Hiking and doggos...

We were brave souls. Since it was so cool out, I packed up the dogs and we headed to the Reserve to walk/hike along the paved old 131 trail.

My reasoning was that it was nice enough to take a drive and a hike with the dogs and it would be a good way to work with Hannah on some more leash work on a somewhat busy path where we could see horses, bicyclists, walkers, and runners.

The dogs can be off leash now at the Reserve and are only required to be on leash during the nesting season for birds that have ground nests.

I chose to let Charlie drag his leash even though he never chases a bike or horse but will decide to visit hikers with a waggy tail. His recall is excellent while Hannah is still learning so much. Both dogs wear a training collar.

If they get loose and for some reason run off, I can locate them and use the buzzer or the vibration mode to distract them from the chase. They know if the collar vibrates, they should come to me and get a treat. This works so well!

I may have explained before that I got a collar for Charlie after he scented something when he was just a year old and took off through our forest. I spent 45 frightening minutes looking for a 7 inch tall young dog, calling and crying. When the foliage grows up past his height he can literally disappear.

At 8 years old he still is a 'hunter', but he is more reserved about chasing too far. The collar reminds him to come back to me.

The walk started out wonderfully. We were hiking when a heard a voice call out....

Bicycles coming!

Two ladies on bikes came up behind us. I told the dogs to sit. I knelt next to Hannah who always barked alarmingly at any stranger and asked her to sit. I held her 'sit' treat [a Cheerio] above her nose and she glanced at the bikes and at me and at the bikes and me...

and held her sit!

She got 3 Cheerios as did Charlie and a lot of praise. 

The next distraction we ran into was an older couple on some horses. Now, Hannah is more used to the Mules at home. She has been exposed to the Mini Donkeys, mini Goats, and Horses at Kristi's farm so they aren't as alarming to her as they used to be.

I made her sit once more and she did. The couple on the horses said, "Oh what nice pups. You don't have to do that, our horses are okay with dogs." 

I explained that I was training Hannah and she needed to understand that she should be quiet on the trails and not bark like she used to.

They stopped and asked what kind of dogs I had and said nice things about how I was working with my little dogs. 

What I did expect was that we would get attacked by mosquitoes and deer flies as we were hiking a paved trail next to the Kickapoo River. I had sprayed well before taking the trail, but man those bugs were insane! 

All the horses we saw had fantastic riding fly masks which made them look like Medieval Mounts.

Hmm. I like summer, hate bugs. 
So I like winter so much more!

We finally made it to the pond with the floating dock and bench. There was a nice breeze and surprisingly NO bugs!

The View

Water and snack break.

Another view from the bench.

Dogs under the bench in the shade.

See that scummy green water? Guess who decided to go for a little swim? Yes. Hannah. She got covered in duckweed and mud. Hmmm, so smelly and so wonderful! She was sooo happy!

So much for keeping her little seroma dry! [I cleaned that spot off]. That spot is almost perfectly healed at this point!

I decided that we would turn around at this point and call it a good day. The temps were warming up in the valley with no breeze and I didn't want Charlie to get overheated.

Hannah pranced, Charlie hiked like a trooper. The deer flies zoomed in and the skeeters, attacked often until we got out of the valley.

Next week, I'll let the dogs stay home while I take my bike and do the 9 mile paved trail. I usually do that when the weather is hot and buggy because I'm going fast enough to avoid insects, yet can still enjoy the outside and the wild flowers.

Found these on our walk, but stopping for any length of time was asking to be covered with Bitey Insects....

I see that the weather for this weekend is going to be very steamy and dangerously hot again. I guess this afternoon I'll be scrubbing water tanks and refilling them along with making sure the mules and pony have access to good shade.

Thank goodness I spent yesterday afternoon mowing most of the yard. 

I think I'll pick up some items to make a noodle salad and some cold meals for this weekend.

Hannah, Fireflies, Puppy Jake Foundation

First off, I don't mean to go on and on about my dogs or my mules, but they are my immediate 'family' at this time.

My sons are hours away with busy lives and their families. My older grands are busy with working and figuring out their lives too. Most of them that have jobs and vehicles live 2 to 3 hours away. I have heard twice from the stepdaughter since her dad passed away 9 months ago.

