(97) A Day at the Races

We arrived at the ‘rents home late last night. Both dogs did exactly as I predicted and futzed around the car, moving as long as possible then finally settling down while we were on long stretches, getting up when we slowed down or changed lanes. Once when we were between Peoria and Galesburg, both dogs were finally sleeping, when in unison, they bolted up, sniffing the air above them. Max sniffed with nose to the ceiling, and Beeks sniffed with his nose also up but looking around like he expected to see some animal corresponding to related odor. He remained attentive with his nose quivering and his body moving around his seat for a good 8 minutes or so. I find this both amazing and interesting that dogs have the ability to smell a passing odor, in a car when we were not able to even tell that we had encountered it. If we were to have passed a dead skunk, dead dear, or such, I could understand. This wasn’t the case.
This morning we got up early to head down town to the QC Criterium. These bike races are extremely competitive and are a mixture of child to adult races with varying skill levels, culminating in large purse winnings by the end of the day. Riders come from multiple states and the course winds around the down town district. Multiple turns create the backdrop for multiple bike crashes which is both scary and exciting. I have seen 16 riders go down on a single turn. That's extreme biking. Although the rains often squelch (depending on your perspective) or increases the fear factor, today’s rain had all but diminished by the time we arrived. We took the dogs with us so that they could get an outing and also have some exposure to other people and dogs (ie: socialization). This turned out to be as interesting as the bike races. Yes, we saw multiple dogs and owners walking on crowded walks. We maneuvered along sidewalks with observant eyes. Both Max and Beeks heeled wonderfully and listened to our commands. We were so proud. The unexpected adventure turned out to be that we forgot Max’s obsession with fast moving bicycles. Max went into prey mode as soon as we got to the observation fence. His eyes were focused and he didn’t move. I tried to distract him with bits of sweet potato, without luck, and he loves sweet potato! Actually this turned out to be a “teaching moment” for Max. He started to half whimper and half bark. That is the only way I can describe the funny sound that came out of his mouth. He knew he couldn’t bark, he knew he couldn’t jump up and so he sat there and “woofed” in a short high pitch notes. It was extremely funny. He stopped after the last bike went by and then started again when more bikes came around. He was entertaining to say the least! He was cheering on the bikers like the rest of us. Dogs walked by behind Max and he didn’t see them. Beeks,not being interested in the bikers very long,was much more interested in other dogs. Different dogs,different interests I guess. We ended up petting Max and talking to him in quiet voices as the bikers came around. Then we decided to walk with him. This seemed to work the best. It is difficult to do two things at one time. He couldn’t heel and look at the bikers at the same time. Many people wanted to pet Max and engage with him while we walked along. This is always good for Maxie since he sits and is patient with interested strangers. Beeks just kept his nose to the ground looking for bits of dropped food. The day was overcast so we were able to spend a great deal of time outside without fear of overheating the dogs. Foour complete races later, we headed for home and a tasty afternoon barbeque. More on that adventure tomorrow. Suffice to say, the barbeque was delish and a good time was had by all, even the four dogs.

(96) Day Trippin' With the Dogs

As I gather the necessary items to take with us to our day trip north, the dogs are besides themselves. They follow me like I’m a rock star. They’re my groupies. This can give a person a huge inflated ego. It also can give a person a broken leg. They are so under foot that if I turn around they are right there. I’d appreciate it more if they would lay in a strategic position and watch what I’m doing, but I guess they are concerned that I might move something or go somewhere without them. God forbid that! If Beeks or Max could get closer to me I don’t think I could move. They watch my every move. When I went out to pack some food for them, I could hear them breathing on the other side of the door! A constant ready. We won’t be leaving until later so they have a long anxiety filled wait. When we do leave Max will refuse to go outside, except to get in the truck. It will take both dogs about 30 minutes to calm down enough to lie down. Then if we slow down to turn or make a stop they will pop right up.

Garden flowers… On the walkabout this morning we discovered a lily that isn’t purple; it’s a beautiful color of red. I’m sharing a picture, it’s so beautiful, a deep rich red. I almost hate to say this but its suppose to rain tonight and I hope it does. We have missed the last few predicted thunderstorms and my plants need the rain. I have watered the most delicate but all of the plants need a good soaking.

A silly movie… We rented a silly movie the other night. On the premise that we knew it was a silly movie but it also parodied the dog show world. Best in Show, is absolutely the silliest excuse of a reason to see dogs and owners. I was struck by the number of B stars that were in this movie. On the other hand the dogs were all champions. We realized this when we watched the credits, trying to figure out who all of the actors were. Anyway, it gave us a laugh and that was worth it. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Academy Award winner but if you love seeing dogs and can imagine what their owners must be like at the show level, this silly movie is for you.


Talking about silly… Brad sent me this U Tube video and it is so worth your time. It is about a dog and well, breakfast. Enjoy!


Books... I’ve started reading Chase! by Clarissa von Reinhardt. It’s about positive ways to manage your dog’s predatory instincts. This is Max’s biggest challenge, so after I read it I will be passing it on to Max’s owner.

(95) Hot Dogs at the Farmer's Market

It’s hot, so we decided to get up early and go to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. We thought that going early would provide cooler weather and fewer people to contend with, so off we went. We were however, wrong. It was still extremely hot and it seemed that everyone else had the same good idea. The dogs did quite well, considering all of the other dogs and multitude of people forging their way through the aisles of produce and crafts. Max got hot quickly, with his black coat against the blazing sun. Beeker’s coat is mostly black but he only has one layer of hair where Max has an undercoat as well. We were able to proceed slowly enough, looking at new potatoes, tomato plants and lots of sweet smelling strawberries. I did spy clematis. I’ve been contemplating buying one for the fence section we have in the back yard. I decided against it since its flowers were purple (see past post).

The Dogs…We live in an area where there are very few places for people to take their dogs with them in public. The farmer’s market is one of them, so there were a lot of dogs to engage with ours. I, with Brad’s assistance, realized that Beeks doesn’t do so well when confronted by other dogs, while he’s on a leash. He gets almost defensive. Max does quite good. Beeks will greet other dogs cautiously, leaving me to think all is good, then, when my confidence goes up thinking that all is well, he will let out a low growl. He doesn’t do this when he is off leash, when he meets dogs at the dog park. Other dogs just want to be friends but to Beeks it is like he thinks he needs to be powerful or dominate. I have mentioned before that Beeks also gets barky when he sees another dogs while he(Beeks) is behind the window of the car. I saw he is Window empowered. When we are on a walk (leashed) he doesn’t bark at other dogs he sees. He in fact, reminds me of Pongo from 101 Dalmatians. He almost prances. He walks with a proud step. Maybe it is all a show, a lack of confidence so he acts bold. A dog’s version of a bird puffed up? I think it is good practice that we don’t get to do very often since we aren’t encouraged to take our dogs many places. I guess I am grateful for the few places we are encouraged to take our dogs.

The plant… In the end, we chose a purple millet. Okay it is purple too. But it is a deep purple. It looks like a cross between a corn stalk and a cat tail. The leaves and stalk look like corn and the top looks like a cat tail. Millet is a grain commonly used in bird seed but a quick glance on the web showed that millet can be used for flour and bread. I am sure the birds will love it and I think it has a beautiful deep color and interesting height different than the other perennials we have. Did I mention I never met a plant I didn’t like? So many plants, so little time(and money).

(94) He Don't Need No Stinkin' Trail

It seems like I got a lot of negative feedback regarding my research on dog Breath. Sorry to offend some of you, it’s just that sometimes a little primary research is necessary to satisfy a curious mind.

