Slow Sunday with treats(5)

Today is over cast and the temperature is warming, now about 40 degrees. Its the kind of day where you can just feel Winter turning into Spring and the transition leaves everything grey. The remaining snow is more dirt than snow. The soon to be colors of Spring haven't erupted, leaving brown branches, brown ground and grey skies. We need Sun and color!

I've been asked where Beeker got his stunning winter vest. Goodwill of course! Children's sizes work best for him but as with most clothes, trial and error to fit. Max of course would never need one but smaller dogs in cold climates may.

We went for our "figure eight" walk today. This is the walk that we take in the neighborhood that both dogs know as the home walk. The one that we take when we need to walk, but don't want to think about where to go. We know it takes exactly 45 minutes. This is the walk where the dogs know the other dog homes and the smells are familiar. Sniff sniff, "you've got mail", kind of walk.We have modified figure eights that take only one or the other of the loops of the figure eight if we are in a hurry or its too cold. Just the kind of exercise and nose engagement we needed today. After yesterday's excitement we slept ALOT!

Today I want to write about dog treats. We use a variety of dog treats for Beeks and Max. They know that when ever Brad or I go to the refridgerator we might be giving out one of their favorite dog treats, ice. They will run to sit patiently waiting for a cube to crunch. I figure it is two treats in one. Cold water and hard crunch like a bone. Beeks can not get enough ice. I suppose it may be hard on their teeth (like it s said of people chewing ice) but how could it be harder than the bones they chew? The other refridgerator treat that they LOVE are carrots. They can hear the opening of the plastic container we use to keep them fresh. I swear Beeker can hear them rattle. When he sits and gets his carrot he goes to the safety of an out of the way rug. Max may be waiting for his own carrot, but Beeker thinks his treasure needs to be protected. carrots give them the crunch they love and also vitamins they need. Once in a while we also give them a chewable vitamin C. Not very often because too much could be toxic to their system.

As far as store purchased treats we usually buy cheap ones. The kind that you can buy in big containers for little cost. We also buy the smallest size and then try to break them in small pieces. Since we feed our dogs two times a day they really don't need much supplemental food. We always try to associate treats with a performance behavior.Something to engage their brains as well as their stomaches. Such as sitting, down, roll over (that's another story, to follow), or stay. Both dogs know they have to sit before they get any treat.

Another of my favorite treats, and one that I give sparingly is dog food. Our dogs are feed Canidae dog food (again another discussion). canidae makes a dog treat that is essentially the dog food in another form. It comes in small round flat circles, like treats. They have mint and protien ingredients. The dogs love these. I like that they are small and compact and I can carry them when we are traveling, and on walks. They are great for sharing and I like knowing that I am not confusing their digestive tracks like some dog treats will do when they have too much fat and sugar. Each circle has a letter imprinted on it and so theoretically you could teach your dog to spell with them too!

Recently, my mother was visiting and decided that she should teach each dog to "roll over". She used really good meat treats for this project to motivate the dogs. A number of times each day she worked with each dog (while she had the other dog in a stay, watching). She got Max to roll over quickly. He pretty much would go into his bicycling mode then flop over. He learned real quick and we were so excited to see such a big dog learn so fast. Beeker was an entire different story. There's a reason we call him"Sneeker Beeker". He finally learned to lay down, with a hip under him. This took a million treats (see I told you he was sneeky). Then he would follow the treat in her hand, his head and eyes moving around, then flip back so his paws were again under him and not over as she wanted him to be. Boy, does my mother have patience. She practiced and practiced, breaking the trick down into smaller and smaller parts. After about 5 million treats Beeker would do the trick correct once. Then she would stop the practice until later. Then work with him again. By the time she left, she had taught Beeks to flip over, and he was 10 million treats happier. They both were happy with the experience and Beeks wants the "fun" grandma to come back.

Anybody else have any good ideas for dog treats to share?

Prairie Hike (4)

Today is so cold (low 30's)with a brisk wind. First, I want to say Kudos to Eric and Chelsey for being the best dog foster parents I know! They are currently fostering an Italian greyhound. What I want to know is if it barks with an accent. Thanks Eric and Chelsey for sharing your love of dogs.

