More from Decibel… July letters:
All is well here, and our guests are gone now, and Decibel was outstandingly good. She was clean in the house, she stayed alone without trouble, and I could not have asked for a better dog. She was very good with people who are not 'dog people' and learned not to jump on them, and be a little polite when asking for affection. In the end my cousin's daughter even played with Decibel, and she was a little intimidated by all the dogs at first.
I am very proud of the little girl. She is really not so little anymore. She keeps growing like a weed. She is getting much more thick-skinned about the occasional grouches too. Now she asks for them, since her morning starts with jumping on Ralphy. She pesters Maggie too, and seems to know that Maggie will not actually bite her, just growl and show teeth, and Decibel just runs off and wags her tail, and runs back a half second later 'play with me'. Still, she loves her evening smooches on the couch and her special attention during the day. She needs her hugs. She can be just fine by herself for longer and longer now, but then she needs to fill back up on some people time.
We don't have dog class this week, so we will have to see how far she has matured. Jumping up on people is still a little too common, although she seems to just do it to hear us remind her with 'off'.
I was very proud of her not barking at new people in the house, and not eating their shoes or the like, although twice a flipflop magically got stuck in her mouth. She did not eat it though, just noodle it a bit.
Her adult teeth are coming in. She still has the puppy canines, but everywhere new pearly whites are showing. And she continues to let me groom her and fall asleep. Her swimming is coming along well. It has been so hot that it would be cruel not to let her jump in the pond.
Here is Decibel in the morning, reminding me to give her a big hug first. (No, she is not allowed to do it that way, but it was cute).
Hugs and slurps from us,
Decibel – back to work
now that our guests have left, and after the usual clean up Decibel and I are trying to get back to the routine. We spent the morning in town on campus trying to find people. I think they melted in the heat. Decibel got carsick again, so I had to clean her up a little in the bathroom. It isn't easy to find someone to pet the pukey puppy. I think I will try to take her on short but frequent drives, and see if that helps things. Decibel is our first dog to not like riding in the car.
I am not sure if it is the motion or 'stress', since she really doesn't like going places alone. Maybe I will take another dog with, she seems better when we go to dog classes and have one of her 'siblings' in the car. Also, we need a bigger crate... she keeps growing. Who saw that coming?
Otherwise every day I notice her doing something new or remarkable. They are not huge things, but they add up. The other day she played with the cat, but came when I called her.
Okay, I think that is huge! They were across the barnyard.
It was a good game, the cat was having fun too. I mean anyone can come when I have a cookie and call. But to come off a fun game of bite the cat tail, that was remarkable. She is also learning 'leave it, yuck!' and comes along in spite of the manure temptations along the path. What a change from the trying to eat as much as possible while mom drags you off...
She is also getting very good around the cows and sheep. I keep her close but don't always have her on the leash anymore. She studies the beasts for a while, and then comes close to me, and listens, and we get through the herd unharmed. It also helps to keep Ralph thinking he is 'herding', by keeping him slow and holding the spot occasionally. When he thinks he is working cattle, he doesn't yap and chase, and Decibel copies everything Ralph does, especially dumb stuff like barking and chasing. When Ralph 'works' Decibel is trying too. She is rather good at cutting people off.
Yesterday Decibel actually helped me drive the cows into a paddock. She followed a heifer and when the cow turned to look she checked up but then kept going at her (with some encouragement from me). These are visiting Jersey heifers and tame and unlikely to do more than chase Decibel for fun. I had already lead my cow Ruby into the paddock, and the 'herd' wanted to follow her anyhow, so it wasn't exactly a herding trial. But it was the sort of thing I like having a dog for: Helping out, keeping a beastie on one side of a gate while I get it shut and so forth. So we are getting somewhere.
It has been too hot and sticky to work much on the tracking. It still rains a lot - our hay got soaked.
I can send her out of the chicken coop with a word, and without a chicken dangling from her jaws. She is actually more interested in poop and feed again. Or maybe she is learning that they are 'mine'.
