What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

[Fundog]

Just came back from a nice little hike out in one of our nearby wilderness areas, Mr. Fundog, Dottie, Annie, and I. Mr. Fundog and Dottie like to walk rather briskly, even uphills, and soon leave me behind as I am much slower. Annie insists on keeping up, and runs to do so. At 13 years old, she does tend to overdo it. I expect she will need some help getting up to potty this evening.

Surprisingly, we weren't the only ones out at our wilderness area today! There were some other men out there with their gundog-- a Draathund (German Wire hair Pointer) off lead. We kept Dottie on lead and went up another trail to avoid them, but the Draathund decided to come and introduce himself. (Dottie is still not friendly to other dogs beside Annie) I'm just grateful I can let Annie off lead to run interference for Dottie. I used her to help me lure the Draathund back to his owner, who by then had come running up the hill apologizing. As he collected his dog, the man made a comment about how "If he's wearing his shock collar, then he'll listen."

Other than the run-in with the other dog, we all had a good time. Dottie's tail was just waving non stop as she flitted her cottony head from bush to bush, looking for jack rabbits.

[delladooo]

I remember our previous dog was very scared. She just curled up under something and shook. Laufey and MiMi are much better and, provided the back door is shut, don't really bother but one went off whilst we were on a walk this evening. Scared the life out of all four of us! Thankfully it was only the one but we came home rather quickly.

Oh I do envy you for that fundog. My (tourist) town hosts a huge firework display weekly for all of september with huge speakers as it's to music. Even though it's quite a way away on the pier you can hear the music and the odd bang, then there's the early ones through october, then the mess in november and now it seems to be popular to let them off at christmas and then again at new year. I really don't understand why there isn't better control over them

[MPbandmom]

I feel for those of you dealing with fireworks. OH commented this morning that he was surprised that there weren't any set off around here last night. Maybe they are saving the last few for New Years. They should certainly have run out by now having shot them off for a month and a half or so solid before and after July 4th.

OH and I have generally avoided Halloween and trick or treaters since Sirius arrived. Last night we were asked to watch our granddaughter at her house, as we won't have her come here because of Sirius and potential cat allergies. Granddaughter's family has a very overweight beagle and had everything ready for us to hand out treats should trick or treaters come calling before they returned. It was kind of fun handing out treats again. However beagle responded in a toned down version of how Sirius would be expected to respond. He let us know trick or treaters were coming long before they reached the house by growling and barking. At one point he went over to the back door and scratched like mad to go out. I asked him if he really had to go or if he just wanted to go out and bark at people. Yeah, he just wanted to go out and raise a ruckus.

OH was a little too friendly for Beagles liking although he tolerated most of the petting and patting with only one little snark in OH's direction. Family fed Beagle before they left but he didn't eat anything. We were told that he could have two each of two kinds of treats at 6:00 and not a minute before. That he would start at 5:00 insisting that it was treat time. He didn't say a word. He spent most of the time curled up on the couch in a bundle of covers that he made a nice nest out of. Once family returned, he went over to his dinner and started eating. I would say Beagle has a bit of SA in addition to the obesity. He really looked unhappy and uncomfortable when he was walking around. Reportedly Grandma/Great Grandma who lives in the house spoils the dog. Great Grandma was telling a different tale though commenting about how the dog acts totally differently when the other grandparents are at home. hmmmm either way, I feel sad for the dog.

My two have been having walks this weekend that just do meet the requirements of the 30 minutes a day for 30 days challenge we are participating in. Yesterday was cleaning at my parents, then a quick walk, before watching our granddaughter. Today was Church and then the fiber arts group of the Samoyed club. I left that meeting early as time changed today and I knew if I didn't get a move on, it would be dark by the time I got home. As it was, it got dark as we were returning from a short walk with the dogs.

I am working on making some modifications to a couple of people reflective vests that I have been having the dogs wear. I am making the neck holes smaller, and rearranging the straps and velcro. They are made with elastic to hook to velcro under the arms to the front portion of the vest and then have a buckle strap to go around the waist to hold down the longer back portion of the vest. I am taking the velcro off of the front section so that part will just hang, and making the underarm elastic into an around the girth velcroed strap. The waist strap gets wrapped around them twice at their smallest point. It seems to work and as I had the vests around the house for the children and myself to wear when bicycling on the street, the dogs get reflective vests at no additional outlay of money on my part. The kids took their bicycles and helmets, but not the vests.

