Dances With Dogs

Friday Hike Report for 7/15/11

2011-07-16T04:46:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic day on the trail for our Friday Hikers! The weather was just sublime and we were comfortable all day. Today, we went to Pratt’s Brook Park in Yarmouth from 8:45 until 11:00 a.m. and then to Fuller Farm in Scarborough from 12 to 2 p.m. Both locales offered a ton of fun for the dogs! At FF, we ran into the crew from Portland's Paws and I was so pleased that our pack was so social and kind to the 5 dogs hiking with the PP folks. Yay!

OSCAR Yorkie was hiking with us for the first time today. He’s still pretty young and is just about to transition from the DWD Puppy School to our Graduate Program for Small Breeds next week. He was a superb hiker! Initially, we had him drag a leash until we felt comfortable that he knew how to “check in” with us and would come back to us when we squeaked our squeaker. Once he knew that treats were involved, he was THERE consistently! Yay, Oscar! He made friends with Duke Puggle, who will be in his Tuesday Pack, and also really enjoyed Angus Cairn Terrier. Oscar is welcomed to join us for Friday hikes whenever his parents can send him! Welcome aboard, Young Man!

JETHRO Choc Lab returned to the pack today after being absent just before the school vacation week. We missed him!! Jethro is crazy in the woods and especially in the fields with the tall grass! It totally turns him on to bounce around in those fields! What is he looking for? We just don’t know, but it makes us laugh time and again. Jethro managed to find a TENNIS BALL in the woods at each location today, and then he had to do all sorts of crazy stuff with them....like try to bury them, make mud pies with them, play some sort of fetching game for one (himself) in the water with them. It was nuts! We were glad to have our buddy back! Rosie wants him to be her BFF but he just raises his lip at her and shows her his big wolf teeth, which also makes us laugh out loud! Poor Rosie!

ROSIE Black Lab was her usual crazy self on the trail today. Thanks again to Dukey for putting up with her wild antics which usually involve tackling him, biting his neck, stealing his sticks and other assorted mayhem. Rosie had a blast and ate a ton of grass, gnawed on half a forest full of trees, swam in every water source, including mud puddles, and was just full of energy, as usual. We love you, Rosie...and it’s a good thing you’re so darned beautiful, baby!! Lola Sharpei Boxer has become a great pal for Rosie, and we are loving that....because Lola is about the same size as Rosie and can go paw-to-paw with her without us worrying that she’ll get hurt. Thanks, Lola!

LYLA Italian Greyhound/Min Pin was outstanding on the trail today, as usual. She is totally in her element in the woods and she and Lola are ALWAYS hot on the trail of some vermin or other! Addie is usually right with them, too. Lyla always returns as soon as she’s called and LOVES all the food rewards. Lyla is definitely getting the hang of our hikes and loosens up and enjoys her pack mates more each time she’s with us. We love this! She’s always a frontrunner and trailblazer, for sure!

LOLA Sharpei Boxer gave us a little trouble in the field after our first outing at Pratt’s Brook Park, because we couldn’t get her to come to us to get leashed for the last leg of the journey to the car. I decided to “trust” her that she’d come along with us safely and she did. But...then we had to coax her with some water in the water bowl in order to get our hands on her to put her in the car. Success! And a leash...ha ha! We outsmarted her at Fuller Farm and caught her BEFORE she knew what was up. HER leash was the first to go on. Other than that slight blip, she was wonderful and silly and fun! She is continuing to build some nice relationships with her pack mates and we can totally tell that she really likes certain dogs now. She will play bow and slam her paws down on the ground in front of Addie or Angus or Duke and get them to chase, wrestle and play with her. It’s adorable, as is she! We love her!

LILY Pomapoo had her first off-leash hike on Monday with the DWD school dogs and her second today. We think she’s wonderful in the woods. But, let me tell you -- she ONLY has eyes for Brody. These two are in LOVE! It’s ridiculous, really. She has to sit on his lap, pose for pics with him...and she’s always turning around to make sure he’s right there when she’s marching down the trail. He loves her right back, which is kind of heart-warming. Lily played with all

the big and small dogs in her class and she’s not shy about telling any dog who is too rough to buzz the heck off! I love that about this little 4.7 pound gal, don’t you? Lily, of course, road on Brody’s lap in the car. Good gawd...these two are joined at the hip!

MOLLY Morkie had a blast, as usual, on our hike. She really loved having Lily PP along and they shared Brody toward the back of the pack most of the time. Molly and I have actually grown pretty close on these hikes and I like to have her alongside me as well! She just makes me smile all the time because she’s such a rubber band...jumping over roots and boulders and bouncing like a bunny through the fields and forest! And she loves the water! Molly has a crazy bark when we meet up with other dogs/people in the woods and occasionally when we are in the car and she sees something. So, we’re working on that. Otherwise, she’s perfect and we ALWAYS love having her joyful heart along with us on these hikes. Wouldn’t be the same without her, truly!

DUKE Puggle was great again today. Other than whining in the car here and there, and excitedly barking here and there, he’s a dream to have aboard. He puts up with Rosie’s rough love all day and reluctantly shares his sticks with her. He’s nice to all the new dogs who join our group. He has more energy than almost any dog in the pack. He is obedient on the trail and never takes off on us. What’s not to love? Oh...and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a super cute baby, right? Duke seems like he was made for the Maine woods. He’s a true outdoorsman, or...outdoorsdog! Seriously!

ANABELLE Sheltie continues to be a favorite of the Pack Leaders and the pack members alike. She is just so steady and reliable on the trail and she is full of fun when we stop at the watering holes. She loves to be chased through the underbrush at break-neck speeds by the entire pack. It’s amazing to watch....and challenging to catch with the camera! This gal can MOVE! Anabelle gets into the water up to her belly, but she’s yet to truly swim with the group. That’s okay! We really enjoy having her along and she’s been such an amazing student at DWD that even THIS writer is thinking about maybe getting a Sheltie in the future.

ANGUS Cairn Terrier is yet another favorite of everyone! Angus has been beautifully behaved from the get-go with our hikes and he is completely at ease and in his element in the woods. His terrier build was made for the rocky terrain and he easily scrambles up and down banks to get to his favorite thing: swimming! I get so much joy from watching this sturdy boy dog paddle with his little head just above the surface. He’s been wonderful in the back seat, too....as long as he gets a window seat! I think he missed Casco and Tonya this time out! Sorry, Angus...

ADDIE Schnauzer...last to get written about, but I assure you...NEVER last on the trail! Addie is very independent and curious in the woods, but she’s been really dependable on recall and we feel confident in her in the woods. She does venture off to explore the areas adjacent to the trail but she returns when we squeak our squeaker. Addie does like the water, even though she’s not gotten ALL the way in. She did a lot of rubbing of her snout and back in the grass when we got to areas that were good for this. It DID make me slightly nervous, as Addie missed our last hike because she had a serious allergic reaction to something environmental (we think an insecticide on someone’s lawn) about two weeks ago. But, she seemed fine other than the occasional back scratch! Addie sat in the back seat on the floor behind the driver (me) in the car and squeezed her snout in between my seat and the door so she could give my hand a few kisses....and accept a few stealthily-dispensed pieces of kibble during the car rides! Hee hee...that’s just part of being one of the teacher’s pets, right?

ABSOLUTELY great hike again today, folks! I will post a photo album on FB and send those of you w/o FB a link so you can see all the terrific photos taken by me and Brody on our outing. I am so grateful to ALL of you parents for funding your dogs’ weekly adventures. They are truly so lucky to have all of you!! XO

Hike Report for Friday July 1, 2011

2011-07-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

WEATHER REPORT: Wow! Have we EVER been lucky with the weather for our Friday hikes so far. If it rains, it pours so there’s been that ONE cancellation, but...the rest of our Fridays have been EXCELLENT and today’s weather was no exception. Clear blue skies, plenty of sun and temps that didn’t faze the dogs one bit: we’ll take it!

LOCATION: Today we hiked in two great spots - Fuller Farm in Scarborough and Pratt’s Brook in Yarmouth. BOTH were exceptional and we didn’t run into a single human being or dog in either place, so we had them all to ourselves!

You already know all about Fuller Farm and I still highly recommend you take a trip out there. Your dogs will show you all around! Pratt’s Brook is yet another AMAZING find and we will be going back there regularly. We could’ve stayed and played for hours today, but the dogs were tired from the earlier jaunt at Fuller Farm. To find Pratt’s Brook, take Rte One through the center of Yarmouth. Go past the Hannaford Plaza on Rte One (McDonald’s is in the corner of this mini mall), go under the overpass for 295 and then take a LEFT at the light just after that. You’ll go up a little hill to a two-way stop. Take a RIGHT and then a quick LEFT onto NORTH ROAD. Go about a mile or two and look for the sign for the trailhead and parking area on your RIGHT. Plenty of parking and a kiosk with site map await you. My advice is to LOOK at that map and decide on your route before entering. There’s a lot of trails in there and we sort of lost our way momentarily before finding our way back out!

