;o(f but I do like warm weather.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Wordless Wednesday 12/19/12

                                     Wheeeeeeeeeeee, it snoooooooooo-d!

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

My Foster Sister, Briska

YES, I'm a foster brother AGAIN!  Can you believe it???  My mama and papa have been bringing home puppies from the Animal Welfare Society a lot lately.  The shelter has been transferring lots of them from the South, where they don't have a very good chance of getting uh-dop-ted into a new home.  I can't remember if I told you already but the puppies have to be c-war-un-teened for 5-7 days before they can be available for uh-dop-shun.  So, Briska came to visit on Sunday.

She's kinda cute, huh?  My papa says she is only 13 or 14 weeks old so she will probably grow up to be as big as me or maybe bigger.

She was very interested in my mama's pic-chur taking box.

I had a little talk with her about letting my mama take her pic-chur.  I told her it was a good idea to make mama "work" to get a good one, so she should play hard to get.  Something like this...

You can take my pic-chur but I won't look at you

or this...

Playing "possum" works, too

Briska is a good listener and a fast learner!

What's that over there?

Ha, you'll have to try again.

This is my good side

We had a good walk together this morning.  It's probably the first time I ever went for a walk with one of my foster siblings.  She walks nicely on a leash, considering she is just a baby.

Then we played outside.  It wasn't like when Penny was here; Briska and I kind of played together, separately.  Does that make sense?

See?  She ran around and I ran around but we didn't spend a lot of time running around with each other.  It was still fun and we both got tired.

My papa says she will be going up for uh-dop-shun on Thursday. I will miss her but I bet there's another puppy or two waiting to come to Maine and visit with me.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

More Nose Work

I have moved into the next tier of Nose Work...paring the odor of food with the odor of birch.  Ever wonder what birch smells like?  Well, it smells like winter-green, whatever that is.  My mama says it smells goooood.  However, she can only smell it when she puts her nose in the jar; I can smell it from several feet away.

Our instructor, Miss Pam, gave everyone several q-tips (cut in half just in case some silly dog eats them) soaked in birch oil.  She says they will smell for a long, long time if they are kept in an air tight jar.  

Glass jar with scented q-tips

When we want to play "search", the q-tips are moved to a metal container with holes in the top so I can smell the birch. 

Not just another Altoids tin!

At first, the metal container is paired with a lot of treats.  When I find the tin, I get the treats and then my mama or papa give me more treats, right on top of the tin, so I smell the birch while I'm gobbling up the treats.  Each week Miss Pam uses less food and now I only get one tiny piece of food on top of the tin, but I get lots of treats on the tin when I find it, which just makes me want to search again.  That's what makes the game so much fun.

Pay attention to the 53 second mark where I "alert" to the "find".  Those are all Nose Work terms in case you didn't know ;o)  This exercise is called chasing the squirrel.  There are two tins and every time I find one, Miss Pam takes it away and I search for the other one, so I never have to stop.  It helps dogs like me that aren't very fo-cust.

I'm not exactly all business at class but I sure do have fun and get rid of a lot of energy!  You can tell I'm having fun because my tail.never.stops!

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham, CGC TT

I am the Majority

Well, actually this isn't about me, it's about the people that "own" dogs like me.  You know, pit bull type dogs, dogs with block heads, short hair and muscular bodies.  In a way, we are the majority.  Sadly, dogs like me are the most euthanized type of dog in this country, every day.  Lots of people think the only type of people that would want a dog like me are drug dealers and criminals and reckless people.  They believe the stereotype that “good” people don’t live with “pit bull” dogs. That's not really true, of course, and the Animal Farm Foundation is working on a new project to show the world that “pit bull” dog owners are everyday people and they are the majority.  When my mama read about this new project she couldn't wait to take a picture and submit it.

She has already seen her picture in a video and  it's on the same blog post, further down the page. It's a nice picture of her but seriously, I've seen better pictures of me.  She even posted it for all her friends (yeah, all 84 of them...that's lame) on Facebook.  

Finally, after weeks four more days, she was able to take a picture of my papa and me so his picture could be part of the project. too.

I'm not really into having my picture taken, you know.

Since I didn't think much of the picture with my mama, I didn't go out of my way to pose for  the picture with my papa.  They haven't seen his picture on any videos or blog posts yet but I know it's there somewhere.

Now my Auntie Wendy and Uncle Dan need to get their pictures taken with my  "cousins I never get to see" so they can be part of the project, too.

This is my cousin Amber.  She's an 11 year old elder-bull.

This is my cousin Ginger.  She's an elder-bull too but she's only 9.  

This handsome guy is Guinness.  He would have been 12 today but he left us and traveled over the Rainbow Bridge :(  My mama says these are the first pit bulls she ever met.  She was afraid of Guinness at first, but then she loved him.   Then she loved all pit bull type dogs.  That's very lucky for me!

Stay tuned for more tips on where to see my mama and papa during the "I am the Majority" project.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Wordless Wednesday 11/14/12

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

I'm a Foster Brother...Again!

It has been busy here at what I affectionately like to call Nottingham Fosters.  Last week my papa brought home a little sister, Penny and a little brother, Larson.  They came from the South.  I don't know much about the South, except Floor-i-duh is in the South where it's warm and sunny all winter.  I can't even tell you how much fun we had running around the yard but I can show you.

This is Penny, my girlfriend. 

