On the Homefront...

I see more signs of spring every day, including voles, flowers, and bears! R is the one who is most interested in voles. He sometimes digs so deep for them that his entire head, including his tongue, is covered in dirt when he finally emerges from the hole.

Recently, I went to visit a spot where orchids bloom most summers. I thought it was surely too early for them but I checked anyway. One was fully open and others were barely starting to open!!!!

Soon the entire patch will have these pink jewels blooming!

And then there are the bears. The males are doing their amazing tree marking dances, and I'll share videos of those soon. But, today's big trail camera surprise was a mother and two cubs. I have a trail camera pointed at a bear marking tree that has been very active recently. First, a male passed it twice, and then the mother marked it like crazy while her cubs milled around (and then climbed a tree).

I was surprised to see a mother bear with small cubs on the trail used by huge males. I would think that would be a big risk to the cubs.

I don't recognize the mother. She either just moved into the area or she's a youngster who has her first cubs.

Here's the video that you can watch here or at Youtube.

Finding this bear footage this morning was a nice surprise. I had a horrific day yesterday. I simultaneously had horrendous pain in my leg due to my spine, a migraine, and a high fever. I collapsed into bed and, this morning, I fortunately woke up feeling about 70% better. And then these bear photos gave me another big boost!

Black Lab Sunday

When the time for his morning run approaches, R pays rapt attention.

He buzzes with happy energy. Then the excitement overcomes him, and he breaks into happy barks.

He does this, every single time he gets to go for a run. Life is pure joy for him.

The Wonders of the Mountains

It's the time of year when my gratitude for the beauty of the mountains is boundless.

I spend as much time as I can outdoors, enjoying the wildflowers, blue skies, warm sun, and a feeling of contentment. I can forget all the physical things that have been hounding me when I'm out in the mountains, riding through what feel like seas of wildflowers.

The Columbines are bursting into bloom all over the forest. They love the floor of aspen groves with the sun filtering through the deep green aspen leaves above them.

 It's warm right through sunset. We can linger at our favorite spots well into the evening.

Yesterday evening, as we walked to a favorite spot, I saw a tawny animal sneak up through some boulders and out of our path. I felt sure that it was a mountain lion based on its size and graceful gait. I'll probably never know if it truly was a lion... but there was a reason why I had mountain lions on the brain. I'd seen photos of multiple lions on my trail camera earlier in the day.

Here's one of the photos, with the whole story to come in a future post...

 Happy Friday! Roll around in the grass gleefully like a mountain lion!

Recalls - the most exciting kind of training!

Today is the first positive training bloghop. It's been a long day but I really want to participate because I love training my dogs using positive techniques. By positive training, I mean training that mainly involves rewarding good behavior and involves very little "punishment". Thus, I train a dog to come when called by giving them incredibly great rewards for sprinting to me at top speed. I've used other training techniques in the past, and none of them work as well as positive training, especially for off-leash work when I need my dog to have very high motivation to listen to me.

Every time my dogs and I go for a hike, I practice recalls with them. At the start of their off-leash time, I leave them in a "stay", and I walk far away to call them. The Labraduo is in a "sit-stay" in the photo below.

They both learned "stay" very soon after arriving at our home and can stay reliably.

R literally shakes with excitement before I call the dogs to me. I can see him shaking from a distance. So, when I call, he bolts toward me like a rocket.

At the start of a hike, I do a number of these structured recalls, getting the dogs mentally ready for more freedom. Sometimes, I have them stay a distance apart from each other before a recall, which seems to be harder for them. In fact, if Shyla is in a stay behind R, she sometimes tries to sneak closer to R while my back is turned. Fortunately, her bell alerts me to her sneaky move!

I motivate them for recalls by having a treat bonanza when they get to me. Both dogs get lots and lots of treats when they arrive, and I praise them excitedly. I think that you can see from these photos that both dogs are very motivated to get to me fast when I call them.

I find that practicing recalls is really fun! It feels as if the dogs and I are playing an exciting game rather than doing "onerous training".

After the opening series of structured recalls, I let the dogs run around together as I hike but I periodically throw in a recall, to help keep their focus on me.

Of course, my dogs are not perfect in real life situations but they're pretty good. R will recall away from wildlife with almost 100% reliability - I still smile with glee when I see him turn away from a deer to come to me. Shyla is not as good as R yet but she's doing very well for a young dog. If one of them ignores a recall, I repeat more structured recalls like we did at the start of off-leash time. Usually, that works to sharpen up their responses.

But, I do accept that there are situations that are simply too difficult for a dog to be off-leash and obedient. For example, if wildlife like coyotes, deer, bears, bobcats or elk are close enough that I can see them, I think it's prudent to rely on a leash rather than on the dogs' training! I also tend to leash the dogs when their body language tells me that they've caught scent of something extremely exciting. Around here, that "exciting scent" could be a mountain lion eating a dead deer, and I sure don't want my dogs barging in on that!

However, those situations are rare. Normally, I can count on a very enthusiastic response when I call the dogs, like Shyla leaping a small rock to get to me this morning!