I have been watching the neighbor's dogs and today decided to take the Husky (who I am basically convinced has some Malamute in him) hiking with Conker and I. Conker is a total ass to Indie through the fence, but Indie just blows him off, which seems to anger Conker even more.
After an initial snarkfest from Conker while I was picking Indie up (this is MY JEEP and you WILL NOT get in it!) the two got along perfectly fine.

Indie's got basically no manners. Despite that, he's a very sweet dog, I like hanging out with him. He was pretty good on the trails too, after we settled out the pulling issue. He doesn't respond to his name at all, but after a few sessions of "Indie, wanna treat?" He started to pay attention to me when I spoke to him.

Conker of course always wanted a treat and paid pretty good attention to me. This is a common "game" we play on the trail so Conker knew to do as I say to get a treat.

Indie discovered the numerous lizards on the trail, and that they are fun to stomp. He'd suddenly veer off to one side, rise up on his hind legs, then STOMP down on the lizards with his front feet. I think he only got a couple, but he sure tried hard to smash them.

Due to the lack of a bell (I left it on Sasha' collar by accident) and since I was not sure how well his foot was, I kept Conker close or at a heel for most of the hike. He was not exactly pleased with that, but he got to sniff and mark all the bushes he wanted so I don't think he's got too much to complain about.
Indie on the other hand, well he stayed on-leash. First off, he's got zero recall. And second, he's not mine. I'm not stupid enough to let a dog with no recall that doesn't belong to me off the leash in an unfenced lizard and squirrel infested forest.

Speaking of squirrels, we saw three, one of which Indie wanted to chase so bad we had to stop and wait for him to chill out before we continued.

We did about 6.5 miles today, which I think could have been a bit much for Indie. I had Indie wear Juneau's harness and leash but not the pack since he's still pretty young and I figured he'd get enough exercise with just a hike. I was right, he's sacked out good right now.

Money spent in August

To see last month's tally, click here.
I forgot where I stuck the list of dogstuff I have bought this month, so this is a guesstimate.

August 2012

• Food: $20.20
• Treats/Chews: $3.00
• Toys: $1.00

Total: $24.20

Food.
I bought one bag of Nature's Variety Raw Boost Chicken which I will be trying out after the next bag of Before Grain (buffalo, also has chicken meal in it) to see if Conker actually has a problem with chicken-based non-raw foods or not. In the past he has, but recently he's been able to eat cooked chicken with no problems, so I am a bit confuzzled about it and would like to get it sorted out. Anywho, that originally cost $20 but not only was it on sale for $17, I had two coupons which I used (one for Petco, one for Nature's Variety) so I only spent $9 on it. Unfortunately Petco only had the chicken type in stock (for the size I wanted), so that's what I got. If they had another type then I'd have gone with something other than chicken.

I got some ground beef that was on sale for $7.20 at a measly $1.70 per pound! That is a KILLER deal for beef. I picked up a package of lamb stew meat for $1.40 ($1.80 per pound) and some turkey misc for $1.60 ($0.69 per pound).


Treats/Chews.
I got some trachea chews at the Farmer's Market. 6 slices for $1. I got $3 worth.


Toys.
I bought a tennis ball thing for the shelter dogs for $1. I do that every now and then.

I was trying to get a picture of Sasha's teeth. Stupid camera will do what it wants goshdangit.

CGC class week 2

We did a lot of the same stuff that we did last week. Mostly heeling, with some sit/stays and down/stays. Conker was very, very, very bored, and ended up having some digestive distress in the middle of it. (We left the ring and hid behind some bushes for a bit when that happened.) I don't know what caused that, so I will have to investigate and find out.

Anywho, as promised, here is a picture of Jane, the Chinese Street Mutt.

She's a little bigger than Conker, maybe something like 30 pounds or so. Super cute and super sweet.

The Kibble Trails: Innova Red Meat Results

Today Conker finally finished off the last of the Innova Red Meat I've been feeding him. I got a bit impatient and started to give some to the Girls, so the 15 pound bag would have lasted longer than it did if I hadn't done that.

