Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm five years old today!

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, birthday

I'm not Irish ...

... but kiss me anyway!

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog

We're doin' the boogie ...

The Dog Beach Boogie, that is. This was from before Christmas. Our 2lggd mom finally let me show my new packmate, Bubba (was Bubba, then it was Cub, now it's Bubba again) my favorite swimming spot. I don't know why the 2lggds won't swim anymore. Six months ago, there were lots of dogs and 2lggds at the beach. The dogs were in the water. The 2lggds were in the water. Everyone was having a great time. Now there is hardly anyone at the beach. Just a few 2lggds holding those long poles. They have big buckets that smell really interesting but they won't let me look into them to see what's in there. Thank dogness there was another dog there to play with. Two's company, but three is a ROMP! We'll "crouch on down, jump back up, spin around, and sniff a butt!"

Radio Island beach is where many Beaufort locals take their dogs to the beach. The last rule on the sign actually says "Leash all pets and clean up after" but dog owners don't observe the leash part very strictly. In December there's nobody there but dog owners and people fishing. In the summer, it's wise to always walk on leash from the parking lot, turn south, and walk through the area busy with families, swimmers, sunbathers. We walk down to the far end where other beachgoers are unlikely to complain, and authorities are unlikely to patrol. That's where the dog play group is likely to gather.

Sunday December 16 was a warm day, over 70 degrees, but the only dog on the beach was Magic, the Golden Retriever. Mike takes Magic to the beach every day of the year, no matter the weather. No walk to the far end needed, we had the place to ourselves.

This great music is "Dog Beach Boogie" by Kirk Olsen off the CD "Dog Songs," from Happy Dogs Records. You can buy the CD at that site, but it's also available at the website of Bay Families With Dogs. That's where I bought it, and the proceeds benefit the cause of "preserving our freedoms for outdoor recreation with our canine companions." The organization is fighting to preserve off-leash access to Shell Island off Panama City, Florida. I read on the site that for generations Shell Island had been, by community custom, open to off-leash recreation. In 2006 a decision by the State of Florida locked the State, the Bay County Commission, and the citizens in a battle over off-leash canine access. There are lots of good links on the site for anyone interested in dog parks, dog beaches, and pet travel.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, Newoundland, beach, swimming, play

What is it with PWD and antlers? ...

... and Santa hats?

I'm not the only one on whom such indignities have been inflicted. Mom gave up on the actual stuffed antlers and gave me digital antlers.

Chorizo's mom tried to put antlers on him and that didn't go so well.

So then Chorizo got digital antlers too.

Oreo had to sit on Santa's lap. The real Santa. Not a digital Santa.

Lucie had to wear a Santa hat. She looks like she's howling her displeasure.

And now there's Gui. I think those are real stuffed antlers, not digital ones.

Gui, you have my sympathy. You look like you are taking it better than I did.

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog

Bom Natal ..

I did not take kindly to my 2lggd mom's attempt to dress my up with bows in my hair for my Christmas video. Then I heard from Chorizo and he reminded me of how he felt when his mom tried to dress him up with antlers! And he also reminded me about how Oreo felt about sitting on Santa's lap. And then there's poor Lucie and Luckie. They would not have tolerated all those Santa hats if their mom hadn't got them totally tuckered out. The indignities we have to put up with in the name of Christmas cuteness!!!

And after all that, NOW LOOK WHAT SHE'S DONE TO ME!!! No, not really ... hahaha! I'm really joking. Because she found a website where she could do all this on the picture and I did not have to wear the antlers! Good thing, because she got some of those too, and if you think the thing with the bows did not go well ... well, let me tell you, I strongly objected to those antlers. Chorizo, I don't blame you one bit. Tell your mom to make a picture like this one.