The terrain at Pratt’s Brook is quite easy to hike....more of a woods walk than a mountain hike for sure! You can wear Teva or Keen water sandals, athletic shoes or hiking boots and you’ll be fine in any of them. We wore long pants for bug protection and were glad we did. Bug spray is recommended....for your dog as well!

NEW PACK LEADER: Today we had Pack Leader In Training (PLIT) Brody Cullenberg along for his first hike. He's fresh from the streets of Istanbul, Turkey where he just spent five months doing a semester abroad. He was an excellent navigator in the car as well as in the woods. The dogs all loved having him along and want him to come back and hike again next time. Since he's getting paid....he most likely will! Thanks, Brody, for being such a great helper today.

HIKER REPORTS: Oliver Fluffy Mix had his FIRST hike today! He won’t be a regular part of the Friday group, but joined us today as an audition to be sure he could handle being out off leash with a group. He’ll now hike with the DWD small adults on Mondays. Oliver had some fear of crossing bridges and we got him through that eventually (many bridges to cross). He lost his off-leash privileges for ignoring our recall requests and heading into someone’s yard and garage at Fuller Farm. He dragged a leash the remainder of the day and was excellent and obeyed recall from there on out. He had a blast and was in the front of the pack with Lyla most of the day. We think he'll make a fine little hiker with his Monday class!

Molly Morkie was so happy to have her pal Ollie along today. She’s not seen him in a while and today she had him all to herself. Of course, she prefers to stay at the back of the pack near me, so they only played when we stopped to rest, etc. Sometimes Ollie would walk with her when he wasn’t at the front of the pack. Molly went swimming again! Yay....she loves the water. She got independent after a couple of hours and stopped traveling alongside my ankle, which is always wonderful for her. She had some serious fun chasing and being chased when we stopped at the watering holes!

Lyla Greyhound/Min Pin Mix will now be a regular Friday hiker and we’re happy to

have her aboard! She always blazes the trail ahead of us and she’s super-reliable on recall. I trust her immensely and she never lets me down. She loves treats so comes running whenever I squeak my toy for her! She loves everyone in the pack, but keeps away from the wild young Rosie because she’s afraid to get hurt I think. Lyla went in the water a lot today....not swimming but definitely wading and running along the shallow areas. Great to see...

Angus Cairn Terrier is an excellent swimmer and keeps right up with the Labs. He had yet another fabulous hike today and we trust him off-leash for sure! He did have one bobble....when we took a wrong turn at Fuller Farm and the trail ended at someone’s horse farm! Angus went right under the fence and went in to say hello to the horses. Brody was able to coax him (and Lola too) back out. Silly! Angus can sometimes be pesky in the back seat because he MUST have a window seat. Molly didn’t like being stepped on by him, lol! Angus is terrific to have aboard and he is totally in his element in the woods. Oh by the way....umm...Angus got a Benadryl before we left in the morning by accident. I was attempting to give it to Lola in a piece of cheese but she was refusing and I dropped it. You-know-who was right there and snatched it and swallowed it right up. Damn! But he wasn’t harmed and was his normal self all day.

Lola Sharpei-Boxer Mix had a lovely time today. There’s absolutely NO WAY I’ll be able to give her Benadryl, though. She won’t eat anything I’ve tried. So, she’ll have to have it before leaving home on future hikes. I don’t feel comfortable having her with us if she’s not had it, honestly, and it’s not something that’s going to leave her feeling drugged out or lethargic, so I’d just as soon have her take it as a precaution. I will carry a bottle of LIQUID Benadryl with a syringe-type dispenser for emergency use. In any event, Lola didn’t have a reaction to bug bites today, thankfully. On the trail, she’s ridiculously energetic and veers off the trail regularly, usually with little Lyla following or leading. We trust Lola to return to us, but she did have a hard time resisting the urge to join the horses in their corral and we had to coax her back out! Silly girl, she wanted to play cattle dog!! Lola got in the water a lot and she also laid down in a mud puddle or two with Tonya and Rosie. Lola is making good friends with the rest of her pack and you can see how much she enjoys being with all of us. Awwww.....

Duke Puggle is just the BOMB on our hikes. He was the object of Rosie’s affection all day, and that’s a big job for a Puggle! She was all over him all day, wanting to wrestle and bite him and wanting to take his sticks and wanting to get on his back in the water. Seriously, Rosie?! Duke takes it all so well and just keeps on trucking. Duke had a new experience in the car today....he got to ride in the “way back” with some of his pals on the way home! He did okay...only whining for Auntie Ju Ju a little here and there. I got some great photos of Duke practicing his balance beam act for his next gymnastics meet. He managed to walk gingerly across a stream on a downed tree limb...and it was skinny...and he ALMOST made it w/o falling in!

Rosie Black Lab is officially a teenager. She was impish and wild and rough here and there. We’re giving her a warning today! All of her pals can only take so much, after all. Rosie has boundless energy and she’s all over everyone all day. They are mostly indulgent and tolerant of her, but once in a while they yell at her in annoyance. She tends to rip down the trail when she’s excited (which is most of the time) and takes out the smaller ones, who now step aside in fear when they know she’s on the way. Good news, everyone....Rosie gets spayed on Tuesday and that might simmer her down a bit. Let’s not forget she’s the BABY of the group, even if she is one of the largest now. And she means well. And she LOVES all of you so much, doggies!! Rosie swam like a champion with the best of the swimmers today...even if she did try to climb on Auntie Tonya’s back and drown Angus with love while doing it! Good grief... Rosie is good in the car. She always rides in the “way back” and we do our very best to wear her out for the ride home. Thankfully she’s better on the leash than DUKE is, so she gets extra points for that...

Anabelle Sheltie gets another Gold Star hiking award today. Anabelle is never a moment’s trouble on our hikes. She ALWAYS gets to sit near Casco in the car because she’s nice to him. She keeps everyone happy when we stop for play time in the woods because she flies around and wants everyone to try and catch her as she nimbly jumps tree trunks and water obstacles along the path. She takes treats very gently (Rosie, please take lessons from her!) and doesn’t hurt our fingers. And she indulges us by wearing a bandana around her neck, even though she really doesn’t want to. THANK YOU, Miss Anabelle, for being such an amazing presence on our hikes. The joy that Anabelle gets from being in the woods and keeping us all in line is evident. And, she’s pretty special to Uncle Mike, who always brings her home last so he can have her little head on his shoulder for a little while as they travel to her home at the end of the day.

Tonya Bernier should get a special mention today, and I hope you all take time to read her paragraph as well as Casco’s. Tonya is just an amazing Momma dog for our hikes. She is quiet and steady on the trail. She never yells at Rosie when Rosie insists on kissing her for the 100th time each hour. She sits and waits for her treats and

doesn’t expect special treatment because she’s so pretty or because she’s the owners’ fur daughter. She supervises all the young-uns swimming lessons, and she’s just the best car traveler, sitting and napping on the floor of the back seat so Angus and Casco can have the window seats. THANK YOU, Miss Tonya, for being all that you are. We love you to pieces.

Casco Bernier has also been a wonderful presence on our hikes, but we have a very sad announcement to make: today, he is giving up his bandana and retiring from our program. He just can’t keep up with the young dogs on the trail, try as he might. He has tried to keep it from us, but today, he was limping and when we’d stop for the kids

to swim or play, he would lie down on his side and really had us worried. His exhaustion was too much for us to bear and we’ll be allowing him to stay home on the couch from here on out. He will celebrate his 10th birthday this summer and we always knew that this time would come eventually. We’ll miss our boy so much on our hikes!! XOXO Casco!

ABSENT: Jethro Choc Lab and Addie Schnauzer will rejoin our program after the school vacation next week.

DWD is closed from July 4 through July 8. We look forward to seeing our Friday Hikers again on July 15! Sadly....there will be NO video of our hike this week, as my iMovie program is acting up. I will TRY to get this fixed over my vacation. I know how much you all love the videos, believe me!!

Pleasant Mountain - Take Two!

2011-06-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today we went back to Pleasant Mountain in Fryeburg for another splendid hike. It was the first time for a couple of our newest hikers, and they loved it just as much as the rest of the gang! We hit the trail at 9:45 a.m. and got back to the car at about 1:15 p.m., so we had a solid 3.5 hours of hiking. Mike and I were very sweaty by the time we got to the top! Lots of very interesting things happened along the trail today...

The gang treed a chipmunk and they were quite proud of themselves. Angus, Lyla and Jethro were among the leaders on this hunting expedition. I got one decent photo of our little chippy pal, and he was shaking a bit!

