Summer Activities

It is hot, hot, hot.  Fans and air conditioners are necessities in our house.  We have a west wall and south facing back yard.  Our house is hot.

Rufus has a fan in his room but he likes it better to get on to our bed and sleep with the air conditioner on.
He is just sprawled out and "dead to the world".  When I ask him just to move over a bit so I can get into bed, he lifts one of his droopy eye lids as if to say "Are you serious, I just got comfortable"  It has been almost too hot to go walking unless it is first thing in the morning.  So we do that a lot.


This is Rufus's favorite sleeping place in the trailer.  He just climbs up on the couch and passes out.
Since space is limited in the trailer we just step over top of him to get in and out of bed.  We are planning another camping trip in the next week or so and will be still hot then so... it is a good thing that the trailer has air conditioning in it as well.

Bella and Rufus love to sit at the patio door any time of the day or night and just let the little bit of a breeze get them a little bit cool.

However, Rufus really does not want anyone to know that he really likes Bella.

Bella on the other hand is whipping him into shape about the drool.  If Rufus walks by her and she sees the tiniest bit of drool she hisses and swats at him as if to say "Wipe your chin"  When he is cleaned up she will give him a nose bump as if to say "I knew you could do it"

 
My lazy dogs just love to sleep sprawled out when we are camping or just when we are cool.

I have a king sized bed and with my husband working nights it is usually just the animals and myself that sleep in it at night.

I always have to wonder if there is a bigger bed out there?  I still end up like a pretzel every morning and I almost have to stand up on the bed and step over all the animals to get out.  Once they are there that is where they stay until I am up for the day.

When the weather is tolerable we play hard and we just keep going until all of the animals are just too tired to move an inch more.

On our last camping trip, we did have a few finds that we would not have had if out campground had been flooded.

The dogs and the boys and I spent most of the day and early evening in the river or just walking along the river bank.  The kids made some wonderful trenches that we then filled with water.  It worked just the way Nick planned.  However he said that he wished that he had a shovel or something to make the hole at the bottom just a little bigger.  I told him to just ask Rufus to do it for him.  Rufus just looked Nick in the eye and nodded his head and got to work.  He had to pull out some tree roots and spit them out but he kept looking at Nick to see if he was doing a good job.

He did a fantastic job.  When we started pouring the water in the top and watched it trickle down into the hole Rufus seemed to scrutinise it to make sure that it was what he thought it should look like.  He then gave a nod of approval and moved on to more interesting sniffing.

Here is one of the treasures that we found on the river bank.  I can only guess that it washed down from the Indian reserve just to the west of us.

We know for sure that it is canine and probably a wolf.  All I know is that Rufus did not want to get too close to it.  I do believe that the animal had been dead for a while.

Today however is just too hot to go out right now.  So we are melting inside the house where at least I know that we will have access to plenty of fresh water and the basement to stay cool.

To everyone reading this.  Take care of your animals and yourselves in this heat.

Misbehavior at the Park

Well as you can tell by the title of this one, it will not be as pleasant as Rufus wants it to be.

Rufus usually just gets another dog's ball and then takes off with it.  I have been collecting (buying) balls of every type to keep in my pouch so that if I can not get the ball away from him we can give a brand new ball to the other dog.  Rufus thinks that it is not a very nice thing for me to do, because he really wants the new ball too.

When we arrive at the park.  I usually make the dogs wait in the car until I know that I have a good hold on them before they get out.  I have had both of the dogs go bolting out of the car and into the park just barking at all the other dogs there and totally ignoring me.  So in that instance, when I can get a hold of both of them., Dexter is usually the better of the 2 and will come back almost right away, we all go back to the car.  I make them jump in to the back and I close the door.  We wait another 2 or 3 minutes and try again.  If they try to jump out right away, then we wait for another few minutes.  I do have patience when it comes to both of them behaving at the park entrance.

If we run into friends right away they still have to behave before I let go of the leash.  Rufus is not happy with that idea.  But he gets used to it really quick.  He has come to know that if he is "rangy" then he is on the leash for a little bit longer and can not go and explore or play right away.

There is a lady that walks her dogs sometimes at the same time as we do.  Rufus does not like one of her dogs.  They are both usually very good except when they see Rufus. Of course Rufus is the same, he sees them and all of a sudden he is a different "bad" dog.

Right now at the park the grass is so high that sometimes we don't see people until we are almost on top of them.  So herein lays the problem.  Rufus will take off after the other dogs, mostly to say "hello", until of course he smells who they are.  Then it can go just about anywhere.  I do know that Rufus has nipped the owner of the dogs at least once.  I am not pleased to know that he would do that.  WE always try to go the other way when we see each other from a distance.  I try to grab the short leash on Rufus and lead him away.  I would like to say that I am successful, but not always.  If Rufus is in a very playful mood he does not obey as much as I would like him to.  If he does not come right back and walk then once I catch him, we come home for a while.  Sometimes it is just an hour or sometimes it is for the rest of the day.  Depending on how badly he is misbehaving.

