The Christmas Snowman

We celebrated Christmas a little late with R, thanks in part to the snowstorm. Henry was most pleased with his present, an abominable snowman squeaky toy. The first thing he did was to take it over to his cache of toys and bones.

Then he decided that R's gift, a microfiber bath mat, made a good spot for chewing on his new toy.

Spooky is glad that Henry found his other gift (a foldable dog house) a little bit scary. Spooky's had his eyes on Henry's travel crate for some time, so he was pleased to claim this enclosed space for his own. I put his old bed inside so - finally! - I don't have to look at its raggedness any more.

A few of our favorite things: Nutritional Supplements

For a dog, I guess there are some drawbacks to having an elderly owner. You don't get walked as much when it's snowy and icy. You're expected to sleep a lot during the day -- and night. You have to bark REALLY LOUDLY sometimes. But by golly, getting to lick the empty Ensure bottle surely makes up for all of that.

"Hey, Blitz, don't forget to turn your head to get the sides."
"Gee, thanks, Henry. Almost forgot."

A few of our favorite things: Rope Ball

The rather pricey ball on a rope started out as Henry’s favorite thing, until he knocked himself in the face with the ball and refused to touch it again. (See also: Purple Hippo Incident)

Blitz inherited the rope ball. It’s undoubtedly his favorite toy. He doesn’t shake it quite as vigorously as Henry, so he hasn’t suffered any self-inflicted injuries.

Instead, he’s developed his signature dance:

Santa's Workshop

Shhh, don't tell Henry and Blitz what they're getting for Christmas. Could I interest anyone else in an elk femur, "moo tube," or a grab bag of yummy animal parts? Please? It'd make my Christmas shopping a whole lot easier.

Henry’s Thanksgiving Vacation

• Ate a large quantity of sand from the kids' sandbox. Fun fact: It takes about 18 hours for sand to completely pass through his digestive system.
  
  
• Nervous-peed on R’s mother and niece - twice.
  
  
• Ate a large quantity of poo and other unsavory items and later threw it up on R’s living room floor.
  
  
• Rode patiently in his travel crate for a total of about 1,300 miles.

I suppose that last item makes up for the first three.

Unexpected Trickery

Henry is a quiet dog (thank goodness!), but tonight when I got home he was wound up and in the mood to let out a yap to hurry me along. The "speak" command was on my mind because a co-worker and I had been discussing our dog classes, and in hers they tried teaching the dogs to speak.

Soooo, I thought I'd give it a try. Honestly, I didn't think he'd get it at all, but after praising him after the first bark, I could see the wheels turning in his head. He was really trying to figure it out. Barking is a good thing?! So we kept at it until we got the speak, bark, and treat lined up just right. This video is taken after a series of successful attempts.

Most of the time the bark doesn't come nearly that fast. He still has to think about it and seems to struggle to get the bark out. Sometimes it starts as a whine.

And hey, what is that in the background? Why, yes, it's the completed plank. Doesn't everyone have a blue and yellow board in their living room?

Front & Finish

I haven't written much about this class, which might make you think it's going horribly. Actually, it's not bad. It's just difficult to describe, especially since I don't know all the terminology.

Besides heeling, which we do a lot of, we've been working on fronts and finishes. We're making some progress. Henry has a tendency to not sit straight for come front (1st photo), and he prefers to set waaaaay out to the left of me on right finishes (2nd photo). That's why we're using the chairs to practice. It gets him used to going to the right spot. I've also started using a clicker to train at home because that seemed to help him pick up things in agility when he was having trouble.

Making the Plank

Work is progressing on Henry's practice plank. I ended up using a 2" X 12" X 10' board from the lumber section of Lowe's. I started out with a 10' particle board shelf, but quickly returned it when I realized it was far too slick. Henry couldn't walk across it completely flat on the ground without slipping.

Here's the primed board. I used old exterior latex paint for the priming. As you can see in the picture, I managed to get one can of flat and one can of satin paint because I bought them on separate Lowe's visits. Oh well, that's the least of our worries. I also picked up some pricey anti-skid stuff to add to the paint, but I'm not going to use that unless I have to. It was almost $5 for the little package.

