Pedigree Feeding Trial Week 3

Video from Week 3

Pedigree Feeding Trial Week 2

Week 2's Video

Pedigree Feeding Trial Week 1

Week one of our feeding trial, I have been asked to provide regular videos to track our progress.

Pedigree 6 Week Trial

 

Thanks Mumsnet and Pedigree for our 6 week supply of food.  Unfortunately Sweep has gone in for the snip today so we put off starting until he had been in as he will be on a light meal tonight.  

However he did have his first Dentastix and devoured that, nom nom!

We are looking forward to seeing how he gets on after 6 weeks, at the moment he is fit and healthy and has a super shiny coat, you can see how shiny his coat is from the below photo taken by Yellow Hound Photography at a local show:

Quality Street Christmas Advert

You might not know that I have my animals signed up with an agent for media work. I have been working the animals for about 12 years or so.

Sweep got the call for 2 days filming in London for a Christmas advert - I never say anything at the time as am not sure what I can and can't say so it's best not to say anything!  Now the advert is out I can tell you it was for Quality Street. I was pleased to hear it was a 2 o'clock start so we missed rush hour traffic into London which can be horrendous.

These things sound glamorous but they are far from it, there is an awful lot of waiting around and standing about in the cold.  Sweep didn't actually get called onto set till about 5pm on the first day and nearer 6pm on the second day.

We had been training him to jump and catch sweet wrappers falling from above but they changed the plan on the day - another thing that happens quite frequently - you can prepare yourself and your animal as much as you can but on the day it can all change and you have to be prepared for this. 

I had been concerned about how slippy it would be if he was jumping, they were using pretend snow but it wasn't slippy at all - it was a paper substance not wet at all, completely dry.

Instead of him jumping at the sweet wrappers they wanted him to run into set towards the actors and then to start jumping at the wrappers - I did say I couldn't see him doing this as I had to hide behind a hedge so he is hardly going to know what to do.  So I let them see what would happen as this is usually the best way to give it a go and then they can see for themselves.  I got Sweep to run on to set and run about a bit but I couldn't get him jumping at the wrappers from a distance - the wrappers were floating slowly in the air and it wasn't that easy to see them.  So I got them to stand me on a box rather precariously just out of shot and I could then get him to jump at his target stick.

The other shot was that he had to walk off lead down a street with an actor so we loaded him with sausage and a tennis ball, Sweep was happy enough to go off with him then!  They wanted him running in the street happily doing his own thing but near enough to the actor, the actor was squeaking his ball in the pocket so Sweep easily ran round excited then!

Sweep was a good boy and worked well, he is completely focused and despite all the commotion going on round him he concentrated all evening.

This is the actual advert, watch out for it, I believe it has been shown quite a few times between prime time programmes:

Then there is the behind the scenes video which shows a bit more of Sweep and of myself and Mark who came with me to give me a hand:

Devon!

We spent a couple of nights at The Grand, Torquay as Mark had to go and sort a repair to a caravan down there so we thought we would have a little bit of a holiday.  With the housebuild we can't afford to go away this year or probably next or the year after at this rate!  So if we can grab a couple of nights away then we're happy!

I love being by the sea, a holiday isn't a holiday without a beach close by, we took Sweep with us to have some fun and to run and play on the beach.  We all loved it and had a fab time.  We also find a little bike track at the back of Goodrington sands which Macy loved on her Strider bike.

We visited the model village in Babbacombe and I was worried Macy would get bored but she loved it and half way round they had a mini golf course too so it gave her something a bit more to do.  Bonus as we could take the dog with us, however we hadn't realised that the car park was pay and display and got a ticket!!  Gutted, we just never thought a tourist attraction would have a pay and display car park so we didn't think to look.

 We've come back feeling refreshed and relaxed :) 

Autumnal Photos!

I think we got to the woods about 10 minutes before the sun disappeared, all the best laid plans, we just didn't make it out in time.  However I think I got a couple that I am happy with, I love autumn photos.  You can click on them to maximise them.

Some taken a week or so ago of my lovely Sweep

Pedigree Dentaflex

Thank you to Pedigree who sent us a box of goodies including a month's supply of Dentaflex for each dog, some food and treats for the kitten and a lovely limited edition bowl.

Sweep did a bit of posing before devouring his Dentaflex, nom nom nom.

Ember took a little longer over hers!

And Rum is probably the one who needs them most, he is 9 this year and has just started to get smelly breath!

Mmmmmm 

You feed them twice a week and I have to say I have noticed an improvement in Rum's breath. After a few days it started to smell so he had his second chew and smelt of roses again :) lol. 

They have all only had two so far so will report back after 4 weeks. They do smell horrid to me but the dogs seem to enjoy them so that's all that matters!

Cas - One in a Million

It is with a heavy and broken heart I have to let you know that my beautiful girl slipped peacefully away earlier today.  Cas was diagnosed with liver failure and possibly cancer earlier this year, we managed to keep her free of pain and still active until recently when her body really started giving up on her.  She didn’t let it get to her and remained so bright and kept such a passion for living life, but we could tell no matter how hard she tried to hide her pain, the pain was becoming too much, I knew and so did she but she just didn’t want to give in.  Cas was a determined little dog and she always tried her best, she gave 110% and put her heart and soul into everything she did.  Nothing made her happier than when she was making us happy.  When I saw her sigh and go peacefully to sleep free of pain I knew we had made the right choice, she could run free without any pain and was happy again.

