Meet my new puppy!

[MegF.]

I feed everyone together as well. They have space apart but all are within each other's sight. I make sure no one goes near anyone else's bowls and they do well. I like to feed them turkey or pork necks...If I need to add fat I used chicken backs. My one ridgeback is so picky she won't eat hearts or anything but chicken and pork. I do add to their food in the winter since they have to stay warm while outside. They are short coated dogs.

 

[diamondlil]

A trip to somewhere different today, Mote Park. It's set in 450 acres, so Bertie could run to his heart's content. There's a lake fed by streams so of course about the first thing he did was try to chase some swans and got the fright of his life when they turned on him. Both dogs got to chase squirrels, crows, moorhens and pigeons and play with other dogs. Bertie objected to the moorhens swimming away and was shouting his head off at them, I think after his fright with the swans he wasn't bold enough to swim after them!

 

[MegF.]

Those are tired, happy dogs! One of my clients and I worked at the park today with her dogs. One would be friendly with dogs if he would just calm down. There's a lot of high pitched whining and lunging going on...I'm bringing one of the dogs next time to work him off of. I can control my dogs better than people walking around the park although there were some nice people that allowed me to work Frankie around their dog (another reactive boston terrier) so that he'd learn to relax a bit. He did pretty well.

 

[diamondlil]

Bertie did have a major case of 'deafness' to being recalled today! It took playing with a stick, Rosie and a lovely black lab to finally get him back from his adventures. He did keep running towards us but then the lure of the wildlife to chase would take over and he'd zoom off. The whole area is open parkland so perfectly safe for him to be in and let off steam.

 

[MegF.]

At least you can see where the holes in your training are. That's the place to work...preferably with an e-collar where you can correct him when he distracts.

 

[diamondlil]

More adventures today!
Firstly, I've got a crate, so I'm starting off crate training with the door propped open and the crate being a wonderful place where doggy treats drop through the roof. So both dogs willingly go in to explore and are in and out with wagging tails. I'll use the crate for when I've got visitors so Bertie has a safe place to relax.
But today we went off to a different country park, Capstone. I used to take my old girl Ellie there but this was the first time for Bertie and Rosie. Open country, rabbits, and a really good run with a lovely pair of retired racing greyhounds mean I've got exhausted happy dogs curled up asleep this afternoon.
Bertie's recall was almost perfect, he got huge praise and then allowed to run off again a few times before ending on a high note back on the lead being told just what a good dog he was!

 

[MegF.]

Fabulous Janine! Looks like a wonderful time! Wish I had areas like that where I could let the dogs run free. One of the things I miss about California...there is a lot of open space where I could hike and let the dogs off. Here, most land is privately owned and the rest is forestry so no dogs off leash. Doesn't mean I don't, just have to watch more or we'll get ticketed.

 

[diamondlil]

I should have got photos of them running with the greyhounds, but I was too busy talking to the owner. She'd never met a Bedlington and described her first sight of my terrors racing past her as being like furry tornadoes! They couldn't keep up with the greyhounds so the bigger dogs were loping most of the time at half speed with mine at full stretch.
Apart from just near the entrance and the carpark, where there's a small lake (and dogs must be on-lead there anyway) there are acres of open downs and coppiced woodland at the park, with no way for Bertie to get himself into trouble. Because the site is so open he was in full view most of the time no matter how hard he was running. It was a better park than the one we visited last week because no vehicles go through it at all. There's a bridle path and both dogs were safely back on-lead by the time we met up with a rider with a nervous pony who thanked us for the dogs behaving so nicely as she went past

 

[MegF.]

Well sounds awesome and I'm glad they got to play with some friends! My feral puppy has been declared mange free so now I can get her spayed, her rabies done and we can get back to socializing her! She's doing really well at home, but she definitely needs to get out in public and meet people.

 

[diamondlil]

any photos of the puppy, Meg?

 

[MegF.]

