haha, no worries! i have three dogs total, so even i call them by the wrong names. ;)
echo unfortunately has a bum wrist, so she can't do any sustained running without hurting herself. jean is the speed gremlin (but she rides in a backpack when i take her cycling).
started a few days ago getting her acclimated while i walked beside the bike, and we took our first trip around the block today. she stood up a few times, but for the most part was comfortable lying down.
had some really icky back pain last week, so i've been trying to do yoga in the mornings before work.
jean got another title and i fostered a puppy over the weekend.
picked up a dog bike trailer yesterday from a friend, and i started teaching echo (border collie) how to sit/stand/lay calmly in it this afternoon in the driveway. hoping she will enjoy it!
she's clearly the most popular of the bunch (and she knows it).
jean has earned 500 points in fast CAT since she started in february, so she got her DCAT title today (first was BCAT at 300 points). very proud of her! it has improved her recall and behavior around other dogs so much. 😊
it's the dogs! i love dogs, but having them jump through the window destroyed me.
if you want to know how to get back, pick a side (i chose left) and always put torches on that side going down. to come back up, keep the torches on your right. 🔥
the original resident evil. couldn't even get through the first 15 minutes before i threw the controller across the room. i don't play scary games anymore, but i love watching other people play!
silent hill was super fun to watch.
bummer to hear about cohost (but not all that surprising, unfortunately).
i attended hopscotch music festival the weekend before last. three very full days of seeing artist after artist play music (with a tiny bit of stand up comedy and amateur professional wrestling mixed in). it was great, but boy howdy am i feeling like an old. my feet hurt for days afterward.
the day before the festival, my little dog rode around town with me for a whole 13 miles! that's her longest ride ever in her backpack, and she did great. i'm definitely going to upgrade her pack, though, since she was shifting side-to-side a bit which wasn't terribly comfortable.
echo earned her CGCU last week, which is the last of the one-shot titles i plan to get for her. next up is prepping for our first rally trial, including a class that starts at the end of october.
this weekend i'm heading to another three-day fast CAT (coursing ability test) with the little dog. hoping to pick up some advice on stretching her before and after so she's less sore this time around.
it's such a fun event, and i've seen all kinds of dogs do it! as long as she has good recall at the end, i'd say go for it. :)
this is what peak performance looks like. 😎
but seriously, this lil' chihuahua mix runs like a greyhound!
photos by stirling hasen.
we have a looong way to go, but i like to keep video records of even the not-so-good practice sessions. she's really disengaged with me for a big portion of this video (probably because it's our first time doing this outdoors). hoping to eventually get her into rally obedience. :)
had a great weekend doing fast CAT with jean grey. she was getting PR after PR, with her best being 8.68 seconds (23.57mph / 37.93 kph). we have another event september 20-22, and i'm pretty sure she's going to earn her second title there! she's been phenomenal around other dogs lately, which is a 180 from how she used to be: barking, lunging, and growling at them.
my older dog, loki (11 year old australian shepherd), has been on prozac most of his life due to anxiety issues, so i'm quite familiar with its use in dogs! basically it allows them to chill out a little bit. both of them are high strung rescue dogs, so the medication definitely helps after i've exhausted all other training routes.
Quite the feat! What’s your trick?
honestly, i keep a pack of cards with me to shuffle through (and sometimes play solitaire with) when i'm bored. i also still have audiobooks on my phone, but i play music from a separate digital audio player. it's nice not to have the compulsion to open mindless scrolling whenever i pick up my phone to do something i actually need to do. most of my time on my phone is now spent using maps for directions, hah.
echo (border collie) started fluoxetine (prozac) last weekend for her anxious tendencies and obsessive behaviors. she also has her urban canine test on wednesday, which i think we'll pass with flying colors, so long as there isn't a leaf blower she can hear.
we've had a couple of chilly nights, but i know we're going to have at least one or two hot weeks before it starts to actually cool down for good.
i've been spending a lot of work days at the coworking space, and i'm making a lot of progress on my latest project, so that's nice. forgot how much that helps me get in the right mindset. probably helps that i dumbed down my phone quite a bit recently, too. no more safari, email, social, or needless apps. down to about 1 hour of phone screen time per day, which is pretty good considering my old averages were around 4-5 hours. 😳
i'm sorry you're in so much pain!
unsolicited advice
are you able to see a physical therapist or get a referral to one? they have helped me eliminate pain that my doc only ever gave me muscle relaxers for.
i believe so! there were a couple of them styled like that; really cool stuff.
spent the weekend with a friend in the mountains. we saw a bunch of bonsai trees (a couple of my favorites below), went to a couple of breweries, and stayed up too late playing video games. 10/10 weekend, would do again.
also: give them good things to bite! i always had toys handy when i had my puppy. (i do not miss those days.)
