Skateboarding

I was in the garage tidying up when Elsa came to the door.  She is not allowed to come in unless invited.  This is a safety precaution; in case someone happens to leave the outside garage door open.  It was safe so I told her "okay."  She came in and nosed around a bit before finding a skateboard.  I turned to see what she was doing and she was just standing looking at it.  Then I remembered teaching her about the skateboard when she was little.  She remembered and was hoping to get a click and treat for touching it.  So later in the afternoon I got it out and we picked up where we left off over two years ago.

Of course she already knew that we were going to work with the skateboard so she immediately gave it a push.  With a few clicks for a simple touch we moved onto the tougher stuff quickly.  I was only clicking when she left her foot on.  If she left it on while it was moving, she got a bonus load of treats. Often a new behavior has to be broken down into steps.  I couldn't expect her to just get on and go boarding.  We have to work up to that.  Once she was reliably giving me one foot on the board we moved to two feet.  This meant that she no longer got clicks for one foot and had to offer more.  What I want is for her to have her two front feet on it and walk around.

She is getting it for sure.  The training process with the skateboard is quite fascinating.  She is not only learning a new behavior but interacting a great deal with the board.  It rolls around and she has to go get it to continue; plus she is working with a moving object. She, like Luke is not a fan of things that move by themselves.  It is a good skateboard, so it moves easily and is constantly rolling away.  She goes to wherever it rolls; and steps out of the way when it is rolling her way.  This would be a wonderful exercise for any dog who may be afraid of a board.  Of course you would start with the board on the grass so it wouldn't move and very slowly work up to a smooth surface.

The biggest challenge was for me when I decided to video tape a bit of the process.  With a handful of treats and a clicker in the other hand; videoing seemed impossible.  Okay, Elsa understands "yes" as a substitute marker so I'd use that.  Sounds easy right?  Nope.  Every time she deserved a "yes" I shut the video off.  With marking the behavior on my mind I kept hitting the phone as my click and then saying "yes" after.  Timing is everything when using markers and having the phone in my clicker hand had me struggling for perfect time.  So the delivery of my "yes" is not perfect but we managed.   At least I got enough video for you to see what we were sort of doing.

Teaching is never a waste; even an activity like this is useful.  Watching Elsa think is the magic part. 

Busy maintenance day

I spent my whole Sunday with Luke and Elsa.  :)

 

 Luke is all clean and fluffed from his bath.  Elsa knows he'll be ready to play.

 

Sunday, and I decided to spend it with Luke and Elsa.  My weeks are so busy that it is hard to fit it all in.  I really wanted to give both Luke and Elsa a bath, trim them up a bit; do nails and pluck ears so I took Sunday to get it all done. 

 

Of course I also got the camera out; it's been a while and I love shooting my guys.  Enjoy, I did.

Teasing him with the ball.

The brawling begins.

But short lived because it's Elsa's time for a bath.

Always on guard.

Luke enjoying the sun but sliding off the lounge.

It wasn't until both legs were off that he noticed he was falling off. 

Goatee trimmed up.

Dry and ready for some retrieving and catching.

Intense much?

She can catch 24/7

It is more than just a game to her.

Elsa's Border Collie face. 

If she misses, its my fault.  She never misses a good throw.

See ya tomorrow!!

New day, new digs and fun.

So how do you like the new look?  I didn't change a whole lot; just enough to give the page a little face lift.  We have another year ahead of us; as of January 1st, 2014 you had 364 more days until the next.  What are you going to do with this year?  It is always the question, new year, now what?  With each new year we can change, promise ourselves to be a better person, do more etc. etc. etc.  What about if we all just decided to have more fun?  That is after all, what our dogs would say to do.

Fun - something that provides mirth or amusement; enjoyment or playfulness.

We all know what fun means; at least our own personal meaning of it.  But do we make fun a goal in our life?  I don't think often enough.  We should do something that we consider enjoyable each and everyday; but too often life gets in the way of fun.  Several years ago I made a very bold statement while bringing in a New Year.  "I'm not doing anything I don't want to do anymore," was the gist of it.  What that one phrase did was change my whole outlook on the fun in my life. 

If things work out for us, we all have many years to look forward to.  Our dogs have much less than we do; sad but true, their lives are far too short on this earth.  So fun is even more important for them.  Do you strive to give your dog fun?  I do.  Offering them an outlet for fun on a daily basis is big time fun for me; it is one of my favorite things to do.  Does it take a lot of time?  Money?  No.  That is one of the great things about fun.  You can have fun in a moment, anytime of the day and you can have it several times a day.  Fun is what you make of it.  Fun is a very individual thing.  What is fun for me may not be fun for you at all.  Your dog may consider fun to be retrieving a ball non stop for hours fun (Elsa), while another would never think of this activity as fun.  Another might want to swim all day long; maybe romp in the snow or hunt lizards, all fun but not for everyone.  Like us, dogs are all different.