This is a photo that I took in the pretty little courtyard out behind the Backstreet Pub in Beaufort, NC. I stumbled onto a website called www.pikipimp.com, and found the most painless way to dress up the dog. I only wish that I could animate the snowflakes. I think I will take more pictures of her and do a slideshow of her wearing every one of the pikipimp Christmas hats ... Emma's answer to Lucie and Luckie.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog

Happy Holidays

Season's Greetings Everyone!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan, Joyous Winter Solstice, I know I've left out lots of them, but you get the drift.

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video

Zoomies!

Well, that's just how it feels. All you PWDs know what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Emma has always zoomed after baths. When she was an only dog, she would tear over all the furniture, rubbing herself against the cushions, often pushing the cushions off the sofa in her zoomie state. Now that she has a buddy, she focuses her zoomie energy on playing with Cub, rather than focusing on taking apart the furniture!

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video, after, bath, zoomies

We're tearing it up indoors ...

I like having a play pal. However, when we start rearranging the furniture, our 2lggd mom gets a little perturbed. Dad just laughs at that, but when we start rearranging the musical equipment in the music studio area, then he gets worried.

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video

Beyond the backyard ...

I have never before walked in the big empty field behind the house, because I am very happy to get my exercise fetching tennis balls. But Mom says that Cub doesn't fetch so enthusiastically as I do, so he needs a longer walk. I wished that Cub and I could run together, but Mom kept him on the flexi-lead.

We are lucky to have open space behind our house. I've never dog-walked there before, but it's coming in handy now. I can feel confident that the open space will still be there long after we are gone, because it is reserved for expansion of school athletic fields.

Emma is getting along so well with the new guy. I'm so proud of her!

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, Newfoundland, video

My morning commute ...

This is our weekday morning routine. Walk the 50 yards to work. Then I get a rawhide chewie, and then sleep while Mom works. I tried to explain to Cub that he should just relax. He'll get the hang of it eventually.



I am fortunate to have a morning commute of about 50 yards. I am a sailmaker, and anyone who spends much time in sail lofts knows that most of them have cats, or dogs, or both. I have been bringing my dogs to work with me since 1995. I have very occasionally encountered customers, or sailing industry people, who don't understand how normal this is, and consider it "unprofessional" or complain about dog hair in the stitching. It's far more likely that customers come to the loft just to visit my dogs.

I do try to keep dogs off the loft floor (the working surface). They do not know when their paws are clean and when they are not. Cub would not take "no" for an answer. He was determined to stick to me like glue, so I had to tether him to keep him off the floor. I do most of my work in a "sewing pit" which is a hole in the floor. The sewing machine sits level with the floor so that the entire floor becomes my table.

Emma knows the routine. I work and she sleeps. Later when she gets bored, she comes to me and asks me to take her over to play with her pal, Buffy. Once Cub seemed secure in feeling that I was not going to sneak off without him, he settled down and napped while I sewed.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, Newfoundland, video

My new "little" brother ...

Today I went to work with my 2lggd dad. He's working on a house remodeling and he put me on the front porch of the house behind a gate. Then when he knocked off work at 3 pm he took me to the biscuit bar. That's what I call the Backstreet Pub, because they have a huge jar of dog biscuits behind the bar.

Soon after we got there, MOM SHOWED UP!!! I hadn't seen her in days and days and days. Another dog showed up at about the same time. A giant dog - a Newfoundland. When I was a young pup I used to go visiting to play with Newfoundlands a lot, but I haven't seen one in years. He was very nice. I was nice too. I must admit that for a while my manners with other dogs were not so good. But Mom has been reminding me how much fun life can be when I show good manners.

So anyway, we hung out at the Pub, begging biscuits from all the patrons for a while, and then when we went home, the Newf came too!!! Mom and Dad explained that he is my new packmate, and his name is Cub. He is two years old, and he is a relative of all those Newfs I played with when I was a young pup. We are getting along great! (Mom says she's really proud of me).

