The dog smelled (since he tossed his cookies on the way to SchH training Sunday) so I had to give in and give him a bath.

Isaac doesn’t like bathing (and hasn’t since day 1). He finally reached the point where he would let me squirt him with the hose, suds him up, and then rinse him off  in the driveway (though he was never too thrilled). All reached a point means is he didn’t screech and howl like he was being skinned alive. Yes I know the garden hose is cold, but it’s not the cold water that bothers him. Squirting without the ‘bathing’ part and he’s OK, and there is even more of an adverse reaction to the bathtub (yes I put a towel down on the bottom of the tub so he isn’t sliding all over the place).

Since it’s cold out we had to bring the bathing to the bath tub (haven’t done that since I rinsed the green tattoo ink out of his ear). All I can say is that it was a lot of wrestling to get him to stay put and after 15 minutes he gave in and stood there. There was a lot of water on the floor and walls and he howled and screeched for the first 15 minutes. He finally became 80% compliant and was soaped and rinsed. He is a stubborn little bastard…

Then it was off to his dog room for the BLOW OUT….I left the blower outside the room and just slid the hose through the cracked door. He wasn’t too happy, but I was able to blow all the water and a lot of the loose hair out of his coat. He doesn’t smell like vomit any longer. He also looks about 15 pounds heavier with his fur all poofed out….

Here is proof that I cleaned the basement this afternoon, this included but is not limited to

• Vacuuming the stairs
• Sweeping the tile
• Vacuuming the carpet and tile
• Dusting with the fluffy thing Isaac likes to grab (flat surfaces, corners, and ceiling)
• Picking up all the kids crap (a lot, put 3 metal ball bearings in the trash)
• Emptying the trash
• Made sure to get under the computer desk

After comparing the dog related mess to the kid related I vote that the kids have more of an impact on the environment than the dog. Isaac only produces a small pile of stuff compared to Noah’s 50 video games, game controllers (Wii and Playstation), socks, listening devices, and Bethany’s stuffed animals, dolls, and doll house. Not to mention the hair ties and food wrappers.

Pictures submitted as evidence:

Some how Isaac got the knot out of the end or his rope toy and now it’s just thousands of threads. Played with balls (ha ha he said played with balls) today rather than hoses. Figured I’d change it up as he seems willing to bring anything I throw back to me now (for awhile he was ball adverse, maybe he’s homophobic). Still working to get him a little more pushy for the hoses/ball (Bill would tell me to move my ass around and act excited).

Noah played a little tug with him prior to the Fire x Revolution game on ESPN II and Isaac was compliant with Aus. Noah might be catching on and making progress with how he needs to act around the dog (still questionable). He seems obsessed more with how much bigger is he going to get, is he bigger than other German Shepherd Dogs, why are his legs so long, when will he be trained, and on and on…..

The switch back to hot dogs has been beneficial. I’m able to manage them better and it appears to have improved persision and timing (more on my end than on the dogs). His stomach has seemed capable of handling it as well (which is a GIANT relief).

I have been using pieces of garden hose to reward Isaac with during training and play. The issue is that they are a little tough to manage when not being used, especially when I’m wearing shorts. The are a too long to simply fit in your pocket and tucking them up under your shirt takes a little too much time.

So I started thinking about the best way to store them on my person where I would be able to both easily access and store them away. Here is what I cam up with:

I used an old prusik I had laying around, two binder clips (removed a clip 2 was too cumbersome and both hoses fit in 1 clip), and some zip ties. Seems it will be quick to pull them out and easy to reattach them….at one point I tried stuffing them down the sleeve of my jacket (way too much of a pain).

If you want to follow actual training use the menu at the right called Schutzhund Training Updates

Someone must be reading this crap as my sitemeter counter is about to hit 1,000. Wow I should start selling advertising space. Oh and don’t worry I’ve got a cookie set on my machine so it’s not counting my views.

Kerry just called, Isaac is outside howling at or with the Tornado Siren (he does it every first Tuesday of the month).

Isaac has discovered that barking is a useful skill to have, for things other than food or hoses.

On this evenings walk to young fellows came scooting out between Judy’s house and Jacks house. Isaac spotted them and gave a few good barks. They stopped and tried to decide whether they should continue forward motion or retreat to the Day’s backyard.

Then in front of Keith’s house on the other side of the block we were ambushed by a cotton ball. The thing struck like a cobra and bark, bark, Read the rest of this entry »

Since I scored a new (used) iBook and it’s been awhile since I’ve played on the dark side I’m testing resizing images in GIMP. Dude isn’t there anything like irfanview?

Here is the picture I snapped of Isaac in the K9 - Kondo (mentioned in an earlier post).

Figured I’d add some more video for your viewing pleasure. Who really reads all this crap I post anyway! Hope you enjoy there’s more at http://www.youtube.com/user/gsdayla

It was 74 degrees here today, I was working from home, and my crazy dog was in the K-9 Kondo again. Cold nasty days he lays out in the open, beautiful nice days he heads for the dog house. That silly dog house can’t be any cooler so I’m not sure what his motive is. Either way I’m glad he is using it.

Soccer wasn’t until 3:00 PM today and I got an extra hour of sleep so we were able to make a trip to Indian Creek Schutzhund Club today.