We got up early again this morning and walked around the yard, Beeks and I that is. It is such a ritual that Beeks expects me to go out with him. He just waits for me to get my shoes and then he settles down and waits for me to get ready with my coffee. On those days when I am running late or for some reason, can’t go out for a walkabout, he hunkers down and distances himself from me. Today, however, all was good. The temperature when we went out was about 65, with a slight breeze. It was beautiful. I’m waiting for my lilies to bloom and also the delphinium and hollyhocks. They all have blooms that are just about ready to burst forward. I need some color other than blue or purple in the yard. My neighbor was commenting that she only had plants that bloomed white flowers. When I left to come home, I noticed that all we have are blue and purple. Don’t get me wrong, I love blue and purple, but a garden needs some color variety. I am hoping that some of the trumpet lilies will be red and the daylilies are golden so that will be some variation.
When I returned from work, I decided this would be a good day to take Beeks to the forest preserve. The preserve is located next to the prairie where I usually take him. In fact I park in the same parking lot but go across the road to where the forest preserve begins. I decided to change things up a bit for Beeks. The weather was warm, 83 degrees, and so I thought if we walked in the woods and flower gardens this would allow a change of scent and view for both of us. The gardens have lots of beautiful flowers right now and the waterfall is going strong. We perused through the gardens and then headed for the wooded paths. This turned out to be both exciting and frustrating. It was exciting because Beeks had not gone this way before and every step was full of anticipation and anxiety (see pictures above). As soon as we got to the woods, Beeker freaked out over a large fallen tree. He got into a curiously fearful crouch, not wanting to go forward. I had to lead him past the log. Then he regained his leadership role. The weeds and brush were taller than him and so he went forward cautiously. He smelled his way through, sometimes doubling back to see if he missed anything important. We proceeded this way for nearly a half mile. By then I had succumbed to the eternal blanket of mosquitoes. I also wondered if I was getting a good coating of poison ivy. My decision to wear shorts was probably not a great one. I wonder how lucky I will be? We made a loop of about a mile and by the time we returned to the car we were both exhausted and hot. We both had a great time exploring and it didn’t take our whole day. By the time we returned we had only been gone a little more than an hour. That’s the great thing about dogs. A little adventure goes a long way. They appreciate a little attention, and a little excitement. They need to have their brains stimulated and then they are ready to relax. Beeks quickly found a cool spot on the wood floor to cool down, and crash. Dogs are Great!

(93) Dog Breath

Halitosis is the word we use for bad breath, rather chronic bad breath. Dogs don’t have halitosis. They have dog breath. Puppies are different. They have a sweet, milky breath that makes a person want to get really close, and cuddly with them. Dogs, however get into lots of stuff that can temporarily make their breath smell like a garbage dump in a small package! Ugh!
To be honest I couldn’t tell if he did or didn’t. I got right down there and put my nose to his mouth, opened his jaws and stuck my nose into his mouth to smell. I smelled coffee. I smelled garlic, I smelled tomato sauce. Maybe... I was smelling my own breath reflected in his mouth. I often hear that dogs breath smells bad. And I have to agree that whenever Beeks decides to eat something rotten or absolutely disgusting, like duck droppings or other … (put in your own gross animal byproduct), well I know it does stink. I also put my nose in Max’s mouth. I thought that he would be a better candidate for foul breath since he has all that drool sitting in there but actually he smelled Okay as well. The only discernable ingredient I could make out from Beeks was a sweet grassy smell. Max smelled a little like sweaty hair or paws. Dogs only have sweat glands, in their paws and in their noses but they really aren’t for regulating temperature. Back to the point, I researched and read that if a dog regularly has dog breath it may be an indication of periodontal disease. One article I read suggested that it is believed that 80 percent of dogs over 3 years of age have some periodontal disease. I know that when we take the dogs to the Vet, she will look in their mouth and check their teeth for tarter build up. If a dog has too much tarter build up it may lead to gingivitis, which is treatable and then to Periodontitis. In other words tooth decay. I have shared how I have been brushing Beeks and Max’s teeth and so maybe this is one reason I couldn’t smell any bad breath. I also like to give them treats when we are training (I rationalize these are training treats, Right!). The treats they get besides the sweet potato is from the makers of their dog food. The little circular treats are essentially their dog food with other ingredients, such as mint. Yea, the mint really helps, I think it smells good. Just goes to prove that the added ingredients are for human enjoyment and not for the dogs’. This reminds me of the time when my sister and I gave Certs to some horses we came across when we were camping as young children. We thought their breath smelled bad and so we decided they needed Certs to clear up the matter. I hope they didn’t die from it. Their breath did improve a bit and we stayed just long enough to give them the whole roll.
I guess for now my dogs don’t have chronic Dog Breath, and hopefully the teeth brushing will continue to help. Chez the cat is different. He doesn’t like his teeth brushed and he doesn’t like me to get right in his face either. Maybe I should give him some Certs.

(92)Its Swimmin’ Time or Spray Paint's your Best Friend

We’ve been getting up earlier these days. Although Brad leaves for work at the crack of dawn during the summer, we (the dogs and I) have been getting outside as early as possible due to the heat. The humidity is the same but the temperature is cooler and almost enjoyable. If Beeks and I begin our walkabout early enough we are usually able to chat with our neighbors as they leave for work and school. We love this morning calm. The birds actually sing since it isn’t deathly hot and there is a sweet smell in the air. This morning I noticed the mock orange bush is blooming and that has the softest sweet smell you ever encountered. I think the deer like it too as there were two bent and broken branches on it. I seem to be much more productive in the morning as well. I have much more energy to get the projects completed that I have set for myself if I get started early in the morning. For instance, yesterday I stayed inside when I got up and did some of the chores like unloading the dish washer, doing laundry and other BORING house chores. We did put some music on LOUD so that helped but the morning got away from me quickly. By the time I was able to get outside it was so hot and humid that I really didn’t have the energy to go out and do anything. I did finally make myself take Beeks for a walk after I returned from getting the mail and discovered that the sun was under a cloud and it seemed like it wasn’t so hot. Beeks was so excited that he twirled in circles. I don’t think he knew how hot it really was outside. We walked the large figure eight, where we encountered a few other walkers and dogs. By the time we got home we were both panting! This was around the dogs dinner time so I fed them both and then I decided that a cool down was in order. Some time ago, I had gotten a child’s pool from our neighbors when they decided to get a larger one for their girls. This plastic pool is perfect for the dogs. It is portable, it is shallow, it holds just the right amount of water. As the dogs ate, I filled the pool. We didn’t observe the “No swimming for an hour after eating” rule. Beeks went first. He was timid at first but sniffed the rim and drank some of the water after I held some up to his mouth. I tried to coax him in but to no avail, so then I did the only rational thing to do, I lifted his paws and put them in the pool and then pushed the rest of him in. He loved it! Really, he walked around, drank from it, got out and then back in. I put some water all over him, gently on his back and tummy, I asked him to sit down, and he tried, he really tried but the water was so cold, he couldn’t quite get all the way down to a sit. It was more like a squat. Who can fault him? I thought it was cold, and because the ambient temperature was so warm, it felt even colder. Then it was Max’s turn. He had no problem walking right in the pool. He just stood there like, “What exactly did you want me to do in here?” He refused to sit down as well, but like the cool water for drinking. This whole episode lasted less than 20 minutes but I decided that it was a good start to summer water fun. I left the pool full of water and if it gets as warm today as yesterday, we will try it again. This morning on our walkabout, Beeks was highly curious about it and sniffed the rim for a long time. Maybe they are not the only animals that took a swim yesterday.
As I said at the beginning, we have been getting up earlier now that it is light earlier and the coolest part of the day. One of the items on my To Do list is to paint the treasures I got at last weekend’s garage sales. I like to use spray paint. My sister taught me that “spray paint is your friend”. I’m a convert, and I try to convert as many others as possible. Spray paint changes everything. It makes everything look new and fresh. I use three colors that go with my interior house pallet . (sorry, sounds a little artsy) I use only white, black or oregano spray paint. I’ve used it to improve picture frames, tables, chairs, lamps, most anything. So this week I have been using it on a bookshelf and a sofa table. The bookshelf will go out on our screened in porch and the sofa table will go in our bedroom. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have everything I own spray painted, but sometimes a table or chair just screams for new life, and spray paint will do the trick. The picture above is the first coat on the table. I had to start early today so that I can give it two coats with a sanding between. And time for swimmin’ too! Perfect!

