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.

Birthday Q's

Today I "celebrated" the Girl's 7th birthdays by giving them some raw food. I do not know when their exact birthday is, so I slap it right in the middle of August (I do know it's in August) and call the 15th their birthday.
Conker also got some, but he's decided to be a food critic again.

 Chicken quarters, beef heart and thymus, lamb liver, and green tripe.

This time Sasha did not hide in the bushes. I finally got a half-way decent picture of her eating.

 

Both of the Girls ate their food with gusto, not leaving a single trace left. Conker on the other hand ate everything but the chicken. I don't know what his deal is.

It's been over a year since I began Sasha's weight loss regime.

She's been holding steady at just under 50 pounds for a good long while now. Sasha is slim and has a nice waist which is a lot more atheistically pleasing to look at than the thick log she used to be.

Random bath and bone day

So, last night, the Juneau Dog decided to roll in the piss of some sort of wild critter, probably a raccoon. I did not know this until after she'd jumped into the trailer and rolled on my carpet and couch, spreading the fabulous piss scent all over my living space. Thanks to Juneau I had an impromptu cleaning session that lasted about 20 minutes as I scrubbed the scent out of my upholstery and her fur.
The scent lingered the next day, so during the middle of the heat, I decided to be cruel and gave Juneau a bath. Then Sasha, and then Conker. The other two didn't roll in whatever delicious scent Juneau had the night before, but the way I see it, if I'm gonna clean one dog, I'm gonna clean them all.
None of them were too happy about that.
To make up for being "mean" to them, each dog got a frozen treat to help keep them cool as they dried off.

One smallish chunk of turkey neck and beef trim for Conker, one turkey neck for Sasha, and one beef rib for Juneau.

Juneau got right to work on her beef rib. I love taking pictures of her munch on bones since she changes position frequently.

Sasha, as usual, went into the bushes to eat her neck. This is the only in-focus picture I got of her.

 

Conker gave me a primal wolf glare as I scooched in to sneak some photos. He has come a long way in his food aggression, which was mainly directed at other dogs but did occasionally include humans, and is generally fine with me getting in his face while he eats.  But today I guess he didn't want a paparazzi and let me know.

Juneau took three times as long as Conker and Sasha to work the frozen meat off her rib bone.

She spent a long time scraping the scraps off the bone then stashed it in the bushes when she was finished. It was completely stripped clean, and she'd gnawed off some of the bone as well.

The Girls are seven years old this month. I am going to celebrate by giving them each a cornish hen stuffed with beef heart and lamb liver in a couple days. Conker may or may not get something as well, since he skipped his birthday hen due to his food aversion.

Progress

I have refrained from posting about this for a while since I wanted to be sure we were on the right track. It's nothing too big, just an update on Conker's condition and eating habits.

For several months, Conker was not eating normally. He would outright refuse food he otherwise loved. I was not "allowed", due to financial restraints, to take him to the vet (unless something more serious showed up) so I was immensely stressed out about it for quite some time. That didn't help any at all, since I was quite easy to set off and I redirected my frustrations and fury onto other people.

This is not the first time Conker was too skinny for my liking. When he was 6-9 months old, right in the middle of his first major digestive crisis and for a while after, he was pretty dang lanky. His thick winter fur that grew in due to the cold and snow in St. Louis hid how skinny he really was.
Conker has always been tough to keep weight on. When he was on raw-foods only, he never went over 24 pounds. Granted, he was a ton more active then, but even if I upped his food, he did not gain weight. After I added in oatmeal, Conker's weight rose to about 24.5 pounds even though he maintained his very active lifestyle. The additional weight he put on, I will mention since I think it is significant, was not fat. It was all muscle.

This more recent bout of concern was not due to digestive issues. It's been a long long time since any of those have surfaced (excluding testing a singular food substance) but due to Conker not eating. He's had periods of refusing certain foodstuffs, but not entire meals, or anything that's offered to him. The longest he went without eating anything, not even what he "wanted" was 8 days. Excluding that ordeal, he was otherwise eating, but it was barely more than 2/3rds cup of kibble on "good" days.
Conker hit "bottom" right after the Bend trip, on which he ate nothing but chicken and beef jerky, and only a handful at best. He weighed just 23 pounds, which is a huge decrease in weight for such a small dog. His ribs, hips, and spine were very easily felt. I was really unnerved at this time.

Shortly after, Conker's appetite jump-started a bit. He would eat a cup of kibble with an egg mixed in, if I spread it out over two feedings a day. He slowly began to gain a bit of weight. All of a sudden, at the end of July, he decided his hunger strike was over and would eat whatever I offered him in almost any amount. He quickly packed on the pounds (a bit of fat, but mostly muscle) and now weighs 25 pounds! That's the most he has ever weighed. He still looks a bit skinny to me, but his ribs have a healthy covering of muscle on them, his spine is harder to feel, and his hips don't stick out like they did a couple months ago.

Conker now eats a "large" cup of kibble and an egg every day. Large as in about 1 1/3 cups. Not a huge amount, but this particular kibble has a ton of calories in it so I generally need to feed less of it anyways.
He has also eaten, quite enthusiastically I might add, several raw meals whenever the Girls get one. (With no digestive upsets!) He is back to eating anything I toss at him and looks forwards to meal times every day, harassing the Girls and making a ruckus as I prepare their food.
Which I've mentioned a million times already, but I need to get a video of it. It's hilarious.

Creeper

Conker can be quite the little creeper glaring at me like that from under my table.

He was upset that I was paying attention to one of the Girls, who now inhabit my trailer after hours, instead of him.

Friday creek 'splore

Conker and I headed to the creek today to gather some blackberries. They are ripening at a good clip now, but plenty of them are still just getting started. I think this is going to be a very good berry season.

Conker explored the creek as I gathered berries. This isn't his favorite activity, but he likes it better than taking a walk when it's "hot" out.Which is basically why we go down into the creek in the first place.

This log that Conker is under "guards" the creek on the other side of the tunnel we have to go through to get to the creekside berries. He paused here to study some kids who were splashing in the creek a ways ahead.

I gathered a few ounces shy of 2 pounds of blackberries. Not a bad haul for a little less than an hours worth of work.