Heart Like a Dog

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

The truth about long leashes….day One Hundred and Twenty Three

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A couple of years ago we took the dogs with us on vacation to North Carolina.  The drive is really long with two dogs but mine are pretty good, they do take up a lot of room and the little Hyundai Tuscon is challenging to pack but we managed by using a car carrier on top.

Delilah lying in the car. I love the way the sun is shining on her.

We bought 30 foot leashes so we could take the dogs down to the beach,  and give them a little freedom while still maintaining some semblance of control.    The thing to remember about dogs and 30 foot leashes is not to give them the entire leash all at the same time.  I found that out on our first evening at the beach.  Here’s what happened.  We got down to the beach right before dusk, when all the seagulls were out trying to see what the tide had deposited on the shore.  Chet had Sampson and I had Delilah; Delilah saw the seagulls and Delilah took off after those seagulls.  Delilah can run through a 30 foot leash pretty fast and I quickly found out what it feels like to be running behind a 100 pound dog at full throttle on the end of a 30 foot leash.  I also found out that when you scream, “Stop, help, stop” on a beach in North Carolina, you are pretty much on your own.   Even my husband, son-in-law and his sister just stood there.  Eventually she stopped and I reined her in, so these pictures are of the dogs after the incident.

Delilah in the ocean.

 

Sampson in the ocean.

Just keep in mind should you decide to try a longer leash for training, that you should slowly give the dog the distance of the leash,  just don’t clip it on and let them go!

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.

Life's a Beach…(Day Eighty Six)

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My son-in-law”s parents have a beautiful home on the outer banks of North Carolina, until they retired there a few years ago they rented it out.  Each of their kids got one week free of charge at the house, once the kids were married we became part of the family and we got a week too.  We took advantage of that one year, and then they retired. 🙁

That vacation was really nice, we took Sampson with us (this was pre-Delilah) and he had such a grand time, I thought I would share some pictures of that time.

There is a beautiful porch along the front of the house and I would sit out there in the morning drinking my coffee and reading a book, or just enjoying the day.  Sampson would stay out there with me, and he was so good he would never leave the porch, even when people walked by.

Halt.....who goes there?

 

Each of the homes in the development comes with its own golf cart.  You use the cart to tool about the neighborhood or to drive down to the beach.  The first ride we took Sampson on, I sat in the back seat with him.  Then we thought let’s see if he will hang out on the back.  (I hope Steve‘s parents don’t see this!)

Driver, where's my driver?

Chet is not a big beach person, but we did get him to go a couple of times, sometimes he went fishing, sometimes we just walked on the beach and sometimes Sampson and I went in the water.  In this picture I turned around and a huge wave was coming in, I pushed him off and said, “Swim Sampson, Swim!”

Swim Sampson, Swim!!

Sampson likes the beach almost as much as he likes hiking.  I hope we can get him back there!

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