This is Larsen, not my girlfriend

Stop, Drop and Roooooollllllll

Penny says "I'm taller than you!"

We're just wrestling

Giving Penny a bully-back ride

 I liked Larsen okay but I loved Penny! 

We all got tired and slept very well.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Nose Work, Week 3

Well, last night was my third Nose Work class.  Although I rocked the class last week, I didn't fare quite so well this week.  In fact, I earned two, TWO, timeouts.  This is not something of which to be proud.  Apparently, I am not allowed to relieve myself mark a pole pee during a search.  There happened to be a spot, far, far away from the search area that drew my attention and I couldn't draw myself away from that area, even when my mama rudely pushed gently guided me back toward the search area. So I did what I do when I feel the need to let other dogs know "I was here"...I peed.  Bad Dog!  I was quickly placed back on a leash and removed from the search area to sit all alone in a cold, dark car and give thought to my recent indiscretion.

When it was my turn again, I was ready to work and did a fine job of searching and finding the "hide" very quickly.  I will admit that Miss Pam made it easy for me.  Then it was like Groundhog Day, you know the movie where the same day happens over and over and over.  That smell!  I caught a wiff of That Smell again.  Well, you know what happened next...I ran right over to another pole and.........peed.  Bad Dog!  Once again I was removed to the car.  The point I'm supposed to get is that even though I'm having so much fun, being off leash and running around "like there's a circus in my head" (thank you for the quote Auntie Wendy) I'M NOT ALLOWED TO PEE DURING THE SEARCH OR I GET TO SPEND TIME ALONE IN THE CAR.

I did get to come in once more and Miss Pam made it even easier for me.  All the other dogs were finding the "hide" in buckets, on chairs, in the corner; all my "hides" were placed in two rows right in front of me so I couldn't miss them.  

Here's a little video of me doing what I'm supposed to do...searching, not peeing.

This isn't very exciting to watch but it gives you an idea of what Nose Work is all about.  My job is to find the "hide" (treats) by smelling and my mama's job is to add more treats into the container so I stay with it.  Eventually the treats will be replaced with an odor, like anise or birch, and when I find it, I still get treats.  That's what I call "a good game to play".

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

BAT Training

If you know me, you know...this isn't me.  Just a cute dog from the internet.

No, not that kind of bat.  It's training, silly. 

BAT stands for Behavior Adjustment Training and it's to help me with my reactivity.  We met with Shannon, one of my trainers, at a cemetery in Saco along with two other reactive dogs and their nice ladies.  Shannon brought along Brinna, her very calm, indifferent pit bull to be the "decoy" dog.  Brinna stood, or lyed down, or whatever she wanted to do, at the end of the road while my mama and I walked toward her to a predetermined point and stopped.  Mama was waiting for me to notice her, then turn away like I didn't want to look at her any more.  That's when she said "YES" very enthusiastically and we turn around and walk back to where we started.  We did it over and over and over to the point that I was exhausted.  It was hard work for my brain.  Truth be told, I didn't hardly react at all.  That's because Brinna didn't stare at me, she wasn't moving toward me and she wasn't being yappy.  She totally didn't press any of my buttons.  I was practically a rock star in the world of reactivity.

It turned out to be a very successful BAT day and my mama was very proud of me!  We're excited to be going again next week.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham  CGC TT

Wordless Wednesday 9/19/12

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

Phew

Un-stuffing is hard work and makes me tired.

That was one good skunk ;o)  Thanks mama.

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC TT

I Am This Many

Today's my birthday.  Happy Birthday To Me!!!

I'm gonna tell you all about my day, my special day.  It started with a nice walk with my mama.  We didn't see any other dogs except the one that rode by in a truck with his/her head sticking out the winder and making lots of barking noises at me.  I'm not fond of dogs but I don't.do.that!

Next, I got to enjoy a little "me" time while mama and papa ran errands.  They didn't really run, they took the RAV.  

Next was the biggest surprise in my whole life.  They came home with some good smelling things in a bag.

Do you see that??? Along with a new kong and a new stuffie...it's a hamburger.  I real fast food/junk food hamburger.

Well....I'm waaaaaaaaiting

I'm still waiting

I didn't gobble it down like some dogs do, I savored it for three long minutes.  Then I gave my new bunny some lovin'.

I luv you, I luv you, I luv you

I spent time supervising my papa while he moved wood into the new shed.

The bucket with the wheel is empty, you know.

Supervising

I watched over my mama while she worked in the garden.

I took a nap because being three and doing so much celebrating made me tired.

I went into the back yard, past the fence, where I checked to be sure it was safe for my mama while she dumped her garden trimmings onto the compost pile.

I don't smell anything to be afraid of.

I don't see anything to be afraid of.

I played hide and seek even though mama didn't know we were playing.

I'm hiding, can you see me?

I did zoomies and took another nap.

zzzzzzzzz

After dinner there was ANOTHER surprise!  I got dessert!!!

Frozen pumpkin & molasses for DOGS, that's me!

Gimme, gimme, gimme...pleeeeeze

Tastes much better on the deck

slurp

I sat politely My mama made me sit while my papa took a quick picture of me in my party hat.

I don't much care for party hats ;o(

WOW!  What an awesome day.  I can't stop smiling...

Happy Birthday To Meeeeeee

Until next time...Sir Titan of Nottingham CGC ATT