My Yorkie Bichon Mix

A Curious Pup

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:28:59 +0000

Always looking at something…

An Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks!

admin — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:17:33 +0000

We took Jack to Puppy Kindergarten when he was six months old. He learned your basic stuff. Stay, sit, down. But any instructor will tell you, that most of the learning is completed at home…outside the classroom…through constant reinforcement. After Jack got his doggy degree, we also taught him paw. What always eluded us, however, was that ever so cute command…roll over. We started slowly…very slowly. Jack is three now…We noticed that when he became turbo Jack, we could quite him down with a gentle…shhhhh. When he hears this command he rolls on to his belly….to have it rubbed…not to go the full three sixty. So we eventually started egging him on with a treat to roll all the way. Let us not kid you, this did not happen over night….but now that hes got it…its so much fun!!

Turbo Charged

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:04:08 +0000

Jack gets bursts of energy sometimes…and does laps around the house… In this video, he hasnt even reached top speed!

Jacks Trip To The Vet

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00:56 +0000

Jack took a little trip to the vet last week. Just for his yearly checkup. Usually he doesnt get nervous when we take him in the car, because he is so used to going over to Nanas house. He doesnt usually get nervous until we try to get him out of the car at the vets office (or the groomers). But he must have sensed what was up, because on this particular day, he was shaking from the minute he got in the car. When we got to the vets office, the lady at the front desk actually commented on how badly he was shaking. Poor little guy. And It was only made worse when I realized I forgot something in the car. We went back to the car and he quickly jumped back in…thinking he was safe….only to be pulled back to the vets!

Our vet is a very nice lady who senses that Jack is a very shy, timid, pup…so she showers him with lots of love and attention, rather than jumping right into the checkup, shots and what not. She always says that he has an especially nice temperament and calls him a “good pup”. He didnt even make a peep when given his two shots, one for lyme and one for distemper. She also took blood from his front paw to check for heartworm. He isnt up for his next rabies shot until next year. (And our town actually does rabies vaccines for free every November at the fire house).

Jack was 11.8 pounds at last years checkup…and this year he was 12.6 The vet said that he is a good weight…but it wouldnt hurt if he lost the point 6. It should be a little easier getting him to run around outsisde, now that the weather is starting to warm up.

Jack Meets His New Friend, Toto.

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:01:48 +0000

As we have already mentioned, Jack doesn’t get along that great with other dogs. But, when Jack saw Toto, it was love at first sight. That is because Toto is a stuffed dog, a collectors item that we only took out when our niece Addie asked to borrow him when she dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween. Well, Jack wouldn’t let up until he could have a hands on peek…

We’d Love To See Your Pup!

admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:48:32 +0000

Over the last year, many people who have visited our blog have commented the same thing….our pup looks just like yours! We’d love to see pictures of your little yorkie-bichon…and post them on our blog! If you have a yorkie bichon…whether he could be Jacks twin or not…please email them to us… and we will post them on here! Valariecostello at gmail.com or Sjcostell at yahoo.com

We have also just set up a way for visitors to subscribe to our blog…so you can easily find out when we have added new stuff. Just go to the top right of this page, where it says Follow Jack and add your email address. We are hoping to get some new pictures, video and info on here very soon…so stayed tuned… And just for a little teaser….Jack has finally mastered… ROLL OVER!!

Jack Just Doesn’t Get Along With All Dogs

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:45:16 +0000

Admittedly, Val and I didn’t socialize Jack as much as we should have. I’m not sure why we didn’t, it just happened to turn out that way. The good part of an anti-social dog is that he walks great and doesn’t get distracted by other barking dogs. If we do meet up with a dog during a walk and stop to say hello, Jack will tuck himself behind our legs. Maybe he is shy??

We live in a condo complex with about 12 to 15 other dog owners which gives us a good chance to let our dog get to know other dogs. This is what I’ve noticed about Jack and the other dogs who are all very friendly.

8 of them Jack just ignores
4 to 5 he will kinda play with and sniff a bit
The last two Jack will just start growling and barking as soon as he catches wind of them coming.

He turns into Cujo! I can barely hold him back, in fact he broke out of the mettle ring that holds the leash to his collar.

One of these dogs is a 6 month old French Mastiff who from the first sniff Jack was in attack mode. The owner keeps calls Jack, “Killer”. The other dog is a beagle and just like the French Mastiff, Jack didn’t like him from the moment they met. I have no idea why he doesn’t like these two dogs, maybe they smell bad or something?@?

Does anyone else’s Yorkie-Bichon behave like this?

Can a 14 pound dog win at Tug-o-War against a 4 year old?

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:48:35 +0000

My niece Addison loves our dog Jack. She is always playing with him and giving him treats for doing tricks. This past summer we were having a brunch over our place and while Addie was holding one of Jack’s toys, he grabbed it and started pulling. Addie just wouldn’t let go and the video below is the result of what happened. I crack up every time I watch it!

Seriously, There Is Something Under The Couch

admin — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 19:00:56 +0000

I don’t know if this is a Yorkie trait or a Bichon Frise trait, but Jack is always putting his smaller toys underneath our couches. If that was all he did, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem but he then digs like crazy trying to get them out. This digging rips the underside of the couch apart, which is not fun. What is fun, however, is watching how determined our dog is to get what ever is under the couch out. Jack sometimes even forgets that he has gotten the item out and continues to bury his nose under the couch looking for it. Short term memory apparently doesn’t run in dogs.

Here is a video of what happens when I pick the couch up. Watch what Jack does. So cute.

He would just not stop. Even after frantically exploring under the couch he was still convinced something was under there. I ended up tipping the couch over so I could take a closer look and it turned out that there was a toy IN THE COUCH! From the past digging, Jack had torn a hole in the under side fabric of the couch and he managed to get his toy stuck in there. If you watch the video closely, you can see him stick his head into the torn area of the couch, he knew it was there.

Jack Playing Fetch

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:42:31 +0000

One of Jack’s favorite games is “playing” fetch. In our condo we have a loft….so we play by throwing his favorite toy up onto the loft and Jack will run up the stairs like a bat out of hell and grab his toy. It works best when the toy is a squeaky toy because you can really get him revved up by “squeak squeak squeaking” it in his face. One thing you’ll see, that I find hilarious…Jack will peak over the edge, down from the loft, before coming down. I think he does this to check and make sure I am still there. Here is a little video of us playing…

and here is another video where Jack decides he wants to stay up in the loft

One thing about Jack though is he may go get the ball, but you can be sure that he won’t give it back. He loves to play keep away so I have to temp him with a treat or something more enticing in order for him to drop his toy. This game you saw is usually a one time only thing.