(66) TGIF

It's another blustery day and besides that It's been threatening to rain all day. Some of my plants and smaller trees have been whipped around, If the trees don't straighten up by tomorrow we are going to cut some of them down. A couple are leaning way over the yard and it isn't going to improve the looks of it or the yard. Easier to cut it when its small. The Canna that we planted when Nana was here is leafing out in two places. We were all taking bets on weather or not it would bloom and I am so happy that it may actually survive. We'll see.

I said in my last blog that I would share some of the games that I discovered yesterday and share how the games went with Beeks. First let me say that this website is done by a dog trainer who seems to know the importance of play. I like that. The website is: http://www.wagntrain.com/Games.htm.
Now let me tell you about the games that looked interesting and the ones that I tried to play with Beeks. (Can you tell that it didn't go so well on the first time out?)
Hide and Seek
This is an easy game to play. This is like playing hide and seek with kids. You hide then call your dog and when the dog finds you, get excited. For a harder challenge, put your dog in a down stay until you hide then release him by calling to him. My dad used this game when he was dog sitting for my sister's dog Jesse James and my niece's kids at the same time. Papa was able to get the 5 year old to play the game with Jesse James and both were occupied for a long time. When I played this with Beeker inside it was no contest. He was able to find me where ever I hid. I want to try this outside. I be this will be more of a challenge.

Treasure Hunt
Here you put your dog in a down stay and then you hide a treat or a toy. Then you release the dog to locate the treat or toy. Get real excited when he finds the toy or treat. Hide the treat/toy first where the dog can see it then find other places to hid it where the dog can't see it. This stimulates his nose and his mind. When I tried this with Beeks I used a treat tube so that he couldn't eat all of the treats at one time but he could use the scent of the treats to locate it. He did great at first. Then I hid the tube under a rug which he also found. But when I hid the tube behind a cushion, leaving an end out, he found it but would not "get it". He nosed it then turned to look at me then walked away. Not much of a challenge for either of us on this one.

Clean up your toys
I really want this one to work with Beeks. He leaves his toys out all over the house and even if I pick them all up and he watches me put them in the toy basket in the laundry room he doesn't return them. In fact, he watches me then goes and gets one to have out!

"Get a box or bucket and collect a number of toys and other dog-safe items (don't start with things your dog likes to hoard or that you don't want them ever touching). Scatter the toys in a small pile on the floor. Through shaping and teasing, get the dog to pick up the items one at a time, and place them in your hand. Once the dog is lifting the items high enough to get your hand underneath to receive, you are well started. Be sure to reward each "gift" with a food treat. Make it harder and harder to put stuff in your hand, while maintaining the fun of this "return for refund" game. Each item retrieved is dumped into the bucket. The dog will leave harder ones for later, so over time make substitutions that make the items increasingly difficult for the dog. Some dogs take the leap and start putting things directly into the bucket themselves."
When I tried this with Beeks he just took the toy and brought it close to me then dropped it in the area. I got excited and praised him but, he didn't go any further with it. After a few tries, I threw it and then he brought it back to me but still just dropped it in the area. I have to admit that this is how we play toss and fetch outside. I use two items and he brings one back and I toss the second one. I need ot rethink this and start all over in a few days. As I said, I really need this one to work.
The author/trainer Stacy Braslau-Schneck, CPDT, shares the specifics of other games such as;
Simon Says
Fetch
Keep away
Tug A War

She suggests that playing games with your dog encourages good behaviors and strengthens our relationship with your dog. It is also a great way to train your dog to respond to you when you need quick responses. Besides, its great exercise for you and your pet.

I have started reading a new book. It's titled, Love is the Best Medicine, by the Veterinarian Dr. Nick Trout. It looks at the strong bonds between people and their pets. So far so good. I'll let you know.

(65) A Lot of This and That

The picture I have attached are from our short outing late this afternoon when the winds died down and our great neighbors came over to play. Max got to have his Meet N' Greet lesson. It has been a few days and Sandy said that she missed Max. He's got a suitor! It's always fun to have them over and Beeks got to show off his jumping ability. He even jumped through the hoop when Morgan held on to it and when it was 8 inches off the ground. What a great dog! Way to go Beeks!

What a windy day this has been. When we have these high sustainable winds it always makes my heart get racing and I feel just a little more anxious. Today was one of those days. The winds were up to 45 miles per hour all day and we had a power outage in the late afternoon that lasted until only a half hour ago. The wind advisory continues for another half hour but I think the winds are finally calming down. This relaxes all of us. Brad is out mowing the lawn in the last bit of sunshine. The last time he tried to mow the mower quit and we had to have it repaired. It really needed cutting.

The newly planted corn is up in the fields around town. Coming home from an errand today Beeks and I noticed that the farmers were all out in the fields working. I wish I understood all that they do. They work so diligently, tilling, plowing, planting. This is a busy time of year for farmers. I am surprised at how quickly the corn grows. Its up an inch already. It's visible if you look at the field at an angle. Looking at it straight down the rows it is nearly impossible to see but it is there. It will be more than a foot high by the fourth of July.

I was concerned for GeorgenGracie's nest today with the high winds. I hope that she was hunkered down and just "going with the flow". Her tree was really leaning and tossing left and right. Those eggs sure could be scrambled by now. I'm sure that she has been through high winds before. I did some reading on the behavior of Cooper's hawks today (before the electricity went out) and found some interesting facts:

Courtship is lengthy for Cooper's Hawks, and the male may feed the female for up to a month before she begins to lay eggs. They nest in a tree, 25-50 feet off the ground. The nest is often built on top of an old nest or clump of mistletoe. Both sexes help build the stick nest lined with pieces of bark. The female incubates the 3 to 5 eggs for 30 to 33 days. The male brings food and incubates the eggs when the female leaves the nest to eat. Once the 3 to 5 eggs hatch, the female broods for about two weeks. During this time, the male continues to bring food for the female and the young. He gives the food to the female, and she feeds it to the nestlings. The young start to climb about the nest at four weeks of age, and begin to make short flights soon after. The parents continue to feed the young for up to seven weeks. (wikipedia.com and whatbird.com)

In the News...
May 2-8th is Be Kind to Animals week. This is celebrated every year since 1915. Interesting since I haven't even heard about it. The American Humane Organization sponsors the week with events. you can find more information on www.americanhumane.org. Check it out.

Also, Have you seen the new Post Office stamps of dogs and cats? They are really cute and they go on sale April 30th, that's tomorrow. In association with the stamps, the goal of the campaign is to educate Americans about the millions of shelter pets that need good homes. Halo dog food is donating $1 million to shelters. You can buy stamps directly from your Post Office or by logging on to www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2010/pr10_026.htm for more information. Its for a great cause and the stamps are cute too.

I found some great games to play with your dog when I was looking on the Internet this afternoon so I will share them with you tomorrow. Hopefully by then I will be able to try some of them out with Beeks and Maxie. I'll let you know. Until then, hold on to your dog and don't get blown away!

(64) Hula Happy

This is about the most beautiful day. It's 64 degrees and sunny. Perfect for being outside. We still can't let the dogs run in the yard as it hasn't rained and the weed and feed is still on the grass but I did let Beeks run for a short time and watched him like a hawk as he ran around the house.

After I got home from work, I let the dogs outside while I brought in the groceries. When I let them inside both dogs followed me around and were holding their noses up in the air smelling me and the tops of counters. With the groceries I bought two whole cooked chickens. If there is anything the dogs love more than eating grass it's chicken. I always cut up the chicken so that I can freeze it or have it ready for cooking. I decided to get this chore done as soon as I put away my work stuff. Now if you want to see two dogs sit perfectly patiently for 30 minutes without moving, cut up chicken. Max tried to get his nose as close to the chicken as a Newf can(that is almost touching the chicken)so I put him in a down stay. He moved so that his mouth would be positioned just right in the event of a missed dropped piece of chicken. Beeks just sat with his nose and eyes right on my every movement. Even the cat tries to get close to the action, but I moved him to the bench at the other end of the counter. Boy did I feel popular. They waited until I moved to put the bones and excess chicken in the garbage. Then they followed me and sat perfectly expectant, eyes focused on me, willing me to share in the spoils. Okay(sorry Brad)so I did give them a l-i-t-t-l-e piece each. They were so happy. How could I refuse those patient loving eyes?

