How shall I put it?

It’s been a month since i last updated my blog… The furs are back and growing nicely… Tim Tam looks better now. Check it out

This is absolutely the best ‘daddy-doggy’ potrait….

Aaaaawwww… So sweet… “I Woof you daddy!!! Slurp!”

Sigh!! This is what i called ‘life’…

Don’t be jealous of me…

Well, I have a feeling I have pampered him too much. He started to follow me around practically everywhere!!! Even when i need to visit Mother Nature!!! He would just sit next to me and wait till I finished!!!

Taught him a few simple tricks like ‘Stay, Sit, Hand and Down” He did it within a few minutes of training each time!!! A smart dog  I must say. This coming Sunday is his first Obedient training. It will be held in Taman Desa for a period of 10 session - 1 hour each session. I can’t wait. Edwin aims to take him for Agilant training after that. His objective is to enrol Tim Tam for competitions! I have faith in Tim Tam to perform well, poodle is indeed a brilliant breed. Fast learner too! This is what he will be learning:

Lesson Plan for Basic Obedience Class

The main aim in this training class includes :-

• To establish the communication channel between dog handler and his / her dog

• To make the dog understand a series of command from the handler

Duration : 10 weeks excluding bad weather

Lesson one : Introduction to Basic Obedience Class

• Objective of training
• Housebreaking Training (toilet training) will be provided on request.
• Be a responsible dog owner and your social responsibilities
• Proper training equipment
• Introduce lead training
• Proper use of collar and leash

Lesson two: Introduce Sit on Heeling at normal pace

• Revise lead training
• Q & A

Lesson three: Introduce Stand on Heeling at normal pace

• Revise Sit exercise
• Q & A

Lesson four: Introduce Down on Heeling at normal pace

• Revise Sit and Stand Exercise
• Q & A

Lesson five: Introduce Sit Stay Exercise

• Revise Sit; Stand and Down Exercise
• Q & A

Lesson six: Introduce Down Stay Exercise

• Revise lesson five
• Q & A

Lesson seven: Introduce Recall to Present with lead

• Revise lesson six without Sit and Down Stay Exercise
• Q & A

Lesson eight: Introduce Recall to Present and Finish with lead

• Revise lesson seven heel work without sit and down
  stays
• Q & A

Lesson nine: Introduce Stand Stay for Temperament Test with lead

• Revise all exercises required for graduation test
• Q & A

Lesson ten: Graduation Test

• Heel work on preset heeling pattern
• Recall to finish on lead
• Stand Stay on lead
• Sit Stay with lead – one minute
• Down Stay with lead – two minutes

And this is what Edwin wanted for Tim Tam in the future…

About Agility

Agility began as an exhibition sport in Great Britain and is now being introduced to countries worldwide.  The sport was patterned after equestrian events and combines handler control, agility, and confidence.  The sport of agility is comprised of a course set up of many different obstacles.  Agility is meant to be a fun, non-regimented sport, with a lot of spectator appeal.  Obstacles include jumps, tunnels, a dog walk, a see-saw or teeter, an A-frame and weave poles.

Some of the agility training materials used:

As promised, here is an introduction of what Montessori is all about. (with reference to my post ‘A day at My Montessori’)

‘The name ‘Montessori’ derived from the founder, Maria Montessori.

Maria Montessori, born in 1870, was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree. She worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology. She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than as a “blank slate” waiting to be written upon. Her main contributions to the work of those of us raising and educating children are in these areas:

· Preparing the most natural and life-supporting environments for the child

· Observing the child living freely in this environment

· Continually adapting the environment in order that the chid may fulfill his or her greatest potential, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

In 1907 she was given the opportunity to study “normal” children, taking charge of fifty poor children of the dirty, desolate streets of the San Lorenzo slum on the outskirts of Rome. The news of the unprecedented success of her work in this Casa dei Bambini “House of Children” soon spread around the world, people coming from far and wide to see the children for themselves. Dr. Montessori was as astonished as anyone at the realized potential of these children.

One distinguishing feature of the Montessori method, at the pre-school age, is that children direct their own learning, choosing among the sections of a well-structured and stocked classroom, the curriculum including Practical Life (fine and gross motor skills), Sensorial (senses and brain), Language, Mathematics, Geography, Science, and Art. The teacher’s role is to introduce children to materials, and then remain a “silent presence” in the classroom. Montessori schools pride themselves on seeing and meeting the student’s personality and intellectual needs, rather than viewing them as part of a classroom process. The students are encouraged to teach and to help each other.

Primarily applied in preschool and elementary school settings (and occasionally in middle- and high school), its method of education is characterised by emphasising self-directed activity, on the part of the child, and clinical observation, on the part of the teacher (often called a director, directress, guide) — to stress the importance of adapting the child’s learning environment to his or her development level, and the role of physical activity in the child’s absorbing abstract concepts and learning practical skills.

The potential of the child is not just mental, but is revealed only when the complete “Montessori method” is understood and followed. The child’s choice, practical work, care of others and the environment, and above all the high levels of concentration reached when work is respected and not interrupted, reveal a human being that is superior not only academically, but emotionally and spiritually, a child who cares deeply about other people and the world, and who works to discover a unique and individual way to contribute. This is the essence of real “Montessori” work today.

“Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants - doing nothing but living and walking about - came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning: would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child’s way of learning. This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so passes little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love.”

- Maria Montessori