(91) A little red fox came out of the woods…

Usually when I go get the mail I take Beeks with me. He gets a chance to run in the yard and I get a chance to practice heeling and recall with him. Today however was different. He had been out with me a number of times already. We went out early to walkabout, then again when I started my paint project. By this afternoon when I went to check the mail, it was incredibly humid and hot, about 88 degrees with 80 percent humidity. I decided to leave Beeks and Max inside and go alone to check the mail. As I was walking up our driveway I got the best surprise of the week. Of course, whenever I go walking I look all around the yard and check out the hood. I like to know who is home, who is gardening, and say “hey” if they are out. Today from the back end of my neighbor’s driveway came a small, trotting red fox. It trotted all the way up the driveway almost to the circle but stopped short of entering it when it must have spied me. It turned around and quickly trotted back the way it came. This was during the hottest part of the day. What was that little fox thinking? I know that two creeks converge behind our neighbors’ lot and, I remember that Brad has seen a similar fox (the same one?) trotting down the lane. This fox may have been trying to get back to or coming from its den. We occasionally hear fox or coyote kits crying at dusk. We have seen both in our woods/lane. I get so tickled by the number and variety of animals that reside with us here in the woods. Although we are more isolated than an inner city home, we are attached to a sub development and there are other homes near us. It isn’t like we are live alone miles from neighbors. Guess we will now have to name this little red fox. Star fox, Redd, are some names that have been suggested. I wonder how to tell if it is a male or female.
Of course I needed to read up on Red Fox and learn all that I could. Turns out that Red Fox are common to most countries and are seen all over the US. They are from the Canidae family, the same as dogs and Coyotes. This one didn’t weigh more than 10 pounds which is average. Some look like they weigh more, however, it’s due to the great amount of fur they have. They are not specifically nocturnal but tend to be nocturnal if they live in a more urban area. This is because of the need to stay clear of people. They are scavengers but also feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small game, their diet can be as flexible as their home habitat. Foxes will eat fruit and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms. If living among humans, foxes will opportunistically dine on garbage and pet food. They have relatively small stomachs and will cache food for later use. They mark their food with urine and or scent glands. If our foxie is a female she is a Vixen, if he’s a male he’s a dog. Immature fox are kits or pups. Pairs mate in winter with both parents caring for the kits until the end of summer, when the family will dismantle and begin to hunt solitarily. Here is something that I found particularly interesting… Fox dig burrows to birth and protect their young, but when the caring for the young is finished the fox will not use a burrow any longer, choosing to sleep in bedded down grass or thicket. The picture above is from The National Geographic website and not from my spectacular photographic ability, sorry.

While I was out painting a bookshelf I noticed that the birdhouse I bought at a garage sale and spray painted is now being used by a bird. Species unknown, but the nesting is evident. This bird house looks like a lighthouse and has two holes, one above the other. The lower hole has sticks and nesting material coming out. That is pretty awesome. I hear a lot of wrens but other bird songs as well. Hope I get to see this one.

From the Old Dogs can learn new tricks file
Well, My oldest son who is in China right now wanted me to down load and use Skype, so that we could talk while he is there, for communication etc. I have since learned how to download Skype, use it, and I also figured out how to install a Webcam. That’s not all this old dog has learned! Oh,no, I have actually used it and talked to him. Pretty good for an old dog!
P.S. Note to self: When it is rainy and cold be careful what you wish for…

(90) New Dog, Old Trick

Whew! Short, sweet and wild. We had a great but too short visit with Brad's 'rents. When Brad's 'rents visit they come with their Pecan, Bridget. She's a small mixed breed dog, that is part Pekingese and part Bichon Frise. Get it? Pekon? Anyway, Bridget is a 20 pounds or so of a lap dog wanna be. She has great personality and isn't easily intimidated by the big dogs. However, her favorite past time or entertainment when she comes to our house is to chase Chez, our cat. They are about the same size although Bridget outweighs Chez, and the two are highly curious about one another. It was great fun to watch Bridget chase Chez, and Beeker try to engage Bridget, and Max concerned about all of the activity. Our group of dogs adapted well to each other even though they had not been together for a long while. Dogs are great about remembering scents of others. When we returned from dinner, and had settled down with our night caps, I showed off Max and Beeker's current tricks of "rollover". They are getting so good at rolling over, and they LOVE the sweet potato so much that Max started rolling over when I was working with Beeks. We introduced Bridget to sweet potatoes and frozen green beans. She loved them. Then I got a wild hair and decided to teach Bridget to roll over. This turned out to be more than a 5 minute teaching moment. First off Bridget doesn't just sit when told to sit. So I worked with her to just get her to sit when she was given the command to sit. This took many repetitions and lots more sweet potato bits. She did get to the point that she would sit, when she understood what I wanted her to do.I have to admit that it is difficult for any dog to sit on the wood floor. Then I started working with her on the sit to down part. This was much more difficult. Bridget would get into the sit position and then when I signaled her to down, with my hand moving to the ground she would stand up to put her nose to the floor, trying to get the treat. Usually to get the dog to "down", I either have to move the treat directly down to the floor from the dog's nose, then out, and the dog's nose follows. Or as in the case of Beeker, I had to move the treat down and then back, in towards the dogs body. The dog will then move its head and lay down. Max learned best from the down and forward movement and Beeks from the down and back hand movement. Bridget didn't follow either. she kept standing up. Then I decided to stop talking to her and to only reward her when she got the movement correct. This worked much better for her. I think I was confusing her with all of the talk and switching of commands. After she got the sit, down movement the first time, she got it correct about every fourth or fifth time. This was similar to when I was working with Beeker and the hoop. I was then motivated to continue with her knowing that she could do it. Together we did it about 50 trials and then took a break. She was still motivated which told me she was a quick learner. Her interest was high. She played with Chez some more and then we tried it again, I wanted her to have the sit-down reinforced and this diversion worked well to see if she really remembered it. We didn't get any further with the rollover because she had learned so much and I thought that it was important that she got the sit-down really embedded to start. Roll over will be for another time. I was so proud of her.
When we all said good night and went to bed, guess where Bridget slept? Yep, right with us in the dog pile. She jumped right up on the bed and took Chez's place. Chez was highly put out but Bridget refused to move and well, she was so comfortable with all of the other dogs we didn't have the heart to move her. She hunkered down and that was it. No moving her. As Brad fell asleep he commented, "better a dog then a cat!". He just loves to get me going! Chez finally did come up on the bed and slept near Beeker at the end of the bed. What a dog pile.

(89) De-dogging the Dog House

Lots of excitement here today. Brad's parents are coming for a short visit and should be here sometime this afternoon, so you know what that means. Yep, I have to de-dog my house. Actually I am not getting rid of Max and Beeks. I just mean that I have to clean and pick up all of their toys. My house not only looks like a dog house , it smell like one too. The last time that Brad's rents came, his step mom came down the stairs and stepped on a dog toy(a ball?)and broke her ankle. Boy did I feel like a heel. She had to have pins put in her ankle as well. So I really have to do a good job this time. We tend to allow a good teal of time to elapse before we clean really good here since dogs bring with them slobber and a lot of hair. Wait! I DO vacuum when ever the dog hair gets ankle deep in the bedroom carpet(just kidding), but living here in the woods gives us more than our share of dust. My motto is that if you live in the woods, the woods lives in your house as well. My rationalization is that if I cleaned every time I saw dust or hair flying, I would be cleaning non stop and I would not be able to do anything else. That is why we love company. That way, I have to clean and then I know that the house is cleaned once in a while. The last time Nana came we did a deep cleaning and it felt great. I vacuum every day or so, and that is as good as it gets, unless we can get company to visit. Did I mention that Febreze is my new best friend?Confession over for this Sunday!
It is a beautifully sunny day today with humidity of about 80 percent and temperatures in the high 80's. It is suppose to get to 90, and I think it probably will. When I went to go grocery shopping, Beeks got all excited and thought that he was going on a car adventure. When I got my keys, he pranced around in circles, thinking that of course he was going. I had to leave him at home because of the intense heat. I felt bad, and horribly mean but with temps like this and high humidity he would have been too hot in the car. Even with the windows rolled down. I know he didn't understand that I put my shoes on, got my keys and then left him here, but better a sad dog than a hot dog!
We usually don't put the air conditioner on until June but since we are having company that will have to sleep upstairs, I decided to put it on and then we will turn it off after they leave. We can suffer but not our guests.
Brad emailed me from work today and gave me another U Tube video of Newfies. Hope you enjoy it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDe8Z94HUXI&feature=related

I was able to get outside with Beeks this morning to do our walkabout. He(and I) really enjoy these early morning walks to see what is new with the flowers, and the yard. The fern are almost completely covered by forest ground cover(read underbrush and weeds). Only a few fronds are tall enough to be seen. It won't be long until the underbrush will start to die down and we will be able to see some of the fern again. Our peony's are just now opening up (see picture). They smell great and are so beautiful for the short time we have them. At a garage sale on Friday, I got two Columbine plants. They are small but they will come back again next year and be larger. I have to remind my self of the gardener's creed that my sister taught me about growing plants. Sleep, Creep, Leap. It takes three years or seasons for a plant to really show how well it will do. Patience is not my best tribute.