I was rather concerned about handling the first meeting of Cub and Emma just right. I had Mark take Emma to work with him today, so that when Cub and I arrived at the house, he wouldn't have Emma flying in his face, being territorial. It's hard to say what she would do, but I have seen her be initially a little nasty to visiting dogs, and I wouldn't take that chance.

Cub got to become acquainted with his new home in peace. He became familiar with Emma's smells before meeting her. Then in the afternoon we drove downtown to the Backstreet Pub, the famous Beaufort dog-friendly watering hole.

Emma has had a period of issues with stranger-dogs. She would lunge at an unfamiliar dog, with some frantic yapping, and then run to hide behind someone's knees. We have been working on turning that behavior around, and I am absolutely amazed at how quickly, and completely, we have changed her behavior. Here you can see her accepting Cub's very large presence with complete equanimity. Mind you, she still doesn't know that he is coming home with us.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video, Newfoundland

Consorting with other PWDs ...

I have a complaint to make! A couple of them, actually.

This evening my 2lggd mom went out without me. I think she went to the bank, where they have that drawer under the window that comes out with a biscuit in it. I was unhappy that she didn't take me along. But when she came back home, I forgot all about the bank and the drawer and the biscuit. Because she smelled like DOGS. OTHER DOGS! Two of them. The smell was all over her pants. I was soooo excited, and I pressed my nose to her jeans all over. What was she doing? Where are those dogs? Will I get to meet them????

But then Mom loaded some bags into the car and left. Dad looked at me and said "Your life is about to change in a very big way." Something big is up and I don't know what it is.



Storm & Zephyr in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Photo by Moe F.

This evening as I was coming out of the post office, I saw a couple walking two Portuguese Water Dogs out onto the city dinghy dock. I followed them out and asked to meet their dogs, who turned out to be Stormy and Zephyr, sailing from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas on the sailing vessel Malolo. Donna, Howard, and I had a great chat on the dock during which first Storm, and then Zephyr, leaned against my legs, then sat on my feet, and finally eased over into my lap!

On Friday, Mark will take Emma to the Backstreet Pub, our dog friendly drinking establishment, and she will get to meet Storm and Zephyr. I'm sorry that I will not be there to see them meet, because I am now on my way to Wisconsin to pick up a two year old Newfoundland dog, Bubba. Bubba is the great grandson of my second Newfoundland, Lola. Lola died 4-1/2 years ago at the ripe old age of 13.

Indeed, for Emma, life as she knows it is about to change.

Kathy (Emma's 2lggd mom)

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog

Sticks

Today I watched the 2lggds carrying sticks. Now, don't get me wrong. I like to carry sticks. When I'm really excited, I'll carry just about anything and sticks are often handy, and fit in my mouf just right. But these 2lggds, they make a big tree into way more sticks than any dog needs. Then they carry all the sticks to a trailer, haul them to our house, and carry them all again. I just got so tired of all the sticks that I finally just layed down and watched them. Crazy 2lggds!!

Today we made a second run to build up our supply of firewood for the winter heating season. On Saturday, Mark went to a friend's property and helped him cut up a large downed branch. Today we went back and helped him fell a tree that was dying. I looked up at the tree and thought, "that's a lot of BTUs." We loaded about half of it into the trailer, and stacked it at the house. About a third of it was already dead and dry. At present we probably have about 4 weeks of heat stored up. Next week we will go to load up the rest of it. There's another tree to fell on the same property, and a downed, cut up tree at another friend's place, so we will soon be in good shape for the winter. If I still had a Newf, perhaps we would use a wagon to move the firewood from the pile to the trailer. Emma is no draft animal. She just supervises.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video, firewood

Hunting and gathering ...

The cats are hunting, but I am gathering.

My 2lggd mom loves the nuts that fall on the ground all over our yard. She gathers them by the sackful. I like them too, but I just find them one at a time, and then crunch them up. Here we are looking for nuts.



My two kitties are not interested in the nuts. They only want to stalk the squirrels that eat the nuts.

