Heart Like a Dog

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

You’re Going the Wrong Way!

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Thursday night was agility class.  Normally on agility nights, Delilah and I head over to the training center, while Hubby takes Sampson somewhere special.

Hubby had something to do immediately after work so we decided that I would take Sampson with me and he could hang out with Sara’s dogs, Chuck and Orbit.  When Hubby had finished what he was doing, he would swing by and take Sampson for a little walk around the neighborhood.

When we got to The Mellow Mutt, Brisco and his mom was there.  She had let him off-leash so he could run around the training room but when she saw us approaching she made to leash him up.

Hey I’m Brisco, what’s your name?

 

I suggested that the dogs run around a bit before class started if she was okay with it.  So she opened the gate and Sampson and Delilah ran inside.

Then I remembered that Sampson is not supposed to be running.

I grabbed him and put him out in the common room with Chuck and Orbit, while Delilah and Brisco played in the tunnel.

You hide in the tunnel Brisco, I’ll be the dog with the glowing eyes and I’ll chase you. Go!

 

Would you believe that no-one else came?

We had the agility course all to ourselves so we did three and four runs at a time!

Apparently Brisco’s mom and I run the agility course wrong.  We run along the outside of the ring, which means we work extra hard. (Well if you’re a long time reader, you know this is the story of my life! My nick name should be Wrong-Way-Stone) LOL

Sara arranged the course so everything was along the outer edge of the ring, then she made us run it, with us on the inside.

Hubby had arrived by then and took a short video of Delilah and I.

As you can see, we need a lot of work, and having me run in the middle with Delilah on my left side threw us both off.  You can also see how tired we both get after running the course twice.

Since we are only doing this for fun and I have no intention of ever running a real agility match, it doesn’t matter to me if we are perfect or fast.

The point is that we do something fun, we bond as a team and Delilah gets a mental stimulation as well as physical.

Does your dog need mental stimulation as well as physical exercise?  What kinds of things do you do to provide that mental stimulation?

P.S. In a comment a few weeks back Misty said she’d love to see a video of us doing agility.  This one’s for you Misty!

Wash, Wash, Wash The Dog…Day One Hundred and Thirty One

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There’s a little brook that runs along the side of the field where we take the dogs to play; it’s a dirty little brook but the dogs love it.  They love to run through the brook and occasionally Sampson lays down in it.  I’ve been trying to catch it on video but have been having a hard time with it until today.  I uploaded it to youtube tonight, but let it buffer for a minute or so before watching it; because I’m pretty new to this youtube stuff. (I also got Delilah’s agility run up and the video of how excited Delilah gets when she gets her dinner.

The problem with the dogs running through the brook is they get absolutely filthy!  So every time they go in the brook, we have to wash them off when we get home.  What I started doing was washing them outside.  I take an empty dog shampoo bottle, fill it with warm water and put a squirt of shampoo in it.  We then use the soapy water to wash them quickly and rinse them off with the hose.  Then we dry them off and let them in the house. 

I’m happy that the warmer weather is coming so they aren’t outside freezing, but the water from the hose is still cold!  Although as Chet pointed out, the brook isn’t warm water and they willingly go in there. :-0  Still I am calling the plumber to see how hard it would be to get an outside shower.

Delilah Stone…Role Model (Day One Hundred and Sixteen)

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Today after agility class I was chatting with Ann (who does all  the intakes for  Labs 4 Rescue organization).  Ann is very complimentary about Delilah and what a good dog she is.  Today Ann said, “Delilah would be a good role model for any rescue organization.”  I take that on behalf of Delilah and our entire family as one of the highest compliments I could ever receive about Delilah.

I am all for encouraging people to rescue animals, but as I was discussing with Ann, rescuing is not always easy.  When you look at Delilah and see the amazing dog she has become, you are looking many hours of blood, sweat and tears (mostly my tears!) 🙂

You don’t always get their history, the dog may have behavioral issues that are very steeply set in their past life.   Some dogs will be able to put their pasts behind them and move on, while others may always carry their issues with them.  The best we can do is to try to work around those issues so the dog “wins.”  For instance, if you have a counter surfer (someone who likes to take food off the counter) you may never break them of this habit, the trick is to not leave anything out on the counter that the great Kahuna can reach.  When you leave something reachable out on the counter; you are setting your dog up to fail. 

When we are running agility, even if we haven’t done as well as I think we can, I need to end my run with a task that Delilah performs well.  Then I reward her.  She ends her session on a positive note and feels like she has won.

Delilah on the See Saw

 Delilah isn’t the only one who has won, we have a wonderful dog that would be an awesome role model for any rescue group.

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