So I get a new mat...

… for me…radiates my body heat back to me..  but who can’t stay off of it the minute I get up!! 

 

New footballs!

Dogs and DIGGING!

Dogs dig.  That’s just the way it is.

The key I think is to have them dig in the right places and on command. 

It started with Ari digging in water.  Every time he did I would very excitedly say DIG DIG!!  It didn’t take long before he learned what “DIG” meant!  Then came the sandbox…  took him there and told him to DIG again I’m sure he thought “oh my, how exciting!”  Easy as that!  Built him a 12 x 12 diggers paradise sandbox!  He continued to think it was the greatest thing to do whether it was sand or water.  Eventually the pool turned into a sandbox and I learned that cutting the bottom out was a smart thing to do!

Now I have 2 diggers and am excited about that..  they chase each other to the sandbox and take turns digging.  Brita was not too much of a digger until she saw how much fun it was so she started too.  Jake picked it up instantly and now he helps me around the years…  I get the shovel out and he comes running.  Also, I learned that he loved to dig and pull out buckthorn trees which are invasive.  Apparently, the roots have a unique smell because he will dig and put his nose in the dirt, take a deep sniff and if it is a buckthorn will start digging and then pull it out by the roots….  the bigger the better, here’s another post! 

Now their sandbox is the former pool…  it’s perfect!   It has become the place of choice to hang out when we’re just hanging in the yard!

And finally..  remember I said cut the bottom out…  well here is what happened if you don’t….  sand…  rain… no where to drain  =  mud!

    

 

 

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Well, yes...

…  I DID think he was going to go through the window after the squirrel -  but in his defense, the squirrel started it… 

What do they have in common?

Ok…  what do the following have in common?

• a mouse
• a chipmunk
• a squirrel
• a garden snake
• a possum
• a bluejay
• a mourning dove

They have all ended up dead on the floor inside my house….

…..thank you Jake!

As least now I can tell him to “get it” and “take it out” as I’m opening the door!

….and he does!

 

Merry Christmas 2012

 

Snow dogs again!

Jake looking for trouble!!!  Miss Brita trying to avoid trouble! 
Aaahh…  the first pass is a drive by.. she doesn’t look ready to play. 
Didn’t take long though because running is such fun!

                          

 

 

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More snow pictures...

               

Playing Possum....

Dogs are barking outside - weird barking.. i call them in through a patio door on a 3 season porch. Brita comes right in...I hear Jake coming and as he gets nearer and just before he leaped onto the porch I realize he has something big in his mouth.... I say "out" and he drops a huge, very recently deceased, possum inside on the porch... now what?

I posted this to Facebook at 11pm and you should read the responses!!  Holy schmoly!  A boatload of them…  click here to read…..  THE REST OF THE STORY!

Add possum to the list...

Squirrels and rabbits and mice and chipmunks and now… possum!

I got a shovel, picked it up and started toward the fence to toss it over into the weeds only to realize that it is way too heavy to hoist it over a 5 foot fence.  Put it down, step away and Jake comes over – not to get it but just because I’m there. I said: “Jake, what should I do?”  As I was waiting for an answer it was unusually quiet and I heard a strange noise almost like a clicking.  Again, I asked Jake: “What’s that?”  As I turned toward the house, down swooped Mr. Hawk thinking, I suppose, I had just provided him with a free dinner!  Jake did his normal chase and Hawk flew away.  After texting my friend Angie (who was the recipient of these lovely pictures) I found out that hawks DO eat dead animals…  I didn’t know that – thought they just caught their prey and ate it.  Maybe Jake and Hawk should partner up since he likes to catch and kill things and doesn’t eat them (thank god) and Hawk will eat what he kills!

Here is some interesting info about the Red Tailed Hawk with sound…..yes, it is the sound we heard. 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds – Red Tailed Hawk

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Jake and Brita having fun!

Can you guess who’s who!

Thank you Michelle for the great pictures!

All I need is my sandbox...

Xray–one good hip… one no hip…

If you’re reading this you probably know about Jake’s hip, the injury and the operation.  If not, click the link in the sidebar called “Jake’s FHO Journey”.  Anyway..  was at the vets and decided to x-ray and see how it was…  one very good hip and one no hip…  You’d never know if you saw him …. interesting, huh?

This help I don't need! Jake helping water tomatoes!

So I turned the water on so the soaker hose would start watering the tomatoes and then I left for a bit to check on my neighbors puppies.  When I returned Jake had escaped from the house by moving a board I had blocking the dog door and was having a blast with the hose.  He had ripped the one side out creating a stream of water which he was playing with…  it could have been worse..  the water could have been going on to the tomatoes which I’m sure then that is where Jake would have been!   Brita was new to the mess as I brought her out not realizing that the trouble maker was already out!

      

    

Service Dog in Training

December 9, 2011
So out we go…  me in my Cabella’s long it-will-keep-you-warm-down-to-30-below burgundy coat and my Columbia long they-will-keep-you-warm-down-to-30-below pants and my it-will-keep-you-warm-down-to-30-below  gloves and Jake in his quilted burgundy coat looking uncannily like Ari and me pulling a wire cart with yummy treats in my pocket.

Around the yard we go and Jake brings me 5 bowls, 3 kongs and 3 toys… and puts them in my hand because he knows THAT’s what gets him the treat!

 

Oh by the way…. I was sweating when I came in but the weather people DID indicate that with the wind chill it was slightly above ZERO!

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December 17. 2011
We officially started…  well we actually started some time back when I started teaching him to bring things to me… dog bowls, kongs, bones…  things right before eating so he was really motivated.  At first he pretty much threw them at me but we have progressed from that unacceptable behavior to putting whatever he has in my hands.

