Chase not, lest you lose your credibility with your dog

We went to visit Daphne on Sunday in her new home. She looked like she is well loved and doing well. I like the family a lot! It was nice to see little Daffy, who climbed into the car via my lap, and then Mermaid Girl's lap, as we were leaving. Sweet gesture, but hopefully the process is complete now. She'll know she is living there and not coming back here. She is a very sweet dog, though.

Mona came out of the car at Lake Bronson and found me on the dock. She stayed in the car after I rolled the windows up a bit more, but I hosed her a few times so she wouldn't be so hot. It seemed reasonable that she'd want a dip in the lake. It was like 94 degrees or something! Now there is the sweetest pup ever. Another dog came to find the owner so I didn't feel too bad after that. How irritating to watch the non-owners try to chase the dog. stupid stupid people. Like, if it isn't your dog, and you aren't partial to dogs, why do you think you can handle the dog more effectively than the owner? I saw the dog switch to avoid-the-humans mode, from the inquisitive businesslike demeanor of: gotta find my man, pardon me, excuse me, just lookin' for my owner. When I was putting Mona back, a number of people wanted to talk and meet her and tell me about their dogs, so it was a dog-friendly vibe.

Just a little word to the wise: if you ever decide to chase a dog, you are going to lose.

The Birds

Real life has really been interfering with my blogging lately. I have a lot of news about the birds in the back yard, though. The cherries have been ripening, and the squirrels and birds both go crazy for them. They make a ruckus up in the tree. Wild birds hold the branch with their feet, I think, and try to pick the cherry while flapping their wings to stay in the air. Then the bird swoops down the the ground to eat the fruit. Good luck, because the chickens come racing over with wings spread to scare the bird away, and the chicken eats the cherry. There are seeds all over the ground under the tree.

I'd like to net a portion of the tree so we can have some cherries! I need one of those guns from Batman that shoots a net about 40 feet. How else can I get the net over the branches?

Mona was watching the chicken coop. I mentioned to her that she should chase a squirrel, since one was making a huge commotion in the tree. Mona took off for the diagonal, but noticed the cherry tree action and diverted to the tree. She chased the squirrel to another branch and apparently scared it so bad it fell in front of her. (Don't worry, she doesn't kill things.) Off they went to the other trees. Very exciting! Nothing like ripening Rainier cherries to stir up some action.

In other news, I am showing my downstairs apartment to rent it, and most people have pets. I will be considering which pets to add to our little cast of characters. An 11 year old lab and a one year old toddler? Two chihuahuas? a kelpie?

Oh yes, and one piece of bad news: I saw a rat in the chicken coop. rats. I have to figure out how to exclude them from the coop. The chicken wire does not work, as I saw one scurry up the wire and then pass through the little octagon. This means I need to buy a lot more chicken wire and the stuff I have now is only good for keeping dogs out and chickens in. When I get the chickens confined things will be better all around. They free range, and I mean range. They go all over the property. Blackie took a dust bath on the far side of the house, by the front door, and Kayleigh thought it was a fire at first. Clouds of dust rose up and now I know why the window is so darn dirty.

We may have the chance to go visit sweet Daphne this weekend. We miss her, and I think it has been long enough to bond with her new home so she won't get confused when we see her but don't take her home with us.

party time!

I went to a party last night, and after awhile, I brought the dogs out of the car. There was a keg outside, so people were hanging out in the misty cold yard. The dogs ran around and played, and eventually Mona snapped at Daphne (who always hassles her to play) so I let Mona go back to the car. Daphne came back to the party. We eventually moved inside, where she would stay on the area rug and strain to visit people without letting her back legs off the rug. She did get all 4 paws off the rug in order to reach the cat food once. The woman who lives there is interested in having her. Her partner didn't display a lot of good sense in trying to relate to Daf. He picked up both her front paws as she tried to duck back and looked away. Later he was picking her up or trying to get her on his lap. I do that, but somehow when you grab her from the back end, she flops over onto my lap. She was struggling. So I don't know how comfortable I would be with them having her. Maybe they could dog sit while I am traveling, if she does not have a new home by then.

