The Woods Are Alive...(36)

The Spring Project
We are starting a big Spring project today. We are having mulch and pea gravel delivered. We put the mulch down in early Spring because the plants have started to peek up but haven't leafed out yet, making it easier to place it where it needs to go. You can guess where we are putting the pea gravel. Yep. We settled on pea gravel for the dog area. We really thought about other ground covers(see previous blog 29)but chose pea gravel for a number of reasons including; we could hose off the gravel, it was rounded for comfort(paws and laying down),and it was heavier and less likely to wash away during a hard rain. We are getting 6 ton of the gravel and 8 cubic yards of mulch. That will take the weekend to put down. Because any home project can't be easy, we will use the wheelbarrow until we get to the dog fence but then have to transfer the gravel with buckets and shovels because the wheelbarrow does not fit through the gate. So be it! We will all be happier when we can let the dogs out in the yard and they can romp and play outside together.

Meanwhile Out in the Woods... The Cooper's hawk continues to put on a great show building its nest. Some of the sticks it is using are so huge that it sticks out and hits other branches while the hawk is trying to get back to its nest. I was curious about which sex was the nest builder, so as any good researcher, I looked on line. Turns out that both male and female participate in nest building. We've only seen one bird at a time at our nest. The Cooper also reuses old nests and rebuilds then in late March, with egg laying and sitting in mid April. Oh,this will be fun to observe! There are some really good videos on line to see Cooper's Hawks up close and hear their calls. I do hope they stay. I read that Cooper's are the shyest of hawks and will abandon their nests of there is too much activity.

Beeks and I uncovered many interesting discoveries today on our morning walk around the house. While I (with coffee in hand) started out looking at all of the recent eruptions of baby iris and hostas, Beeker looped like a crazy dog around the lot. He has really begun to get the recall business down. I recalled him a number of times and he would come to me, then when released, off he went for more loops. Later while I was working in the front garden, I put him in a down stay and he stayed there until I released him, about 10 minutes later.Yea Beeks!

Early on our roundabout, he stopped close to the edge of the yard, near the wood line and started to sniff intently. I went over to him and looked at his discovery. It was a pellet,like that an owl gives up when the hair of its prey have gotten too much. Kinda like a hairball. Or this could have been the scat of the fox or coyote that live in the area. It definitely wasn't the deer or raccoon that we often see. As we moved on, looking for the first signs of fern, I saw raccoon skin and fur. It was out a ways by our fire pit. It took me a minute to figure out it was raccoon. It definitely wasn't a squirrel.The coloring and thickness were wrong. Beeks was REALLY interested in the smells. The fur was scattered over a two foot area. Not too far from the Cooper's Hawk nest. This is fairly close to our back deck and bedroom door. How did we not hear the racket this must have caused? Were we asleep? How is it that the dogs didn't hear it either? Returning to the front of the house and front garden, Beeks uncovered white soft bunny like fur. It was downy. No other signs of this animal, just white fur a number of places. Beeks again was highly interested. I need one of those night cameras to set up and watch what happens in my yard when we are asleep. The woods have so much activity which will be obscured even more when the green fills in and the tree leaves fill out. Then we will not even be able to see our neighbors. But that is a story for another day.

Old Dogs and New Tricks(35)

Today was sunny and warm. It's the type of day I love to be outside. As soon as I got up, Brad told me we had a Cooper's hawk in the back woods just about 6 feet from the back deck. It is sometimes known as a Chicken Hawk. It eats mostly songbirds and small mammals. We can see it from our bedroom. The hawk is building a nest that is large and looks like an eagles nest, kind of messy. Sometimes Cooper's Hawks use squirrel nests. Its been fun to watch the hawk today, coming and going bringing large twigs and sticks. They survive mostly on songbirds and live in wooded areas. Since we have a lot of bird feeders it makes sense that a Cooper would want to live near by. I will love watching it this spring. Soon there will be leaves on the trees and the nest will not be visible. His/her call is distinct with short notes that sound surprisingly like a squirrel call.

Yesterday I started working with Beeks on Clicker training. Let me just say that any machine is only as good as the operator. Beeks took right away to the idea of treats. He loved looking at me and getting treats. I first "loaded the clicker". This is where you get the dog to associate the clicker and the positive reward together. Operant conditioning is what they call it. I gave Beeks a treat and then clicked the clicker. I did this about 20 times. Mmmmmm 20 treats in a row. Then I clicked and waited for Beeks to look at me expecting a treat. Soon I started using a command word right after I clicked the clicker. He even did quite well with associating the click and the commands, sit and stay. I have to say that these were not issues before we started so I am not surprised that he did these well. So next I decided to take Beeks for his walk and use the Clicker training while we walked. This is where it gets tricky. I had read that I should only work with one command at a time. Cementing the clicker/behavior response until it is deeply associated. Not this operator, we were on a roll. Beeks was happy to go on his walk, and with treats being freely given. He was in dog heaven. He did quite well walking and eating as we went. Beeker has two behaviors that frequently give me trouble when we are out for a walk. One is "heel", and the other is "down". I worked on commands with Beeks while we walked the figure eight path. I chose this path because Beeks is familiar with this path and because there were multiple distractions to use while we were training. When ever Beeks would get a little ahead, not heeling, I would click and show him the treat and pull him back to a heel. Soon he was coming back to a heel when he heard the click and looked up at me, looking for a treat. This is where I didn't do so well. I kept getting confused as to the sequence of associations. Was I suppose to Click then give command, then treat? Or was I suppose to give the command,then click then give the treat? Here's the thing. Walking with Beeks using the clicker did work to give us a better walk. I found this out when later when Brad got home from work and we took both dogs out for a walk. On the second walk I didn't use the clicker. Beeks pulled on his lead and I was constantly pulling him back. It would have been easier to have the clicker to jog his memory back to the business at hand.

So where do I go from here? Everything worth having is worth working for. So, I will keep working to get Beeks to associate the clicker with my commands and then distinguish the clicker. This won't happen over night I know, I will first have to remember and practice the sequence. I'm hoping that Old dogs can learn new tricks.

(34) My Thievin' Dog

I've said it before, Beeks is a smart dog. He, however, is (as his trainer said of all dogs)an Opportunistic Carnivore. He's a thief. When we were out of town yesterday, on our way to the dog park for a romping good time, we stopped at a coffee shop to load up. We were riding in Brad's 4 X4 where Max rides in the "way back" behind a dog barrier and Beeks rides in the back seat. We have this on going conversation regarding the need to put Beeks in back with Max when we leave the car. Sometimes we tether him in the back seat so that he has enough room to lay down but not enough length to reach the front seat. Other times we don't do anything, thinking that we will be gone only a short time and he's such a good dog that he will just look out the window or sleep until we return. That's usually my stance. Not Brad's. Yesterday we left him loose in the back seat. So here's what happened: The coffee shop was packed. The drive-up line was so long and the batistas focused on the drive up window before focusing on the long line at the counter. Frustrated by the too long of a wait and time lost at the coffee shop, we headed back to the car. As I approached I could see that Beeks was in between the front two seats, looking out at us. As we got to the car, he s-l-o-w-l-y backed up into his space in the back seat. When I opened my door, I first noticed the pint size ziplock bag that had been destroyed,and all of the tan and yellow crumbs scattered on my seat.I thought he had found some dog treats but these crumbs were the wrong color. No, Beeks had so very cleverly found four lemon hydrox cookies that were stashed in a small compartment on the door. I had forgotten they were there. My bad! Beeker didn't have the shame to look remorseful. I then thought,"Oh good, now he's going to throw up!", then I thought,"Poor Maxie had to stay in the back and watch Beeks have all the fun!". I couldn't even look at Brad, but I felt his stare. I think we will be tethering Beeks from now on, that or putting him in the back with Max. Beeks is looking punky and extremely gassy today if you know what I mean. Paying me back for my lax in behavior consistency. I'd like to say this is the first time Beeks has scavenged for illegal food. But it's not. Once when we were traveling and the dogs were in the car for an extended period of time, Beeks actually ate Nebraska and Montana from the atlas. Once when we were at a museum and an I-Max show out of town, he got into the newly purchased(and cleverly hidden) bag of dog treats and ate the whole thing. He doesn't share. He takes the whole thing for himself and doesn't stop until the entire thing is gone. He's a thief, an opportunistic carnivore.

