Spring

Spring was here briefly, but now seems to be hiding again. 25 degree nights with green grass...how very odd.

The dogs love warmer weather. Harley will stay outside any time of year, while Dexter demands to come back in after he's done with his business by barking at the back door. But even with sunny 40º temps, they are happy.

I took this picture the other day when it was warmer and windy. Dexter loves to lay on this wooden stoop outside the garage. And Harley is so very hairy.

Spring means it's baby critter hunting time. There haven't been any baby birds yet, but I'm anticipating a high kill year. Recently, the dogs got a rabbit. This wasn't a baby rabbit, but an adult, so I guess that means they've honed their skills for the hunting season early. I'm assuming it was both of them, though I'm sure Harley is the one to get credit for actually catching the rabbit; Dexter is way too slow.

It was a stealthy, morning kill that went unnoticed by the humans. I did notice the dogs lingering around an area when I got home from work the same day. So I investigated while they were inside eating and discovered the scene of a rabbit mauling. The head was gone. Organs, a foot and fluffy fur was strewn about this part of the yard. Gross, guys! I'm glad I didn't see it happen.

I put up some police line do not cross tape (not really) and cleaned up the disgusting mess. I learned that I have an iron stomach. :)  I was literally scraping brains and unidentifiable organs off the grass with a stick onto a shovel. A couple times I just dug up that part of the yard to remove stuff because I couldn't get it up. So nasty! But it was kind of funny to me all at the same time. The cute, cuddly creatures I live with are also killing machines.

I feel I need to keep a tally of their kills. This is what I believe it to be as of now:
moles: 3
snakes: 1
baby birds: at least 5
baby raccoon: 1
rabbits: 2

Run-ins but no kill:
cat: 1
opossum: 1
toad: 1

Surprised there hasn't been a casualty of:
squirrels! Oh how they taunt Harley, running along the fence rail. One little slip, my chattering friend, and you're toast!

Notable of the above was the baby raccoon kill I unfortunately witnessed. It was cornered in the woodpile. Dogs barking and baying, I could not even begin to convince them to lay off. Then the baby made a fatal error of trying to come out to fight or escape. Harley and Dex each took a side and shook. It was dead pretty quickly...and the dogs were so so very pleased. I've never seen such pure satisfaction on their faces. They were happy, proud, glowing even...and exhausted. Both collapsed in the kitchen while I cleaned everything up. Pretty fascinating.

The rabbit kill did not come without some (expensive) consequences. Harley got very ill from her consumption of...well, whatever it was she ate of the rabbit (I'm pretending the head was eaten by some scavenging bird during the day). She spent the day at the vet where she underwent some tests and was x-rayed for bones and blockage. 8 cans of special food and a round of antibiotics later, she's all better. Dexter either didn't partake in the feast, or just didn't get ill. Harley does seem to get gastro-intestinal issues pretty easily.

So, spring is here. Baby animals be warned!

Coon Dogs

Last night the dogs were going crazy in the back yard, barking barking barking. They do this when they meet the neighbor dog through the fence. I imagine the conversation usually goes something like this:

Harley: "Oh high, fuzzball, how's your tiny little yard doing? You poop on top of your poop yet?"

Neighbor dog: "Whatever, Miss Hair's-So-Long-You-Can't-See. Why don't you go try to catch a ball...and fail...because you can't see!"

Dexter: "Hi!!!!!!!"

However, last night it wasn't a conversation between them and the neighbor dog. I couldn't get them to stop barking from the dining room window, so I went outside to yell at them. As I approached, I heard another noise - that of a raccoon snarling - and realized what was going on. The dogs were between the fence and a pile of large branches (where the raccoon was hiding) completely oblivious to me and my cries for them to stop. I was barefoot and tried to start making my way across the wood, trying to find a stick to pick up and whap them with to get their attention. But I wasn't fast enough. The raccoon became in reach and it was over pretty quick. Dexter had the back and Harley had the front - so cute, like they had a stuffed animal! Not really. It was disgusting. The barking stopped as each dogs mouth was around the raccoon. I think Harley did the largest damage with the head/neck. She viciously shook it. Finally they dropped it. Dexter's face was changed. Harley kept circling around trying to get at it again, but I finally got them both into the house.

