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

[Erica]

I think the blue and beige looks lovely - probably easier to spot if you put it down in the fall when grass and such is all dry and brown too. Isn't navy a neutral anyways? (That is a serious question; I have no idea. Fashion is not my forte.) Both are very nice, though!

Went to puppy class today. There was a bit of play, and the trainers were very aware of both the timid dogs and the boisterous dogs. I felt so bad for one dog there - she was bought from "a farm" where she was with about half a dozen adult dogs, but even at such a young age she was already growling and snarling/snapping at other dogs if they got within a dozen feet of her. Luckily the room was very large and she was able to be placed at enough of a distance to observe one other dog - a lab pup who was very focused on his trainer/the other puppies on the other side of the room and therefore not staring at her. They moved some tables to be a barrier so the fearful pup didn't see any of the other dogs. It was wonderful, and there was even playtime and off-leash (well, dropped leash) training.

I just want a puppy nooowwwww.

[MPbandmom]

Today Sirius went to an indoor barn hunt. I think we are not yet ready for indoor barn hunts. There were narrow walkways and some of the narrow walkways were lined with dog crates containing dogs that didn't appreciate other dogs walking that closely to them. I had mentioned to OH that this barn hunt would be held in air conditioning, so he decided to come along.

For the most part, Sirius did really well walking past other people and dogs. She did have a little snark at one lady who was swinging her hands a lot while walking and Sirius apparently took the hand swinging towards her as the lady reaching towards her and had a bit of a snap in her direction. This was as we were walking out to leave. It was a very long day with lots of dogs participating. Every time Sirius came inside for her run, she was drooling, so I know she was very stressed. OH didn't fare much better. He and Sirius ended up spending most of the day sitting in the van. Sirius because she was so stressed out when inside and there wasn't any safe place available to put her inside. OH because inside contained too much "dog" smell. OH might have had a little better time if Sirius hadn't NQ'd both runs. I had anticipated being done by early afternoon and it was after 5 pm before we left.

Fortunately my son came by and picked Sky up and took her to his house to have a grand romp in the large back yard there as the house dogs where he lives had gone away for the day. I think they over did it a bit though. She reportedly stumbled and slid backwards coming up the stairs when I went to pick her up and then I had to lift her into the van because she seemed unable or afraid to try to climb in on her own. I have a feeling she will be rather stiff and sore tomorrow, which will be a problem because being Sunday I won't be able to get her out for a loosening up walk until evening and thunderstorms are in the forecast.

Sky is currently enjoying watching the world go by from the front yard and Sirius is hiding in her bed because people are setting off fireworks. What a great relaxing way to end such a stress filled day.....NOT

[Sweetie's Human]

Today was dog food day. Happens about once a month. I'd been chopping Sweetie's chicken necks up before bagging them, but this time I went over to my parents' house and clamped their old fashioned mincer onto the workbench in the garage. Geez that was hard going. My Dad ended up taking pity on me and doing it for me after the first half dozen or so . Will have to take OH along next time. I was sure I'd have the muscle to do it, but I think I will concede that doing that many might have to be a blue job .

And then came The Offal . Nearly lost my lunch a few times and I'm still a bit queasy even now two hours later.

Anyway, Sweetie thought this was the absolute best way she could possibly spend a Sunday! And when we got back Her Boy took her for a walk, and then she got to sample the delicacies she had just supervised me making . The excitement has gotten the better of her and she's now spread flat out at my feet, sleeping on her face and snoring as only a pug can.

[JudyN]

I ordered the khaki bag - it'll go better with my green Barbour, not that I'm a fashion victim or anything But I may have ordered a green (which I hope is a matching khaki) and orange treat bag which I might be able to attach to the bag

[JudyN]

I spent some time this afternoon clicker-training Jasper to put his paws in a tray of water. You'd have thought at first that I was asking him to stand in an acid bath, but with a lot of perseverance and some very bad technique, we got there in the end

[Swanny1790]

Jasper looks quite pleased with himself. I'll bet the look on your face mirrored his. Well done, both of you.

[emmabeth]

I am about to bath the Erroldog. So see you all in about 4 hours time when I am hot and bothered and covered in dog hair and he is clean and dry and floofy to the extreme (and possibly sporting his summer trim - not bald, nono, just an inch off all round to make him quicker to brush and faster to dry!)

[emmabeth]

And I am back. He looks ridiculous, he moved his head as I was trimming his beard so its nice and rounded one side, chopped off square the other! Twonk!

[jacksdad]

Jasper looks quite pleased with himself. I'll bet the look on your face mirrored his. Well done, both of you.

yes he does.

And I am back. He looks ridiculous, he moved his head as I was trimming his beard so its nice and rounded one side, chopped off square the other! Twonk!

Errol is just being a trend setter.

[Sweetie's Human]

And I am back. He looks ridiculous, he moved his head as I was trimming his beard so its nice and rounded one side, chopped off square the other! Twonk!

Photo? I bet he looks handsome anyway, even if he is wonky. Maybe you could train him to look at everyone side-on, so they only see either rounded or square, but not both, and just assume the other side matches

I'm back from night time swimming training in an outdoor (albeit heated) pool. Times like this I am VERY happy to have a dopey-snoozy little lap-puglet to warm me up. She's got her front half sprawled across my lap and the back end has sort of worked its way up my chest (and I'm sitting!) to the point where her bum is pretty much in my neck . But she's happy, and she IS the boss!