(33) Sweet Dreams

Beeks is sleeping right now. He's had a day full of travel and he's happy to be home in the comfort of his own worn out rug. How do I know? He's running. Yep, he's running in his sleep and his paws are flexing and contracting in the way that animals do when they're running. He makes a noise that sounds like whimpering or yipping. I wonder what dogs dream? Does he dream of things he's already done? Dream about friends he's met? Does he dream of fields and forests full of squirrels and bunnies? Shallow streams to cool his hot panting body? Or does he dream of frightful times, imaginary encounters with larger animals? Of sweet grasses and pungent rodents? Can a dog dream of loneliness? Does he dream of Joy? I know that sometimes Beeks sleeps so close to consciousness that any sound or movement wakes him. Other times he sleeps soundly I'm unable to disturb his slumber,he's heavy with exhaustion. These are the times that Beeker's body takes over and quivers with movement. At first I thought he might have Epilepsy. The bed shakes with his dreams. Placing my hand on his side will calm him as he continues to sleep.

Yesterday evening we gathered a few belongings and drove to my parents in the next state over. The dogs get excited when they can tell that a road trip is being prepared. Max will not let Brad out of his sight. Beeks dons a perfect heel. So we left and drove the 150 miles to spend the night with my folks. They love the "granddogs". My dogs know the routine at Nana and Papa's so when we approach their home they start whimpering. It starts to rise and gets increasingly louder with one dog encouraging the other's lament. It's dark when we arrive so how do they know where we are?

This morning we have an early lunch date with our daughter in law so we decide to take the dogs to our favorite dog park before hand. We get in touch with my sister who meets us with her Springer Spaniel, Jessie James. He's a energetic dog that got his name due to his stealth ability to run and escape capture when Juli first adopted him. Beeks and Max are part of his posse. They love playing together and the dog park is a great place to "run like the wind". Beeks loves the freedom that he is afforded when we are at the dog park. He meets and greets lots of different dogs. I like the socialization that he gets with other dogs and owners. Meeting others off leash is a great way to learn dog manners. Max is pretty good at this, however he sometimes tries to come to Beeker's rescue if Beeks and another dog are having a roaring good time. Then Beeks occasionally gets too zealous and forgets his social graces. We're keenly observant to remind him when its time to "chill".

It was a big day, with lots of novel people, smells, and dog friends. Mental stimulation for both dogs and people. We had a great time and are happy to be home. We love little road trips and always find excitement along the way, but it can tire you out. Time for bed. Sweet Dreams.

Thanks to Those Who came Before (32)

I've talked before about the two Newfoundland dogs that we had when Max first came to live with us. Belle and Beau were two wonderful dogs that were truly devoted to us, and enriched our lives for almost 10 years. Over the years there have been many other dogs that have taught me life lessons and for them I am grateful.
When I was young, almost four we got our first family dog, Gretel. Gretel was a small yellow mutt. My mother remembers her to have been a mix of terrier and lab mix, but her size and heritage made little difference to three small children and two young parents who found a willing companion in the 1960’s. We lived somewhat out of town then, where the gravel lane made a long loop. Family pets spent most days running around looking for exciting dog activities with other dogs and children. Although I was young I remember learning to ride my bike on the gravel, falling and having Gretel there to comfort me. She was patient and understanding as only a pet can be, I could cry all I needed and she would understand. Once when I was visiting my grandmother and was playing with the neighborhood children, their family dog bit me resulting in multiple stitches to my mouth. When the ordeal was over and we returned home, I lay my head upon Gretel crying that one of her friends had bitten me. She understood. She did not judge me; she just gave me the unconditional love I so desperately wanted from her. Gretel also taught me that life was for exploring. Once when she returned home from a day’s outing she came with a baby duckling (I’m sure stolen from a neighbor). Although wet, the duckling once released, only to be corralled and released again. Gretel was the patient silent partner in play when friends were not available. We would dress her up and we would use her for the imaginary play that only small children can create. Gretel also taught me that pets fill emotional places for people and that off leash exploration for dogs can be full of fun as well as frightful experiences. Gretsy once ran out to the highway and was run over. My father not only had to tell his small children that the accident had taken place, but decide if medical care would be provided. I learned that unexpected and frightful things could happen to those you love. But I also learned that sometimes you have to tell people you love that something frightful and sad has happened. That had to be hard for my parents. Thank you Gretel for teaching me about caring for those you love. For showing me patience, creativity and exploration.
When I was first married I found a puppy and its littermates wandering around a large field near the school where I worked. After watching them for days, a coworker and I rescued the puppies and I took one home. Berek became the first pet of my adult life. We said that we were PIT. Parents in Training. With Berek I learned that those you are responsible for take lots of attention. Berek liked to chew everything. As opposed to Beeker who chews only those things I give him, Berek ate anything he could get his paws on to occupy his time. He once ate turbine oil in a bottle that my father was using to reconstruct our washing machine. He grabbed a light bulb and crunched it in his mouth until he had consumed most of it. He had a cast iron stomach. He was my first child. I saw him grow up. Looking back I probably neglected him too much. He was an anxious dog. He became severely anxious when fireworks would blast on the fourth of July, or during a thunder storm. We had to sedate him with pills from the Vet. He would bark and hide and try to escape the house in order to stop the pain in his ears. Berek taught me responsibility for others. He was there when my children were born. He was there when they needed to have that unconditional love only a pet can give. I saw Berek grow to be an old dog. He got arthritis and become almost deaf. When I got my divorce, Berek was part of the separation agreement. I learned that I couldn’t always have everything I wanted. I cried a lot over losing Berek. Thank you Berek for teaching me about loving and letting go.
When Brad and I got married we merged our households together. Two great boys. Two cats. No dogs. After about a year, we decided we needed a dog (instead of another child) to bond our families. That’s when Belle entered our lives. Brad’s family had always had dogs like ours. His Aunt had been a rescuer of Newfies and I loved big dogs. We contacted a breeder and chose Belle from a litter of 13. Belle was the smallest and quietest of the litter. We learned that although small she was quietly persistant and patient. Belle taught us about accepting what you are given and of all the dogs in my life she was the epitome of loyalty. Belle would do whatever we asked of her, even when she was in extreme pain with cancer. We didn’t know she was ill until the very end. Thank you Belle for teaching me about loyalty. When Belle was 18 months old, we adopted another Newfoundland, a male named Beau. Belle taught Beau everything he knew. We liked to say that Beau knew his place. Belle told him where it was. Beau needed leadership, from Belle or Brad. Beau loved Belle and she loved him. They were a great pair. They played together and kept each other company. Together Belle and Beau taught me about good relationships, of give and take. Beau was the silent type. He was the quiet humorist. He would bark at you if you put a newspaper on your head or if he thought he saw his own shadow. But Beau was also the kindest of dogs. He went along to get along. Thank you Beau for teaching me that trust is powerful. Thanks for teaching me that quiet cooperation is part of a good relationship.
Then there was Max. Max teaches me that life is not always what we think it is. He came to us with many difficult behaviors and over the years he has learned to become a member of our family. He’s a wonderful transformation, a diamond in the rough. Thanks Max for teaching me that lemons don’t just give us lemonade, sometimes they gives us lemon chiffon pie too.

When I started this blog I thought I would write about all of the dogs that have taught me to be a better owner for Beeker. What I realize now is that all of the dogs that have been in my life have helped me be a better me. Dogs are a blessing and have enriched my life. I can’t imagine my life without them and am so grateful that they have been in my life. How terrific that Beeks is in my life too. He teachs me about taking each day at a time and seeing the humor and detail of each moment. Thanks Beeks for being in my life. Thanks to all of those who came before.

Know What I mean?(31)

I think alot about the communication between Beeker and me. How do I communicate to him what I want him to do,or how does he communicate to me what his needs are. I have to admit up front that I actually care more about how he understands me. Not that I wouldn't like to be the Mrs. Dolittle of my household but rather as his owner my status is (and should be )greater than his. I pay the food bills and I am responsible for keeping him safe. Therefore, I often wonder how he understands what I want him to do. I think he understands the words that I say to him;sit,come,no!, all done, but maybe its just the inflection of my voice or my facial expressions. Temple Grandin suggests that dogs don't pay much attention to the verbal, but more of the visual cues. Pictures is her term. But Beeks just this morning responded to my verbal request to "go on", when I wanted him to move out of my way. I had an even voice, not gruff but expectant, and I didn't use my hands as a visual cue. His ability to respond to my verbal and visual requests is uncanny. Now you will say, "Yes, we all think our own dogs understand us". We probably do. Max responds to verbal cues also. When he wants to go outside (how he lets me know he wants to go outside is another story) and I am busy, don't have the time right at the moment to honor his request, he understands when I tell him, "Not right now". There are moments that I think the cat understands verbal cues as well. If Chez walks by and I want him to come up to me, I say,"Come here Chez, come on, come here", and he does. Maybe not every time, but often. And the dogs don't come if I call Chez. Go figure. I think they know their names and are more attentive when they hear their own name.