Mike and I spotted a snake on the trail and we took video and photos of it...even getting one with its red tongue (ewwww) jutting out at us. The dogs were completely unaware of its presence, nearly stepping on it!!

The bugs (black flies as well as mosquitos) were out in swarms today and that made the hike difficult for the humans and a few of the dogs as well. Tonya kept rolling around on the ground for relief and we sprayed her with our own human bug spray. Lola has hardly any fur on her face and the bugs really attacked her. She swelled up with hives toward the end of the hike and we were incredibly worried about her. She dipped herself in the water and dragged her face on the ground, poor dear. We think she might be allergic to bug bites and hope her vet can provide some relief for her, as we are too afraid to bring her back out on the trail until we have some advice and a plan.

When we got to the summit, we were greeted by a lovely swarm of dragonflies. They are wonderful to see because they eat the mosquitos and black flies!! Yay! You will see a lot of them in our summit photos today! We also encountered two couples on the summit. Jessie and Rosie were all over one couple, who I think were finishing up their lunch! We had to put leashes on them to keep them from ruining our reputation on the mountain.

We had no trouble with showers, thunder or lightning while hiking, thankfully. Almost everyone is swimming now, and Angus was just a total joy to watch in the pools at the bottom of the waterfalls. He loved it! Jessie and Rosie are getting the hang of it, and in the photos you’ll see all FIVE of our Lab hikers swimming together. No surprise there. You can see Casco giving the babies the eye, though. He didn’t want to serve as a life preserver for them!

We had a few mud hens among our pack today. Jessie and Angus and Sophie found a nice mud hole to roll around in. Jessie was black up to her shoulders! I think perhaps the mud provided a bit of relief from the bugs....but boy, did it stink!!

Speaking of stinking....we had a gassy dog in the car today, and wouldn’t you know it, she was sitting right on my LAP! We had Lyla Italian Greyhound/Min Pin Mix with us today as a favor to her momma, and she had the worst gas on both the trip up and the trip back. Thanks, Lyla, for your contribution!! Lol...

We had a case of “human error” with our seating arrangements for today’s hike. Won’t make that mistake again! We decided to try having all the dogs in one area by folding the back seats forward and moving the safety gate behind the front seat. Well, what that did is allow Jessie to try and wrestle with Rosie the whole way to Fryeburg. And when they got done with that, they decided it would be great fun to try and chew the seat belts, the bed liner, etc. Duke joined in on the wrestling, too. The older dogs were very unhappy with all of this. They just wanted to rest and relax while waiting to get to our destination. We even had to move Casco up to the front seat (imagine CASCO on the floor in front of my passenger seat) because Jethro was squishing him and he was crying and threatening to jump out the window. So, it was a mistake, as I said, that we corrected before loading everyone back up for the ride home. Nice, quiet ride on the way home....despite having to stop five times along the way to check on Lola to be sure she was comfortable and breathing normally (due to the swelling/hives).

Anyway, ALL of our hikers are fantastic once we hit the trail. Jessie is a monster on a leash, though, and this made it really challenging for Mike on the bottom portion of the trail when ALL our hikers except Casco and Tonya go on leashes. He had six dogs and I had five on leashes. Jessie nearly pulled his arms out. Not sure what we can do about that.....but it was really challenging not to fall over or get hurt.

Everyone stayed together at all times. Sometimes Lola and Lyla would wander on either side of the trail, but they always came when called or signalled with the squeaker. Lyla LOVED the food rewards. Sophie labored a bit coming up the trail, but that’s likely normal for her breed and we stopped a lot to be sure she had herself under control. She loves to hike! Addie was wonderful yet again and is just terrific all day long. Duke is probably our happiest hiker all day long. He can’t resist eating grass and chewing sticks all the way up....and all the way down. He and Rosie fight over sticks and then Angus comes over and settles things by stealing the stick. Perfect.

Angus continues to amaze us with his love for the trail, and now for the water, too! I just love to watch this boy swim! Molly continues to grow in confidence and had a wonderful time today. She follows Mike now as much as she follows me! Love it! And she’s spending more and more time NOT velcro-ed to our ankles. Yay!

We cannot say enough good things about our Anabelle, who has grown very attached to Mike. She loves their personal time in the car when she’s the last to get dropped at her house, leaning on Mike and wanting a little petting. How adorable is that? And we truly love having her herd the entire pack as we move up the trail. She is at her best in the woods, as are many of our hikers.

Jethro is all about the food as well as swimming and thrashing through the brush beside the trail. He is a front runner at all times and he enjoyed having Lyla along today to help with that! Lyla was just ridiculously independent in the woods and she, I think, would love to LIVE in the woods so she could hunt 24/7. Nice to have her along today. She got along so well with everyone and had a BALL at the summit playing with Duke. The photos show this!

Mike and I are going to scout a couple new hikes out on Sunday morning so stay tuned for info about that. And there will be NO HIKE on July 8, as DWD will be closed for vacation that week. Of course, we’ll be out scouting locations for future hikes then as well! We’ve decided that it’s probably to dangerous to hike on rainy days, so please use the usual check-in methods if rain is forecasted on a hiking day - check Facebook or the DWD website anytime after 6 a.m. for a message, or call my phone 632-1863 or Mike’s phone 831-9341 to check with us personally after 6 a.m.

THANK YOU all so much for the confidence and trust you have placed in us by allowing your dogs to hike with us. We get so much pleasure out of watching them, guiding them and just being part of their joy on these Fridays! Of course, we’ve both never worked so hard in our lives, but it’s a good way to spend our day! And Casco and Tonya both are doing well as Pack Leaders as well. Casco is sore in the shoulders/paws tonight so we’re not sure if he’ll be able to come every week. After all, he IS almost 10 years old (don’t tell him!).

Hike #2 - Fuller Farms Nature Preserve, Scarborough, ME

2011-06-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

It hardly seems possible, but we had just as much fun on this week's hike as last week's. Perfect weather, seriously awesome hikers, and another excellent location. This program is turning out to be the absolute HIGHLIGHT of our week!

The Location: Fuller Farms is a 180-acre tract of preserved land placed in the Scarborough Land Trust back in 2001. It is truly a hidden gem. Take Broadturn Road from Rte 1 in Scarborough at the light just after Dunstan School Restaurant where Pine Point Rd intersects Rte 1 on the L and Broadturn intersects on the R. It's a few miles out, on your R. Lots of beautiful meadow land and rolling fields lead to wooded paths, with wooden bridges over some nice streams for swimming. The trail is about 1.5 miles and we did three loops. There are some trail choices once you are in the woods, and we explored them all. The hikers liked the stream and small ponds the best and we spent a lot of time there, letting them play, splash and swim.

The Hikers: This week, Bailey Yellow Lab stayed home to rest. We added two smalls - Addie Schnauzer (Casco's BFF) and Sophie French Bulldog. Jessie Yellow Lab had her first hike as well! Returning hikers included Jethro Choc Lab, Lola Shar Pei/Boxer, Angus Cairn Terrier, Duke Puggle, Rosie Black Lab, Anabelle Sheltie and Molly Morkie. Ten hikers plus Casco and Tonya for an even dozen. Great group!

Jessie was well-behaved and joyous all day long. Like Bailey last week, she took a header into the stream and I caught it with the camera. This scared her but did not deter her from getting back into the water again and again. She traveled really well in the way-back of the Trail Blazer with Rosie, Jethro and Lola. Jessie lost her pink bandana in the water with the help of our bandana-stealing dog, Rosie. Later, Rosie stripped Sophie of her orange one so we put it on Jessie.

Duke had another fabulous hike. Since he and his Mom scouted out our location last Sunday, he blazed the trail and showed his pals where to find all the good stuff! He likes to eat grass... Duke loves the water, the mud, and especially sticks!

Anabelle once again thrilled us with her joyful running all around in the fields and woods. She is truly in her element in the wild, this one! She is a wonderful and responsible hiker. Concerned at all times that the pack stay together when we're moving along the trail, she's a good helper for sure. Then, when we stop for swimming and relaxation, she goes nuts and leads everyone in crazy chases. Love it!

Lola went nuts straight out of the car and worried us at the outset that we wouldn't be able to keep her in control, as she ignored all voice commands and just ran like a crazy woman, bouncing like a wild bunny through the tall grass. But, it wasn't long before she came into line and decided to allow us to get to know her better and build a little relationship. She slipped out of her collar (she's good at this) twice before the hike even started! So...Mike and I would simply put a hand on her whenever we could to get her to trust that coming to us isn't going to restrict her freedom. As the day wore on, she came to us more easily and allowed us to put her collar back on and later, to attach the leash to it to go back to the car. Lola doesn't eat ANY of our treats during hikes. She sniffs and turns away.