Now, for those who are counting, Lattice 2, Chez 0.

First let me way that I really miss Nana, she worked with Beeks and me and the plastic tunnel, trying to get him to go thru the children's tunnel. He had a frightful time with the tunnel and I decided that a hula hoop would be the best place to start. It was difficult to hold the hoop and coax him with the treats at the same time. I bought the hula hoop about a week ago but haven't had the time to work with him yet due in part to the three day rain we had over the weekend. Today was a perfect time to work with him. I put Max in the garage, tethered and worked with Beeks and the hula hoop in the driveway. I knew that lots of treats would be necessary for this task and I decided to use the Canidae training treats that they love. I started by putting a few in the middle of the hoop which was laying on the driveway flat. Then I held the hoop upright and touching the pavement. With one had I held the treats and with the other I held the hoop, coaxing and praising him to go through the hoop. At first he was just as hesitant as he was with the tunnel. Soon I could get him to go through once in a while, but not with any regularity. He found it easier to go from my left to right but wouldn't go through from right to left, he would circle around to go through the hoop when I could get him to do it. I remembered dogs see things differently from all angles, that is they see going differently than they see coming. So this made sense to me,Beeks was more comfortable going one way over the other way. But I didn't give up. I kept trying to coax him both ways. Soon he was going left to right about 40% of the time and 0% from right to left. I remembered that some dogs do better with modeling so I (no I didn't go through the hoop this time!) held the hoop for Maxie and what do you know? He loves treats and followed the treat through the hoop without batting an eye. He in fact really didn't need coaxing at all. He went through it like an old pro. The only difficulty was that he didn't get his hind legs through it, or rather he put his upper body through it, got his treat and thought he was finished. Such a Newfie. Then I went back to work with Beeks, hoping he had observed Maxies exceptional calm ability. Not so much, But slowly Beeks was able to go through the hoop fairly consistently on the left to right and occasionally on the right to left side. So many treats, but hey, we're learning here. I thought it would be good to do some other activity and then try it again, so we played some catch and fetch with the Frisbee and squeaky ball. When We returned to more practice, he seems to have synthesized the process because I could get him to not only go both ways on a regular basis but also I was able to lift the hoop up about 2 to 3 inches and he would still go thru it. Both ways! My hero! How cool was that? He over came his fear of the hoop, he went through it two ways and went through it when it was raised off the ground. I want to tell you that during this whole learning process he was anxiety panting like he had just run a marathon. I think it really taxed his brain. Its hard work, to overcoming fears and learning a new skill. I think he'll only need about a third of his dinner tonight.

(63) Just a Terrific Tuesday

No work today, so I've been spending the day with the pets. After a morning of coffee and reading I decided to get busy making the cards that I needed to get sent out. That took most of my morning and so by the time I finished with the second card it was nearly 12:30. I decided to get one of the cards sent out so it was a good reason to take Beeks with me. And because the Post Office is so close to the DQ we just needed to make a run thru. Beeks gets so focused when he figures out what we are doing. He stands on the back seat and just stares at the back of my neck. When the cone finally gets to the car, he stares so intensely that he is almost stalking the cone. He is patient though. He just stares and waits expectantly until I get down to just the cone, just waiting until I hand it back to him. Then its gone in one gulp. He doesn't even savor it. I wonder if he wants it all gone so he doesn't have to share it with Max when we get home?

The trees have encompassed us so well that we are not able to get a good look of Gracie as she sits on the nest. There is one angle in the back yard that is not yet obscured and we are able to see her tail once in a while from the back deck. We hear her and George calling each other and we see George once in a while as he comes to the nest. I think that maybe this is the whole plan. Maybe the hawks build the nest when the trees are not full so that it is an easier building process with all the large branches they use and then want the nest to be hidden when the brood is hatched. Makes sense to me. I read that cooper's Hawks have a brood of three and the female sits on the nest until they are born. The male brings her food daily (thanks for that!).

The daily walkabout has fairly short today because we put down the weed and feed last night. This is in a way rather funny that we used it in the first place. We have so little grass and I tease that the weeds are holding the dirt together. I'm afraid that putting the weed killer will make the yard look even worse but Brad is confident that we need to put the week killer down before he puts the grass seed down in a few weeks. We'll see. Today my concern was protecting Beeker's paws and not letting him eat the grass. He did get to some of it, he LOVES to eat grass. When he got inside I washed off his paws in hopes that he doesn't lick them.
In the yard the wild phlox has bloomed and has joined the blue bells. All of the new imports survived the three day thunderstorms. We noticed that everything is the same green right now. A sort of yellow green. All is good in the yard.

After my household chores were finished and our daily walkabout was done, I decided to take Beeks for a walk. I figured that since it was cooler today I should take Beeks for a longer walk. We walked to the farm and back. This is a walk that is about 4 miles round trip. Beeks loves this walk because he gets to get down in the ditches and really get his nose into it. He pounced a couple of time and then tilted his head and I am thinking that when he does this it is because he is listening for where the rodent went. His hearing is so incredible that he can probably hear it moving around. I didn't hear anything but he was sure fun to watch. On the return trip I watched three hawks soaring high about the adjacent field. They were riding the thermals and having such a great lazy time of it. I was intrigued that there were three together. Especially after knowing that the females should be on their nests now. I wonder if males fly together to hunt for food and if the three I watched were somehow related. Could one of them be George and another be a past hatchling? Or even George's parent? Interesting and it is something I will need to look up. It's always something.

We have been sitting out in the screened in porch for the past two hours and as I write Max and Beeks lay around and enjoy the smells (noses in the air everyone)and sounds of Spring. They occasionally bark at what they think is someone walking past. They can no longer see anyone only hear and smell them. I admonish them and pet Max to get him to quiet down and after one or two barks he's finished. Beeks always needs to get the last little woof out. Silly dogs.

(62) Time to Celebrate Big Time

It's time to celebrate big time. My nephew Eric and his girlfriend Chelsey have made the huge decision to adopt the rescued Italian Greyhound they have been fostering for the last three months. I wrote about Squiggles in a past post and even posted a picture of him. The picture above is the picture sent along with the announcement of Squiggles adoption. We are so proud to have Squiggles in our family of dogs. Beeks and Max have been told the good news and want to know how soon they get to play with "the new kid".

When good people adopt the right dog for the right reasons it is truly a time to celebrate. Squiggles came from humble beginnings. He was a puppy mill dog and when Eric and Chelsey started fostering Squiggles he was extremely timid and severely under weight. C n'E fostered a number of dogs before and after fostering Squiggles. They saw how frightened Squiggles was when he first came to them and how much he has grown since being loved and cared for by them. Dr. Grandin talks about Thriving not surviving. Well, it is clearly evident that with E n'C, Squiggles is thriving. He is gaining weight and he is learning to trust humans again.

I know there are a lot of unwanted dogs and cats and most end up in shelters and or rescues. But I didn't know actual numbers. I wanted to know some statistics about animal shelters and puppy mills so I looked on line at the ASPC website(ASPC.org)and they stated that every year 5-7 million companion animals enter shelters. And 3-4 million are euthanized every year as well. I know that more and more shelters are becoming no-kill shelters, but still large numbers of animals are euthanized due to the inability of shelters to provide for great numbers of animals over a long period of time. 98% of pets in pet stores come from commercial breeders more commonly known as puppy mills. I read that in commercial breeding facilities females are may be bred two times a year and when they are no longer able to breed they are killed. Puppies that can not be sold are also killed. One really good website I found about the devastating environments in puppy mills was http://www.awarenessday.org/.It is a travesty that as a country and society we allow this neglect to continue.

Again, I am so excited that Squiggles has found his Forever Home with Eric and Chelsey. Thanks for being in our family Squiggles! Way to Go Chelsey and Eric!!!!

P.S. There is an article in the NY Times that is very interesting regarding greyhounds and their use to pursue coyotes on a ranch in Oklahoma. Read it and see what you think about the use of greyhounds in this capacity. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/sports/26greyhounds.html.