I went with 30" contact zones instead of the regulation 42". I'd like to say I planned this, but actually I just eye-balled what I thought would be a good ratio of yellow to blue paint and completely lucked out getting it right. The regulation board is 12' long with 42" contact areas. Mine is 10' long with 30" contact areas.

Oh yeah, that yellow will wake you up! Initially I planned to leave the contact areas white, but when I looked up the size of the contact areas I saw that the AKC specifically said contact areas shouldn't be white for competition boards, so...I made yet another trip to Lowe's for the yellow paint just in case there's some reason white is bad. It seems to me as long as it contrasts with the darker shade in the middle it shouldn't matter.


I won't be needing the base until after the first of the year, so I'm not going to make that now. I'm just going to use the board for contact practice, maybe raising it just slightly to mimic what we were doing in our last class.

Weekend Fun & Relaxation

We spent the weekend visiting my dad and his dog. The dogs are finally spending time out of their cages inside my dad's house, and that gave them the opportunity to create a new game Friday night - an exuberant wrestling match miraculously confined to a large dog bed.

The cats, on the other hand, are masters of relaxation.

Last Overlook of 2010

On Election Day, we took what was probably our last Coopers Rock overlook hike of the year. The gate on the access road closes Dec. 1 (I think), and it's unlikely that we'll do the full 6 mile hike to the overlook during the winter months. We only did about 3 miles, which was quite enough because I didn't dress properly for the chilly day.

Henry found something interesting around a downed log. Probably a mouse or chipmunk trail. I let him dig for about 5 minutes and finally dragged him on when it became obvious he wasn't making any significant progress. It was the first time this fall that it was too cold for the chipmunks to be out scurrying around.

Fall Hikes: Hellooooo, chipmunks!

With all the squirrel and chipmunk activity this time of year, walking Henry anywhere near a wooded area requires the patience of Job and strong shoulders.

It's really tempting to let him loose and watch what he'd do off-leash, speeding through the leaves and brush. Of course, I'm not about to try it. I've invested quite a bit of time and money in this animal, so I'm not ready to see it run, run, run away, even if it would be a good show.

Today we hiked out to Raven Rock overlooking Cheat River canyon. It's an easy hike of about 3 miles round trip, and it's especially nice for dog walking because there's a reliable stream for doggie drinks.

And for the humans, there's a great view of the canyon.

Last Saturday, we were in Virginia and walked about 3 miles on the Crawfish Valley trail, which we call "the bobcat trail" because because several years ago we happened upon a real, honest-to-goodness bobcat there. We keep hoping to see another one, but it looks like that may have been a once in a lifetime experience.

The leaves weren't really colorful in SW Virginia last weekend, but there were several pretty trees along the way.

We hiked out about a mile and a half and planned to lie down in the sun for a while. Unfortunately, Henry just doesn't get the concept of resting on a hike. So after his relentless pestering, we finally gave up and walked back to the car.

Heeling Bootcamp

You know how in college when you have to sit through pesky prerequisites (e.g., Survey of 18th Century British Drama) to get to the classes you really want (e.g., Reading Contemporary American Prose in a Hot Tub)?

Well, I think that's sort of what we're doing in this new class. It is hard-core heeling. Heeling bootcamp is how I'm thinking of it. If Henry can't heel by the end of this, there is absolutely no hope of him ever heeling, and I'll just forget the idea of him doing Rally, which is OK, because that's a recent whim that I can forget pretty easily.

Autumn at Coopers Rock State Forest

We had a rare weekend day at home, so we managed to get in a 5 mile hike at Coopers Rock. Nothing strenuous, just the Roadside Trail which is an easy walk with gentle ups and downs. I didn't want to overdo it because I knew I had to spend the rest of the day digging up a flower bed. Ugh.

The colors weren't spectacular yet at Coopers Rock. Most of the leaves were still green, but there was a clump of colorful trees beside the lake (pond?) and another out by the interstate.

As I was taking these shots of Henry, someone else was taking shots of a happy couple using the same autumn backdrop. I'm guessing it was an engagement photo, and yes, I felt like an idiot taking pictures of my dog right next to people striking lovey-dovey poses.

The Roadside Trail is one of my favorites to walk with Henry because it's wide and he has lots of room to run from side to side. I did 5 miles, but Henry probably did about 7 with all of his running back and forth.

