Saturday, June 27, 2009

Tomorrow

We're going up to some land near a creek that my Grandparents own about an hour and half's drive from home for a bbq with them. I'm very excited; the dogs LOVE it, as they can run off leash. We hike, play fetch, and in general they have a blast without having to worry about strangers or other dogs.

Hopefully we'll be able to keep Buck out of the creek! It's a bit fast moving for him to go wading in, but it's a bit of an effort to keep him out of the water.

Picture from last time...
I love that picture of Buck. Him in his natural element, I think. He looks so happy. That was a slower moving area near a beaver dam, so we decided to let him indulge.

Anyways, I hope to take lots of pictures!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A Bit Shaken

My hands are still shaking enough that I can hardly type and I have no idea what just happened.

Charlie is the neighbor's dog that they allow to run loose, and he comes to our fence and races up and down it with our dogs. I HATE it, and all the neighbors think it's a game. I don't know. Maybe it is. I'd introduce them but I'm not about to do so without both dogs under control. It's gotten to the point where both our dogs will sit at the corner of the fence- the corner facing the direction that Charlie comes from. Of course Jake and Buck both easily recall when he's not there, and Jake will recall when Charlie is across the street.

When they race the fence there's no hackles or anything. I do my best to prevent it and bring them in when I hear them/see them.

It's not too difficult until the neighbor boy comes to play with my little bro and the dog follows him and sits right outside our gate. THAT I hate. Well anyways one of the kids was idiotic enough to open the gate- when I've told them time and time again not to- when Jake was RIGHT there and Charlie was RIGHT there.

Jake got out, and I wouldn't really call it a fight. No one was hurt, the dogs were easily split up when I moved in, and Jake didn't struggle to get back towards Charlie or anything when I directed him inside. What I saw- it's kind of a blur- was basically Jake nipping at Charlie's butt. Similar to the way he does to Buck when he wants to play. I don't know. At that point Charlie would turn around and nip at him. It was almost like Jake was trying to run him off our driveway, not hurt him.

I stepped in at that point and Jake ran to the other side of the truck. Charlie had gone to see where he was and I caught Jake and easily propelled him indoors. End story, he didn't even seem to remember and was wagging his tail and being 'happy happy pet me pet me'.

I was the only one bothered, apparently, as the little boy was standing right there and just went back to talking with his friends. My parents- both dog lovers- didn't seem too concerned.

To detail some of Jake's other meetings with dogs... his typical response is to sniff a moment, then step back and bark at them. He once slipped his collar, ran over to a black lab(male), sniffed, then stepped back and barked, tail wagging. I then grabbed him and put him back on collar and leash.

I've introduced him to all three of Chels_Girl's dogs. With Kali they went face to face he'd step back and bark- almost like he was afraid- but on the second try they sniffed butts and were fine. He seemed to get the hang of it after that, and was introduced just fine to Sydney and Mylee. We had no fights or issues whatsoever during the time he was around them.

Same about the step back and bark thing with Dozah, the dog who lives across the street, and my cousin's black lab/malamute pup, as well as another puppy across the street.

We were walking to the beach once and there was a loose BC. He did fine until the dog started to approach us, then he looked at it and seemed alert. Another situation where I just wasn't going to see what would happen.

If it matters, I've been working on focus games when Charlie is outside and Jake's 'zone' for alertness when Charlie is involved has been shrinking. Um, he got loose on Charlie once before and chased him home. Charlie is the only dog he has a problem with on our walks... which suffer because Charlie is ALWAYS loose.


Sorry this is kind of blabbering on and probably doesn't make of lot of sense, but as I said I'm kind of shook up and not sure what to think.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Dandelions

We worked more on picking Dandelions today... and he's doing great with the part where he has to pluck them. I'm not sure, however, how I'll get him to put the flowers into a bucket. He picks, them, and then spit them out! I got a video:



That's about all we did today, training wise, aside from more long distance sits/downs during fetch.

I spent most of the afternoon helping my Grandma make t-shirts for a big order she got. Printing out the transfer sheets, putting them on the t-shirts through the press... we still have loads more to do by the end of next week, but we made 33 today!

Sam

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Rainy Day

Jake and I worked some more on picking dandelions. We didn't stay out long, though, because it's wet and trying to rain. I did tell my younger brother and sister 'watch, it's going to rain all four days you're at camp...' looks like I might be right. Hopefully it's nicer where they are.

Anyways, since he was already going after Dandelions specifically and not trying to graze on grass as well like before, I clicked and treated for nibbles a bit then moved on to holding out for him plucking the flowers. It didn't take long for him to figure it out, so I had him do that a few times before I broke off the session.

We then played ball, and practiced long distance sits/downs/play deads/cross paws... sort of. He's too used to my routine! Most of the time before I'd always fake him out so he ran out a ways and turned back to me. Then I would tell him to lay down, and then I'd throw the ball. He's got that down pat. Ask for a sit? He downs instead. To be expected. I got him to offer Cross Paws from a distance a few times, so I was pleased with that.

Play dead though... he doesn't like doing that when there's a tennis ball involved! He either yelps like he's just been shot(would be fun to add to the trick if I could rofl) and flails his head, or rolls half onto his side then springs back into a poised down position, or rolls onto his side yelping then right back up into the poised down.

I noticed dad coming down the street, so I had him practice Wait at the gate while Dad pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck.

I wanted to do more work on ignoring Charlie but, other than one incident with him antagonizing our dogs at the back fence, I guess they kept him home today.

Charlie is a dog that lives on our street. His owners just allow him to run loose, and he instigates Buck and Jake by running up and down our fence line, barking, and it's just... gah. But things have gotten a bit better at least... Jake's recall away from those situations is getting better, and his threshold for Charlie is getting a bit better. He can be across the street without Jake zoning in now. It's better if Charlie holds still, I've noticed. If he's moving it makes things worse.

Overall it's been a dull day. Buck and Jake have been asleep most of it, and you can't expect much activity from the cats, except for Ruby and Little Girl's sisterly spats.

This is Ruby, to the left, and Little Girl is below.













Most of their fights stem from Ruby trying to bathe her sister, and Little Girl getting fed up with it... they go through spurts of this. Sometimes they get on wonderfully, othertimes Little Girl seems to decide Ruby is an enemy lol.

Sam

Tuesday, June 16, 2009



Cross paws is the trick we've been working on for the Trick of the Month club over on Dog Forums! He's got it down, and the cue has been transferred from a hand signal to me crossing my feet. I'm so excited for next month's tricks. Until then, we'll work on crossing the other way... and...

Picking Dandelions! Wish me luck!

Sam

Monday, June 15, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome!

I decided to start this blog in order to record my thoughts, progress, and works in any and all of my interests... more specifically art and my dogs; my dogs will probably be the main focus.

So to introduce them...

This is Buck...


And Jake!



The cats will probably pop up now and then as well, so I'll introduce them as I come to it!