When they came in the house, they were absolutely exhausted but wagging their tails. Both collapsed on the kitchen floor, completely satisfied. I've never seen Dexter look so utterly satisfied. It made his day! 

Clean up consisted of Greg getting underneath the little guy with a hoe and shoving it up onto my shovel. Then I carried it back to the way back near the creek, our critter graveyard. Poor little thing was kind of cute. 

So now Harley has added a critter to her kill list: Birds, mole, rabbit, snake and now raccoon. I give Dexter the assist.

Summer Randomness...

Here's some randomness about my tomato plant and the dogs. This is my sad tomato plant. I had to cut a bunch of it back because I never got a cage around it and it is huge and fell over (long boring story).






















It does have a ton of tomatoes on it (which is why it fell over).






















And there are pepper plants in the front.






















I watered them all one night and was entertained by the dogs chasing a rabbit around the garage. It was very cartoon-esque: Harley and Dexter in a line dart across the back of the yard. Then, as I'm holding the hose on the plants, a rabbit comes out of nowhere off to my side and runs right behind my legs. I no sooner turn back and Harley and Dexter are right behind it, nearly knocking me over as they run past. Cue goofy music and if I had fallen over spraying the hose in my face perhaps, it would have been a scene out of a corny comedy!

After the chase...

My Art Blog - now up!

It has been a hope of mine for a while now to start an art blog where I can showcase and eventually sell my artwork. First step of course is to DO the artwork. It is hard to fit it in to my schedule, but recently I have been able to do a little.

So without further ado...
http://stephaniesmithart.blogspot.com/

Please check it out: subscribe or follow it so you can get updates when I post pieces. It will be slow going for a while, but my goal is to post at least one piece each week.

There will be changes and adjustments to it as I develop it. But for now enjoy Dexter, my first art blog post! I'm very excited!

Nothing to See Here

I've decided that my blog is a bit boring. So I'm going to try to take more pictures to liven it up...which will also get me taking more pictures (which is fun, though a photographer I do not claim to be).

I have nothing to say right now, but for the sake of having something to look at...
Here's a random pic of a baby Starling that was in our front boxwood one day when I came home.














And here's baby Dexter, a few weeks aftere we got him (taken by Dad at Thanksgiving). Aw, the memories...

Harley in School

This was the 3rd week at Beginner Obedience for Harley. While she is doing pretty well, this most recent class session was chaos. Of course having gone through the class already with Dexter, my views are tainted a bit. But the instructor was getting very mad at the class, so I don't think it's just me.

Harley's worst subject is Staying Quiet. (This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you.) She's extremely excited for the first chunk of class, barking randomly as well as every time we switch directions while walking in the ring. She's eager to go go go! I had to give her the lime juice treatment in the beginning of class. I think lime juice worked better than the lemon juice– there were less mmmmmm this is tasty! licks following the squirt into her mouth. As for the barking at home progress, I think what we'll have to do is make Harley lay down when people come in and make sure she doesn't bark by pinning her and squirting lime juice in her mouth. It's a lot of work and is going to take a lot of practicing.

I kind of yelled at another dog...er...owner?...or at least in the direction of the owner via her dog? It was stressful. This woman wouldn't make her dog do anything, she didn't say boo to it the entire class, and it was being aggressive toward Harley during the sit-stay exercise. So a big NO DOG! came belting out of me. People proably think I'm a b!$*# but I just didn't want a fight.

Over all, Harley is having a good time. Greg comes and watches (and laughs at the chaos) and says she looks completely content and happy to be there.

Graduation!

Dexter graduated beginner obedience!














We received a certificate, perfect attendance ribbon and....
BEST HANDLER!!!

Yay Dex for being a good dog and making mom look good!

Now I'm signing up Harley for beginner obedience. This will be a much bigger challenge– especially the barking and whining. But I am confident that progress will be made! Classes for her start the 13th of May, Tuesday nights at 8:15.

