Best. Day. Ever.

 

Eight straight hours of walking through plowed fields, brush, cracked and uneven earth. No lunch break, here. Mud caked in Cyrus' paws. The inside of my car looks like a cement truck vomited in it. The outside looks like the top of my bookshelf did a month ago. I have blisters and mosquito bites and sunburn. Cyrus almost fell asleep in the middle of his dinner.

Best day ever.

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Harvest Moon Dog Show

We just finished up 4 days of showing (the cluster runs through tomorrow, but 4 days is definitely enough for us). Cyrus is doing much better in the ring, more at ease, less worried about being touched in the face by strangers (judges). We do have some things to work on, of course. I, for one, have no clue where to put his feet. I do okay if he walks calmly into a nice stand, but if he's nervous or wants to sit down, then I'm less sure where his feet ought to go.

We did get some lovely gaiting, as you see in the picture. Cyrus managed to get in the ribbons on Thursday, which is the day the Swedish handler flew into the States to put the final couple points on his dog to qualify for Westminster. Just so you know what we were up against. :)

All in all, fabulous work, Cyrus. Your handler could use some improvement, though.

Professional Photographs

These shots were taken by Gary Ellis at the SCGSF lure coursing practice we went to last month. Don't I wish I was a professional photographer with a really nice camera? Yes, I do. Sighthounds are always pretty, but these shots are great.

The five shots of Cyrus are a perfect encapsulation of his experience that day. Except without the peeing (because photographers have class).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noburbs/5013427423/in/set-72157625014094652/#

One visit, hold the title

This last weekend we had the pleasure of visiting Mike and Georgette, and Cyrus' sister, Layla. Layla had the biggest personality of all the puppies in the litter when we used to visit them as tiny things and she's grown up to be a lovely dog, still sweet and spunky. On Sunday, she earned her Junior Courser title, since she is mad for the lure! In the meantime, our hosts shared with us some prime dog-walking spots, since they have so many at their disposal.

Incidentally, Cyrus declined the lure in favor of peeing on some handy bushes. If only there was a title for that.

Cyrus is very jealous of all the lovely dog-walk scenery.

This is in Golden Gate Park, only a short walk from the house. Aren't you jealous, too?

Before we met up with Mike and Georgette, we checked out the Embarcadero and the wharves. Cyrus was a champ, even when a huge Great Dane barked at him (obviously not in this shot).

Many people stopped to ooh and aah over such lovely dogs.

Here, Georgette is talking to a lady who pulled her car over on the street and jumped out to meet our dogs. Perhaps this has something to do with her work for STOLA, the Saluki Tree of Life Association, the saluki breed rescue. She was very nice, but Layla stopped listening when she stopped talking about parti's.

At San Francisco's single fenced dog park, also within walking distance of the house (did I say jealous?), I met a lovely, sweet Dalmatian who reminded me of Emily. His name is Duke and he would come up oh-so-politely and sit by you for petting.

Run, Layla, run!

Run, Cyrus and white dog, run!

Overlooking the ocean, but the dogs were more interested in watching a poodle retrieve along the path.

Cyrus doesn't really understand the purpose of stepping stones. Then again, it was a nice day for getting your feet wet.

Cyrus struts his stuff with the Pacific Ocean in the background.

So does Layla.

Much fun was had by all.

Goals and sucesses

Unfortunately, I have no photos for this post. It's hard to hold clicker, treats, and leash, let alone a camera. I'll try to come up with something in the future...

There is an SCGSF (Saluki Club of Greater San Francisco) specialty in October. For my non-fancy friends, this means lots of salukis all in one place. This specialty will offer obedience trials as well as conformation, which means that the judge will only be scoring salukis.

I read over the Novice requirements - heeling patterns, stand for examination, long sit and long down, a recall. I thought these were all things Cyrus is capable of, and at a specialty, he will not have the misfortune of trialing right after the judge watches some flawless border collie. They will all be salukis. So I decide I will try this out.