Now the interesting part. How do I know what they want me to know? I mean when Max wants me to let him outside how does he communicate that to me? He doesn't tell me with words obviously. He will sometimes paw at me, which could mean anything as far as I am concerned, but then when I get up he moves his body around in front of me to move me in the direction he wants me to go. For example, the other day, he wanted to get fed(he has an uncanny ability to tell when it is 5:00)and I was busy on the computer, not wanting to stop working. I ignored his repeated attempts to solicit my attention. Finally after 10 minutes of pawing and his moving away, pawing and me telling him, "Not now", I gave in and got up to put him outside before feeding him. He did not want to go outside. How did I know this?He circled around my body when ever I tried to move forward towards the back door and the tether. Just like a herding dog would do if his flock was not moving in the right direction. He was so focused that when I did get to the back door he moved in front of me, again blocking the door. I had to laugh. He is one determined dog. Okay, both dogs bark to let me know they see something great that they want me to see. Usually it is a car that has come into the cul-de-sac, or the neighbor kids outside playing and their squeals are exciting them, but they bark until I acknowledge their ability to alert me. If I say, "Okay, I see it, now go on, Kennel Up", they will stop barking and both dogs (Max leads and Beeks mostly follows what Max does)head to the back laundry room where their kennels use to be. How do they know that is what I want them to do? Maybe it is routine. Maybe they are use to the sequencing of the event. Maybe over time they have observed that when this happens then I want them to do something next. I think that Beeks and Max are very observant of our behaviors and have learned that if they watch us closely we we behave in certain ways and if they follow us they may be rewarded in some positive way.

This reminds me that when we first had Max come live with us he was not very attentive. He would not make eye contact with us at all. He was consistently looking around for movement that he needed to attend to. Brad made huge efforts to get Max's attention and would only give him commands/attention when Max would look at Brad. It was about a year after he had been living with us when we noticed that Max was looking at us when we wanted his attention. Now he is consistently focused on Brad (or me when Brad is not around). Beeks is another story. We adopted Beeks when he was young. He was almost four months when he got him so from the beginning I made sure to wait for his eye contact before I gave him a command. Now he is mostly attentive when I want him to do something. I have heard that if your dog does not follow your request to recall or some other command, then you are just not exciting enough. I think this a very true statement. Sometimes when I want Beeks to come or follow some other command and he doesn't, it is because I am soooo not as exciting as what he is occupied doing at the moment. Sometimes I just can't compete with deer or rodent smells. But I digress. I have read that dogs look for novelty and people look for expectation. I think this means that dogs look to see what is new in their environment and people look to see what they expect to see in their environment. This is why dogs seem hyper-vigilant in their visual scanning of the environment. They are predator animals and are always looking to see if there is something that they need to chase. People are looking to see if everything is like we expect it to be and don't necessarily observe slight differences in the environment.

So, how does this all return to my communication with Beeks? I think that Beeks is looking to see if I am alerting him to some change in the environment that he needs to attend to. When he looks at me, he is including me in the "attention to detail" group that includes himself and Max. He is looking to me to see if I am sounding the alert to something exciting that we need to attend. If you look at dogs in a group, they will lay around until one decides there is something that needs attention, then they all decide there's something that needs attention, so they all bark and get excited. Sometimes when Beeks and Max do this, they don't really know why they are barking. I have seen Beeks start barking and then when Max joins in Beeks will look at Max like,"What is it we are barking at again?" If I get up to go to the kitchen,Beeks and or Max will also get up, and move right along with me to attend to the exciting activity of getting an ice cube. Maybe they think that the refrigerator needs careful watching and I need their assistance. Somehow I am able to communicate with Beeks and Max and somehow they know how to get their needs across to me.
I'm thinking that we've got a pretty good setup. Know what I mean?

(30)A Pointing Dog

I was having this discussion just the other day, in relation to the ability of humans being the only animal/mammal that is able to point to an object and follow that point to identify an object outside themselves. It was suggested that primates(us humans) pointed outside ourselves in order to alert others to the fact that snakes were at our feet. My argument was that I can point to an object on the floor and Beeker will respond by following my point and pick up the object to which I have pointed. I have done research to this effect numerous times("here beeks, get the ice cube") and feel confident that dogs are also able to follow a pointed finger to its conclusion. They may not be able to do the pointing (although some may suggest the Pointer dogs can point)but they can and do follow a pointed finger. In the March issue of www.thebark.com I read (http://www.thebark.com/content/domestication-and-social-cognition-dogs )The domestication and Social Cognition of Dogs by Chris McNamara. This article suggests that dogs have evolved and domesticated to the point where they are attuned to observing people's social cues such as pointing to an object. My father (whom I was having this discussion just the other day) suggested that research by Lynne A. Isbell suggests otherwise. Her book, The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent: Why We See So Well, suggests that only humans have evolved to point, and follow that point. I haven't read her book, but it may also be interesting to read. My interpretation is that humans can point(dogs can't) but dogs have evolved to the point in their domestication where they are highly in tuned to follow our pointing. Now, add to this, information I have just read by (my new favorite author) Temple Grandin in her book, Animals in Translation that because dogs have vision of 75/20 as opposed to human vision of 20/20, dogs can't see as clearly as humans(p.40). What humans see as far away as 75 feet, dogs need to be as close as 20 feet to see. Therefore, they can't see as sharply what is right under their feet. But their noses are much more acute. Grandin suggests that dogs can't see what has fallen if they don't see it fall. So...where does this leave us? I think this means that given the right human social cues that dogs have been domesticated to be highly attuned to follow, they are able to follow our hands and pointing fingers to pick up the strong smell of the object we are pointing to. If you practice this behavior over and over, the dog will learn that there is always something interesting and positive at the end of the pointing. You decide. Follow the links to Chris McNamera's article, to Lynne A. Isbell's book, and read Temple Grandin's book, Animals in Translation (just because its good!)and see what you think. I'll be waiting to hear from you. I'm going to start paying much more attention to my pointing. I want to see if Beeks follows my pointing every time I point or just every so often at longer distances.

Here's the Poop (29)

The Poop
It's warm enough out that we're ready to put the dogs out in the dog fence. This instead of hooking them out by the back deck. They like to romp and play and I like them to get some fresh air rather than roughhousing inside."Take it out side!" Anyway,today I went out to the dog area to clean it up (we regularly do pick up after them but with the snow/ice melt we haven't been out their in a month or so) and discovered a whole lot of Winter poop. I guess two dogs poop more than one so I only have myself to blame. I couldn't believe how much was out there. With the inclusion of the back area, I collected a whole grocery sack full. Why don't they clean up after themselves. When we first got Max and took him to training we were told that using Canidae dog food would decrease his out put because he would utilize more of the food. Well I will tell you that I would hate to see what the dogs would "out put" if we used some other less protein based food.
The Dog Fence Dilemma
We have been talking about what type of ground cover to put down in the dog area as well. When we put up the dog fence we chose the area for its convenience as well as the location. The sun doesn't shine too much in the area and so grass doesn't grow well there so we thought that the dogs couldn't do much damage. They haven't, but it is all mud now that Winter is gone, and hasn't dried out yet. We have been thinking about our options. These are our criteria: Cost~ if we have to replace the ground cover each year, it needs to be inexpensive, Cleanable~ we need to be able to keep it clean of dog poop, and Containable~ sometimes mulch can get scattered everywhere, even out of the dog area. Gravel(pea gravel), mulch or bark, or rubber matting. There are pros and cons for each option. The most important issue is that I don't want the dogs to track in when they come in. That's why we don't put them out there when its muddy. Gravel is a good option, but I'm concerned that it would get moved around so much that we would have to replace it each year. I haven't checked price yet either but I'm thinking that it is probably expensive. depending on the type of mulch,it might also have the same issues, the mulch would need to be heavy enough that it wouldn't get tracked in. Which leaves rubber matting. We checked out a company that manufactures matting for garage floors and it is expensive. The cost is about $2 per square foot so it would make the cost somewhere around $1400. I think we are looking else where. Anyone have a better idea? We sure could use some suggestions.
Tiny Dog Time
I was so busy today that the only time I got to spend with Beeker today was when I took some videos back to the Library. It was just a ride along, which he loved but didn't sufficiently satisfy his need to run it out. When we got home and I started to clean the dog area, I let him run around and around and around the lot. He came back after about 10 minutes. Happy and layed down out side the fence to wait for me to finish. What a great dog!

From My End of the Leash(28)

This is an update of some past blog entries.

