Good Days, Bad Days - and Wild Cats

Although we humans have good days and bad days, sometimes for no discernible reason, I tend to assume that a dog's perspective doesn't change much from one day to the next. I tend to expect that a dog will respond in the same way to training or potentially scary things every single day.

Shyla is a dog who makes it very obvious that she has a complex inner world that isn't always the same. Some days, she surprises me with her confidence. Other days, she surprises me with her fearfulness when I can't see anything to be afraid of.

Today was one of those days. I tend to show photos of her when she looks confident and happy. I think you'll agree with me that neither of those adjectives describes her in the next photo.

As I watched her continue to act fearful, I tried our time-honored method of playing training games to build her confidence. The games helped as you can see from her posture in the next photo (ignoring the fact that she was "hiding").

Then, we hiked for a little while, and she climbed onto her favorite boulder. Shyla looked scared again almost right away. That is not the posture of a confident dog.

I started contemplating what she perceived as scary. We did see a dog who has scared her in the past near the start of this morning's hike. However, Shyla has never remained scared for so long after seeing that relatively benign dog. It was also very windy today. Perhaps the combination of seeing that dog and the gale-force wind put Shyla over her threshold ("trigger stacking").

I also wondered about whether Shyla might be smelling scary wildlife. I later discovered that a bobcat had spent ten minutes in front of a nearby trail camera.

He did a complete body washing right in front of the camera (I'm going to make a video of it - it's incredible to see). Then, he must have sensed a prey animal because he used his stalking gait to depart.

As I thought about it, I doubted that the scent of a bobcat would scare Shyla that much.

I also know that a mountain lion has been in our neck of the woods very recently although I don't know whether he's still in the area. Perhaps Shyla smelled him? She is, without a doubt, scared of the scent of mountain lions.

As I mentally listed all the possible causes of Shyla's fearful behavior, I realized that I have "bad days" for reasons that can't be seen by outsiders. I have migraines, shoulder pain, spine pain, and things that are weighing on my mind. All of these things can make me behave differently than usual.

Why shouldn't dogs have similar inner things that cause them to act differently from usual? Perhaps Shyla had a migraine. Oh man - I hope not!

She did have fun on our morning hike, especially when she was playing in the snow or galloping at full speed. I captured a photo close to the end of our hike after she'd been playing in the forest that shows the "normal" Shyla.

Although she did bounce back, I think that it's important that I remember that she'll have good days and bad days, just like I do. Dogs are living creatures with complex inner lives - and it's worth remembering that, especially when your best friend is a dog who is prone to fearfulness.

Waiting...

We've reached the magic date. I bet you're wondering what I mean. The sun rose exactly between the two peaks that sit to our east today - February 1. I'm hoping to get a photo just one minute earlier tomorrow so that you can see the peaks and the sun!

Of course, Shyla and I were out on the trails to see the sunrise. We play all sorts of games to start the day in the rosy glow of sunrise. In one of our games, she's decided that "taking a bow" should include resting your chin on the ground whenever possible. She adores these games! See her tail in the photo below - it wags continuously while she does her tricks.

I decided to add a dash of red to today's photos by having Shyla wear my neck warmer. It's fleece and very warm. In the freezing wind, like we had today, she seemed to love it.

When we returned home, I started my vigil, waiting for R's test results as I worked on my computer. I'm told that the results of one test have arrived at my vet's office but not the results of the second test. For some reason, they are waiting for both results before discussing them with us. There's still a chance that we'll hear something tonight but it's getting less likely by the minute.

I mentioned yesterday that sometimes Shyla's playing seems too intense for R, and we wish that he'd tell her to calm down in dog language. We're basing our expectation that he'll lay down the law with Shyla on all the other pairs of dogs that we've had. For example, K was very good at telling her younger brother R to "chill out" with the most subtle curling of her lip. She was clearly the boss, and R followed her rules very carefully. He never made faces like this one at K!

Until R clearly establishes himself as the "boss" with Shyla, we interrupt their playing when R seems overwhelmed, and I ask them to do some obedience during the interruption. It takes the edge off Shyla's intensity and gives R the break that he needs.