The big pecan trees in our yard did not yield much crop last year, but this year is looking very good so far. The nuts on the several trees vary in quality. Some are very small and round, hard to crack, but extremely tasty. I don't bother with them; too much work. Others are large and oblong, papershells that can be easily cracked against eachother in one hand, with large sweet and juicy nut meats inside. These I collect for snacking.

Last weekend was very breezy, and I picked up many nuts off the ground. Tomorrow is forecast to be also very windy, and so the coming weekend should be good for collecting many more. Emma likes to crunch the nuts. I think she goes after the pecans that have already been partially chewed by the squirrels, because she can smell the sweet nut meat inside. Unfortunately, the sharp shells sometimes cause her digestive problems, and I find her barfing little chunks of shell during the night. I try to stop her from eating them, but I know it's quite pointless because the yard where she plays with her friend Buffy is strewn with them.

The cats are very social animals. When we walk around the yard, they keep us company. They are about 18 months old, and have become fairly good at catching mice, shrews, and young rats. They have been practicing stalking squirrels without much success. It takes some time for a cat to become an accomplished hunter, and they are just starting to get the knack. They caught their first squirrel (that I know of) last week. I have given them a pep talk about not letting those darn squirrels munch pecans with impunity. Even if they do not catch a squirrel, they should at least keep them on their toes, don't let them get too complacent. I don't begrudge the squirrels some nuts, really. I will leave all the small hard nuts on the ground for them and take the big papershells for myself, HA!

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

Technorati Tags: PWD, Portie, Portuguese, Water, Dog, video, pictures

Thirteen Miles to Merrimon

Well, Mom says it's actually more like 16 miles, but she can't go to Merrimon without singing the song about it.

Thirteen miles to Merrimon,
Thirteen miles to the setting sun.
I could go east; I could go west.
But I won't go just like the rest.

Yesterday they went to Merrimon without me. Mom wore a dress with a TAIL; and she had sparkley HORNS on her head. They came home so late, I thought they were NEVER EVER coming home.

But today they went back and I got to go with them, and I got to visit with Lily and Popeye (mother and son PWDs), and Jack (Border Collie). I have met all these dogs before, but the only one who knows how to play is Popeye. Popeye is only a year old. His mother, Lily, is a little older than I, and Jack is the oldest. When we arrived, we were greeted by Jack, but then Lily comes roaring around the corner of the house. I must admit that even I can be a little cranky occasionally about my territory but Lily is a total you-know-what. There's a dog who needs to get in touch with her inner puppy.



Popeye and I have played before, on the beach. As we were getting into the swing of things, Lily was keeping an eye on us. She's always the one keeping everyone in line.



We got all the butt-sniffing formalities out of the way.



And then we went to visit the goats and chickens in the barn. There are five goats, but Sebastian is the only one that came into the barn to visit. He and I sniffed noses. I like the goats, but I'm not into the chickens.



Then Popeye and I played zoomie games. Let the old fogies Lily and Jack just get out of the way. We'll show them how it's done. Those 2lggds on the other hand, they are completely hopeless. Just standing around yaking. They just don't know what's worth doing!

Mark and I went to a Halloween party at my friend Tia's house in Merrimon. Mark's band, the Jumpin' Mullets, was playing the party, and so we stayed until the bitter end, which was fine with me. I dressed as a she-devil in a hot red dress with a tail and horns.

Tia has two Portuguese Water Dogs. Lily is a very large girl, weighing over 55 pounds and a little long in the body. But she was able to finish her championship in spite of her size. She had a litter of puppies, and they were all spoken for but Popeye's prospective owners changed their minds. They seemed to be worried that his white face would be hard to keep clean. Tia fell for him, and now he is her first "grandchild!"

Saturday was very wet, so Emma stayed home when Mark went out to set up sound equipment. But Sunday when we went back to pick up the equipment, the weather was fine. Lucky Emma got in a nice little playdate. She had been out there before but I don't believe she had ever before met a goat nose-to-nose.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog Border collie play playdate video

That's a pretty fancy stick ...