So it was a good day to take the dogs for a hike in the prairie. I mentioned earlier that we like to take the dogs to the Lake of the Woods prairie. Here they can go on a long lead (20 ft) and romp in the prairie grass. Max and Beeker love going to the prairie so much they start wimpering and whining two blocks away, Beeker even barks a high pitched bark, kinda like a yip. They are so beside themselves we make them sit and get calm before we open the car doors. This takes about 5 minutes. Brad and I can hardly contain ourselves from laughing. Finally we were able to get them out and leashed up. While I wanted to take pictures to show you the area, it is most difficult to get the dogs to sit. They know they are going to get to go on a romp, not a short leash, controlled heeling kind of walk. Both dogs were of course, drooling. As we started down the grassy path, Brad told Max to sit-stay in order to get his leash and gentle leader in order. Having that done, Brad gave the "all done"command to Max and Max didn't move. Rather he stuck his head in a grass clump and brought out a mouse nest. With the mouse scrambling to get out and back to the ground. Max didn't even see the mouse, he was just excited to have found something soft and smelly in his mouth. Boy was he proud. His prancing mad it difficult to get it from him. All this excitement within the first 50 yards of the path. May the ruckus begin! We have 20 foot leashes which are great for allowing the dogs to explore and get out aways, but this also creates entanglements. Beeks does not walk at all. He veers left and right, following any smell with his keen smelling nose. If there is a hole, or crack in the grass clump he is there. The snow had drifted in many areas so both dogs had their noses down following little rodents scents under it. The game is such a favorite. The crisscrossing of leashes is a constant battle for us. The paths they choose reminded me of the family circle cartoons of children playing in the neighborhood. Beeker loves snow diving. He is so proficient that he doesn't lift his head up, he just pushes his body forward with his hind legs. Fun to watch. It must cool his neck and underbelly. Max takes a different approach. He just lays down and rolls over with his back to the snow and legs up. Then the bicycling begins. Yes, the 150 lb dog bicycles. He's a happy Newfoundland! The loop we took today is the shorter of the loops we usually take. It was more difficult with the snow drifts and wind. The dogs would have been happy to continue on, but we decided to make the 1 hour loop. As the weather gets warmer we will do the loop with creeks (oh boy water!). Good hike for February.

Here's a question, were do you and your dog like to play? If you comment we can all benefit. Please share. We found some great dog parks by using the dogpark app on IPod touch. How do you find dogparks or dog friendly places to have fun?

Errand Day (3)

Today was errand day and that means that Beeker went with me to Champaign. Yes,a car ride. Beeks loves riding in the car(windows down please). Sometimes he gets so excited he starts to drool. Once when I was visiting my family, and driving around with him he drooled so much I thought something was wrong and ended up taking him to the emergency vet. Diagnosis...drool! That was an exspensive lesson. Now I just let him drool and offer him water. This will get some comments: check out Beeks vest in todays picture. If its cold out, is it Okay to have your dog wear a vest/coat? I don't mean frilly doll clothes but as protective covering? beeks doesn't seem to mind and I don't worry that he might be too cold while waiting for me in the car.

While in Champaign, we visited friends at Parkland College. Beeks is fairly timid when he first meets people. He backed up behind me until I patted my friend saying,"nice Jen". Yes, I patted my friend. Such a brave dog. He's confident while we are out walking, he doesn't bark at other dogs or people, but get him close to something he hasn't encountered and he a regular chicken. You would think he would be excited to get up close and personal with all the critters/animals that he barks at from behind windows but he's way apprehensive. Last fall I took him with me to a friends house in Oregon, Illinois. Her husband is a hunter and had just brought down a deer. When he brought it up to the garage, all of their dogs were so excited and were trying to get as close as possible (ie:trying to get a little taste). Beeker was trying to get behind me. I had to literally pet the dead deer to get him to come close. Anyway, I think that he needs more people socicalization to be comfortable with all the things in the world. Little kids still kind of scare him. They move so fast. He's better with older children,and once he gets a good smell of them he's better the next time.

We went to the grocery stores and then came home. I had to stop at a second store and although I probably should have teathered him with the groceries in the back, I didn't and he didn't bother the food or move to the front seat. This is an interesting situation with Beeks and riding in the car. He loves to move to the front of Brad's car but he prefers the back seat in the Honda. Infact, one Christmas while in Colorado, I moved him to the very back, behind the back seat, due to the number of people in the car. He kept jumping up to the back seat. With people occupying all the spaces. Maybe he just saw himself as one of us.