Anywho, Conker generally did pretty good on this food. So good in fact that he actually got a bit too chubby for my liking! Although, that could be due to his drastic drop in exercise (I basically cut almost all of it out when he had that eating problem) and the rise in temperatures which also put a stop to any outdoor activity during the day. So it's no wonder that Conker got a bit of flub here and there.

No picture of actual kibbles. They are shaped like triangles.

Conker would usually eat this kibble if it didn't have any additions to it, but he strongly preferred an egg be mixed in and would object if I did not include one. Due to the food's lower protein content, I usually did include an egg or a bit of ground meat.

Teeth stayed in relatively good shape, a bit of tartar here and there. Nothing huge, but enough to need a bone every now and then.
Poop was good, small, firm, non smelly. I was not really expecting that since this food is a grain-inclusive one.

Like all kibbles so far, Conker developed a doggy odor and slight coat grease. (He normally has neither.) But it wasn't bad and was hardly noticeable. His undercoat was mainly soft, the overcoat stiff, but it lacked the shine I see with his normal diet and was somewhat dry. Not even an egg and salmon oil just about daily would bring the shine back. He shed a lot, but I think that is due to the huge temperature increase that we had going on when I was feeding this food.

Conker had a quite a bit of energy on this food. Not surprising since it's so high in calories. He only needed around 1 cup a day to stay at a "slightly chubby" weight. I imagine 1 cup or slightly over would have been fine for his normal activity level.


Overall I liked this food. With the exception of the dryish non-shiny coat and flub, Conker's condition was pretty good. I probably wouldn't use it if a higher protein food were available, but if I could not find one, then I'd use this food in a pinch if I had to.

Innova has recently revamped their foods and packaging, so this trial is a bit defunct now. I might try the new version later and compare it to the old to see if there are any noticeable changes.

Evening hike with the Girls

Due to Conker's footwound, he did not accompany Juneau, Sasha, and I on the evening hike today. That's his own fault for taking on that raccoon, so I don't feel any pity by leaving his stupidness behind.

Juneau was energetic as always. The beginnings of hikes with her are somewhat intense. She's running around like mad and off out of sight, so I am always calling her back so she doesn't run into somebody when I can't grab her or spot some animal and take off after it.

Since Sasha broke her flasher, Juneau got to wear Conker's and Sasha Juneau's. I need to buy another one for Sasha, probably one like Conker's since it stays on well and doesn't flap around. 

Once Juneau calmed down a bit, Sasha kept up with her. They walked side-by side for the last half of the hike, except for when Juneau was blasting ahead like she did every few minutes.

As you can see in this video, Sasha still needs a bit of recall work. Juneau on the other hand has a very nice recall. This video was taken about 1/8th of a mile from the Skycrest parking lot, after the sun had set.

Which looked something like this.

Apparently, it's 'coon huntin season

There are two things I have been unable to call Conker off of. The first are cats, the second raccoons. I always have to go get him when he goes after a cat or raccoon. If the animal vanishes into a bush or up a tree, he will come back, but as long as the chase is on, his ears tune me out. I can call him off deer, turkey, people, dogs, birds, squirrels, skunks (thankfully), and rabbits, which I think is a very good list for a dog with high prey-drive like a Shiba. But not cats or raccoons.

Last night Conker decided to take off after one of the "resident" coons who I sometimes see in the front yard late at night. The raccoon ran around the side of the house. Conker cornered the thing then began to fight. Due to the darkness, I could not see exactly what happened, but me yelling at Conker to leave the raccoon and to come back didn't work, so I grabbed the closest object I could, which happened to be one of my Mother's metal watering cans, and heaved it into the fray. The noise the can made momentarily broke up the fight and gave the coon the chance to escape up the fence.

I don't know how big the raccoon was, and I don't know if Conker hurt it.

Once the coon was up the fence, I was able to call Conker to me. He strutted over, huffing proudly, seemingly unhurt. I immediately picked him up and carried the dumbass inside. I gave him a thorough examination in the brightly lit kitchen and discovered a small bit of blood on one paw. Once I turned it over, I saw the entire underside of the paw was covered with blood.

