Easter Photos Take 1

I Forgot I Taught Him This

Sometime in the past, I thought it would be cute to teach Gus to carry the laundry basket to the laundry room. Using a clicker and treats, I shaped Gus to carry an empty laundry basket to the laundry room - it was cute, but not very useful. I thought I might teach him to take the basket AND the dirty clothes in it to the laundry room one day. I never did get around to doing that.

This evening there was a full basket of laundry waiting in the bathroom for the trip to the washer. I heard a growly commotion in the bathroom. When I went to check it out I ran into Gus who was coming out of the bathroom with the EMPTY laundry basket in his mouth, followed by his two friends Blue Moon and Gracie. The dirty laundry was spread all over the bathroom floor. Perhaps the three of them could be taught to wash, dry, and put the laundry away?

Happy New Year

End of the Garden

Our garden was abundant in its production of yellow squash. We are not real big fans of yellow squash. So, we thought of other ways to use yellow squash rather than cooking and eating it ourselves. We tried giving some of it away - not very successful, seems that other folks also had an abundance of yellow squash. Joey ate a bit of yellow squash. We played games with yellow squash. Finally, I let the squash grow and grow to see just how big it would get. It got pretty big - not championship size or anything, probably about 12 inches or so.

They say if squash gets big it gets too hard to eat and is good for nothing. My big dogs would disagree! Big, old squash is the best! Gus will take the squash, bite off the stem end the way the old men in black and white movies bite off the end of a cigar and spit it out before lighting up. He then takes little nibbles off that squash savoring each bite. Gracie hovers around him until he is distracted, swoops in, snatches the remainder, and chomps it down in as few bites as practical. Gus is left wondering what in the world just happened.

I've looked inside big, old yellow squash. It has a kind of pumpkin look to it. There is a thick hard outer shell, with fiber and seeds inside. The seeds look a lot like pumpkin seeds. I bet yellow squash and orange pumpkins are first cousins. In fact if old yellow squash was round it would probably be yellow pumpkin.

The dogs like it a lot. But there is one thing about letting them eat mature yellow squash. They can't have it 24-36 hours prior to agility class, or let's just say you might be embarrassed by their performance.

Gus with his prize

Gracie with Gus's prize...

The Cat in the Upstairs Room

This is Sally. Sally belongs to our daughter, Ellen. Ellen is in educational transition between SFA in Texas and WKU in Kentucky. During the in between time, Ellen and Sally will be staying with us here in Sanger. Sally will be living in the upstairs bedroom behind a closed door. Ellen has full run of the house.

This is Gus. Gus has a sneaking suspicion that Sally is in the upstairs room, although he has not personally seen her. There is a baby gate at the top of these stairs. Gus normally respects that gate. In addition, Gus has a fear of cats.

This is Bill and Joey. They respect the baby gate. They don't care that Sally is upstairs. Bill and Joey are both neutral in regards to cats.

This is Gracie. She shares Gus's suspicion that a C-A-T is upstairs. Gracie respects the baby gate, except when she doesn't. Gracie has no fear of cats. In fact she views cats as tasty tidbits, and would not hesitate in eating one (literally). Fortunately Gracie can not (as of yet) open a closed door. Gracie will be spending the next 4 weeks under strict supervision. Won't that be fun??

The Princess and the Oaf

The Princess

The Oaf

Amuse me, Oaf!!

Still, I am not amused - try harder!!

Winter Games

When it is sub-freezing in North Texas, the dogs like to be outside just long enough to take care of business. Unfortunately, they still require an outlet for their extra energy. 

For the dachshunds, that means a couple of laps around the living room. Then it's back into hibernation mode.  They are happy to exist like this for days on end.

The big dogs are an altogether different story. They have the potential to become quite unruly inside if left to their own devices. So I invented winter games. The major goal of the winter games are to produce calmer, quieter, big dogs. These winter games have been evolving over several weeks. In the beginning the winter games consisted of me running up and down the stairs followed by the big dogs. While it did produce the results I wanted, I quickly sensed that this took way too much of my own personal energy. 