I do have my friends, so don't get me wrong at all. I do have a life with humans involved.

Now I better understand people who wrap their lives around their pets. Pets are constant companions who don't have distractions. Their lives depend on you. They are toddlers that need constant affirmation of love and care. Who doesn't love that?

So, I will write about them and talk about them. They are the main focus of things happening in my life at the moment.

Years ago, I had Morris, a Jack Russell Terrier. He was not a typical terrier. He was not fearless and brave, but he was kind and sweet. But he was sure that Fireflies were insane little monsters that were going to eat him.

In 2007 Morris made me aware of the evil fireflies that surrounded our house and fields on summer nights. He knew he had to protect me from the conniving little flashing bugs. We laughed and laughed that such a mild mannered dog was so upset over flying insects. 
Night of the Fireflies is the original post. 

Each year after that, Morris would go out and watch for them with his hair on end and a soft constant growl. He'd even jump on the bed to look out the window and protect us.

Fast forward 19 years [has it been so long???]

Last night Hannah stood on the porch and when Fireflies lit up the yard and garden in front of her. She backed up and growled. Her hair was on end. I thought 'No way!' Charlie never even gives the little flashes of light a second glance.

But there it was. Hannah and the Killer Fireflies. I tried to tell her that they wouldn't harm her. No use. She has her mind set on the fact they are a threat.

Hannah will be 6 months old on the 24th and she'll visit the Vet for being neutered on the 25th. She still nags Charlie but not as bad as she did at first. She is maturing and learning to walk on a leash without distractions and sit when I stand still. Baby steps. 

During this last hot and humid week, I spent some time indoors bored. So I flipped on YouTube to browse things to watch. I ended up on a documentary about the Puppy Jake Foundation in Iowa that trains service dogs for Veterans.

What transpired next was fascinating.

She watched the whole documentary. When a commercial came on, she walked away and looked out the door, when the narrator came back on, she walked back to that spot and watched intently.

I thought it was a fluke or maybe she was interested in seeing the dogs in the program so I put on a dog training video featuring a dog and a person explaining how to use a leash.

Imagine my surprise when she growled and backed away from the TV as if it offended her. She barked and looked at me then at the TV. I doubt she made the connection that I was in charge of the programing, but I changed back to the same documentary we'd been watching.

She was enthralled once more.

I changed the video again to another dog video of sorts. She had the same reaction. 

She is the first dog I've had in all of my years on this earth that has 'watched' TV. Did she like the narrator's voice? Did she like what she was hearing and seeing?

I showed the video to some friends and their reply was 'She wants to be Trained to be a Service Dog!'

Hah.

She is my Emotional Support Dog, right? 

Years ago, I went through a dog obedience class with my first dog Missy. The class was 8 weeks long and by the end of the class Missy would walk off leash and ignore other dogs and distractions. She was insanely good at obedience. The instructor only docked her because she wouldn't take cues from him, but he did suggest that we go to the next level for a working dog and eventually train for Search and Rescue.

It was a path I wished to explore but couldn't as I had two young kids at home. 

Hannah is a quick learner. When she has her 'working line' on she is all business.

Here, she is learning the basics of 'heel' and sit when I stop. It has only taken her two sessions to figure this part out. 

She is 80% consistent with no distractions at this point.

Of course, she already understood sit. However she didn't get the concept of walking at my side with a loose line and sitting when I stopped walking until we started.

At the end of each session [no longer than 15 minutes] I give her a release word and unclip her. She immediately checks with me and then goes into Zoomies.

I wonder what I can accomplish with Hannah.

Charlie? 
He has always been an extremely smart dog. The one thing I had to teach him was to 'come' when called, his manners and leash walking have always been good without any extra work. His duty since puppyhood had been to be with Rich and other elders as a lap dog and petting dog. 

He's decided that it looks like Hannah is going to stick around.

He even allows this:

I've had dogs since I was a kid. It all started with Albert the female mutt we got from my uncle's farm. Some day I'll reminisce about her.

So...

Mother Nature is really having a hissy fit.