(61) The KILL

Beeker is injured. This is his first injury in the two years since he's been in our family. Yesterday when I went out to do my walkabout, I of course, took Beeks out with me. As is his usual MO, he tore out to run around the house to get that first burst of energy out of his system before he investigates the yard and surrounding woods. However yesterday he returned quickly from the same direction he had gone. He was limping, and he was moving with complete concentration. At first I thought he had injured his left hip, as he had that exaggerated tender footing as he approached me. Of course I stopped what I was doing and we went inside. He willingly lay down and I felt along his legs and paws to see where he was most tender. His left front paw was warmer and he flinched when I touched the large pad but I couldn't see any cut, thorn or blood. As soon as I released his paw he started to lick it. Brad strongly encouraged me to leave it alone if I couldn't see any specific injury. He suggested that Beeks probably pulled a muscle or hurt one of his nails as he was running. He also said that Beeks would work it out or we would see a definite progression of the injury and then be able to do something for him. So, I reluctantly left him alone, allowing him to get up and walk back and forth between Brad and myself. He limped, putting only the tips of his toes down on the floor. I decided that he needed to take it easy and not run wild for a while so I returned to my walkabout without him. He stared out the front door with those sad eyes, just watching me and looking like a forgotten child. I'm happy to report that within the day he had worked out the strain to his paw and by last night he was walking as good as new. Notice this time there was no $100.00 emergency Vet visit to tell me that he had a sore paw,that would work it self out? I have a home monitor in Brad. Saved me $100 bucks!

Between the rain showers, I tortured Brad into going to a couple of garage sales with me. The feast de resistance was that we could take both dogs with us and they would get a little "outing". We didn't find the treasures that I was hoping to find but we were able to have fun together and we did find one sale that had among other things stuffed animals for 50 cents. Brad picked out a couple of them thinking that these would be a fun activity for the dogs.
Here let me restate that due to Beeker's approach to all toys, stuffed animals do not make any sense to buy. Even at garage sales. The mess he makes is unbelievable. He can disembowel a stuffed animal in two minutes flat. We have experimented with various types (don't even try the kind with the beans or other hard round stuffing)and have come to the conclusion that Beeks isn't interested in loving the cute little stuffed animals, he is interested in KILLING it in the shortest time possible.
We bought the cute purple monkey and white cat stuffed animals anyway. Max was so excited he couldn't stand it. If you have ever seen a Newfoundland with a stuffed animal or something soft in their mouth they are absolutely adorable. Max's tail went up and he was so happy to have something in his mouth. We gave him the purple monkey. I have shared before that Max's security blanket is anything in his mouth. He just calms down when he has something in his mouth. So this was a big hit to Max. Next we gave the white cat to Beeker. Beeks sniffed the cat a couple of times and then almost reluctantly took it from Brad's hand. We left for the drive home. We noticed that Beeker ignored the cat for a while, then quietly he started to lick it. Meanwhile, Max was standing in the back looking out with the purple monkey in his mouth as happy as a a kid with an ice cream cone. Then we heard it. A pop. When I realized what had happened, it was too late to do anything about it. Beeker had poped the eye off his cat and there was stuffing all over the back seat. More and more white stuffing was coming out of the cat. We were driving but I could reach around and was able to retrieve about three handfuls of white stuffing from the back seat. Beeker was hunkered down and Max had settled down in the way back to love his monkey. Within the next three minutes we were home. What we found was more than astonishing. It was a stuffed animal graveyard. Although Beeker had pulled a tremendous amount of stuffing from his white cat, he was only able to pull from the one eye that he had popped off. Therefore most all of the stuffing was still in the cat, it just had a lopsided head. Max on the other hand had loved his monkey so much that it no longer had a head or rather face and it was completely empty of stuffing. He had ripped it apart within the three minutes that it took for us to travel three blocks. Boy was he proud of his accomplishment too. He loved that monkey. (see picture at top)
Needless to say, we got a big laugh at being taught yet another lesson by our dogs. The truth still stands, it is not worth even 50 cents to buy a stuffed animal for my dogs. They will distroy it quicker than it would take to kill and disembowel a real animal.

(60) Pouting N' Priming

Pouting Beeker
I think Beeker pouts. I don't know if this is possible or I am just anamorphizing but yesterday when I got ready to go to work he wasn't in his "regular" spot waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. Usually, when I get up in the morning Beeks is there to greet me and give me the best nose bumping or body lean a person could want. However yesterday I noticed that when I got up I did get the usual greeting but when I went into the bathroom, which is open to the bedroom,to get ready for work, Beeks moved to the sliding glass door on the other side of the room and turned to look outside instead of staying in near the bathroom area. Okay I wasn't crushed over this, it just seem significant in retrospect. When I later prepared to leave out the door, Beeks was no where to be seen. If I am not going to work, and am preparing to leave, Beeks is always right there trying to leave with me to go in the car and be my car buddy. Yesterday I had no buddy anywhere, he was not even in the room. Max was there in his usual spot, as door monitor until Brad arrives back home, but My Beeker, My precious, My Buddy was not even there to say good bye. By then I was crushed, but assumed that his absence was due to Brad's presence at home (an unusual occurrence). Later in the day when I returned, I got the usual welcome home greeting from both dogs, so I assumed that all was well. However, when I left to go to the local library book sale (I'm a sucker for used books at good prices)Beeker was again absent from my departure. When Brad and I got ready to leave last night for a dinner out, Max was at the door to bid us goodbye but Beeker was not there, we both noticed that Beeker was not trying to leave with us, not even in the kitchen or near the back door. What was going on with Beeks? He was in the bedroom just lying on his rug. The departing fanfare was quite noticeable.

Here's the question that I have been thinking about since then. Was Beeker pouting my departures? Does he "know" when I am going somewhere and won't be taking him? Can a dog pick up the subtle cues that mean, "We are going out for DQ, yea!" verses "She's taking a shower and getting ready for work, or out for the night, and she won't take me, Boo hoo!" So maybe this is a two part inquiry. 1.)Can Beeks tell the difference of two different kinds of departures and 2.) Does he really care, emotionally? Little children do care when their parents leave but it takes them a long time to differentiate the two kinds of leaving. I know this because of all the crying that goes on for such a long time when kids are around two. We call that separation anxiety. Dogs are really good at picking up very subtle cues. Dr. Grandin has suggested that the reason that dogs have become domesticated so strongly to humans is that over the long development of the domestication, dogs have been able to fine tune the ability to see very small changes and behaviors of humans that are so taken for granted by us. Early on in the dog-human relationship dogs would come around the fire where man (and woman) were sitting and some how dogs were able to "know" or pick up the cues when to run and when to stay to scrounge for left over food scraps. Long story short, dogs are really good at noticing small differences in behaviors. So... The fact that I usually get up and don't take a shower first thing in the morning before Beeks and I take a walkabout may mean that he knows that if I am taking a shower, I am going somewhere he won't be allowed to go. Or if I put my shoes on sitting in the bedroom as apposed to the kitchen, then we are going for a walk, and he's happy.
Now the second part of the question... Does he care? I don't know how to answer this part. I want to think he cares,but this might just be that I want him to care, that I am interpreting his behavior,of figuring out when he gets to go with and when he doesn't, with pouting.

Priming Max
Here's a curious thing to ponder. When I feed the dogs, Max always wants to be the first inside the door and he usually gets to his food first. But lately he just stops, looks at me, and waits. This has happened before. In fact it has happened with one of our other Newfie dogs in the past. At first we thought that the dogs (then non eating dogs) were not hungry or that there was some sort of eating hierarchy going on. Then we thought that the dogs were regulating their own weight. We noticed that they kept looking at us and then looking back at their food. For a while we thought we had fixed the problem by adding something tasty to their food, because when we did this we noticed there was not hesitation on his part to dig in and eat. However when we stopped putting something in his food he stopped eating again. You might think that we had spoiled him and that he was thinking that if he waited we would put something tasty in his bowl. We thought so too so we talked to our trainer and she suggested the probiotic enzyme that I wrote about on a previous post. This worked great.It was a powder in a capsule that we would open and sprinkle on his food. I could sprinkle it on his food before I let him inside to eat and he would eat without missing a beat. It is tasteless so it isn't that he saw me put something in his bowl or smelled a tasty extra treat. Now that we are out of the probiotic and having a difficult time replacing it, we are back to square one. Max is not eating, he looks at us like we are suppose to do something to his bowl. Here's the funny part. If I go to him and his bowl and hand feed him a small handful of his food and stand next to him, he eats it and then he will start to eat on his own from the bowl. Weird dogs! If I just stand there and tell him to eat, to "go on", "eat Max", he just looks at me. The dog needs priming!

