Betsy Boo

A few weeks ago I went on a business trip to San Francisco. My first and last visit to SF was 5 years ago so I decided to visit some of the more touristy attractions in the area this time as well, including Fisherman´s wharf. My husband is a turtle fan. He loves real turtles, cartoon turtles, stuffed turtles or any kind of turtles so when I saw this bread turtle in the window at the bakery at Fisherman´s wharf, I knew I had to get it. Needless to say, the turtle was too pretty to eat so we saved it until it got stale.  Betsy was quite curious about the turtle as well and as we were protective of this bread turtle, we made sure it was out of reach from her teeth….

As NY has been hot and humid lately we have done all we can to stay indoors. Of course, Betsy has had the privilege to stay home during the day, with AC on full blast, Yogurt Ice cream and a comfy sofa while the humans have been slaving at work. In the evenings, we have taken minimal walks…to Air conditioned shops…. and stayed indoors with the AC on. I have been working on making felt cases and my latest addition to my felt family is the pen case. You can see the ipad and Macbook Air cases at www.untype.com.

Until, we see you next time, stay cool and enjoy summer!

Lots of Love from us all!

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Betsy’s rain coat has passed the manufacturing stages! My sister has finally completed the making of Betsy’s rain coat and it is so beautiful!!!! The rain coat should arrive in the mail in a week or so, in the meantime please visit my sisters blog Kinoko to see pictures. My sister usually makes children’s clothing and you can see her collection here. You will notice that the site is in Swedish, but you can easily have it “translated” to English using Google Translate.

Betsy uses to be horrific on walks in the rain. She refused to walk anywhere and getting to the next block could take several minutes. Once I said, let’ go home, she would run home faster than a short distance runner in the Olympics. these days she comes on the walk but she surely will take her time doing both no 1 and no 2. I am not sure if this rain coat will help but it will surely keep her coat try.

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Somehow my husband has gained the trust back because I let him close to Betsy with a shaver in his hands! After last years devastation which lead to countless sleepless nights and scolding of my husband I never thought I ‘d let him close to Betsy again! However, New York City was getting hot and humid and Betsy was in need of a summer haircut and I am am seriously not in a mood to pay $95 dollars for a haircut I decided, under supervision, that I would let him try a schnauzer cut again. The agreement was that he would not touch her eye brows or beard, those two areas were mine and only mine! The result…. I give him a 9 out of 10, the 1 point is for cutting the schnauzer skirt just a tiny bit too short on the back legs.  
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If you have forgotten about last year’s cut, check it out Here.

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This is the cute face that came to visit me first thing in the morning. Don’t ask me what she dreamed or where her face was prior to waking me up. I must say she was so cute I gave her a big, warm hug and thanking her for being such a lovely dog!

Well, before I give her too much praise I would also like to share how extremely naught Betsy has been lately. I am having difficulties analyzing her behavior and we are considering a private trainer. As all of you who have been following the blog since Bety’s arrival at our house, know how hard we worked on her braking behavior. We progressed quite a bit since her worst days and everyday we keep training her. There was a time when she was 80% better but the last few days I really feel like things have been going backwards. I am not quite sure why. She seems to be behaving worse when I walk her than when my husband is walking her. The worst behaviour is definitely shown just outside our apartment building when we exit in the mornings. The fewer people on the streets, the more anxious and barky she gets. She usually responds when I call her name or say ‘No’ but right after that she almost “forgets” about it and barks again. After the first three or so blocks she is much calmer again but will occasionally bark if someone whistles at her (I guess she is warning me that there is danger). She lunges when she sees dogs. A while back we trained her to sit and look at us, recently we added drop on top of that but she is still more interested in the dog rather than looking at us and is still too tense and distracted. Sometimes we are able to pass by the dogs if she the other dog is on the other side of me when we cross each other. We have trained “Look” since she was a puppy so she really knows what it means, the is just not responsive with the distraction of dogs around her.

On top of that ,Betsy has always been the barky dog at the dog park….. some days are worse than other days… she responds quite well but far from always when we call her. Her problem is that she likes to be dominant in he dog park, she likes to bark and be in control. She will bark frantically at people passing by with dogs and when she does that she will not respond to us. I can sometimes catch her just before she runs towards the fence but it is hard to keep her attention on me when she eyes the distraction. At home she is obsesed with toys but could care less about them on the streets. She is learning slowly to catch and bring the ball when we are the dog park. That does keep her attention to us a little better.

I quickly met up with Nellie, Calvert & Yuchies human the other day. She recommended a cool it collar for Betsy on hot days. She had two sizes at work and offered me to try both of them and see which one would fit Betsy the best. I have not yet used it but will try it out in the next few days and I will post the result here, with pictures of course! Nellive, Calvert & Yuchies human was reading a book called Feisty Fido which is about lunging and barking at other dogs. I thought I’d give it a try and downloaded it to my ancient kindle last night. I started reading it and it is quite useful so far. Although we train “look”, “sit” and “stay” every day I think that we we are going from stage 3, almost no distractions to stage 20, passing dogs just 3 feet away,  a bit too fast.  It is hard to walk Betsy in the city sometimes as there are so many dogs around. Depending on where I walk her, I can meet 20 dogs on morning or just 2. Tomorrow we will train “turn” at the sight of a dog and with that cue we will turn around and she will have to look at me. I think that passing the dog is too challenging at this point and is probably the reason why she is going crazy sometimes. I will post the progress!

