Cats & Dogs in Art, and the Purrfect Bonus

Paintings on slate take on a life of their own, partly due to the chinks and cracks and chips in the stone itself.  It lends itself to all kinds of creative idiosyncrasies in each piece.  Here are some cat paintings I did recently. With the tabby cat you can't probably tell from the pic, but the foot projecting forward is utilizing a corner chip for a 3-D effect.  The slates are so nice to handle.  These ones are "wearable art," being just about three inches high.

 

The black and white kitty in the portrait is my own kitteh, Chuck, captured in his typical upside-down pose.

 

 

 

 

These mini pieces are getting popular.  Below is a commissioned portrait of, "Prada," a corgi who lives in Colorado.  The ink pen is included for size reference.  1.5x3" is a pretty darn small surface to work on!  But they make beautiful pendants. 



 

 

    When I ship these commissions, I often try to include a little free gift, especially for my repeat customers.  Enter Wysong Pet Food, a Michigan-based company with all-natural products.  They sent me some samples to include with my commissions; small packs of biscuits for dogs like Prada, and even better, some "Dream Treats" for cats.  Each treat is a medallion of compressed chicken.  I tried one out on Chuck, and he went crazy for it!  I was able to break it up and get a few tricks out of him.

 

 

 

     Thanks Wysong for your sponsorship -- here's to natural pet foods for a long and healthy life for Pup and Kitteh.

Tricks are for Kids

 

Clifford the Wild Morgan!

After the longest, hardest winter of our life, I decided to haul Cliffy downstate and get him back in shape for our tour.  He needs muscle tone and in fact, hasn't even shed all his winter hair yet.  Maybe he was afraid it would never end.

After two days' rest, I took him out on the longe for a light workout.  He was slogging along a bit.  He didn't want to longe normally, instead preferring to turn toward me and rear, do his fancy footwork and trying some other tricks.   He doesn't like doing normal horse stuff.

Despite this, I persisted and he finally did some reluctant trotting.  I thought at 22, perhaps he was feeling his age.  I thought some muscle tone and supplements might help.  Pretty soon he stopped and had that "look of eagles".  I snapped a couple of quick photos before I realized that he was watching a lady and little girl walk down the road.

"Trot!"  I said, urging him to get back to work.  He shook his head and sprang into motion.  When he did, it was like slow motion.  He had that beautiful lift, his long neck arched, his legs moving in suspended elegance, and I watched the years fall away.  He was tipping one ear toward the little girl.  He made one circle around me, and then he kept on going, pulling the line out farther and farther as he made a beeline for the road where she was walking.

"He likes kids," I explained to the pair, as I pulled him back.

"We were watching his tricks!" the lady called.  "We think that's neat!"

I almost called them into the yard.  Clifford was so focused on the girl that we both watched them wistfully as they kept going, farther and farther away from us.

I realized again, that this is his calling.  His interest is not in working and perfecting his training.  His interest is in connecting with people, particularly children.  He is an ambassador, a playmate, a performer and a clown.

We need to get some weight and muscle on him.  He wants to go back to work.  He is ready.

Age 22 and still going strong!

A Horse in the Farm Store - Outtake from "Clifford Goes Shopping"

Here's a fun short outtake from our YouTube promotion. In this one Clifford is “shopping” and supposed to examine certain things on the shelves. He starts out in work mode, offering up “yes” and “no”, but then he sees the camera! He loves cameras and forgets that an actor is never supposed to look at one! I have to give him a little bump to remind him to “look”.

Want to see more of Cliffy in action? Help us with our 2013 tour by sharing our campaign link.

Pigs Helping Pigs

This year, Long Island Pet Expo had a booth with potbellied pigs.  This is not unusual for a pet expo, but for some reason I got it in my head that one of them should be trick trained.

My dogs perform in a traveling sport arena called the Classic K9 show.  It includes high jumping, speed racing (over low jumps) and my border collie Til has his own freestyle frisbee show.  We travel all over the eastern USA, and are joined by local teams wherever we go.

Til performing at Long Island Pet Expo.

Some of the expos in Michigan have pig races, where they run around a track.  But I always had thoughts of taking one and training it to run the course in our show as my dogs do.  It may have started when Estephar my Chihuahua got her own pig costume.  Este can run the course, and she's pretty fast.  But she's only 6 lbs so a dog her size has limitations.  To exploit the inevitable breed discrimination that comes with a Chihuahua, I like to dress her up in glitzy outfits and spring her on the audience in the middle of our high speed division -- usually a bunch of border collies.  We play the "Rocky " theme as she skitters over the course in whatever garb she has donned, to the delight of the audience.  She's always a crowd favorite.

Este in her pig suit.

Anyway, back to the pigs.  Not surprisingly, pigs need rescue just like all other domestic animals.  They are abandoned, mistreated and even abused sometimes.   Janice, the thin, elegant lady running the booth for the Long Island Potbellied Pig Association, admitted to me that she was keeping 40 pigs at her house.  It was too many.  They really needed homes where they could get the love and attention they needed..  On Saturday I said maybe we could help the rescue, if I could get a pig to do a trick in our arena as an opening gag for the show.  She was very receptive to the idea.  "Pigs," she told me, "Are the fourth smartest animal."