I've got plenty of sticks right outside the front door. Mom didn't need to cut one special. This clicker game was pretty easy ... just hold the thing, right? It made Mom happy, and it made my tummy happy ... Yum!

Emma likes to carry things, and has no problem holding stuff on her own terms. Me asking her to hold is another matter. If she brings me something, she wants to drop it at my feet immediately. So we are working on holding, as it is essential for water work

Someone on the Dog Trek group suggested teaching her to take and hold my finger. That didn't work for us. Emma has never been scolded for putting her teeth onto human skin; she grew up with bite inhibition training involving plenty of hand play. But nonetheless, she did not want to take my finger in her mouth. It seemed pointless to try to teach that, so instead I cut a wooden dowel for her to hold.

Emma takes the dowel readily when I ask her to. My touch on her muzzle may appear to be a very firm grip at times, but actually it is not a firm grip, only a light touch to give her the message that I would like her to steady.

Early releases were never punished, just used "uh uh" as an NRM; there's lots of debate about NRMs, and whether they are actually mild punishment, but I do use them some. There is one early drop where you'll hear me say "oops, uh uh." Progressively longer holds were rewarded with a C/T. The click sound I used this time is not the mechanical clicker, but rather a tongue click matching the rhythm of a clicker. Emma made the connection right away several years ago when I began using the tongue click for convenience. She understood right away that the sounds are similar and mean the same thing. It seems to cut through to her brain more reliably than a "bridge word".

I think we made some good progress here. The session was long, but she did not seem to tire of the game. By the time we stopped, she was holding, and letting me repeatedly touch and remove my hand from the dowel before release by the click. She already knows the word give, so it should be easy to add that once the hold is firm.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog work waterwork clicker training hold video

More clicker games with a dummy this time

I'm very good at carrying things around, so this was an easy game. I think Mom was really happy with the way I played the game. And I was really happy because I got lots of biscuits. When we finished playing the game, Mom took away the dummy, and put it up where I could not get it. Too bad, it might have been fun to chew on.

Although hunting dogs are taught to hold a dummy at the middle of the dummy part, I am teaching Emma to favor picking up a retrieving dummy by the rope.

Most of the items used in PWD water work have ropes on them, and are better taken by the rope for various reasons. The gear bag is required to be dragged by the rope; grasping the fabric in the teeth might cause damage. The bouy ball is too huge and can only be taken by the rope. The floats on the float line will fit in a dog's mouth, but I've heard that too much damage to the floats can result. In the case of the dummy, a dog will get less water in her mouth when retrieving by the rope.

I felt it would be a good idea to teach Emma to take by the rope, but I double checked with a question posted on the PWD Pets group. Everyone who responded confirmed and reinforced this decision as being a good one.

This session is the first time since age 1 year that Emma has worked with a dummy. I used Diamond tiny puppy biscuits, broken in half. She was consciously choosing the rope end by the time we quit. I remember that she had a similar dummy when she was small, and chewed the rope off, so I put it out of reach when we were finished.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog work waterwork clicker training video

A good day for a romp

This is my play pal, Buffy. She's about 6 months younger than me. We play almost every day, in Buffy's back yard. Buffy knows how to play, but she was better at it before she got fat. Now she poops out after a short while.

Buffy is sort of a Beagle-Jack Russel mix. She has Beagle ears on a JRT head, JRT coloring, and a body somewhere between the two.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog play video PortieFlix

... I prefer a sand bath, thank you

I had a nice afternoon at Radio Island Beach. Mocha (Norwich Terrier) and I, and our 2lggd moms spent a couple of hours there. Mocha won't go in the water. She won't play either. And today Mom wouldn't go in the water either, but she threw the ball for me a lot, sometimes up the beach, and sometimes into the water.