[Shalista]

Being Bax's mum is always a learning experience. Today while my dad was on the phone i took Bax and his squeaky toy into another room and closed the door. Initially i threw the toy in and Bax followed it but he looked at me with such a heart broken expression as i left that i went in to. As i played with him i realized what a failure as a furmom I've been lately. I've just been so consumed with all of Bax's issues and training and exercise and pottying schedule that i honestly couldn't recall the last time I'd just played with him. we had the greatest time playing with that toy and then i took him out for a long walk just going wherever he wanted and stopping to sniff for as long as he cared to. i know it sounds stupid but it meant the world to just be doing nice things with him with no schedule or end goal in mind, just walking, having fun, enjoying the weather.

[Fundog]

One of the greatest lessons our dogs teach us is how to slow down and just enjoy living in that particular moment. So many humans would just run themselves into an early grave if it weren't for their pets.

[MPbandmom]

Dogs definitely teach us to slow down and just enjoy the day.

Still working on the 30 for 30 challenge. When I arrived home today OH had the dogs all reflective vested and harnessed up and ready to go. As Sirius came running down the steps I heard her yip and then she seemed to be limping a little bit. I didn't think too much about it as I had to go get changed quickly into my walking duds. When I came back downstairs, OH had already taken Sirius outside, so I quickly grabbed my gear and Sky to join him. As I was about to head out, he came back in reporting that Sirius was occasionally yipping and then hopping around on 3 legs. I checked her foot and found nothing obvious and I didn't get snarked at for checking, so that seemed pretty positive. We went back outside with her where she took one step and then started hoping on 3 legs again. At that, we put her back inside and left her in the company of the cat while we walked. OH came along to hold Sky as our new voting place is at the park behind the house and I still needed to go vote.

Sky made new friends while I voted and then we went for a couple of loops around the park by headlamp in the dark. Technically the park closes at dark, but with the rec center being there and the park being centrally located and surrounded by people's back yards, that rule is rarely followed or enforced. (Although the city refuses to put lights at the dog park because the park closes at dark, even though the rec building is almost within spitting distance of the dog park. As a morning dog park visitor, I would really prefer if those who went to the dog park at night had some chance of being able to see where their dogs' pottied and thus being able to clean up after their dogs.)

Interesting observation with Sky being solo. My sweet anxious/excitable dog who would almost never take treats while out and about, seems to have learned that when we see people, OH hands out treats. We have intentionally tried to train Sirius to see people and look to us for a treat. Tonight Sky was very obviously demonstrating the same behavior.

When we got back home. Sirius was rather frantic as is typical for her when left behind. She did a lot of jumping and her usual prancing and bouncing around for her dinner, but OH thought she was landing a little more softly on her front feet. He has done some more checking of her feet and believes one of her pads is swollen. We will see how things look in the morning.

[Fundog]

MPB, I am very impressed with how involved and helpful Mr. MPB is in helping you walk the dogs. Already had them harnessed up and ready to go when you got home? WOW!

[MPbandmom]

MPB, I am very impressed with how involved and helpful Mr. MPB is in helping you walk the dogs. Already had them harnessed up and ready to go when you got home? WOW!

'

Haha, he is often pretty helpful, but doesn't usually have the dogs ready to go when I get home. I think it was because he wanted to be certain I got to the polls in time.

Sirius seemed find this morning and then this afternoon she was rounding the corner of the house to come back inside and her leg gave out. OH called the vet and we have an appointment for tomorrow. Sirius seems very much not herself this evening. She doesn't seem to be limping. I occasionally hear a little yip out of her and she doesn't seem to be moving as much as normal, but is walking up and down the stairs and bounced and pranced and jumped onto and off of the couch at dinner time. I have felt her leg and gotten no response from her as to a painful place. We feel badly for her, but don't have much clue as to what might be wrong. I will meet OH at the vets as OH doesn't know how to put Sirius' muzzle on and I want to know what is going on anyway.

[Shalista]

We had agility today and it was "jackpot" and "full house" which means i got to chose what i wanted to do on the course. Naturally i chose to do all jumps since Bax cant do tunnels or contacts (hes to scared to) and Bax got to have a full class instead of sitting on the sidelines watching other people do tunnels!