Even better luck - SCGSF is having a fun match in September with conformation as well as Canine Good Citizen tests. This test is the AKC's bridge between pethood and obedience trial dog, and includes many of the same basic behaviors but easier. In the heeling pattern, for instance, the dog just has to have a loose leash, not strict heeling position, and the handler can talk to the dog all she likes.

So I decide I shall enter Cyrus in this as well.

In the meantime, I have read Karen Pryor's new book "Reaching the Animal Mind". In it, she recounts, among other things, her experience training six wild-caught spinner dolphins and one spotted dolphin to jump on cue. She only had one whistle to mark the behavior - dolphins who were jumping when they heard the toot got fish, those who weren't, didn't.

This is exactly the thing I worry about: one clicker, three dogs. Clearly, it works for Karen Pryor and I need to stop being a wimp.

I wimped out, and on Friday, while prepping chicken, I worked on the dogs' downs. They know to stand quietly and patiently in hopes of getting scraps, but if none are forthcoming, they get bored and lay down. When any of the dogs did so, I tossed them a treat. Over the course of dinner prep, Sasha did ok. Mya already knows this game, so she did fine. Cyrus was getting the idea toward the end, but the big dogs weren't exhibiting the "I know this will work" attitude that marks learning in a clicker dog.

Today, I brought out the clicker. If more than one dog was laying down when I clicked, then more than one dog got a treat, if anyone was standing, they lost out. Within 10 minutes or so, the big dogs were laying down as soon as they'd gotten up and fetched their treats. Cyrus was even scooting himself around on the floor to reach the goodie, if it was close enough (I tried to throw them far enough away to make the dog get up, which gives it another chance to choose to lay down, without being so far that another dog could steal it).

Power to the clicker.

Second success:

Sasha is half-husky. It is enough husky that she is determined to be a sled dog. When we got her, putting a leash on meant Sasha would be at the end of it, pulling. If you stop so that she cannot go farther forward, she would just pull in a circle around you. I tried with the clicker and treats, but she had no interest in treats when the leash was on.

What does she want more than treats? To go forward. So, the "treat" became going forward. She pulls, I stop. She stops and eventually eases back just a bit. I click and take one step forward. Repeat. Eventually, I would ask her to turn and look at me, then step toward me, then come to stand in front of me, before moving again. This worked, to an extent. We learned ping-pong. Sasha pulls, we stop, she leaps back toward me, I click and step, she jumps to the end of the leash.

I realize, I have taught this jump-forward, jump-back: she can't release the leash unless it's taut. So I try clicking the moment between the first click and when she hits the end of the leash, for "loose leash", however short it lasts. By this method (which we practiced for 2 blocks tonight, only), gets us from one loose-leash step to about 4. For the second of those two blocks, I can't get any farther. There's no way to reward her for keeping the leash loose for any length of time, since she is already walking, which is the reinforcement. "Loose leash" in this case, means that Sasha is still bouncing around like a pinball, but managing to confine it to the "loose leash" area around me for a limited time.

I get frustrated and decide to turn home. I have an empty water bottle by this time, and decide to put it in my pocket for the walk back. In my pocket are treats, which Cyrus refused to eat on his frustrating attempt at a walk. I hadn't even offered them to Sasha, because she doesn't eat treats on walks.

Sasha hears the crinkle of the plastic bag and gets excited. I offer a treat and she eats it, happy to wait for more. Hmm... I take a couple of steps, she pads along beside me, keeping her eye on me. Click for that, and we walk a bit more as she eats her treat. For the first half-block, I click her every time her mouth is empty, since she is making no effort to drift outside the magic zone of close-enough-to-feed. Then I wait until she begins to think treat time is over and looks around her. Click for walking close, loose-leash, while looking straight ahead. When she is looking ahead reliably, I wait a beat more. She expects me to click, so she looks back to see why I don't. Click for checking back in with me as we walk. By the time we're near home, she is walking close, checking in frequently, and keeping control of herself.