(88) Sunny Saturday Chores

Happy Dog Day! I hope you are able to see the video I have placed here. It is a fun, dog video and will make you want to teach your dog new tricks. Oh, take a towel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pkPNa4DBFHI

(Cut and paste to browser.)

The birds are chirping, the sun is shinning, and its all good. This morning started out super foggy and then got increasingly sunny. As the sun broke through the fog our spirits also began to soar. We got up early and yes, I got Brad to go to garage sales with me. The trade off was that I made him his favorite breakfast cake and we only went to one of the subdevelpment community garage sales. Turns out there were four subdevelopments that were having their community garage sales today not including some area towns and villages that were having area wide sales. We ended up spending about an hour and a half walking through a neighborhood. We took the dogs with us and left them in the car with the windows rolled down. The sun didn't come out fully until just before we finished so it all worked out great(don't ask Brad). I made sure Brad had enough coffee to keep him happy and I when I thanked him for going, I distinctly heard him say that it wasn't that bad. Really! He was able to get out and walk and I didn't make him go to everyone of the sales(at this point in my life I no longer and interested in all of the baby/kid sales) so this helps. I am now interested in "old people's stuff. The big find today was a hard wood 5 foot long table with a shelf under it. It looks like it could be a sofa table. I plan on spray painting it. Like my sister taught me,"Spray paint is your friend". A fresh coat of paint improves everything.

After we finished perusing garage sales we headed to the feed store to get dog food and antlers. This time we got both dogs an antler because Max looked so sad when Beeks got one last time and we didn't get him one. Hopefully, Max will get one this time, and Beeks won't get two. The sculpture park was next on our list of weekend chores. This time we started our walk from an alternate entrance,which seemed like a brand new park adventure for the dogs. Beeks did a lot of sniffing and pulling until he got himself in the zone. Max settled right down to a good heel and just enjoyed being outside with Brad. Being a Saturday, there was a huge number of people out and a lot of activity in the park. This was good practice of self discipline for both dogs. I have to admit, they both did extremely well at looking but not reacting to all of the other dogs, people, or short people. At this point, they are more interested in other dogs than children and adults. By this time, we were ready for for sustenance.We headed for our favorite Korean restaurant, where we can enjoy Korean hot pot and still see the dogs in the car. The hot pot is so hot, both temperature and flavor that by the end of the bowl, it is still steaming. Honest. Best bi bim bob around. I have it with tofu and Brad gets it with steak, of course.
Now we are home working on chores. I weeded in the flower gardens, and Brad is mowing. It's hot and humid (who's complaining?)but all of the plants are loving it. Nothing like freshly cut grass. I found another Gracie feather. Must mean she is still here up in her nest. The dogs are now sleeping happily near me while I write this out in the screened in porch.

Notes from the family...
We had an early morning text from Ash in China. It was night there for him(about 13 hours later). He said that he was having a great time and that he and his group had just gotten back from the World's Expo. How cool is that? To get to got to the World's Expo in a foreign country. I assume that China did the Expo like they did the Olympics. Spared no expense, spared no man power to make it big.

We heard from our younger son Ben as well. He is in the Air Force, at Charleston, South Carolina. He is busy studying for a major test which he says is nothing less than all consuming. I am so proud of him. He has perseverance that I don't have. He isn't afraid of a challenge.

(87) Tell me what you think Beeks

So much to communicate and so little time. So let me get started. I was reading an article this morning about the many ways dogs communicate with us. The article is from The Bark Magazine No.41, March/April 2007,titled, Translating from Puppy to English: Understanding 35 things Dogs Say. This is something that gives me great excitement, as I want to know more accurate ways to bridge communication with my pets. Some of the examples the article gave were common place and most of us have experienced them before. Behaviors such as the "bow' that i have mentioned before which communicates the invitation and desire to play. This gesture also means, "the actions to come are not serious, please don't take them seriously". Beeker bows a lot when he wants to engage with Max. Other examples of communications were behaviors that I have often wondered about but "were afraid to ask?" So let me begin. First, let me preface this conversation by reminding all of us that we humans, use language as a primary mode of communication. Dogs on the other hand use sensory as basis of their communications. This may seem like a simple difference but it is not. We think that eye contact and verbal instructions are easily understood by our pets and really when I think about it, the fact that they do understand our words (or so we think) is a tribute to their keen intelligence and observational skills. They are able to perceive small cues and interpret our wishes or directions. Again, that relates to communication from our perspective but what about communication from the dog eye view? Here are some of the interesting ways dogs communicate to other dogs and to us about their view of the world. I want to highlight the communications that were the most interesting to me as including and discussing all 35 goes way beyond the scope of this blog so I encourage you to look up the article and read it in its entirety.Here are the highlights for me:
Circles the mat before going to sleep
Beeks does this every night and also whenever he settles down to rest. Turns out this is an ancient genetically encoded primordial sequence. (translation: its in their genes)dogs in the wild use to flatten down the grass to create a comfortable nest...nesting behavior.
Blinks
I haven't noticed Beeker or Maxie blinking at any special time but now I will be more observant on this one. This is what a dog will do when he is thinking hard. I guess I should have noticed this when Beeker was working hard to jump through the hoop. Or working to conquer a puzzle.
Yawns
OKay, I have noticed this one when the two dogs play together at a fairly high level of energy. This is explained as an indicator of stress displacement. This is a dog / animal neutral behavior. It is the release of pent up stress. Remember the Olympic speed skater that yawned during trials and practices? Apolo Ohno, was his name I think. He talked about the use of yawning.
Licking his lips
This is a sign of nervousness. Max does this more often than Beeker
Licks you
My sister's dog, a Springer Spaniel, Jesse James does this a lot. This is an attention seeking behavior, kind of like when puppies want attention from mother dogs when they have food for them. The dogs will lick and get positive feedback from people because we identify it as kissing so the dog will continue to lick.
Paws and scrapes the ground after eliminating
Rather than understanding this as trying to cover up the scent of the "deposit" it is to accentuating gesture to increase or mark the deposit by using visual(unearthed dirt) and personal scent(olfactory emphasis) by the sweat glands in the paws. This is a direct advertisement.
Rolling over in disgusting stuff
Beeks did this when he found the squirrel remains in the back yard and when he found coyote droppings. The article suggests that this is to mask the dog's personal smell so he is less detectable from predators OR it could be to let other animals know what kind of a great day he has had. When Beeks runs around on our walkabouts in the mornings, he will return to the house to be smelled profusely by Maxie. Max is intent on finding out where Beeks has been and "what the news is".
Eats Grass
Okay, Brad and I have an ongoing discussion about the reasons for this gesture. All of our dogs have loved to eat grass. Brad contends that the result of grass eating is that the dogs throw up and so it is bad for them. I contend that the dogs need to eat grass if they seek it out. It is like lettuce, greens are good for digestion. The article says that dogs eat grass for different reasons, all of which are harmless. It suggests that some like to eat grass to self medicate(read, need to eat it to throw up) and others throw up because they eat too much. Beeks eats grass every time he goes outside, and doesn't throw it up.
Chases his own tail
This is a behavior that we have seen in Max, Beeker and one of our past Newfies, Beau. Max and Beeker don't do this behavior much any more but once in a while we do see Beeks chasing his tail. It is hilarious to see if you haven't seen it before. This is described as not normal behavior and is believed to start in dogs with high predatory drive that have no natural outlet for their instinct. It is believed that one day out of boredom, the dog spies his tail from the corner of his eye and tries to pounce on it.
Takes food out of the bowl then arranges it or takes it to another room to eat it.
Beeks sometimes takes food we give him,like treats to another room. We assume he is hiding it to protect it from Max. Belle, our past female Newfie use to arrange three pieces of food on the floor before eating the food in the bowl. We use to jokingly say she was paying homage to the dog gods. The article says that dogs lower down on the pack line will protect their food from higher ups. Trying to protect their allotment of food. This doesn't explain the arrangement of food. I still think this is wierd behavior.
I hope you enjoy these few communications from our dog pets. They answered many of the questions we have been asking each other while we have been observing and laughing at our dogs behaviors. Don't you wonder which of our behaviors dogs find humorus?

