Kerry didn’t believe that Isaac wasn’t terribly happy to be pet while he’s eating his dinner. Again you can take the bowl, and put your hand in it, but don’t try and pet him. He got her to jump which I thought was funny – but was probably encouraging his behavior. Here’s the background

Since this just popped up figured I better nip it in the bud. Break out the hot dogs and the clicker. First day I fed him and I just barely grazed his ribs with my hand – quiet = mark and a chunk of hot dog. Did this the entire time he ate, expecting a little more each time (he knows what I was marking).

Second day I had Noah come down and do the same thing while I marked and fed. In four days only one grizzly growl and I was asking for it, but he stopped and I marked it. Think we’re well on the way to having back a tolerant food driven dog.

Interesting thing is that I’m sure it’s his over the top food drive that got him acting like a tard – yet it’s the same food drive that fixed it in a day (with 4 days of follow-up so far).

Since the Firewire port got smoked on my good DV cam I’ve modified the dog-cam setup. Here you go

• Logitech Webcam C250 mounted on the filing cabinet in my office
• Stickam account which is free (no adult content allowed)
• Code to embed the stickam player in a blog/web page can found here (or you could just point people to your stickam profile)
• Place to mount camera (keep in mind you’re filming a dog – keep it dog safe – video of your dog eating your webcam might be interesting to others but you and the vet might not find it as amusing).
• A Dog my guess is this will be the most significant cost you’ll incur
  

Once you’ve got your webcam software installed and running you can sign-on to your stickam account (you created earlier) and click the “Go Live” button. This will begin streaming video. You could just use the link to you’re profile on Stickam or you can be way geeky like me and embed the stickam player on your own page.

That’s all there is to it – 5 simple things you need to stream video of your smelly dog to the world! If you click here you’ll see the computer in a tool box I use when I want to be ‘mobile’ with the webcam.

Isaac busted out a couple nice deep growls at me while eating from his food bowl today. It was strange and was the first time it’s occurred. He eats in the dog room and I normally mill about in there grabbing a collar and lead in preparation for him going out after dinner. It’s close quarters and there is occasion that I do brush up against him while he’s chomping. He didn’t take kindly to it today~!

Mister I’m becoming sexually mature and feel the need to flex got to Platz while I picked up his bowl and grabbed a chair (no I didn’t hit him with it). He then got to decide if he’d rather be grumpy about my presence or if he’d rather be peaceful and eat from the bowl in my lap. He chose to play nice nice and eat! Will probably feed him in this manner for awhile to make sure he understands what the deal is -

If you are a student in the West Chicago School district please avert your eyes. The content on this site is not meant to be educational! If you don’t avert your eyes please don’t share with Mrs. Duffey what you see here or I’ll potentially suffer ramifications from your surfing of the information super highway.

You might enjoy this though!!!!!

Kind of a slow work day today…..

Isaac tossing out the hairy eyeball!

Isaac and Tucker playing in the front yard on what will probably be the last nice day in November.

Though Isaac hasn’t been doing any phase 3 stuff (no bark, bark, chomp) I have been working on his OB (almost daily) and I’m hoping that I can get a BH on him. Took a little video today to see how it’s looking -

1. Have gotten to this point with just PP no pressure or correction yet
2. Finally seem to be able to hold his attention (National level nope, but BH probably)
3. Probably ready to start with some corrections – e-collar or pinch (will be thinking about this) Seems to respond to vibration on Dogtra better than a pinch or electrical stim (as long as distractions are minimal). In drive a little electrical stim is better that the pinch for him. Unless he’s way way in drive the pinch tends to shut him down (OK that’s an over statement, but he’s pretty soft).
4. Long down is looking good
5. Need to start working on Sit in motion

There is stuff that needs work (which I’m not going to list), but I’m actually quite happy with the progress I’ve made with Marmaduke. The excitement/ball drive in this example are lower than normal, not that he’s ever 110% over the top driven, but this was flat for even him. (I was tired too)

Have been doing figure 8’s with him for past couple days and am going to continue with them. Get him fast and slow for a little better balance.

I’m aware the his little flip finish is pathetic and I made the mistake of letting him fall into it. Wasn’t intentional, and wish I would have stopped it sooner, live and learn.