Interesting things I noticed... She needed the earlier training to teach her enough self-control to accept the later training with treats. An unexpected bonus to the ping-pong-ball lesson was that a tight leash is now a signal for Sasha to turn back toward me. In the last stages of our walk, as I was letting her sniff around, she would occasionally follow a scent to the end of her leash. When she hit the end, instead of straining, she immediately turn around and checked in with me.

Karen Pryor is my hero.

Half of a Junior Courser

Early this morning, we drove up to Dixon for a lure coursing trial courtesy of the Northern California Whippet Fanciers' Association. It was worth the drive and the early rise, since Cyrus had a great time. We entered him for a Junior Coursing test, somewhat optimistically. He had never run on a lure before, although he had seen a trial as a puppy. Even so, he had a good instinct to chase and took off right away when it was his turn. 800 yards was a bit long for him, but he finished pretty gamely (a bird swooped right in front of him in the last 50 yards or so, but he found the lure again).

All he needs now is one more successful completion to get his Junior Coursing title.

He slept soundly on the way home.

Desert Run

I had a wonderful invitation from Maryanne and Karen to bring Cyrus out to Reno to run with the big dogs. We had a lousy time getting over Donner Pass, what with the snow and road closures, but the great time we had in the desert was worth it. Here are some pictures.

Cyrus, pretending he's lost in the Sahara. He spent much of the time about 8" from my heels, as is his preference when strange dogs are about.

Getting ready to set out, here are Karen and Jan along with dogs Zoe, Sansar (I think), Summer, and Mystic.

Maryanne's Keno, having a postcard moment.

In the foreground is Maryanne's Blaze, zooming along. The beagle in the middle distance is 12 year old Trooper. I have never seen a dog more aptly named.

My camera is too slow to catch any real running action, but we had a wonderful time.

A breath of sun

The dogs have gotten sick of the rainy weather. They love the couch, of course, but there is only so much curling-up they want to do. Especially Sasha.

What's that? Dog park, you say? If she had hands, she'd be clapping. Instead, she roo-roos, as should not surprise anyone who's ever been to my house or talked to me on the phone when I've just come home.

He is just a lovely looking dog. If he was this happy and relaxed at the dog shows, he would come home with a ribbon for sure.

Happy dogs come from California dog parks. See how the weeds very nearly make a lawn? All the dogs were frisky that day, even the little old Lab mix with the gray face.


The mallows were growing up rather clumpy, which provided endless fascination for all concerned. "Have I sniffed this one yet? Peed on it? Has someone else peed on it since I sniffed it last?"

Only dog owners will think this is funny. Everyone else, just enjoy the pictures... :)

Dog Fix

We've been enjoying trips to the dog park much more since we benefit from the confidence of Sasha. She has a very Emily-like attitude and it's hard to find a dog she doesn't get along with. (Unfortunately, my dad's dog Molly is one of those. The one thing Sasha cannot stand is being growled at. She growls back, which makes Molly more frightened and growly, which makes Sasha...well, you get the point.)

So, since we've had beaucoup time off with the holidays, we had a couple trips to the dog parks, both in Modesto and Turlock, and I brought my camera along...

I think my dad would call the usual crowd at the Modesto dog park a "happy swirl of dogs". And I say Ha! to the "no unneutered dogs allowed" rule at some parks... Look at how well the Modesto dogs are getting along! There are usually at least a few pits or pit mixes at the popular times, and everyone generally gets along fine. Note how confident Cyrus seems... (although he's still not willing to go up for a sniff and petting of a person stranger). Sasha is harder to catch on camera, since she's dashing around like the social butterfly she is.

Enjoy.

Herding dogs intimidate our dogs a little, since the "stalking" predatory behavior is what they use to get herds to move...or other dogs to play with them. Cy and Sash worry that the dog is really "after" them which is why there's some tension here, but they're learning to relax a little.

Tag team the big dog. If the two of them weigh as much as the one of him, that makes it fair, right?

