(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!