Last week, we had an aerial visitor sweep through the valley and cause a flurry of barking dogs. Maybe the person riding waves of warm air looked like a large predator from above. Once when Lilly and I were having lunch down in town, one such paraglider swooped overhead and landed close by. Lilly flipped out. …
Lilly’s best, best friend (Katie, the borzoi) came to visit over the holiday weekend. I shot some good at-play video that I think is pretty instructive, when slowed down. It shows Katie and Ginko (our big boy) playing, with Lilly on the edge of the action. Considering that Ginko can be a bully and initially showed reactivity toward Katie when they met a few months ago, and considering that Katie was pretty fearful of him because of that, the two of them playing is a triumph of positive reinforcement that we did every day over many weeks. …
For your amusement, photos and video instruction on how to hunt tree-killing voles in the Rocky Mountains. …
I’m swamped with work, so I didn’t get to do much scent work this week. I tried capturing some of our struggles on video, but it’s really hard to train and deal with the camera at the same time, so instead … you’ll find another trick video below. (Are you sick of me and the new camera yet?) BUT, you’ll also find a written recap of our scent work so far and photos of Katie’s latest visit for a play date …
Despite threats of rain/snow, we took Lilly for a fairly long hike last Saturday. I moved slower than Lilly and Tom, after a week of intense weight-lifting workouts left my hamstrings screaming on the climbs. So, Lilly enjoyed more time with Tom … as I poked along behind them. …
Here’s another little 30-second video I shot and tried to edit. It shows Lilly doing her SHAKE and OTHER HAND trick. Whichever hand she gives me first is SHAKE, which makes the other one OTHER HAND. I did not teach this as right-left thing. You also get to see her worried, round head … when Ginko comes into the room behind me. …
You’ll have to stick with me, as I figure out the new camera and video editing software, but here are a couple clips of our do-over initial scent work, where I’m simply rewarding Lilly (click/treat) for paying any attention to the single container with the beer scent inside. BUT, I’m still not sure she is using her nose for real. …
Between taxes, errands, magazine deadlines, and other grown-up concerns, we didn’t do much training this week. Katie is on activity restrictions at home due to a puffy wrist, but Lilly did visit once with Tom, and he said she was very good at calling off from Katie. So, that’s good to hear. Otherwise, I present a photo and video contribution that show just want a difference a day can make around here. This is probably the most snow we’ve gotten in one day all winter (even though it’s technically spring.). So, we played a little FIND IT, which is our …
After the recent third dog adoption saga, I’ve been spending more time appreciating just how great our dog friends are. Ginko will be 9 soon. Lilly will be 5 soon, and I think it took having an 18-month-old pup around to make me appreciate just how well-behaved my current buddies are. I’m not saying that they don’t have issues because clearly they do, but I’m taking more time to notice and marvel at how all the house manners work we’ve done over the years has paid off. That said, here is Ginko showing off his beautiful default SIT. …
Nervous habit compels me to look out windows as I move around the house to grab a snack or whatever during my workday. My goal, always, is to find the dogs and make sure they are OK. One day last week, I finally spied Lilly sitting stock still in the upper corner of our upper pasture. When I stepped out the front door, she shot like a rocket straight to me. I was so proud. So, I tried to recreate that long-distance recall in the video below. …