Thursday, the pups and I risked using some precious gasoline to go on an adventure to Goose Island in Lacrosse County. The weather was supposed to turn very ugly Thursday night with a major whup-a$$ storm coming in on Saturday through Monday.

We took this lollipop loop that goes around what seems to be backwater ponds of the Mississippi River and other spots where we could stand on the banks of the river and gaze across the wide expanse of water.

Hannah got her first lesson in 'leash walking'. She sure didn't like it at first. However, by the time we got back to the car, she was mostly walking alongside Charlie.

With both hands occupied, I had a hard time taking any shots at all.

I did tie Hannah up to a sapling to I could try a couple of photos and only really got one with my regular camera. Moments later, she lunged forward and her cat breakaway collar came off.

Well, we both learned from that! 

After chores and more outside play time, the two of them called a truce and fell asleep on the couch. In the old days pets were never allowed on the furniture. Hannah can't get there on her own, but she does ask to get up there and she does settle down quickly.

She was looking at me with her tongue sticking out! Charlie was guarding the squeaky ball and all was calm.

Around midnight, as predicted, the winds arrived. And they howled and howled. I live in a hollow of sorts and it sounded as if a C-130 was revving its engines above the house. I woke up around 2AM because of noises I heard. It literally sounded as if the large metal shed had been hit by a tree. 

I looked out into the living room and noticed that the heater light was off. I knew I wasn't getting back to bed so I put long johns on under my sweats and added an extra warm layer over my t-shirt. Of course Hannah woke up while I was hunting up my electric candle lights and headlamp.

We went outside in the dark [with my headlamp to light the way]. The dogs did their thing and we bundled up on the couch while I sat down with them to worry. Seriously, what else was there to do? The two little dogs snuggled in close and we kept each other warm.

The temps dropped to 48 degrees in the house by 7:30 when the power came back on. I'd done chores and checked our buildings. Everything was still standing. The mules were out of the winds and standing quietly. The fences were still up and despite the roar above, things were rather peaceful.

We survived! No damage. I was relieved.

At 9:30 my 'date' arrived. Not really a date, but a young man who is the son of one of my good friends. I've know Briar since he was born.

Briar was off school and had asked if he could come over to learn about photography.

He is a Lego Fan and so I told him that we would work on some Toy Photography and some Macro photography. He wanted to learn more about digital cameras. I showed him how to use his cell phone to to practice with. He doesn't have a digital camera. His older sister has a Nikon that I gave to the family a few years ago.

We set up a scene together and talked about composing photos to tell a story. The time flew by and we had a blast. He enjoyed composing scenes with some of my pieces of cardboard and 'junk'.

It was quite fun imagining a scene together and hunting around for parts to build it and analyzing it from different angles. The first scene was one he totally built. The rose shot was a quick lesson in how 'easy' it is to set up a macro shot even with a dried up old flower.

We had fun with the storm troopers and worked on the set up for that together. Briar learned some very basic lessons about depth of field and operation of my digital camera.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to stock up on water and get some food that I don't have to cook to make a meals if the power goes out again.

We may or may not be in for a doozy starting Saturday evening.

 

Karma is....

Well I will let you decide.

I went for a hike at Sidie Hollow Park which is a County Park just outside Viroqua. The camping area was full and I saw families and tents and people doing all sorts of activities.
The sign at the entrance to the trail says: Dogs must be leashed. Please clean up after your dog.

I hooked Charlie up on a leash, checked our water supply and headed out. We ran into a cyclist who was cleaning up some brush on the trail. Charlie admired his bike as we talked.
He headed off.

We met a couple that had a whippet that went to shaking when he saw Charlie. His owners said he was terrified of little dogs. I picked Charlie up so he wouldn't frighten the whippet and we walked on.

Charlie was enjoying himself and walking on leash like a great little guy. No pulling, just a lot of dog sniffing.

We came around a bend and there was a huge German Shepard type dog slinking with its head down, ears back. One of the women on the trail behind the dog said, "Hey, I've got a dog!"

And I replied, scooping up Charlie once again, "And I SEE you have no leash on your dog!"

She gave me the finger.

As we followed the trail through the big rig camp ground two little ratty looking terrier type dogs ran at us snarling and barking. Charlie once more was in my arms.