She is learning the word 'careful'. The way we use it is when a dog is about to walk into an electric fence, fall down a hill, step into a hole, run into a post or needs to check around for a larger charging beasty. This morning she got close to the fence with her ears, but ducked out of there and came to me on 'careful'.
Ralph still has his grouchy moments, but now Decibel just cries, gets her hug and then she goes right back. Ralph does not bite her, and has never done more than get her hair wet. Decibel used to tiptoe around him, but he is the only 'dog' looking dog here, so she can't resist him. Or she is convinced that he can't resist her. In the morning she has to lick his beard, and jump on him, and try to nip at his ears and such, until his lip itches. I praise him for not grouching and give extra smooches while ignoring Decibel, and mostly that works. When he does grouch at her, he gets timeout. He is learning. I think there are times when he tries to play with her, but then his people are not sure he means well, and watch him so closely he gets paranoid. It will work out.
Maggie Skeeter and Decibel have found their positions in the pack. I do not think that there will be trouble when Decibel is full grown.
New discoveries:
Cicadas are delicious. We call them buzz bugs. Decibel likes them. Crunchy and good!
She also likes blueberries, peaches, and steak. (We just butchered a steer). Ice cream is also very good.
Soap bubbles and balls are great fun. Only the bubbles pop.
Helping mom: One day I found four tomatoes lined up in front of the door. Decibel had picked them for me. Teeth marks were definitive. She had very carefully gotten them from the potted plant, only one was not useable.
The swiffer... brilliant dog entertainment. It squirts at you! The pads can be pulled off; then people chase you. Fun, fun, fun. Better than the broom, although there you can steal dust bunnies and try to eat them.
Grabbing Ralph's tail when he swims... he can't bite then, and she gets pulled along.
Her swimming is becoming very sure although the girl finds it unnecessary to use her hindlegs to paddle. She loves water. Only she believes that people can stand anywhere in the pond, and so they can hold her for a bit when she swims to meet them. I had to tread water quite a bit. Still, she lets you hold her and does not scratch or panic, so when we can stand, she just hangs out there in our arms. When Harold cleans the weeds out of the pond, Decibel helps. It involves biting into the weeds, and pulling and splashing and chasing the weeds as they get flung to the shore. Great fun!
Oh, she does not go into the goldfish pond in the backyard. What a good dog.
She does play with the frog Maggie killed. Oh, Decibel! Toads we have learned to paw at, they taste bad. We don't eat toads. She learned that from Maggie.
And she tries to dive into the dog food bin and steal the big dog's kibble. Ralph showed her that. So occasionally she does eat some 'cheap' adult food now.
I keep checking her teeth, and not just to admire her new pearly whites. She is already good about not biting, and can take peanut butter off fingers, without taking fingers off. This is an important skill in my house. We cut toenails without a huge wrestling match, and grooming is something she doesn't mind. Decibel can eat next to her siblings without stealing food! All minor things, but all things I take for granted.
More later.
Heat
This week all that seems to happen is that it gets hotter than the previous day, and other than swimming, the tiles in the kitchen are Decibel's best friends. She is going back to school today, I have not decided yet who gets to come along. For the last three days we had people digging around in the yard trying to install a line so we can have internet access and a land line in the house again. I can't even be upset with these people, for they have been fairly nice about the dogs and the gates and such. Still while there were backhoes and the like in the yard the dogs were cooped up in the house with me. I took Decibel out on the leash, and she peed each time, and kept the house clean, like a good girl.
I am so proud of her.
She is coming into her own, and there are times when we get a small glimpse of what lies ahead for the teenage months. It will be interesting, because the girl is so darn cute and I have to be really strict with me, to get through to her. You can see her little brain going behind those pretty eyes of hers, especially when she willfully does something 'bad'. She loves to drag dog beds around, which is okay, but I draw the line at area rugs. The funny thing is, she knows the difference, it is not that she is too dumb or literal a dog to not know that, but she will drag all the dog beds in a pile, lie on top of them and then try to eat the fringe off the rug. You can just hear her, 'oops, how did that get in my mouth?'