I thought it was good experience to be at the party. She ran around the yard and socialized with everyone. She was very wiggly the whole night, and turned out to be a great party dog. I told her once not to eat the cat food and I didn't see her go for it again. As I was trying to leave, I was delayed by all the Daphne goodbyes. She was a real hit.

Off leash area

I took the dogs to the off leash area last night, and enjoyed the dramatic sky's last rays of sun before it set at 8:30 pm. The whole city was rainy, but the dog park had a spot of bright sun and strong wind. I love that it is set on a peninsula on the lake. I am struck by the beautiful contrast of clouds-- white fluffy ones lit but the sun and dark, heavy ones on every horizon. Every time I have been there recently it has been overly crowded, but last night the rain had kept most people away.

Anyway, Daphne has excellent social skills with other dogs at the park. A cattle dog mix had some stern words for her, out of the blue, and she was appropriately respectful and took a hike. She takes an interest in the herding breeds because she grew up with Mona. They don't always appreciate the bully breed energy, but she is very respectful. One time she had a blast running with two border collies who were chasing a ball. They didn't pay any attention to her, but a dominant dog full of attitude like a cattle dog will sometimes want to tell her in advance, no BS. There was also a grown yellow lab puppy who was both rambunctious and insecure who wanted to play with Mona and Daphne. He was larger than both my girls, and clearly still learning how to approach dogs. I forgot what Daphne did exactly, but it conveyed interest in playing as well as some aloof dominance. He approached Mona and she snapped at him. She has no time for playing with puppies. So he went back to Daphne and they romped a bit. I was impressed with how Daphne set the tone with him, and managed the interaction well.

I also saw some progress on puddle-drinking. I make the dogs drink. I don't suggest others try it because it takes a lot (LOT) of patience. Daphne used to almost prefer drinking from puddles and runoff surrounding the dog bowls. I lean over her yelling, "No drinking!" (ready to move her if she does not comply) when she starts to drink from any source other than a dog bowl. I always did this with Mona, but after the leptospirosis scare last year, I am even more emphatic about it. I tell the dogs to "Get a drink." I tell Daphne in particular to "drink from the dog bowl" or "Drink some water from the dish." So, she is learning the vocabulary of dog bowl and dog dish.

When Mona was a puppy, she picked all this up very fast. I would tell her to drink and then wait for her. She still sometimes defies me, which can take up a lot of time. You really cannot make a horse drink, physically. But you can wait and not let anything happen until the dog at least takes a token lick. So most times, Mona just drinks when I tell her to. What happens is they don't think they need water, but then they have a little and notice how good it was. Then they drink a lot more. I also like to make sure they drink along the way so they don't gorge themselves at the end and then feel sick or vomit it up. Conditioning for this kind of behaviour promotes the dog to take care of itself without a lot of ongoing intervention. That way, I can trust the dog with other people who may not know not to let them drink from puddles.

Doubts about the cable run

I am observing signs of stress and other behaviour that indicates the cable run is a bad idea. I guess I knew it would be but I wanted to try it. When I let Daphne off the cable, after a half hour or less, she is frantic and overly needy. The ingratiating behaviour indicates that she may feel she is being punished. She seem okay when both dogs are out there, but Mona ends up sitting by the door and Daphne is alone. She has relaxed and sniffs around, using the area available to her on the cable, but there are a few aspects that a chain link kennel would provide that the cable trolley does not.

