Wordless Wednesday

Kerri improvising a bed on a hike at Mt. Charleston.

Wordless Wednesday

A photo from a few months ago of Nova and foster dog Bob.

5 Years With Copley!

 I am a few days late with this posting, but Copley's 5 year adoption day was also my 4 year wedding anniversary so I tend to get a little busy.  He doesn't mind sharing his big day with our anniversary though, he likes the visitors we get in town, the trips we take and the general fact that he is not the center of attention.  Better late than never here is a little look back at the last five years with my best buddy, Copley.

That is our very first road trip and vacation together.  It was only about 3 weeks after we adopted him from Henderson Animal Control where he had been for 29 days.  Was it a great idea to take a dog on vacation who had not even been out of the shelter for as long as he was in it?  Maybe not, but we travel a LOT and we figured our dog needed to get used to it.  He loved everything about that trip except maybe two border collies at the friends house we stayed at.

Copley tolerates other polite dogs and often will play with them, but there are a very few out there that he really loves.  Two of them are our other dogs Kerri and Nova.  Kerri won him over as a puppy by pulling maneuvers like this.  Nova he just loves, she could get away with anything when it comes to Copley.

 Copley loves being outside, as long as he doesn't have to get his feet wet...

 Over the years as the blog has grown and as we started our own business dealing in dog stuff Copley has done a lot of product reviews.  From the treats he gets for good sit-stays with the camera to the toys he gets to pull out of the box he is pretty happy with the job.

Copley is a very serious dog.  Most other people don't see that, because the moments of glee in his life mostly happen when he sees other people.  His favorite thing in the world is meeting new people and having guests come over to the house.  The rest of the time he is very on task.  When we are on walks he is dedicated to getting from point "a" to point "b."  When we are eating he sits nearby in his serious pose until we are done.  From other dogs he demands manners; a paw to his face, a rambunctious puppy knocking into him or any other less than polite activity results in a curled lip.  Strangely enough this seriousness is why I didn't try to compete in any obedience with him.  At class he was so happy, his butt always wiggled and he gleefully jumped at the idea of doing anything for me.  That kind of ruined his sits and his heels, but I just wasn't willing to fix that.  For a dog like him I never have felt like stopping the little moments of happiness he has, even if they are occasionally inappropriate for the setting, and I wasn't about to train it out of him.  Here is a picture that really captures his goofy side.

That is my Copley!  He is the best dog a person like us could ask for.  He lived through so much of our learning and being brand new dog owners in those early days.  With his tolerant, people-loving attitude he took our mistakes in stride.  The different training methods, the different crates, the many foods we struggled with before we went for the good stuff, the roller coaster of vets and those few times I thought dog parks were a good idea for him.  He took all the growing pains of a first dog so that one day when we get that basenji puppy I've always wanted I will have a chance of training it right.*  We love you Copley!

*That was kind of a joke.  I love basenji but I don't think even I am crazy enough to get one.

My Musings on Jurassic Park

A few weeks ago, after seeing Jurassic World, I posted this on facebook:
I thought that movie was going to give me "Chris Pratt, raptor whisperer" but instead it gave me something even better "Chris Pratt, positive reinforcement raptor clicker trainer." Swoon.

Now I have seen the movie a second time and have a more solid opinion formed.  I would like to expand on that Facebook post a little bit.  Last month, in anticipation of seeing Jurassic World, I sat down and watched all 3 of the other Jurassic Park movies.  Me and my husband are such big fans, I was way, way, into dinosaurs when the first one came out and I remember going to see it in the theater and thinking it was just the coolest thing.  I am so glad we re-watched them going into Jurassic World, not because any of that previous plot really mattered in regards to this new movie, but because it really made me think about how far we have come when it comes to how the scientific community views animals.

I had seen the previews of Chris Pratt hunting bigger dinosaurs with a pack of velociraptors and jumping into their pen pulling a move that I expected to be Caesar Milan like in his control of the dinosaurs.  I was excited for that more than anything else really.  Little did I know that the movie really was going to deliver something even better.  When I saw a movie star pull out a clicker and a bucket of meat I just about died of excitement.  Did I really just watch someone look cool controlling large, dangerous predators with POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT?  I did.  I did see that.  I also like that they almost ate him a few times, but that didn't really shake his trust of them.  He was always worried they were going to eat him so it wasn't much of a surprise.  Obviously there were a lot of inaccurate things because well, this IS Jurassic Park after all.  Besides the fact that there are dinosaurs walking around there were other things like the actual execution of the clicker training being a little off, also they do reinforce the alpha thing a little bit, I'm not sure that is totally inaccurate based on the imaginary group structure they gave the animals, but whatever.  As I walked out of the movie a friend of mine said "Maybe now people will think clicker training is totally bad-ass."  I hope so.