Safe Dog Toys-Bark Magazine has an article in the May/June 09 issue that talks about choosing safe dog toys. Besides describing how to choose a good safe dog toy, they also share name brands that they think are smart choices. Among the brands are; Go Dog, Kong Company, Nina Ottosson Zoo Active, Planet Dog, West Paw Design. I accessed the article through this months The Bark website (thebark.com), under Wellness.

Things Dogs Need From Us During my research for interactive dog toys and what dogs really need I found a website for Patricia McConnell. She is a dog trainer, behaviorist and professor in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has a website (www.patriciamcconnell.com), authored many books, writes a blog, a feature writer for The Bark Magazine. I started reading her blog and couldn't stop. One of the things that she says is that she believes that our dogs need physical exercise, Mental exercise, Novelty,and Freedom of choice. She backs up all of these needs with scientific research. (read her blog at www.theotherendoftheleash.com)What I really liked was her idea about freedom of choice. She says that being allowed to exercise was beneficial in more that just physical ways, brain enhancing ways. But animals that were forced to exercise did not show the same mental/brain benefits. This means to me that off leash running was more beneficial than forcing my dog to exercise. We need to get creative in the ways to let them make some choices/manage parts of their days. She also reminded me that novelty was important to brain stimulation. Walking my dog on the same path day after day after day will not only be boring but novelty engages the brain and leads to new connections of neuronsand therefore increased enthusiasm.

The Challenge UpdateJust to update you on yesterday's dog challenge with the metal colander. We left the colander in the same place all night and today neither dog had tried to get the treats out. So... I sweetened the challenge by putting a small piece of pork under it. Well that did it! Max figured out how to scoot the colander with his nose and get the meat out. Beeks was curious but still reserved. Then it happened, as Beeks approached the colander, Max growled and guarded it like it was his! Beeks refused to get near it from then on. I moved Max away and even sat next to it and encouraged him to approach it. No Way! So that was the end of the experiment.

A Good Walk I took Beeks on a longer walk today. to the farm, which is about 4 miles from here. He likes this walk because of all the tall grasses to stick his nose. And Boy did he! A couple of times he stuck his nose in a hole and then when he thought he could get to the rodent, started digging to get his nose further into the hole. He was pouncing all the way along. We stopped at the church and I let him run off leash in the church Baseball field. This was after I read Patricia McConnell's article about stimulation and the need for off leash freedom of choice. He ran so hard and we played chase. It wore us both out! Beeks was so tired when we got home he slept for a good two hours!

Well, hope you are able to check out some of the websites I suggested, the authors really express their own thoughts better than I am able. I'll have more time to write tomorrow, so have a great evening.

The Challenge (27)

Today was an interesting day. First of all, it was a fairly cool temperature outside today. Non the less Beeks and I went for our figure eight walk. We really needed it. We have had a lot of pent up energy. Since it has been raining so much lately (okay, just the past three days)the dogs have not gotten a really good walk. Beeks loved it and so did I.

While I was at work today,Brad texted me to let me know that I had a comment on one of the blogs from a writer wanting to interview me on behalf of Beeks, regarding his intellectual ability. Yes, she saw the blog titled "My Smart Dog". Re writes for the web magazine WagWorld and is writing an article on Smart Dogs and the toys they like. I talked to Re this afternoon and had a great time talking to her about how wonderful and smart my dog is. We talked about how he engages us in play and what interactive toys he likes to play with. Re told me that she would let me know when the article will be published. I'll let you know. Also, checkout the Web Mag, WagWorld at: www.wagworld.com. It has lots of dog info about traveling with your dog and cute dogs to look at too.

After my profession of Beeks superior intelligence and the difficulty in finding smart toys for dogs, I decided to invent a challenging toy for both Beeks and Max. I took our metal kitchen colander and turned it upside down on the floor with dog treats inside to see how long it would take the dogs to get to the treats. So far the colander has been on the floor for 5 hours and neither one of the dogs has gotten close to turning it over. I thought that they needed me to teach them about how to get to the treats so I lifted it up and showed them how to flip it. I gave them each one of the treats, and I even (on the recommendation of Temple Grandin) left them to investigate it on their own. But so far no movement towards flipping it over. They both have approached it and have sniffed it but no attempt to get it over for the treats. It does make a tinny noise, so maybe that's an issue, but so much for my smart dog!

Well, that's it for today, oh,yea, tonight we watched a fantastic movie. We watched P.S I Love You. There are a ton of stars in it and it is a great story. I cried all the way through but I also laughed all the way through too. Rent this movie. You will love it all the way to the end. (There's a dog in it too).

(26) What Kind of Dog is He?

I read about a test that I can send for that will tell me what Beeker's heritage is. The test is either a mouth swab or a blood test(depending on cost and number of Breeds I want to check against). With a mixed breed like Beeker it would be very interesting to find out what different breeds are in him. The humane society paperwork, when I adopted him, said he was Cattle dog and Australian Sheppard mix. I think they were guessing because I don't think he looks or behaves exclusively like those two breeds. For one thing, he has extremely long legs for a Cattle dog. He is much slimmer and longer than most Cattle dogs I have seen as well. Sometimes I tell him that we got an extra middle section of dog when we got him. His ears flop over differently than a Cattle dog's. If he's part Sheppard,he should have a longer coat. He does have some longer hair on the scruff of his neck, but not anything to write home about. I saw a picture of a smooth coated collie that looks somewhat like him, but again that isn't really like Beeks either. The tip of white on his tail and the white on black dappling are somewhat characteristic of a Cattle dog, but he has really darkened over the two years since he came to live with us. He has a nose that is longer than a Cattle dog too, more like a Collie or small lab. Having described all the idiosyncrasies of Beeker's physique, you can see why we would like to know what genes he has swimming in his "pool".

The thing is, does it matter? He certainly has his own personality. He has some of the Cattle dog instinct like biting at the heels and necks of those he is trying to herd. He is curious, and happy and engaging. He is a player and he wants to explore the world around him, so would knowing that he has Labrador, Sheppard,Border Collie or wolf hound make a difference in the way I react towards or train Beeker? Of course it wouldn't. It may make a difference in health precautions. Some dog breeds are prone to some health issues like hip dysplasia, or blindness. So maybe that would make a difference in our Vet visits, or maybe ignorance is bliss. If I knew that he was "prone" to certain health situations I might be more likely to play differently with him.

Know what? I think it's more interesting to surmise what Beeker might be rather than really knowing. I can compare and search all of the dog books looking for that one picture that might look like him. I can guess, challenge him to show me his "Germain Sheppard" side, all day. We can have a lot more fun anticipating what he might be than if we really knew. He can be something new every day and we can celebrate all the breeds in him.

Dog Day Afternoon(25)

Today was one of those days. Those lazy cold, dreary days when I don't want to do anything but go back to bed. A slow grey damp day. Thing is, I had a computer project that I needed to get started and I needed to get up to take Brad to work. So, I took Beeks with me so he could get some kind of personal time. I knew I would have to ignore him most of the day. He was pretty good about letting me work without interrupting me. Beeks has his favorite place to lay while I am working in the computer room, it is just outside the door so that his back is against the wall and he can see hear all that I am doing. He can see if I leave to go back down stairs and he can see anything that might be happening down stairs. He did very good at leaving me alone until about noon, when he just needed some attention. That's when he needed my attention so bad that he flipped my left arm with his nose while I typed. Over and over until I told him "No" or "Go find Max", or "Where's your bone"? Okay, that's when I got to a stopping point and took a break to eat lunch and put the dogs out. Give them a little attention and we are good to go. We have to get use to this schedule because for most of the next month or so, I will be working from home and will need to keep to an eight hour schedule. It's fortunate for the dogs that they will not have to be cooped up in the laundry room but unfortunate that I will not be interacting with them like they want. Usually when I am in the computer room/office, Beeks just lays down and chews various toys from his collection. That or, he just curls up like I explained earlier. Sometimes however, he plays with Chez. This usually happens when I am on the computer or working a paper project and am busy. I think Chez and Beeks like to play together upstairs because there they can play without Max interfering or trying to referee.
I've mentioned Chez before but I haven't described him. He's a Siamese Red Point mix. Which means that he has the blue eyes if the Siamese and is extremely social. He has red tipping on his ears and red rings on his tail. You can see him in the pictures I have included.

So, how does a 10 lb cat and a 60 lb dog play you might ask? Let me try to explain. Beeks and Chez don't know they aren't the same species. Beeks plays with Chez the same way he plays with Max. He bows, he tries to bite Chez's neck and his tail. He tries to stalk, and he pounces at him. Okay, that's pretty simple but the really funny part is that Chez will arch his back, and he will crouch down like he is stalking Beeks. He will wrestle with him and let Beeks roll him over on his back. It is fun to see the cat chase and attack Beeks. They don't hiss or growl at each other which tells me they are playing. It goes both ways. One is the attacker and then they switch rolls and the other is the attacker. It is really nice to see they can play with mutual respect. They let each other know when they have had enough, just like Max and Beeker do.