The next step in the evolution of the winter games was for me to stand at the foot of the stairs, throw kibble up the stairs, and watch the dogs run up the stairs, eat the kibble, and run back down until I threw more kibble up, over and over. This worked pretty well. It certainly took less of my energy, while the big dogs used up their energy. Then Gus figured out if he just stayed at the top of the stairs waiting for the kibble's arrival it would save his energy expenditure as well.

Winter games phase 3 moved into one of the upstairs bedrooms where there is an antique wooden bed. There is enough clearance for the pit bulls to rocket under the bed, if they are given the correct motivation. Again kibble provided the motivation. I called this game, commando-dog. It goes like this: dogs sit and watch me throw kibble under the bed, dogs dive under bed, gobble kibble, come out from under bed - repeat over and over and over. Until Gus figures out if he just stays under the bed and waits for the kibble's arrival again his energy expenditure decreases dramatically.

Phase 4 winter games is a little more structured. The rules are a little bit tighter. For this game both dogs are required to "sit and wait". The "wait" is crucial to the game - I think it helps Gus see that the game has a beginning and an end. This game begins in the hallway outside the second upstairs bedroom. There is an ottoman placed inside the doorway the dogs will have to jump over before they reach the kibble reward. Both dogs are required to sit, then "wait". Gus already knew my word "wait" and my hand signal. Gracie caught on real quick by watching Gus. Here they are "waiting".

I then step over the ottoman, toss out 8-10 pieces of kibble, wait however long I feel like waiting, then give the "go" signal, along with saying the word "go". They zoom over the ottoman, collect their kibble reward and we do it again. Here they are collecting kibble.

It looks like this.

Her Story

All dogs have a story. Some are happy, some are sad, and some are quite tragic. This is HER story. At least as much of HER story as we know. SHE was found as a stray, by a nice lady with kids. The nice lady invited HER off the streets into the nice lady's car. SHE accepted. SHE went home with the nice lady and the kids. The nice lady gave HER food and water, taught HER to play fetch with a tennis ball, and let HER play with the kids. The nice lady might have even given HER a name, I don't know. The nice lady thought SHE was a chocolate Labrador retriever. The nice lady thought that for 3 days, while SHE played with the nice lady's kids, rode in the nice lady's car, was given affection, food, and a place to live. After 3 days, someone told the nice lady that SHE was indeed NOT a chocolate Labrador retriever, but rather an evil pit bull. The nice lady panicked. SHE ended up at the Justin Animal Shelter February 12, 2008.   SHE was a sweetheart with lots of energy. We named her Candy.

After some time had passed, with no one contacting us about a lost red nose pit bull, we took Candy to the vet for vaccinations and a spay. We hoped she would be able to find a new home. Our vet said she had a spay scar, and a surgery scar on her hind leg. Maybe she had broken her leg sometime in the past and the leg had been set and secured with a pin. So, someone, somewhere, sometime had taken responsibility for this dog and given her veterinary care, possibly expensive veterinary care. 

Candy remained at the shelter until October 10, 2008 - 8 long months. Lots of other dogs came and went, but no one came for Candy. In October, the shelter was at dog capacity - every run occupied. So, we had to make the euth list. Candy was at the top of that list. Candy was lucky, Candy had an advocate - me. Wait a few days, let me try to arrange my life so that I can take that dog home with me. Let me give her a chance. They did wait, I did arrange, my husband did agree. Candy found her forever home. Now her name is Gracie.

There were adjustments that had to be made. New routines had to be established. But for the most part the household has settled into a comfortable fit between and among the 6 dogs and 2 humans. 

Here is Gracie with her partner in crime, Gus. Two fun and happy dogs - two very lucky dogs.

Today the shelter is at dog capacity again. We are making the euth list. There are 2 pit bulls who will probably be at the top of that list, Megan and Azlow. Great dogs, who are at a disadvantage mainly because of the shape of their heads, and the way they are built.  

Pit Bulls are Silly

Pit bulls can be silly all on their own.

Yes, we are in the bathtub eating soap. You got a problem with that??

What are we doing? Nothing, of course!!

What do you mean my face will freeze this way??

And sometimes they have help

Gus in his Doggles. Yes I bought dog-goggles (doggles).

Gus as the Easter Bunny