Good sportsmanship in action

Yesterday an opportunity to give practical lessons in good sportsmanship to a little girl. She is 4 and very proud of continually winning races, putting on her seatbelt first, eating dinner first or whatever. She says "I just beat you did I?" This is not terrible as a winning statement, however it is still not ideal. It would also not have been a problem if she could take defeat graciously.
Yesterday we went for a bike ride, I was on foot. We had a race to a pole and the first race she won and gloated. The second race I pipped her at the post and she cried that it wasn't a race and she didn't want to race and I always win. I explained that she needed to learn to be a good loser before she could be a good winner and the way to be a good loser was to firstly finish the race, and secondly say "congratulations" and shake hands. Then the good winner says "That was a good race" or "Well done" and shakes hands.
She said several times for the remainder of the bike ride "I'm a bad loser." I said she was but all she had to do to be a good loser was to shake hands and say "Congratulations" She refused and was still in tears when we got home.
After school pick up, I put my seat belt on before she did and then demonstrated just how horrible a bad winner can be. She began to cry again and I asked her if I was being a good winner and if she enjoyed it. She shook her head and cried properly so I went round and gave her a cuddle. Then we got back in the car and I put my belt on first again and said "Good race, now you say congratulations and we shake hands." She did and had a little laugh.
We have thus begun the journey to learning good sportsmanship.

One other thing, The 7 yr old challenged me to a karate fight. He though he could win based on the fact he plays with lego and watches TV. I figured maybe not based on the fact that I have done 3 yrs of Karate. After we had a little spar and I got him on the ground a couple of times, I went to put a handful of rubbish in the bin. At the right moment I turned and blocked the charge he made at my back and told him that attacking when your opponents back is turned is bad sportsmanship. A bit later he apologized for it, I wasn't upset and I did not ask him to, that makes me very happy and we made up.

Dogs making entertainment

Here is Friday, the teenage Labrador puppy. She is pretty good at finding her own entertainment. This rarely involves her toys but often includes washing, shoes, bottles, containers and, beds.

She now sleeps on the ground.

Making lunch again

Here are some more damper creations we made for lunch. This is Mickey Mouse

This is a man and two rocks
This is a man being hanged. Cheerful I know.

Puppy Training

I have stopped horse training for a while because I have been busy and disinclined, though I will need to start again as he has gone completely mental recently. I have begun puppy training. This is a useful thing to do I suspect because, as someone pointed out, she knows her name, when you call out Friday, she runs away.

First and obviously she was taught to sit. I did not teach her this, every one else did when she was really young.

The next thing was to wait till I said she could before eating. This is valuable in a Labrador since they are so keen on food they will knock you down and breathe it in. I try to get everyone who is giving her food to make her wait till they have put it down then said "eat it up". This was funny when one of them did it with a toy and she said "go" and I said to try "eat it up" and she did and Friday grabbed it.

The next thing was for her to not barge inside whenever we open the door, this has gone backwards of late unfortunately.

Then, for fun, we have all begun to teach her hide and seek. I used to play this with Roger, my dog. One person goes into the laundry with the dog and the others hide in simple places, like behind bushes, then Friday is let out and the person with her says "go find" and she goes to find her pack. The kids hid behind 3 bushes and she found them, then they hid behind the same bushes again and Friday must have decided that the key was looking in these 3 places, because the third time they hid in different spot and she was sorely confused. She seems to have the general idea now though which is nice.

Today I was teaching to sit, stay come. To lie down and to crawl. She is much quicker at picking things up now and it is a rewarding experience to teach her things. I was also beginning to teach her to come when she is called even if she has something in her mouth. This may seem odd but usually it is somebodies shoe or shirt or similarly desired object.