Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

New Horizons….Day One Hundred and Nineteen

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Today when we went to take our hike, there was a woman who was walking up to the park with her two dogs; the problem for me was that she was on her cell phone.  This is the third time we have encountered this woman and all three times, she was on her cell phone.  Don’t get me wrong, if I need to be on my cell phone when I am out, I will be; but for me it is more important that my dogs and the trails have my full attention.

We quickly got the dogs running into the park and huffed and puffed our way up the hill; we jumped on the orange trail and followed it completely around; whew what a workout.  The dogs did really well, at one point we could see two guys and a dog on the trail but they were some distance away, we stopped and made the dogs stop, and then I continued on towards our destination; Delilah immediately followed me, but Sampson was sorely tempted to go and greet the other dog.  Eventually he headed back onto the orange trail with us.

Then we got to the open field and there was a group of three people standing in the middle, naturally the dogs wanted to head that way and we tried to distract them, but the people were headed to our side of the field, and so it was inevitable the dogs went to greet the people.  This is something we will work on, because some people don’t like dogs (GASP!) and don’t like to encounter a dog charging at them on their walks!

Still it was a very enjoyable walk and the dogs got to check out some new places.

New Horizons

Practice what you preach…(Day One Hundred and Eighteen)

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Back a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about dogs and new experiences, today I had to practice what I preached.  We headed out on the trail after work and had just jumped off the main trail onto the orange trail; the dogs were racing ahead of me and I heard a strange noise behind me.  Naturally I turned, and saw two bicyclists heading down the way we had just come.  I figured we were safe. Wrong!  The bicyclists  turned onto the yellow trail and crossed directly in front of us on the orange trail! 

We’ve encountered bicyclists before on the rails to trails; which is more of a flat, well-worn trail; but it never even dawned on me that people might actually take their mountain bikes into the woods!  So I called the dogs to me and after a tense moment when I thought one or the other of them were going to take off after the bicycles; the bicyclists had passed.  I turned around and headed back the way we had come to try to make sure that we didn’t run into them again.  I diverted their attention by taking them on a new trail; where they had lots of new scents and places to explore.

I’m not really sure how I should prepare the dogs for encountering bicycles on the trail; but I need to pay attention and be aware of what goes on around me; I need to work on getting the dogs to return to me regardless of where we are or what they are doing. 

Investigating a new smell.

If I could talk to the animals…(Day One Hundred and Seventeen)

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Vernon had a Health Fair today.  I started out at the table for the Vernon Trails system and had a lovely discussion with the Scott and a lovely older woman.  I expressed my desire for dog friendly trails where my sweeties could run off leash. 🙂

 I was excited to attend the fair as there were a number of workshops I wanted to participate in.  One of these workshops was “Creating a Bridge Between People and Animal” by Deborah Ravenwood.  If you haven’t guessed it; the workshop was about communicating with your animals.  By taking this workshop I discovered that a lot of the communication is really just speaking to your pet and trying to envision communicating your message.

When I got home I had a few chores to take care of before I could leave to take the dogs on their walk.  One of the tasks was cutting up and packaging the dogs raw meat for the week, naturally I had two very interested onlookers.  Sampson is very good (of course) and usually lies somewhere in the kitchen or right outside, Delilah on the other hand likes to be right at my heels; licking the floors and cabinets and waiting for me to drop something.  I decided I would try my new-found communications skills.

I walked Delilah over to the edge of the kitchen and said, “Delilah, I promise if you sit here until I am finished, I will let you lick the spoon.”  Then I walked back to the task at hand.  Five minutes later, she was STILL sitting there!  I was finished and so I let her lick the spoon. OMG!

I tried this again while I was doing dishes.  I brought her to the same spot and said, “Delilah if you sit here until I am done with the dishes, I will give you a cookie.”  She sat for a minute and then moved over into the spot that Sampson usually occupies, but she sat until I was done.  (Except for a quick relapse when I opened the cabinet to throw out the garbage, she rose and I said, “AICK” and she sat back down.)

Delilah sitting and waiting for her cookie.

She sat until I was done and then I gave her three green beans!  Of course when I left the kitchen she went in and licked the floor, cabinets and oven.

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