The beagle's cute and he was friendly, but it's not hard to remember why I never wanted a scent hound... Every time he'd get excited, or other dogs would run near him in the same approximate direction, he'd start up with the baying again.

Yay! Living up to the hype!

We'll work up to this slowly. Here, really quickly, is an image of a drawing I'm working on. I believe it's a 1.5'X2.5' image a tree against the sky. (pretty much branches, foliage, and blue), using my ink pen collection with tiny lines.

Yes, I'm neurotic. But it looks cool. Very Chuck Close meets George Seurat.

This weekend I attended the ASA Scramble and Archive Hunt. Wicked cool! But the best two hours were spent in Fresno, getting to visit Laurel, Nate, and their criminally adorable children. I had Cyrus with me and he fascinated the kids. He was ok (shy, of course, but not as bad as with adults) and they were extremely gentle and good around them. We've got to visit again! Here's the kids and their adorableness. I didn't take picture of the cute apartment, I was so preoccupied thinking Cyrus would growl. (Unfair - he never did, he's way too sweet for that)

Logan (his shirt says "My Parents are Exhausted")

Cutie Chloe! She was playing Peek-a-Boo with Cyrus. If you're related to me, friend Laurel on Facebook and check out her photo galleries of her kids. Particularly "Chloe loves".

Puppy hunt! Cyrus didn't actually get to chase any rabbits. His group (himself, JJ, and Pearl) didn't scare up any rabbits close enough for them to see. The first person to see a rabbit run yells "Rabbit!" to get everyone's attention. Since the puppies didn't know what they were doing, they all looked at the yelling person rather than trying to find the rabbit. Oh, well. It was great fun anyway. The other 5 sets of dogs got pretty good courses, particularly the veterans (who all know what to do when they hear Rabbit!), and it was a full day with interesting saluki people and beautiful dogs. Plus, getting to walk Cyrus. We are both exhausted.

Seven of the 11 Rock 'n' Roll puppies came. Here are JJ, Strider, Kody, and Quila (from the left). Not shown are Pearl, Rider, and Cyrus.

Cyrus strikes a pose while we break for lunch, after a frustrating 2 or so hours of being "on the line" and seeing no rabbits close enough for a course. Isn't he cute?

I tried getting some video of the courses, but the dogs were sooo far away by the time the camera turned on that it never worked. Plus, my camera doesn't have great zoom. So here is a consolation video of Cyrus and Sasha playing on the porch. Trust me, it's more action than you can see in the grainy, blurry, "this is a field of dry brush" videos I took at the hunt.

Busy month

So, it's been a busy few weeks and my blog is woefully neglected. I'd like to point out that my zoo still has it fairly well. We signed Cyrus up for a puppy hunt next week (no, we're not hunting puppies) and he had a show last weekend. We brought Sasha with us (Mya happily visited Mom and the rest of the family), so she had a good time too. Once again, we came in dead last, second to brother Rider, who - incidentally - was gimpy. >sigh< I think I am not meant to show. I believe Cyrus will do much better when Jim takes over showing him. We know, in my own unbiased opinion, that he is clearly a gorgeous dog, deserving of all wins. :)





But the up note was that we visited the Turlock dog park for the first time. That's a nice park. Set on a slope, so there's good exercise on varied terrain. They divide the park between large and small dogs, and on Saturday there was this little black dog whose favorite game is getting the big dogs to chase her up and down the length of the dividing fence. All us owners leaned back in satisfaction and said, "Yep, they'll sleep tonight!" as they ran pellmell up and down the 150 ft fence, slope included. Good pups. On Thanksgiving, we had the park to ourselves most of the day, so even Mya got to go in. While we waited for the last couple people to leave, I took Mya over to the great children's play area they have. Here's some vid of her on the slides (I'm not sure everyone believes me about how much she loves them). I didn't get better shots because I was manning both the dog and the camera - Matt was in the dogpark with the big pups - and it was tough to get Mya to wait at the top of the slide for me to get ready with the camera rather than zoom down pellmell as soon as I put her up there.