If Rufus has really misbehaved then when we get home is is told to sit until I tell him he can move.  He comes into the house and hangs his head and just looks at me as if to say "I'm sorry"  But depending on the extent of the misbehavior, he will still have to sit for about 5 minutes.
There was a time when I went and changed my clothes and washed up and then I came back down stairs to just check on him.  He did not move a muscle.  I think he still had the same expression on his face too.
Every time I looked at him he just hung his head lower and lower.  Once I finally let him move about a little bit more he just really made sure that he did not step out of line.

For the next few days he is the best behaved dog at the park.  He is never more than about 100 feet from me and he always looking over his shoulder at me as if to ask permission.
He is a work in progress.  He seems to feel comfortable again and someone or something will get him going again.
Rufus seems to know when I have deemed his behaviour "bad" and depending on the day will either come to within a foot of me and take off or he will come right back.  On the days he is avoiding me we come home as  I catch him and

we get back to the car.  Even if we have only been at the park just long enough to get out of the car.

Other days especially when we are camping, he goes into the dog run.

Both Dexter and Rufus like to make people passing by that I am a terrible "mom".  They have the saddest expressions on their faces and look at everyone like I have just condemned them to "life"

This week has been so hot once I get off work that we have been waiting until almost dark to go out to the park.

We have even had to wait and go out first thing in the morning.  And that is where we are heading today as soon as this is posted.

Have a good day everyone!!

Vacation Time

Our vacation was hot and a lot of fun.  This is only part one of 3 weeks that we will be camping this summer.  But all in all we are going to have a good summer.

Here is Rufus waiting for me to get the car loaded so that we can go.  He knows that when we get going it will be a fun time for him and Dexter because they get to sleep in the trailer anywhere they want to.

It was a big job this time because we took the little boys with us.  Just me, Nicholas, Dawson and Dexter with Rufus.

It is always a treat to watch what Rufus does when the children are with us.


We have some friends at the campground that come just to see Rufus.  On the first night there our friend Jocelyn came by to say "Hi" to Rufus.  He was happy to see her.  It has been almost a year since we last were all at the campground.  With so much damage to the area because of the recent flood I am glad that we were all able to come on the same weekend.

Jocelyn came back about 9pm with some friends to see Rufus but he was so done by then.  He climbed in to the trailer about 8:30pm and got on the little sofa and was out like a light.  He didn't wake up until about 9am the next morning.  I was a little concerned that he was too hot but he was just so tired that he couldn't stay awake any longer.  We had a full day of helping Nicholas build sand channels that the boy filled with water.

Nicholas said that he wished that he had a shovel to dig a little deeper hole at the bottom. Rufus heard that and went to work on the larger hole at the bottom.

There were some tree roots in the way but with a little work and persistance he was able to clean them out.

The heat was a problem.  Along with the misquitos it made for an itchy few days.  We spent most of the day in the river, usually just knee deep.  We cooled off as best as we could.

Rufus kept a close eye on both the boys and if someone was coming anywhere near us he let them know that we were playing here and to keep their distance.

We also had to deal with a few missteps by Rufus that were not acceptable.  I know why he was acting the way he was but it was still unacceptable.  A neighbor brought her dog by to meet Rufus but he would not have any part of it. I know it was because the kids were there and he was watching to see if they were okay.

Rufus lunged and it took most of my strength to hold him back.  At the same time he took a good chunk of my finger with the little bit of chain on his leash.  I was really hoping that he would have calmed down but nope that was not to be.

On our first night home, we went to the dog park at about 6pm or so.  Just as we arrived there, Rufus's friend Bernie came back for a short walk with us.  It was so funny to hear Rufus greet Bernie.  Once he saw him he started "talking" as he was running toward him.  It almost sounded like, " I have not seen you in years!!!  How are you doing?"  Then of course it was the chest bump and the wrestling that carried on for about another 3 or 4 minutes.
This is the usual greeting.  They are always so happy to see each other.

Because we do not have contact information for most of the "friends" at the park it is always a hit or miss type of meeting.

The rest of this week it has been so hot and the children have been getting way to much sun.  We have only gone to the park for just long enough to cool off in the river.


Rufus and Dexter can usually spend quite a bit of time in the river chasing balls or kids or just other dogs or just walking.  But when we walked today even Rufus was done after about 30 minutes.  So we all came home and just lay about for the rest of the day.

Playing in the River

The weather has turned hot and it is hard to keep my dogs cool.

We head for the river every chance we get.  Rufus loves to chase a ball in the river but with the flood last year that reshaped the river in a lot of places it is shallower than it used to be.  We still go everyday and I still throw the ball, but it is harder to find a place that he can swim to get it.  I worry sometimes that the short leash that I have on him may get tangled but he is never that far out anymore that it will.  Most times he is able to just walk out to get the ball.

 There are times that another dog owner will throw a ball too and Rufus feels that he is helping the other dog by going to get it right away.  The problem with that is that he sometimes still has his own ball in his mouth and can not figure out how to get both in his mouth at the same time.