The overlook area (photos below) was crawling with people today. We braved the crowd and found a spot at the back of the big rock to eat our lunch.

Back to School...Again

Only a few days until Henry and I start our first real obedience class. Let's hope this goes a little better than my first (and last) Zumba class! Who knows...maybe Zumba would have turned out better if Henry had been there.

Classes at the kennel club alternate between agility and obedience. Because of the holidays, I'm guessing, there's a longer gap than usual between agility sessions -- three months. Yikes!

Since the thought of not having anything structured to do with Henry for three months is unfathomable, we're doing an obedience class. From what I've witnessed, the expectations at obedience classes are a bit different than at agility. Jumping up and greeting the instructors, for example, isn't considered cute.

So my big challenge will be keeping from getting too frustrated and trying to remember that this is all for fun. If we have even a miniscule chance of competing at anything, it will be agility, not obedience. But I've got to tell you, I'm not even sure we'll make it to agility at this point. My head spins when I watch competition videos on YouTube, and I seriously wonder if Henry will ever be able to complete a course without stopping along the way to search for crumbs.

Henry's Big Dig

The best part about visiting "grandpa"? Why, of course, it's excavating the remains of his quickly vanishing dirt pile. Judging from the tunnels Henry's uncovering, there really was something living there at one time. Probably mice.

The Face of Evil

Until last night, this was Henry's current favorite toy. He picked it out at Petco last month during a lonely Saturday night shopping trip.

We played with hippo almost every day. He brought it over to me when I sat on the couch. I'd throw it in the kitchen. He'd bound off after it. Rinse, repeat.

Last evening, I screwed up. I lobbed the hippo high into the air so it would come down and bounce around the living room. The first time I threw it not so high, just over my head, and everything was fine. The second time I threw it higher. Henry instantly spooked, tucked his stubby tail, and backed into the path of the falling hippo. It hit him squarely on the back.

He was terrified. First he jumped up on my lap and curled into a ball. Then he dashed outside to the porch to hide.

I tried smearing peanut butter on Hippo (that's the white residue visible in the picture), and sure, he licked that right off, but immediately went back to being scared. Twenty-four hours later he still remembers.

Just how, I wonder, does an animal develop such a fear of objects falling from the sky? A puppyhood home with really unstable shelving?

Weaving for Breakfast

I think he finally has it. :)

Six Weave Poles, Baby!

I'm pretty excited. Make that super-excited. As of yesterday, Henry's doing 6 weave poles. Not fast, but he's doing all six, and he's doing it without me being right next to him. It's like the lightbulb finally went on and he got it!

Last week at class, we did something a little different and had the dogs enter the weave poles while they were walking next to us. We only did 2 or 3 poles at class, and only a couple of repetitions. So we started working at home on that method of entry, first with 3-4 poles, and then 5, and finally yesterday with 6 poles.

Until today Henry required me to walk right next to him. If I didn't, he left the poles and followed me.

He got over that this morning when he had to weave for his breakfast. After 2 tries he finally did it. We worked on it again tonight, and now he will enter the poles and weave while I wait for him at the end. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that he will do this at class tomorrow.

How excited am I? I dreamed about freaking weave poles last night. No kidding.

Feline Housemate

Couldn't resist sharing this shot of my elder cat. It was taken on our screened porch, which has awesome late afternoon and evening light. I've gotten some of my best cat pictures on the porch. Plus, the cats (and Henry, too) love hanging out there.

Fast Friends

Henry spent his first weekend with Blitz, and I'm relieved to report things went very smoothly. They took to each other instantly and spent most of the daylight hours outside playing in the big fenced dog yard at my dad's house. Both slept very well each night!

I hope I'll be able to teach Blitz a few commands, but agility won't be an option with my limited time with him. Luckily, he is so well-behaved that my father doesn't have an urgent need to train him further.

 

Blitz's New Bling

Blitz models his new collar, Lupine's "Wild West" design. And I apologize in advance. I got a bit obsessed with the Hipstamatic iPhone app this weekend, so there will be lots of weird-looking photos coming.

Class - Week 3

When Thursday night rolled around this week, I was so tired and cranky that I nearly skipped our agility class. That's not my style, though. Plus, I paid good money for it, darn it. So I was determined to drag myself there and gave myself a pep talk on the way, "Do not cry at agility...do not cry at agility..."