An absurd comedy slapformer set in the bizarre Northern English town of Barnsworth. As a traveling salesman, take the time to see the sights and meet the locals, who are very eager to give you a series of increasingly odd jobs...
i’m really vibing with this game. absurd, casual, sometimes disturbing fun. slapping and jumping are the only actions, and it’s very england.
we were calling it “the season that never was” today. 🤭
i was going to suggest guinea pigs, too! they might be too "rodent" for wife, but honestly they're a lot more like smaller, low-maintenance rabbits. they have personalities for sure, and as long as you handle them from a young age, they can be picked up and hang out on your lap while you watch tv or whatever.
definitely do not buy a mixed breed dog. rescuing one is totally legit, though! or find a poodle or bichon through a reputable breeder if you want to go that route. some breeders have young adult dogs (2-3 years old) that are done with the show ring and ready for pet homes. if you go through a reputable breeder, they will always take the dog back if it doesn't work out. if you go through a rescue, the same applies. some even have trial periods (the rescue i help out with does two weeks).
why you shouldn't buy a mixed breed dog
there is no such thing as an ethically-bred mixed breed dog. dogs are bred to perform specific tasks, and anybody making more dogs without that in mind is only doing them a disservice, as we have a huge overpopulation problem. i volunteer for a border collie rescue, and we consistently find more dogs than we can actually help out.
echo loves the creek so much. definitely her most favorite activity. also my first time using sniffspot (private dog park; this one was about three acres and fully fenced in), and it felt like we weren't fenced in at all! there was a little walking trail and everything.
we recently watched maxxxine, which i thought was a good ending to that trilogy. (x and pearl are the other two.) in a violent nature was another one i enjoyed, even if it was a bit slow... perhaps intentionally.
we're watching longlegs tomorrow, which is supposed to be very unsettling (my favorite kind of movie). beetlejuice beetlejuice is coming out later this year, and with tim burton directing and a lot of the original cast returning, i think it's going to be decent!
if you hadn't already guessed, my favorite genre is horror. ;)
we had graduation last night! we did some rally practice since all the dogs had already passed all the test items, and echo loved it. could not get her to look at the camera because she loves to look at me always, haha. very proud of this rescue pup who has exceeded my expectations when it comes to training. she really is the dog i've wanted since i was a teenager. ❤️
today’s the summer solstice (for the northern hemisphere), so tell me your favorite way to cool down while we’re watching the world burn. 🔥
Mosquito season is here! Instead of spraying pesticides onto our entire yards—and onto fireflies, ladybugs, bumblebees, and butterflies—why not kill *only* mosquitoes? But first: let’s PREVEN…
ordered some tablets to make a few of these after i saw the concept recommended on a local forum. can't wait to murder millions of (mosquito) children. 🦟
going to collect all the silly certifications for fun with this dog.
this was always my goal with her, so i'm pleased as punch! i remember my agility trainer giving me the most "what are you doing with this dog?" look so many times, haha.
the canine good citizen test consists of ten items:
- accept a friendly stranger
- sit politely for petting
- accept ears and feet touched, plus a brush
- walk on a loose leash
- walk through a crowd
- sit, down, and stay
- come when called
- react appropriately to another dog
- react appropriately to a distraction
- stay with another person for three minutes
this is something i try to get with all my dogs, but my little dog definitely did not pass back when she took it as a yearling. very proud of how far echo has come since she's come to live with me—hard to believe that was only about three months ago!
are you doing anything to celebrate? do you typically observe the “solar holidays?”
i usually have a bonfire with friends to mark the passage of time, but it snuck up on me this year. maybe i can light a candle instead and let that be enough.
her fastest time this weekend was 9.56 seconds (21.40 mph). i’m so proud of her for running despite the cold (and rain on the first day). we wrapped her up in a towel right up to the gate the first day because it was so miserable, and on the second day she had her sweater plus i held her inside my fleece, hehe.
we should get the professional video back in a week or two!
the backstory is that jean has gotten really head shy over the years, to the point where she would run away anytime i got her collar out. lo and behold, turning this into a "trick" worked like a charm. now she's happy and excited every time she sees her collar, and it has become one of our best recall tools.
you'll notice i also often treat her when i take the collar off, so she wants to stick around after i remove her collar rather than bolting away from me. this is especially important since she's a sporting dog (agility and fast CAT).
at the end are some tricks she already knows, just for fun. :)
from left to right: loki, jean grey, and echo. all rescue dogs and all the best dogs. 🥰
jean (the little tan dog) was so good about coming to me and jumping into my arms after each of her two runs. so glad we got some photos of that.
this was loki's (the australian shepherd's) first fast CAT. look at those goofy ears! he also loves kids, so it's no surprise he was checking them out after he ran, hehe.
photos by dahlie dog studios.
