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

[JudyN]

Jasper loves a good scrat! Does anyone else find their dog has a scrat, pauses, and then starts flinging lumps of turf and earth in your direction just as you move forward to pick up the poo? I'm sure he does it on purpose

[mansbestfriend]

Hi. Is scrat a Pommy term? Can certainly identify with the flying turf and mud .

[JudyN]

Hi. Is scrat a Pommy term?

I've only ever heard it used by 'dog people', and it doesn't seem to be in any dictionaries (apart from just meaning 'scratch') - not even the Urban Dictionary lists that meaning, though the other definitions it has for 'scrat' made interesting reading

[delladooo]

Laufey and I popped to the shop on our evening walk and whilst I wouldn't usually dream of taking him to a shop and leaving him outside, he's allowed in so long as he's picked up which we're all okay with. This evening the young lad who served us (we see him quite regularly) inquired about what vets we use as he's just got a chi puppy and he's looking for vaccs. I told him where I go and how much it was for Laufey and then asked what he's feeding... bakers! but I mentioned raw to him and told him to look it up and I'm going to pop back with a leaflet for him - we hand out quite a few - and see if I can maybe plant seeds of a better food at least. I was tempted to suggest a play date for puppy and MiMi as she doesn't get to see too many dogs closer to her age but I don't actually know anything about this man (not even a name) so it could seem a bit odd... Not that I'm not odd but possibly that's too far even for me.

In other news, mum found an agility tunnel today in the charity shop and bought it for us. It's currently taking up the space in the back room and Laufey loves it. The cat is having fun in it too but MiMi isn't sure. I'll soon have pictures of us being loons with that too and I'm trying to think of where I can possibly commandeer some outdoor space and grow my agility collection and really see what Laufey can do

[MPbandmom]

Ahhhh snow again. Those in the mushing groups to the north are getting some good sledding and skijoring in. Those of us a little further south, who don't have sleds, aren't getting much of anything in.

Yesterday I took the dogs to the quiet park across town, only to find that it was still closed from the most recent snow on Thursday. So, I got to listen to Sky whine a bit longer as we drove back to the park behind my house. We had a nice enough walk. There were a couple of dogs in the dog park, and we encountered a couple of dogs elsewhere around the park. The weather was lovely with temperatures in the 50's Fahrenheit. Some spots were clear of snow, other spots were not, but the snow wasn't too deep and it was sloppy and so didn't really pose any problems with having a nice walk. OH refused to go as he refuses to go walking in snow.

Today, I once again took the dogs to the quiet park across town in spite of OH's prediction that it was a waste of time and gas. That the park wouldn't re open until Monday and wouldn't be fit to walk at until Tuesday. The park was open and we had a nice walk. The trail through the woods was snow covered, but as the temperature was warm again, the snow was sloppy and not very deep, so no problem for walking. Other places were clear or snow covered, or water covered from all of the melting snow.

Saturday I made booties for the dogs with an eye towards possible use next winter. I traced their feet to make the pattern and then enlarged for seam allowance. I first tried on just a fleece sleeve to see if the pattern seemed right. I have been working on paw handling with the dogs, but putting something on their feet was something new. Sky removed the first foot that I tried to put the sample on to. She did tolerate the other foot having the sample put on although she wasn't all that happy. It turned out the sample for Sirius fit Sky better than the one I had come up with for Sky. Sirius would have none of trying on the bootie but was very polite about it and just removed her foot rather than getting snarky. So, I take that as a good sign that foot handling is making progress.

I ended up enlarging the pattern a bit more and now have a full set of booties for both dogs. I have not yet attempted a test fitting of these booties. I am confident that they are plenty large and may need to be seamed up a little once the dogs are more used to such things.

[Erica]

Congrats on the paw-gress, MP!

I had planned to bathe and dry Delta this morning after his walk, give him some time off during his usual mid-day nap, then do all the clipper stuff in the afternoon.

The plan went somewhere in a handbasket when my older sister brought Marble and Jax over. They had a bit of fun, but then I started feeling ill and not up to supervising two boisterous male puppies playing, so I took Delta on a walk and then let him have his nap while I went to walk Ami, Zeus, Pip and Tali. By the time I got there (ten minutes) I was in no shape to walk them anywhere and just let them in the yard in shifts while I sat down on the bench being miserable.

Got home, took a couple hour nap, fed Delta, ate, still wasn't in any shape to do any of the planned activities. Now, at 10pm, I'm feeling much better and I'm about to wake Delta up to give him the much-delayed bath. I may regret this decision in the morning, lol! But I don't have time to do all of it tomorrow, and I want Delta looking pretty because they might be filming our class for the trainer's updated website.

Also, I've started putting Delta's face fluff up in bands. He looks very cute in them and you can see his eyes! I'm careful to leave them fairly loose, because if they're too tight they can pull on the eyelids and keep the dog from closing their eyes. Also you have to change them often, but I got a ton of colors so that's all fun for us! Delta doesn't mind them at all. Eventually the fluff should get long enough for the traditional one-band topknot.


compared to

[katej215]

He's so gorgeous Erica...I would LOVE a standard one day...what colour is he?

[delladooo]

NEVER have I ever been so grateful for feeding raw.
I have one of those poo bag holder things which are really handy except when you are on the last bag and you don't realise. Laufey did two poos on our evening walk. Down the road With a man walking past.

I panicked. I wanted to curse him. I spotted a leaf. I got the poop in the leaf. I found a bin. I feel that was rather traumatic seeing as I have poo bags galore usually, there's even loads in my car but never one when you need one

[DianeLDL]

now we are in the valley south of Fresno at Lemoore NAS

back when I worked for a garage door manufacture, I did a delivery out to Lemoore area. one of the most peaceful moments living in CA. little to no noise...except nature and the occasional jet from the naval air station. felt like I was in one of those end of the world as we know it movies.