I don’t really need to say much about her life as the video tells it all:

The Story of a Rescue Dog from Gina on Vimeo.

  

I am just glad she chose us and so proud of what she achieved, not in terms of competition achievements but in that she really turned around and loved everything she did.  I will never enjoy working a dog as much as I did Cas, she was one in a million and never even needed a reward, my praise and happiness was reward enough for her and she knew it was a job well done.  I would give anything to have another Cas, she was such a crazy oddball of a dog, but I knew that she loved us to bits and we returned that love.  Some people would say they wished they had had their rescue from a pup to give them a better start, with Cas, her beginning in life made her the dog she was, made her appreciate her life with us, I wouldn’t change it for the world.  God I loved and still do love that dog!

Her colour was pink, she was a merle, she was a girl, so it HAD to be.  The sky tonight was lit up pink, thank you Cas for our wonderful memories that will last a lifetime and you will stay in my heart forever.

Dog & Bone Film and TV Masterclass

I signed Sweep up for the Dog And Bone Film and TV Masterclass workshop as I thought it would be good for him to do some learning around other dogs and also good for me to see whether I was teaching him all the right things, it also meant he could be registered for work with Dalys Dogs.

It was held at The Dog Training Barn in Banbury and the satnav took me straight past the venue into the village so it took me a while to find it.  The venue is fab (once you know where it is!) as it’s easy to get to not being far from the M40.

The day started with a talk from Kay Weston from Animal Ambassadors, we worked a lot with Kay when Dizzy was doing work and she is a lovely person to work with and would recommend her to anyone.  She has a lot of experience and has worked on programmes such as Eastenders and Dogs Trust adverts etc.

 

We then started training and throughout the day when we started a new session on a new behaviour we split into groups so dogs that were already trained could then be in a more advanced group to improve the behaviour and strengthen it.  As Sweep was only 20 weeks I stayed in the lowest group, he could do some of the behaviours well and probably could have gone in to the other group but I didn’t want to push him in a new environment.  We did things like stand, sit and down stays with distractions, this is really important for any kind of media work as there are a LOT of distractions on set.  Recalls with distractions, sending the dog to a mark, touch (nose touch and paw touch), holding an object, leave (food or toy).

Training was great as there was plenty of time for the trainers to go round the group and tailor everything individually.  We had a mid morning and mid afternoon break with a lunch break as it is a long day for the dogs.  Hot drinks and cakes were provided for us.  At the end of the day all the dogs were assessed to see which behaviours they could and couldn’t do in order for them to be put forward for any future jobs.

 

Sweep – I was really pleased with him, I just took his travel bed in with us and in between sessions he just lay on his bed and chilled out.  I made myself a drink, wandered round and he stayed on his bed with people and dogs walking round.  REALLY pleased as it’s so important for a dog to be able to settle and relax if you are interested in doing filmwork.  They are normally long days and a lot of the time the dogs aren’t doing anything so they need to be able to settle in between working.  Dizzy was always brilliant at settling, Cas or Ember I could never get to settle.

This is a fab course and you don’t need to have done any training before you go but similarly if you have trained all the behaviours the advanced class was there to expand on them.  There was a rescue dog (who is looking for a home) there who came for a day out and obviously had never done anything, he got on really well.  Thanks Dog & Bone for the photos.

Pet London Travel Bowl

I took Sweep on a training day and it was a great oppurtunity to test the Pet London Travel Bowl. In the past I have used the fabric type bowls and found them a bit messy as they tend to squash and spill quite easily.

This one is made of rubber and packs flat so it doesn't really take up a lot of room. It has a handy clip so you can clip it to you if you don't have room in your bag.

The rubber concertinas out to form a really sturdy bowl. I was impressed as it didn't squash down like the fabric ones do, it ws really stable. It isn't a huge bowl but any dog can drink out of it happily. In fact a doberman wouldn't drink out of his own bowl and made a bee line to drink out of this one!

I only wish I had known about them earlier as I would have bought one. Would really recommend it.

Pet London

Pet London kindly sent us some goodies to try :), I love Pet London and was so excited when they said they were sending me some goodies.  Thank you very much, the dogs loved their pressies.

First up was a toy - a UK Royal Guard Dog soft squeaky toy, which with Sweep wasn't going to last two minutes, his eye fell off!  So this is a toy for an older dog who isn't a chewer, it's a really sweet little toy and a lovely size for Ember to run round with.

Next up was a t-shirt, another patriotic item which looked so cute along with the little toy!  It fit well but I don't think the sizes available go up much larger than this so it  is more of a little dog item.  It did look pretty cool though and I am not normally one that buys dog clothes.

Then we tried on the Puppia Soft Harness, I actually had one of these when Sweep was smaller as I much prefer a harness on a smaller dog/puppy as they tend to pull and I hate them putting so much strain on their necks.  The harness fit really well and I do think they feel like they are comfy as they have a soft wide band that goes around their neck and under their tummy. The only thing I would prefer on them would be to have two clips on their back as you end up having to put their leg through or pulling the harness out of the loop, just makes life a bit easier when you have two clips.

I also tried it on Ember and it fit well too :) It did look very smart.  They come in all sorts of pretty colours.