There's Sickness in the House(24)

Beeks is sick today. I was welcomed home from work with the smell of it. Luckily (for me, not for the dogs) both dogs were gated in the laundry/mud room. This meant that at least the diarrhea was contained to a small area and not all over my house. The dogs fortunately did not step in it, but unfortunately it was all over the carpet scrap we use for a rug and the gate. I cleaned it up, threw away the carpet, cleaned the floor(thank god my mother introduced me to wet Swiffers)and then let the dogs outside. Thinking that we were no worse for the wear, I opened the doors and windows to get a breeze for cross ventilation. It's not fun to have a sick pet. Especially when I'm not sure of the cause. Sometimes its just his system, he gets excited or over exercised and he has loose stools. He didn't behave like he was ill. He was active and excited to see me and to go out side. My neighbor, asked me to go for a walk this afternoon, so I took Beeks along. He was his same active self during the walk and yet he had another loose stool, very loose. So here's the question. How to deal with a sick dog. First I noticed that he was still wagging his tail and he was still trying to play with Max. These are good signs. But why is he sick? Could it be something he ate? Could it be the stagnate puddle he drank out of and got wet in at the Lake of the Woods prairie? Could it be the puppy chow that I out in his Big Buddy Bottle toy? Could it be the many homemade dog treats I made and gave him yesterday? Could it be the locust bean pods that he loves to eat when he is outside? Or the walnuts he loves to chew? Or the string from the rope he like to devour? And the list could go on and on. I could (and usually do) make my self crazy with thinking up the possibilities. I know dogs can get the flu as well as people. So, I could take him to the weekend emergency Vet to have them run tests and see if they can tell what is wrong with my Beekie(see previous blog reference to drooling Vet visit). But here is my reality check... I will wait to see what happens in the next day or so. I assume he is just like most other dogs that eat everything(albeit the cutest). He will get whatever is bothering his stomach out of his system and he will be just fine. I will forgo the extra treats and just give him his dinner for a few days and I will watch his behavior/energy level. I noticed he is drinking more water and I assume it is because he is dehydrated. I hope my Precious will be better by morning. And like a good dog mom, I will be watching closely.

My Smart Dog (23)

Well, some days just don't turn out like a person wants them to. Everyone has days like this and this is just my day. I have just spent 4 hours working writing this blog and with a quick miss touch of a key, I lost my work. Even though this blog auto saves the blog every so often I have lost all my work. Well, I am determined to write every day so here it goes. Again!

I have a very SMART dog. Beeks is cute and smart. He loves to play and he is always trying to get one of us to play with him. If he can get Max to play he will do all he can to engage him(bite his ankle, his ears, his tail). He loves to play pull with the rope with Max and with us. When he can't get us to play he chew on one of his toys. He loves to chew and as I have said before, he only chews toys he has been given. He loves his Nylabone Dinosaur. This has gotten me thinking that he needs some other brain engaging toys to play with. I've started researching to find some. He does have a few toys that take some thinking so let me tell you about those first. His Busy Buddy Bottle by Premier. This is a hard plastic bottle that can have treats placed through the screw off bottom. On top is a hole with a rope coming out and the dog can only get treats through moving the rope up and down and manipulating the bottle. This uses hours of enjoyment. We have to monitor Beeks because as soon as he gets the treats out he starts in on eating the rope. Another favorite is the Premier Squirrel Buddy. This is a squirrel shaped kong that has small fingers in the opening that restricts the treats from coming out too quickly. Jessie James and Juli introduced us to this one. Thanks Guys! The last Premier product that we don't have but want is the Busy Buddy Twist n'Turn. This toy can be separated and moist or dry stuff can be placed inside. The toy looks like a small disc. I think this may be our next dog purchase. For the price and durability I think Premier is the best value.

Having reviewed our current dog toys, I looked on Google for toys for smart dogs. The hands down favorite thinking dog toys are by Nina Ottosson. Two of our favorites (by looking at the websites and the Utube videos) are the Dog Brick game, and the Tornado. both games and most of the Ottosson games are wooden. The dog brick game has movable slats covering treats. The dog has to use its nose,paws,or mouth to move the part and has to remember where the treats are. The tornado is a wooden multi layer disk with holes for treats. The dog has to move the disk to align the holes to get to the treats. There are a number of other games by Nina Ottosson and I recommend the website as well as the review I found on line.

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_6/features/Interactive-Dog-Toys_16037-1.html
Here's the clincher... Ottosson games are from Sweden and so shipping/distribution is expensive. These games are over $50. Yea Beeks could eat a lot of plastic toys for $50, but where is he going to get his intellectual stimulation?
I think we are going to ask for the Dog Brick Game for my birthday. Won't that be a great party for my very smart dog n me?

A Beautiful Day for a Walk(22)

Well, two days in a row with beautiful weather, amazing. It started out so foggy that when I put the dogs out before i went to work it sounded like it was raining but it was only the dew/fog dripping from the trees. That's a first for me. When I got off work it was sunny and about 62 degrees so I knew I needed to get Beeks out on a walk (Okay me too). I decided that the Lake of the Woods prairie would bee really fun and probably early enough that it would be less crowded. Of course we stopped at DQ on the way. When we got to LOTW (Lake of the Woods)I decided not to put Beeks Gentle Leader on him and to just let him have his collar attached to his 20foot lead. I'm not sure that was a good idea. Although Beeks probably had more use of his nose for scents,he sure pulled hard on the lead. He really had a great time. The park was doing a controlled burn today so we did not have full access to all of the trails but we still walked a good four miles. We sure had high adventure. as we rounded one curve we met a Springer and its master and the Springer was not on a leash. I had been practicing recalls with Beeks and he was doing real well, coming when I called him even though there were so many things to seek out. Anyway, The Springer's owner verbally told him to sit/stay and he did. I complemented him on his well behaved dog and he told me that it was because his dog had on a shock collar. As soon as we passed he said, "Okay lets go this way", which was opposite the direction we were going and off they went. Well, this got me to thinking, Beeks is pulling so hard on the lead and he had 20 feet of leash, and the Springer was really able to explore the fields and came when his owner called it, even though it had on a shock collar. The question I asked my self was, who was having a better time, and who was more constrained? Maybe electric training collars aren't so bad if they are used properly. I really wonder, Beeks would have really loved to explore and run like the Springer. We continued on and like a good owner I wanted to engage with Beeks in the beauty of nature so...when I saw a Caterpillar I called him, and he came, I pointed to the Caterpillar and asked him what it was. Beeks, kinda approached it and backed away, I (thinking he was just nervous)called him back and he came and I encouraged him to smell it (thinking he needed not to be afraid of such little things). Wrong! He smelled it and immediately started sneezing/spitting and foaming at the mouth. The Caterpillar probably had some bad tasting odor of protection that I just encouraged my dog to smell. Good owner I am!

One of be best benefits of today's outing was that Beeks and I practiced our recalls. On our way back around to the car we took the path instead of retracing our steps through the grassy prairie. On the path we encountered many different pedestrians and bike riders. We even encountered two people rollerblading. Every time I saw some one coming I recalled Beeks and had him come to me and sit. He did this every time and when he sat I praised him. Soon I was just calling him and when he got to me he sat on his own. I was so proud of him.

Oh, during the last quarter of our loop the path went down a small incline. At the side of the path, Beeker really became interested in the wild grass. His nose was really down into the clumps and all of a sudden he pounced. He went wild. I first thought he had caught a critter but he hadn't. He was just trying to. He sure smelled something, so he kept forging ahead and kept pouncing all over the place like he was following the smell of the little rodent. He had a blast!
Since we have been home Beeks has been asleep with his head under our bed. When he was little, when he first came to live with us he would crawl under the bed to sleep. Now he is too big and he can only get his head under it. I wonder if he thinks that since his head is under and he can't see us, he is completely hidden. Makes me wonder...