From Home and Away
I was so warn out from the garage sales yesterday that I came home from work today and had to take a nap. It could also be that my sinuses are reeling from all of the barometric pressure changes that I also felt the need to sleep it off...
As I mentioned yesterday, we watched Crazy Heart, with Jeff Bridges. I'm a huge fan. I got so carried away with Bridges' ability to act like Kris Kristofferson, I couldn't get the image out of my mind. The movie plot was easy to believe and just and enjoyable movie. (okay, so the drunk to sober transition was a little too easy ) ****

I looked on the Montana State University website today and the blog for Ash's(my son's trip to China)group is on their main site. The group is hosting a blog and Ash tells me he will be working on one of his own as well. I haven't heard yet what his site will be but for those of you who are interested the official school blog is: http://chinadinodig.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/10/
Just now got a google talk message from Ash and they have made it safely to Shanghai!

(86) Can't Keep a Good Dog Home

Happy Birthday Nana Banana!
It's raining again today but We went to the Community garage sales anyway. I met my friends at the local cafe for breakfast. We were able to find a booth even though the tables were mostly taken up by the farmers who weren't able to work in their fields. I love this town cafe. If you have ever been to a local,small town cafe where every one knows your name, this is just like that. Although I don't go there very often, one of my friends grew up in town and EVERYONE knows her. Going garage saleing with her was a hoot too because even though she now lives in Champaign, she still knew people at some of the homes where we stopped. That impressed me! It didn't start out raining but by 10:00 the drizzle started and then gradually got heavier. The morning sales were limited, but we were able to go to about 15 of them with limited success. My friends did find some things that they were excited about and I found a couple of drawers that I like to use for my crafts. By noon we were tired of the rain, tired of looking for sales and decided to call it quits. We did have a fun time together and I guess that it what it is really about. We found a jet ski that we decided my friend needed and so that is what the picture I have included. As we drove past my lane we decided to stop home so that we could refresh and I could show one of the gals my home(I love our home and can't resist showing off how great the woods and all of the hostas are). So Max and Beeks got introduced and with in 5 minutes Max had calmed down. He has such a hard time with Meet and Great. I had my friends do the Cesar Milan intro process...No eye contact, No touching, No talking. Max really wanted to smell them and get all of their great smells. One of my friend's has two dogs of her own and I know he wanted to get close to her. Beeks was just excited to meet new friends. Soon, I had Max in a down stay and he rolled right over for a tummy rub by my friend. Yea Max. As I said, we made it to all of the garage sales we could this morning, then parted. I got home and put my stuff away, put the dogs outside, then took a long nap! I was exhausted. Garage saleing can be so tiring. All of those decisions and locating good prospects, bartering, just tires a good woman out! When I woke up, it was just in time for the afternoon sales to start(okay they were already started but I was in time to get to them). I took Beeks with me this time and we went to so many near our subdivision that it seems like maybe I went to just as many as this morning. I tried to call my friend to see if she wanted to come back but she was otherwise engaged so It was just Beeks and me! Beeks is a great garage sale partner. He sits patiently, doesn't complain about how long I take, and likes to ride around in cars. The only issue I currently have with Beeks is that he barks when he sees another dog being walked by. I have tried to scold him, to yell at him, to swat at him(this last one is dangerous, I will admit, as since I am driving at the time). I think he feels empowered being in the car and behind a window so he barks aggressively. This isn't a "hello, I'm here in this car" kind of bark. I know he got started barking by modelling after Max but it is highly annoying. Other than that we had a great hour and a half gathering new treasures. I found another drawer for my crafts, a light for my desk, a grill basket for the grill master, and a tie out for the dogs(we use these a lot to tether them to the deck or around a tree when we travel. They are handy to have on hand). The best find for the dogs was a set of three different stuffed birds that chirp different bird songs. Max loves these little stuffed birds because they fit right in his muzzle and he uses it as a comfort item. The trouble is that after a time he starts to kill it, and chew it until he can get the chirp box out. He won't let Beeker get near these birds which is saying a lot since Beeks usually gets what Beeks wants from Maxie. Max was happy just carrying it around for about 20 minutes and then I heard the familiar sound of cloth tearing. Yep, he started to tear into the goldfinch and all of the little plastic beads came out all over the carpet! When I took it away, and put it up on the shelf he just laid down under the shelf and waited until he thought I would bring it back down to him. I think he stayed there for an hour or more. He gets so intense sometimes. Well, tonight's movie is Crazy Heart, with Jeff Bridges. I am excited to see this movie as I heard a lot of good reviews from people who saw it in theatres. I'll let you know...

(85) Dog Gone Near Perfect or Hooray for Sun!

Sun glorious Sun! It's nearly perfect out today. Sunshine and a small breeze, with temperatures in the 70's. Finally. After work I bought a new pair of shoes. This is something I have been contemplating for a few months. These are no ordinary shoes. These shoes are structurally different from other tennis shoes and have a deeper soul so that they rock when you walk in them. I have tried them on a few times and they feel great when I am just standing in them but its hard to tell how they will feel when I am walking in them. When i talk to other people who have purchased them they get great reviews, for comfort and for standing long periods of time. I am a pounder. I pound my heels hard when I walk and so the idea of a shoe that propels my stance forward is appealing. I also like the fact that there is a lot of deep cushioning in the arch.This really feels good in my high arches. So as soon as I got home, and ate lunch, I took Beeks for a walk in my new shoes. They made me feel taller, and I liked how they rolled when i walked. They seemed to be good support for my ankles. They are promoted to improve your calves and rear while walking but I didn't notice any pulling or exercising of those muscles. I did notice that my toes felt different and I know that I need to use them for a number of times before the jury is in, but certainly I could tell that my heels didn't pound the ground when i walked so this is a good improvement. Too bad they were so expensive.

I am so excited... Tomorrow starts the community garage sales here in town. I love going to these sales. Having a large number of sales at one time is so fun. Here is how it works in this town although other towns do it much differently. First the local town newspaper publishes the addresses and the short content of the sales along with a map of town. We get this information the day before the three day sales begin. When I get the map and info, I organize the path I want to take based upon the individual garage sale days and times. So for tomorrow, Thursday, I wrote down all of the sales that will be open in the AM, then I wrote down all of the sales that open in the late afternoon. Here they like to start on Thursday late afternoon, I suppose so that people can get off work or pick their children up from school first. The largest number of sales seem to be on Friday, with the fewest on Saturday. The trick is to plot the days, times, and locations so that I won't spend so much time driving all around town back and forth for sales that won't open until later or on a different day. This year I have convinced a friend to go with me. We are meeting for breakfast early and planning our day. I think I will only be going on Thursday since I will be working on Friday and then by Saturday most all of the good stuff has been picked over. One year I took my oldest son with me and we had a blast. He said he really got to know the area since he was "my map guy". Last year I had my mom come and we did all three days of sales. We were exhausted every night but did that stop us from going the next day? NOooooooo! We had so much fun and found lots of incredible treasures. Notice I haven't mentioned how much Brad likes to go with me? The whole thing makes him crazy and it is a good thing that the majority of the three days are during his work hours. Turns our this year two homeowner associations in Champaign are having their community garage sales on Saturday. Won't Brad be excited when he hears what we are going to be doing? Just kidding Brad!

From the Family...
Our oldest son left today for China. He is going with his master's degree advisor and a group of undergraduates for two months. Ash has gone to China about 5 times and he really knows his way around the massive country. He is doing his master's research on dinosaurs that he identified and categorized in one of their museums. He will remain in China for a while after the group returns to continue his research. Makes a mother proud. When I get his blog information I will pass it on. He is always an interesting read.
Tomorrow is a very special day in our family. It's Nana's Birthday. I will be sending her lots of birthday wishes tomorrow. I will also be wishing that she could be with us while we cruise the community sales.

