Labradoris

We decided to take advantage of the day and take the dogs out hiking this afternoon.  Unfortunately, everyone and their brother decided the same thing (sans dogs).  A secluded hiking area we normally frequent was packed!  We decided instead to pull off the side of the road and play fetch in a field.  It was very leisurely and we had a nice time stretching out onto the grass with nothing but sunshine and warm air around us. 

Later, some Frisbee enthusiasts joined us in the field, and although the dogs were especially interested in chasing their Frisbee, we managed to keep them by us.  They did a very good job at minding.

Tonight we are  headed to a middle eastern dance celebration that my friend is involved in.  Should be quite the show.  As a student even, I paid $8 for pre-tickets so I'm expecting a lot!  I love dance.

Off to Florida next week, so don't expect too much in the way of posting...

Trooper (left) 9 months / Cosette (right) 2.5 years

You know what I did this morning?  I took some blogs off my blog roll because I was tired of reading the whining.  Some blogs dip into whining, and that's fine, I do it too.  But there are some blogs that are just. so. whiny.!  I have enough people in my life (work) who whine, why would I want to voluntarily read that crap?!  No thanks.  And now, I am no longer bothered.  Also, sidenote:  I'm not one of those fervent readers who bothers to send a nasty note to the blog owner.  I just stop reading.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, yesterday Trooper did something really cute.  I had a pile of laundry-esque stuff that was sitting in a corner of my office (a blanket, a discarded bed pillow, and a large sweater - some needed to be laundered, some needed to be thrown away), and Trooper wandered in with all his Troopiness, bone in his mouth, took a look around, and walked over to the pile.  Well, it was more of a couple of bounces, but you know.  So he plants himself right on top of everything that shouldn't have been on the floor anyway, and decides that, well, it's unattended, so therefore it must be his so he might as well just....slide....right....on....down.  He lays there nonchalantly, chewing on his bone, a look of distant satisfaction in his eyes.

And suddenly, I wanted to be him, but instead of being him, I am resolving today to ease up wherever I'm at.  In a rush?  Ease up.  Organizing papers?  Ease up.  Need to take a break from work?  Ease up and write a blog entry.  Make whatever I'm doing a more comfortable feeling. 

Now, off to write a statistical methods section...ahhhh.  :)

So, in the middle of the week a few weeks ago, I was petting Trooper when I felt something very strange under my fingers.  I lifted his ear up, only to find a section the size of my palm with oozing, matted fur.  I brought him into the kitchen and wiped it with a wet paper towel in an effort to see what in the world was going on.  It rubbed away - sorry - a little blood and mucus.  I didn't know what was wrong because I couldn't see anything obvious - it was just oozing.  I applied some Neosporin (it works just as well on dog injuries) and waited a day.  A day later, it was still oozing and looking like something I shouldn't have been touching - seriously, it kind of looked like something I could catch.  I made sure to wash my hands thoroughly every time I got near it.  I called the vet and made an appointment.

Unfortunately, my vet (from a two-vet practice) had left the office permanently to work at a nearby animal shelter full-time (good for her!).  I really miss her!  So, this was the first time with the new vet.  And, I recognize that it was more of a familiarity thing than anything else, but I just didn't really groove on this vet.  She was young, didn't have much of a sense of humor, and didn't inspire confidence in me.  She couldn't tell what was going on, so she decided to shave Trooper.  She brought another technician in, and the three of us held him down as he struggled and yelped with every touch of her razorblade.  After a few minutes of struggling and not really getting anywhere, she straightened up and said, "Okay, we have two options.  We can keep struggling and I can try and see what's wrong, or we can sedate him and I can fully clean the wound and see what's going on."  I gave my permission to sedate him.  After all that drama, it turns out that he just had a "hot spot" that had become infected from his constant itching (unknown to me - he must have been doing it when I was away at work). 

But, the funniest and heart-wrenching thing that occurred after this $200 vet visit was Trooper's sedation recovery at home.  He couldn't quite get his legs to work, and it took about 4 hours for the sedative to really wear off.  So, I carried him to and from the front yard, supporting his back end so he could pee.  Otherwise, he laid on the living room floor and tried desparately to make his hind end work in tandem with his scratching needs.  He was so cute and I just wanted to snuggle with him (which is totally what I did).  Trust me, he never stays still this long!