The cut on his foot is about 1/3 inch long, 1/6 inch deep, and flayed back about 1/4 inch of the pad. It's a bit of a flap but relatively stays in place, so I think it'll heal fine on it's own.
I looked for other wounds but found none, much to my relief. I let Conker go for a moment, and in that instant, he rushed into the back yard and went looking for the raccoon again.

Dammit, he didn't learn that coons are dangerous. He learned that coons are fun to chase and fight with

Anyways, after I retrieved my stupid dog, I took him into the bathroom and subjected him to the torturous process of washing off the dirty bloody paw. It was almost as if I'd drained the life out of him, he was so pitiful looking as I washed his paw, I could hardly see any resemblance to the fierce warrior he had been only minutes before.

I knew this would happen eventually, the damn things come into the yards and climb on the fences fairly frequently. Until now, none of the dogs had fought with a raccoon, just chased and fenced them.
So Conker has a sliced foot pad. It looks okay now, but he limps, and due to the nature of the cut, I can't take him hiking since dirt will get into it but won't come out as easily as it got in. I am oh so happy about this.

Evening, late envening, night hike

I overestimated the sunlight and underestimated the time it would take to do the number of miles we hiked today. Which turned out to be 10.5! I got in my 10 miler before the weekend, so we can chill instead of try to make up what we might not have gotten today. (I don't like hiking on the weekend.)

Juneau wore her Palisades pack that was weighted down with 2 liters of water. She wasn't as spaztastic as normal when she isn't carrying a pack and got nicely worn out on the hike. The hikes don't really drain her energy very much when she doesn't have a pack, so today's hike with it's increased distance and weight were the right combination. Sasha didn't need a pack due to the distance, and Conker took over Juneau's spazz job and was generally a nuisance.

Sasha got to be in the lead a lot. Juneau and Conker walked behind me for several miles (their choice). Juneau and Conker were out in front most of the time, but since Juneau had the pack on, she was slower than usual, and Conker tends to hang out with her instead of Sasha, so Sasha got to lead the pack. She seemed to enjoy her temporary position out front when she had it.

The sunset was better than it was last night due to the presence of some haze. I am still waiting for some clouds that will make it cooler. (So far none of the sunsets in Southern Oregon have matched those we got in Arizona.)

I added 8 new feathers to the post on Wildrose loop. It's getting pretty funky looking. I kept the largest flight feather I found and stuck it in my hat. It's about 2 feet long.
That compound bow I saw a couple days ago was still on the tree. If it's there again next time I visit Wildrose, I will go investigate it. The land it is on is not private property so I will not get in trouble if I go take a look.

On Wildrose, the Girls were slightly ahead of me and Conker was off around a corner. All of a sudden I hear his bell begin to ring very quickly, then FWOOOSH! A whole flock of wild turkeys took flight, narrowly missing the enthusiastic Shiba who was hot on their heels. A swift and loud "LEAVE IT!" Stopped Conker in his tracks. (As well as the Girls, who did not get to join in the turkey hunt.) Then I called him firmly but nicely. He stopped a few times when the now distant turkeys made some noise or he came upon a freshly dropped feather, but made it back without a problem.

Other than the turkeys and Conker's usual mischeif, the hike went smoothly. After the sun set, I stopped taking pictures because they would all be blurry. We had to hike through the dark for about 30 minutes on accident since today I did not park at the usual trailhead. I parked at the Skycrest trailhead, one that is 2 miles closer to my house (that I knew about but didn't realize it was closer) but resulted in us being at the wrong end of Cathedral Hills when the sun went down. Thankfully I'd brought along the reflective flashers I have for the dogs, and we only saw one other animal (raccoon) which the dogs left alone when I told them to, so nothing eventful happened on our accidental night hike.