(84) The Spiritual Rock of our Family

I have to admit that when I am working a lot of hours I am pretty dog gone lazy. I come home and really don't feel like putting out the energy that it really takes to be a great dog owner. My dogs greet me with enthusiasm and excitement and I am happy to see them as well. However, the thought of putting out the energy to take Beeks on a walk in the prairie, or to practice his tricks, is not there. I wish it were. He needs the exercise and yet the best I seem to be able to muster up is to let him out into the yard to run like a banshee. It's true that it has been unseasonably cold and rainy lately, but that isn't really an excuse. Dogs and people don't melt or turn to ice if they are out in the cold. I'm just tired. Maybe lazy. Probably both. I am hoping that it warms up and I have some time to spend at home for a while. Don't get me wrong, I love working and don't want to pass up a chance to work but my energy level is getting the best of me right now. Max and Beeker seem to be able to sublimate the situation quite fine. They can get quite aggressive in their play. I sometimes have a difficulty telling if they are really aggressive or just letting off steam. Then I remember that if they take self induced time outs, with whole body shakes(both of them)they are playing on the same level. I am impressed and grateful that they have figured out this balance. They both need the release.

In the yard again...
The Honeysuckle is almost fully in bloom and it gives off such great aroma now. We also noticed that the cottonwoods have released their cotton and it is flying into everything. Soon it will look like snow has fallen everywhere. Funny scene for Illinois in May.
The entire area surrounding our house is now dense with green underbrush. It is difficult to see most of the fern that were once the only green we could see under the trees. The bluebells that were once a great contrast to the green forest floor have died and their leaves are now a yellow green. Big changes in little time. Beeks and I went on our walkabout this afternoon instead of this morning because of the rain and my need to leave for work. I noticed that our own pet cemetery (no Steven King jokes necessary)is almost over run with wild weeds as well. Yes, we have a cemetery for our pets that have died since we moved to this retreat of a home. When we first moved to the CU area, our pets were getting older. We had a mix of "yours, mine and ours" pets. I have written about all of these pets in past posts so I won't go into all of the details here, but it is suffice to say that we have been blessed with 7 wonderful pets in our family since Brad and I have been married. All of these pets(3 cats and 4 dogs) have been as important to the mental health of our family as any paid professional and probably more. When we moved here we came with two Newfoundlands and three cats. The cats were 21, 14, and 3 years old. Chez was the three year old. The 21 year old cat slipped away while we were living in the rented condo, before we were able to move into our home. I suppose the whole moving trauma was too much for her. She was Brad's cat and although he often made fun of her she showed us that old cats can learn new tricks. When Brad came in to our family, he brought Paddington. We already had a cat, Sunshine that was both of my sons' security blanket. Blending families is difficult for people and pets alike. Within three months the cats learned to tolerate each other and soon they were "the old gals". Long story short, when Paddington died and we didn't have a place to bury her, we asked my parents if we could bury her in their back yard. So... I drove 150 miles with a dead cat in my car to bury a cat we loved. We wanted to know where she was and to have a place for us to remember her. When we moved to our present home we lost another cat, Sunshine, and our two older Newfoundlands within the first year. Whether it was because of the trauma of moving or illness (both Newfies were diagnosed with cancer)they died with us and we are thankful for their gifts of unconditional love. We didn't want to have the pets cremated and then disposed of when we had such a beautiful landscape that they each loved in their own way. Although they were living here for only a short time, they did live here and loved the beauty of the place. To be honest, we are privileged to have such a large woodsy space to be able to have an area to bury our pets. Had we been living in any of our past homes we would not have been able to bury them. In this woodie area we are lucky to have a large kitchen bay window with a window seat that Sunshine(the cat) loved to lay and watch the birds as they came to the feeders. Brad located an extremely large boulder to place over her grave. We placed it near the feeders. When Belle and Beau left us as well, and we had them cremated, we wanted them to be with us too. We have scattered their ashes in the same area and now we like to think of them as we look out each morning watching the multiple birds perched at the feeders. Belle and Beau loved to roam around the yard with Brad. While they were here, in this home they had the most freedom of their lives. They were safe and they could be off leash because they wanted to be with Brad as much as possible. It seems only proper that we keep the symbolic "spirit" of our family together.

(83) Like a Dog with Two Tails

Our dogs are so much a part of our lives, so much of who we are that over time we have embedded them into our language. I was thinking about this on the way to work this morning and tried to come up with all of the dog idioms I could think of. When I had a fairly good list(10) I decided to look on line when I got home. There are so many, most of which I had heard of and a whole lot that were new to me. I thought this would be fun to share and interesting to see if anyone can come up with others.
I've put some of the definitions for idioms that were unfamiliar to me. The * are my new favorites.

*Dog eat dog world
Bring the dog to a heel
*Better to be a head of a dog than a tail of a lion(It is better to be the leader of a less prestigious group than to be a subordinate in a more prestigious one)
Be like a dog with a bone(to refuse to stop thinking about or talking about a subject)
*Be like a dog with two tails
A barking dog never bites (someone who threatens but doesn't carry out the threat)
Have a dog's chance
A dog in a Manger(someone who keeps something they don't want in order to prevent others from having it)
Tail wagging the dog
Putting on the dog(make things extra special)
Working like a dog
Sick as a dog
Top dog
Lucky dog
Raining cats and dogs
Dog tired or my dogs are tired
Every dog has its day
Hair of the dog (to have another drink after a bad night of drinking)ie.. "I need some hair of the dog that bit me"
Dog and pony show
If you lie down with the dogs you will get up with fleas
The dog days
Gone to the dogs
*Meaner than a junk yard dog
*See a man about a dog(don't want to tell where you are really going)
Call off the dogs
Dirty dogs
Shaggy dog story
*Give a dog a bad name(quick to blame)
There's life in the old dog yet
Can't teach an old dog new tricks
Why keep a dog and bark yourself? (you should not do something you have hired someone else to do)
Love me, love my dog
Let sleeping dogs lie
*Like a blind dog in a meat market (out of control)

So if dogs are so embedded in our language it must mean that our society has certain beliefs about their behaviors and or actions. From these idioms I believe we think dogs are... Tenacious, lazy, visual with emotions, aggressively successful, surface, protective, routinized.

Here at home...
It was raining so hard this morning when I got up that Beeks and I had to postpone our walkabout until I got home from work. He was so excited to get out and run around he was like a dog with two tails. I've posted the hedge roses that I wrote about in yesterday's post.

(82) Forgiven

I think I'm forgiven. We finally got to go for our walk this morning and now all is as it should be. We got up early, and although it was threatening to rain, Brad got right to work on mowing the lawn. Sometimes it is tricky to get the lawn mowed when it rains every day. Still it gets done and even though our yard is mostly shady and the grass isn't very dense, it does look great after it gets mowed. What I'm trying to say diplomatically is that after Brad gets the lawn mowed the weeds and grass are evenly cut and look great. The plants shine and are the true focus. I just love my yard. While Brad and Maxie went to get lawn mower gas, Beeks and I did our routine walkabout. We went slow today, enjoying the time we had together and savoring the tenously dry weather. The hedge roses have begun to bloom and I needed to tie them up to keep them from hanging on the ground. The peoneys in our yard still haven't bloomed,probably because they have more shade than others we see. Seems like ours will be the last to bloom in all of Central Illinois. Oh well, they are beautiful when ever they bloom.

