Trials and Tribulations

The past week has been tough on the humans and rough on the dogs.

After driving the 5 hours back home on Sunday, we had two looooong days at work, then took off for Chicago. Tuesday night we drove about 4.5 hours, stopping for the night in State College, PA. Though they were very good in the car (going running each morning helps), they were very nervous in the hotel room. I think Sadie was exhausted still from the Adirondacks and then watching us drive to PA, so she quickly settled and fell asleep in bed with us. Maxwell, though, was freaked.

We fed the pups dinner outside by the car, so we wouldn't have to carry as much in. Sadie gobbled hers as usual. Maxwell wouldn't touch his until I broke up a treat in it and held his dish. Not something I intend to do regularly. As we were trying to sleep, he cried a little. Then he'd be silent for a moment, before giving a short, sharp bark and running/leaping around the room. He only truly settled once he realized he could lie down on his bed and still be reached by me.

The next morning I got up early to run the pups in the rain. After all, tired dogs travel better. They were really good until I tried to feed them. Once again, Maxwell refused to eat. And this time even a treat didn't help, so he went hungry. 10+ more hours of driving later, Sadie settled in comfortably in Lolo and Lola's house (Tagalog for grandfather and grandmother), but Maxwell still wouldn't eat. I eventually was able to hand-feed him most of his dinner.

Maxwell also refuses to sleep on his bed, preferring to cram himself under the bed. He comes out only once I get up, no matter what time that it. He still won't eat properly, but I've found he will eat if I ask for behaviors first. It's like he's trained me to train him. Weird, right?

 I nearly FREAKED when I couldn't see Maxwell yesterday morning

Maxwell, by the way, has also decided that the elevated hearth is a nice place to relax. I guess the stone must be cool to lie on, because he fell asleep on it.

Yeah, stone is comfy...

Sadie was feeling right at home again. This is the house she lived in when I first got her for my boyfriend, so it's just a matter of following Lola around, waiting for the inevitable treats. Banana slices, raw meat being prepared for dinner, and peanut butter on toast are normal offerings for both dogs.

Poor Sadie, though, had a slight problem.

She's never been the most spatially aware dog on the planet. She's known to smack her head on the underside of our dining table on a regular basis, but yesterday was unfortunate. The dogs got to go to a local off-leash park to run off some energy. Maxwell buzzed a few GSD's, enticing them into a game of chase, then getting Sadie in on the fun. He was having a ball doing enormous loops, always staying just ahead of the next dog. There were some huge downed branches that posed no trouble for his elegant jumping. Sadie, on the other hand, didn't judge it quite so well.

From what I can tell, she didn't give herself enough lateral space and caught her flank on the sharp end of a branch. I do know that she came trotting over, happy as a clam, but with a weird dark spot on her side. When I touched it, her flesh gaped open. Three stitches later she still shows no indication that it's painful, though the shaved spot seems to itch.

 Sadie doesn't seem to realize she's injured

Let's hope her new inflatable collar thing keeps her from licking the wound

The only upside to this is that Sadie after anesthesia looks like a drunkard. She would stand in the middle of a room, feet planted extra wide, and sway slightly in place. We got her onto the couch to sleep it off, and she drooled all over. By bedtime, however, she was trying to rough-house with Maxwell, zip around the house, and generally do exactly the opposite of taking it easy.

The vet says restricted activity for a few days, then she should be fine to return to her normal work. He was even fine with agility class next weekend, much to my surprise. Depending on how she is, I'll likely run her at only 16", if I even ask her to jump. The stitches don't come out for 2 weeks.

Here's hoping for no more "excitement" for a while!

A Taste of Freedom: Part 3

Our last full day here, and we finally got perfect weather. It was sunny, low 80's, and with a light breeze keeping the bugs away. Just right for swimming and relaxing on the dock. The pups swam for the fetch toy until they were tired. Maxwell told us he was done when he ditched the toy on the rocks, then went to perch on his favorite boulder. Sadie gave one final chase, than took the toy up into the woods, away from the humans.

 Super Sadie!