Somewhere I had heard this.  I suspected the first three on the list were chimps, dolphins and elephants.  All animals can be trained to some extent.  Besides dogs, I had worked with horses, cats, a goat, and an arctic fox.  I'd always wanted to try pigs.  So I was assigned Will, who was one of Janice's favorites.  Will had found a home, but still traveled with Janice to serve as ambassador for other pigs who needed rescue.  At the request of Will's owners,  Janice had already taught him some cute things.  He could play a little piano with his nose, knock down some bowling pins, and turn in a circle.  I was very impressed because Janice didn't use a clicker.  She did a little targeting with her hand, and used Froot Loops as reinforcement.

It's like looking in a mirror!

I got my clicker and some Froot Loops and went to work with Will.  He was about the size of a large ottoman, probably weighing 300 lbs.  His face didn't have a whole lot of expression, at least in terms of what I was accustomed to.  Pigs eyesight is very poor, so I had to think about how to cue him.  He took the Froot Loops from my fingers none too gently with his raspy teeth, but at least he didn't bite down too hard.  As with most new subjects, I started out by just clicking and treating, to get him used to the sound of the click.  When he suddenly grabbed my fingers with a new urgency, I knew he was getting the gist of the click's message.

I taught him to start following me then, and eventually worked up to nudging his knee with my foot.  It wasn't long before he was kicking his foot out.  Soon he was volunteering all four feet, and the back ones too.  It wasn't easy to see his feet, since his big anvil-shaped head was in the way.  I had to bend over and look.  He would follow me around, squinting at me and flipping his nose up, like a nearsighted old man asking for a kiss.

The show was a success.  I had it arranged so that every time Will hit the keys on his little piano, "Beethoven's 5th" would boom through the speakers.  The audience howled.  Will performed all his tricks when asked, including the new foot-shaking. 

Later, when I ran Este in the show, she came out in her pig costume, just to remind the crowd of our Pig Cause.  They shouted in glee.

That night as we were packing up to leave, one of the pigs was left in a running car as his owner went to get something. When he came back, he found the pig, named Junk, had locked the door.  Junk was still inside the car with the engine running.  The police were called and by the time I got out there to gawk, there were four cops standing around the car trying to pry it open, while Junk leered at them from the front seat.  He honked the horn a couple of times, as if to tell them to hurry up.  I snapped photos and screeched with laughter.

Junk the Pig trapped in car.

Janice proved herself a good sport, as she laughed along with me.  "Where's your clicker now?" The pig's longsuffering owner tapped on the window and pointed at the door lock, begging Junk to unlock it.  Alas, no such luck.  Junk was having too good a time scouring the seats for chewing gum.  But finally the cops managed to open the door and Junk was liberated.

The car is no longer a Junker.

When Will performed his tricks yesterday for the audience, I told them the part about pigs being the fourth smartest animal.  I then added, "One of them locked himself in a car here last night.  And the owner was trying to get him to unlock the door.  Well, pigs are that smart!  He didn't get the door open, but he did take the car downtown for an oil change."

Will played piano and bowled for the audience, and I was happy to see him shaking his feet at them too.  I hope we helped raise some awareness for the plight of rescued pigs.  I don't know if we did.  But if 15 years ago I had known it was this easy to train a potbellied pig, I'd probably still be married.

Puppy Tricks

Most people don't realize this, but little puppies can learn tricks faster and with more panache than adult dogs can.  There's an early learning window lasting until a dog is about 5 months old, making their brains like little sponges.  They process all kinds of information during this time, and it's stuff that stays with them forever.  That's why it's important to socialize them during these months.  House training can be slow due only to their physical (read: bladder) limitations.  But the mind of a puppy is a thing of beauty.

Here's a video of Til showing off, at nine weeks, some of the behaviors I am teaching in my trick training workshops. The last one was a big success.  Our next one is scheduled on March 14 at BorderHauss kennels in Howell Michigan. 

Meanwhile you can get a few trick training tips for puppies in my handy booklet, "25 Ways to Raise a Great Puppy."

Happy tails!

25 Ways to Raise a Great Border Collie

Terrible Til once again had a successful run in the Disc Dogs of Michigan Frisbee competition.  This one was held in Grand Blanc, Michigan and we placed third in the novice toss-and-fetch, against about 30 teams.  Til is pictured (against an ugly plywood background, don't ask me why I did that) with his trophy and other prizes.  He's wearing his uniform that was lovingly hand-sewn by our friend Jerrie from Doggone Bandanas. 

Can I just say what a joy this border collie is?   "Terrible Til," my Dad jokingly dubbed him when he was a puppy, for his high drive, into-everything, non-stop busy-ness.  People have complained of his nickname, but as I explained, one definition of "Terrible" is, "causing awe".  So it's kind of like calling him, "Awesome Til".  (How's that for a bail-out answer?)  Til has made friends everywhere we go, and in true border collie style, he doesn't know the meaning of giving up.  He gives his all in every task and always with good humor.  "He's like the guy you always make sure to invite to the party," I told someone.  The "Court Jester" will keep the whole crowd laughing all night, but this one sticks around to help clean up the mess!