The Walk
When the last of the grass had been cut,and the impending rains had still not fallen, we took the dogs for their long awaited and promised walk. Somehow everytime we decide to go for a walk with the dogs, start to get ready they know and get excited. Dogs are so sensory that they know we are getting ready by how we act. When I go to get my shoes Beeks starts jumping in the air. When I sit down on the footstool, he starts vocalizing. Max knows when Brad heads to the bowl that keeps his collar. He circles around Brad's legs moving him towards the back door. When we aren't going for a walk, the dogs don't behave like this. They are quick to pick up the slightest movements that they put together in pictures like the old black and white movie pictures, one still picture after another that all add up to "we are taking a walk!". I like to think about what subtle cues I am giving Beeks when ever I am doing something with him and how he knows to anticipate my actions. On one level it would be easy to thing that he is reading my mind. When I think about going for a walk, he reacts to get ready to go. But on another level, he is watching me so closely he knows that if I get up, go to my closet to get my shoes, I am going somewhere, then he watches what I do next to see if I give any cues to show if I am taking him with me. He also knows that if I get up at the same time(or close to the time that Brad does) then I'm probably going somewhere. If I go right to the shower, I am probably going somewhere without him. If I get up and get coffee, then get back to bed to read, I am probably not going somewhere without him. Dogs are such darn good observers of our behavior. They anticipate and refine the knowlege through their observations and modify their responses to those observations. I think that is why they are such good compainions for us. They work very hard at being our best companions. Wehn we returned to the yard, we let them romp off leash for a while to get the last bit of energy out before they were cooped up inside during the next rain. Before too long the rains came and we are again, being lulled by a gentle rain.

(81) Forgiveness and Self Control

Everything doesn't always turn out the way you want them to. It's a good thing that dogs are so tollerent. They are so forgiving. Maybe that is one of the reasons we love them so much. We can make promises to them and fail to keep them and they still love us. After getting off of work, I cam home and started on my list of "want to dos". I got the very hairy carpet vaccuumed, and I ran an errand to the Post Office (by way of DQ)with Beeks. Then I started in on making some cards for a number of birthdays coming up. What I realized is that I had promised Beeks to take him on a walk today and I won't have time. I have a dinner engagement and have a number of things that have to be done before I leave (like write this blog), which leave little time to take a good walk with Beeks. I have to put it off until tomorrow. I am finally getting a day off from working and will make sure that Beeks gets a much needed walk. It's suppose to rain tomorrow but we have to get out on a walk before Beeks forgets how to walk at a heel. He has gone outside on the loose each morning with me which gives him some exercise but not the amount that he really needs. I also took him with me when I went to the Post Office today so he got a little change of scenery (and ice cream cone). But I did make a promise to him this morning when I left for work. To be honest I meant to take him when I got home, wanted to but my plan didn't pan out and the promise was easily pushed back to provide room for other urgent activities. I know Beeks will forgive me. Children will remember that a promise was given and will remember if you keep the promise or not. They keep tabs and if too many promises are broken will learn to not trust what you say. Dogs are different. They live in the moment and know that you meant to keep your promise but just couldn't for one reason or another and will still trust you and love you.I keep learning from Beeks and Max. I know that we all are rushed for time and we (people) try our best to mean what we say, so I also want to give others a break when they can't always do what they say.
This morning when Beeker and I were out on our walkabout I was looking in one direction at some different types of fern that are coming up in the woods while Beeks was in another part of the yard sniffing delicous grasses. He let out one long woof ,looked at me, ran to me then back to where he had come. I saw a flash of orange go by down the lane. It was an early morning jogger from what I could see. Beeks took off at the same time. I called to him in my sweet Beekie voice,whistled to him, called to him to COME, in that oh so sickening sweet voice and what do you know? He came back through the woods to me. I sure praised him a lot. I decided that was a good time to keep him at a heel, to reinforce the need to keep up with me and that to be loose was a dog priveledge.I wasn't angry just took it as a teaching moment. We continued on our way around the yard. When we were in the front of the yard, I heard noises from the lane so I had him down-stay. He heard the noises too and we watched the lane together as the orange jogger came back up the lane. It was "Fido's" owner jogging with "Fido". Beeks just stayed where he was. I kept praising him as he sat there watching but not moving. I tell this story because Beeks is really learning to control his own behavior. When he first saw the jogger, he let me know and then ran, (he must have seen Fido too) but didn't run off to engage with them. He edited his own desires and returned to where he knew he was suppose to be. What great self control! What a great dog!

(80) Dog Play Personalities

All Dogs have interesting and individual personalities. Every dog I have owned was truly unique, and I want to believe that I get better with each pet learning how to "read" them. I find the way they relate to other dogs and to people interestingly different as people are different in the way they respond to others. I am often reminded of this in the way both of my dogs choose and use toys. Max has a soft mouth and loves to have soft things in his mouth. He chooses toys that feel good in his mouth. I have blogged about Max taking my mother's knitting ball and finding the rodent's nest, just so he can have something in his mouth. Although Max doesn't initiate play with Beeker often, when he does, he chooses the rope with a knot in it. When Max chooses a toy from the toy basket it is the soft squeaky ball or stuffed animal, he loves to have something soft and chewy in his mouth. These are definitely softer than the toys that Beeks chooses. Max doesn't go out of his way to get toys or to keep a toy with him. Usually if Max has a toy in his mouth it is either a soft squeeky ball or stuffed animal. However if he has a toy it is probably to keep it away from Beeker. Or to take care of it. He is a caregiver.
Beeker likes to have toys that are chewable. Anything will do, if it is given to him. He likes hard toys, he wants to devour them. He will chew through his dinosaur Nylabones, his ropes, his Squirrel Buddy. He also uses his toys to engage with Max or other dogs and people. Beeks always has everyone of his toys out. At any given time, he will chew on one for a while then remember another one and go get that, until soon all of the toys we have for the dogs are out! I have to make a swoop of picking up the toys every so often just so I don't trip on them at night. He's a consumer.
My sister says that her dog, Jesse James, uses his toys to invent games for himself. He will take a toy to the top of the stairs and drop them down then run to pick it up and then go at it again from the top of the stairs. She also tells me that Jesse has some toys that he will play rough with and others that he regards with sanctity. I bet it makes him crazy when Beeks comes over. Just like little kids that have to share their toys with cousins that trash all the toys. Poor Jesse (sorry Jesse). He's an inventer.
Juli tells me that Eric and Chelsey's new dog, Squiggles doesn't like to play with toys, could it be that as a puppy mill dog, he didn't learn to "love objects" as toys? I guess that Juli sent her "grandog" a small stuffed animal which now he is loving and is slowly learning to regard as his "own". He's a lover.
I think that dogs can probably learn to play by modeling, in the way they can observe other dogs playing and pick up a few pointers to use when they are alone or playing with other dogs. Dogs are cool like that.

From the Yard...
Okay, I did my first dumpster diving today. While at work, I walked by the trash in the commons area and someone had thrown away some corkscrew willow branches used in a bouquet with other flowers. They would have looked great in my tall glass vase. The thing is when, I pulled them out to take them I noticed they had roots on them. The leaves were such a great shade of lime green and with roots too. So... I brought them home and planted them tonight. I am so excited to see if they grow. What I read about them is that they are fast growing(3-5 feet a year). I will love having the branches for flower arrangements and in vases. How lucky is that? The pictures are of the willow. I hope you can see it. Right now the branches are about 2 feet tall. We also read that the branches are really brittle and break off easily. We will have to keep it fairly well trimmed.

Tomorrow is a short day, I'm only working until about 12:00. I am looking forward to working in the yard and cardmaking. Beeks will be getting a long overdue walk as well. How exciting!

(79) More Rain on the MidWestern Plain

I am so tired of all the rain and thunderstorms we have had lately. I have, to be honest,been lucky to get to take Beeks out on the morning walkabout the last few days before or in between the storms. But really! Enough already. Since I have been working 12 hour days I don't get to see much of the day anyway but I would like to walk out of work in dry darkness instead of a storm. Brad has returned and that always gives me a huge relief. He made it home in between storms, which is the first time in 3 years he has arrived on time. Seriously, every time he travels to DC his return travels are either delayed for hours or canceled all together.

During our walk about this morning, I noticed the spring rains have brought some good to the yard. The Japanese Iris have bloomed. See above! Beautiful right!

I am finishing this after work and I guess that the whole time I was working the sun was shining and it was beautiful, wouldn't you know...and when I left work it was just beginning to rain. The dogs were so excited to see me when I got home tonight. Seems everything has been restored to order with Brad's homecoming. Brad came home in the afternoon to let the dogs out and they were overjoyed to have him home. They turned circles and were busting to get outside. Then once back inside they wrestled hard for about 10 minutes until exhausted and now are laying down near my chair. Two more days of long hours and then the weekend will be here and we can spend some quality time with the dogs! Yea. This schedule has really changed our pattern of doing things for both the dogs as well as Brad and I.