A dog needs to feel safe and protected in order to relax. They need to be "off duty" in order to not create problems. A chain link kennel may be okay with a dog house inside it. They dog has no choices and no responsibility. No call to guard anything or alert anyone. A crate is excellent because the dog can do nothing but go to sleep, and they sleep quite well. Passing an 8 hour day sleeping is no problem at all as long as they have activities at other times. But outside dogs
tend to take responsibility for guarding or escaping. Back yard dogs will develop barking and/or digging habits that do not go away. That is why I have been so careful about putting Daphne on the cable. It works as long as she is actively playing, but when she wants to lie down and sleep, she has no clear "off duty" place to go. I am not sure a dog house (or dogloo) would do the trick. Usually a dog has to have no choice but to lie in the crate, or else it will go seek out activity. Yesterday when she was tired of being on the cable, she started barking obnoxiously. I had to come out and spray her with bitter apple. As I left, she whined so I sprayed her again. The third time she was quiet, and I let her off the cable.

Yesterday I felt that I cannot keep her. She is too big and I just don't have the energy for it anymore. Maybe I will find the energy to interact with potential owners again. I was awfully burned out after the last roller coaster with a potential owner. Kayleigh loves her, and so do I, but she needs a best friend. She still jumps on Mona and interferes in my relationship with Mona. I know Daphne can spend more time in the crate, but meeting the needs of two dogs
separately is just more time and logistics than I can manage right now. I gave the cable run a try (to prevent her from chasing chickens and jumping on the door to be let back inside) but it only works when others are out there.

some city training

I had the opportunity to work with each dog in the city last night. I have not had Mona on leash in a long time, and so she wanted to pull. I jerked the leash a few times and she was not responging to that, so I stopped walking, let her out ahead, and then jerked right as the reached the end. I waited for her to come back to me and sit by my side, in "place" position. I did tell her place, just to be clear. Then we walked. I took one step and had her sit. Then two steps and sit. We did a few random sits while walking and that fixed up the pulling on leash problem. Mona is very good about streets, but I worked on them a bit, tricking her into stepping into the street and then working through it. I took her on the Broadway, a busy business district, and tied her out while I ordered some food. I let her pull on the leash on the way to the park while I was eating. When we got to the park, I let her off leash and she was a doll. I sat and ate and she sniffed around. I love the way she wanders and appears aloof but the second I call her she turns on a dime and runs to me. She avoids other dogs, too.

I walked Daphne on the city streets a little bit and worked mainly on street awareness. I made her sit in front of each curb, and even when I stepped into the street. She made 2 major mistakes so I had to be sure she was successful on the third try, so I made it easier for her and praised a lot. She did better on the next couple of curbs. I also worked on her paying attention to me and where I am going. She would get so distracted that she pulled in all directions. I waited for her to align with me and then we'd start walking again. I need to do more leash work with her. I have a new pinch collar for her, so that will help make it easier. I have not been taking her out on leash because of my neck pain. I cannot afford to be pulled suddenly and
injure my neck.

In our new house we do not have very good walking destinations, so my city walks have not been frequent. I used to live right in the University District, on a major arterial.

On scoop topics, I had a long grass experience thatr made me realize I will need to take photos.
(is that too gross?) I don't think I can describe the squiigi effect for long grass without a photo. Thank goodness I had a strong bag for bread rather than my thin nappy sacks. I had to tear the grass off. I need to get a camera that I can carry with me and download easily.

Tie out report

Daphne did not take long to adjust to the cable. She mostly lays under the tree when she is clipped out there. I watch from the house. When Mona is out there, she sniffs around, but when Mona lays out of sight, Daphne lays down and waits. I went out to take her off the line and she was very excited. She orbited around with a toy in her mouth and I chased her. She doesn't always play that way, so it is a good way to get some of that puppy energy out. She's very cute, moving her tail away from me as she passes by. Half way through I called her to me, and waited. she came to visit, and we played a bit more after that. I like to be very clear that we are playing, and make sure there is not a true element of fear when I am chasing her and razzing her up.

Of course, she came in, drank water, and proceeded to hack it up onto the carpet, so out she went again. Now they are both inside and resting quietly.

Spending some time on the cable changes the way Daphne uses her time out there off the leash. She seems disinterested in the chickens, so that is an improvement. So far there is no real wear pattern on the grass. I figure as she spends more time out there and has a chance to get bored, she'll come up with new things to do.