Thanks everyone for reading my blog! If you have some times, please also check out my felt cases at untype.

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I think I would lie if I claimed that Betsy herself took the ice cream out from the freezer….. well, it was a hot day today and I was enjoying a sorbet ice cream. As  she did not bother me while I was indulging this dessert I gave it to her when I was finished, and yes I mean finished. The only thing left was maybe a little streak of mango sorbet at the bottom and maybe the walls of the tub! It is very rare that I give her these treats so it was a special occasion today!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

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Rubie, the salt and pepper schnauzer in Adelaide, Australia  passed on a wonderful Inspirational Award to us! We are so happy to receive it and so happy to hear that we have inspired someone! Oscar, the miniature schnauzer in Canada passed on The Versatile Blogger award and we are flattered and thankful!  We have had plenty of things on our To Do List and still plenty of things to do so we are going to try to combine these two awards in our post. I sit in front of the computer every day at work so when I come home I sometimes have a sort back or dry eyes and I can´t stand sitting anymore. I do my best to maintain Betsy´s blog and to read other great dog blogs. We really appreciate both awards and all the wonderful comments that were mentioned about our blog in other wonderful dog blogs!!! Thanks to both of you!!!

First I will give you some background details to why I started this blog. Well, my sister is a devoted blogger. She has a blog in Swedish called KINOKO which is also the name of her business that designs and makes wonderful children´s clothing. She always encouraged me to start my own blog. Another reason for starting this blog was my husband. My husband is sort of an IT nerd (at home) and has an obsession of buying domains. When we got Betsy I started calling her Betsyboo and he instantly went online to see if the domain was available. Now I had a domain and both my sister and husband were telling me to start a dog blog, it would be something different from all other blogs out there…… I went head and was so excited about it. People around me thought I was crazy and I honestly thought I was crazy until I did some research and realized that I was far the only one with a dog blog……. An entire world opened up to me!  The three most inspirational blogs and bloggers that I got to know during my initial blogging and that inspired me were:

Schnzuer Tude: Nellie and Calvert are two miniature schnauzers living only a short subway ride away from us. Their blog writer was so friendly to me when I first got Betsy and I loved reading about their fun adventures. Recently their family added an addition, Yuchie, a Chihuahua mix after a so called Foster Failure.

Christmas, Happy, Jingle Bell & Pinky: Yepp, they are a big team, big but needless to say, adorable. Their blogger, Diana has been a fantastic  inspiration. Visit their blog and you will find great training tricks and great fun “family” activities. They are up to new adventures every week and seeing how Diana trains all the dogs at the same time is just absolutely fantastic to watch!

Max & JD: Are two adorable miniature schnauzers in Ireland, they have quite an active blog writer and are up to great adventures on the beach every day! We admire not only the nature and scenery they live in but also their art skills! They breath in a little bit too much fresh air which cause them to collapse on their big sofa at the end of each day!!!!

After a couple of months of blogging I found some other fantastic blogs that I love to follow.

Rubie: Oh, absolutely adorable!!!!! She is one lucky mini schnauzer with an incredibly big backyard that we envy! Rube not only has two mini schnauzer cousins but she also has some Swedish relatives. I am from Sweden and my husband lived in Australia for 7 years so we definitely have a couple of things in common!

Honey, The Great Dane; Oh yes, he is a great date for sure! A big dane, also Australian, very well trained and always running around on great beaches and in the open. This makes us wonder what on earth we are doing in New York city…..

Yuki: A very pretty snow white miniature schnauzer.  Yuki´s blogger is a great photographer who is up to great things all the time. Yuki is one of the most recent blogs that I started following and what Betsy and Yuki have in common is their barking and mischievous behavior…..

The  rules for accepting the Versatile Blogger is to share 7 facts about me and to pass the award on to new bloggers. The new bloggers are Yuki, Sawyer,  Wyatt, Ruby & Penny, Sammy, Bella, Daisy & Kendra, Here are the 7 facts:

1) I met my husband 10 years ago while in University in Australia. We are a very mixed up couple, I am half  Japanese / half Swedish, my husband is half south African / 1/4 English and 1/4 American. Betsy is the only full bread American National and the creature that keeps us sane….. We live in NY since we got married in 2006!

2) I am an accountant but often wish I did something different…. I make felt cases for fun as my hobby.  I also love to cook and bake!

3) Betsy was my first dog and I never regret getting her, not even when she is barking at the door man, or the delivery guy or the dogs or the angry postman, or the neighbors…..