(59) Our Little Green Blanket

It's been raining on and off all day today which is good for the new plants growing in the yard but difficult for my high energy dog Beeker. After I returned from work today Brad and I went out to do a noon time walkabout. Beeks and Maxie went with us. Maxie stayed pretty close to Brad as we walked around the yard looking at all the new growth on the hostas and other newly planted flowers and bushes. Beeks ran around the house three or four times so fast that we just stopped and watched him. It's hard to believe that he can go around the house that fast without wiping out. He takes the corners at about three g's. Then Max started to chase Beeks and would go from one side of the house to the other but stop before he had to run between the house and the fence, then went to the other sie of the house to wait for Beeks to come around, hoping to catch him as he came around the other side. At one point they were running so fast that Maxie (150 lb Newfoundland)skidded and wiped out into the Pachysandra, and just lay there, too exhausted to get up and too tired to run. They had a great time. Beeks cheated some as he knew he could go into the woods and that we wouldn't let Max go in there due to all the stuff that attaches to his long coat.

It's raining hard enough now we're going inside. It's time for inside chores and the dogs will settle down for a rest. That is until they hear the girl's outside in the cul-de-sac with umbrellas. That'll get Max and Beeks, our personal alarm systems, sounding off.

It's so lush and green all around us that we are nearly closed off on three sides from anything but the front driveway and circle. It is so comforting it's like our house has it's own green blanket.

(58) LATTICE Entertain You

We are sad here today. Nana and Papa left this morning. We had too short of a visit with them but loved every moment of the time we had with them. We always feel loved and taken cared of when they are here. My mom gets me whipped into shape and I can survive until I see her again. We always have a lot of laughs and good times when she visits and my dad is always willing to lend a hand or tell a good joke to keep us entertained. I'm happy we live close enough to see them on a regular basis.

After saying good bye to the folks Brad and I ran some much needed errands and upon returning home he hit the lawn. We haven't had rain for a number of days and because rain is in the forecast he decided this was his opportunity to cut the grass(what little we have). Since we live in the woods we don't have much grass. Sometimes I tease him that he is mowing the dirt.
On the errand run we looked for the prebiotics and the probiotics that I talked about in a previous post but came up empty handed. The feed store where we get the dog food was out and the local farm store didn't carry it. I know I am able to buy it on line so that is my next option. We did find a hula hoop and a Frisbee however. This will be Beeker's evening activity.

On the morning walk about with Nana and Papa we found one of GeorgeNGracies feathers. It is long and beautiful. I think it must have been a gift. When I showed the feather to Beeker he spent a long time smelling it and then tongue flicked three or four times then sneezed. That made me wonder if the feather pins have some kind of chemical on it to repel other animals. Beeks was curious but I don't think he liked it. I let Maxie smell it as well and he didn't tongue flick but he was highly curious as well. Thanks GeorgeNGracie!

We recently put up lattice around the base of the back deck. We decided that this would enhance the look of the deck (the aesthetics) and also detour Chez from going under and staying under the deck if(when) he got out of the house. Two days ago we got to see just what happened when Chez met the Lattice. I was putting the dogs out for their dinner. I had just put Maxie out and was returning to get Beeker who was standing at the open garage door waiting his turn when Chez darted out(good herding dog huh?) As I went towards Chez, he ran like the wind towards the back yard. Just as I got to the back yard Chez met the left side of the deck and the LATTICE. He just stopped and head butted the lattice. Then when he was me he jumped horizontally across the stairs to the other side where he again met the LATTICE. I think he didn't really know what to do but he jumped up on the deck and then back down to where he thought he could get under it but met the LATTICE. Two more times he repeated the jumping up and down from the deck to try to get the LATTICE to disappear. Even at the corner of the deck and the house where he usually rubs his scent, he met the LATTICE. He may have thought that he hadn't gone the right way. So in resignation he jumped back up onto the deck to sit by the back door. He just stayed there until I got up to him and picked him up. He began to purr as I carried him into the house. I think he was happy that I had rescued him.

I'm sitting out in the screened in patio with the animals three and it is an incredibly calm green experience. I can hear a number of song birds and GeorgeNGracie have flown by a number of times. Brad has stopped mowing so peace reigns again.

(57) Into the Tunnel and Out Again

Yea! Papa came today. He drove here late this afternoon to drve Nana back home. We tried to get Nana to stay longer but she refused saying that she didn't want to wear out her welcome. Oh Please! Anyway we are excited to see Papa and even all of the plants that he also brought with him that Nana promptly put in the garden. What a great pair of parents I have. I'm so very lucky.

We did another working experiment with Beeker today. The last time that Nana came to visit she taught both Max and Beeker to roll over on command. Today we worked with Beeker trying to get him to go through a tunnel. This turned out to be a hoot. First off Beeks gets spooked if anything out of the ordinary happens quickly or if he hasn't experienced it before. Therefore, when I brought out the children's nylon climbing tube he freaked. Nana was not fazed by this. She grabbed a bag full of dog treats including liver treats and off she went to teach Beeks to "tunnel". I remembered that Dr. Grandin wrote about the spook factor of novel events and colors, so I suggested that we pull the sides together so that the tunnel looked like a small hula hoop. The sound and the color(yellow and red)of the tunnel hoop was the greatest stumbling block. I know that for dogs, yellow stands out greatly and the scratchy sound of the nylon was hair raising to Beeks. We fed him treats on top of the hula hoop as it was laying on the ground. Beeks handled this easily. Then with the sides tied together, we tried to entice him to walk through the hoop. Beeks would readily stick his head through the hoop and then when Nana pulled the treat further back he pulled his head back and went around the other way to try to get the treat. Smart dog but not what we wanted. Nana was very patient and we kept encouraging him and praising him to go through. At some point he did go all the way thorough and then kind of looked at us like he wasn't sure that it really happened. Actually I think that he was so intent on getting the treat that his head kept following the treat and he HAD to follow it and his feet just followed his nose. Thinking that it would be easier the second time we were encouraged and hopeful. Wrong. It was like starting from the beginning the second time. I got the feeling that it was even more anxious causing the second time. I tried to put the hoop near Beeks and he backed away, even jumped back. He really got intensely focused on the treat, staring at it but wouldn't go through the hoop, then realizing that he could get to it, go around us to get to it. Then I got a great idea from something that I read about dogs use of modeling from other dogs. Yep I went through the hoop so that he could see how he could do it and how it was done. Mom and I were laughing so hard and the hoop got stuck on my behind that we really lost it. Good thing that I was the one taking the pictures so that we weren't able to document that one. Yep, soon after that Beeks went through the hoop again, body following his nose. Just as intensely as before. I would say that he was able to go through the hoop probably 5 or 6 times but not repeatedly, more intermittently. He really has a difficult time with this concept. I just wanted to get him comfortable with the hoop so I tried to put it near him with me next to him. He was skittish with even being that close to it. I wonder if a hoop or tunnel that was bigger or made out of different fabric or different color would have worked better.

Mom then went over to Max who was laying near by to see what his reaction would be. Max was unfazed by the whole thing. He was too big to go through the hoop but he let Nana put it clear over his head and down his body, with out batting an eye. It's just my skittish dog. I also know that Newfies are a calmer breed and Cattle dogs are higher energy and possibly more anxious so that might be part of it. What ever the reason, I do remember that Beeks will not go through my sister's dog door at all. Beeks has watched her dog Jesse James go in and out of the door but Beeks just sits on the other side and waits until someone opens the door to let him go through. I'm going to keep working with him on this one. I guess I will be buying a hula hoop this weekend as well. I think I will be able to crawl through that.

(56) Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Synbiotics, Oh My

An hour a go I didn't know the difference and now I am trying to get it all straight. Beekster eats a lot of sticks, ropes and other fibrous items as well as grass. Maxie focuses in on the grass. Now I think I know why. Beeker's poops are always hard and fibrous and Max's are always loose(sorry). Here is what I have been able to understand about the differences between Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Synbiotics.