And while speaking of the dogs, both of them just got over a very bad illness called HGE (Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis). Harley had it first. Then while she was hospitalized, Dexter was mopey, I thought because he missed Harley. But he went to the hospital the day after Harley returned. Both dogs are now recovering on bland food and sleeping a lot. They played together for the first time yesterday, so they are definitely returning to normal.

In a nutshell, HGE is a disease (unknown causes) that makes the blood thicken. There is profuse and very bloody diarrhea which eventually leads to anemia, shock and collapse of the blood vessels. We caught it way before either dog was close to the severity of the disease, but it was still scary. Coming home to a you-know-what filled kitchen is not pleasant. 32 pounds is a small body to lose that much blood.

Harley showed no signs of being sick, other than the messes. Dexter, however, spoiled baby that he is, moped around and seemed to be hit harder with the disease, though his blood counts were better than Harley's when I took him to the vet. The disease is not supposed to be contagious, yet both dogs had it. So we assume they must have gotten into something in the yard that had the bacteria in it. The vet attributed Dexter's moping and Harley's not moping to them being different dogs with different personalities. Makes sense to me! After all, Dexter does sleep under the covers!

I ESPECIALLY like to run when it's 70º and sunny

After a rediculous couple days in the studio...no make that a rediculous week (and it's only Wednesday) in the studio, nothing sounded better to me today than a run. I planned for it regardless of the fact that I only got 3.5 hours of sleep and am wiped out from my allergies. Sometimes you just have to go! And now I feel much better.

It was blissful, the weather could not be more perfect. I envy the few people on the planet that get a day like this every day.

On the Dog Front, Dexter is still doing OK. He didn't stay very well last class when we did sit-stays and down-stays. He'd forget what he was sitting or downing for, start sniffing and get up. There are only two more classes after this, and I think I've decided to take him on to the next level, Intermediate. He is doing so well and I don't think either of us have been trained enough to really make it a change, so I think another 8 weeks will be great. He's already made a lot of improvement. Now when he's up on the counter and we scream NO! He actually will get down. He'll get right back up again, but he will get down. Maybe he just has ADD.

I also took Harley on a walk with the pinch collar (after adding 2 more links for her thicker neck) and she did really well! For the first time ever, she didn't pull! I take that back- when I've taken her running, after about a mile she won't pull anymore either! She certainly didn't understand that I was leader, but at least she responded to the collar.

A Mole Problem

We have a mole problem.














It's been going on for a while now, but really picked up last summer. Throughout the fall and winter, the dogs took an interest in helping us rid the yard of the moles...or so we thought. Quick solution to the problem: let the dogs get the moles!














In reality, Dexter probably either smelled something and decided to dig after it, or saw the ground move and decided to dig after it– either way a fun game!! It wasn't long before Harley joined in this game. And then it wasn't long before we had a yard full of holes and exposed mole tunnels...and still had moles. The dogs were successfully destroying the yard, worse than the moles, digging some holes so deep half of their body would fit in... exhibit A:














And a wet winter and spring is dirty enough with dogs... but then when they dig... we have to bathe them nearly every time they come in. Check out the paws and snout.














Yes I was digging...


















No I didn't get the mole.


















Yes, I put that big chunk of mud on the door...


















Today, however, a breakthrough! Our first dead mole!
I was napping and woke up to Dexter baying over and over and over again, not his typical I'm-playing-with-Harley bay. I went outside to see a disgusting, wet and rather large mole at his feet... dead. Harley didn't seem to care. I was able to get the dogs inside no problem and then shoveled the dead mole out to the compost pile. The pic up at the top of the blog entry is exactly what it looked like- HUGE paws. It was a big mole compared to what I've read about them online. Size of a chipmunk? More like the size of a squirrel. Maybe this was a mamma and the dogs just saved us from having a mole nursery in our backyard. I don't know. I'm just glad to see one gone.

I'm not sure which dog gets the mole trophy. It is pretty interesting that they got it out of the ground and somehow killed it with no mess. Harley has been known to shake a snake to death, so maybe she should get the credit. But Dexter clearly alerted me of the situation before it got messy, so he deserves some credit too, not to mention his nose is probably what lead them. I'd say it was good teamwork! Perhaps allowing them to destroy the yard is finally paying off.

