Wordless Wednesday

Just before our puppy was taken out of action by neuter surgery

Playing with our good friends' dog

Mr. Big Paws with his sister

His sister took flight shortly after playing with Hachi

Training Tuesday: Shyla Mimicking Me

You all might remember that I dabbled in teaching Shyla to mimic me more than a year ago. Back then, she learned to mimic a few of my behaviors, and then I let it drop. Until about two months ago, I think that both Shyla and I had forgotten all about it.

Two months ago, I decided to dedicate some time to it again. It is one of the most fun ways to teach a dog new behaviors. In fact, after two months of practicing, I've taught Shyla more complex combinations of behaviors than I've taught her any other way.

When teaching a dog mimicry, you start with very simple behaviors that your dog already knows how to do. One of the hardest parts is figuring out how to imitate a dog's way of doing something like crawling or carrying a toy in their mouth. In this video and the next one (probably next week), you'll get to see my silly imitations.

One of the behaviors that you'll see me do and then Shyla imitate it is the one shown in this photo - resting her chin between her front paws. It was one of the first ones that she learned to imitate.

Here is the first video of Shyla mimicking my behaviors. Enjoy, and don't hesitate to laugh at us!

I really love teaching our dogs new ways of learning and fun games that we can do together. Mimicry falls into both of those categories!

In case you're interested, there is a book lays out how to teach your dog to imitate you.

Full Moon Setting and Beautiful Shyla

I absolutely love when the full moon sets because our entire western horizon is snowy mountains.

Unfortunately, it was very very cold as I tried to take these photos so I didn't do a great job. I have Raynaud's Syndrome, and I couldn't feel my shutter finger at all! So, I captured the random moments when my finger touched the shutter button almost by accident.

My favorite part of the setting of a full moon is that the sun is rising behind me as the moon sets. You can see the alpenglow and the brightening sky from the rising sun in the next photo.

For the grand finale just before the moon disappeared, I managed to quickly put on a wider angle lens when I saw the whole mountain range lighting up from the sunrise. Standing there in the mountain silence, I was so glad that I'd braved the cold to watch the moon set.

I shouldn't say "I". Of course, my best furry friend was with me during the magical moon set. After the moon disappeared from view, we hustled to a good spot to see the reddish light of the rising sun on her fur.

To my eyes, she is as beautiful as the setting moon.

Black Dog Sunday

Our Black Dog had another good week. It's always a good week when I get some time on the trails with him!

Our Black Dog brings out the best in all the dogs around him. He's Shyla's best romping buddy. And he's Hachi's best companion for going to the vet or for wrestling.

The snow on the trails has continued to be almost impassable. So, lots of mornings, we make it only as far as the favorite photo spot in these photos. This is the sunniest spot near our house so the snow is almost gone. I sure hope that the melting spreads soon.

On the morning that I had the pleasure of having both halves of the Labraduo with me on the trails, they decided to engage in some hilariousness while the camera was pointed at them. Shyla wanted to wave to all of you while R wanted to try to howl loudly enough that you could hear him from all around the world!

In R's younger days, I hadn't yet accepted that being very vocal was an immutable part of his personality so it would drive me nuts. Now, I just laugh along with him. Shyla still looks a bit concerned about his behavior though!

After 10 weeks on antibiotics for kidney/UTI issues, R ended them yesterday. We are SO hopeful that we won't end up at the emergency vet this weekend (like the past times that we tried stopping the antibiotics). Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

He seems to be feeling good based on that last photo!

Enforced Rest for a Puppy!

Hachi came through his surgery (neutering) just fine yesterday. He had a good day, all things considered.

One of the big incidents that had worried us so much last week was that he got so scared that he couldn't function at the vet when he went in for his pre-surgery tests. Today, he took a sedative prior to going, and his big brother, R, went with him for the drop off. I am guessing that his big brother's guiding presence was a huge factor in making Hachi feel better about being at the vet hospital. He's so bonded to his siblings.

He's home now with a cone. He's not too happy about that. I can feel him shaking under his fur. That could be due to coming out of anaesthesia, the cone, the pain, or all of the above.

He now has 14 insane days until he can run around again. That is very hard for a 5 month old puppy, as you all know. We hope that time flies, and he's out playing before we know it.

Please wish Hachi and us well during this time of enforced rest!

Nature Friday - Bluebirds Arrive!

Although the calendar says that spring is approaching, winter has dominated our world recently. This photo was from one of the most recent times that we could actually make it up to Hug Hill.

We haven't been up to Hug Hill since then because the snowpack is much too deep and impossible to pack down for my fat bike. We had a lot of fun the last time that we were up there, with Shyla posing atop what appeared to be a big pile of snow!

Despite the recent big snowfalls, our Mountain Bluebirds arrived on the exact day that the calendar said "Start of Spring". Yipee! The first Bluebird who I saw was posed with a snowy forested hillside behind him.

The next one had a completely snowy meadow behind him. It made for a fun photo that seemed to show the juxtaposition of spring and winter.

Then, as I stood there by the meadow rejoicing in the sight of spring birds, I spotted another Bluebird. He took off from his perch as I snapped away with my camera.

Flying into Springtime!

Happy Nature Friday. Thank you to the LLB Gang for hosting the blog hop!

Thankful Thursday - For Shyla and for All of You

I am so thankful for my sweet Shyla. No matter what, she's loyal and eager to make me smile. And her heart overflows with love. It's impossible to be around her without feeling it.

She is patient with her little brother and seems to enjoy sharing her life with him even though it involves sharing her humans with him.