First you are wondering why this so important. To begin, I don't remember the dogs of my childhood ever needing any of these bacterial supplements. The invention or discovery of the uses of prebiotics and probiotics must be fairly new to the pet world. You may have seen the commercials on TV for the benefits of probiotics in yogurt for people. Prebiotics and probiotics are good for humans as well as for pets(cats and dogs). My basic understanding is that within our stomach and intestines we have "good" and "bad" bacteria that work to break down food and chemicals that get into our system. Probiotics are the "good" bacteria that live in the intestines and stomach. Sometimes if we are stressed, been ill, or have taken antibiotics the "good" bacteria may have been depleted along with the "bad" bacteria in out gastrointestional tract. Probiotics replenish these "good" bacteria. You can look for these ingredients in probiotics; Lactobacacillus acidophilus, Bifido-bacterium bifidum, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. They are the "friendly" bacteria or "flora".
Prebiotics are fiber sources. They pass through the stomach and small intestines intact but are fermented by bacteria which reside in the large intestine. Fermentation results from the action of local bacteria and provides a source of energy.Fiber is useful in that it resists being degraded by the stomach acid and the "good" bacteria ferments the fiber, and as a result grows or manufactures more "good" bacteria. Look for these ingredients in Prebiotics; Fructooligosaccharides (honest!)FOS for short. The third of the group is the Synbiotics is a combination of both prebiotics and the probiotics.

So how does this work with my dog's needs? Think of it this way. The Prebiotics are the workhorse of the system working to develop more of the "good" bacteria for the body's gastrintestional system. The probiotics work to manufacture the actual good bacterial that we have depleated through stress, illness and imbalance of the gastrointestional system. I believe they work together for greater health. Both of my dogs need the boost they need due to stress (Maxie) and poor eating habits(Beeker). I will be looking for Snybiotics at the pet food store this weekend.

On a lighter note, the picture is of Abigail the rabbit that my daughter-in-law owns. Isn't she cute?

(55) We're Really Cleaning up Now!

This was one of those days when we had a lot to do although I needed to be on the computer working on the project that seems to go on forever. As luck would have it the Computer Program system was down for three hours and so I was able to work with Nana on a few projects this morning while I waited for the tech people to get the system back up and running. After our walkabout, we decided that there was transplanting to do including moving some wild bluebells and some Ivy. We also transplanted a couple of Elm tree suckers further out into the woods so they would not need to be pulled out. However, the most fun that I had was working with the dogs teaching them about tooth brushing. I talked to my Veterinarian about the need to brush Beeks teeth when we visited earlier this month. She said there was a little tarter build up and suggested that I take it slow and get him comfortable with the taste of the tooth paste then introduce the brushing part. Well, when I was at the grocery store last week I found dog tooth paste and an assortment of tooth brushes in the pet section. The paste alone was expensive. $4.00 for a small tube. I bought Arm and Hammer brand but I am sure there are many other choices of tooth paste as well. How about liver or Beef flavored or maybe peanut butter. I bet dogs would love a squirrel flavored tooth paste. Let your imagination run with this one. Anyway,I was amazed by the number and styles of different toothbrushes for pets.There was one brush that you put on your finger that has small plastic bristles on one side so that you basically just rub the dogs teeth with your finger. I thought that was a good option because the dog or cat would feel the warmth of your finger and it would be fairly soft to the gums and mouth. This cost almost $3.00 for a small cone of plastic! I also saw a brush that looked just like a people tooth brush except that instead of one head of bristles there were three, so that it could surround the tooth of the animal(I guess). This tooth brush seemed too much like the brush that I already use for myself so after much deliberation I decided to purchase the paste only and use a regular toothbrush to start. On the side of the paste there was a warning that said never to use human toothpaste on animals and my Veterinarian had also warned against this so the paste was an essential if I was going to make tooth brushing a routine with Beeks and even Max. I wonder what is so hazardous in people tooth paste?

So today was the day. Since I couldn't get right to work on the computer project I decided to start getting Beeks use to having his teeth brushed. I have shared before that sometimes Beeks is sensitive when it comes to me touching his paws so I wasn't sure how he would react to me putting a tooth brush in his mouth. Well,as you can see by the pictures it was a huge success. I first just brushed his teeth lightly with a plain brush, no paste. I petted him and talked lovingly to him while I brushed the sides and front of his mouth. The funny part was that Max wanted to know what was up and came over to investigate. So, I also brushed Max's teeth. Beeker tolerated the brush, MAx enjoyed it. I think it must have felt like their gums were being massaged. Then I put a small bit of paste on the brush to see if they would tolerate the paste and get them use to that. That is when the tongues started flipping and I could see that this was something very different from what they were use to. Again, Beeker tolerated the paste and Maxie LOVED it! This was great! And their teeth did look cleaner. I could see that some of the tarter was loose or gone. Their teeth looked so sparkly clean that we will be wearing sunglasses from now on and having many more tooth brushing parties in the future. That's when I got the brilliant idea to try to brush Chez's teeth. He didn't think this was such a great idea. He wanted to be near all of the action when the dogs were having their teeth brushed but when it came time for his turn he let me put the brush in his mouth for about one second and then he bolted from the room. Do you think it had anything to do with the dog breath on the brush?

I finally got to put my time in on the computer project,and afterwards I got to finish painting the front railing I sanded on Sunday. It looks so much better and all spiffed up. I also touched up the front door and the back patio door so hopefully we are all good to go for the summer months. Beeker and Max are both exhausted after their figure eight walk after dinner and now Brad is brushing Max. He says that this might be a two bag brushing since Max seems to be blowing his coat. Lucky MFA student. I'll let you know how much the going rate is when I find out.

(54) For Felt and Friends

Brad has many students that work for him. One of the students is a Masters of Fine Arts major from Japan. Once when Brad was showing someone some pictures of Max, this MFA student happened by and asked him if she heard correct that he had a dog and what kind of dog he had. Being the proud dog owner that Brad is he told her all about Max and Beeker. She asked him if he could bring her some of Max’s hair because she was working on a project in which she was making FELT out of dog hair. The problem was that the dog hair that she had gotten from friends’ dogs was from labs and other short haired dogs and it wasn’t long enough or soft enough. She said that she and members of her class had been buying it (dog hair) online and it too was too short to make felt. She asked if Brad would bring some of Max’s hair to her and she told him that she would return what hair she didn’t use (honest!). So, last week Brad took a grocery store bag of Max’s hair to work for this student. If you know how much a Newfie sheds you wouldn’t be surprised that in one brushing a whole grocery bag of hair could be collected. Fact is sometimes Max is so matted or blowing a coat so two or more bags are filled in one sitting. Brad reported today that the student told her supervisor that she had taken the hair to class and the entire class decided that Max’s hair was the best of all the hair collected for this project and wanted to know if Brad could bring in more hair. I guess this might be a new line of work for Maxie. He could be employed to be brushed routinely (he is) and sell it on line. What do you think we could sell it for? I told Brad to find out how much the students were paying. I think that is a hoot. I had Brad pass along that we want to buy some of the felt that was made from Max’s hair. I think I will frame it. I bet he would be the only Newfoundland that has felt made out of his hair.
We worked in the yard again this afternoon and Beeks stayed in our yard the whole time. He would run off and do his doggy business, I called him frequently and he returned each time I called him. When our neighbors called Beeks to come into their yard, I watched as Beeks approached them then ran back to our side and looked at me. He did this a couple of times and I gave the verbal “OK” but he wouldn’t go for the first two or three times they called him until I started to walk over and then he went. I was so pleased that he didn’t go until he got my permission. The other exciting thing that happened today was that our neighbor that has been helping Max with his Meet and Greet lessons came over and felt comfortable enough to walk right up to him and pet him. He did beautiful. He let her pet him and scratch his tummy. I think she was as happy about it as I was. They are buddies now. Max didn’t bark at the little girls running up and riding their scooters around in front of him. Max is still too focused on them when they are around. His heart pounds quicker and he really focuses all attention on what they are doing. We have come such a long way since we brought him home from the rescue and each day we see more positive change for Max. Brad was not around so this is even more impressive because it means that he did great even without the pressure of Brad’s presence. This means that he is more apt to behave with Brad around because he wants so badly to please Brad. Max stayed outside a long time this afternoon and when Brad came home from work we all wnet on our figure eight walk. We haven't walked with the dogs for a number of days so it felt good for all of us. Then we came back to dinner and another project. It sure felt good to finally sit down to write this blog.