We regularly go out in the yard - me with a cart and he picks up the toys, bowls, kongs and bones that are laying around and I deposit them in the cart.  Just last week he picked up 14 items for me and wanted to keep doing it but there was nothing else to get.  Sometimes if he doesn't see something right away he takes something out of the cart and hands it to me.  I explain to him while I certainly appreciate the effort, there will be no reward for that because I want things to go IN the cart not OUT of it.  In hindsight, he has always wanted to help me outside since he started pulling out the buckthorn trees when I told him to…. and the only reward for that was to be able to pull it out and drag it away.  If it was too small he wasn’t interested.

He also carries things upstairs for me from the basement.  I take a small purse or some type of bag and put something in it.. maybe a can of soup or 2.  Last week he drug a pair of jeans up when I asked him to.  This week I had him to the office and he hung out in my room while I was teaching.  He wore a harness and the office people were told to ignore him when he has that on which was VERY hard for some of them.  I dropped my keys in the parking lot and thought…  hmm.. he’s right here… so I told him to get them and he did and handed them to me so that was what always seems to fall for the last few days so he could get used to them.  I noticed he picked them up my a soft key tab rather than the actual keys!

He walks quite nicely next to me when he is alone but when Brita is along it’s a whole different story!  Then he thinks he has to lead and pulls ahead.  I have NO plans to put his harness on under those circumstances… would make NO sense and there would be NO purpose for it either.

January 21, 2012
So I did something to hurt my back.  Yesterday my leg started going to sleep when I was teaching and someone suggested it might be a pinched nerve…  duh – why didn’t I think of that!  At that time my back didn’t hurt.  Then last evening it started hurting – lower back.. came on pretty fast it seemed like.  This morning… yup…  it hurt..  It was hard, no... it was impossible, to bend over – but hey..  I have Jake.  So…

First thing he collected what clothes and shoes I needed to get dressed and then throughout the day:

• He picked up dog bowls, kongs, toys and bones which is a daily routine.
• He drug upstairs 6 plastic containers in a laundry basket.
• He picked up things I dropped…  knife, piece of paper, pen, kitchen towel, plastic sheet protector.
• He brought me a pen when I was in the bathroom ( I didn't really need the pen but it was much like a gift you don't want..  you smile and say thank you!!
• I dropped an almond and he picked it up and I thought. oh well..  that almond is gone..  but then he took his tongue and pushed it out to my hand.

Over the last month he has

• helped me unload the dryer and then drag a mesh laundry basket upstairs.
• come running when he heard something drop in the kitchen sliding in to get it for me.
• brought me whatever was handy while I'm at the computer... or it might be a scrap of paper or a part of a tissue..
• opened the lower drawer in my kitchen and handed me a dish towel.  (we're working on closing it!)

It's every day... whatever he can do!  What a guy!

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February 11, 2012
Oh my gosh!  A breakthrough!  I'm inside and I hear him barking at who-knows-what outside.  Next thing I know he presents to me (drum roll......) ...a snow covered bowl!  Now THAT's what I want!  Jake cleaning up the yard WITHOUT being told to do so!!!  Oh...  did I mention the wind chill temperature is -3.... it's a wonder the bowl didn't stick to his tongue!

February 21, 2012
As I sit at my computer before supper, Jake who knows I have treats in my pocket starts bringing me things...

• 3 dog bowls
• 4 toys
• 1 mat
• 3 kongs
• 2 plastic containers
• 8 or so scraps of paper
• 6 bones

So after he cleaned up everything on the floor, he started taking paper from the trash can and giving it to me!  uuummm... no..  sorry - no reward.  Like the other day he started bringing me plastic bowls and I wondered where he got them...  well a lower cabinet door was open so he was taking them from there!  What a guy!

 

Jake’s Service Dog vest finally arrived.  Aside from the fact that it took me forever to decide what I wanted, it ended up being a special order so it took a bit longer but I really like it!  So my thought it to start a log of places we go.  He is, by the way, amazing.  Yesterday I dropped a towel over the deck railing that I had put there to dry and he ran down the stairs and around the deck, picked it up and brought it back to me.  I can tell him to get his “bowl”, “Kong” or “bone” in the yard and he’ll bring it to me as I stand in the doorway.  A few days ago I dumped a bag of sand in his sandbox and didn’t have a scissors to open it with me so I told him to “dig” and he did, ripped the plastic open and then pulled the plastic out and emptied the sand into the sandbox.  THAT was fun for him! When I had him in class a few weeks ago, I dropped my eraser and he practically dove for it so he could hand it to me.  What a guy!    So anyway….

March 27, 2012
Took Jake with me yesterday to lunch at Copps and to the bank in his new Service Dog vest...  he was amazing.  I was nervous at the salad bar at the grocery store..  made him sit every time I stopped and then again at the checkout and the lady said "That's the best trained service dog that has ever come in here!"  ...whew..  ..then he laid by the table for probably 90 min while my friend and I had lunch.  Next we went to the bank and he totally ignored others and just focused on me.  I would drop things just so he could do something (to show off) and work for his paycheck (treat)!  There were lots of ooohhhhh and aaahhhhh at how handsome he is and what a good dog he is!  Thank goodness that no one in a bitesuit or a Schutzhund sleeve showed up but then what IS the chance of that happening in a bank anyway!! 

April 10, 2012
Another trip to the bank. He totally ignored everything around him and never took his eyes off me.  Plan to teach him how to open the automatic doors.

 

Read more that I wrote about Service Dogs by clicking here.



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You see a tarp...

You see a tarp....

You see a dog….

You see a dog and a tarp….

I see help with yard work!!!