In the Yard ...Finally (21)

What a glorious day! This is the day I have been waiting for for so long! The sun is shining and the temperature is warm enough that I can work in my yard and garden. I opened up my doors and did the thing that I have been waiting to do all Winter. Beeks and I went out in the garden and cleaned up all the dead leaves and brush from Fall. Guess what we found underneath(this is why I love the early Spring)? My plants are growing! The Crocus is already blooming, the Daffodil are sprouting, the Hostas are pushing up, and the Siberian Iris is also starting to creep up. I don't know how the Pachysandra stays so green all Winter but it looks great. I looked but didn't see any fern coming up yet. Some of the fern heads are visible with a little green but not sprouting yet. Brad tells me that it is too early for the garden plants to start growing but today I saw it starting. We are all excited for green! Most of the plants and flowers are in front of our house, where the Sun has most of the exposure. Our house faces South and so what little sun we do get comes from the front. This time of the year when the trees don't canopy over the house we have the most sun. Soon the woods will surround us and we will have lush green blanket all around.
The bushes are really budding out right now also. My favorite, the Lilac has many buds for branches and I hope flowers. Where ever we move, we plant Lilac bushes but here we don't have enough sunlight each day for the flowers to develop. We may have to move the bush further up the yard if we don't get better flowering. Last year we only had one bloom.
This is when I get out my garden books, looking for pictures of the plants and flowers I already have, choosing new ones to try this year. I started a notebook last year of pictures and information; of ways to improve my garden. I like to plant in containers on the back deck. The Spring is the best time to enjoy the back deck, by July it's usually buggy and too hot in the afternoon. I am thinking that maybe I am going to try to make some plant containers this year. When I've look up plans they don't look too complicated and will be good project for me. We compost our food scraps and it makes a wonderful dirt by the time I am ready to plant in the Spring.
What is Beeks doing while I clean up in the garden? He's rooting through the leaves, nose to the ground, looking for any smell or movement near. He's as curious about Spring as I am. What a great time of year!

I think I like this time of year because it reminds me of the cycle of living and of hope. I love the anticipation of the first growth and I am always amazed at how plants can flourish after looking so dead in Winter.It gives me a huge warm feeling when I can walk around the yard and spy something new, something I haven't seen before. It is truly a morning pleasure.

Time for learning... (20)

I just received this photo of Eric and Chelsey's foster dog with a sweater that my mom gave him. I think this is a real funny picture. I can't tell weather or not "Squiggles" likes it, but I think he looks warmer any way. Thanks for the picture Chelsey. Please keep us informed on Squiggle's progress.

Two things I have been reading about lately that I want to write about today. Both are things that Temple Grandin talks about and I have been thinking about how they relate to Beeker and Max.
The first is that if I want to get Beeker interested in a novelty item or behavior I want to engage his SEEKING behavior. Thanks makes sense to me. But if he is resistant, anxious about it , then his FEAR behavior kicks in and he may not advance toward or willingly engage in what I want him to do. Grandin suggests that most animals will willingly engage in and approach novel situations if allowed to approach it without pressure. She gives many examples from her work in the stock yards but suffice to say that if I want Beeks to walk through a plastic training tunnel, I should leave the tunnel where he can approach it on his own. Grandin says that animals alternate between FEAR and SEEKING. She calls this Curiously Afraid. A little bit curious a little but afraid. I have seen Beeks do this when he first notices something, like a new person or a sculpture. He kind of crouches but advances too. Then he backs up, then approaches it. Grandin says they live by the motto,"nothing ventured, nothing gained". I like that, I realize that introduction to many new things is good but also it needs to be voluntary exploration to advance toward it.
The other thing I have been thinking about is a weird behavior that Beeks has been displaying lately. A miscommunication of sorts. When I want to allow him to get on the bed I say to him,"Beeks come", or "Beeks bed up" or some version of that. He stalls. He looks at me and acts like he is going to jump up but then doesn't. I can change my voice(get more excited/encouraging)but he doesn't come. He wants to come up, I know because he will sometimes come and put his head on the bed near me, looking at me. He's just apprehensive. I end up saying it a bunch of times,different ways until he jumps up. I have tried to use my hand signal for "up" too, without success. Now here's the interesting part; if I stand by him, I can use the hand signal for up and he jumps up on the first signal, without a voice command. No problem. Or I can only use my voice and he jumps up too on the first command. I've thought of two explanations for this, and I know there are probably many I haven't thought about. The first is that dogs view things differently from different angles. If you walk your dog in a straight line, what they see going one way will look different going the other way. If this is true then Beeks hasn't associated me giving commands in front view with commands given on the side view. The other explanation is that he is familiar with me giving him the verbal command for "up" means "car up" but not "bed up" and I am confusing him with multiple commands trying to get him up on the bed. Brad believes this explanation. He says I am confusing Beeks because I keep changing how I try to get him on the bed and I should invite him up once and if he doesn't come then he's out, until next time. I don't know. I do agree that I am not communicating with him at this point and am probably confusing him.

This just in... I was reading in a Dog book I just picked up about retraining digs that have bad habits. The book is Good Owners Great Dogs Brian Kilcommons. Its an old book (1992). But his suggestion is that if a dog is misbehaving then we should ground them. He has suggestions for how to do this that make a lot of sense and are easily do-able. I will use the example of barking at sounds (we have this problem). First we should praise them for doing their job(alerting us to the situation) then give them something else to do. Like dog push ups. Dog push ups are sit,down,sit,down, etc commands. This will redirect and also tire them out so they want to just be left alone. He says 50 push ups a day (not all at the same time)will physically and mentally work dogs and redirect their sense of obedience. I want to tell you that I have done this today after I read this and Max willingly adapted to it like a charm. He is happy that I am praising him for doing his job and then followed when I gave him the push up commands. I did about 6 up/down's and then told him to stay. He did it and didn't bark any more. Here's the funny part. Beeks sided up with Max and joined in the push ups. I didn't pay Beeks any attention but he just joined in. It was great! We'll have 50 done by bed time.

Just five more minutes please!(19)

Oh, I miss my Man!, He's a great guy, dedicated to his family, work and is thoughtful in all things. But this morning that isn't why I miss him. It's the 6:00AM feedings. This is his morning responsibility, and when he isn't home it falls to me. The dogs know it too. I don't need to set an alarm to get up. Without fail, I am awaken every morning at 6:00. Even today when it was Daylight savings time I was awaken by heavy breathing in my ear at 6:00 sharp. If that doesn't work, I get the rhythmic paw on the bed. Max is more than persistent. He is relentless. So I drag my self up, muttering about their lack of social graces, about how this isn't my job. I am suppose to feed them in the evenings. Isn't that good enough? They of course didn't listen to anything I had to say, just worked together to steer me to the garage to feed them. After blindly feeding and walking them, I'm ready to finish my night's sleep. This is tricky with Max and Beeker. They have energy and think that it's time to play. I mean PLAY! I've devised a plan, I get Beeker up on the bed and he settles down. But Max is put out, thinking that he is being neglected(he thinks that because I take Beeks with me when I go out)so I also invite him up on the bed, only he has to stay on "his side of the bed", which means Brad's side. Good, we're all quiet and I haven't said a word so it's like I'm still half asleep. I get all snuggled down and...and they start nosing each other like my kids use to do. I put my legs between them like a wall to separate them. They accept this and within a few minutes Max turns himself around facing the other way and we are on our way to slumber bliss!

Good Dog(18)

Wow, today was really busy. Beeks and I had numerous errands to run in Champaign but first we returned the movies to the Library. So... Here is my short editorial of Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Last Orders: Sunshine was weird as I had suspected it would be, however it was also somewhat interesting because it was so different than most "love stories". It was erratic, moving flash forward and flash backward so often that I had to pay close attention or else be lost in the plot. I thought of it as a stream of consciousness/dream that would cause anyone to sweat. Not in a scary way but in a "loss of control" way. It was interesting to watch Kate Winslet in such a whacked out role. Very different than she usually plays. If you want off beat...go for it. Last Orders is a guy's buddy movie. It won best ensemble cast Academy Award in 2004. It immediately reminded me of the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes or Steele Magnolias, only for guys. Lots of reminiscing and very s-l-o-w. Enough said. Tonight however we are going to watch My Dog Skip! I love this movie and it has been so long since I last saw it. Beeker will love Skip! If you haven't seen it please rent it. It is so worth your time if you love dogs. I received a forwarded email from Chelsey of a really funny Utube video and I am pasting it here for you to watch. It's sort of long but worth watching how determined this dog. Tenacity is the word that immediately came to mind. If you don't have the time to spend 10 minutes watching, cut into it @5 minutes. Its a cattle dog and Beeks is part cattle dog so I especially like watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jpNpWooS8U

Sometimes the best adventures come when you don't plan them. That's what happened today. Beeks went with me to run our errands and on our way home, we passed Meadowbrook Park. It has been a long time since I have taken Beeker there so we stopped and walked around the Sculpture Garden. This was high excitement. It was drizzling and all of the snow has melted. The prairie has not really begun to green up. So there were lots of new scents and places to explore. I recently read an article of games to play with your dog. It was in Bark Magazine and written by an animal behaviorist. One of the games she suggested was for the owner to find things to share with their dog when on a walk,like bird nests, little holes to smell. She suggested this is a bonding experience that encourages the dog to see the owner as exciting and involved in the exploration. She says this assists in practicing recall as well because the dog wants to be with you finding interesting treasures as well. So Beeks and I tried this on our walk. I gave it my best shot. Tried to be as enticing as he found the saw grass and the creek and the prairie grass. He is a "smeller". He smelled the grasses from to to bottom. I wonder if he can smell what kind of animal scented it and how long ago it came by. He really studied everything. By the time we got back to the car Beeker was exhausted. As we drove home the country roads, we passed a field that was flooded by all the rain. The culvert near the road was also flooded and in all that water were about twenty geese. Beeks didn't even notice because he was so exhausted. Here was my chance to show him something interesting, so I stopped the car and rolled down the window and pointed to all the geese squawking. Then I was something! Beeks got right up and put his head out the window just looking for the longest time. I really wanted to open the door and let him go for it, but my fear of him running off was too much for me. I think he would have loved to chase them. Brad is fond of saying, "a tired dog is a good dog". And so it is. Beeks is down for the count tonight. Good dog!