The lady walked out with a little stick and started talking baby talk to them. "Now you girls BeeBee and Toots go home!" I waited patiently and said nothing while she wrangled up her tiny nasty beasts.

A group of teen aged boys walked by later and stopped to pet Charlie. The walk was pleasant but I couldn't dawdle in the wooded area as mosquitoes would come buzzing.
The trail is a circle around the lake so chances were I'd meet the Shepard and women again.

I walked towards the lake shore to look at some really beautiful flowers. But stopped short. Mixed in with the tall flowers was some low lying poison ivy which looked very healthy.
I admired the flowers and walked on.

Here came the big Shepard low to the ground and ears flat. I saw the lady glance at me and then turn away. The dog circled us without a wag in its tail nor did it make a sound.
I walked slowly with Charlie in my arms again.

"Call your dog," I said, "or I call the Sheriff." I got a double finger this time and she called the dog off me.

She walked past with her friend and then exclaimed, "Look at those flowers!"
To my utter delight, her dog bounded through the poison ivy breaking up the oils as she walked in her flip flops to pick wildflowers.

I stroked Charlie on the head before setting him back down to finish our walk.

"Charlie," I said, "my next dog will be named Karma."

And I smiled.

It's all about Training.

I am getting this. Really I am!
She gets out the tiny black cord and attaches it to my collar. I run to the door and stare up at her.
It is Adventure Time!

If She walks towards Dixie's house, I run ahead and Dixie starts to bark. It means the both of us are going on Adventure! I like having Dixie along except when Dixie steps on me.

She mostly takes us to the creek bottom when we are together. I don't get the reason. She said something once about me learning to stay near her and the tall banks of the creek would keep me 'in' her ... eyesight.

I can't climb the tall banks like Dixie can. It must be the curse of the short legs. I mean come on. Short legs in the creek really can be a curse if one doesn't want to get wet!

How mean of Her and Dixie to walk across the creek and leave me on the other side! How rotten! How terrible! 

Dixie came back across several times as I cried in protest.

Dixie assured me that I would not drown and that it was a piece of cake. 

Just follow her, she said, just follow my footsteps Charlie!

OHHHH!

Right, well that worked! NOT!

Does no one get it that my legs are so short? I know I have great power and stamina and can dig like no one's business, but come on!

She finally took us onto some forest trails so she could find some spring plants. She knelt down and took some photos. She had to yell at Dixie because as soon as She was laying on the ground Dixie came and stood on the plant She was trying to photograph.
I stood on her back.

There is an advantage to weighing only 7 pounds as compared to 60 because She didn't call me any names at all!

I must be making progress, She took the cord off and left it off because I was coming properly when She called.

I look forward to our daily hikes and walks. Perhaps I can train Her to start picking me up and carrying me over the creek. 
It is worth a try.

I believe it is only fitting for such a noble little dog like myself to have a minion I can order around.

Maybe She is trainable. 
Dixie said no. 
I think otherwise.

On the Ropes

So sorry to bore you all. But this is a way I can keep track of my 'tiny' dog training. I can see what I try and what may work for Charlie.
He can be a rascal.
Morris always without fail followed me like a lamb when he was a pup.
Charlie tends to decide that I am not worthy of following once in a while. I think he has an excellent nose and so many things are so new to him.

I am being super patient. Our walks are very short and in areas that he can safely be loose.
He still comes almost without fail when I call him in a large open area with no distractions.
Areas that are packed with deer smell, raccoon, and other wild critters are so distracting!

Rich said he'd make me a nice cord for Charlie.

Well when we got home from visiting his mom in the nursing home, Charlie was full of energy.
I needed to water the cattle, the bulls, and other creatures. And Charlie needed the exercise.

I grabbed my old training cord and hooked it to his collar. I tied the other end to my belt loop.

Now I had both hands free and could carry some water to Stella. Charlie would just have to follow. I walked slowly and asked him to come along. He trotted along side of me and would once in a while pick up the cord with his teeth.
Just one week ago he had a fit if a cord was on his collar and he came to the end of it.
We solved that by putting him out on a tie out under close supervision often on the nice days. Just time enough for him to figure out that he was yanking on himself.