Til is well socialized, and I started early when he was only eight weeks old.  Here's an excerpt from my book about puppy training that pertains to socialization:

5)  Make New Friends

Puppies are a natural magnet for attention out in public.  Happily, this is the best thing for them.  After your pup has had his first vaccinations, it is best to take him with you everywhere, exposing him to as much stimulation as possible.

The early learning window closes at about four and a half months of age.  Before that time, even if you have a pup who is shy, you have the opportunity to turn this around by saturating him with new people and places.  You can’t overdo socialization!  If you are headed out for a quick trip to the store, take him with you!  Don’t think that you can’t be bothered.  Grab the pup and a leash and take an extra few minutes just to walk him through the parking lot.  Even short excursions will pay off big time in the long run.

Talking With Dogs

Til shows off some of his prizes from a Frisbee competition.

As I am moving back into my role as teacher, not only through an upcoming Tricks class at Borderhauss Kennels but as a certified CATCH trainer mentor, I'm realizing how much nonverbal actions and consequences go into my daily routines.  My thoughts are constantly on reinforcing behaviors that I like, eliminating ones I don't like.  There are very few random treats I give my dogs.  I am in the mode of thinking that no cookie goes wasted.  I am, in essence, a training machine.

While this might seem kind of sad, it puts communication on a whole new level.  I have had to reassess this, too, because now that I have my first border collie, I realize that I haven't made full use of the wonderful cognitive skills in dogs.  I no longer use the grunts and broken English reminiscent of an old Tarzan movie.  I use full sentences.  "Til, Nikita stole your toy and hid it in her cage.  You can find it in there.  Go get it out and bring it to me."

And he does.

I am talking to the border collie much more than I have to others, and the overflow extends to other dogs around him.

Now in house sitting for my friend Cindy while she's away, and caring for her two dogs, I am back to Square One.  The dogs, a Labrador named Nikita and a spaniel mix named Maggie, are both "amateurs" when it comes to the ever evolving "Bailey Method".  Nikita especially is completely clueless.  She is a big, tan, smiling, good-natured oaf, awkward and pushy in her affections.

I hold up a cookie.  "Sit."  I KNOW she knows this cue.  She just stands there grinning, ears flattened, whipping her tail back and forth.

At this point, I have another revelation that with rescue dogs, and dogs who have been randomly reinforced, it is better not to talk.  Their lives are filled with meaningless noise.  They tune it out.  So I revert back to my old nonverbal ways and simply hold the cookie back over her head.  She sits. I toss the cookie and she clumsily snaps at it.

With Nikita I would be back to Tarzan Talk for a little while, using the barest of verbiage, while she begins to grasp all over again that language really does have meaning, and to listen intently for more complex instructions.  As she got to know me, she would eventually start to pay more attention.

Perhaps even more importantly, I would have to learn how to listen to her.

Learning to Rear on Cue

His rearing trick is coming along well!

Clifford Walks for Autism

My Morgan is a kid magnet! He enjoyed the attention of a crowd at the Flushing Michigan Walk for Autism on Saturday. Clifford performed with the Classic K9 Dog Show and did his tricks for an enthusiastic audience. He spent the rest of the afternoon posing for pictures like this!

Targeting

Clifford is working with a new target stick -- a modified longe whip. Even after years of longeing, in just a few minutes, Clifford figured out that he needed to follow the stick instead of moving away from it. Surprised the heck out of me! He was trotting BEHIND it instead of AHEAD of it, following it over little jumps and everything! Is this just using another part of the brain, or what? Hoodathunk he could still have such a bag of tricks after all these years.

Clifford's Audition for "Late Night"

Clifford's Late Night Audition from Nancy Bailey on Vimeo.

On Nov 14, 2009, my horse Clifford auditioned for Late Night's "Stupid Pet Tricks" by painting a portrait of Dave. Clifford is an abstract artist specializing in watercolor. The casting agency did send the portrait to the the Late Night studio. If nothing else, we hope Dave was flattered by Clifford's vision of him... Even if Clifford doesn't think he is funny.

Cliffy's Audition on the News from Nancy Bailey on Vimeo.

Clifford auditioned for "Stupid Pet Tricks" and Channel 6 sent me the news clip. When I approached the casting agent after the audition, I held up the portrait Clifford had painted, and asked, "Do you think Dave would want this?" She said they would send it to his studio along with the tapes. The guy who chewed the top off of the aluminum can overheard this. He came over, held up the mangled can, and asked, "Do you think Dave would want this?" She said, "No, I don't think so."

Movie Trick Horses!

Last week I hung out with Rex Peterson while he worked with the horses on the Secretariat film. Here he is with T, the horse who starred in "Dreamer" with Dakota Fanning. T currently has an abcess on his withers and may not be used in the film, but Rex still keeps him exercising.

Here's a YouTube video of Rex working with T.