Happy Moments

My mom seems to think that having 3 dogs and 2 cats and a snake is unbelievably complicated and a drain on time and energy.

Right now, I'm busy with a lot of things, including working full time and deep in two master's classes online.

All these crazy animals help keep me sane. Sure, it takes time to walk them, play with them, feed them, and clean up after them. But there is only so much time I can spend on "work" things. Judging by my previous two semesters, I am probably not spending any more "free" time doing non-work, non-chore things. When I reach a certain stress threshold, I check out and do something like read or watch a movie. Pet-time has taken the place of much of my reading or other elective activities. Walking the dogs is much more refreshing than watching an episode of Kare Kano. Sure, neither activity gets the bathroom cleaned right now, but cleaning the bathroom doesn't leave me feeling happy and recharged, the way a good 10 or 15 minutes of tug and fetch with Sasha does. The Zoo gives us a full and happy house. I wouldn't trade that for a spotless floor or even a magically-emptying dishwasher.

Here are some happy moments from this weekend, despite working on two school assignments and some house projects. (You can bet I wouldn't be posting pictures of a clean kitchen counter, even if I had one)

Sasha test-drives the new dog house, under construction. She seems to approve.

I love this shot. True, she is still round as a bullet, but this pic makes her look speedy. She accompanied us to Home Depot for dog-house-building supplies. It must have been Take Your Dog to Your Local Hardware Store Day, since she was one of three pooches there.

Cyrus borrow's Sasha's collar (he can do that, now that I walk the big dogs separately, to work on pulling issues). I think he looks snappy in it. Matt says he looks girly (he already has enough people saying, She's pretty! because of those lovely blond locks framing his face). It's hard to get walking-the-dog pictures of their faces... there's too many interesting smells! (In contrast, almost all of the at home shots are face shots. Never know, I might be getting ready to feed them something at any moment, right?)

And Now for Someone Completely Different

Well, not completely different. If you notice, she's quite like Cyrus...

Sasha is a greyhound-husky mix and her arrival means the zoo is full. She is a joy to have and is fitting in well her. I think she likes us.

Lompoc Dog Show July 25-26, 2009

The show actually ran Thursday through Sunday, but we drove down Friday morning and I only entered Cyrus on Saturday and Sunday. My goal for the weekend was for him to have a good time for his first show. He has a long memory for bad experiences (don't we all?) and I didn't want to start him off with a dislike of the ring. In that respect, we came home winners because I think he enjoyed himself. Bits of leftover prime rib in the ring on Sunday may have helped. He did come home with a ribbon from Saturday, but statistics were with him. There were only five puppies in his class.

There was a grand family reunion, with most of the puppies from the litter attending. Cyrus would definitely like to see more of Layla, preferably where there is sufficient fenced ground for running around like the whirling dervishes they are.

If there was a ribbon for cute, Cyrus would have come in first.

Left to right the dogs are: Kodi, Cyrus, Pearl, Rider, Aria, Strider, Layla, JJ, Solaris, and Quila.

I think this is the best still shot from the ring. He's doing a whippet impression, which is his way of saying, "Mom, the grass is wet and cold and icky." Or, "I don't like the judge" or "I'd rather put my feet where I want to put them" or "This is boring, let's go play with Layla." The whippet impression is very versatile. He uses it often.


Cyrus held it together pretty well his first day, I think. He was a champ about letting a stranger open his mouth and feel him all over. It wasn't until we completed the "down and back", and the judge tried to pat his head, that he decided enough was enough. As we set out for our last trip around the ring, you can see him keep looking over his shoulder... "Is that scary guy still after me? He might be following us!"

Random Images

Cyrus has finally been getting into the car by himself. Well, twice. He doesn't really like the car, and even now he's not willing to get into it every time by himself. We still have to lift him up and put him in. Even so, the last time I took him to visit Jim and Linda, he rode in the passenger seat by himself (as opposed to draped over my lap) and didn't fuss or mess. Progress. He's the first dog I've ever had who didn't like the car. Mya, as you see below, loves the car.