Jacksdad, it must have been quite a while ago.

Now, there is a casino nearby. Actually, whenever we say we are going to Lemoore, people assume it is for the casino.

Anyway, we have been back in Albuquerque since March 1st. We arrived after one of the worst snow storms in ABQ since the early 1900s. At least, we missed most of it. OH did have to shovel the driveway, and enough had melted in the backyard so as not to bother Sandy. I had to laugh when you were all talking about boots on your dogs. I cannot imagine Sandy ever getting used to them. He still won't wear a jacket. Good thing we are not in Maine. We just got a horrendous bill to have two feet of snow scraped off our roof.

We figure that Sandy is a fair weather dog. No rain, snow, sleet, etc. He deals with the wind, but it always amuses me that he doesnt figure that the wind will blow the urine onto his standing leg when he lifts to pee. I would have thought tht he would make sure he is facing the other direction.

Trying to catch up on everything, and just want you to kniw we are still around and doing okay.
Diane

[MPbandmom]

Delta looks so cute with his fluff tied up Erica,

Deladoo, I always carry a spare roll or two. I have my "dog walk bag" and Walkabelt. The walkabelt has the poo bag dispenser on it. The dog walk bag is hand knit and has a hand crocheted matching poo bag dispenser clipped to it. Then I usually have another roll inside of the dog walking bag. Even with all of that preparation, there are times that I get caught out without enough poo bags on hand. Good thinking on your part to find a leaf to use.

Diane glad to hear you made the trip safely back to Albuquerque.

[Erica]

I try to keep two spare rolls two. One in each poo bag pouch in my bait bag, and one in the inside pocket of it. I also have poo bags in a pocket of most all of my jackets...x3

I'm trying to do a German trim on Delta except I'm just going for the general look. He needs a lot more fluff to pull of the full German trim. When he's got the patience for a full brush-out every night, I'll let him grow out a bit more. For now I keep it short so if he's impatient and I only do bits and pieces of brushing each day, there's a low risk of mats. It will also look better he's in a proper updo instead of the double ponytails. Right now he looks like a ridiculous llama, moreso from the side and back, but...



Though sans ponytails he looks very different:



We have three tricks left to perfect before we're ready to send in an Uber Dude application. Bow needs to be put on cue and probably some duration added; push ups need to have more repetitions between rewards; and fetch lead needs to be on a cue. We're very close though, and now that we've finished the tricks class ( ) we can focus on this. Our trainer did mention that she's planning a tricks class 2 for interested graduates of the tricks class and oooh boy that will be fun once we have enough participants to start it up!

The second week of four, we introduced Staples easy buttons for shaping. (I don't know if they have Staples outside of the US; it's an office supply store, and a slogan of theirs is "That was easy." They make a big red button you can buy which says the slogan when you press it as part of an ad campaign.) Delta got okay at interacting with it but was too delicate to properly press the button - it's pretty sturdy. Instead he got to ring a little desk bell. This week though, I forget what we were doing where Delta was making very deliberate paw stomps. But then the teacher got out the easy button and gave it to us and lo and behold! Delta immediately began stomping on the thing and making it say things. He is so clever and knows so many things already. Training with him is such a blast!

They filmed some of our tricks, so if they put a video up I'll share it here.

[delladooo]

I confess, since the weather got awful at the end of last year I abandoned the treat bag and just keep treats in my pocket. I do have a dog walking bag for long excursions but I don't use it every time; I tend to rely on pockets.
I think I need to use a treat bag again, or maybe a bag in general, because sometimes (like today) I have an alarming lack of pockets.
MPB it was complete coincidence that I found the leaf and I have no idea what I would have done without it.

In the theme of Delta learning new stuff (well done with that by the way!) MiMi conquered stairs yesterday it's not a huge deal seeing as we have babygates anyway but times when I'd nip upstairs and let Laufey come with so leave a gate open are going to have to stop for a while. She can't get back down and we did "lose" her up there at one point when we didn't realise she'd gone up. BUT her deliberate training is going better than expected too to say I'm not doing much of it. She seriously needs to learn a wait though but I can't seem to communicate that one. I'm not sure if it's a case of "I don't understand what you want from me" or a case of "when you say wait Laufey waits and I wander along with you"

[delladooo]

He did it!! And I missed it!

Yesterday, apparently, Laufey both peed and pooed in the garden yesterday morning. Mum saw it but I was off getting dressed to take him out to do these things. I obviously still took him out when I was dressed but I see progress even if I don't actually see it. There's hope for us yet

[DianeLDL]

He did it!! And I missed it!

Yesterday, apparently, Laufey both peed and pooed in the garden yesterday morning. Mum saw it but I was off getting dressed to take him out to do these things. I obviously still took him out when I was dressed but I see progress even if I don't actually see it. There's hope for us yet

Delladoo,

It is probably why Laufey pottied in garden. You weren't there.

It is like when my son was 14 months and took his first steps to my neighbor while I was in another room. So, I missed that first, too.

At least, Laufey is going in the gardn. That is great news!
Ironically, when Sandy goes for a walk or to the park, if he has privacy, he will do both. But in our own yard, he will do one, come in, get his reward and then we take him out 15 minutes later and does the other. I think he figures this way he gets two rewards instead of one. Although we do give him double if he does both at the same time in the park. I guess Sandy has learned how manipulate us.

Great news about the garden. Now, hopefully you will observe it next time. keep eyes open.
Diane

[Nettle]

Not manipulation but biology, Diane To us it's all potty, but to dogs it is two completely different procedures which demand different physical responses and leave different messages to other dogs.