Leash burn.

I dunno of that actually exists, but Conker's got some sort of rash on his inner thigh that showed up today.  It's either from the leash or him chewing and I don't think the chewing caused that.  I'll try to get a better picture of it later.
Anywho, I'm guessing he caused it since he frequently attempts Shiba 500's outside and is usually stopped by the leash flipping him over.  It got caught between his legs today and he was spun around and onto his side by it.  He usually doesn't growl (actual growl) during his 500's but he did after he was tripped by the leash.  I thought nothing of it until later on while I was rubbing him I noticed the red rash that looks a lot like carpet burn.
Oh well, he didn't learn his lesson either and continues to be a dork on-leash.

In other news, it's snowing again.  Gonna be anywhere from 6-10 inches this time.

The bed is mine.

He thinks the bed is his.  He gets all huffy when it's time to put him in his crate.  He gives me sad looks and whines right after being put in the crate.  He wants to be on the bed, because he thinks it's his.

Hiking!

I have been looking for a place to hike here in Missouri for a long time.  I didn't want to have to drive 60 miles away and the trails had to be dog-friendly or I wouldn't even conciser it.  I finally stumbled upon a book called 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of St. Louis, but I haven't found it in a store yet.  I saw a "clipping" of it on someone's hiking site and took a look.  The outlined trail happened to be only 11 miles from where I lived!
It's called the Lewis and Clark trail (not the real thing, that's way too long to hike...)  and there is an option of taking the 5.3 mile loop (Clark) or 8.3 mile loop (Lewis).  It was a fairly easy trail, considering how much I'm not in shape.  It had some easy spots and some hard spots and was overall a nice adventure.
Conker did far better than I and wasn't out of breath once, unlike me who had to take several rest breaks to catch my breath.

Conker made several stops to sniff at leaves and such, but he would also stop and stand on something and look back at me then stare off into the distance.  If I didn't take a picture of him he'd keep looking back at me until I took one.

Rocky Outcropping #1.  This one had the smallest drop.  The river in the background is the Missouri River.

This part of the trail was a lot steeper than it looks.  It was also quite muddy.   Conker wanted to run down it.

Rocky Outcropping #2.  This one had a HUGE drop.  Conker wasn't interested in the edge and stayed away from it, for the most part.

 Rocky Outcropping #3.  Conker found that tree to me far more interesting than the view.

Earlier that day, someone set the woods next to the trail on fire.  Some firefighter dudes had put out most of it but were still working on a few logs.  Conker didn't like the smoky smell and didn't want to walk by the freshly burnt leaves.


Conker and I stopped at the treat store on the way home.  He got a Himalayan Chew for the first time and LOVES it!  I'm not going to let him power through it like he does to the bully sticks though...  He only gets it after long walks or hikes and then only for about 30 minutes to an hour.  I also discovered that giving him part of a Texas Taffy chew while riding in the car made him a lot less nervous.  He attacked it the second I brought it out of my pack and laid down with it between his paws for the ride home.

We are going to go back to the trail sometime soon.  Either this upcoming Saturday or Sunday, or possibly wait until next Wednesday.  I'm hoping to make it a weekly thing.

The bed has been Conker'd!

Yeah, that was uber cheesy.

 Fred and I are avid Goodwillers.  We scour thrift stores for all kinds of useless goods and ocasionally, we stumble upon something useful. 

Conker did not agree.  (Only cost me $12!)

However, he has FINALLY figured out how to jump onto the bed all by himself.  I was dreading the day this would happen since he has a habit of licking the sheets until they are soping wet.  Sometimes, if he is good he doesn't have to sleep in the crate in the closet.  If he's bad, or if we don't want to share the bed, into the crate he goes.  If he's really bad, the door gets closed until it's open about 8 inches or so.  He's usually better after that.

Christmas!

Christmas was good, Conker loved all his new toys, treats and food.  He spent most of the day working on his new 12" bully stick or chasing after one of his plush toys.  (penguin, bone and moose are his favorites.)

In other news, Christmas was Conker's first day of raw food!  He didn't get any breakfast in order to be sure he'd eat his first hunk of bone-in chicken breast, but that wasn't an issue and he went right at it as if he'd been doing that his whole life.  I held onto it just in case he was a gulper but he chewed every piece he ripped off, no matter the size.

At first he avoided the bone but after he figured out it was also tasty, he crunched away until he was finished, leaving only a few ounces of chicken for leftovers. 
Hopefully he'll adapt quickly to eating raw.  He's had a few occasions where he's come running up to one of us and let us know that he needed to go outside right-now but nothing horrible has happened yet.

Extra picture.

Ugh.