Yeah, I'm good over here thanks.

After the humans were done swimming, it was time for lunch. We finished the bag of potato chips while the hot dogs were on the grill, so the pups got the crumbs. Sadie, of course, just jammed her head in the bag. Maxwell was a bit daintier, and preferred to have the crumbs dumped on the floor for him.

 Kids, don't try this at home

After lunch and some relaxing time, it was back to the dock. Since I finally had some really good natural light, we started posing the dogs and trying to get some nice photos. It was hard to get them to actually pose together. Since Sadie is definitely still higher ranking, Maxwell kept leaning away from her. Both were avoiding looking at each other, with occasional nose licking and yawning. It actually made for some really interesting behavior watching.

 Leaning tower of Maxwell

Noble beasts survey their domain

That night I got to polish up some new tricks. Both pups had been earning their dinners, and especially all the extra goodies. Each dog has one new behavior that is at least 75% "complete."

For Sadie, I picked something that seemed natural: begging. In the space of about 5 days, she learned a nearly-complete cue. When I hold out my index finger horizontally across my body, she rocks back on her haunches, gets her front feet up in the air, and holds the pose for a few seconds. It doesn't count if her butt comes off the floor, if her front paws go over her head, or if she cannot freeze the pose. It's really cute, and absolutely the fastest trick she's ever learned. In fact, I think learning to beg was the first time I've seen a real conditioned emotional response (CER) with her. In the past she's certainly looked happy at the sounds of the click, but generally in the form of switching her attention to the treat bowl. This time, I saw a huge twitch reaction and head tilt at the click, and her attention stayed on me. It was awesome.

I had planned to teach Maxwell to march with me. My goal was to have him raise his front paws to correspond to my lifted feet. For example, with him at heel, I lift and hold my right foot. He lifts and holds his right paw. He took to paw targeting my foot, which was a start, but meant that he'd swing his right paw across his body to swipe at my right foot. To fix this, I decided to stand a flashlight on end and teach him to paw target that instead, eliminating the sideways motion. When I put the flashlight down, though, he bit the handle! I simple couldn't pass up such an interesting offered behavior, so I clicked. He very quickly progressed to running about 5 feet down the hallway, grabbing the flashlight by the handle, and carrying it back to me. All on offered behaviors. It's not perfect yet - he drops it rather hard, and doesn't always grab the handle properly - but it's a pretty neat trick. No cue for it yet. That will have to wait for our next visit.

The last day there was also gorgeous. We exhausted the dogs in the lake, giving them plenty of time to run around on land and dry off before the ride home. Now they still seem to be adjusting to leashes, and certainly miss all the freedom they had in the woods. Hopefully we'll get back there again soon!

The end of a perfect day on a perfect trip

A Taste of Freedom: Part 2

I have a secret.

Would you like to hear it?

I learned… how to exhaust an Aussie. You heard me right. I now am the keeper of powerful knowledge. So powerful, it’ll put a young Aussie (and a middle-aged Lab) out of commission for 36 hours. And it’s really very simple.

All you have to do is hike 7 miles, then play fetch in the water until they refuse to go after the toy.

Two days ago we hiked the Stone Dam trail. It’s roughly 3.5 miles long one-way, and we got far enough in o see the lake. Sadie was tagged but loose, and I kept the Energized Doggie on-leash. Sadie was romping and exploring the whole way out, and Maxwell had fun with every patch of mud he could find. We brought some water for them, plus there were a few streams along the way to supplement. By the time we reached the end of the trail, though, both dogs were showing fatigue. As we paused in the clearing, Maxwell flopped in among some tall ferns, and Sadie stayed close.

 Trying to get rid of the merling, perhaps?

The route back to the car proved fairly quiet, as Maxwell no longer had the energy to pull me along the trail, and Sadie stayed only just ahead of us on the path. The pup was so tired, in fact, that I allowed him loose (on his drag-line) for perhaps a mile. For the most part he was very good, pausing to wait for us to catch up a bit, or crashing back through the underbrush to check in. After he scampered off and would be called back, though, I leashed him up again. Once I caught him, of course.