(78) And Now For Something Completely Different

Since I am so short of time these days I thought this would be a good time to post some pictures of Beeks over the last two years that we have had him in our family. Hope you enjoy these. They are some of my favorite.

(77) Synchronicity and That's a Wrap

Sometimes I get the feeling that things happen for a reason or that certain thoughts or focused concepts are illuminated for a reason. This has been happening lately for me. What I have been thinking about, seems to keep coming up in everything I see or hear. I have previously written a post regarding how impressed I am with Temple Grandin's clear understanding and writing about animals and dogs in particular. She is able to express clearly how autistic people and animals relate to one another and the world. Then it seems her work shows up in conversations or work that I read or TV shows. Its called Synchronicity or maybe some people would say there is no such thing as a coincidence. What ever the explanation, the fact remains that just with in the hours of today Temple Grandin and her work relating to animals (dogs in particular) and their relationship to people has popped into my world multiple times. While still at work today when I was feeling frustrated because I had not been able to think of a topic to write about in this post, a friend suggested I write about the calming wraps that I wrote about in last nights post. These wraps help anxious dogs to relax and increase calm during thunderstorms. I have read about them in Bark magazine as well as in Temple Grandin's book, Animals Make Us Human, So the conversation at work surrounded the use of these wraps and their positive use last night during the thunderstorm. We agreed they would have come in handy for the more anxious dogs we own. When I asked my coworkers what I should write about tonight it was suggested I should write more about the calming wraps. Dr. Grandin wrote that she devised one for herself after watching cows being placed in a wrap of sorts to calm them during inoculations. She discussed the calming effects for herself and other autistic individuals as well a the use for dogs. Tonight when I started looking for information about calming wraps, I first went to an Internet site that told how to make a calming wrap.

This information was found on eHow.com (http://www.ehow.com/how_6173772_wrap-dogs-treat-anxiety.html) and stated,"Major triggers of anxiety in dogs are separation, thunderstorms, fireworks, car rides, strangers, unexpected loud noises, injury or other disruptions to a dog's life. One method of soothing and calming anxious dogs is the use of pressure or anxiety wraps. Wrapping is similar to swaddling an infant and uses a technique called "maintained pressure," first developed by Dr. Temple Grandin, to help calm herself and others with Autism. The pressure helps the person or dog become calm when fearful, anxious or hyperactive."

Then I looked at my email and noticed an email from my father that told me about an independent film on PBS that he thought I might like to see regarding Autism and Horses. I was able to watch the hour show and thought the film was highly interesting, but the segue here was that it included information given by Dr. Grandin and others. Dr. Grandin has written about her own relationship with horses and how she learned to relate to the world through them. Last night was such a wild thunderous storm that Beeks would have done better with the use of a calming wrap. Sometimes I think Maxie would do well with a claming wrap when there is a lot of activity around him. He gets so overwhelmed sometimes.
I know this post is short but it has been a long day and I really am short on ideas since I am not home for much of the day. Too bad I can't have Beeks write about what his day consists of while I am gone. Now that would be an interesting read.

From the yard...
The Japanese Iris are open and we have so may buds ready to open as well. They are beautiful. We can't see any of Georgen'Gracie's nest. It is completely covered from view by the tree leaves.

(76) Hoping for a Good Night's Rest

Well, it was a long day and I was glad to get home. When I finally got into the garage I noticed that the dogs food bowls were emptied, good sign. I was greeted by two happy dogs that were ready to go outside but not wild, and anxious and panicked to get out desperately. This is all good. When I let them back inside they went into the energy releasing wrestling mode. Now that I am finished with my evening chores, they are just hanging out and resting. I think this is interesting. They clearly needed to release lots of pent up energy and enjoyed playing together. The roughhousing went on for about 15 minutes with both dogs clearly taking turns of the alpha dominate position. This was a useful way to unleash energy. But now they are actually looking like they are asleep. What's with that? I wonder what they do all day when they are in the laundry room. The space gives them room enough to move around and even play if they wanted, but from my experience, they usually just sleep when we aren't home and they are confined. So...if they sleep all day why are they already back resting? I remember older dogs resting for most of the day but Beeks is just 2 years old and Max only 3. Conserving energy? Lulled asleep by the rain? There is thunder with the rain that began around 7:00 and so I assume that Beeks is not going to remain so calmly asleep for long. From the weather map I realized that this storm is going to gradually grow in magnitude and will get increasingly louder. The mass of the storm should be near 3AM. Great,if it follows its current path, we will not get much sleep tonight. Brad forwarded a great little article about dogs and cats that get nervous and anxious during thunderstorms. It suggested that some animals may be sensitive to the Electro-magnetic pulses that shifts and changes with thunder storms. Or the air pressure changes may indicate to them that they are not safe in their environment. The article described Beeker's behavior of leaning up to the owner or hiding in a small space for safety perfectly. Also described were 7 suggestions for dealing with dogs and cats that are anxious during storms. I will only paraphrase them but you can check the article out at...http://www.petswelcome.com/articles/7-tips-for-dogs-who-are-afraid-of-storms.html?utm_source=Pet+Travel+Articles&utm_campaign=a03c61f0f3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
1...check with the vet to see about behavior modification or meds appropriate to the severity of issue for your pet.
2. Make sure your pet's ID and/or Micro chip are up to date in case they get out.
3. If your pet looks for a place to hide during a storm, create a comfortable and safe place for it to be, like under a bed or in a crate with a blanket.
4.Stay clam so you don't pass on the nervousness to the pet. They will pick up you anxiousness.
5.Play music or white noise to drown out the sound of the storm.
6.Take a drive, car rides clam some dogs(not Beeker!)
7. Some dogs will calm down if snuggled by hugging or a body wrap.

These are good suggestions and right now Beeks is on the bed with me. He was laying on the floor until the thunder started, waking him.

After the big day I have had, I am hoping for a good night's rest. Think it's possible? It could happen, you never know.

(75) Mother's Day Comings and Goings

Happy Mother's Day
What a day. Brad is gone and the boys and I had a grand outing. We drove to help celebrate Mother's Day with Nana. We got up early and drove in my Honda CRV. I don't have the new Honda that is big and roomier. I have the older Honda that I love, but in order to fit both Max and Beeks, I had to put the back seats down which made a half barrier between the front and back. This turned out to work well. Max was so excited to be going "out" for the day and he hardly sat down for the first hour. After a while he sat down and then stood up again. Not until the return trip did he actually lay down.
When we got to Nana's, my brother and Papa were cooking hamburgers on the grill. They smelled great. We had to tether the dogs outside because their neighbors also had company with dogs. At first this really depressed me. I was concerned that the tether would tear up the yard(it left two big holes,sorry Dad)and the dogs got very little exercise. This was really a test of patience for Max. We showed off Beeker's hoop skills, with my niece's 5 year old holding the hoop, and both dogs' performed the roll over trick. Of course Max did great and Beeks did it with some encouraging. The real excitement was when my niece's son, who is 5, walked right up to Beeks and Max, and got them both to down-stay. This child is so calm and confident that the dogs were not afraid of him. The pictures we were able to take were fabulous (see above). I love that Max was able to display the calm gentle giant trait that Newfoundlands are known for. Yea! to Max and Drake, new BFF's. It was a really good challenge for both Beeks and Max to be around very small children and act appropriately. They did a super job of controlling their behaviors and I was so proud.
On the way home, both dogs were exhausted and slept the whole way home. When we were near home, just about 5 miles out, I saw in the distance a hot air balloon. I love hot air balloons. I think because it represents adventure to me. Imagine getting to see earth from so far up,going slowly and so silently. I understand that the silence is what is so amazing. Someday...
As we got to our turn off to our sub development, four deer crossed the road. This got the dogs really excited. Beeks barked(of course)and Maxie whined. As we turned in the lane the dogs spotted two dogs being walked right at the corner of our circle. A greyhound and a whippet. This got Max so excited that he JUMPED into the front seat. Ignore the fact that all of my computer stuff and personal belongings were in the seat. Max was trying to crawl into the dashboard! He wasn't barking, he was just trying to get close to the Whippet and Greyhound! He couldn't stay still or get back to the back seat, he kept slipping and I was so glad that we were 100 yards from home! We are happy we had our great "outing" and glad to be back home too.