Honey the Great Dane

Today…

8:15am - My human is calling me to wake up…

8:30am – Breakfast: 2 raw chicken carcasses…YUM!

8:40am – Morning wee & poo

9:05am - Back to bed…try to sleep but can’t coz my stupid human is doing strange jumpings around the living room while watching a man doing the same thing in the TV box to very loud music…she calls this “aerobics”…

9:50am – Whew…peace finally. She’s gone to do the scary BATH thing to herself (can you believe humans happily do this every day??)

10:15am – Yay! My human has moved my beanbag bed into her study. She’s sitting down at her computer. Finally – can settle down for some decent sleep…zzzZZZzzzz…

11:30am – Turn over…zzzZZZzzz

12:45am – Open one eye – human has gone to the kitchen…bet she is getting herself some yummies. So unfair! Humans can help themselves to food whenever they want!

1:30pm – Human is back at the computer. I get up, stretch, turn around and make myself comfortable on the bed again…

2:20pm – Turn over…zzzZZZzzz

3:55pm – Turn over…zzzZZZzzz

4:30pm – Human is calling me again…saying something about a “walk”…huh? But I’m so comfortable…

4:45pm – Human is prodding me now with her foot…will just ignore her…maybe she will go away…

4:50pm – I can hear human by front door…sounds like she is putting on her shoes…she’s calling me again…uh-oh…sounds like she is getting grumpy…guess I’d better get up…(sigh)

4:55pm – Gooooooood stretch!

5:10pm – Am in the car – wonder which park my human is taking me to today?

5:20pm – Ooooh! Newmarket Park! I like it here!

5:25pm – Yay! Human has got the clicker out and I can smell treats! Am getting really excited.

5:30pm – Did really good Heelwork – human was very pleased with me…Now practising this ‘Stand’ and ‘Mat ‘command…hmmm, this is a bit tricky. I always want to walk forward when my human says “Stand” but I only get rewarded if I stay still…Mat is even harder. I have to drop straight down onto my stomach with my back legs tucked straight under me – I can’t Sit first. It’s different from my Down command where I can Sit first and then slowly lie down and put my legs to one side….my human taught me Mat as a separate command because I can do it faster than a Down and I need to be able to drop down quickly from running when I practise my “Instant Drop” exercise

I also practised this new thing I’m learning called a Sendaway – although I’m a little bit confused about it because my human wants me to just keep running away from her when she says “Away!”…but to what??

5:40 pm – Ohhhh….no more training! I was really keen to do more! Never mind – let’s explore the park and see what new pee-mail there is!

5:55pm – Wow! Check out these giant breed rocks…

6:04pm – Doing a nice big poo…

6:10pm – Human started playing one of my favourite games (“Ready, Set, GO!”) – I’m so excited & happy – I’m doing ZOOMIES!!

6:15pm – Getting pats from some friendly humans playing with big bouncing balls….

6:20pm – SLURP! Having a cool drink!

6:25pm – (sigh) Time to go home!

7:10pm – Is it dinner time yet?

7:15pm – Is it?

7:20pm – Humph! Human says I have to wait for a while after I’ve been running around otherwise I might get the scary sickness called bloat…I stand by the garden door – maybe if I wait outside, dinner might come faster?

7:30pm – YAY! Dinner time! Yum – raw BARF mixture (“Mighty Mix”) with steamed vegetables and some leftover corn soup from the humans…

7:45pm – Human brings me back in the house and wipes my mouth. Am still hungry. Go and ring the bell and ask to go out again. Human rolls her eyes and lets me back out…

7:48pm – YAY! Find the pig’s trotter I’d saved from my special birthday meal last week – I’d carefully put it in the corner of the garden and covered it with leaves…Mmmmm – it’s stinking nicely now…

7:55pm – Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

8:03pm – Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

8:10pm – Mmmm….that was good! Right, now for some water…

8:15pm – Human brings me back into the house and wipes my mouth (again) – she is grumbling a lot…says she is in the middle of eating her dinner…

8:20pm – (sigh of contentment) Stretch out by the heater…

8:35pm – Hmmm…floor feels a bit hard…better get on the bed…

8:40pm – zzzZZZzzz

9:15pm – Turn over…zzzZZZzzz…(wish the humans wouldn’t put the TV box so loud!)

10:20pm – Turn over…zzzZZZzzz

11:05pm – Human wakes me up, takes me into the garden and tells me to “Go be clean”  – (sigh) – guess it’s time for my last wee before bedtime…

11:10pm – Mmmm….nice to get back into bed…and it’s still warm!

12:05am – Whew! Finally! Humans have turned off the lights and are going to bed, leaving me in peace & quiet…Honestly! What does a dog have to do to get some sleep around here?!

Well, today was a typical day in my life…not too bad, eh? They don’t call it a dog’s life for nothing! (Could do with a bit more sleep, though…)

And here’s a movie of my time in the park…you can watch me practising those training things I was telling you about and doing zoomies! I hope you enjoy it!

* By the way, a lot of people always think that Hsin-Yi must spend HOURS training me because of all my advanced dancing moves and ‘ coz I’m pretty well-behaved…but actually, she only does about 5-10mins before my daily walks, a couple of times a week (like you see in this video) - that’s all! Oh, sometimes she will do a few more clicker sessions at home – and of course, when we have a dance performance coming up, we do have to rehearse so we train more often…but otherwise, short, regular, frequent sessions are the best way for us doggies to learn! And of course, a lot of my training is incorporated into my everyday routine – like having to do Sit & Wait before I go out the front door or to get my food bowl, having to lie calmly to get cuddles – generally, having to earn things I want, like attention & cuddles & treats & food & access to places!