Just the ones I took when I first got her:

Her playing with Ona

And her sleeping...awwwww

 

[MegF.]

Do you realize we've been following the dogs since you first got Bertie almost a year and a half ago??? It doesn't seem like it's been that long!

 

[diamondlil]

What a cutie! Good luck with her rehab!

 

[MegF.]

Thanks! She's doing well although her buddy Drayton was adopted yesterday so she doesn't have him for support now She is much more friendly here and retrieves toys for me and is playful so I think she'll do well.

 

[diamondlil]

Because I've pulled my hamstring, no long walks in the sunshine for us today. Instead, I had no choice but to insist on very slow, controlled heelwork. Something Bertie is still not very good at, generally. However, as I can't take a normal stride without a sharp intake of breath, instead of trying to pull, Bertie responded by walking beautifully at my side looking up at me. In fact he behaved better than Rosie.
With Bertie being so responsive today, I've obviously got my timing or my energy levels wrong in our usual heelwork. Food for thought. We were out for over an hour and probably covered less than a quarter of the distance of our customary walks but both dogs were calm and settled down for a snooze on the sofa with me afterwards. Concentrating on walking nicely obviously tired them out just as much as further distances or running freely does!

 

[MegF.]

A good way of seeing how energy, not strength affects the dogs. There's something to be said about a very controlled pack walk..one reason why I stress them so strongly when I go to work with people that are having problems with their dogs. While running and burning off energy that way is fun, it equates to affection and excitement...not much for calming the mind which is our goal with higher energy dogs. Sort of Chuckie Cheese type fun instead of piano recitals.....Concentrating on what you want is as much of a challenge mentally and sometimes physically since it takes them energy to control their energy. Food for thought indeed! I only took my dogs about 3 miles today but we were working with two dogs I've been training. The owner was working on handling her reactive dog and we were working on recall with distractions etc. My dogs were as tired after a slow 3 miles as they would be after a 5 mile non stop walk...all because I was making them work with the other dogs and create balance in those dogs. It's work!

 

[diamondlil]

Almost back to normal today, thanks to stretching exercises my hamstring is recovering which means less stress on my madleg! So today a nice brisk walk and met up with lots of Bertie and Rosie's friends.
Sadly, one of our friends won't be around again. A lovely springer bitch ran across the road yesterday and was fatally hit by a car. Her owner had boasted before about how well behaved her dog was off-lead. This is the 3rd dog involved in a car accident since the hedging and iron-rail fencing was removed by the council to 'open up the vista' on the open land we walk on. The good, secure fencing and hedging has been replaced by gabions, metal cages filled with stones that are only a foot high, usually used as flood or erosion protection on riverbanks. As well as Bertie's lucky escape when he jumped out and across the road I know of 2 other dogs that have ran out and not been hit.
So this has strengthened my resolve not to let my dogs off-lead at all there. It doesn't matter how well they behave or how much I trust them, in a couple of seconds I could lose one or both of my dogs and potentially injure or kill a car driver.
We'll stick to our present routines of only going off-lead in rural areas and open beaches where we are well away from traffic.
(Here's a picture of gabions, the ones surrounding our field are only a foot square, and stacked 2 high for only part of the field. No barrier at all or dogs)

 

[MegF.]

That's terribly sad. So sorry to hear of her death. You definitely have to be carefull around roads!

 

[Tara80]

That's a bummer Janine, about the dog and the fencing being removed.
Do they plan to keep it the way it is now, or will they consider installing something a bit safer?
I hope the owner of the deceased dog is ok.

 

[diamondlil]

That's a bummer Janine, about the dog and the fencing being removed.
Do they plan to keep it the way it is now, or will they consider installing something a bit safer?
I hope the owner of the deceased dog is ok.

We (the local, regular dog walkers), have already tried to work out how to raise a petition about the fencing. At a meeting about the developments, it was emphasised that the changes are improve the area. We have a feeling that the answer to the problems with dogs would be that they will have to be leashed there.