When that happens he is usually closer to shore and he will drop one ball and pick up the other.  Then he looks and discovers that there is one floating right beside him and it is getting away.  So he will drop the ball that is in his mouth and pick up the one that is floating.  He looks again and, wow there is another ball floating.  He looks for a second and drops the one in his mouth and picks up the other and now there is another ball floating.  He just keeps coming closer to shore and once he feels that the current will not take one ball he brings the one in his mouth to just the waters edge and then he goes back for the other.

We very rarely lose a ball.  Unless that is that he has not seen where it lands in the water.  He is always looking for the splash.  If another dog distracts him he sometimes loses sight of the ball and will have to be directed to the ball.  Most of the time if he is paying attention he will see where I am pointing with the chucker and will see the ball and go after it.

We sometimes have a crowd that will watch for a bit and when he sees it and takes off after the ball we hear cheers from the river bank.  I am focused on both dogs so I only turn around when I hear the noise.

Yesterday when we were at the river and it was quiet.  There were not a lot of dogs out walking at the same time as we were we had a good time just playing in the river.  Dexter was able to get a ball and chase it too.  Sometimes now because Rufus is a ball hog, poor Dexter chases rocks that I toss for him so that he can cool off too.  He talks to the rocks as if to say, "No. you're not the one I want" and he digs and brings the rocks closer to the edge of the river.  He doesn't like getting his head wet so he just moves the rocks with his feet until he is sure it won't "float away".

I got to thinking about Wilson and how he loved the river too.  Keep in mind that for all the time that I had him he was attached to me by a leash.  When the weather was hot and we found a place in the river to throw sticks, (Wilson did not chase balls) I would wade out into the water to give him the best advantage that I could so that he could enjoy the river too.

 There was more than once a day that I would have to toss my pack up to someone on the bank so that my phone would not get wet.

I would more often than to come home soaked to the waist or better.  If the day was really, really hot then it was not a bad thing.  If the day was overcast and cooler then it made for a soggy ride home.

I am glad that Rufus is not always attached to me but, I miss Wilson too.

Whistle training or better kid training

It has been a very busy week.  I have been trying to get the camp site ready for camping next week.  After being flooded out we had a lot of work to do.

Anyway back to the way I have been training Rufus to respond to a whistle.  When Rufus gets out of my sight for more than about a minute and if I call him once and he doesn't come back I use the whistle.

 Just 3 short blast of the whistle will usually bring him back within about 30 seconds or at least he will turn to look at me to acknowledge that I have called him.  When that fails, having Dawson either blow the whistle or just run for him he comes back really good.  But whenever the kids are with us he stays within about 10 feet of the kids.  If the kids are running around and chasing him he seems to just "prance" it is not a full run but he will look over his shoulder to see if they are following him then he will give a little bit of a burst of speed to make sure that they have to run a little bit to catch up.

Dawson is learning to use the whistle to call Rufus back too,  However he is a little bit loud on the whistle and the blasts are a little longer.
Rufus comes out from the trees or from down at the river and heads straight for Dawson every time as if to say "You called me"  it is really fun to watch.  When I ask Rufus where his kids are he goes and tags one of them.

Depending on the day and how much he has been running and how many smells are at the park it can still be a work in progress.

I have taught Rufus that if he does not respond after I have to whistle 3 times in about 5 minutes, we go home.  I have had to do that once or twice since I have started using the whistle.  But never when the kids are with me.


Sara is a big help too when I am trying to take video of the kids and the dogs.  We will always have 3 dogs 2 kids and the 2 of us.  We do try to go at least 2 or 3 days a week with everyone but with work schedules we can not go longer.  Bailey is even coming back when we use the whistle now.

Dexter is just a good little cocker and will come anyway unless there is something really smelly that he wants to roll in.  I sometimes have to give just one short blast on the whistle for him to come but then I look down at my feet and wow there he is.  I sometimes over look him because he just follows right along just behind me and I miss him.

Rufus will sometimes just take off and run.  If I can still see him that is good but if he gets more than about 200 yards and he is at a full run, usually going to see another dog, he just makes a long big loop and heads straight back when he hears the whistle.  It is really something to see.  I have had other people walking with me and they are amazed that he will turn and come right back.

Kids are wonderful training tools.  They seem to have it all figured out.  Even at the river they all get wet and have a great time of it.

We very seldom come home from the park in the summer with Dawson dry.  He usually gets to running on the shore with Rufus and Dexter chasing him that he doesn't fall in the water and come up spitting and sputtering.  Rufus is usually the first one there to make sure that he is okay.

Next week we are all going camping.  By all I mean Dawson, Nick, Rufus and Dexter and myself.  We will only go for about 4 days but that is enough.

We have the new site and the new routine that everyone will have to get used to so, it could be a stressful few days for me.  But with the kids with me I will have a great time.

I will have some tales to add to the blog in about a week.  I will try to get more video and some good pictures of everyone sleeping together.

Happy Canada Day everyone!!!!