Movies and More (17)

Okay, Here is my non-professional movie review from last night. We watched two movies. One I loved and one I thought was so weird, it might be a cult film. The first movie I watched was Departures, the foreign film of the year for 2009, received a Academy Award. I loved that it was Japanese with English subtitles. This was a good movie to watch last night because as much as I love watching movies with Brad, he doesn't have much tolerance for subtitles. He likes American films or all English language movies, John Wayne and all that! On the face of it, this movie seems simple, with themes of loss and redemption, but it is more complex than that. The cinematography is spectacular and what I kept thinking throughout was that it seemed to be set in the 1960's Japan but then I noticed laptop computers and the characters used cell phones. They had a huge flat screened TV in their rundown traditional Japanese home. The cultural setting was great because I know so little about Japanese traditions. Great flick. ****
The second movie we watched was Adaptations. This movie had Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, and Chris Cooper acting in a farcical mental escapade about screenwriters. All I can say is this is not Meryl's best acting and this maybe why Nicolas Cage declared he was bankrupt. Chris Cooper received an academy award for best supporting actor for his role(2004).Nicolas Cage plays Charley Kaufman AND his brother Donald Kaufman. Talk about mental diarrhea! This is a Spike Jonze directed film. My son says he loves this movie cuz it is so weird. Go figure. VBM (very boring movie) Tonight we have three other movies to watch, although we probably will only get to one or two of them. One of them is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which was written and screenplay by...you guessed it...Charley Kaufman! The others are; Last Orders and Ladies in Lavender. I'll let you know.

Beeks? He and Max were happy to be up on the bed, getting lots of touches.They didn't seem to mind all of the mundane dialog. Today I took Beeks with me to Parkland for a little outting. It continues to rain here and so we are all getting a little cabin fever. I am soooo over Winter. I started researching places that we could vacation with our dogs. Websearching yielded a lot of entries, mostly for "pet friendly" hotels. This isn't what I want in a pet vacation. I want off leash, open spaces, dog friendly cabins in mountian/beach settings. Out-of-the-city vacations! I happend to find only a few sites that weren't soley hotels or retreat classes for people and dogs. I googled dog vacations. Next I will look through past issues of Bark Magazine to see if they suggest any. Three years ago Brad and I took a great vacation to a horse ranch in BC Canada. Then we had our two other Newfoundland dogs, Belle and Beau. We all had a great vacation on the horse ranch. My daughter inlaw suggested a website; smallanimalchannel.com. I went to that site and they had a link to dogchannel.com. It is funded by Dog Fancy magazine. I wasn't successful finding a link there eather but nice website. Check it out.

Max just now did the funnest thing. He and Beeks have been inside a little too long lately. They are like kids when they don't get enough exercise, they get rambunktious. They were really going to it, with Beeks running around Max, growling (friendly like)but both of them getting wound up,when Max started bucking. Only he kept his back legs on the ground and pounced up and down with his front legs. He did this in a circle, keeping his hind legs in the same spot. Beeks moved out of the way, and Max continued to pounce in a circle like he couldn't help himself,and how excited he was making himself. After about four complete circles, he stopped, gave a big sigh and total body shake. I think he didn't know what to think of his behavior either. I wish I could have filmed him. We once saw a young bison in Yellowstone, do the same behavior to a plastic yellow police tape that had been used for construction. It was just a hoot then also. We need to get outside! The weather report is for continued rain thru Monday. I know this is good for my flowers. I have Crocus and Daffodil coming up. Seems like it's too early for flowers, but I welcome them.

Snug as a bug(16)

It has been raining on and off today, rainy and dreary and its a good day to stay inside, in what I call command central or "the bed". Its a great place to read, watch TV or work on the computer writing my blog. I have quick access to the kitchen and even Chez likes the company. Sometimes its good to just hang with the ones you love. I had to go into town today and since the Post Office is right next to the library, I decided that I should stop and pick up some movies to watch. Because Brad is out of town it will be a good weekend to watch movies, read magazines and books. As always Beeks went with me and he understood that he couldn't go with me in to the library. No, I don't discuss this with him but I do tell him to "stay there", when I get out of the car. When we returned home I let Beeks out to run around the yard like I always do(see 3/09/10). Well, I learned the lesson this time. When Beeks didn't return when I called him, I made a sweep around the yard and there he was, about 20 yards out in the back woods, smelling every tree and leaf on the ground. When I called him again, whistling and clapping to get his attention (thinking that If I could get his eye contact I could get his attention)he just looked up at me and then went back to sniffing the ground. What I know is that the deer that pass by our house sometimes bed down right in that area. I was not going to get Beeks to respond to me because I am just not that exciting! In fact, I told him to "STAND, STAY" and I went to him. He just stood there. When I got to him, I could see that there was a deer trail in the dirt leading right up to the area. I have mentioned that Beeks has a great beak, and so he was in rapture, I'm sure. I've learned my lesson. He will not be able to be let off lead for a long time until I am able to reteach him the "come" command. Always something to learn...for him and for me. This reminds me that I read in Temple Grandin's book that dogs need to go through a second round of training again when they are 18 to 36 months because they don't mature socially until then, although they mature sexually from 6 to 9 months. Since Beeker just turned two years old it might be time to get another round of training in dog obedience. It would be good for me to get retrained in being a good owner/leader as well. Beeker's disobedience got me to think again about the power of his nose. I mentioned in the last blog about his incredibly intense ability to smell. I know that dogs are being trained to sniff out diseases and as service dogs for individuals with some social diseases (Aspergers) as well. I read that some dogs are taught to identify when people with epilepsy are about to have seizures. There are even dogs that have been taught to detect cancers. My dad told me about a New York Times article about the use of dogs in bed bug detection. The idea is that its quicker using a dog to detect the bed bugs than other ways. Isn't that amazing. So this got me wondering, which is more acute? A dog's sense of smell or his sense of hearing? I'll need to read up on that one. Any ideas? I know a dog doesn't use his eyes when he is first born as much as he smells his mother, but where does hearing some into the spectrum? Max and Beeker both have a great sense of hearing, they can hear Brad's truck come home before he gets into the cul-de-sac. Now that's good hearing. Often they hear deer in the yard as they are laying in the bedroom at dusk. I don't think they can smell them from inside. Interesting.

Because it was wet and rainy out today the dogs are fairly stinky too. That wonderful 'dog de odor' is like wet socks and worms. When we bring them inside after they've gotten wet we either keep them in the laundry/mud room or if they have been out on the deck, we put a large towel down and dry them off there. Since Beeks was first with us, I trained him to stay on the towel or a small rug. We also have worked with the dogs to let us lift each of their paws and touch them (like shoeing a horse). Now it's easy to clean them off when they are wet. But they still smell like worms and wet socks. Come on guys, up on the bed for movie night! Febrese is my new best friend.