A Long Day Abbreviated (53)

Moss does not grow under my mothers feet. Therefore we had a very busy day and I have not had a moment to sit and blog yet. It is late and so I will give you the abbreviated version of my day.

Up at 7:15made coffee cake
8:00 AM out to Garage sales (remember it is a family illness)
first garage sale not so much of a find Only card making paper(a find for me)
second garage sale a great find for my mother who is a great grandmother of two.We took Beeker with us on this short trip. He loves to go in the car, and he sits patiently as we come and go. At the second garage sale, I parked across the street from the sale house. The owners of the home where I parked let their American Staffordshire Terrier out in the front yard. The dog just sat and Beeks went ballistic in the car. When I heard him barking I went back to the car and moved it two houses up so that Beeks couldn't see the dog any longer. He stopped barking and I could return to the garage sale.
9:00-9:30 Back home for breakfast of coffee cake, dishes and walk about in the yard
9:30 Into Champaign for more garage sales
5 or 6 sales by 1:00...lots of good finds but mostly great fun and lots of conversation.
1:00 to pet store for pet food
1:30 Grocery store for people food
2:00 home
lunch
Change clothes
2:30 out in yard for planting
planted wild flower poppies
replanted snowball verbina (we had planted it first in a shady place)
neighbor gifted us 5 peonies so dug those up
planted 5 Peonies
Planted Cannas
Neighbors came to play in yard
Neighbor worked with Max in meet and greet lesson(see pictures above)Success for both!
5:15 Came inside to shower and change for evening in Champaign
6:15 Left for Champaign
7:00 Guys and Dolls at Assembly Hall
10:30: Home
Dinner
11:15 Blog Time
It has been a great day and we are truly tired. Beeks ran around the yard and was happy to run and play with all of the neighbor kids. The youngest kept giving Beeks sticks, she figured out that Beeks likes to jump for them and then sits and chews them so she kept giving him small sticks and Beeks kept taking them and sitting and eating them. I think they were bonding. It was beautiful watching them defining a friendhsip that was developed on their own terms. They both were happy with the gifts that were just between them. They were learning trust between species at the most basic level. Awesome! Max spent a large amount of time off leash in the yard with Brad. Beeks was in the house by now, exhausted and needing some rest. Max loved going where ever Brad went in the yard and stayed by his side like a faithful hound should.

(52) A Good Time was had by All

Nana is in town and I am so thankful for her and all that came with her. Brad has been on a business trip and since he was passing through Nana's town he stopped and picked her up. If you don't know who Nana is she is my mom! Nana is the best mom that a girl could ask for. She is always willing to lend a hand and she's got a wealth of practical knowledge she's willing to share. We always love having her come to visit. So do Max and Beeker. She knows how to spoil a dog as well as any grandchild. Last time she visited she taught both dogs to roll over on command. With treats of course.

This visit she loaded up Brad's rental car with fern,snowball viburnum, sage, Canaan's,Privet and two huge boxes of Pachysandra. My family is wonderful at sharing plants with us for out large yard. I own my sister and my parents a huge thanks for all the plants they have given us over the years. I'm such a plant-cutting hog. Besides a trunk of plants and bushes, she also brought sewing projects and foodstuffs to make Brad a lemon pie. Is She great or what? This morning the weather called for rain by 6AM so we got up early to start putting out plants. We had all of the fern(@16) put out by 8 and all of the Pachysandra out by 10. Then I had to get to work on the computer project and mom continued on in the yard. The rain here didn't materialize but moved south of us. We were kind of hoping that we would get some rain for the plants.
When I came down from the office, mom had the bushes and all of the Privet planted, watered and fed. Let's hope everything survives. We will be watering for the next few days. I have to say that it is beautiful to look into the woods from the back deck and see all the fern returning year after year.

Tonight we were again visited by the neighborhood little girls and their parents. The oldest girl brought her bubble machine and blew bubbles for Beeks. I don't think he could see them. We kept encouraging Beeks to run after them but he was more interested in jumping and running after the sticks the little girls were swinging aound.

The girls figured out that Chez had escaped from the house and was under our deck. When ever he would venture out, the girls would squeal with delight and he would run back under the deck for safety. The girls like Beeks and Max but they LOVE Chez. Chez is not an outdoor cat. We try to keep him inside but every so often he darts out and runs for his safety spot under the deck. A year ago he got out in December when we had one of those days where the temperature started out at 50 degrees and ended up at 10 then went down to -5. We couldn't find him and it got dark. I left food out for him and we looked and called all night but no Chez. I had given him up for dead after three weeks but Brad (who proclaims his hatred for the cat) kept checking with animal services and the local Vets office. Then one evening we got a call from a family saying they thought they had our cat under their deck. We (I) didn't think this could be possible as they lived about 4 blocks away and by now this was 3 full weeks since his hiatus. However, it was him, all crusty, 2 lbs lighter than his 8 lbs and frost bit to boot. To make a long story short, we go after him when he gets out and he tries to hide from us. So Beeks was running around the yard with the girls, chasing sticks and having a great time, The girls were dancing on the deck trying to entice Chez to come out and generally being girls in fantasy land. The adults were talking on the front drive way and Max was barking because he was tethered up. Later my neighbor went with me to pet Maxie and he settled down once he got a smell of her. That was a huge step in Max's meet and greet school. It was a great evening. Then Beeker ran past the deck and Chez bounded out from under the deck, over the hostas and toward Beeker. He was trying to play tag with Beeks! We all get excited and went toward the deck and ...Chez went back under the deck! This happened another two times. Beeks lost interested because there was more activity in the front of the yard so Chez hunkered down until we all went indoors. When Nana went inside there was Chez at the back porch door waiting to be let inside!

After Brad got home we took him outside to show him all of the planting Nana and I did today. He was so impressed! We celebrated by letting both dogs run and play off leash in the yard. As you can see by the pictures, a good time was had by all. Max was a little tired and beeks can run circles around him.
I'm exhausted too. Nana is making her lemon pie, of course. No slowing down for her!

(51)Screams in the Night and other Frights

ATTENTION: This post may not be suitable for younger people and those that get squeamish about biological functions. This is certainly is gross to me!

To start...Just as we were going to bed last night(@11:30)the woods lit up with the screaming sounds of something. Something dying a painful death or screaming for help. It was the kind of scream that goes right to the back of your neck, a scream that I can only describe as bone chilling. As I lay there I thought of all of the possibilities. I am fairly certain that it was NOT a person dying. There were no words associated with the screaming. Just didn't seem right. Then there is of course George and Gracie to think about. I know hawks do their hunting(killing)all day. I once observed a hawk take a young squirrel while the mother (I presume) screeched, right in front of me in the middle of the day. So it could be the hawks. As I have shared before, we have heard Coyote pups at night. They kind of yelp and carry on. We usually hear them if the night is fairly still and not windy. Last night it was hot and still in the night (get it? "in the still of the night") But this sound was screaming, animal screams not yelping or howling at the moon. Brad has seen a fox walking down the lane. It could be the the fox on the prowl or mixing it up with other nocturnal animals. And of course I wouldn't want to forget the many masked faced raccoons that come to eat at my bird feeders. I know they are prey for something since we have found one or two decaying bodies near the creek. Raccoons make the most horrendous screeching sounds when they are mating so they are a possibility. My imagination could go on wondering what all the screaming was about but I think it is better to just chalk it up to night time wilderness ruccus. My doors were locked and I had two great alarm dogs next to me.