Rosie, like Jessie, fell into the water and it scared her but didn't stop her from going back in again and again. They are getting their water wings, these young Lab girls! Rosie is a fiesty hiker. She loves to pull on everyone's bandanas...including her own. She eats grass and mud and chews on sticks along the trail, and she's not opposed to stopping to wrestle with Jessie or Dukey at every opportunity. Bugs seem to love Rosie and I removed horseflies and a tick from her face along the trail.

Molly again impressed us beyond words as our littlest hiker. She felt much freer this time to get out and explore the woods and she even went swimming on her own! She waded right in, swam a bit and then climbed out. Nothing to it! She still prefers to stick close to Mike and I, which is totally fine. Sometimes, the other dogs trample over her as they fly by! She's really great for us and is also good at telling her fellow hikers to buzz off if they annoy her. When we stop for play, she's crazy and runs all over the place, which delights her pals.

Addie had a truly amazing first hike. She is wonderful off leash and stuck near the front of the pack all day. She had no problem with coming back to us when asked...even if it took her a time or two to "listen" to the command or squeak from our recall toy. She ate treats throughout the day and got into the water to cool off. She is perfect for our group and we want her with us from now on!! Casco, of course, was delighted to hang with her for the day!

Sophie Frenchie is seriously athletic and was really happy all day. She runs crazy-fast. She road up front on the floor at my feet with Duke and they are now inseparable. They cuddled all the way home! Sophie does get winded and we stopped to let her catch her breath here and there. She ate treats through the day and drank water as needed, but not as much as I would've liked. I worry about her getting overheated. We'll keep an eye on her. She's a total swimmer, too! Wow!!

Jethro was great on the trail. He's all about Julie's treats, for sure. At the house, he seems a bit anxious and uncomfortable, but I gave him an unbleached rawhide bone post-hike and that helped him relax and chill out. Jethro is learning NOT to jump on the gates and walls at school so please help him with this and don't give ANY attention to him when you come to get your dog or drop off your dog, thanks. It's been a while since he came to the house... Back to the hike - Jethro is independent and we trust him in the woods. He returns to me easily. His greatest joy is racing with Lola and Casco for the lead as we go along. Good boy!

Angus had another stellar day and was just terrific. Judy - if you could establish email contact with me, that would be great. Danceswithdogs@maine.rr.com. Thanks. Angus loves Molly and they stick close during the day. He also was delighted that Addie joined us. Angus rode in the backseat with Addie and Anabelle and Casco and Tonya. They arranged themselves in different piles and were good riders. Angus loves to swim!! We love to watch him do it, too. Angus was simply made to be in the woods. He's totally in his element and is a wonderful hiker.

Precautions: I sprayed all the hikers pre-hike with Earth Animal's Bug-Off! organic tick and bug spray and will continue to do so before every hike. You MUST do a thorough check for ticks after we hike, please. We check but can't guarantee we got all the crawlies. I put paw soothing Musher's Wax on Lola. If your dog's paws seem beat up from the trails and woods, let me know and I'll do their paws pre-hike too. Offer lots of water to your dogs post-hike and expect that their poops will have lovely things like GRASS in them. WHY they insist on acting like cows, I do not know. Casco threw up in the woods and it was mostly grass, for goodness sake! Such goof balls!

Next Time: Not sure of your destination yet, but we're busy scouting.... Can't wait to do it all again!

Our First Big Hiking Adventure with Dogs!

2011-06-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

The Hike: Pleasant Mountain via the Firewarden's Trail, which is located on Wilton Warren Road off 302 in Fryeburg, ME. 2.5 miles to summit. 3.2 hours round-trip for our group. A pretty tame hike with waterfalls, streams and pools for cooling off.

The Weather: Couldn't have asked for better - 60's, sunshine and a nice wind blowing on the top 1/3 of the hike. The black flies and mosquitos were out but not too pesky.

The Pack: Age range - 4.5 months to 9.5 years. Size range - 6 pounds to 85 pounds. Breed range - Morkie to Puggle to Sheltie to Lab. Leg length - 3 inches to a yard! Experience range - years of off-leash hiking to first-timers! These dogs totally bonded as a pack, got along famously and were amazing together!

The Car Ride: About 1.5 hours to get there, as we had construction and a.m. commuter traffic to

contend with. Duke Puggle road on the floor, front seat passenger side. Molly Morkie road in Julie's lap. Anabelle Sheltie was supposed to be in the back seat, but inserted herself between the two front seats on the console so she could "help" with the navigation and supervise

Mike's driving. In row two, we had Angus Cairn

Terrier on the left sharing the view out the window with senior hiker, Casco Bernier. Anabelle's hind end occupied the middle of the seat. Tonya Bernier had the right window so she could feel the wind ruffle her ears. In row three (the "way back" gated rear compartment) we had Rosie Black Lab, Jethro Choc Lab, Lola Shar Pei Boxer and Bailey Yellow Lab. Everyone rode really well...with only a few whines of "are we THERE YET?" The ride home was rrrreeeeeaaaallllyyyy quiet.

Hike Highlights: The saints and angels conspired to make this quite a spectacular day in every way possible. We had absolutely NO mishaps, issues or problems. The weather was gorgeous. The dogs were incredibly well-behaved, happy and downright joyful to be free in the ME woods. Mike and I slowly and steadily let our fears and worries float away as we headed up the trail. This pack was amazing. At the summit, we were almost tearful as we watched our whole pack zooming around enjoying the beautiful views, the meadow-like lushness of the mountain top and the wind zipping along. We were at the top of our little world! Along the route to the summit, we encountered a foursome of hikers with a Shepherd named Lara. They were so impressed with our pack and Lara wanted to continue up with our crew! We shared snacks

and a bit of lore from our travels and continued on up. When we got back to the car post-hike, they'd left a note in the dust of our back window -- "bark bark!" Indeed!

The Hikers: Lola was ridiculously energetic and happy on arrival. She tore through the woods

non-stop, zipping up and down the trail, buzzing through streams, leaping over fellow hikers -- it was hilarious. She was a pack leader for most of the way up, blazing the trail for us. She probably got 50 miles to our 5 under her belt for the day with all the running around she did!

Jethro was another trail blazer and hike leader. He is so fit and agile, we were truly in awe. He showed the younger Labs all about water play and swam several times in the shockingly cold pools below the waterfalls. Like Casco, Jethro loves to tear through the pucker brush alongside the trails. He stuck close to Casco and the two became good buds by day's end.

Rosie was our youngest hiker...but she is already well-versed in the art of hiking with humans. Her parents take her out almost every weekend. Rosie was a riot in the water, which she loves

but isn't completely comfortable in just yet. She got in over her head and was splashing up a storm. Hilarious! And she made sure that no stick was left untasted along the trail's edge. She and Duke and Bailey had fun carrying them together and playing tug.

Molly was our tiniest in size...but that means NOTHING. She has more energy than anyone in the pack. She took her time getting comfortable being off-leash and free and stuck close to Julie's ankles for most of the way up. When we got to the top, though, she went wild and showed us just what she's made of. Lola couldn't get enough of chasing her 'round the mountain top with Angus. On the way down, Molly was relaxed and traveled ahead of Julie with the pack!

Bailey is a goofy goober. His big body doesn't quite move the way he wants it to at times...and he lost his footing (or Angus pushed him -- who knows?!) and he splashed face-first into a pool at the beginning of the hike. The photos of this are amazing! He got himself sorted out just fine and wasn't opposed to more water fun later on. He's a great hiker and stayed with the pack at all times. Bailey did seem to be limping a bit near the summit...maybe in the right front leg.

Since he's such a big, hearty boy, I would recommend supporting his joint health with a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement. Casco's been on one for years and we swear by it for keeping his joints and bone structure healthy. Ours is vet-prescribed, so ask your vet about it ASAP.

Angus was simply fantastic all day long. He was off leash very quickly after the hike began and never ever waivered from staying with the pack. He interacted well with everyone in the pack and loved the whole experience. He loved riding with Casco in the back seat and they are now good pals (yay). Angus got into the streams and waterfalls with the rest of the pack and just loved getting wet and cooling off. He worked hard, played hard and was bleary-eyed and blissed-out on the ride back home.

Duke Puggle was the BOMB on this hike. He'd NEVER been off-leash before and let me tell you, you'd never have believed it. He is a master hiker and outdoorsman. The whole experience was just fantastic for him. He loved being with Bailey (his BFF) again as well as with Rosie. They shared sticks, ran through the woods and streams and at the summit, had a wrestling contest. Duke rode like a champ in the car, too. Mike and I thought he had the best space - on the floor at my (Julie's) feet all cozy on a soft towel. He looked so content!