The video is darker than it actually was. I could see the trail (for the most part) and all the dogs despite the flashers and while most people would have, I did not use the flashlight I had in my pack. I am not afraid of the dark and I can see pretty good at night. But reflecting animal eyes freak me the fuck out, so if I don't have to, I won't use a flashlight. I'd rather see a suspicious figure than reflecting eyes. (I generally know what animal they belong to by the color and distance apart. It's a cool thing to know.)
I like the flashers and will keep them as part of the regular hiking attire. Sasha broke hers somehow, which is odd since she's the calmest dog, so I'll either have to fix it or get her a new one. Conker and Juneau both had on bells today. I got one for Juneau at the grange because she tends to range out more than Conker and it's nice being able to tell how far away she is when I can't immediately see her.

Juneau looks for squirrels

I gave the dogs some raw food today. Chicken legs (thigh for Conker), ground beef, lamb liver, beef thymus, green tripe, and egg. This time Conker ate all his share.

The past few weeks (month and before) have been quite hot for Southern Oregon. Hot as in upper 90's through low 100's, which most people here think is hellacious, but I think is fabulous. However, the dogs tend to agree with the Oregonians and don't like to hike during the heat, even if it's cooled off in the evening.
Recently the temperatures have stopped going into the 100's and stayed in the low 90's, and the evenings are cool enough for the dogs, which is why I have begun to hike then. Plus there are relatively few people at Cathedral Hills in the evening for some reason and I always try to go when it's the least crowded.

The day before yesterday I called Juneau off a squirrel she'd spotted in a tree. Today she was obsessed with finding another one and was constantly stopping to look up at the trees.

Constantly.

This happened a lot.

Sasha was her usual oblivious self. So oblivious that she was almost ran over by two separate mountain bikers. She ignored me half the time when I called her, and looked ever so derpish the other half. I need to work on her recall if she's gonna keep coming on hikes. (So much for being a Canine Good Citizen.)

Conker and Sasha are also in this picture. They is hiding.

Juneau was very energetic on this hike. It could have been the cooler temperatures, or the possibility of treeing another squirrel. Whatever it was, she only stood still long enough to get a look at something then was blasting off down the trail again. Conker was almost as energetic as Juneau. Just toss in a dash of asshole to make up the difference. (He was pretty idiotic to Juneau today.)

I got a semi-decent picture of Sasha's profile. It shows her tuck a bit, and how much better she looks as a fit dog instead of fat dog. She was doing a lot of running up with Juneau (she usually hangs back with me) so she was exceptionally tired after today's hike.

I try to pick the best pictures to post for the Obligatory shots, but sometimes I have to choose a goofy one. Just look at Juneau's expression. There was nothing interesting behind me so I have no idea what was making her eyes bug out like that.

The sunset was unspectacular due to the lack of clouds. Or pollution, which can make some fabulous sunsets with the right consistency. We hiked about 6.25 miles today, which is the longest hike this week so far. I'd like them to be longer but things like horses (I will switch trails if possible to avoid them), Conker picking a non-plotted trail (I let him decide a lot of the time, he has definite favorites), or time constraints (I have somewhere to be, sun going down when I have no reflectors) have cut most of them short.
I'm hoping to get in a 10 mile hike soon. They are difficult to do at Cathedral Hills since that often means backtracking and I really hate doing that.

CGC class week 1

Today was the first day of the free four-week long (4 sessions) CGC training class in Riverside Park. I did it last year with Sasha, who was pretty great, and earned her CGC at the end of the classes. It's Conker's turn this year, and so far he's done pretty darned good.

The trainers recognized me from last year (they all still think I am a guy) and many of them said I was the "star pupil" last year. That was, kinda, wow, unexpected, really. I did not think I was that good, but apparently they believe I am quite a good dog trainer.
After the introductions and blah blah blah about what we will be learning, we worked on some heeling. Conker has never been good at heeling on-leash, or anything on-leash, so I knew there would be a couple problems here. I was right, but Conker worked through them very quickly and by 10 minutes in, he was heeling very nicely. Not perfectly, but a lot better than I figured would happen. We worked on sits, downs, stays, and come, as well. All of which Conker aced.
During the "down time" when the trainers were explaining something or talking to an individual, Conker and I worked on stays, but instead of calling him to me I walked back to him and around behind him to his side. Sasha always had big problems with that and would break her sit and follow me, so I had to return directly to her. Conker would swivel his head around and watch, but did not break his sits or downs.
Anywho, I was thinking Conker was not going to like the "friendly stranger" part. I was mostly right, but also wrong. He was a bit nervous, but allowed the trainer to pet him and examine his feet. He was not enthusiastic, but relaxed when I talked to him and scratched his chest.
That's basically all we did this week. I think we will work more on the stranger bits and distractions next week, which is more of what Conker needs to do.

