September 10, 2023: a very lazy day
Activity level: low
The AM
Both dogs went to Fresa Parque for half an hour and I did some Game brushing. I can see what my students tell me over and over again happened to their stellar puppy recall happening to my informal recall (the throway pup-pup-pup recall): it’s getting weaker and weaker becauser all I’ve been doing is use it rather than actually work on it. It is fun to observe how different her response is between this one and the formal recall I’ve been building!
The remains of the day
Getting back home, Game was feeling horny! She’ll go into heat soon. The horny phase is one of her early tells. A little play, and then Chai said enough and I separated them, letting both settle down with a chew. (A chew is a good place to put your horniness, says Game.)
All three of us were feeling lazy and kept the day low key.
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone when I went out with friends for a few hours.
September 11, 2023: renaming Fresa Parque
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent 45 minutes at the Urban Enrichment Jungle (the new name I’ve given to Fresa Parque). I’ll put together an Urban Enrichment video compilation sometime – it is quite impressive! This morning, the dogs found:
+ Soaked popcorn: Game loved it after having turned her back on it yesterday when it wasn’t soaked yet.
+ Chai found an apple and stuck with it even though I scattered kibble to compare values. Game preferred the scatter over the apple.
+ Both dogs snacked on these little artificially colored heart-shaped candies someone had dropped and that were partially crushed into the ground, turning them into an excellent food toy.
Once upon a time, that’s how today’s food toy must have started out. Pixabay image by omnigrapher (thank you!)
Apart from food enrichment – apples have been common recently and Chai is a fan! – the Urban Enrichment Jungle also comes with:
+ Social contacts in the form of familiar and unfamiliar humans and dogs.
+ Other dogs’ toys that can be chased together with other dogs or stolen and traded for treats.
+ A dog playground (aka agility-ish equipment in the dog park we sometimes have to ourselves).
+ The Antagonist Chai likes to try and outsmart (a person who puts bread crumbs for pajaros on the ground every morning and mostly, but not always observes said birds from a bench across from the crumbs). The person has a long stick, and every time a dog comes close to the crumbs, they will use that stick to try and shoo the dog away without getting up. Chai tends to run and check for crumbs. She navigates the person like a challenge, making sure to stay out of the reach of the stick, bouncing back when the stick comes close, but then trying to go for the bread again. I’ll remove her out of respect for the person, but it is FASCINATING to observe the interaction (which sometimes happens before I get there).
+ Speaking of pajaros: Game very much enjoys running into a flock of pigeons who often hang out on the other side of this park. Game will chase them off and then check for their food source – it’s either grist, which she doesn’t like, or bread, which she’ll inhale.
+ Sometimes, we even see a Bengal cat being walked on a leash at the Urban Enrichment Jungle.
+ Occasionally, there’s George a squirrel or two. This isn’t the most squirrely park we frequent, so the squirrels are surprise highlights!
But back to this morning! We left when Game greeted Eva (a BC friend) with too much of a Malinois attitude for Eva’s taste. Before going into heat, her play style typically becomes more physically intense. That goes well with dogs who know her well, but weirds out others. So far, Eva and Game have only played running games, and Eva felt overwhelmed by a wrestling-mood Game. Game is clearly getting close to her heat: both her joy about small things and her likelihood of getting highly aroused by small things go up. I can see that in her play behavior and her interactions with me and the world. Hormones are wild! (I assume heat in dogs is caused by hormones, but I don’t actually know that – if it’s something else and you know, please enlighten me in the comments!)
In any case, it is fascinating to observe! This morning, we got to the park half an hour earlier than usual and Game was SO peppy! Shiny eyes, running bouncily back and forth like a playful, juvenile dog who can’t get enough of the world. These are two sides of the same coin. The time before she goes into heat really seems to emotionally sensitize her: she’ll express her feelings more than she does the rest of the year. Her joy looks twice as joyful and her wild play gets twice as wild and more easily tips into overarousal.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll only take Chai to the Urban Enrichment Jungle and Game and I will go biking or inline skating later instead.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for 30 minutes while Game and I skated errands.
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to the Toy Play Plaza for some running around and a recall set-up in the afternoon.
We walked part of the way back home in collar mode with between 5 and 40 steps between treats. Chai was being brilliant and only overstepped once!
Shaping
We worked on the sit up trick, the put-one-object into another one trick with the nailclippers and the 4 paws in bowl #5 trick. In our next 4 in a bowl session, I will re-attach the cue!
In the evening, we had a frog session on the couch – without a pillow. Both of Chai’s legs were stretched back all the way! I believe this was our best session yet!