Anabelle Sheltie also amazed the human pack leaders on the hike! She stuck close to us at times and always brought up the rear...making sure that the pack was together and all were accounted for. But....there were times when Anabelle couldn't resist going bonkers and ran through the woods and fields along the trail with wild abandon. The rest of the pack couldn't help but chase her, which she loved. The photos of these rampages tell the story. She was an absolute delight to have in our pack, in every way possible. When we got back to the car, we loaded everyone in....but Anabelle didn't want to cooperate. I think she wanted to keep hiking! I sat down on a log and waited with her until she decided to accept a cookie and a promise that we'd bring her back to the mountains soon.

The Next Adventure: The Pack Leaders are still plotting and discussing the next adventure...but we will say this: EVERYONE is invited back next Friday! We were so energized and thrilled by their love of the trail and their ability to stay together. Couldn't be more pleased!! Drop 'em off here next Friday between 7 and 8. Who knows what's next.... Our first hike experience will be tough to beat, that's for certain.

When A Dog Gets Bitten....

2010-06-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

I now have first-hand experience with dog bites. Tonya was bitten on the ear on Friday by a terrier-type dog in our neighborhood. The experience has left me with a myriad of feelings and thoughts.

How did it happen? Well...there's this house at the very end of a dead-end street where two small dogs live. They guard their property fiercely, often throwing themselves against the window and door barking madly as we leash-walk our two Labs past their house. They also bark incessantly at any and all other dogs they encounter when their owner is leash-walking them around the neighborhood. So, it's clear that they practice leash aggression every single chance they get. We like to take our dogs to the large, grassy field just beyond the end of the street where these psycho dogs live. Our dogs have taken to lunging and barking back at these dogs if they are in their yard (on their tethers) as we pass by. Shame on us for not choosing an alternate route and avoiding this obvious hazard. On Friday evening, my husband was passing by the house when the door opened and the terrier was let out on his/her tether. The terrier flew to the end of the tether, all barky and snarly and crazy. Tonya lunged forward...onto the terrier's property and within his/her reach and the terrier nabbed her, leaving a two-inch gash in her ear.

I treated Tonya's injury with a steroid spray from the vet that we use for her other skin ailments such as allergic rashes and hot spots. On Sunday afternoon, I noticed that the entire ear was hot, swollen and seemed to be filled with fluid. Off to the Animal Medical Center (i.e. the emergency vet) on Warren Avenue we went on Sunday afternoon. $180.00 later, we learned that Tonya has a very badly infected ear along with cellulitis (that's the term for all that fluid inside her ear flap just above the wound). She's on antibiotics and we are applying hot compresses to the ear along with gentle massage to see if we can move that fluid out.

This morning, after a sleepless night watching over my sick baby, I was newly aware of the sounds of barking dogs in the neighborhood around me. My dogs aren't very friendly to other dogs when we leash walk. They get overly excited and sometimes can look scary to other dogs. Sometimes, they can be very challenging for me and Mike to control. Dogs in yards often defend their property lines if they are left outside on a tether, have an electronic fence system, etc. Walking your dog can be like running the gauntlet, it seems. So....what to do? In our situation with the terrier, we KNEW of his/her behavior pattern. We resented the owner for not DOING anything about the crazy dog....yet we still walked our dogs by their house. In hindsight (and with now-empty pockets), this was a stupid thing for us to do. Lesson learned.

We will now be sticking to the route that is "safest" for us and our dogs. We will be more diligent to choose walking routes that don't lead our dogs by places and things that freak them out or trigger them. We will avoid houses where we KNOW there are uncontrolled, freaky dogs who will be triggered by the sounds of our dogs walking by. We will be more careful to use the restraints on our dogs that allow us the best control of them. Flat collars sometimes just aren't enough when you're walking two powerful Labs.

It's an imperfect world and you can only control yourself and your own animals. You cannot expect other dog owners to do the right thing and you must be prepared and realistic when you walk your dogs. THAT's the lesson I've learned. Hopefully Tonya will begin responding to the antibiotics in the next 24 hours or we'll be back at the vets for an IV. Poor baby. And this much I know is true: she did NOT learn her lesson. If I were to walk her by that house again today, she would repeat the SAME behavior in reaction to the psycho terrier. She needs me to be in control. In that, we failed her. Sigh.

Bringing a Second Dog into the Mix

2010-06-03T10:02:00.001-07:00

Several of my DWD families have recently acquired second pups as companions for their now- adult dogs. Lots of people ask me my opinion about the timing, breed choice and the whole idea in general. I'm no expert, but I do have two dogs myself and have observed many of my customers go through the process over the years. Here are some thoughts.

Most trainers will tell you that waiting until your older dog is at least 18 months or older before getting a second pup makes sense. You want the training and maturity of your older dog to be stable before introducing a new pup. Often, a family enjoys their first pup so much that they get a second one too soon, causing the older pup to regress in training and behavior as the focus is less on him/her and more on the new pup. I agree with the trainers on this one. You worked hard to get your older pup trained and on a schedule that works for both of you and don't want to mess that up and make life harder for yourself needlessly.

On the other side of the age issue, I think it makes sense to get your second dog while your older one is still very active and energetic. The ideal time would be when the older dog is between 18 months and three years or so. This way, the dogs can enjoy each other's company for a good chunk of years with the same or similar aging time table.

Speaking of enjoying each other's company, please realize that this isn't guaranteed to happen. In fact, my two Labs aren't bosom buddies. Casco, my older Lab, tolerates Tonya and not much beyond that. Many people think they'll be doing their older dog a big favor by getting him or her a playmate or friend and they are greatly dismayed when the two dogs don't become BFFs. Often, in an effort to "make" the dogs get along, humans will step into the relationship and reprimand the older dog for being "mean" to the younger one. If your older dog is truly a social dog who greatly enjoys the company of other dogs, it's more likely that s/he and a second dog will get along and play well together. If your older dog could take or leave other dogs, is more interested in being a companion to YOU, and/or has not been well-socialized as a pup, chances aren't so great that s/he will form a close, playful bond with a new addition to the family.

In my case, I knew my older Lab (two years old at the time) was a HUGE fan of people but was dominant around other males and had an aloof personality. Our decision to bring a second Lab into our home was based on a desire to be of service to a non-profit service dog agency. We understood that we would be fostering a puppy for a couple of years and participating in a rigorous training program with her. She would be away at "school" on weekdays being trained at the training center. We thought this would be a good chance for us to see how Casco would do with a second dog without it necessarily being "forever." Casco remained his aloof, standoffish self throughout the first year while Tonya was a pup. Tonya is very sweet-natured and really wanted to be Casco's best friend and cuddle buddy. He would have NONE of this. In fact, he would "yell" at her if her paw even touched him while they were sleeping. Sigh.

Tonya ended up being "ours" in the end, after she was released from the program due to health issues at 18 months of age. Our two Labs have never once fought with each other. They've simply worked out a relationship based on Casco's boundaries and limits. Despite being the same breed, they are two entirely different dogs in every way. He's an American Lab - tall and lanky with a huge head and long snout. He's hyper and bull-headed. If you ask him for some love, he'll go and get his tug toy. She is an English Lab - short and stocky with a block head and a short snout. She's mellow and sweet-natured and would never think of jumping on a human. She's happy to lie by your side and have her belly rubbed and her forehead kissed. For us, as their owners, we've learned to respect the relationship they've worked out. Yes, Tonya would've loved to have a housemate with whom she could share a bed every night for an eight-paws-entwined cuddlefest. Yes, Casco would've loved to shove her right back out the door on the very first day we brought her home. In the end, we've got two fantastic individual dogs who tolerate each other with respect and who occasionally run around in the field together and wrestle....as long as Casco ALWAYS wins.

Casco has always been very independent and totally trustworthy with the full run of the house from about six months of age. Tonya is more fearful and has a lot of concerns, so it turns out that Casco has been the perfect "babysitter" for her. I think she'd be a dog with some anxiety and separation issues if it weren't for her solid, predictable older bro keeping track of her while we're working or away for a few hours. Casco's never been one to cuddle with us and he gladly handed that nightly duty over to his younger sis. He watches with a look of semi-disgust on his face from his cushy corner dog bed while Tonya lounges on her back our bed pillows while we watch TV and pet and kiss her each night before sleep. So...they've worked it out and we've worked it out so that everybody gets their needs met for the most part.

Three DWD families have brought a second pup into their homes this spring, and another family is expanding in July. In the case of Lucy Bedlington Terrier (about 2 years old), her human mom's choice of another female Bedlington as a baby sis for Lucy is working out amazingly well. Lucy is proving to be a tolerant, kind and fun older sis. Ivy Rose has a sweet personality and they are playing well together, after about five weeks or so together so far. Brodie Westie's mom chose a female Westie pup as a companion for Brodie (he's about 14 months old). Brodie just loves his little sister, Kaylee, and they play quite well together. Kaylee is more tolerant of and interested in children than Brodie is and we're hoping that Brodie learns that kids aren't so bad from seeing/experiencing his sister's joy at kissing babies and tots. Bailey (about 2.5 years old) is what we affectionately call an "apartment-sized Lab." She is a mixy-mix of who knows exactly what! Her parents rescued a second mixy-mix this winter. The new sis is a female Dachshund/Pekinese mix who is just full of love and energy. Pika, the new pup, has presented some issues that Bailey did not. The parents of these two dogs are very committed to training their dogs well and have sought out both in-home support, 1:1 training sessions at a training center and some specialized classes to suit the needs of their brood.