If that description did not scare you maybe this will... Brad sent me an email describing one of Beekers rudest behaviors. Turns out that the butt scootch he has been doing on my carpet is because his anal glands are full and he is trying to open them up and let the "pus" come out. Great and all I thought was that he needed to go outside to poop! I had no conceptualization of these glands and although I have owned a good number of dogs I have not been exposed to this process. I guess this is a naturally occurring issue with dogs and if the anal gland sacs get clogged then they need to be opened up and drained, or "popped". The anal glands have oil in them to help stool pass. I know that Beeks sometimes gets constipated cuz of all the sticks,ropes and other lovely items he eats. There is a procedure that I read about in the article Brad sent. I won't share what that process is because it is way too graphic for my blog but if you are a "do it yourself" kind of person I will give you the website so you to read up on it. If you don't really care to know too much about such bodily functions then you can either have you Veterinarian or the groomer do it for you (I mean your dog). The article is titled, "Anal Glands 101, Dog, Cat, and other Pet Friendly Travel Articles" and you can access this great article at... www.petswelcome.com/articles/anal-glands-101
P.S. there's a great picture too.

Well, since I don't have a picture of Beeker on the scootch, I just posted a picture of my Lilac's that just bloomed today. I love Lilacs!

(50) Friends , Feathers and Flowers

50 blogs. Can you believe it? I'm kinda getting the hang of this thing. I'm enjoying the process of writing every day and also focusing on what I do with Beeks allows me to see that I am working to enrich his life as well. Pretty good combo I think. I am taking a mandatory break from my computer project(project computer issues, not mine) and Beeks and I are getting a little fresh air out on the deck. Max looks like he wants to come out but I don't have Beeks on a tie out so I will wait to let Max out in a short time. Beeks takes little darts at squirrels he hears/sees and then comes back to the deck. I have to recall him sometimes but sometimes he comes on his own. He mostly is cruzin for sticks to chew up. Funny dog.

Late Night Wilderness PartyLast night, close to 1 AM both dogs erupted into a barking frenzy and could not be calmed down. They ran to the back windows (nearest the thick of the woods) and kept barking. I thought Max was going to knock down the plant stand) something I couldn't hear was happening in the great wilderness and it got their attention. They obviously wanted some of that action. I looked out the windows but saw nothing. Finally I got both dogs back into the bedroom and after a few more minutes they settled down for the rest of the night. I thought maybe the interruption would mean we would be getting up later this morning but Nooooooo. 6 AM on the dot Max was breathing in my ear. He has a wonderful internal clock. If I am working upstairs on the computer I will hear him getting up and start walking towards the stairs to come get me for his dinner. When I look at the computer clock it usually says 5:01. Some dog!

Playtime with Little Girls
When I do get to the dogs' dinner routine it goes something like this: I put them out in the run to go potty while I put food in the bowls. Then I let them inside the garage on a a time, depending who sits first and most patient. Then I tether Max and open the garage. As soon a Beeks is finished he and I play some games. I throw the Frisbee, or ball and I get him to jump for the rope. Since it has been nice and sunny out lately, the little girls that live next door have been riding their scooter's over when they see the garage door open. This is great practice for all of us. I am so grateful that they want to come over and feel comfortable enough to do so. They are somewhat cautious of Beeker at first,(he sometimes will want to chase them or herd them, being the cattle dog that he is) but slowly they begin to play with him wanting to do the throwing or getting him to follow them when they are scooting around. I watch this slow warming and think of the "curiously afraid" that Temple Grandin talks about. This is good for Beeker and for the girls. I want Beeks to know that squealing, laughing small people are not for herding or chasing. I want him to know that they get to say when to play and he gets to choose if he wants to follow them.
Max is a different kettle of fish. He barks and pulls at his leash. His tail is wagging and I know he would love to play with the girls but I also know that he would be too brash, too rough. Yesterday when the girls came over, the youngest girl, had a small stuffed cat that she was carrying. She got brave and walked into the garage where Max was and was talking to him. He kept looking at her like he wanted to get to her, he was really pulling and barking at her. Then I realized what was going on in his mind. He wanted he stuffed cat! I went into the house, got one of his stuffed animals, had him go to a sit and then gave him one of his own stuffed animals. He lay down and quieted right up! That was what he wanted. It is true that he is always calmer when he has something in his mouth. I think it is a Newfie thing. My neighbors is so wonderful to help us with doggy obedience school. I want Max to be okay with the girls around and not think that small people=prey. He still has such a difficult time with meet and greet. The littlest neighbor just stands at the garage opening and talks to Max, she doesn't like it that he is tethered up but neither does she like his over the top behavior. Tonight when she was talking to him, he barked real loud and it scared her, I told her that max was just replying to her and like she was talking to him, he was talking to her. She turned around and told Max, "no barking!" I am hoping that we will get a lot of tolerance practice this summer.

Rewarding Playtime
After such a long day of ignoring my dogs, I thought that they would like some play time fun, so I filled the Premier bottle and the Premier Twist-n-Treat and had the dogs sit and watch me as I put them both under a small blanket. Then I released them, to go to it. You can imagine the frenzy. Actually, Max was the more inquisitive one. Beeks sniffed the rug but Max went right for the Twist-n-Treat. I thought that he might have some difficulty opening it up to get the treats out but i was so wrong. He put it between both paws and then used one paw to turn it with pressure from the floor. Now this might not seem to much of a difficult thing but the toy only turns one way. He really kept at it and soon all the goodies were gone. It took him only about 7 minutes. Beeker is use to the treat bottle but it takes him a while too bang it all around and get the goodies out. He too kept focused on the toy, even carrying it around when he thought that Max and I were going to do some thing fun in the kitchen. It has been so warm that I think I will put some cold stuff in the Kong and the squirrel buddy so they can have cold treats tomorrow. Summer fun!

George and Gracie's Nest
The trees have filled in so much in the last few days that I am not able to see the nest so well. We have seen George and Gracie in the late afternoon, flying in the woods. They are more vocal in the afternoon and I love watching how graceful they are flying in and around the trees. They really make their presence known. We (the dogs and myself) all stop and look up when we see their shadows pass by. The screened in porch is a really good place to sit and watch all of the afternoon happenings in the woods and down the lane.

I'm working with Max when ever some distraction occurs and he gets anxious and ready to bark. I sit with him and pet him while he watches. I want him to increase the part of his brain that is able to control his impulses. Think there is a chance? He actually is doing quite well at this exercise. He may bark at first but talking to him calmly goes a long way. It seems that Beeker is the initial alert system of the pair, so I can get Beeks to stop first then maybe I can get Max to ignore the excitement too. So much to do...

(49) Weird Dog World

I am deep into the computer project and not without some dissension. Beeks is willing to lay low for a good part of the day but soon (about 2-3 hours) he wains. He starts playing with the cat, he brings me toys and drops them in my lap, when his subtle hints doesn't do him any good, he goes for the big guns, Max. When Max and beeks walk in the office together and start wrestling, I've lost the patience battle. It's time for a break.

We live down a beautiful tree lined lane. On either side of the lane are our neighbor's back yards. With most backyards come family dogs. They bark, let their presence be known and all is good with the world. When we take the dogs for a walk, we have to walk down the lane. no problem, Lots of neighbors use our lane as a pass thru to other neighborhoods. It works well for everyone. However, Max and Beeks have a nemesis. Honest. When ever we get close to "Fido's" yard, both dogs get antsy. Max pulls and almost bucks. We have worked with him over the years so that now he mostly whimpers when we get near. Beeks gets right on that band wagon. He barks his wimpy bark, letting Max and Fido know he's there too. If we continue on, all gets aligned and the world continues to function. If we pass other dogs out in their yards, Max and Beeks will strut right past like they are ignoring the dogs, or if the dog barks a greeting, Max and Beeks will pull to see what is happening in the hood. It's a dogs world and they are happy to be a part of it. It's not just Max and Beeker with this specific dog issue. Fido lets my dogs know he isn't happy aobut this territory being invaded as well. If Fido's owners walk him down the lane towards our house and we happen to be outside, there is great dog tension at both ends of the leash. When we first got Max and I tried to walk him alone down the lane, he would pull me down into the gravel. Totally bad scene. Here's the thing. When we first moved here and we had Belle and Beau instead of Max and Beeker, they too would get anxious near Fido's yard. Belle actually growled, which is interesting because Belle was the most passive of any dog I have ever met. Fido isn't naturally aggressive. He is what we call "an Olden Golden". He is a slow moving, family loving dog as far as I can see. He just gets my dogs' goats. Why is that? I can't figure out why this one dog is able to cause pure chaos when we encounter him. something to continue to think about. Maybe something to do with a specific behavior or maybe unbeknown to us, he may be an intact male. He doesn't act like it however, no other signs of aggression when we see him with his family or next door dogs. Weird dog world.