September 12, 2023: squirrels, street food and some training
Activity level: average
The AM
I took Game on a loop around the block and then Chai by herself for half an hour’s Urban Enrichment Jungling. Game in her pre-heat-days is not the best fit for the ruckus of the morning park dogs. She’ll get to go on her own outing later.
Chai played briefly with two of her friends, but then showed more interest in non-social enrichment like the apple she found and ate and stealing two balls. She’s growing up to be a most excellent ladrona. I like that streetsmart gangstery side of hers – the one that dodges The Antagonist and steals toys to trade in for food. She’s benign trouble; the best kind.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s mid-morning walk.
Training
+ We worked on the 4-in bowl #5 trick and I successfully re-attached the “Four” cue (no video).1 In my next session, I’ll take another stab at – drumroll! – bowl #6!
+ We worked on the sit up trick with the paw target (no video, but I am feeling less weight on the plate now – Chai is making progress!)
+ We worked on putting the nail clippers in the china bowl and the smaller plastic bowl.
+ Chai did a crooked frog after the dogs’ evening loop.
PM adventure
If you see a dog who’s not the color they originally came in, it’s probably one of mine.
Game, Chai and I walked to Dead Poultry Park and spent about an hour there. Game chased squirrels, Chai found and enjoyed parts of un melón and a fun mud hole and did an easy “Snow” recall for a taco she then shared with Game.
Left: multi-squirrel tree. Right: just a Malinois running up a palm tree in pursuit of said squirrels.
Popcorn and a movie Squirrels and a muskmelon.
Husbandry
+ A shower (after enjoying a mud hole at Dead Poultry Park)
+ “Brush” (Chai looks so handsome and shiny after today’s bath and brushing session!)
September 12, 2023: formal recall success and feeling better about pedicures!
Activity level: lower end of average
The AM
Game got a loop around the block and Chai went to the Urban Enrichment Jungle. She was SO happy to see her friend Dina and play and run with her – the two of them haven’t seen each other in a while and it made me smile to watch them.
Later in the morning, the dogs and I went to Toy Play Plaza for another back-tied recall session. Chai ROCKED it today! We’ll work off leash next time …!
Both dogs ran around the plaza for a little bit and Chai briefly played with a BC-mix looking dog we hadn’t met before.
Shaping
+ Four in – I successfully added bowl #6 – the smallest one! – into bowl #5 (see today’s video).
+ One object in another on the roof (nail clippers) – Chai got 2/3 on the first try in the china bowl (the third one needed a second try) and THREE out of THREE with the smaller plastic container (no video)!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone for several hours.
Husbandry
+ Brush
+ “Claws!” (right front paw) – again, way better than the last time! We’re almost back to feeling neutral about mani-pedis!
+ Since the right front paw had gone so well, I did the left front paw after a break as well. This one was also better than last week (or was it two weeks ago?), but Chai was less calm about it than about the right one. I wonder if that’s because this paw is more sensitive OR because this was the second paw I worked on today. Note to self: if I remember (a big if), reverse the order next time and see what happens!
September 14, 2023: nothing wildly exciting, but headphones are tasty
Activity level: average
The AM
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s morning loop and went on a solo adventure to Urban Enrichment Jungle, and then both joined my morning errands. Chai did okay on her back clip harness in terms of not pulling a lot even though Game was off leash and ahead of her. Good puppy!
Home alone
Game and Chai stayed home alone for 3 hours.
Recall and Toy Play Plaza
We did the easy taco recall of the day at Toy Play Plaza. Chai rocked it and both dogs got to hang out outside for a bit. I had been planning on training after getting home, but ended up feeling too tired. Lots of video editing in the morning and then 3 hours of Spanish peer-supporting … The dogs and I took a snuggle break and called it a day, watching The Lady and the Dale instead. I know people love this documentary but I’ve got some issues with it … anyways, that’s a topic for another day!
Chai ate my headphones, which is sad but right on time: I tend to need new ones before international flights. Story of my life!
September 15, 2023: Dead Poultry Park adventures
Activity level: average
The AM
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s morning loop and then got to go on a brief solo adventure at Toy Play Plaza for our next formal recall step – recalling away from an empty paper target in its usual spot! Success! – and some running around.
Then both dogs stayed home alone while I ran biked what felt like a gazillion pre-travel errands.
Adventuring at Dead Poultry Park
I met a friend at the park and we spent a few hours walking loops, climbing art and taking fun pictures. Both Chai and Game got to come and enjoy chasing squirrels, running and, in Chai’s case, rolling in a mud puddle – one of her favorite things in the world!