Snort sssnnnnnooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttt

[Swanny1790]

Only 24 hours before I head home for some much needed R&R from work. Looking over my "honey do" list, I see a lot of "do" but not much "honey".

So far, I need to fetch a ton of dog food that was ordered three weeks ago (must have been a really slow truck), replace the post removed by Aumaruq, repair some dog-houses (again, and again, and again), repair a gate that was dislodged by big, goofy Aumaruq, get Chetan to the vet clinic (she's getting closer, I'll probably be able to be present during the AI ), clean and sanitize the whelping house and build a whelping pen, which will probably become a permanent pen. All of the dogs need some free-run time (LOTS of free-run time). Holes need to be filled in, I need to start looking for a supply of straw for the winter, and that's just the dog-related stuff. I probably ought to do some maintenance work on the dog truck, and build a couple more boxes for the dog trailer, too. (sigh) Oh, darn. I almost forgot that I need to take a sled to Dave Klumb for some repair and maintenance work. Yeah, it's looking like a busy, and expensive, R&R.

There are other things (like painting the trim on the house) that also need to be accomplished while it's still warm enough to do so. By the time I return home after my next work cycle it will be probably be cool enough to start training teams with the four-wheeler.

Somewhere or another on that list, Trish and I need to spend a day picking wild blueberries, too.

Doc May's office called me at work yesterday to make final arrangements to ship the frozen semen up from Minnesota. Chetan is getting closer, and it's looking like she'll be ovulating within the next few days.

I honestly have no stinkin' clue how I'm going to get everything accomplished in only two weeks.

[bendog]

Benjy has had some precious 1-1 time over the past couple of days.
Tuesday he saw my Nan and Little brother for a walk, who he loves.
Yesterday he came to my keep fit class and had a mooch around the hall, cuddles from everyone, and joined in with the jogging up and down the room, and sat on the bench when we were using them for exercises. He had an empty hummus tub to clean to keep him occupied as well. He was fab, everyone loved him. Then we went for a walk with my friend and her lurcher who basically tried to hump poor Bendog for the entire time and he spent the entire time ignoring it and trying to play fetch instead.

[Swanny1790]

Trish brought Chetan to the airport to pick me up yesterday, and we were straightaway off to the vet for another progesterone test. Doc May looked at the swab and said he though she just HAS to be close. When he ran the test, though, we were both surprised. Still C-1 (low), not ready to ovulate. Doc May is thinking she'll likely be ready this weekend - he's hoping it won't be Sunday as that's usually his only day off. On the other hand, he seems to be planning for it, as the Little Miss will be seeing a fill in vet for her next test, tomorrow morning early. We'll go in early in case it's elevated and we need to overnight the sample to the Lower-48 for a more specific test.

Since up to now Trish has had to take Ms. Chetan in for these tests and I've been away, I hadn't had a chance to watch her behavior. I was very pleased with the way she handled the whole thing yesterday. She seemed a little nervous in the waiting room, and totally ignored the wee little lap puppy that was waiting with her owners. I'm not sure she even recognized him a a cute little dog. Then another client came in with a beautiful Golden Retriever, at which point Chetan became very interested but not wild and wooly like one might expect. She just climbed up on the bench beside me to watch the larger dog.

In the exam room she got on the table, gave us a perfect cued "down" and offered her paw for the blood draw and acted like it was all in a day's work. Back out to the car she jumped up in her crate just as easily, if not more easily, than she loads into the dog truck.

When we got home, I got the tour of the kennel so Trish could show me stuff on my "honey do" list. Aumaruq didn't just pull his post out of the ground, he broke it off about two feet or so under the surface. It looks like it was pretty heavily corroded, and over time it weakened to the point where it just couldn't handle a young, very active, 80# dog pulling against it. It was rather amazing to see, though. There is still two feet of pipe buried in the grown in that circle, and I think it's probably just going to have to stay buried. Most of the other kennel issues are relatively minor and will be easy enough to fix.

Many of the dogs are blowing coat, preparing to grow in a new layer of soft, downy insulating undercoat for winter. After greeting everyone I was so covered in fur it looked like I was wearing a fur coat of my own. I was literally pulling big clumps of fur out of plush-coated Selene.

Thowra, recently diagnosed as hypothyroid, is looking GREAT. His fur has almost entirely grown back and he's back up to a healthy weight and body condition. Meanwhile, Old Just has been playing like a puppy and acting very much like himself.

So, I'm home, the dogs are healthy, and things are proceeding as they should. Now I'm preparing to feed the Howling Horde and head into town to pick up a ton of dog food, buy human groceries, and all that sort of thing. We are off and running....

[JudyN]

Jasper and I saw a deer on our morning walk - the first one in quite a while. He sensed (smelt? heard?) it first but was on lead as we were on a path fairly close to a road. Just as well, as there was a barbed wire fence in between us and the deer.

The deer came into the open so we could both see it, and of course the switch in Jasper's brain was well and truly turned on. He was on tiptoes, pulling and ready to go... but not pulling so hard that I was struggling to hold him (he's 34kg and I'm only around 51kg), and he didn't lose it, lunge or have a tantrum. He just continued the way we were going, hoping that I'd take a sharp left at some point, but we stuck to the path and his arousal level gradually subsided over about ten minutes. By the time we came off the path and back onto the heath he scanned the area carefully, but then was back to normal.

[Swanny1790]

Wow!! Good for Jasper. That must have taken tons of self-control on his part.