Do you remember me telling you about Beeks hesitation with jumping on the bed when I call him up? Remember that I could stand by him and tell him to "bed up" and he would jump right up but if I was sitting on the bed and try to call him up in my sweetest voice and plead with him, he just sits and almost jerks with desire but some apprehensiveness to jump? The funniest thing happened when I was working on this blog. The dogs came to the bed to let me know they wanted to get up. Beek's with his head on the bed, and sad puppy eyes. Max just up close with heavy breathing,so I said "okay, come on". Max went to his side of the bed and jumped right up. No problem. Beeks quivered. I begged him almost. "Come on, Come on, up Beeks." Then he Jumped right up. On my lap! Between me and the computer. He wants to be my lap dog! I sat with him in that position for about 5 minutes cuz I was in shock. Then he was too hot. I moved him down a bit then moved my computer so I could continue to blog.
Weird dog world.

(48) Dog Heaven

Yesterday Beeker and I went to the woodsy part of the Lake of the Woods Prairie. This always gets the dogs excited. Even when I drive up the street to get to the entry, they start moaning. There is not other way to describe the sound that comes out of them when they know they are about to go somewhere they love. The prairie and the grandparents house. Since Brad had to work,it was just Beeks and me. Beeker has not been to the woodsy part since last year because it gets just too muddy during the winter and early Spring. I put him on the 20 foot leash with out his gentle leader so that he could really track all of the smells. He is absolutely in Dog Heaven when we go this route. It's wet, its muddy, its smelly, and its got lots of grasses and sticks to jump over. True dog heaven. I so wish I could have him off lead. We have been there when we have met other dogs and owners with the dogs off lead and I always wonder how they can afford to do that. I would be afraid that I would be ticketed for breaking the leash law and afraid that Beeks would run away and not return. My fear. Anyway, he loves getting twenty feet of freedom. We were about 5 minutes into the trail and Beeks starts to put his nose to the ground, tracking back and forth across the trail. I'm thinking that he is going to find some interesting stuff, a dead critter or deer doot or something real cool. He stops and then goes for something I can't recognize but looks orange. I get to him just as he is about to swallow a tiny piece of a goldfish cracker. The tail end. Yep that's my tracker!

The trail has been bushwhacked somewhat,cleaned up, tree limbs cut and large chipped limestone put down for the runners that use this 5 mile trail. It's rugged and it has good changes in the terrain so most every day there are joggers on this wilderness trail. Whenever we see some person coming I recall Beeks and when he comes I keep him to a heel. We greet who ever we meet and I notice that we don't get a warm greeting in return. Now if you know Beeker, he isn't threatening. He looks but doesn't bark. I think that most people are fearful of any dog they don't know, even dogs who are under control. Even if they have dogs themselves. Even if they are "dog people".

We cross creeks every so often. This is the best part to Beeker. On the right is slime water and on the left, filtered through the big limestone rocks, is clear. I gear him towards the clear side and in he goes. It cools him down, it feels great and then up he comes, happy as a dog in heaven. I was able to keep him to the left for most of the creeks, except one time when he went into the left side, splashed then darted up and out of the creek bed into the other side. the slime side. When he came out his face was covered green.
By the time we got back to the car Beeks was happily wet,sandy and severely muddy. He had to ride in the way back to get home. This isn't his usual station in life but he was so tired that he didn't complain. Good thing DQ was on the way home. He didn't complain about that either.

(47) Game On

It is a beautifully warm (some would say hot even)75 degree sunny day. Since Brad is at work all day and I can't work on my computer project I had to again make a day plan. So I decided to first take my walkabout and then take Beeks to the Lake of the Woods Prairie. Only this time I wanted to take him to the wooded area where a number of creeks bisect the 5mile trail.

On our walk about the yard we discovered that the tulips I dug up last year because they were not growing in the front garden, were growing in the ash pile. This says something about me or them, I'm not sure which. In the garden they grew big leaves and then die. No flowers. I kept thinking that it was the early spring weather we were having that had prohibited the flower growth, but each year nothing, so I dug them up and dumped them where we dump all of yard waste and ashes from the fireplace. I couldn't believe it when I saw how beautiful the one Tulip was. Hence the picture. I had Max tethered out on the back deck so that he could enjoy the shade and smell the fresh air. Beeks was off lead. My mistake on that one. Beeks thought it was a great game to run near Max and just out of reach so that Max couldn't get to him. Max nearly choked himself a number of times. They would wrestle and then it would turn into Max torture again, so I stopped the play and put Beeks on the 1 foot short lead for the rest of the roundabout. I am beginning to really like the 1 foot short lead because it forces Beeks to keep at a heel. He doesn't fight it and If I want to let him off lead I can just let go of it and it stays attached but not connected to me. In other words he can keep the leash attached but not trip on it when I am not holding it.

Then after making the complete rounds of the yard, inspecting the growing fern, the newly planted vinca minor(Periwinkle), and the already blooming Bleeding Hearts we headed inside.Only to see our resident Western Fox snake at the stoop of the front door. We have seen this guy(gal)since we moved here. I think it likes the warmth from the front bricks and the coolness of the cement. Anyway, last year we found babies in the spring. Brad says we need to name him also since we are naming all of our part time residents. I'm going for Stanley. As in Laural and Harding. He is pretty big, about three feet. Western Fox snakes are common in central Illinois and are not poisonous. That's a good thing.

We went to the Prairie woods this afternoon and I will tell you all about that tomorrow. It was pretty exciting. However, I want to share a conversation that my sister and I had this morning about dogs and play. Let me know what you think.

Juli was telling me that her dog Jesse James creates and plays games. Jesse is an only dog in the family. He has lots of dog friends whom he plays with frequently. Juli also takes Jesse to the dog park so he plays with new friends as well. At home Jesse gets lots of love and attention from Juli so he is not neglected by any means. When Juli is otherwise occupied, Jess will create games. One of them that I have seen is where he takes his ball to the top of the stairs and noses it slowly until it falls down the steps. He then runs to get recover it and brings it back to the top and noses it until it falls down the steps again. Another game he created happens when he finds a fly or bug of some sort. He will manipulate it in some sort of fashion and then watch its reaction, then manipulate it again, repeating the game. I have seen my cat Chez do this game playing and creating as well. He will fling one of his cat toys and then pounce on it, or fling it in the air and then over a bench and then stalk it. He loves this solo play. Max and Beeker don't create solo games. My question to Juli and to everyone else is: Why do some dogs and cats engage in solo play when others don't? We talked about a number or possibilities which I will suggest and maybe you will have some others. Do your pets create games to play?

I believe that Beeker and Max are as intelligent as Jesse James and Chez so intelligence doesn't enter into this conversation. I believe that play has a lot to do with novelty and surprise. The sheer rush of the unknown is fun and physically arousing for all of us (sometimes positively and sometimes negatively but arousing none the less). Beeks and Max have each other to play with to get the suprise aspect of play, so when ever Beeks wants some excitement he goes to Max. Jesse creates this excitement for himself. Juli reminded me that little baby humans do this too. They drop their spoons on the floor to see what happens and we adults pick it up only to find out that the babies are laughing and doing it on purpose.
Juli also suggested that other dogs that live in single dog families don't all create games to occupy their time and need for excitement. This is true. We know of other dogs that are just hppy to be around people and except for chasing a ball don't play. Then there is Chez our cat. As I said before, he likes to create his own games and plays alone frequently. However, he plays with Beeks often and with Max to some extent. Even today while I was having this conversation with my sister Chez was batting Beeker on his rear and Beeks was rolling over for some rough and tumble with Chez. They chased each other, Chez chasing Beeker and then backing Beeker up against the wall. His back was arched but there was no hissing or growling, Just for Fun. The whole thing. So Chez and Jesse James both are able to multi-play. Isn't that a higher brain function? I'd be interested in hearing if other people's dogs and pets create games for the thrill of it.