Still, she likes to get things right, and likes to learn, you can see that too. She is not stubborn, or hard to get through to. Decibel is working really hard on growing up, as you can tell. She can jump on the couch now, and she needs most of it to sleep. Apparently the concept of 'curling up' escapes her.
She has been playing with the cat a lot lately, and the two are too cute, but whenever I show up with the camera they just stop, or it is too early in the morning for me to think of such documentation. I don't function too well BC (before-coffee).
Ralph has been better with her, and puts up with her morning greetings with more tolerance. (Been grouch free for a almost a week now!) There is hope for him yet. Decibel doesn't take him seriously anymore, so I think they will figure it out eventually. Harold took the two of them for a short ride up to the barn, because Ralph loves riding in the car or truck, and Decibel hates it, but if he has to ride with her, Ralph will like her, or so we hope. It kept Decibel puke free, and Harold said she liked the car enough to stay in it while he unloaded feed.
I think Ralph is actually thawing a bit. Ralph is a very nice dog with people, he just doesn't seem to get dogs. With his puppy mill background I figure we got lucky he is this sane. Still, I don't want to make excuses for bad behavior. Ralph has never actually done more than grab a mouthful of hair, and he is not a 'fighter', more like a wimp who gets afraid of his own audacity. He does however at times have nightmares (he growls and is obviously afraid in those dreams, and he is really out of it and fast asleep) and will wake up snapping at phantoms. It is not all the time, and Decibel is smart and she learned to give a sleeping dog a wide berth, just like the other dogs do. We tend to wake Ralph, then he is fine. He seems very rattled when the bite-mare happens to him, and calms down when we talk to him and call his name. When he is just ordinarily sleeping he is just like any other dog, won't hear anything but the cookie jar lid or the moon beam landing on the lawn.
All the best from Decibel and the gang,
I will try to get a few more pictures and videos of her with the cat or swimming, if I can sneak up on them,
Oh that girl
this week Decibel decided that she was not doing a 'down' at dog class. Not for mom, not for hotdog, no she was not doing any of that.
'Quit pulling on my neck you evil woman,' was her response to my correction.
Now what? Decibel has been such a model good smart puppy, surely it is too soon for the teenager temper tantrums? Well, no matter why, down she must go before we can move on so after a short wrestling match, I had her on the floor, and then I took her out, but it wasn't too much pee or poop that troubled her. Even after trading with Harold she didn't work her best. Oh well, we all have off days.
Now once we got home, would you believe that she not only remembered her downs, but also her come, sit and stay, and best of all her come, and did so with happy flying bounce, that you just question your sanity. Is this the same dog?
Okay, more long down stays, more leash time, more of all that stuff, and of course Decibel passes it all with flying colors. Sometimes I can almost hear her giggle.
Now she is swimming with all fours, and she is ever so determined to catch me in the middle of the pond. Well, so I give in and swim to the shallows and hold her. No need for her to get in trouble with both of us in the deep end. After that turbo dog charges out of the pond, races around annoying her siblings, jumps on the dock, shakes over mom's pile of clothes, and races back to bark at Maggie who was disposing of a bunny. (We don't take them away, or punish her for that... there are way too many rabbits here, and they do evil things to our fruit trees in the winter, in spite of the trunk wraps and fences).
Then this morning, Decibel the great comes on my word, but what is that in her mouth? A mouse, dead, and she spits it out in mid-leap on the steps as she swooshes by me to get into the house. Now WHO taught her that? It was just perfect. Maggie has mastered this trick, and knows I won't take the treasured dead thing away, if she keeps to the rule.
Good girl, Decibel. She is soooooo smart.