Today he never let the cord get tight on him. I bumped him with a shift of my hip and called. He came running along.

Charlie was not bothered by the cord at all and enjoyed helping me with the chores. Cords and puppies along with hoses make for interesting entanglements.

And then there is the BIG Face Off with Black Bart.

Charlie decided that the big black thing that was huffing at him was not anything that he wanted to play with. After one good look, Charlie turned away and decided to enjoy himself by...

Rolling in the hay chaff that had gathered from where I'd cut bales all winter while feeding them out. He made quite the show of it and enjoyed himself immensely.

He never missed a beat when I called his name. He never got distracted while I was doing chores. He followed like an old pro. Though I am sure that would not have been the case without the cord today.
I would have been chasing him all around.

So I can establish a new routine with Charlie and the cord. Our 'walk' with the watering and the haying took around 45 minutes. Charlie ran or trotted to keep up with me.

We look forward to many great adventures together.

Off tomorrow to see Oncology at the VA for Rich's checkup. Hoping for continued good blood work and a doctor saying... 'It looks good, see you in four months.'

Small Dog Training

I've been researching and looking for puppy socialization classes and small dog training classes. As I said before, I thought this would be good for Charlie.

Small dogs present with a bigger challenge than large dogs to train. I did okay with Morris but I think I could have done a better job.
Charlie may be smaller than Morris.

Most classes that are what I am looking for are one hour away from home. That means a fairly long drive. It appears they may be a puppy class held at a local vet's office but I haven't seen any updates on classes since 2014. Hmmm, that does not look promising either.

So I took Charlie on his first solo hike yesterday. Since he is so small, I figured the woods would present a huge problem for him. But I also figured if he felt lost he'd respond by coming to me faster than he did in the yard.

I thought it best to see if he would learn to come to my whistle and when I call his name.

Charlie's aptitude was rather surprising.

You can see that I had to hold the camera on the ground to catch a shot of him. By my boot imprint you can see just how small he really is.

I was reading that to train a small dog like Charlie, a person must get down on their level. Uh-oh! Well, I can do that. I want Charlie to always come when called, always. I want to teach him also not to jump on people. Even though he is tiny and cute, jumping on people is just poor manners.

So I let Charlie become distracted by something and then ran ahead on the trail and whistled. He saw that I'd moved away and came on the run.

However since he is part mini dachshund, he does have a nose. When something too interesting distracted him, he couldn't help himself.

Look at those raccoon tracks in comparison to Charlie's size! He was fascinated by the smells and followed the tracks.

Soon the cold wind and the icy snow was making him shiver. Well, I think that is why he was trembling.
So I decided to see if he'd travel in my sling camera bag. I'd stuck a towel in the bottom of it and had taken out the camera holder.

Apparently this was satisfactory to Charlie as long as he could see out and chew a bit on the edge of the bag.

After about 10 minutes in the bag he was ready to rock and roll again in the woods.

I figured he'd wimp out over large logs. However I was very wrong. He scrambled up onto the log and walked it like a tight rope until he decided to leap off.

His balance and dexterity are amazing for such a small creature.

When we got to the gravel road, I put him on a leash. He doesn't like being constrained. I walked with him on a loose lead and when he decided to fight it, I stopped and waited until he figured it out.
It took a lot more time, but in the end I think it will be worth it.

We also did a 'come when called' exercise on the road. I let him loose and then ran like the devil while whistling loud.
Charlie is fast! He came on the run, even while temporarily distracted by an mystical oak leaf that fluttered before him.

I kneeled on the road and praised him and pet him.

I picked him up to walk the rest of the way home with him. I figured he'd had enough of the outdoors.
No, Charlie struggled and wanted down.
He walked from the mailbox to the lower end of the driveway on his leash.

I try to keep things short for him as puppies don't have a huge attention span. But the walk in the woods was excellent exercise and training at the same time.

I see an independence streak in him which is fine. He is a bit mischievous also. But he has caught on to potty training rather quickly. Yesterday he only had one mishap. That really was my fault for not paying attention.

Adventures with Charlie. This coming year should prove to be interesting!