Nothing like walking in your drinking water

When we got home, we were all hot a sweaty, so we played in the lake. Maxwell is now fearless in his life jacket, though still hesitant to challenge Sadie for the toy. Imagine our pleased surprise when, after only a short while, they both stopped wanting to swim. Sadie wandered off first, sniffing down the shoreline. Maxwell shortly follow suit, hauling the fetch toy out of the lake one last time and taking it up the hill, out of reach. I gave them each a stuffed cow hoof to chew while the humans swam and waded, which kept them more than content.

That night, and all the next day, they were quiet.

Not just calm and polite, but tired. They were both ravenously hungry, so I gave them extra kibble, but wanted little more than to sleep all day. They flopped around a bit, trading couches, stretching out on the floor, even taking over the armchair… but that was about the extent of their activity. My attempts to initiate a game of fetch in the woods with a soft disk were adequate only to get them on their feet and outside.

 Belly rubs!

Today, they are finally back to normal (mostly). It rained most of the day, so they both slept a lot. Sadie still twitched and whined a bit in her sleep, but she was happy to engage with me as well. Maxwell slept also, but when he shifted positions, it was with a vehemence that bordered on aggression. It stated, as clearly as any cooped up human child, I’m bored. This sucks.

 

When the rain finally let up I took them for a short hike down the old road. Sadie is back to crashing through the brush, heedless of the branches whipping her face. Maxwell is back to pulling me along, wanting desperately to charge after Sadie. And I was happy to let him drag the leash in exchange for some attention. A few good recalls down the path earned a shower of treats for him, and a few for Sadie.

Now let’s hope that that, plus the short aquatic fetch session this morning, is enough to hold them over until tomorrow. When I just know the weather will be better.

A Taste of Freedom: Part 1

We’ve been in the Adirodacks for 2 full days now. The dogs are in love with the place all over again, especially now that Maxwell can be (mostly) trusted off-leash. They rough-house in the woods, chase each other up and down the hills, and play fetch in the lake.

Maxwell does have the unfortunate habit of wanting to make friends all the time. See some kids swimming a few docks down? Run along the shore to go greet them. Or maybe he thinks they need saving… not entirely sure. Even better was when it turned out that those kids belonged to another dog! A gigantic, friendly black Great Dane, who absolutely dwarfed my little Aussie. I was glad Maxwell was wearing his drag-line, since I had to physically haul him back home. I’ve got some leftover bacon that says he’ll be getting better at his recalls this week...

We also had a major breakthrough yesterday. Sadie is an excellent swimmer, and will play fetch in the water until she practically can’t move any more. Maxwell has always been willing to walk in up to his belly, but was afraid to swim. Even for a tennis ball, he would practically have a heart attack in anxiety rather than take one step past standing depth to grab it. In an effort to make him more confident, I ordered him a life vest. And thus, I created a monster.

Totally fearless, Maxwell will swim as far as he must to retrieve in the lake

In fact, he’ll even challenge Sadie for the toy, though with her size advantage and webbed feet, she nearly always wins.

He nearly always just lets her have it as soon as she gets to him

With all this exercise, the pups are eating a ton. They normally get 1 cup of kibble twice a day, plus a few treats. Here, they are getting 1.5 cups twice a day, plus treats, plus our dinner leftovers. Monday night they feasted better than most humans on flank steak, potato and yam skins, and steamed broccoli. It was such high-value food that Sadie’s brain seemed to shut down. She jumped and spun in anticipation and had a hard time settling enough to get any training done.

Their energy levels are completely different. Yes, I knew that when I first got my little man, but it’s incredibly clear here. After a good romp and swim, Sadie wants to curl up on a couch and snooze.

The smell of Boyfriend feet always makes a nap that much better

Maxwell will spend the next hour pacing around the house, or chasing any bugs that got inside, or pestering me for attention. It’s only after a prolonged period of quiet that this happens:

Just don't tell my mom he was sleeping on the guest bed...

They twitch and woof so adorably when they’re exhausted.