A funny part was one of the trainers spotted Conker and said "Ooh, you have a Shiba! Well, good luck." Which I thought was a bit funny. I guess she thought Conker was going to be difficult. While he did lose interest a few times and totally spaced out on me, he was one of the better dogs in the class. This must have surprised the trainer since she said to me later "Whatever you are doing, keep it up. I was not expecting him to be so good." That was amusing, and goes to show that breed stereotypes don't always match up.


We met a nice couple who'd lived in China and got a mutt while they were there. The Chinese mutt, who's name I have already forgotten, was really fricking cute. She didn't understand a lick of English, but knew everything in Chinese. It was funny watching her try to learn the commands in English, then see her perform in Chinese. She looked like two completely different dogs.

We went on another evening hike today. This time where was a number of people on the trail but none of them had dogs and there were no horses. Just some joggers.

But there were plenty of fascinating scents and sounds. I frequently had to call Juneau to me to get her to pay attention so she wouldn't wander off-trail someplace.

When she got too hyped up and was zooming everywhere, I'd call her to me and we'd take a short break.

They didn't always work.

A lot of people seem to think that 7 is "getting old" for a dog. Maybe for some dogs, but definitely not Juneau. She still acts like a 2-3 year old when I take her on hikes. Everything is interesting and must be investigated at full-speed.

Sometimes I could get her to slow down to my and Sasha's pace. Sasha's pace matches mine perfectly most of the time, but Juneau and Conker's energy levels are better suited to mine.

We took a couple group shots, not just on the pick-nick table. This one has some barely visible mountains in the background.

Sasha hardly ever goes farther than 15 feet in front of me. Juneau ranges out quite far, sometimes almost out of sight or around a corner. She will go farther than Conker, who has quite a big range.

We did something like 5-6 miles, I'm not too sure. I cut it shorter than I'd wanted to but it was still a lot of fun.

Evening Hike

Haven't gone hiking in a while, and since It was a tad warmish (for Conker) to hike in the middle of the day today (has been for a while now), we went on an evening hike. For some reason it has not struck me to do this sooner...

Anywho,

I took all the dogs with me.

The dogs were pretty good, we didn't run into any people or animals so there were no big distractions.

The sun was well on it's way down when we got to where we could see it.

Juneau imitated a giraffe. 

Sasha was just a Derp.

And decided that my crotch was a very good place to hang out whenever I stopped. All that metal crud is the Girl's leashes. They are double-sided, and hang around my neck when they are not attached to a dog.

 That hill was bloody red and a lot cooler looking in person.

Somewhere on Wildrose trail, we stopped for a group picture.

Somebody left a compound bow hanging on a tree. I'd have gone and investigated it, but Cathedral Hills is surrounded by private property, and I was not sure if this section was private or city, so I left it alone.

Here's a view of GP during the sunset. I don't know what kind of pines those are, but they are not Ponderosas. They are very tall and thin.

The Feather Post has been added to since I was here last. One of mine was missing, but several new feathers had been put in it's place. I think I will start collecting feathers on this trail and putting them here at the end. (It's a loop, and heavily inhabited by wild turkeys.)

We found a large pine cone on the trail.

The dogs played with it for a bit. (Warning, I sound like a dope.)

As we headed back to the trailhead, the sun was gone. A faint trace lingered.

We didn't stay too long, and jogged through this section of trail. It was getting dark very quickly.

Obligatory.

Conker watches as Juneau eats her beef rib (several days ago). He found the rib today and brought it into the house. All the dogs took turns chewing on it.