I planned to mow the lawn before it got too hot, but when we checked the cows they might have been out, so first I have to fix the fence. Some of that wire should be in a museum. (There really are barbed wire museums, but that's another tale). Anyhow, lure the cows, lock them up, fill their stock tank, for it will be hot today, then go back with the dogs, load up the truck with wire, fence stretcher, pliers, bolt cutters, and other might needs, and do my best to stretch some fence. Well, it will tighten up as the temperatures drop, I figure, I don't have to get it super tight. Then back to the house, better get the mower going fast, which is a game of pick up toys, get the downspouts out of the way, pick up the toys that dragged themselves back onto the grass mysteriously, then mow, then downspouts again, where are my dogs? All good dogs sleep in the air-conditioned house, what wonderful dogs I have, oh, who the heck read the paper, disagreed, shredded it in the kitchen? That editorial was a first for Decibel. Well, it was in the recycling bin, on the floor, so I can't blame her too much.
They were alone in the house for much longer than I intended, due to the fencing emergency.
This week is fair week, so if the temperatures are not too outlandishly hot, we will drag Decibel there. Harold has been taking her in the car on short trips around the place or to the vet, with another dog, and no puking. Of course he claims it is my driving. Decibel slowly is getting better about getting in the car. The other guys like it, so she will too, eventually.
Oh, she lost a bottom canine! the other ones are poking through. Her gums must be bothering her, with all those teeth sprouting. We give her lots of chewy things, toys and sticks and anything that amuses her. I haven't found any of her teeth, so she most likely swallows them. Hope they don't 'bite her in the butt' on the way out.
Hugs,
Lazy days of summer
yesterday the house was full of the cable installer guys and their adoring train of four dogs. I was very proud of all of the canines, since their interest was friendly and not too bothersome, and no tools got stolen or chewed up. Harold added to the parade, so even without going anywhere, I would say that it qualified for a novel experience. We did have to convince them not to jump into the truck.
Decibel does exactly the same as what Barley always did, and Ralph still does, so I assume it is a Briard thing: When wanting up on a couch or car seat, she puts her front up and pulls herself forward, then lies there and waits for the butt lifting fairy (humans) to come and lift her rear up. She CAN jump up, it is not weakness, just one of those things, that is better when someone lifts your butt up apparently. When you don't want her up on something, it is only one quick leap onto the thing. Do yours do that?
Decibel has now managed to lose her bottom hooked canines, and in the morning she was playing wrestling with Skeeter, and it all stopped, and each dog scooted away. One of her baby upper canines was left on the floor. She must have used Skeeter's hair to pull it out. It was funny, because Skeeter was acting guilty, and tried to convince us that he hadn't done anything to Decibel, and Decibel has been acting like she is facing a terrible illness, but keeping this determined stiff upper lip, so we won't worry.
Her big brown eyes were just round with worry: I am falling apart here... another piece came off.
I cleaned up the little bit of blood on her muzzle, and gave her some soft cheese to noodle, because chewing is sometimes a bit too difficult for her now. She doesn't understand why we laugh about her predicament.
Her 'big' teeth are coming in and so far all looks like they should make a beautiful bite. Soon the little girl with smile again, and forget her troubles. Harold bought her plenty of toys to help with the teething.
Both Harold and I cannot get over how different Decibel is from Barley at the same age. She is full of it, herself, and very fast and agile. Barley never really needed to learn 'come', he was always there. I think I might have had to call him 10 times in his whole life... and twice then he was probably right behind me. Not so Decibel. She needs to run, catch grasshoppers, cicadas, pester Maggie, swim with Ralph, chase Skeeter, try to eat a horse poop, play with Quincy the cat, chase the spray from the hose, lick a pig's snout, and try to get her share of green pellets, all in the time it takes to walk halfway towards the horse barns. She is so busy. I figure all this will build good muscle-tone, coordination, confidence and since she does know her name and comes when called (unless we are in dog class), it is good for her.
Tonight she will go to the fair with us. It is the big annual event for the dogs in our house, the reason we go to dog class and all that, because we like to show them off at the fair. It is a small fair, livestock and 4-H oriented and the dogs are fine there as long as they behave themselves, which they will. So many of our friends and neighbors want to see how much Decibel has grown. And there will be kids there who will miss Barley, so we had better bring a Briard for them.
Well, that is all the news here.
All the best,
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