Hopefully, we'll have good news to report tomorrow - but there's also a chance that we won't know the test results until Monday.

Leaping Bobcat

I've been spoiled over the past weeks of endless sunshine and comfortably warm air. I've rolled out on my mountain bike each morning in shorts and a jersey without a worry about the weather turning nasty.

Yesterday, it was obvious that change was on the way starting with the ominous clouds billowing around the lofty peaks behind K in this photo.

Last night, torrential rains started, pounding on our metal roof like a million woodpeckers announcing their territory. The sound continued through the night. When I woke up, it was 36°F and raining - perfect hypothermia weather.

I found many ways to procrastinate about starting my mountain bike ride - switching petals between bikes, installing new cleats on my gore-tex riding shoes - my creativity knew no bounds. It was a very rare occasion when procrastination actually helped. The temperature had broken 40°F and the rain had dwindled to a smattering of drops by the time that K and I rolled out the door. She and I did a short ride together before I headed out on my own.

During my solo ride, I saw sun, clouds, torrential rain, and finally sun again. I had forgotten how difficult it is to slog through gloppy mud. My ride took approximately an hour longer than usual for the route, and I was knackered at the end. However, I have to admit that I had a blast. I love seeing the forests and meadows under all sorts of conditions - including overcast skies with rain. And, the wildflowers.... they're stunning with water droplets hanging from them. I hope to share a few photos soon.

I checked some wildlife cameras while I was on my ride, and I captured heart-melting cute video of the doe and her *two* fawns yesterday. I can't upload it due to my terrible internet connection but I hope to soon!

On the wildlife front, this weekend, we witnessed an amazing feat by a bobcat just outside our windows. Below, you can see a photo of a bird house that the squirrels have commandeered. We've decided to let them have it because none of our efforts to deter them have worked - so it's now a very active squirrel house with the rodents coming and going in a bustle. The squirrel house is about 20' off the ground.

As I was pecking away at my keyboard, I heard the Runner call, "Come quick. There's a bobcat walking down the driveway!". I sprinted, grabbing my camera on the way. By the time I arrived at the window with a view, the bobcat was up in the tree, hanging from the squirrel house. The Runner says that the bobcat leaped vertically about 2/3 of the way up to the squirrel house and then clung to the tree before climbing the last few feet. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the bobcat in the tree.

Then, the bobcat either accidentally or purposefully, let go of the squirrel house and fell to the ground. Like the cat that he is, he landed on his feet. He stood still for a long moment after landing with his bobbed tail twitching back and forth. Then, the bobcat seemed to zero in on me and Runner standing inside the house watching him. We received a long probing gaze.

With that, the bobcat moved down our driveway and into the cover of forest. He walked briskly and with purpose but never broke out of a walk.

Sometimes I find it amusing that I put wildlife cameras out in the forest to capture interesting behavior by our wild animals yet some of the most fascinating events happen right outside my house. I've never seen a bobcat in a tree before. I'd always wondered how they descend from trees - headfirst or tail-first? I'm still not sure that I know the answer to that last question because the bobcat's sudden descent might have been accidental.

But, one thing that I do know is that cats can jump/fall safely from very high in trees. If I'm ever faced with a mountain lion in a tree again, I'll follow my instincts and hightail it away from the area. Years ago, during a mountain bike ride, K and I were descending from Hug Hill when we came around a curve to find a mountain lion in front of us. Before I could react, K sprinted straight at him, barking ferociously. Because K is still alive, you know that her strategy worked. In fact, the lion went straight up a Lodgepole Pine tree. When I told the story to a mountain lion expert, he said that I would have been safe to peruse the lion after he was treed. After watching the bobcat leap/fall to the ground this weekend, I'm not so sure that it would be safe. I'm glad that K and I fled from the mountain lion in the tree.

