Spring Training in Edgerton

Here are some pictures I took of various training sessions.  Because of the fact that I took the pictures, there aren’t too many of my dogs but there are a few.  :) Jake is in the first series and Brita is heeling in the last 2 shots.

 

How many balls were there?!?

I guess I never really knew how many balls Ari had - I just knew that he always had one nearby.  I believe that he would pick up a ball instead of barking because he knew he wasn’t supposed to do that but it was obvious that they were his favorite toys!
So, this spring, in addition to Brita’s hidden toys what started appearing were all these balls…  all shapes and sizes… so I started collecting them and put them in a pile.    
And one day Kobie and Olivia were in the yard hanging out by them so I thought…  hmm..  a photo opportunity!  What surprised me when I looked at them was that Josephine got in the picture with the sign that is over her resting place.
  

The ball we left on Ari’s resting place.

Jake… off leash at last!!

Jake has been restricted to a leash since his surgery and this was his first off leash day. I made sure the other dogs were inside so there were no distractions and he was great... no out of control running like has tried to do in the house. Treats in my pocket kept him pretty close to me!

 

Why do they hide stuff?

From the time Brita was a puppy she would hide things.

Walking through the yard this spring picking up what appears when the snow melts, I regularly would come across toys, stuffed animals, squeakies, etc. half buried under leaves, under pine trees or in dirt.  I knew I would find some new things because her Christmas present disappeared immediately.  As soon as I gave it to her, downstairs she went and out through the dog door to bury it in the snow. Slowly but surely many things disappeared and I knew it was Brita because none of the other dogs ever hid anything. 

Until now… 

Enter Jake.  The slideshow below shows him methodically looking for a place to hide a treasured bone that he found and behind the toilet seemed like a perfect spot to him.  Before he decided on that spot he tried under the bench and behind the bathroom door. He seemed totally oblivious to me taking pictures of him.  After he hid it, he came back regularly to check on it.  I have found bones “hidden” in the shower and toys tucked nicely under my pillows and in blankets.

In Brita’s slideshow, we are in the yard and have discovered a toy which she immediately takes and starts looking for another place to hide it. The first place is just not acceptable so she chooses the pine tree.  When I looked there after she was done, low and behold there was another one already there. Must be a favorite spot!

I have seen them both hide something, walk around a bit and then get it and hide it somewhere else.  What is going through their heads when they do this.  Now the question I have since Brita and Jake have the same mom…  is it inherited?  Hmmm….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pet Insurance for Jake

I’ve had pet insurance in the past… actually years ago for Josephine.  More dogs, more cost (obviously) and the less likely a person is to have it.  So, it’s been years.  When I registered Jake with the AKC in the paperwork sent back was a 60 day free trial so I thought what the heck I might as well do it.  He was registered on January 22nd – 5 days after he came to live with me and that’s when the insurance began. 

Because the surgery happened during the 60 days I thought why not submit it. 
Well, I got a rejection letter..  sorry.. pre-existing condition.

 

So I went back and look closely at the original video and then took some screen shots…  hhmmm…..  what do you think…  a skeletal leg.  Shouldn’t there be muscle there?  He did have an abscess that was treated but would that cause his hip bone to protrude. 

Then I looked at some shots the day after I brought him home.  He definitely had a hip bone that protruded which could have meant that something was wrong…  more than one person commented about it.

 

Well… it’s too bad the insurance company didn’t talk to the breeder.  I’m sure he would have convinced them that it was not pre-existing since he knows absolutely that it didn’t happen when he had Jake and that he felt no responsibility to pay for anything that didn’t happen there….  hmmmm


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Jaker helping around the yard…

In order to keep the Brita and Kobie from running the fence line and becoming “mudders” when it rains (no.. they aren’t girly girls.. that’s Olivia who wouldn’t think of that), the thought first was to put stepping stones by the fence until Kobie ripped a nail off when it got caught in one. Now the thought is to load the area up with tree branches and that's where Jake decided to help! This was his first weekend without being on leash in the yard so he's a happy puppy!  This is one of the first times I think I’ve seen him “smile” in the shots!  He just turned 5 months old.

Jake learns to dig…

….in the right place!  Ari was a digger – in both water and sand.  He had a sandbox from the time he was a puppy and I never had a problem with him digging in places where he shouldn’t because he was taught to dig in his sandbox.  When the snow melted and Ari’s sandbox surfaced, Jake knew instantly what to do!  He started digging so I started saying DIG!  What fun…and great exercise for him. 

These first photos are Ari as a puppy.  I forgot how dark he was.  The first picture was in New Jersey when we were visiting my cousin shortly after I got him.  The second one was from the same trip but in PA visiting my daughters.  Of course, he then had to have his own sandbox and swimming pool ….  for the rest of his life!! 

These are some screen shots of Jake taken from the video below.

 

This video of Jake is one only a mom could watch for 6 minutes!  What a guy!h

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Learning to walk…

“WALK” does not mean “bunny hop” and I think it’s finally sunk in.  I take him out in the yard and “mark” when he walks correctly and then give him a treat.  It’s REALLY working!  Now if the ear would only straighten up.  It was up but 2 weeks of the Elizabethan Collar pushed it over.

Training today at Edgerton

Warm enough to work outside comfortably!  I really need to hand someone the camera when I work Brita so I have pictures of her!  

Jake got his first hosing…

….and he LOVED it!!!  I was cleaning the garage and decided to hose some mats. Jake was in the driveway watching me and  he, of course, had never seen a hose because he is TODAY 5 months old.  I had wanted to give him a bath and then this opportunity came up so I went closer with the hose.  At first, he couldn’t figure it out but then when I made the water MOVE, it became very exciting and it didn’t take long before I was actually able to hose him down so no bath was needed…  at least today!

Brita and Jake – How did they do it?

Background…  Jake sleeps in a wicker crate next to my bed..  well not really wicker but the fake wicker.  If it was really wicker, he would have destroyed it by now. There are 2 latches on this crate and I usually latch the top one because the bottom stays shut just fine that way.  He has never gotten out of it.   Brita sleeps in the room on a bean bag chair on the other side of my bed.

The morning routine…  I get up and let Brita go out to the center yard and then walk Jake for a bit before putting him in a crate in the sunroom or kitchen.

This morning…  I got up late so decided to hop in the shower before doing the dog thing.  When the turn the water off I heard sounds from the bedroom that I shouldn’t have been hearing…  (if you are tuned into your dogs, you know what I mean…  it just didn’t sound right).  I quickly dried off and looked in the bedroom and, sure enough, Jake was out of the crate and greeted me so I grabbed him and brought him into the bathroom.  Now if he wasn’t still recovering from surgery this would not have been a problem but I didn’t want him to overdo it. 

So..  I get dressed, take Jake out and then to a crate and realize that I haven’t seen Brita…   I went into the bedroom and there she was, inside the closed and latched crate.

So I wonder – how did Jake get out of the latched crate and Brita get in and it’s still latched??  It certainly is a puzzle!!

Tracking…

I’ve started tracking with Brita since the snow is finally gone and I’m fortunate to be able to walk out my front door and lay tracks. I’ve described the terrain as hard grass/crap right now so I thought I’d take a few photos to get others opinions of the conditions. 

Brita is doing fine but, of course, her challenge is “doing fine” away from home!  The first photo is an overhead of the location and the other are just a part of it all beside the house.

The second photo is as I walk from my house and I often start the track there so she has to go down a hill.  The next are as I get past the pine trees to the field.  We also track across the road sometimes starting it there and other times tracking across it.  And we can’t forget the close-ups!