Finding the perfect combination of what you and your dog consider fun can take time.  Dogs are easy, the hard part is finding the right activity that we consider fun as well.  I see lots of people out walking their dog every day who are clearly not having fun.  What is it about walking their dog that they don't find fun?  They have put the walking of their dog in the 'chore' category instead of the 'time spent with their dog' one.  I for one love walking my dogs.  It is a time that I give to them; it is all for them but the fallout from it is my enjoyment. 

Having fun feels good.  Giving fun feels good; when the two are combined, well it's just plain awesome.  Fun is just too wonderful to schedule once a week or twice a month.  Fun should be had everyday.  It is one of the simplest things to achieve and accessible to everyone.  Fun can be found just about anywhere; but if you are not looking it might just pass you by.  Don't let fun evade you this year; do it, have it and enjoy it.  Make your own fun and offer it up to your dog daily.  Our dog's know how to have fun, now if we could all just figure it out as well. 

Hello 2014

Well, a Happy New Year to everyone.  Over the holidays we took Elsa down to visit Penny and Nicole again.  We took another trip to Fiesta Island.  Here are some of the pics, continuation of photos on tomorrows blog.

So glad to see Elsa enjoying the water.

Penny loved chasing Elsa, chasing the ball.

Inseparable.

A beautiful doberman who wandered by very shortly.

Penny wasn't too sure if she wanted to meet this guy. 

Penny followed a dog way up the hill.  Watching us from up above.

Elsa went in up to the point of having to swim, that is the next step. 

Dad throwing the ball in the water again and again and again.

Penny loves to run with her Mom.

This little guy was determined to catch Penny, hilarious. 

Elsa's ball was too far for her to get so Penny went in to get it.  Then a Golden joined them.

More tomorrow.  :)

What's your favorite?

I love my mornings; sitting here as the sun peeks over the trees as I blog.  Luke and Elsa deep in sleep and dreams.  It is one of my favorite times of the day; the part before my day actually starts.  Sometimes Elsa is watching the yard for anything that might need her attention; like doves who think that they can land here.  Another of  my favorite times is our t.v. time.  I enjoy sitting on the couch with the dogs; relaxing at the end of the day.  But what makes it even more special is that it is Luke's absolutely favorite time of the day.  Each  night after dinner he waits for the smallest of signals that we are heading down to the family room.  He spins at the top of the stairs, spins at the bottom and spins until he is situated in "his" spot beside Mom. 

What is your favorite?  Of course almost every moment with our dogs are great but there are favorite times that you spend together.  Perhaps it is on a cool morning walk.  Up and out before the rest of the world; enjoying the peace before the day gets under way.  Maybe hitting the dog park or beach is your favorite?  Yesterday afternoon I was spent from the heat; I am not a fan of the heat we've been having and I plunked down on the couch.  Both Luke and Elsa stood looking at me.  It is rare that I sit there in the middle of the day.  They watched for a moment to see if I was going to stay there or move.  Once they saw that I was there for a bit they both joined me, nice. 

I truly love so much time spent with my dogs that it is hard to decide what is my favorites are.  Although I think that hiking is at the top of the list.  Meandering through the forest watching them rip and tear in all directions is about as good as it gets for me.  It has been my favorite since I had my very first dog, Mandy.  My Airedale Terrier who was an amazing dog and my constant companion.  We went everywhere together and our favorite activity was walking in the woods.  Back then we could walk for hours without ever seeing anyone else.  That is pretty special.  Every so often I'd sit and just watch her; there is much joy to be had in watching a dog have fun. 

The more time that I spend with dogs and the older that I get; I realize that just time is joy itself.  Sure there are good times, great times and not so great times together.  But some of the best are just time and nothing else.  Like this very moment; we are all piled together just enjoying. 

Great joy can be got from giving to our dogs.  Preparing for an outing strictly for them turns a moment into a great one.  Those moments are the ones that would not happen were it not for your dog and I have to say that many of those turn into the most memorable.  Taking a trip to the beach early in the morning for Luke and Elsa is never a bad idea.  If it were just me here; I'd hit the gym and then get to work.  But instead I opt for the beach walk because Luke loves the beach and of course so does Elsa. 

So what is your favorite time with your dog?  Do you have a favorite or is every moment with your canine as great as the next? 

Whatever it is,  have a great day today.