When we got home, I decided that it was an unbelievably beautiful day so a walk was in order. Beeks readily agreed so we walked down the lane, over the railroad tracks and through the next neighborhood to the Sangamon river. This was exciting because this walk is primarily off road which allows for maximum sniffing,rolling and scenting spots. A Beeker favorite. Only better place nearby is the prairie at the Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. Thats tomorrow. Its like going to Disneyland for dogs,well maybe the dog park. Thats a toss up. What do you think about the vest? Where is your favorite place to romp?

New day (2)

Today is sunny and boy do we all need it. Its still cold here, about 30 degrees but wind chill makes it feel a lot colder. Yesterday on our walk we about froze. The sun gets me thinking Spring and digging in the ground, planing and watching my plants grow.

Interesting how Beeks doesn't mind the cold. He just keeps his nose to the ground, looking for the next crevice or hole, trying to get smells of little critters. I work to keep his head up and moving forward on our walks but it is a constant endeaver. And he has such a great nose. We have lots of deer in our area and they, along with the herd of squirrels cause him to be constantly on guard. The birds have begun to sing more and their songs make me so happy. We have a huge number of birds that migrate through this area,stopping to feed at our feeders. Some of the birds that we have identified are the Indigo Bunting, the Baltimore Orieole, gold finches, medowlarks, nuthaches, wrens, chickadees, cardinals, titmouses, blue jays, flickers and woodpeckers, hawks, and a number of varieties of owls. Once, a few years ago, I watched as a hawk took a young squirrel while its mother screeched in horror. The whole dance between the hawk and the squirrels was breathtaking to me.

This morning Beeker, Max, Chez and I are on the bed. I love this time of peace we have together. I'm on the laptop and the dogs are laying quietly while Chez is curled up between pillows. This seems to be how people and animals should get along. However, I there are many who believe that animals should never be alowed on the masters bed. The thought is that the animal will view its position as an equal to the master and the balance of power will be leveled. What do you think? Our dogs (who can control a cat?) are only allowed on the bed if we invite them up. Max gets this and once he is on the bed is VERY reluctant to get down. Beeker on the other had will jump down at the first little noise he hears. If I get up to get coffee he will also jump down and then want to get right back up when I return. If the cat gets down and moves, Beeker will want to chase or follow him, then return to the side of the bed with his cute eyes looking up at me, begging to return to the top. Beeks also uses his nose as an appendage, flipping my arm to get attention. As cute as this is at the moment, and as persistant as he is when he wants his way, it can get quite annoying when this goes on and on and repeats the behavior over and over. At night I have to turn my back to him, while he begs to return to the bed, having used all his privileges for the night. I want to giggle at the thought of his so sad eyes staring at my back. That is the deffinition of hope and patience. Soon Beeker realizes that I am not going to let him come back to the bed and he begins fussing with his rug (next to the bed). The nesting behavior will continue for a good 5-10 minutes, or until I can not take the sighing and scratching any longer and tell him to settle down. Some times this talking to him will cause him to again, come to the bedside to sit and stare at me, hoping for a last minute reprieve up to the bed. NOT A CHANCE! but it is a funny sequence of events. Poor Beeker.

I thought you might like to see Max and Beeker together so I put a picture on the post. The picture was taken yesterday.