Isaac’s performance was nice and flat to say the least. He hasn’t been to the club in a long time and was distracted during OB/Play (I didn’t help the situation much). During protection he put a sock in his mouth, but as it’s only the second time he’s seen a helper he was a little distracted. It didn’t help that I let him actually chase the tug once (when Bill was attempting to frustrate him a little), oh and you should out the dog with the dog facing the helper. All in all it was a nice day and will be nice to get the beast back out there more often.

Isaac went straight from the club to a soccer game where he got to see Mrs. Strecker, Max, Noah, kerry, and a couple other dogs.

After Isaac and I were done working he got fed some brunch and enjoyed some tasty spring water from the hose. I went to check on him and he was caught in the act of sleeping in his dog house.

This is the first time other than last weekend when I purposely made him sit in the rain that he has used the dog house. It wasn’t even cool out today, I found it interesting.

Isaac got to sit on the porch as the kiddies came up for candy (little creatures, some smelled worse than him). Talk about socialization, he saw some freaky people in all stages of dress, some on rollerblades, some with masks, some screaming, short ones, tall ones, fat ones, and some not even in costume.

He behaved like a true gentelman and didn’t bother anyone, required no restraining, and only tried to get in the candy bowl about 4,000 times. It was good to see he can handle new situations.

He was also happy that I didn’t make him wear the costume I ordered him on ebay….. who would do that to their dog?

I have created a category called Schutzhund Training where I can log actual work I am doing to move towards Schutzhund trials/titles.

So that the main page doesn’t get plastered with entries (may not be daily as I keep an actual paper log and am not sure how much I’ll reproduce) I’ve installed a plugin that hides the Schutzhund Training category post from the main page.

You can find a link on the left side of the main page called Schutzhund Training Updates which will give you access to this category.

Here’s what the paper log looks like

The beast went out this AM and re leaved himself, spent a little time in his kennel, and then went back in his crate. While I lounged in bed watching the news he was in his crate dropping a giant splat of smelly brown pudding in his kennel (didn’t walk in it).

I was busy before the first conference call of the day, like cleaning up the sidewalk after an exploding fecal filled balloon was dropped from a roof. I need to run to the Army Surplus store this weekend to pickup a gas mask and a Tyvek Chemical Suit. When I squirted out the crate I used the hose to ’sift’ through the poo and didn’t find any rocks, or other strange foreign objects (wouldn’t put it past him).

I must admit that I gave him a chunk of cooked chicken last night, not an entire chicken but a small chunk. Other than that it was just kibble and water.

Also caught him today at lunch chewing on the far end (rim) of the barrel his dog house is made from (K9-Kondo).

Here is a video for Jacob (my friend Kari’s son). Follow the youtube video to the user “gsdayla“, he’ll be able to find any number of videos of dogs in many different stages of training. The content under gsdayla is safe for kids (no barley clad women or totally horrible music lyrics).

Isaac is a total nut-ball. He’s found a new way to entertain himself with the new dog house (K9-Kondo).

Isaac spent some time in the K9-Kondo yesterday when the wind and rain picked up.

Chew proof was the claim, well it’s not ‘Chew’ proof but it is damage due to chewing proof. I’m working from home today and had Isaac outside during a conference call. When I went to check on him he had gotten the rod that holds the door open half way out and had pulled his K9-Kondo across his kennel. Maybe he was just practicing a little Feng Shui. He was sitting there chewing on a galvonized steel rod (freak)!

So it is definately damage proof and seems to have stood the first ‘Isaac’ test. Might consider staking it down so he doesn’t keep moving it around. It doubles as a water bowl too. When it is wet with dew or rain Isaac likes to lick the outside dry.

The K9-Kondo kit I posted about earlier in the week came Friday and the Barrel came today. Here is a page with pictures and details around how it went together.

Bethany helped put it together.

Isaac is no longer this small and he takes his eating a lot more seriously now, but lately this is his method of drinking. Bang the bowl(s) around until they spill, drink off the ground, and then play with the bowls. He appears to be practicing his air-hokey while hydrating! Bark for more H20 and repeat!

Isaac doesn’t look any bigger to me, but the 21″ fur saver tells another story. When I ordered it I got a 21″ and a 23″. He could almost look at the ground and have the 21″ fall off his head, not so any longer. It slides on easy, but has gotten to be a lot tougher getting off. We are only using the dead ring, but if I was using it for corrections it would be way too short. Might be moving to the 23″.

Prey Drive Progress…..Isaac is now good for 20 minutes of two hose (yes I’m using chunks of garden hose). He’ll chase, return, chase return, as long as every once in awhile I hold one in my hand and let him run in and ‘hit’ it and play a little tug with him. To think I was worried As soon as they go in my pocket he sits and stairs at me (not my pocket) until they come back out (look seems to have paid off as well). He’s even getting pushy for them, after a couple minutes of stairing he occasionally starts barking at me (which he never does for anything else, not even dinner). Still tease him with them before we start and always put him away wanting more.

Since the limp seems to have settled we’ve been playing with the hoses a lot more. I suppose I have Jen from Indian Creek Schutzhund club and Kulla Dogs to thank for teaching me how to play with my dog….took some work but he’s getting in the groove which is very very nice to see and will make life easier in the long run.