Spring is in the Air(15)

It is absolutely beautiful here today. The temperature got to 68 degrees and the wind died down by the afternoon so with the sun shining it really felt like Spring. I so needed to get outside. I worked the AM so when I got home, the sun was really melting away the remaining snow. At first, I thought about just hanging at home and taking a nap(did I mention that I love naps as much as the dogs do?)but then I got pressure from Beeks to "Go Out!". I figured it was so warm that I took each dog out front and brushed them. I did this first to Beeker and then to Maxie. They really liked having the individual attention and I liked being able to have my time with them as well. They just laid on the driveway and soaked up the sun. It was soothing to brush them and spend the time talking to each one. I love warm weather! Then I decided to walk Beeks down past the creek and up the next street to Hwy 150. We call this walk the 150 walk. Creative Huh? Beeks likes this walk because he gets a tremendous amount of woodsy smells on the way. I also thought that if we walked past the creek, Beeks might out himself and let me know how he got all wet yesterday. He didn't even make a sideways glance at the scene of the crime. I mean, he did look at the creek in a casual way as if to say, "yea, its a creek, big deal...". He really got sniffing when he saw three squirrels running in the woods however. His head goes up and he stacks at attention. He also tries to put his nose in every hole he can get to. I wonder if he has terrier in him as well as cattle dog and Sheppard. He does have the "beek" for smells. I have read that dogs are able to smell odors in a different way than humans. They are able to put a time stamp of sorts on smells. Like being able to tell how long ago a smell was placed by the intensity of the odor. Wouldn't that be wonderful to have the ability to tell how long ago a friend had gone by so that you could follow them and catch up? Okay so we have phones, but I think we have lost the depth of some of our senses, because we don't need them so much anymore. Beeks smells everything, including me when I return after being gone. Do you think he can tell where I have been and with whom? Do you think he thinks I have been unfaithful?
Any way, after our walk, I needed to go to the Post Office to pick up a package and you know what that means. Yep, its a nice day and Beeks and I are right across from the DQ. Its ice cream time again! I get the medium vanilla cone with a cup and then I dump the cone in the cup. After I eat most of the ice cream and there is only about an inch and a half, Beeks get the rest of the cone. This is our favorite thing about Summer, Spring and Fall. Car rides and DQ!

Wagging the Dog (14)

Beeker is an exceptionally happy dog. He is what I call a Player. He will go to great efforts to get others to engage with him and play. He always starts with the invitation bow, a signal that is a canine request for play. If Max does not reciprocate,then, he will pull at Max's tail in order to get him to roughhouse with him. If this doesn't work he will pull his ear or jump on him. These engagements usually work, but if they don't he will go get one of his toys, say his rope, and put it in Max's face, or even drag it over Max's body to entice him. Max is a good older sibling dog and will agree to any play with Beeks. When they have played long enough to release alot of energy they both release big sighs and then make full body shakes almost simultaneously. I've noticed that when Beeker is happy he wags his tail alot. But if he is overjoyed and happy to see someone he wags his tail in a circle, like a whisk. I haven't figure out if it always goes in the same direction, but it is clearly in a circle. This is his expression of pure Joy. I see him twirling his tail when he knows we are going for a walk. Usually when He sees me putting on my shoes. If Beeks wants attention, usually from a person, he can be more subtle. He will rub up against you or if he really wants you to play with him he will bring you his toy and drop it near you then nose bump you, as if to say," Here, are you blind? Don't you want to have fun? Come on, you have been sitting there for a long time and you need to move." It's great having an external conscience. This is when I go find my shoes and tell him it's time for a walk. Like today. I had been at work this AM and when I got home it was sunny, about 50 degrees, with a little wind. We took our long figure eight walk which takes about an hour if we are really enjoying ourselves. Today we had a good walk and Beeks found many interesting things. He was very interested in every squirrel he smelled, saw or heard. There were a lot of busy squirrels out today and Beeks was very occupied with each one. As is customary after our walks, I get Beeks into a sit at the top of our drive and then take his gentle leader off and release him to run around the yard. He loves this and he is F-A-S-T. He is so fast as he runs around the house about 5 times to let out any excess energy after the long walk. Well today, he ran around and then ran like a crazy dog through the woods. In front and behind our house. I called him (this usually gets him to come up to our front door), but he didn't come. I whistled to him, and he still didn't come. This was really unusual for Beeker. If he doesn't come when I call him it is because he is doing his dooty. I can also usually see him either in the front or the back because his tail is so tall and I can see the white tip of his tail. Not today, I walked up to the cul-de-sac to see if he was in any of the neighbor's yard, but he wasn't to be seen. Then I turned to go back down the driveway, toward our front door and there he was on the door step. Looking at me like..."Where have you been"?
I just looked back at him, kinda mad. He hadn't come when I called and he didn't react to my whistle. Boy was he trouble. When I got closer I saw that he was completely wet. From head to toe. He had run down to the creek behind our house, and then back again in that short time. His tail was wagging so hard, and in a circle. I'd almost swear he was smiling.Yep, He's a player.

Sound the Alert or Cooking is for the Dogs(13)

This AM I was only trying to get my beauty sleep (and don't I need it). Brad had already left for work and I wanted just a few more Z's. I was in deep REM's sleep dreaming about the warm Spring to come, when the Bark Fest began. Beeker started it. His hearing is so good, I swear he can hear the smallest noise on the Moon. Or 20 blocks away. Not to be out done, Max started barking too. He ran to the front door where Beeker had already taken up sentry. Since Max had arrived barking as well, Beeker retreated to the safety of the bedroom. The racket the two of them can make is incredible. Yelling at them to stop barking has no effect, only makes me get a headache. So, I had to get up, go to the door to see what is so exciting (sometimes its deer in our yard, and they are fun to watch). Not this this time. Our garbage truck has come and both dogs want me to know they saw it first. Great! It's just so exciting seeing the garbage truck, it only comes once a week and if I miss it now, I will have to wait a whole week to see it again. Thanks guys!
I crawled back to bed thinking (Okay, don't go there) I could get a few more minutes of valuable shut eye. Nope! My buddy Max likes to come real close to my face, and breath real heavy, a huff actually, to get my attention. He likes to do this when he wants to go outside and I have other ideas(like sleeping). If I ignore him, he is real good at pawing the bed. Okay, that IS annoying. That's when I knew my day had begun. Thanks guys!couldn't have done it without ya!
I decided that I had put off trying to make dog treats long enough, so today was going to be the day. I had received great suggestions and recipes from friends so I figured I was ready. I have also looked online for ideas and today I looked in my refrigerator to see what I had available. I had some cilantro, and thought that maybe that would be a good choice, for variety. Then I wondered if the herb was toxic to dogs. turns out that cilantro isn't toxic. I had also noticed that some recipes call for garlic, but I had always heard that garlic and onions are harmful to dogs. Turns out that yes, onions are really bad for dogs, and while garlic does have a little of the same chemical in it, the percentage is extremely low, therefore it would take a great amount of garlic to harm dogs. I decided to leave it out none the less. I did see a reference that mentioned that dogs can't digest vegetables, so dogs shouldn't be given carrots, but we have always given our dogs carrots and our Vet says they are okay so, I decided to use them.

This is where the fun began. I decided to make two kinds of treats, thinking that this would be comparable to mixing up a batch of cookies. Nooooooo. In one bowl I mixed rice, cheddar cheese, oatmeal, meatballs, beef broth, carrots, and the cilantro. In the other bowl, I put chicken, rice, chicken, mozzarella, chicken broth, carrots, cilantro, some moist wheat bread, peanut butter, and some cilantro. I started with the beef mixture and loaded some of it into my food processor. Tuned it on and , and , nothing. I haven't used it in a while and it would not turn on. It was kaput! I had already put the mixture in and after 5 minute of problem solving I scooped it out and threw the thing away. Now the problem was that I needed someway of mixing the ingredients to a blended dough, and I had carrots in the mixture. Out came my blender. I knew this would be tricky because of the minimal liquid I had in the mix but I needed to grind up the carrots. The chicken mixture worked better than the beef, maybe because of the denseness the of the oatmeal. After blending each batch, I then turned it out into its previous bowl and used my mixer to add flour, lots of flour because by now each mix looked like pate`. They didn't smell bad but both were pasty, not like cookie dough. At this point I had used up all of my bowls and now had all of my cookie sheets greased and ready for action. The trouble was that I couldn't roll out the dough. I guess I could have dropped spoon fulls but I was determined to make rolled treats like I get at the pet store. I have such cute small cookie cutters and thought this was the way to go. Well, plopping the dough down on a floured counter and then adding flour on top, I pressed cute little shapes and then tried to get them onto the cookie sheet. Nope, too sticky. (Have you seen the episode of The Lucy Show, where Lucy is working on an assembly line in a bakery? Yep! that was how I felt) I then figured out to roll the dough directly onto the cookie sheet and the score it into little rectangles. Good enough for the dogs! Then I baked them in the oven. Then baked them some more. They would not get hard and crunchy. The scoring thing worked pretty good and so when I took them out I broke them,pulled them apart and baked them on the other side. Most of the seven cookie sheets did not get crunchy. Maybe I used too much cheese. The dogs liked them. They smelled good. I have enough for a life time of sharing. I'm glad I had this opportunity to make something for my dogs. They only took 6 hours to make too! When I need more dog treats I know right where to get some, I'll be going right to the Pet store and buying them!