I'm glad I went because it turned out to be just what I needed. Henry did really well. He learned to walk to the end of the teeter board (flat on the ground) and stand with four paws on the yellow contact portion.

He also ran through the tube part of the chute (minus the closed tunnel part) on the first try. I hope that means he'll zip through the tunnel the next time we try that.

At the end of class we did two runs of the tunnel-less chute, pause table, and two jumps. Henry absolutely LOVES getting to run from one thing to the next without stopping. And he has not yet run away from me. That is the truly amazing part. We have come a long way since March!

Driving Mr. Blitz

It made for an exhausting mid-week trip (2 hours each way) but it was worth every minute. Yesterday Henry and I drove down to pick up my dad's newly adopted dog at the animal hospital and deliver him to his new home with my dad.

Blitz is a fantastic dog. He's absolutely perfect for my dad. Who would think that a young dog straight from the shelter would be better behaved than Henry?! OK, maybe it's best that those of you who know Henry don't answer that.

Blitz wasted no time trying out the inventory of toys in the fenced dog yard. 

Blitz surveys the neighborhood for the first time. Since the weather's been so nice, he's been spending most of the daylight hours outside keeping an eye on things.

+1 - A New Pack Member!

What an exciting weekend! We're adding to the pack. Not MY pack, but the extended pack. My dad is getting a dog!

When I was growing up, our home was a prime location for dropping off unwanted pets, and occasionally  an injured or orphaned wild animal. Nearly every summer brought a new animal, including one tiny puppy that was left at the mailbox. He was entirely too small to have walked over a mile from the closest neighbors, so clearly someone had left him there.

That dog died earlier this year at the age of 14, followed by my father's last remaining dog that passed away last month at age 15.

So, after decades of taking care of abandoned animals, in his retirement my dad found himself going through something entirely new - shopping for a dog.

We met this fellow at the Humane Society of Parkersburg on Saturday, and everyone - except perhaps Henry, who knows nothing about this - is very excited to get him home so my dad can start spoiling him.

Blitz's picture on Petfinder

Classmates

I had been a little anxious about class starting this week, but yesterday at the Orientation session I found out one of my former co-workers will be in the class with us. That puts my mind at ease a little. Plus, just being at the kennel club watching the dogs got me excited about class! We've been practicing our jumps the last two evenings to get back in the swing of things.

Clay Furnace Hike

It's been a couple of months since we've been in town for the weekend with nothing on the schedule. With work kicking into high gear again, Henry's had more time alone and, as a result, has been bouncing off the walls the last few days.

We got rid of some of that energy today at Coopers Rock with a hike to Henry Clay Furnace, up the hill to Rock City, then back to the car following the Roadside Trail.

 The boring, sunny, hot (but gloriously downhill) first section of the loop

The prettiest section of the hike where the trail follows Clay Run

Remains of the Henry Clay iron furnace

The first time we did this hike, playing in this creek was the highlight of trip. Today the creek was almost dry.

No water? No worries. Henry knows how to make his own fun. He ran his trademark speed circles in the weeds and had a blast. Unfortunately, his circle sprints are impossible to capture with my camera. ;)

Twelve hours later (plus lots more playing), we have success -- a tuckered out Henry!

Back to School!

Our hometown doubled in size today as many of the college students returned for the fall semester, but they're not the only ones going back to school -- it's agility time!

Henry is registered for the Fundamentals of Agility I class that starts next week. It's crazy how nervous I get before these classes. It's not as bad as I got as a kid, when I worried myself to vomiting in anticipation of the first day of school, but it's still far worse than it should be. I mean, we're talking agility. It's for fun!

Weave Poles – Tough to Make, Tough to Learn

We're trying not to let weave poles get the best of us.

Trying...

Again using the instructions at InstantAgility, I built a set of PVC adjustable channel weave poles. It required lots of measuring, cutting, and gluing -- and more gluing when the poles started coming apart!

Yep, my set came apart in the middle while we were carrying it outside for the first time. Apparently my gluing skills aren't up to par. I decided to leave it like that for a while since Henry's only starting training. It's easier to carry 3-pole sections anyway.