It seems to me that despite lots and lots of scientific evidence in the other direction that trainers alpha rolling dogs is getting more and more popular.  I am not saying I am beyond using whatever works for your particular dog, or there is only one way to train, but lets base these methods in modern, scientific fact.  As a positive reinforcement trainer I know I get criticized because in limited situations I am not beyond interrupting a behavior with something like a spray bottle, but that is a far cry from this constant punishment crap.  Come on people, every behavior is not explained with "they are trying to be your alpha" in fact most are not!  Even if your dog thinks they run your house alpha rolling them is not going to convince them otherwise.  Can't we see that positive reinforcement works?  Just yesterday me and my husband spent twenty minutes defending our position that Nova does not in fact think she is our "alpha."  Also Copley does not like rolling over at all, but I assure you the last thing he imagines is that he is my boss.  He dislikes being on his back because he has messed up sinuses from being a poorly thought out cross between a flat faced breed and who knows what else and whenever he is on his back he sneezes violently. The bottom line is we need more positive methods in the pop culture and this movie does that for sure.

One other thing I am curious about is wither the film makers were trying to make a connection to the Navy's dolphin program.  Owen, the trainer played by Chris Pratt, had recently come out of the Navy.  Were they implying that he had come from the dolphin program?  Also the raptor head pieces were very reminiscent of the ones that movies tend to portray on dolphins.  If that is the case it is very interesting to me that Owen was so against the militarization and exploitation of his raptors.  Food for thought for sure.

Stolen Dog!

I know I don't usually post things like this on the blog, but this story really hit lose to home for me.  Tonka was stolen along with a car while it was sitting in her families garage.  Her Mom had run into the house to grab a cell phone and when she came out the car and Tonka were gone.  For a while our garage door was broken, and every time I left the house with a dog the car would be running as I ran back in to shut the door really fast.  When I first heard of her story on facebook I immideately felt horrible because this could so easily been me.  When people's dogs are lost I have noticed a trend lately of blaming the owner.  People are so quick to say "That never could have been me" or "my dog could not have gotten out."  That may make people feel better but it is not actually true.  Tonka could have just as easily been my Kerri and I can't imagine what I would be feeling if it was.

I decided to post this on the blog because today I was sitting in Unwanted and Lost Pets receiving at our local high kill shelter, waiting on a dog going to the rescue we volunteer with.  There is hardly a more depressing place than receiving at a shelter like that.  While we were sitting there I met Tonka's Mom, she was looking through lost and found for Tonka.  I can't even imagine how she must feel having a family member stolen form her like that.  So please take a look at  her picture and be on the lookout for her and the dark grey Mitsubishi with California plates on the poster above.  If you know anyone in Las Vegas please share!  You also should like and share her facebook page here.

Lets bring this baby home!!

Fun Park Day

I rarely take pictures on walks anymore.  I am sure that the number of instagram followers I have suffers due to the lack of pictures, but I just can't handle two dogs on a busy walk AND a camera.  Finally a week or so ago the whole family went for a walk and I was able to get a few great shots.  As you can see Nova is enjoying family walks now!  She even did great on this day when we drove to a new park down the road.  I was looking for some nice grass to hang out in and we sure did find it.

 

 Bug Hunting!

I said Nova was doing great- but we still walk her with this yellow I need space sign and a yellow ribbon on the handle of her leash.  Does it keep people away?  Not really.  It just makes people believe me when I tell them she doesn't like strangers.  Usually if I ask someone not to approach our dogs they say "oh, I like dogs" or "my dogs friendly" or something else like that, as if I don't know my dogs.  When I tell people to stay away while pointing at a leash that says stay away they know I mean it- haha! 

By the way, did you all check out our new family business?  We are selling gift baskets for DOGS!  Full of premium items and totally customized for your pup.  Please check us out on facebook and head over to our website to sign up for our newsletter.

The Luxury Wolf

I am excited to announce our new business- The Luxury Wolf.  After a few years of running this blog I have noticed a lot of people are really starting to care for their pets like they are family (yay).  I also have discovered a lot of new an interesting products.  When one of our friends or family adopted a new dog or were celebrating with us at Christmas I would put together little gift boxes for them with a lot of the cool dog products I have discovered over the years.  In addition to that people started coming to me for advise about what to buy for their pups.  In my mind I put that all together and came up with The Luxury Wolf.  We will be selling custom packed gift boxes for your dogs or as a gift!  All of our unique gift baskets and boxes will be custom packed for your dog and then beautifully wrapped in attractive, gift-ready packaging.  Every one is different because it is packed based on what you tell us about your dog, and we can work around any allergies or sensitivities- making us the perfect gift for any dog.  Today we have launched the website with our very first products- Easter Baskets of course!  Click here to check them out and order by the 27th for guaranteed delivery by Easter.

One Of Our Large Dog Easter Baskets

In the next few weeks expect us to roll out new products such as a "Welcome Home Rescue" and "Welcome Home Puppy" baskets containing everything you need to get started with a new dog, "Get Well Soon" boxes and various Treat Sampler boxes.  Take a look at our website to see what we are all about and also check out our facebook page.

So what does this mean for the blog?  Other than a few giveaways coming in the next couple of months, not a whole lot.  I hope to keep blogging honestly about the dog world, the things I love about it, the things I hate about it, and of course camping.

Thank you all for checking out the new business.  I would so appreciate it if you like us on Facebook, visit the website and sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page, and let me know what you think of custom gift baskets for dogs!