That expert also asked if K was available for training as a "lion dog" (K was the perfect age - about 1 year old - for starting training). Apparently, few dogs naturally have the reaction to seeing a lion that K did - and the ones that do turn out to be awesome at treeing mountain lions. Scientists use these dogs so that they can dart a treed lion with a tranquilizer and put a GPS collar on it. I politely told him that K wasn't available for that kind of work. I think that you all know the reasons.

A big reason was that life is already too short - especially a dog's life.

Coyote and dog body language

I love this photo, not for the obvious "coyote on a mission" in the foreground but for the coyotes in the background. One appears to be inviting the other to play using a classic "romping" posture that we've all seen our dogs use.

Coyotes look bigger than they actually are. When they stand under our birdfeeders, they look only slightly smaller than our dogs. However, the data say that adult coyotes range in size from 18 to 44 lbs. My dogs weigh around 60 lbs so much of the coyotes' bulk is fur.

I've been in a dry spell at my other wildlife cameras. I arrived at one of them today to discover that, for the first time since I set up the camera, the wind had blown away the snow so that I could see the pine-needle covered ground around the camera. My eyes were drawn like magnets to two piles of mountain lion scat just behind the camera. "Ah ha", I thought, "I do have a good spot here". I just need to adjust the camera in case the spot currently *behind* the camera is habitually used by mountain lions for scent marking. So, I did - and we'll see if my luck improves soon. It's a hobby that is teaching me patience, patience, patience.

K and I went for our sunrise snow bike ride today. The mountains glowed in the light of the sun just cresting the eastern hills.

I pedaled all the way to Hug Hill without getting bogged down in snow drifts, for the first time in at least a week. When we get to the top, K knows that I like to have her do tricks and other training games. Often, I just wait to see what trick she "offers" me. Today, K surprised me by offering an old favorite from before her toe amputation. She perched and balanced precariously atop a stump.

I didn't plan to ever ask her to do this one again because I thought that it might be too tough for her balance with a weakened paw. I'm glad that I was wrong!

Later in the day, we took a sunset hike. K rolled in the snow, a happy Labrador.

R got wind of the fact that someone was having fun without him and barreled into the scene with a cloud of flying snow. We sometimes call him the "fun police" because of his reaction when he discovers anything fun underway that he's not at the center of!

In the blink of an eye, snow-covered K was on her feet running with a supremely surprised look in her eyes.

Within a stride, she stopped and offered R some "calming signals". In the photo below, you can see that K is starting to lift her left front paw, a classic signal that a canine uses to try to bring down excitement or tension levels. Although it's hard to see in the photo, she also curled her body into a "C" and lowered her head, telling R to "cool it".

It worked, and R rapidly calmed down. He and K are an interesting pair because R is so excitable and K gets overwhelmed by it. The body language that they use to negotiate fascinates me.

We headed for home as dusk fell, a tired and happy pack.

Action from sunrise to sunset

Although I yearn for more daylight and cheer each extra minute that we gain, I also love being out in the forest for both sunrise and sunset in one day. As K and I hiked upward early this morning, glow of the sun below the horizon set the treetops ablaze.

K led the way as we climbed out of a dark low meadow and onto a sun-bathed high plateau.

She stood stock still sampling the scents in the air.

The sun had just peeked over the rocky pinnacles to our east.

The higher mountains glowed in the sun's rising light.

K seemed to say "the future's so bright that I gotta wear shades"!

Ah, after days of stormy weather, my chocolate girl and I reveled in the sunshine.

 Alas, a ceiling of clouds still sat above the horizon. Soon, the sun disappeared behind them.

K and I hiked onward, investigating the tracks of a mountain lion who passed through our forest early on New Year's morning. I wonder if it was the same cat as I tracked a couple of weeks ago. She used a slightly different route but her paw size and shape matched the tracks of two weeks ago. Again, I barely missed getting any photos of the lion with my remote motion-activated cameras. I'm sure that my luck will change soon.

When we left the lion's tracks, I released K to run. Whew, did she ever run! We are in the only fun part of the paw ordeal where I can see K getting stronger every day.