Last spring, two of my DWD families with female English Bulldogs bought siblings from the same litter, each bringing home a second female E.B. as a companion for their older gals. The integration of these younger bullies into the families has been a bit more of a challenge. The two older Bulldogs, Lola and Mosley, were about two when the younger sisters arrived. Lola and Mosley spent a lot of time together, visiting at each other's homes and spending at least a day each week together here at DWD. Lola was very slow to warm to her new baby sister, Trixie. Recently, Lola has decided she really doesn't care for Mosley's new sister, Charlie, so much either. They get into feisty, violent fights and Charlie has developed some fear around Lola. This is frustrating and challenging for the two families, who had visions of bringing up the four dogs together, sharing responsibility for dog-sitting, etc. At this point, they are considering bringing in a trainer to see if they can do anything about Lola's issues with Charlie.

So...it's a mixed bag, this life with more than one dog in the house. Lots of times, it works out great. Other times, it's an adjustment of small or large scale, depending on the situation. If I had it to do over again, would I have two dogs at the same time? Would I choose the same breeds? I think that people have different needs and wants at different times in their lives. One of my newer customers who has been a Lab owner for years and just switched to an English Cocker as her new companion told me that she recently met a lovely elderly woman (in her 90's?) on a plane and that got to talking about their lives with dogs. This woman had owned all kinds of dogs, all shapes and sizes and temperaments, in her life time. She told my customer that there is a breed for every stage of a person's life. I like that idea.... Maybe my next dog will be a little Schnauzer. Who knows??

Tonya's Visit with Dr. Ruth Dalto

2010-05-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Tonya (my 6.5 yr old Black Lab) and I met with Dr. Ruth Dalto at her Yarmouth office for help with Tonya's allergy issues. Dr. Dalto is a holistic vet who offers some alternative approaches to canine health such as chiropractic, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and energy work. With Tonya's long history of itchy skin, rashes, hot spots, ear infections and other allergy-induced ailments, I felt it was time to try something other than traditional veterinary medicine.

In 2007, we spent several hundred dollars to have Tonya screened for food and environmental allergies. It had been quite a while since I'd reviewed the test results. I thought I'd put Tonya on a food that was "safe" for her. Just before leaving for our appointment, I printed out the ingredients list from her current food from the maker's website. When reviewing that list later with Dr. Ruth, I was horrified to see that peas were in her food. She is highly allergic to peas. Did you know that food manufacturers often add new ingredients and subtract others at their own discretion? Sometimes, it can take months before those changes even show up on the label. I suspect this is what happened with Tonya's food. When I first chose it, peas weren't on the ingredients list. Lesson #1: review your dog's food label often for any changes, and check the maker's website for any recipe changes that may be listed there. Sigh.

Dr. Ruth made another comment that really struck me. I've had Tonya on an ocean fish-based food because she's not allergic to fish. Dr. Ruth said, "We don't know that she's not allergic to fish. They didn't test for fish." Oh my! This seemed too simple to be true, but it was. Often, vets suggest diets with fish as the protein source and potato as the starch for dogs who are allergy prone. But....the most common allergy screening panel doesn't even test for fish allergies. Duh. Seems like a no brainer. Lesson #2: feed your allergic dog ONLY those items that she's tested NEGATIVE to on the screening. In Tonya's case, she tested negative to three protein sources - pork, venison and lamb. Beef, chicken, turkey, duck are all proteins that she IS allergic to, so those are out. Also out are any products that may contain some derivative of those proteins, such as bone meal (a major calcium source for dogs on raw or homemade diets), and marrow bones and rawhides for gnawing.

So, based on our discussion, my dry, bagged food choices for Tonya were extremely limited. In fact, I only found one or two that I could buy locally that are free of anything she's allergic to (all of those proteins, plus rice and wheat and peas and soy and a few other things). She is now on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet, Venison & Sweet Potato Formula. There is a dry kibble and a wet canned food. For gnawing and chewing, she can have pig's ears (gross...) and a dried sweet potato chew carried at most local pet suppliers.

Had I not found this bagged and canned diet for Tonya, I would've pursued home-cooked or a raw diet for Tonya, mixing raw ground pork, lamb and/or venison (with bones) with vegetables (carrots, kale, etc) in juiced form (so her digestive system could make use of the nutrients), a calcium source (other than bone meal), an oil with Omega-3's, etc. If the dry/canned diet doesn't "work" for Tonya, I plan to go in this other, more expensive, time-consuming method. Of course, she's totally worth it.

In reviewing the allergy test results, we also noted that she's allergic to three grasses and three major trees. These allergies are affecting her currently, as all of these trees and grasses are coming into season. Dr. Dalto added a Chinese herbal formula, in pill form, in hopes of giving Tonya some relief of her incessant itching. We've noted some small improvement after several days. Two weeks' worth of pills cost about $25.00.

We dealt with Tonya's allergy issues first, and spent a lot of time figuring out what more I could do to improve her health and well-being via food and supplements. Then, we spent a whole lot of time on Tonya's emotional issues. Emotional issues? Huh? In actuality, I have always known Tonya is a fearful dog. She is not the typical exuberant Lab who runs up to every human with love and drool to share. She lowers her head and stands still when meeting people. She'd prefer not to be acknowledged or attended to by strangers. In fact, her "fear issues" along with her allergies caused her to be dismissed from the service dog program she was in as a pup. Fearful, hesitant dogs don't make great service animals, understandably.

Dr. Ruth is somewhat of an animal intuitive and she does a lot of hands-on energy work with patients. Our first session found the two of us seated on the floor beside Tonya, each with a hand on Tonya. Dr. Ruth ran through a battery of questions concerning all aspects of Tonya's health, including mental, spiritual, emotional and physical issues. I was told to share any "messages" Tonya might send to me energetically. At first, I was hesitant but within just a few moments, I kept getting messages I couldn't ignore. As we went along, I felt freer and more confident in sharing what Tonya seemed to be "saying" to me. One strong message was that Casco, our older Lab, doesn't like her. Another was that she missed her Mom. Later, though I really didn't want to "hear" it, it seemed that Tonya was "telling me" that she wanted a little boy dog/friend. Good grief!

Trust me, I'm a grounded person. But, I'm also a spiritual being and am open to alternative forms of "knowing." I did not expect this revelatory spiritual energy healing session, but here we were. And Tonya was hurting in many ways, apparently. Dr. Ruth goes through a process of removing those negative thoughts/emotions/energies at the end of the session. Wow.

At a minimum, this energy healing part of our session really put me in touch with who my dog is, on an emotional, personality level. I have been much more sensitive to her needs this past week and to attending to her signals that I had been overlooking or even ignoring on a daily basis. We will return to Dr. Ruth in about 10 days for a follow up to see how Tonya is doing. More on that later....

Dealing with The Allergic Dog

2010-05-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

One of my Labs can eat anything, roll in anything, swim in anything and no bad things happen. No itching, no barfing, no runny eyes, no ear goop. My OTHER Lab however.... This blog is about THAT Lab.

Her name is Tonya and she's a 7-y-o Black Lab with a sweet disposition. She's one of those Labs who, if no one was around and the opportunity presented itself, would happily eat an entire 30-lb bag of dog food, or a half-dozen donuts, or a whole pan of brownies. She simply LOVES food. Unfortunately, food does NOT love Miss Tonya. Her food allergies are multiple and strange. Because she had a puppyhood filled with ear infections, hot spots, paw licking, fur scratching and Prednisone, we took the plunge years ago and had her allergy-tested, to the tune of about $400.00. You'd think life since then would have been somewhat simpler: avoid the foods she's allergic to and all will be well. Not so.

In addition to her food allergies, Tonya also has some allergies to environmental stuff like grasses, flowers, trees, etc. We'll get to that later. Her list of food allergies is curious and surprising. For instance, she's allergic to turkey and duck, but not chicken. She can't have most grains. She must avoid peas. Peas?! We must check and re-check the ingredients list when we give her ANYTHING at all to eat. Food companies are always being bought and sold and their recipes evolve and change over time, without the consumer being notified. One day, no peas. The next day, peas in the same food!