Chai, proudly presenting her war paint after the first mud puddle she encountered (when there was still some white left on her face).
September 16, 2023: recall success and meeting a new dog sitter
Activity level: average
The AM
I took both dogs to Toy Play Plaza for their morning adventure, knowing it wouldn’t be as crowded as the Urban Enrichment Jungle. We started with an off leash recall away from the kibble distraction in our usual spot and Chai ROCKED it. Bestest Border Collie ever!
I am still amused that my own dog has been more difficult to distraction recall train than most client dogs I’ve worked with over the last 5 years or so. It feels like we are playing a strategy game where Chai’s goal is to know when she can reach the distraction without coming back first and my goal is to convince her that coming back first is worth her while. There are days that feel like she knows it is worth her while but prioritizing her goal is simply more fun. That is probably not the case since dogs tend to be opportunists, but I like thinking about it that way because it cracks me up. Chai is smart and serious about this to the degree that it doesn’t matter who meets their goal at any given day (she or I) – we just keep playing, and THAT’s what the game is really about, for me anyways: we both have fun. Bernard Suits would say it is an open game – not the kind of game recall training typically is!
Husbandry
+ “Nails!” (both back paws; Chai was super chill and relaxed about it – back claws are easier than front paws!)
+ “Brush!”
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for a little under 1.5 hours while Game and I walked errands.
Training and fitness!
+ We worked on putting a coin in both the porcelain bowl and the smaller plastic container on the roof. China bowl easy – plastic container hard!
+ After Chai’s solo adventure, we worked on the “4 in” trick.
+ Before bed time, Chai did a frog on the couch.
Solo adventure
We went to visit Chai’s dog sitter so she could meet them and their dogs a day before being left there. Gerardo, the main sitter, is a BIG person. While Chai has a decent number of human friends, they are all MY friends and we’re all scrappy, lean and athletic. We’re kind of like Whippets and this person was like a Anatolian Shepherd. Chai is more on the Whippety side of canine personality and morphology as well and I had to protect her a bit from Gerardo and their mom so they wouldn’t touch her.
I hope they will humor me and only touch or put a harness on Chai when she approaches first. Sadly, Scarlett is out of town, and Alan is having the craziest work week and can’t take a second juvenile Border Collie (Kiba is already kicking his butt because he doesn’t have enough time for her).
I hope Chai will be the same dog I dropped off when I come back to pick her up again. In any case, Alan will drop by sometime next week to check on her and put my mind at ease.
Chai got to play with the sitters’ own dogs Marley (a well-matched play partner for her) and Tae (who barked nonstop while we were there, which didn’t seem to bother the sitters at all).
Marley (left) and Tae (right). I didn’t take these pictures; Gerardo sent them to me yesterday. Today, they were both wearing choke chains. (No problem for me as long as Gerardo keeps the promise to only walk Chai in her harness or not walk her at all, which I really hope they will.)
On the way home, we stopped at the Urban Enrichment Jungle and looped around a little to decompress. Now Chai is passed out on the couch. When she wakes up again later, we’ll work on the 4 in trick.
September 17, 2023: good-byes are hard!
The AM
After a brief loop, we all went back to bed. Around noon, we took a brief walk to the not-particularly-enriching (today) Urban Enrichment Jungle.
Back home, we worked on 4 in and placing one object into another one.
Then, the three of us met Alan at Kiba’s Park for good-byes and Austria-related emotional support. Thank you, Alan, for being here and knowing just the things to say. I hope I am able to do this for you, too.
Chai’s off on a multi-day solo adventure …
At 7pm, I dropped Chai off with the sitter … and let me tell you, it was HARD. I love the sensitive little Border Collie.
In any case, it’s a good exercise for ME to leave Chai with Gerardo, who is a very different person than I. I genuinely believe most people are competent, even if they are competent in ways other than my own. So I remind myself: trust that Chai will be okay. She has proven herself to be a resilient dog time and again – this life experience will make her even more so.
- This week, you’ll see me run out of video-editing steam. Recording is fast and fun, but editing is not (for me). Because I was running out of steam, I videoed less and took pictures instead or didn’t bring a phone at all (my preferred way of leaving the house).
My original plan was to video and document Chai’s life until I adopted her out.
My updated plan, after I decided to keep her, was to document the first year of her life. However – future me dropping in here – this won’t happen, at least not in video form. It’s too much work – I haven’t made it all the way to the 1-year mark as far as videoing and documenting absolutely everything is concerned. She’s still being the bestest puppy though, whether there’s video to prove it or not! ↩︎