(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.

(74) It All depends On How You Look at It

It's down right cold here today(cold is a relative term. Ask My son in Montana)The high is 50 degrees and windy. Yesterday we were suppose to get a major thunder storm and high winds followed by a cold front. Instead it was overcast to the point of being almost dark and great winds but no rain. The rain went around us. Today the wind has calmed and we have the cold weather. Brad reported that GeorgenGracie's nest is still intact. That's amazing. Such wild winds and still holding tight. I talked to my son in Bozeman and asked him if it was cold there and he said "No" emphatically, "Its about 50 and I have all the windows open and the sun is shining". After the beautiful warm days we have had 50 seems cold to me but warm to him. All depends on how you look at it.

This morning early for a Saturday,about 8:00 I got a wonderful surprise. The dogs started barking and when I went to the door there was a florist, with a vase of flowers for me for mother's day. They were from my son and his wife in South Carolina. This was a huge surprise that made my day. What a thoughtful gesture. They are beautiful don't you think? Did I mention that I love flowers? How did they know?

I got Brad to go on the walk about with me this morning. This was fun because he usually has left for work by the time I get to walk in the yard. Max and Beeker also came with us. This was fun for Maxie who doesn't normally get to go walking about with us daily. He loved smelling and eating grass all the way. Beeks was so excited that Max was around that he kept pulling Max's tail the whole time that Max was smelling the grass. Max just ignored him. (how is that possible?) We finally put a stop to Beeker's abuse, so then Beeks ran circles around Max. In the back yard Beeks was running so fast that when he ran by Max he skidded on his side and into the woods for about two yards. It was the funniest thing to see.

Under the largest bird feeder a male Goldfinch sat and didn't move when we approached the area. Brad was able to pick it up and we moved it to a more sheltered area by our wood pile. It just sat there. We didn't know if it was stunned, ill, or just old and unable to move, but we decided that it was in a vulnerable place and needed to be somewhere more secluded. After we moved it and I took the above picture I tried to get my camera a little closer and it flipped itself over deeper into the sticks. I must have frightened it. I then was reminded of a story my parents told me of a time when they came across a slow moving turtle crossing a rode where they were bicycling and they stopped and moved it to the other side of the rode to be out of harms way. When some hours later they returned to the area there in the middle of the rode was the smashed turtle. Apparently it had been crossing the rode and wanted to get to the opposite side and although they wanted to help, they misunderstood what the turtle's mission was. This is what I began to think, what if the Goldfinch was under the bird feeder to get nourishment, unable to fly and needing to be close to some food. Or what if the wood pile put the bird in an even more vulnerable place than under the bird feeder. What if we were messing with the nature of a bird's life? Later I returned,(about 2 hours later) and the Goldfinch was gone. C'est la vie. And again, it all depends on how you look at it.
During our Saturday soup lunch we were looking outside, watching the birds come and go, when a Hummingbird came to the feeder and stayed. I mean usually hummingbirds come, drink and then leave as quick as possible. They may return a number of times but they don't stay long. Except for this guy. It must have sat there for 5 minutes. When I decided to try my luck at taking its picture, and opened the door, it flew away. Then there was the Indigo Bunting. this is the first sighting for the year. We really treasure these birds because they are so very bright blue. They are about the size of a sparrow but distinctive because your eye will pick up the color so quickly and they fly off so fast that it makes you wonder if you really saw it or just thought you saw it. Here's what I now think about the stunned and slow moving birds we saw this morning. I think that the temperature was such a drastic change in a small period of time this morning that they were trying to warm up. It's my best guess and I'm sticking to it. Any other suggestions or ideas to explain this will be welcome.
Now From the Weird File
I talked to my neighbor this afternoon, she said she was looking out on her back deck and a big animal walked across. She said she had to look it up to find out what it was, it looked like a beaver but the tail was all wrong. Turns out it was a big Woodchuck. I have always called them Groundhogs. She said she is mystified by the variety of animals that walk across her deck. She has had deer, raccoons, and now a woodchuck all walk across her deck. The raccoons and the deer actually looked inside her picture windows. That would be interesting, and seems like it should be right out of a Yogi Bear cartoon.