And then there are treats. Everywhere you go these days, well-meaning folks want to give your dog a biscuit or treat. At the bank, pet supply store, hardware store and the vet's office (mine offers Milkbones, of ALL things!), Tonya is offered a treat. The look on people's faces when I lunge for their hand as they reach for Tonya's mouth with a biscuit in their clutch is sometimes horrifying. They look at me like I'm a psycho-dog-mother. In a way, I am. That biscuit could keep my dog up all night itching or set off an ear infection that will require a vet visit and antibiotics. And...Tonya will eat ANYTHING. This does not make my job any easier.

This spring, Tonya has been really, REALLY itchy -- to the point where she's itched her fur off in several locations. Her eyes are runny and swollen. She's got scabs all over her body where she's drawn blood from her itching. The vet put her on a prescription anti-histamine. We were advised that sometimes, after being on a certain food for a while, a dog with allergies can develop new allergies to their current food. We were reminded that raw beef bones are bad, as is rawhide, for a dog with allergies. So...what's she supposed to chew on, a frozen carrot? Poor baby!

If your dog is showing signs of food allergies and you're not yet at the point where you're ready to invest in allergy testing, the smart thing to do would be to eliminate the most common allergens, starting your dog on a food that has NONE of them. Chicken and beef (due in large part due to the hormones and antibiotics in cheap meat), corn, wheat, soy and dairy are often the foods dogs are allergic to. Lesser-bought protein sources like fish, venison, buffalo, etc. are generally "safer" proteins for allergic dogs. Removing ALL grains from the diet is also advisable. Treats, bones, rawhides and other chews should also be removed from the diet. Ingredients in some supplements and vitamin tablets can also set off an allergic dog. Once your dog's allergic reactions have subsided, you can always test an item by reintroducing it to see whether your dog has issues with it. Keeping a food diary is also a good idea. This way, you'll have a record of food brands, treats and whole foods that your dog has had bad reactions to and what those reactions were.

As I mentioned, Tonya also has some allergies to plants, grasses, etc. So, the vet suggested that it might not be food at all that is bothering her currently. It could be spring allergies. That made a lot of sense to us, as she'd been pretty comfortable through the winter on her grain-free, salmon-based food. Of course, Tonya likes nothing better than to rub her itchy face and body in the fresh grass. She literally grinds and drags her chin and cheeks through it any chance she gets. Dogs with allergies shouldn't be bathed often, as this strips their skin of essential oils which are actually helpful. We were advised to take her to the ocean for a swim weekly and to rinse her with the hose or let her air dry. The salt water helps her skin lesions and scabs to heal and is soothes the itch a bit. We also brush her daily with a few different brushes to keep her skin cells shedding and rejuvinating and her tendency to scratch her fur off to a minimum. This seems to help a bit.

Tonya has been uncomfortable and itchy for several weeks now, and has been on a daily regimen of both OTC and prescription antihistamines which provide only slight relief. On the up-side, she's lost 8 pounds this year and looks healthy and fit, other than having a patchy looking coat. If you have a dog with allergies, know that the path is crooked, uphill and strewn with boulders, but help IS available in many forms. For us, next steps include considering home-cooked meals and seeking the advice of a holistic vet.

Teaching Your Dog to Walk in Heel

2010-04-12T05:52:00.001-07:00

This morning I was asked by a customer with an almost one-year-old dog how to get him to walk in heel on leash. I'll answer that question here for everyone's benefit.

First, ditch the Flexi-lead or retractable leash if you've been using one. Your dog needs to be on a four to six foot regular leash for training "heel." Second, know that in the dog's world, there's only one Pack Leader, and anytime your dog is walking ahead of or in front of you, S/HE is the Pack Leader, not you. Third, keep in mind that if your dog has had lots of practice pulling on the leash or stopping at every tree or bush or generally doing whatever s/he pleases while on leash, it will take LOTS of practice to effectively teach your dog the RIGHT way to leash walk. Patience on your part, as well as a firm commitment to NOT allow the old habits to continue, will be necessary.

Okay, then. Let's talk about teaching your dog to heel. Heeling means walking BESIDE you on a LOOSE lead. Because most dogs respond to food lures/rewards, you'll need to have some delicious treats on you for training him/her to heel. Investing in a training pouch is your best bet. I recommend the one with a metal hinged pocket that you can slap closed easily. It comes on a belt that you can wear around your waist. These are sold locally at The Kennel Shops, Planet Dog Company Store, Fetch, etc. I'm not fond of the ones with a drawstring closure or those that clip on, as they just don't function well and will mess up your timing of rewards.

Fill your treat pouch with TINY, SOFT rewards. Why? You will be giving lots of rewards to keep your dog in position and moving forward. You don't want to fill them up too quickly, and you want them to be able to chew and swallow each reward quickly and easily. Bits of finely chopped chicken breast, steak, deli meats or cheese work really well. You can also purchase soft treats that can be chopped up into small bits for training. Go with something your dog is sure to work for, as you will be using the food to lure, motivate and reward your dog for the proper behavior.

Another good beginning tool for teaching your dog to stay in the heel position is a wooden spoon. On the spoon end, you can smear peanut butter, cream cheese, liverwurst or Cheeze Whiz.

When beginning training "heel," you need to decide which side of your body you prefer your dog to walk. My service dog, Tonya, was trained to always walk on the LEFT of a human's body, for instance. Now, she prefers to walk to my left at all times. If you choose the LEFT side, the handle/loop at the top of your dog's leash should be on your RIGHT wrist or vice versa if you want your dog to walk on your right side. The leash should come across the FRONT of your body, with the dog standing on the opposite side. This way, the correct hand (left if your dog is walking to the left of you, or right if the dog is walking to the right of you) is free for dispensing treats.

Let's begin. For this article, I'll assume that your dog is on your left side. Just reverse everything if you'll be walking with him/her on your right. For the wooden spoon exercise, you'll have the spoon in your left hand. Every couple of steps, you'll bring the spoon down to your dog's nose level exactly beside your left knee, giving your dog a very brief chance to lick the contents of the spoon. Then, bring the spoon up so your dog can't reach it. Continue walking forward, without stopping, for as many steps as you are able,, dropping the spoon down to your dog's nose level every few steps. If your dog gets out in front of you, STOP immediately, plant your feet and wait for your dog to figure out that NOTHING is going to happen (i.e. no forward movement) until your dog re-engages with you. Eventually, and this may take a few loooong moments, your dog will look back at you. When s/he does this, bring the spoon end close to his/her nose and use it to lure your dog back into heel position beside your knee OR simply turn in the opposite direction and use the spoon to once again lure your dog into the heel position and begin walking again. It's vitally important that you a) keep moving if your dog is attending to you/the spoon and walking beside you and b) stop immediately if s/he gets out in front of you.

If you are skipping the wooden spoon exercise and simply using your treat bag and delicious niblets of food to lure your dog, that's fine. The treat bag should sit in the center of your body so that your dog doesn't get so distracted by it that his/her nose is constantly in the bag. Similarly, you should try to get into a rhythm of walk/grab treat/dispense treat without STOPPING the walking. This can take some time and practice to coordinate, but it's well worth the effort. If you are constantly stopping to open the treat pouch, dig your hand into it, etc., your dog may not understand the "object" of the game, which is walking in heel. So...get your rhythm down and let your dog be your guide in terms of how many steps you take forward between each dispensing of food. ALWAYS treat the dog alongside your left knee, not out in front. Use your hand to guide your dog back into heel position using the scent of the food to bring his nose back into position and THEN dispense the food into his/her mouth.

If your dog is biting your hand harshly out of excitement for the food reward, simply use your thumb to hold the food in the center of your palm and dispense the reward with the flat of your palm, moving your thumb out of the way at the last second, and using your palm to push TOWARD your dog's mouth, thereby keeping him/her in heel and gently reminding him (by the push of the palm back towards his/her mouth) that snarfing and rushing forward to grab the treat is NOT desired and WON'T work.

As you and your dog get the hang of walking in heel, you can then extend the number of steps between rewards. For instance, I used the rhythm of 5 steps between rewards with Tonya for a long, long time before move to 7, 9 and 11 steps between rewards as she became proficient and her understanding of what the "game" was all about increased.

The object of these early training walks is NOT to walk a mile in heel, so make your walks brief and always end on a positive note rather than in frustration. Walking back and forth on the side walk in front of your home, or walking the length of the back yard a time or two is great for these early training walks. It will take time and patience and lots of practice for your dog to "get it" that leash-walking is not a free for all where s/he pulls you all the way around the block, stopping at every tree, lunging at every other dog, squirrel or car that s/he sees.