After having such a rough start to her life, Shyla seems almost unflappable with her little brother. Shyla has become my rock as I try to deal with life's uncertainties, including how Hachi will turn out. I don't know when she took on that role. For our first few years together, I needed to be her rock all the time so that she could navigate her fears. Then, she began to heal. And now, she's a huge source of stability and love.

I am filled with gratitude for Shyla... on this Thankful Thursday.

And thanks to you for your kind and thoughtful comments on my post two days ago about Hachi. We had an hour with a trainer today, and Hachi's response to stress, including greeting strangers, was so much better. I know that the coming months will be a roller coaster ride - but it feels really nice to be filled with hope today. Your dog tales, thoughts, and advice also helped give me hope, in a realistic sort of way. No, it won't be smooth sailing. Rather, it will involve a combination of management by us and adaptations by Hachi. I hope that we are all up to it.

Thanks to Brian for hosting the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Wordless Wednesday - The Ears

Life with our Puppy

I'm going to tell you about a big source of stress for me. From early in our time with Hachi, we noticed his shyness toward both dogs and people. In response, we decided to try to socialize him as much as we possibly could. We also noticed resource guarding against other dogs almost from Day One - which means that he would try to scare off dogs who came near his food or treats. Again, we hoped that we could deal with it using some methods suggested by our trainers.

As we worked on these issues, we also came to love Hachi. All of his "bad" behaviors came from fear - probably due to his early scary experiences living on the street, his mom's stress level trying to care for puppies without a home, the craziness of living in a shelter for a while, and due to genetics. It is very hard to be angry with a living being who is behaving badly completely out of fear.

Until quite recently, we thought that things were going well. He has totally come to love playing with other dogs and to be very sociable with them. He seemed less hesitant to meet people. And, his resource guarding became rare.

Fast forward to the past week - for some reason, almost everything has gone south. He had a horrendous vet visit where he was so scared that he lost control of his bowels. He resource guarded at two dog classes last week, which means that he snarled and scared off puppies who were interested in his treats. His behavior appeared very scary but he didn't actually touch the other dogs. Then, we tried to have visitors at our house but Hachi spent their entire visits staring at them and intensely barking at them.

On one occasion while a visitor was here, Hachi launched himself at R in a fury of snarling. There were no injuries except that we were deeply shaken. We believe that Hachi was guarding treats that were in the room. He was more prone to do that due to the stress of having a visitor in the house. As those who have had to deal with these kinds of issues will know - it's called "trigger stacking".

To be fair, I must mention that our Duo gets along with Hachi beautifully 99.9% of the time. They still snuggle with him daily. So do we. Hachi is so deeply attached to me and the Runner that it makes my heart hurt.

He is being neutered on Friday, and we hope that might help. Moreover, we are working with two good trainers, and we'll follow their suggestions. But the future is a great big unknown.

I am telling you where things are with Hachi so that you know that life with our puppy is not even close to perfect. He's still incredibly sweet 99.9% of the time. But those outbursts of aggression have shaken me up badly. I hope that we can help him but I'm not certain that we can. Aggression in such a young puppy is really scary.

Especially when you love that puppy.

Snow Dog

This bottomless snow may never go away but Shyla doesn't mind.

She's adores galloping through deep snow.

I love spending time out in the snow with her. It makes me smile.

I think that it makes her smile too.

Black Dog Sunday

Our Black Dog seems to be feeling great. He's full of energy and loves playing in the snow.

He races his sister with an intensity that is surprising.

And they both love bowling me over at the end of a recall. They make me laugh.

We had a funny moment during our snowshoe hike when both dogs sunk down deep in the snow. I told them both to "stay", and they did! While I fiddled with my camera, they seemed to start to dose off in the warm sun. That made me incredulous. Can you imagine falling asleep in a snow bath?

I love our Labraduo so much.

Happy Black Dog and Brown Dog Sunday!  And Happy St. Patty's Day! (Two more months of winter here!)

Snow Joy for Dogs and Puppies

Getting almost 2' of snow brings joy to our dogs. Our puppy was a bit skeptical at first because the snow was easily over his head. But his big sister led the way. Look at the joy on her face! Do you see Hachi's head poking up behind her?

Shyla's joy was contagious. She even found a stick despite the very deep snow. She galloped through the snow holding it high in the air.

And Hachi caught her joyful spirit. I love seeing this boy so happy. It makes me grin.

Hachi makes some hilarious faces when he's trying to run as fast as he can. And look at the size of his paw...

But those funny faces do seem to help him gallop through the snow very fast. He had a big head start over Shyla in this particular sprint but he is speedy.

I hope that our snow dogs have made you smile today! I've smiled my way through our recent hikes.

Nature and Feline Friday - Mountain Lions Prowling around the Elk Herd

When the elk herd is nearby, the mountain lions are not far behind.

Yup, a mountain lion was prowling along the edges of this meadow while the elk were there. I cannot imagine how nerve-racking it must be for elk knowing that predators are waiting for just one of them to make a mistake. I couldn't live like that... but they manage to.

I am guessing that the goal for an elk is to stay in the middle of the herd so that the mountain lion prowling in the nearby forest doesn't choose him/her to attack.

The mountain lions are masters of stealthfulness, and they blend into nature so perfectly. I bet that I could have ridden my bike right past this guy without spotting him.

He spent a long time at this site - a spot where the mounds of pine needles show how often lions have scraped there to mark territory. He even had the Flehmen Response to the scents of other lions. That enhances his sampling of the odors.

I believe that this mountain lion was the male in the mating pair that my trail cam captured. I'm basing that on his color markings so I can't be absolutely certain.

Enjoy the video. All of the clips show mountain lions prowling along edges of meadows containing the elk herd.