4) My husband and I love to travel. We visit Sweden and Santa Barbara every year. If time and money allows for it, we also visit other places. Last year we went to Japan and Montreal, Canada. My favorite place in terms of beauty is South Africa.

5) I LOVE Cheeses! Soft cheeses and smelly cheeses! No I don´t pair it with wine….. I hardly drink….

6) I don´t take naps unless I am really really really really tired. I believe that sleeping should be done at night and only night time….

7 ) My husband thinks that I am stingy…. I call it economical…

Thanks again for the wonderful awards!!!! I am going to take Betsyboo out for her final wee wee (trying to get her to mostly go outdoors these days as the wee wee pads are pricey and not very Eco friendly…. ) Tomorrow is 4th of July, Independence day and we have the day off from work! If Betsy is a good girl tomorrow, we will take her to Central Park.

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Great things have happened and we would like to share the news! Betsy finally got her Kong Wobbler! Last year a great blogger friend and a big schnauzer team in Malaysia (Santa and the girls)  asked about the Kong Wobbler! I send them a package with the wobbler which for some mysterious reason arrived in Malaysia three or so months later…. At that time the wobbler was only available in Large which according to instructions were suitable for Large Dogs. Santa and her team obviously did not have a problem wobblying that thing around! As we live in an apartment with hardwood floors and very “un sound proof walls and floors” we did not think the Wobbler would be suitable for us but we heard from Santa and the girls that a small version was on the market and we kept our eyes out and finally found it! We have some IKEA runners that we place “idle” Yoga mats under, she is only allowed to roll the wobbler on those mats! Let me tell you, the Wobbler is a hit and it!!!!!! Strongly recommend!!!!! She had loads of fun. If you visit Santa and her friends blog you will find them rolling the Large Wobbler around!

The second great news is that Rubie the mini schnauzer in Australia passed on an Inspirational Award to us! We are so happy and we will reciprocate and acknowledge it further in the near future!! Thanks Rubie, you are a wonderful doggie who we envy and admire!

Living in an apartment has its pros and cons and one day we will live in a house with a little garden where little Betsy can frolic!  Thanks again!!!!

Last but not lease, Happy Father’s Day! Betsy must have felt a bit moody this morning and decided to leave the bedroom for the living room and not come back…. hm… After a few minutes I got out of bed and walked to the living room and noticed that she was just sitting on the white rug (the clean white one where raw hide and the wobbler is not allowed, first picture) staring out into the room! Hm… I decided to take Betsy for a morning walk and we spent around 30 minutes outside and I was wondering why she didn’t make her wee wee. After all, the wee wee pad at home was spotless when we left. We came home and I was determined to find a pond of pee somewhere…. and guess what? Right there on the White shaggy rug was a 5cm big yellow spot…. that might not sound too bad except that the wee wee was soaked into the rug and the area underneath the rug was around 15 cm wide in diameter…. I worked so hard to soak up all the wee with tons of paper, cleaning spray and febreze… I think I did a pretty good job in the end! I have no idea what we did to deserve such a wonderful morning! It has been ages since she wee weed in a naught place! Happy Father’s Day!!!!

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Happy Birthday To you, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Betsy, Happy Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrthday tooooooooooo youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Yesterday was Betsy´s 2nd birthday. She still looks as young as the day we got her and she still behaves like a puppy, so to us, she is still our little Baby!!

A few weeks ago our friends with their Baby Yuri (human) came to visit us and brought Betsy a present. A wonderful baking mix for doggy biscuits with wonderfully cute cookie cutters. I baked the cookies on Betsy´s birthday, we sang a song and Betsy had a taste and needless to say, she looooooved them! Thanks Yuri and family!

Thanks also everyone for all the Birthday wishes on Betsy´s facebook wall! She was barking loudly from all the congratulations!!!

And what is better than to finish  your birthday off with a tummy rub?

During baby Yuri´s visit, Betsy had loads of fun!!! Thanks for the playtime!

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It´s been raining a lot in NY and it looks like Memorial Weekend is going to be more or less rained away as well. Betsy has finally accepted that she needs to go outside and do No2, Rain or Shine! When it is raining, Betsy is stubborn and our walks are in slow motion. She looks up at me for each step she takes, in hope that I will say “ok, let´s go home”. I will not say it, she needs to realize that No2 needs to come out and we will not turn to go home until it has!!! The hard work is paying off but sometimes I still need to go around the corner and around the building for her to finally accept that I will get myself wet if I have to!!!!! I am not one to bring an umbrella on a walk and I don´t have a rain coat so I tend to be more or less soaked in the rain by the time we come home. Well, what harm does it do anyway, it´s just rain after all….  Betsy is waiting for her rain coat to arrive from Sweden, my sister has promised to make a polka dotted rain coat for Betsy. In the mean time, she might learn that the longer we stay out in the rain, the more wet she is going to get! One positive consequence from the rain is that Betsy hates being wet so she runs and rubs herself against everything until the coat is dry (or semi dry at least). She gets the excercise her walk didn´t give her….

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