Let's talk a bit about all of those distractions mentioned above, because those are critical times for training your dog. It's totally understandable and normal for your dog to be tweaked and excited by squirrels, other dogs, bikes, skateboards, etc. while you are walking along. It's also reasonable to expect your dog to be able to behave appropriately despite those exciting distractions. This will take time, patience and many, many repetitions of the appropriate behavior. A few things to consider: If you become tense, stressed and/or anxious when you see an exciting distraction coming your way, those emotions will travel right down the leash and your dog will sense them and respond. The dog's response will most likely NOT be the one you desire. So, stay confident and calm when you see something coming that will cause a "training moment" to happen. If your dog darts out ahead of you toward the distraction and you find yourself with a dog straining on the leash, you can try putting yourself between your dog and the distraction and feeding your dog one treat after another until the distraction passes by. Ideally, you will put your dog in a sit and step on the leash so s/he can't lunge toward the exciting thing. Your dog may be so excited and distracted by the exciting thing that s/he won't eat the treats or pay attention to you. If this happens, it's best to try and change your dog's energy by using a stern voice and saying "uh uh or chit chit" while tapping him/her on the shoulder with your fingers. Continue to block his/her view of the distraction until it passes.

Dealing with exciting distractions will likely be a very challenging part of leash training work. Sometimes, your dog will see or hear or smell the distraction before you are even aware of it and may lunge or run toward it, jerking you along with him/her. If your dog is small enough, stepping on the leash (while keeping the loop around your wrist) is advisable and should be your first line of defense. Blocking your dog's view of the distraction is next. Distracting your dog with the food or rewarding your dog with the food for calm, submissive behavior is good practice.

Your positive, authoritative Pack Leader presence will go a long way toward teaching your dog that YOU are in control and that you expect him/her to stay calm/submissive when distractions occur. Yelling at your dog, jerking him around on the leash, picking him up, etc. are not helpful reactions. Ideally, your goal is for your dog to acknowledge the exciting distraction by staying calm and continuing to walk at your side. Practice, practice and more practice is necessary to achieve this. And...NOT allowing your dog to practice the WRONG behavior over and over again is also necessary. Every time your dog gets to practice going nuts and running toward the other dog/squirrel/person wildly, they learn that THIS works....so they'll keep doing it....and it will become his/her customary habit.

While you are training your dog to walk in heel, do yourself a big favor and choose locations and times where/when you are least likely to encounter the big distractions. Your backyard or the side walk in front of your home may be the best place for those first exercises to take place. Start small....build on small successes....always wear your treat pouch! And, if you are having great difficulty achieving the desired results, don't hesitate to hire a professional trainer to coach you. It's well worth the cost of an hour session!!

Talking "At" Your Dog

2010-04-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Humans are naturally conversational, chatty beings. Dogs aren't. In fact, your puppy has little to no idea what you're saying. In his/her lifetime, a pup will develop the word knowledge of a two-year-old child. So....talking "at" your dog is somewhat of a waste of time, and maybe even a hinderance to his/her important early training.

Puppies DO pick up on and respond to tone of voice. A deep, stern voice is best for correcting your pup. I use the term, "uh uh!" when a pup has made a mistake, and follow that with a command such as, "no bark!" As soon as the pup is quiet, I switch to a higher, sing-songy voice and give a short statement of positive praise. In this example, I would say, "Good quiet!"

Remember that your new pup doesn't know his or her name or the word "come" or any other command for that matter. To "teach" your dog a new word, get into the habit of taking 20 pieces of kibble from the pup's daily food allotment. Set these aside to be used for daily word training. Start with your dog's name. For this game, your dog doesn't need to DO anything to get the reward (kibble). Simply say your dog's name and give him a piece of kibble. Repeat 20 times. Name - kibble. Name - kibble. Soon, your dog will swing his head around at the sound of his name. Why? Because something GOOD ALWAYS happens when he hears that sound combination.

The same will be true of the word "come" or "here" as your recall word. Don't waste this important word by saying it over and over and over again to your dog before he knows what the heck it means. And for him, it HAS to mean something GOOD will ALWAYS happen when he hears it. Why else would he want to come to you? He needs motivation. And for most dogs, food = motivation. So, 20 kibbles each day should be set aside for teaching your dog his recall word. The word doesn't have to be "come" or "here," especially if you've already messed up with that word. Any word you choose will do...like "pizza" or "cookie." Train your dog to RESPOND to the WORD before you expect him to DO anything, in the case of recall.

Don't overstimulate your dog will lots of idle chit chat when you greet him after being away from him for a period of time (for work, as an example). So many of us "teach" our dogs to go crazy when they see a human by acting like a crazy person when we greet them in those early weeks and months. After the pup learns to respond to all the excitement by jumping, running around, etc. we humans will grow irritated with their out-of-control behavior and begin to scold them for the very behavior WE created with our excited voices and hyper behavior.

Watch how dogs greet each other. You don't see many dogs running up to each other and jumping all over each other, barking crazily. This isn't how dogs "do" greetings. Well-socialized, savvy dogs are careful and quiet when they encounter an unknown dog. They avert their eyes and don't meet each other nose-to-nose. Rather, they will brush alongside each other's bodies and then sniff each other's bottoms. Once they've gotten a read on each other, they'll perhaps move on to a play bow or some other invitation to engage. Similarly, it's best to greet your dog in a quiet/silent, calm demeanor. Bend down to your dog's level and let him sniff you. This allows him to take in a lot of information about who you are and where you've been since he last saw you. Stroke him quietly and gently along the side of his body, giving him attention only if he remains calm as well.

Some Thoughts on Common Puppy Illnesses...

2010-03-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Socializing your pup is extremely important during the early weeks and months of ownership, yet many owners and even some veterinarians are nervous about the spread of illness during this time period. What to do? Proceed with caution and be proactive, I say.

Be careful where and with whom you choose to socialize your puppy. Stay clear of dog parks and crowded beaches and parks where adult dogs congregate in large numbers until your pup is better able to handle these situations. Ask if your vet's office offers any puppy social hours. Some vets invite new pups and their owners into the clinic after hours for a bit of social play (for the pups) and education (for the owners). Check with your local dog supply stores to see if they offer puppy play groups. For my local group, which meets weekly on Sundays, I ask that new pups have their first round of shots and preferably the Kennel Cough (Bordatella) vaccine as well before coming to play.

It's important for owners to realize, however, that their pup may still get an illness despite careful selection of play experiences. Think of it this way: if your child attends nursery school, they may catch a cold or the flu if it's going around. The same is true with puppies. Feeding your pup a healthy diet, offering plenty of fresh water and ample opportunities to rest will help build a strong, hearty pup - i.e. a pup with a healthy immune system who may be able to fight off or prevent passage of certain viruses.

The Kennel Cough vaccine works like the flu vaccine for humans. It protects against the major strains of the Bordatella virus, but not all strains. Your pup may still contract the illness despite having had the vaccine, but the vaccine provides some level of protection and is worth having if you plan to board or socialize your pup.

Anther common puppy (and adult dog) illness is giardia. Giardia is commonly known as Beaver Fever in the human world. Giardia is a bacteria found in the feces of many wild animals and in dogs as well. Giardia can get into the water source and spread to other dogs through contact with contaminated water in puddles, ponds, streams, etc. Giardia can also be passed from pup to pup through contact with feces or even through mouth play or drinking from a community water bowl. Thus, it's a good idea to always bring water and a bowl for your pup to play groups and social occasions. Even if your own pup does not eat feces of other dogs, if s/he is sharing the water bowl with others who have, there is a chance that other dogs have introduced the bacteria into the water bowl via their mouths. Avoid community water bowls at dog parks and at dog supply stores, since you don't know who else has been drinking from those sources.

Here at DWD, the community water bowl is switched out several times per day. All bowls are sanitized with a kennel-strength cleaner before being reused. Dogs who eat poop habitually are dismissed from school for the safety and health of the pack.

Both Kennel Cough and Giardia are treatable with meds. For lists of common symptoms and course of treatment, consult your vet or do a Google search. These illnesses are not life-threatening, but they do take your pup out of the social scene for a while.

Welcome to my blog!

2010-03-24T05:42:00.000-07:00

And off we go... My customers from Dances With Dogs know that I post a daily progress report to my company website. This tells them all about their pup's day at school, etc. Here on the blog, I'll have the opportunity to expand on some of the behavioral tips, answer questions about training and management and so on. For those who don't know me.... I am the Pack Leader at Dances With Dogs, a puppy nursery school in South Portland, Maine. The school provides the chance for puppies to spend a day each week socializing with a pack of age-mates in a carefully-supervised environment. We have a 1/2 acre puppy playground for romping and indoor space for napping and quiet play. The school will be four years old this fall and I've had almost 1000 pups come through the school since opening. WOW!

One of the outcomes of my work with families raising puppies is a desire to share their stories for the benefit of others considering adding a pup to their family. I am teaming with Meredith Perdue, a fabulous photographer of dogs (& unlimited photography is her biz name), on this non-fiction book project. Our work is well underway....interviewing families and photographing them with their dogs...and we hope to present a proposal to a few publishing houses later this year in hopes of getting the book published. Wish us luck!