I think someone is either coursing rabbits or running Jumpers and Weaves in his sleep...

This is my first official wildflower at our new house. It was growing all by itself in the desolation that is the front yard after more than a month of no watering. Way to go, poppy! Soon your brethren will surround you.

Bonus video 1: Cyrus and Mya playing a few weeks ago. If you notice, he is actually quite gentle with her. Toward the end, she spots me taping them, and Cyrus flips her ear with his nose to get her going again. Too cute.

Bonus video 2: These are grizzlies my grandma and I saw in Alaska September of last year. Too cool! It's a bit jumpy because I was filming in 8x zoom from a school bus.

Growth and Change

Getting a new house will be a big change for us, obviously. But to prove that we're not the only ones undergoing some change, here's what's new in the zoo.

I have a small, off-white starfish in my 55 gallon saltwater display tank. Apparently, conditions there favor small, off-white starfish because this one is multiplying like crazy. Note, I did not say "breeding" like crazy. Like many marine invertebrates, starfish can reproduce by splitting themselves into one or more pieces. Periodically, the starfish divides itself in half, and each half grows new legs to become a full starfish again. Since this happens frequently, I never see starfish with five legs of equal size anymore. They are always lopsided, with mature, normal-length legs and small, growing legs. Sometimes they have several different sizes as once, which means the individual has divided often. Anyways, enough with the science lesson. I actually caught the "birth" of a new starfish, since it was on the glass at the front of the tank. Here's what it looks like.

That's the evil dottyback in the background. He chases fish out of the tank when he can.

Two semi-new, soon-to-be-whole starfish. Odd, but amazing. And I'm sure it all happens by accident and blind chance. Really.

The dogs are changing, too. Fortunately, they're not about to split and leave us with six two-legged dogs to take care of. Thankfully. But here's a picture of Cyrus and Mya I posted earlier, from the beginning of April. And next is a picture I took yesterday. He's so big, and he'll get so much bigger!

Celebration

Well, we have a house in escrow. Yay! It should close by the end of the month. In celebration, I offer this totally unrelated video of the dogs playing in the front yard with Matt. Actually, I suppose it's relevant...the new house will have a much larger, much better yard for the dogs to run around in. We're all looking forward to it.

Fun in the Sun

Cyrus enjoyed his first trip to the beach last weekend. To celebrate the end of the semester, my parents, my aunt and uncle, Matt and I went to Carmel. With six dogs. That's a lot of dogs. Cyrus did very well, even though we went to some very crowded places. In Carmel, they were having an art show, at Carmel Beach they were having a surfing competition, and we stopped in Capitola Sunday afternoon to see their Spring Dog Festival, which was packed. Cyrus, Pisco and Molly (!) handled it like champs. Mya has gotten a little protective of "her" puppy and had a tendency to growl, which sets Cyrus off. All in all, we had a wonderful time.

Coursing, of course!

On Sunday, we attended a lure coursing event in Gilroy. We brought Mya and Cyrus along and had a ton of fun. Cyrus has decided the car isn't such a bad thing, as long as someone sits in the back with him (that would be me). The dogs that ran were amazing and beautiful (the Irish Wolfhounds were especially regal, as only something that big can be).

Unfortunately, we left the camera in the car and decided not to go back and get it. Now, of course, I wish we had. So, in the spirit of chasing something, here is a snippet of Cyrus hitting the bottle, as it were.

Conformation Class

Wednesday, we went to Cyrus' first conformation class. He was not a big fan, but that's because I was asking him to do things for an hour that I'd never asked him to do before: walking at my left-hand side, standing still while people touch him, being generally unfidgety. He's great for a casual walk around the neighborhood, not pulling or lagging on the leash, but that's a far cry from jogging calmly right at my left side. So we're working on it at home before we go back next week. The above picture is adorable...I wish it was clearer! Below, I think Matt captured Cyrus' opinion of the class. I'm not sure what his expression means, but I'm sure he's emphatic about it.