Was freeing space and found some video Noah took with my Flip Mino – not as good as his documentary on preparing EasyMac …

Here are some funny pictures of my friends puppy (Malachai)

I heard a thump and some noise, turned around and I caught him in the act. I quietly grabbed the camera (right next to me) and busted him. Malachai IS the poster pup for the energizer bunny.

This is the bag of sweets Jen gave me after the trial

ut he made a healthier choice and went for the apples.

A FB friend

Asked how I do roadwork with Isaac on the bike and I thought I had posted this already, but I must not have. I don’t just HOLD the leash, seems like I’d be begging for road rash. I didn’t want to spend $69.99 on this so I made my own (minus the spring).

It’s pretty basic I purchased the following from the local hardware store:

1. Galvanized pipe, threaded both ends
2. PVC – T that is threaded (same size as pipe in 1)
3. Flat wall mount for the galvanized pipe bought in step 1
4. Two U bolts that fit through the holes on the Flat wall mount in step 3
5. Misc (brass clip, rope, old bike inner tube, black electrical tape)

Should be self explanatory with the pictures below how it goes together. The only thing that isn’t obvious is that the inner tube is rapped on the seat stem to help allow the U bolts from step 4 get grip. Also I cut the extra length of bolt off the U bolt with a Dremel.

Keep in mind this setup doesn’t have a spring, so there is no shock absorbed when your dog tries to dart after a rabbit. I Ride with a 90 pound GSD and only used the dead ring on the fur-saver (occasionally use pinch). I marker trained him as a puppy to walk beside the bike and run on the tread mill so the transition wasn’t tough. I’m wouldn’t recommend this setup for a wicked high drive adult male GSD who has never biked before (though a spinger wouldn’t work either). This works perfectly for a ‘trained’ dog though, have never had ANY issues with it.

Here is some video of Isaac’s new skill.

I was planning to wait and debut it when I was able to combine it with the blind search, but couldn’t resist showing off the piece of the genetic puzzle that had to have come from Fenga vom Weinland Baden. ENJOY! (sorry about profanity)

Today is the first Tuesday of the month and I was finally able to capture Isaac tuning up to the tornado siren test! Kerry has tried and failed, Naoh tried and failed, my last attempt sucked, today was a success – I captured him in full blown howl mode -

Isaac has gotten used to sleeping outside this summer and tends to pitch a little bit of a fit around 2:30 AM if he’s inside in his crate. Not because he needs to relieve himself, but because he thinks he should be out in the kennel waiting for toads to mistakenly enter his domain.

With the weather sketchy last night I put him in the crate in the garage (it was cool out) and cracked the garage door a smudge and I didn’t hear a peep out of him all night.

If I could get rid of the trampoline I could put the ultimate indoor outdoor kennel/run in!

While I was away at a soccer tournament this weekend Bethany worked with Isaac. Here are the results….other than the Sitz I think their making progress.

Keep in mind I’m aware that there are wireless web cams available from companies like D-Link that would make this process a lot easier. I went the convoluted route because I didn’t want to spend any money on anything.  This was all junk I was able to scrape together laying around my office. Here is a link to the page where you can view the web cam feed

Software being used

• Operating System Windows XP Pro (no hot fixes, service packs, or anti virus…just running light because it’s not a powerhouse machine)
• Mozilla is my browser of choice
• Stickam is handling the streaming for me, and here is a nice video with the details
• To turn a MiniDV camcorder into a web cam I am using DVdriver.

Hardware being used

• Old machine with like a gig of ram
• Firewire PCI card
• Belkin MIMO USB Wireless adapter
• Cannon ZR45MC Digital Video Camcorder
• Tripod
• Toolbox on wheels
• Power strip

Implementation

This is where I got a little creative (little being the operative word). I didn’t want a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse and all that laying around where ever I wanted to use the web cam and I didn’t want to dedicate a laptop to the project.

I took the computer apart and placed it all in a tool box on wheels. There is a power strip attached to it for the computer and Camera to plug into. Since I’m using wireless I don’t need to be near an RJ45 jack in the house.

Also since I didn’t want to waste an LCD flat screen by mounting it to the toolbox (or strap a giant tube monitor to it) the setup doesn’t have a monitor. I have XP Pro installed and can turn on Remote Desktop and simply manage the system from another machine in the house.

Here are some pictures of the final setup, today I used it while he was in his dog room and then quickly moved it to the basement window with relative ease. If you had an extra machine with a monitor laying around and would be filming in a stationary location you could skip the entire toolbox step.