A combination of posting about Bax being handsy and seeing an article about shaping inspired me to teach Bax a new trick tonight. I put my hand on the ground and he puts his paw on top. I imagine if i ever put a cue to it it would be like "take my hand" or something. anyway, its adorable =) His default when anything is presented (be it pants legs when hes jumping up or hands when people are trying to pet him) is to dig at them and claw them so im trying to make him a bit more gentle, especially since i dont trim his talons as frequently as i should this might help in desnetising him to me touching his feet to. i'd long since given up on ever trimming his claws myself (i take him to the vet to get them done) but maybe, just maybe... someday.... still do have those clippers o nthe shelf.

[Fundog]

Walking on hard surfaces, such as sidewalks and street pavement help a lot in grinding the nails down naturally, so you don't have to actually use clippers.

[JudyN]

The fireworks have started up here. Jasper was anxious, not overly so, but wanted plenty of fuss and couldn't settle. Then he decided what he needed - he stood in front of OH who was sat on his sofa, and looked at me. After I managed to persuade OH that he should do the noble thing, he moved and let Jasper on his seat. Since then, Jasper's been quite happy and relaxed. (I can't say the same for OH )

What has really impressed me is that rather than falling to pieces, and although he wasn't happy, Jasper worked out how he could calm himself and communicated what he needed to us. And he must have thought I was the one who would understand (or I'm the one who dictates who sits where alpha ***** ) as it was me he looked at, not OH.

[delladooo]

Bless him. It's sounds like Jasper is coping really well. Last night, we got the ball pit out and they had a whale of a time in that, not bothered with the fireworks. It's not out tonight and Laufey keeps having a grumble at them. Add to that, some of the kids from along the street have been hanging about outside and knocking on the door which has severely upset MiMi and we did much better last night!

But, serious question time... As I've mentioned before, Laufey has a Julius-K9 harness and I'm having custom made labels for it. I want one essentially saying "do not interact" and the other to say "ask to interact" but I think to be big enough it needs to be shorter so need new wording. I don't want it to imply he's unfriendly or that he's a service dog / unfriendly / anything along those lines. Any ideas for wording?

[JudyN]

You need a Jasper-sized dog, you'd have room for a long explanatory sentence How about 'In training'? Hopefully most people would keep away then or ask before interacting. They might think he's a service dog, but I don't think that should matter - you haven't said what he's in training for.

Jasper is on his bed, not bothered by the fireworks at all Possibly he decided last night they weren't such a big deal after all... but as he kept giving his bed a dirty look last night, I wondered if the fireworks might cause vibrations that came through the walls & radiator, and pulled his bed a few inches away from the wall. Hmmm, I might do the same with his bedroom bed, he sometimes gives that dirty looks too....

[delladooo]

aahahaha I would so love to add a big dog - in fact a breeder I keep an eye on has just had a litter and to say I'm tempted is an understatement. That said, MiMi isn't currently in a position to cope so it's not really on the table, but I can dream. In training is a good one, it is what I was considering originally but then wondered if people would miss the point that it means to leave him alone? I have people currently who watch us, compliment him and still get themselves / their dogs too close

Awww bless him, MiMi and Laufey are both asleep now and the fireworks seem to have stopped. I need to take Laufey out for a last wee but don't particularly want to risk a bang right next to him

[Erica]

"Do not pet" may also work, if that's not too long!

I'm taking care of a lovely 2-year-old GSD girl right now. She looks and acts almost exactly the same way Opal did at her age...but this time I know what to do to help! Her lunging at cars and bikes is 99% stopped after a few LAT practices. I want to find some more dogs to practice against because I think that's another thing that upsets her. Just like with Opal, a switch from prong collar to harness+LAT had an almost immediate effect on her. She still winces and does appeasement behaviors if I say anything in a voice that isn't 100% happy (eg asking her not to lick my food/glass of water - which I say in basically a conversational tone but which is too much for her).

Now I just need to find a good way to communicate these methods to her owner...heck, I'll let her keep the harness I'm using for her as this dog is the only one I've tried it on where it fits and doesn't interfere with their throats (Ruffwear FrontRange, padded front-clip harness). I glare at the shiny-toothed man's book every time I walk in the house...hopefully, if I can film the difference in behavior and explain the why's well enough, pup's mum will be willing to give it a try!

The only complication is that I may have caught pneumonia from my dad, and things like "thinking," "looking around," "walking," and "breathing" have become painful. Which makes it difficult to give her enough exercise. Wish me luck and hope I can manage this half-hour walk....