Dexter...a Show Dog?!

Class on Monday went way better than the last one. I was worried that Big V's reprimanding of Dexter would be a distant memory this week, but it turns out the dog is actually learning!

We did circles again and this time walked with the leash around our necks, still correcting if we needed to but trying to do it on voice. Dexter was great– he looked at me a lot and responded right away to the pinch collar.

Then we did sit-stays and down-stays... upgrades of those as well. This time we dropped the leashes and backed as far as we felt comfortable across the room. This made me nervous. JoAnn also came by bouncing a ball and kicking around a stuffed animal. Some dogs went for it, but not Dex. I still think this is class shock though... definitely need to work on it at home around Harley and in the yard.

We wove around through cones doing laps and then also doing figure-8's. The figure eights allow you to practice getting the dog off you and getting the dog back in next to your leg, all so you don't trip over the dog and so it learns to respond to you rather than going where it wants. Dexter did better at the lap weaving than the figure-8s. The previous week when we went on walks, I practiced weaving in the street. We also did U-turns and catch-up turns, so I probably look pretty silly to the neighborhood unless they know what I'm doing.

JoAnn mentioned this week that she is watching all the dogs and handlers because she gives out awards at the end of the 8 weeks for Best Handler, Best Jr Handler and Most Improved. So... now it's competitive! Dexter got a lot of comments from the instructors this class on how good he looked (the beagle looks great!). She also mentioned showing him (!?) "Wow, that beagle...if you wanted to show him, I think you'd really have something there." She mentioned it twice, the second time noting it was because he wants to please so bad and would do well. I'm sure it's not because of his sway back. She did mention that he was little. Dexter the show dog?? I can't imagine! Don't you have to not be neutered?? Plus, to quote the breeder, "He ain't got no papers".

Anyway, it was nice to hear that he's behaving better... and now I want to practice like crazy so we get the top of the class award! It could be a repeat of the Westminster! aarroooooo!!!!!

Look how fast my tail wags!!! You can't even see it!!

Dexter Gets Reprimanded

I knew it wasn't going to be a stellar class. I was at Luxottica until 5:15, the class is at 6:00, so we were rushing to get there and didn't get pre-class exercise time.

We started off OK, walking in the usual circle around the ring. We changed directions, as we had learned the week before. Dexter wasn't having it. Whether it was the unfamiliar dog butt he couldn't sniff, or the fact that the wall was now on the other side of him, he was upset and took it all out on the dog by him. I had a lot of yanking and yelling to do at him. The instructor, Vince (let's call him Big V), asked me if he ever has aggression towards other dogs. I said from time to time. We proceeded again around the ring. I'm pretty sure this loop was just for Big V to watch Dexter. Again I just couldn't get him under control. He was all over the place, trying to do his own thing. Big V asked me which dog it was Dexter seemed to not like. I pointed at Pooper, the one I had pointed out before when Jo Ann asked whose dog pooped on the floor (I was right behind the dog and the handler wasn't fessing up!!) So then Vince takes the leash and poor little Dex into the center of the ring... uh-oh.

Dexter freaked. Whatthehell... whoisthisguy... wheresmom... idon'twanttogothisway... He must have sensed the Vince wasn't about to let him rule. Big V casually took him by Pooper and, as if on cue, Dexter lashed out at him. Vince corrected him by snapping the pinch collar so hard that Dexter flew about 3 feet across the floor. This of course shocked the hell out of him. He looked around for his escape. Vince tried to walk with him, but Dexter then proceeded to throw a big fit in the middle of the ring, yowling and rolling all over the floor. It was the "Get this Collar Off of Me" dance performance of the century! Every time he settled, Vince tried to just walk with him a little bit, but he freaked out and had to be corrected. When the entire event was over, Dexter came back to me and hid behind my legs– scared, ego crushed.