Yesterday I said I wanted to talk about Beeker's favorite toys. Beeks is an aggressive chewer. He loves to chew. Outside he will chew anything,including but not limited to bark, rocks,sticks,bean pods and ice. Inside we have always given him many things to chew including ropes, stuffed animals, rubber bones, hard plastic bones, kongs, and many others. Beeks actually eats most toys so chewing is only a means to consumption. He has eatten a kong tire in about an hour. Interestingly, he has never chewed furniture or our clothes or anything other than his toys. Thank God! However with the concern that he might get a bowel obstruction we decided to stop giving him ropes and stuffed animals as well as cheap plastic and rubber toys that he can consume. We have found a few toys that seem to take longer than others for him to eat his way through. Premier Pet makes the Gentle Leaders that our dogs use and they have toys that are awesome. Some of our favs are the Busy Buddy line. We have used the Tug a Jug which keeps Beeks thinking (he needs to get the treats out of the bottle that is constricted by a rope). We have to keep an eye out when he is using this toy, so that he does't chew up the rope when he is finished working the treats out. The other Busy Buddy toy we like is the Squirrel Buddy that My sister gave us. This toy can be filled with treats also, but unlike the Kong, it has small rubber fingers to restrict the treat flow. Beeks likes to chew on this all the time. Beeks likes the Nylabone dinosaur chew. Since my son is a paleontologist, this seems reasonable. Does your dog have favorite toys? Share with us so we can all find the toys that are right for us. Hope you are able to get outside soon, we need spring NOW!

First blog 2/24/10

This is my first blogging experience so I really am trying to teach an old dog a new trick. I thought that since I find myself with a good number of extra hours in the day, I should try to learn something new as well as document my thoughts of life with Beeker. This first blog will be an introduction to both Beeks and me and our life in this family pack.

Beeks is a cattle dog mix,some say a cross between Australian Shepherd and Australian Cattledog. Texas Healer? Anyway, Beeks is now @ 2 years old. I (with the help of Brad and Max)adopted Beeker from the Champaign County Humane Society in early June of 2008. He was @ 3 months of age and from a litter of 5. At the time we adopted him he was the only one left of the litter(our good fortune). Brad and I went to "just look" for another dog (Max was already in our family by then)and there were these beautiful eyes starring up at us. Redford(his kennell name)was not barking or yelping and we fell in love with him quickly. We took him for a walk, well, he was too young to take outside(animal shelter rule)so we took him into a playroom. We tried to look at other dogs that day but without much connection, my heart was already given to this cute spotted dog. Brad was going out of town the next day so I returned to vist Beeks in the Shelter, sending Brad updated photos. We were able to bring Beeks home after a family visit with Max ( our 100lb,at the time)Landseer Newfoundland. Both dogs got along suprisingly well considering Beeks weighed about 20lbs at the time. Just like a younger sibling, Beeks wanted to engage Max, to play and Max ignored or tollerated the intrusion. At the time we wondered if Max would be too rough with Beeker, given the size difference. Well,now we know, not to worry, Beeker is a dog worthy of his breed. He behaves like Max is his own herding cow. We have seen Beeker pull Max down by his tail. Why Max tollerates this I have no idea. Many times we have to stop Beeker from "picking" on Max.
At times it seems that Beeker is the agressive one of the pack,the alpha dog however, given their size difference, and Max's demeanor(he is a gentle giant Newf), Max will let Beeker know when it is time to stop roughousing. Beeks has a higher energy level than Max and really invites him to play.(you know the stance, front paws down rump up) Max was rescued in 2007 and is about 2 years older than Beeker so his energy level is somewhat lower given his age & breed.

We like to travel... alot. We try to always take our dogs with us when we travel. When I go in the car, Beeks is always ready to go on a "new adventure". I have a difficult time not taking him with me. If I go to work (yes, I work part time)I can't take him with me and he gives me the "look". As Cesar Milan would say, "we have a conversation". When I can take him with me he loves to stick his head out the window and smell all the new, current smells. Beeks rides in the back seat of my Honda, I first tried to harness him in the front seat but he often got sick(this was when he was younger), then his chest grew too big for the harness(Brad says that is just my excuse not to harness him). After I put him in the back seat he no longer got sick and he doesn't try to ride up front.

Where have we traveled with the dogs? We have gone to Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Indiana, Chicago(we live in Illinois)and South Carolina. We have had good luck staying in hotels with the dogs, there are now many pet friendly hotels. Some are "pet friendly" for dogs under 20lbs but others are happy to accommodate full size dogs as well. Max at 150 lbs, and Beeks at 60lbs are well behaved in hotel rooms, unless someone walks too close to the door. Then they will bark in alarm. Great! They do stop and aren't destructive so we are lucky with that. Tomorrow I want to talk about Beeker's behaviors, what he likes to do, what we like to do together(other than travel)and what his favorite belongings are(toys? food?) Thanks for reading. Please make comments too, so I can learn how to do this better.
Beeks & Me