We kept exploring - the snow can reveal new animal routes to me - wildlife camera placement possibilities - so we ranged far and wide looking for animal tracks. The animals had finally ventured out after days of extremely bitter cold and high winds. Deer had meandered inside aspen groves, bobcats had marched from one boulder outcropping to another, coyotes had visited the expansive meadows to hunt rodents, and a solitary mountain lion had cruised our neck of the woods, like a shark hunting for dinner.

When I nearly missed a wildlife sign, my faithful K pointed it out to me. I'm ecstatic that we're a team in the forest again!

At the end of our hike, we arrived home to find a content R snoozing in the sunshine on the dog bed by the roaring fire. R had run, eaten, and now was sound asleep in the sun. What more could a Labrador want?

During the day, a coyote visited our clearing. He was extraordinarily wary, watching and listening for any sign of danger.

His orange highlights glowed in the sunshine. It's been a tough few days for our wildlife. I'm sure that he welcomed the warmer and calmer weather even more than we did.

Finally, our foursome took a sunset hike to Hug Hill, seeing the brilliant colors of the setting sun in the eggshell blue sky.

I'm feeling as content and sleepy as R was, snoozing in front of the fire. It was a wonderful start to 2011.

The Duo Plays

The Duo have been playing together, with K remaining lying down and R dancing around her. They usually don't frolic indoors very much so it's wonderful to see.

After playing, they snuggled together. Throughout each day, R regularly checks on K, sniffing her head and then her bad leg. Purple Octopus always oversees their play and naps.

Meanwhile, I've spent time with each of the Duo separately. K and I take short walks. Now, as we go to the door, she lifts her paw and waits for me to put on her cast protector. The vet will change her cast tomorrow so it looks a little frayed now.

I love my morning strolls with K the most. The forest is peaceful and dappled in sunshine.

 The sun lays so low in the sky that K's head makes a shadow on her own body if she turns it just right.

When she hears an alien sound in the forest, her tail goes straight up and she assumes her stiff, "I'm the boss", posture. It's a posture that always seems out of place for gentle K. We've noticed that this posture is one of her main tools around the house in getting R or other dogs to do as she wishes. When her tail goes straight up, they follow her orders.

I have continued my intensive training with R, both for the sake of the better behavior that comes out of it, and because his obsessive-compulsive tendencies diminished almost immediately after I started the program. His water drinking has decreased dramatically, a huge relief for us. One of the games that we're playing is that we hide a toy at sometime in the day when he's not looking. Then, when he starts a water-drinking binge, we ask him to find the toy. With a little prodding, he'll stop drinking and start searching. The hope is that, after many repetitions, he'll respond to the urge to binge drink by finding a toy instead. For now, we have to prompt that behavior.

As part of his training, I'm giving him more mental challenges such as learning some agility. I started with the teeter-totter propped on wood blocks so that it was almost level. Now, I've decreased the blocks to about 9" thickness, and he's still very comfortable with teetering! Here, he started across our home-made teeter-totter.

And, after successfully crossing it, he decided to sit for the photo! That's fine with me for now. I'm having a blast teaching such an eager pupil!

We've also been practicing recalls and other basic training in all sorts of settings but the forest is my favorite training ground.

My mountain bike rides have mostly been solitary and contemplative affairs. I've been seeking the deep forest, where I mingle with the animals but don't see other people. I'm suffering from withdrawal - I truly miss my mountain biking with K. During my solitary rides, my mind wrestles with worries about whether she'll ever be able to return to it. Hopefully, I'll eventually reach peace with the notion of no more mountain biking with K - and be pleasantly surprised if she can run with me.

This is the kind of trail that I've been frequenting. Many more bobcats, lions, and bears travel this trail than people.

Despite my tinge of melancholy on my bike rides, I still get shocked into a happier frame of mind when I emerge from the forest depths to the fleeting brilliance of autumn.

Life is such a mix of happiness and sadness simultaneously. With age, I'm learning that's the way life is, and I can't change it. My dogs remind me to enjoy the good in each moment. Indeed, in that first photo of K, she's playing like a puppy despite her bad paw. Carpe Diem!