I watched helplessly from the sideline. I'm sure the shock was all over my face. This is probably the closest feeling to parenting I can relate to... I knew Dexter was being dominant and bad, but it was so hard to see him confused and struggling. I wanted to pick him up after Vince brought him back to me and tell him it was OK– which is most likely why the dog is having these problems in the first place. Vince told me I wasn't snapping the leash correctly either, so I got that lesson and then we were all off around for another lap.

This time, Dexter walked low to the ground with his tail between his legs. A broken dog, no longer in charge of the room or me.

He eventually got his tail out again and wasn't low crawling. But for the remainder of the class, every command was cake. When we walked, he looked up at me every few steps and followed my lead- a first! His head was totally where it should be- wondering what I'm doing next, not what he's going to sniff next. It was marvelous.

So I think a big breakthrough has been made for Dexter. When we've gone on walks this week, he responds instantly to the pinch collar corrections. I don't feel that he and I have connected 100% yet, but at least he's learned the lesson that humans are alpha and determine what he does, not himself. We're both making progress.

Dexter In School

So I said I was going to write about Dexter going to school...I'm very behind.

The first class was what I would describe as complete chaos. Put 12 people who don't know how to control dogs in a room with 12 uncontrolled dogs and that is the recipe for loud chaos. Dexter pretty much sat in awe of the whole situation. Occasionally he would look up at me with this, "what the hell are we doing here" kind of look and try to get in my lap. After seeing how Vince, one of the trainers, responded to another dog and its owner, I wasn't about to let Dexter get in my lap for the fear of being smacked on the nose– me, not Dexter. (OK, slight exaggeration.)

The trainers clearly know what they are doing and how dangerous a room full of uncontrolled dogs can be. Every person that came through the door with their dog charging into the facility was screamed at to get their dog on a short lead. The dog next to Rick was smacked hard on the nose and then jerked up by his leash, to which he yelped both times (because it was a big, overgrown, misbehaving baby), all of which shocked its owner (her face was priceless). The little ankle biters down a few seats from me wouldn't stop barking so they got allum powder in their noses. It was a room full of love!

After everyone settled down, we listened to a long talk about dogs, breeds (where I learned Dexter, a beagle, is just a "cute nose with fur"), behaviors, personalities, how dogs communicate etc etc. All very very helpful and interesting. Greg and I have been doing nearly everything completely wrong. Then we started with walking in circles around the room. We had the dog sit next to us, lining up their shoulder to our leg, said "Dexter, heal" and then proceeded around in a chaotic circle. This is where we learned "get up, get back, get in, get out" with coinciding jerks on the training collar. Dex didn't care for it after a while and kept jumping up on me. Overall, it was exhausting but positive!

The next class we walked in circles again, and this time we changed directions while walking! Who knew that dogs don't like to change directions! Utter chaos once again. Dexter freaked out at one point, doing the "get this damn collar off of me!!!!" dance. He decided to try to take it out on the dogs around him, giving me an excuse to exercise my best deep NO DOG! correction. Once he understood, it got better. We also did sit-stays and down-stays. During the stays, Jo Ann, the instructor, would come by bouncing a ball. Hilarious! I was laughing at Dexter pretty hard at this part because he was so completely tired and sat there with his hind legs all floppy and huge wide eyes looking around at everything, completely overwhelmed. He gets lots of complements from the instructors for his behavior, but I think he's pulling one over on them. Again, an exhausting class, but I can tell progress is being made for sure!!

There is motivation to work outside of class– not only so that Dex remembers, but also so I don't have the worst dog in class. I need to work with him at home (haven't yet this week) and teach Greg some more commands. I really think we'll have a good beagle...and then it's on to the hairy barking Schnauz!

Dexter is Going to School!

"I'm going where?"


















I've enrolled Dexter in the Cincinnati Canine Companion Center that is just around the corner from my studio in Loveland. Our neighbor, Rick, is also going to be in the same class with his rescued Skye terrier, Brenny. We start March 10th and the sessions last for 8 weeks- every Monday night at 6:00.

I'm looking forward to it! We're on the path to a trained beagle with good manners who won't drink your beer when you're not looking!