Let me preempt any concern or discussion about this video I've posted.  Trooper does this naturally.  No matter what he is chasing or what he is after, this kid jumps like there is no tomorrow.  I simply made a compilation of his jumps.  He will do this even if I throw the ball long distances, as he will bounce all the way there, mis-judge the distance, flip over himself, flop on the ground, and then bounce all the way back.  I recognize that it is probably dangerous to his spine or hips to be doing this, but, like I said, he does this anyway regardless of whether or not I'm filming.  I think there may be a chance he's made of rubber.  Enjoy.

The other day I was short on time - or maybe motivation, I don't remember - and I decided to walk both the dogs at one time.  What I do remember thinking, as I fastened their pinch collars, gathered their leashes, and stuffed baggies into my pockets, is this may not go well.

I mean, they are two Labs.  They have been in the house all day.  They have not run off their energy in any way, shape, or form.  In fact, as we walk out the door, I stop thinking this may not go well and it turns into a well, this was probably a really bad idea. 

Once we got over the initial confusion of who is supposed to be where, the dogs double-walked beautifully, side-by-side in a perfect heel.  They didn't climb on each other, play bite or snarl, or spin wildly in circles (these things happen).  They walked happily next to one another, Trooper bouncing along his merrily way, Cosette walking more steadily. 

I was so impressed by them that I almost walked further with them, but then I was halted by the lack of motivation (or was it time?) and just took them on our regular shorter route; however, it has given me confidence to try it again sometime soon, without the dreadful preamble, like a pesky gnat buzzing in my ear.  This time it will be, this will go well.

The weekend before last, half of the department gathered for our annual cookout.  I say half because it includes two graduate programs (and associated faculty); the other two  graduate programs party by themselves and don’t invite us (I kid.).  
The best thing about this particular annual cookout is that a number of us have dogs – big dogs.  There were a few non-big dogs, but they didn’t participate in the rough-and-tumble activities. 

So, an outline of who was whom in the dog world, since you weren’t there to sniff their butts like all the rest of the dogs:

Bosco – adult border collie mix
Cosette – 2 yr old black Lab
Chip – 4-5 year old chocolate Lab
Darwin – 5+ year old Golden Retriever mix
Madison – 4-5 year old black Lab
Mal – adult golden retriever
Mars – adult Chow mix
Trooper – 7 month old chocolate Lab

And let me just take a moment here and praise the crap outta Trooper.  I was reticent to bring Trooper along, simply because of the number of people present (about 40) in a free-range, no-fence environment.  I watched joyfully as he not only played well with all the other dogs, but did really well around small children.  One moment in particular made my heart fill with joy:  Trooper had a tennis ball and was playing fetch with a seven or eight-year-old boy.  At one point, the ball bounced in a weird direction over to a small child.  The child was sucking on a pacifier, standing just so on its wobbly toddler legs, and bent over to pick up the ball.  I held my breath, because I was too far away from the scene to really prevent anything.  I know what Trooper would have done to an adult:  he would have run, full-speed, up to the adult, probably slammed into them, and then jumped around like crazy until the ball was thrown.  Instead, my beautiful puppy locked on to the ball, loped up to the child, and sat down.  He then gently, ever so gently, reached his nose out to touch the little boy’s hands which held the ball.  The little boy opened up his hands, and Trooper delicately plucked the ball out of the boy’s hands, slowly turned around, and walked back to the older boy.  I wanted to shout, “LOOK EVERYONE!  LOOK AT WHAT MY DOG JUST DID!!” but instead I smiled and kept nodding at the conversation I was in.  I was so PROUD of Trooper, though.  

The dogs played, and played, and played until they could play no more – well, at least until we all took them home.   Luckily by our shelter, there was a large water reservoir that the dogs were more than happy to play in.  See crappy point-and-shoot pics below:

Trooper has special talents.  Mainly, jumping.

The other day, he was keeping me company while I did yardwork in the backyard.  I let him off his leash to go back inside when I was done, and he raced back to the garage.  On his way, he jumped over a bush, a landscape light, and finally, three bags of landscape waste - simultaneously.  Like, he cleared all three.  With room to spare.  It was amazing.  And of course the thing that popped to my mind was:  that dog can do agility.

Of course, that made me curious.  Curiosity made me assemble a small impromptu jump in the backyard.  Sure enough, he was more than willing and able.  We spent a good fifteen minutes out there just playing.  You know the best part?  He was panting afterwards.  Do you know how hard it is to wear his energy level down?  This could be the secret to giving this dog a job.

Stay tuned.  I'm going to put some thought into this one.