Mom was clicking and treating me sometimes after I came out of the water. I'm not sure what she was driving at, but hey, the biscuits were great. Sometimes she seemed to be "herding" me away from the beach blanket (haha, she wants to be a Border Collie). She didn't want me to shake off there. So then I would go roll in the sand instead.

When we got home, Mom showered. She called me and then she came looking for me. She found me lying on my loveseat, NOT looking at a big pool of saltwater with biscuit bits dribbling across the floor. Don't know where that came from! Whoever did that, I'm sure glad they didn't barf it up in Mom's car on the way home. I hoped that she would forget about my shower by the time she finished cleaning up. But when she finished, she took my collar off, and I knew I wasn't off the hook.

Now I smell like shampoo, instead of like the ocean. All those perfectly good sand baths, down the shower drain.

Emma was certainly being a little thick at the beach. Finally, after four summers of seeing her happily gallop over to my beach blanket to shake off after each dip in the ocean, I have decided to put "shake off" on cue.

I'm using a combo verbal/hand signal cue. I waited to capture each spontaneous shake-off with a c/t, and a couple of times actually caught her shaking-off away from the blanket. I did in fact try to block her path to the blanket several times, and when I did that, she would either give up and not shake-off, or she would indulge in a sand bath instead.

What on earth goes through their heads??? So many dogs do that; wait until they are right next to people, or their things to shake off.

Eventually, I just gave up and started capturing shake-offs at the blanket. She happily snarfed down biscuits, but she never made the connection. It will take more sessions, but the weather has turned cooler. I don't know how many more beach days we will have this year.

Emma's 2lggd mom
Kathy

My Mom the Whistle Blower

My 2lggd mom played a new clicker game with me today. She was giving me the sit hand signal, and I was sitting, but then at the same time she started putting this thing in her mouth and making this loud whistle noise. She had the thing hanging around her neck. At first when I heard it, I found the sound a little distracting. I got confused, and forgot that I was supposed to sit for the hand signal. But then I figured out that the whistle sound meant sit TOO! After that, the biscuits came really fast! FUN! (Yum).

I think that I could learn a lot from the ways that hunting dogs are trained. The only problem is that too much of that training involves coercion (shock collars, ear pinches, and so on). Emma and I just do not train that way; I will only use positive motivation. The only things Emma gets punished for are things that are always patently wrong (such as climbing up onto the desk to eat cat food out of the kitties' LeBistro).

Last week I saw a couple of videos of Lindsay Ridgeway working with his Golden Retrievers, Lumi (age 4) and Laddie (age 4 months). Lindsay dislikes coercive training methods just as I do. The "Pinball Drill" shown in these videos is an exercise that Lindsay is using to teach the dogs the "handling" cues to direct them to retrieves in the field. I can see that such fine control to direct the dog at a distance would be just as useful in PWD waterwork. Whether its dead birds, or fishing gear, a retrieve is a retrieve, right?

I joined the Dog Trek group so that I could learn more about this pinball drill, and how Lindsay trained it. He provided an excellent explanation. For me, teaching the whistle sit is the first step. The whistle sit is used to cue the dog to stop and visually check in with the handler for a new directional cue. When the dogs are working in the water, they apparently have no problem translating the "sit" as stop and swim in a tight little circle to check in for another hand signal. I got out the whistle which I once used for teaching sailing to 10 year olds, and we got to work. Right now, I am continuing this work, trying for more distance. At greater distances, Emma has a tendency to want to step toward me before sitting, so we are working on that, reinforcing only the prompt sits, ignoring the traveling sits.

An unanticipated minor problem: now when Emma sees me with the whistle she starts offering uncued sits.

Here are the LL&L videos:



Laddie, at only 4 months then, is astonishing! Such a great testament to clicker training.



And Lumi is such perfection, she is a joy to watch.

Kathy, Emma's 2lggd mom

PWD Portie Portuguese Water Dog work waterwork clicker training whistle sit