And then one of the end poles came off the base. Sigh.

To make matters even more frustrating, Henry seemed to be regressing. I started out using the methods we learned in my last class at the local kennel club. We learned to NOT lead the dog through the poles. Rather, we waited till the dog entered the first pole correctly and then rewarded the behavior. When the dog gets that, you move on to the next pole.

Well, with our new set of weave poles, we could never get past those first two poles. So yesterday, after watching a couple of channel weave pole training videos online, I moved the poles inside to the screened porch, reassembled them into into the full set of 6, and opened them to make a channel down the middle. Now I'm focusing on him entering the right way and going all the way to the end. I'll close the poles gradually and – fingers crossed – maybe he'll learn to weave. I'm afraid, however, that deviating from the class training methods will get me in trouble in the next class we're signed up for.

The best part of moving the poles to the porch is I no longer have to drag them out of the basement and into the yard every time we want to practice. Now we can step out the back door and practice for short sessions several times a day.

Jack? Jack Russell?

It truly surprises me, but people are always asking what kind of dog Henry is. He's a little white dog with black spots. Seems ordinary enough to me, yet one person stopped her vehicle in an intersection to ask his breed.

Usually my answer goes something like this:

“Well, he was a stray, so I don’t really know, maybe a mix of …” And depending on my mood I insert two or more of the following:

• Rat Terrier
• Mountain/Treeing Feist 
• Jack Russell 
• Beagle 
• Spaniel (I don't see it, but the vet mentioned it as possibly being in the mix.)

I’ve spent more time than I care to admit perusing photos of the above breeds and types. My best guess is he’s a mix bred for hunting, maybe some variety of feist. My second guess: he's the product of a romantic encounter between a rat terrier and a beagle.

What cracks me up, though, is that so many people have such strong opinions about whether he is or is not a Jack Russell. There are a lot of strong feelings out there about Jack Russells! I’ll give my standard answer about not really knowing, blah blah, and people will reply:

“That’s a Jack Russell right there. My < insert family member here> has one that looks EXACTLY like that.”

Then the next day someone will say, with equal conviction (sometimes bordering on rage):

“He’s not a Jack Russell. That’s for sure!”

So, who knows, but if you can figure it out and produce dogs that are similar, you might have quite a market for them here.

Climbing to Chimney Rock and Beyond

Over the July 4th holiday, we spent several days in Henry's homeland, western North Carolina.

If you're one of those Energizer-bunny-on-a-Stairmaster types, this is the place for you! And if you take a dog, you'll ensure that you get to experience as many of those steps as possible.

Dogs are welcome at North Carolina's Chimney Rock State Park, as you're told on their website and at the entrance. The only place dogs can't go is the elevator that whisks you up to the Chimney Rock overlook. That means you'll need to take a series of staircases to get to Chimney Rock (and more stairs to get up to the actual overlook). All of that was perfectly fine for us. We're used to walking, and Henry's young and in excellent shape. If you have an elderly dog, or one that's very overweight, I wouldn't attempt it.

Once we got up to Chimney Rock, we found more stairs. Hmmm, where did they go? We had to go take a look at Devil's Head. And guess what we found – more stairs leading up to Exclamation Point. So of course we had to go do that, too. And when I casually throw out the term stairs, I mean MANY stairs. Numerous sets of them, one after another, leading up, up, up.

It was during that final ascent that several people coming down stopped and said to Henry, “You poor thing. They're making you climb this?” Had I not been panting harder than the dog and on the verge of collapsing, I would have assured these kind folks that Henry was perfectly fine. When human traffic permitted, he bounded to the top of each staircase and waited on me. Again, if you have a dog that's not used to physical activity, don't attempt it, especially not on a hot day.

 Exclamation Point, highest point in the park. The humans had to rest for

10 minutes or so while Henry roamed around sniffing.

Chimney Rock Overlook and Lake Lure

Hickory Nut Falls

If you or your pooch aren't up to climbing the steps to Chimney Rock and beyond, try the Hickory Nut Falls Trail which is about 1.5 miles round-trip (out and back, not a loop). There's some incline going to the falls, but it's not strenuous and the trail is easy walking. The water at the base of the falls provides a nice cool off for dogs.