Conker seems to be declining in his dislike of strangers.  He goes out all the time and sees plenty of people from afar and up close, but lately he's been getting more and more skittish around people.  I went to Petsmart today and took him along since before now he liked to sniff stuff but this time he was trying to run away from everything.  That was greatly disappointing.
I'm considering raising some money somehow, going to Oregon for a month or so, carting him along with me and have him be around my Mom's people-loving dogs and see if their attitude might rub off on him.  Well, in a more cost-wise sense I need to do is find someone around here who is willing to help me with getting him to be at least slightly tolerant of strangers in his presence.

Ice

It rained ice last night.  Not hail, ice.  Freezing rain is the correct term for it, I guess, but saying it rained ice sounds much, much cooler.
Conker liked the new winter weather event.  He found it fun to punch holed through the ice to the snow beneath and was even more thrilled when I made a snowiceball and tossed it at him.  He likes to bite them in half and chew all the pieces until there is nothing left.

Unfortunately Fred doesn't get along with ice. At all.  He slipped on his way home from work last night and royally screwed up his knee.  Now he can barely make it up and down the stairs without my help (or a cane) and he can't take Conker out anymore.  Just me.
He slipped on the stairs this morning but caught himself as he was going to work.  My neighbor wasn't as fortunate, and messed up her hip when she fell.  Both Fred and my neighbor's guy (not sure if he's a boyfriend, hubby or roomie) called the office and got nothing.  A maintenece guy came by sometime and sprinkled a tinsy bit of salt on the sidewalk and stairs but that hasn't done much good, so I went out and chipped as much ice off the steps and rail as I could.

Conker and I went for a walk today.  We stopped in at the treat store, made a donation (Zoom Groom) to a local shelter and headed home.  On the way we found a giant piece of salt and nabbed it.  Now there is much more salt on the steps and sidewalk leading to our apartment as well as around the neighbor's car.  There was a ton of loose salt where I found the giant piece and it's not doing anything lying in a huge line like it is, so I am going to go back later tonight and scoop some up so we can have more once the giant piece runs out.

SNOW! (Saturday, December 11th)

  I really didn't think it was going to snow in St. Peters this early.  I'd been watching the Weather Channel the whole day and they kept saying that we were only going to get a tinsy bit of snow.
Well, around 6 at night the snow was beginning to fall, barely enough to see but enough that one could spot it blowing across the road in car headlights.  By 11 at night there were gatherings of snow on rooftops, cars and patches of grass.  By 2 AM the ground was covered.  We decided to go out at 3.  It was so bright due to the snow in the air we didn't need lights.

Conker had never seen snow before.  At first he didn't want to come off the steps or touch the snow but after a bit of coaxing, he jumped right in.

Conker decided the snow was the best thing he'd ever seen.  He constantly ran around, jumped and rolled in it and chased the large flakes blowing in the wind.  I was surprised at how quiet he was, normally he makes a lot of noise when he plays like that.  I was glad he didn't bark since our neighbors probably wouldn't have liked that.

We decided to go for a walk around the complex.  Conker wanted to stay in the large grass area and run some more.  He was on a 30 foot lead and surprisingly had no urge to run off.  Though he didn't want to leave the grass area, he followed after he realized we were leaving.  He stayed close the entire time.

Conker would trot ahead of us and sniff the snow then run to catch up after we had passed him.  He liked to jump onto the "planters" with grass and bushes and sniff at whatever was under the snow, but for the most part he stuck to the snowy sidewalk.
We spent a good 45 minutes walking around the complex.  Conker slipped on a patch of ice that I, immediately afterward, slipped on as well but I caught myself before I landed on top of him.  Conker really enjoyed his late night in the snow, but we were getting tired so we decided to call it.

The snow was still there the next day and had added an inch or so, bringing the snowfall to around 3 inches.  We took Conker out for a quick 20 minute 30-foot lead walk then had breakfast/lunch.  After that we walked to the treat store and bought him some more Orijen and a few treats.

Letting Conker run around in the snow on the 30-foot lead did something to him.  He is a MUCH better dog on the leash now and understands that when we grab the big lead he gets to run and play and when we grab the short lead he needs to stay close.  The better he does on the short lead means more long lead time.

The snow is still here.  It's kinda odd for me seeing snow outside every time I look out the window since I grew up in Phoenix Arizona and snow doesn't exist there.  For Conker it seems like he's known about snow for his whole 5 1/2month life.  He loves the snow so much, it's kinda sad to bring him back inside.

What happens when you dog gets something stuck to their foot?

This happens.

Fetch

Conker enjoys his bully stick.  He has several but this one is his favorite.

I am seeing more and more that Conker's favorite game is fetch.  He loves to play fetch.  He gets so focused on the ball while playing it's hilarious.  He will get really riled up if I squeak it and will sometimes run off before I throw it but I call him back, make him sit then wait before I throw it.  This is helping him learn how to control himself when he sees something he really wants, and also helps him learn that he sits and waits patiently before he gets to do something fun.