Pictures of final version

Here is a picture of the entire thing, the camera on the tripod all attached to a computer stuffed in a toolbox on wheels.

Here is a shot of the motherboard, power supply, HD, CDRW, and all the wires that go along with it.

Here is a shot of the little wireless USB device from Belkin I’m using

The old power strip I had laying around

Here is the firewire plugged into the MiniDV Camcorder

I am now streaming live from Isaac’s kennel! You can view the Dog Cam (when it’s live) at the Live Webcam Page.

Here’s what I’m using

• DVdriver from TrackerCam
• Cannon DV camera
• Tripod
• Old Computer running 2K Server
• Firewire Cable
• Belkin MIMO USB Wireless Adapter
• 42 Samsung DLP
• All being served up by www.stickam.com

Future plans include mounting the hardware on a self contained mobile cart. Right now it’s just a tripod sitting in the basement, with the computer stuffed behind the DLP.

OK so Isaac is still choosing to chew on 1 of the 3 cow mats. There are a couple ideas floating around that may solve the problem.

1. Tabasco Sauce on the one he’s chewing (will he just move on to a less spicy mat?)
2. Steve Romard suggested the Tri-Tronics (I’ve got the Dogtra 2300NCP). The issue with this is that he’s a sneaky little fur ball and it’s hard to catch him in the act.
3. Jen brought up a good point. Maybe it’s not Isaac’s fault, maybe it’s a defective mat and I should return it.

Since I’m a dork I looked into video survalance. I don’t have a webcam, but I do have a Digital Video Camera and found a niffty little DVdriver from TrackerCam that will allow me to use my expensive DV as a webcam. I signed up @ www.stickam.com and have embedded a feed into a page on this here blog.

Now if I really want to use a little electrical stimulation I should be able to monitor from a remote computer for chewing. I would of course want to physically see him doing it before I introduced stimulation due to possible lag time, but at least I wouldn’t have to stare out the window for hours on end. Seems like a lot of work, but the little test I did in my office worked and only took about 20 minutes to get up and running.

Here are a few images of Isaac enjoying his cow mats…

Isaac is no Michael Phelps, but he a swimming dog these days. He still doesn’t have those back legs going; it’s all front slapping and pounding for him. It gets him some exercise and an excuse for a bath so it’s all good. I wish I could find some even cleaner water for him to swim in (anyone offering up their pool?).

I think I’ve posted this before in one way or another. Isaac is definitely showing that he’s a little nervy (define that how you will). He’s not 100% sound/stable. Sure he’d pass the gun test on the field and fireworks don’t bother him, but other things like bags of rock salt piled on his patio throw him off. He’s not showing it towards people or other dogs, and he’s gotten over the lawnmower, but he’s definitely showing a little ‘tweaky-ness’. It’s not horrible and he’s nowhere near the level of other dogs you’ll see out there (pets), but if I hold him up to dogs I’ve seen work he’s definitely a tad off. He’s showing more of that giant Marmaduke/Poo-Bear character it seems he has.

His ball drive is at an all time high, and he still drops that deep nose to the ground, but 3rd phase just doesn’t seem realistic (from what I’ve seen with Bill and just around the house). He got his first real “No Bad Dog”  correction when I busted him chewing on the Cow Mats and soft might be an understatement (he almost shutdown). I am questioning if it’s the second fear impact stage hitting him at 15/16 months because he’s large and definitely maturing slowly. His obedience is coming along as nicely as can be expected, especially since he’ll now work for the ball.

On the buy/sell/hold scale I’m at sell, but Noah has a firm HOLD position, even though Isaac chomps him on a regular basis. One weighs 70 pounds and the other is around 95 and I’m not sure which one has a clearer head. They are both pretty fast and both make a mess when they eat. They both run on the treadmill, though only one of them has defecated on it! Doesn’t seem like they’ll be separated anytime soon.

Isaac learned to never trust a fart the hard way, while on the treadmill! He had evacuated his bowels just 45 minutes ago and was only cruising at 4.5 MPH with just over 1/2 mile completed and I smelled a little action Jackson.

Low and behold there were smelly brown nuggets stuck to the wall… I’m just glad we weren’t up to 8 MPH yet, I’ve got to imagine the impact would have been far more dramatic.

It is strange that this occured on the 4th of July, last year we had a similar poop incident click here for those details.

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