Isaac, Noah, and I did 3 miles on the bike this evening and now Isaac is lounging in his pimped out kennel.

Made a trip to farm and fleet and purchased 3 Cow Mats to lay down in the kennel. I noticed Isaac was getting calluses on his elbows and figured this would help. He seems to like them and I don’t think he’s too interested in chewing/eating them. I also got a cover for the kennel,  it seems that the the position of the earth relative to the sun has changed and he is now getting a little direct sunlight in the afternoons. I also purchased a tub of bag balm, all this bike riding is causing a little chafing in my ….. just kidding! I’m putting the bag balm on the start of his calluses in hopes of eliminating them.

Here’s a little video of Bethany and Anna trying to play tennis with Isaac’s help (Kerry makes an appearance).

Though I haven’t officially posted it yet I’m getting close to admitting that Isaac will never do bite work. Currently arriving at the third stage of grief, anger. I’m angry at Fenga and blame her for my current deli ma.  Bargaining will happen when I have to spend 4 times what a new dog costs on a honey-do list to get Kerry to buy into a second dog. Then it’s only three more stages to complete, do these have to happen in order?

Isaac slept in the AC last night and is out in his kennel until lunch. After a little romp in the yard this AM I filled his two giant water bowls with fresh H20 and put him in the kennel.

About an later hour I look out the window to check on him and I notice that about 40 feet of the hose are in the kennel with him. The little freak had grabbed the end of the hose and started pulling it into the kennel with him, not sure if he had figured out how he was going to turn it on.

I dragged the hose out of the kennel and decided if you want the hose you’ll get the hose……squirt squirt….he gave me the hairy eyeball. I think his plan was to try and squirt me, ah to have opposable thumbs!

If Isaac’s tongue could talk it would say “It’s freaking HOT out!” Isaac slept inside last night for the first time in a couple months….it’s just too freaking hot out! Even the blue barrel couldn’t offer protection from the latest climate change…..

We’ve gone from weather only an amphibian could enjoy to a climate scorpions flourish in! Are toads amphibians? Either way I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to Isaac barking like the Russians were invading…..only to find a toad had escaped his chompers and was lounging just outside the kennel. This toad was luckier than his brother who landed in the kennel the other night after a few excited hops. Chomp chomp!

If Isaac’s tongue could talk it would say “It’s freaking HOT out!” Isaac slept inside last night for the first time in a couple months….it’s just too freaking hot out! Even the blue barrel couldn’t offer protection from the latest climate change…..

We’ve gone from weather only an amphibian could enjoy to a climate scorpions flourish in! Are toads amphibians? Either way I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to Isaac barking like the Russians were invading…..only to find a toad had escaped his chompers and was lounging just outside the kennel. This toad was luckier than his brother who landed in the kennel the other night after a few excited hops. Chomp chomp!

Isaac took in a swim and a bath today. It’s hot out!

How sad is it that 4 of the top 7 searches performed in google that drive people to the site are related to crap? Diarrhea, rabbit poop, rabbit poo, and puppy diarrhea….. You search for puppy diarrhea at google.com and the results will put my site at the very top of your list, go on check it out (or click here). Sucks that I’m behind leerburg.com, that dudes kind of a nut-ball (shit I probably just started a war). He’s really a highly skilled and polished dog trainer who supports the first amendmant to the constitution.

Went to Schutzhund Club last Sunday and Isaac barked! Don’t get too terribly excited. Though it was nice it is still rather apparent that he’s soft, has a shitty grip, is still hesitant, and really kind of looks pathetic. Since it’s apparent holding off on OB isn’t helping out I’m going to start working him in OB. It’s also apparent that Noah isn’t going to let me ‘trade-in’ the beast so it looks like there will be a second GSD in the future. Not too terribly excited about the prospect in Brazil (not sure why) and his sister is, well, a female (and gone). I can’t imagine the honey-do list (hope Kerry doesn’t read this) that will required to be completed prior to another dog.

On another note I fell asleep last night an accidentally forgot to bring Isaac in from the kennel. When I went down and let him out he was still sound asleep in his blue barrel (K-9Kondo) at 8:15 this morning. Didn’t hear a peep out of him all night…….will need to stick that in my memory backs for days I want to sleep in.

Had a touch of a limp earlier in the week after 2 miles on the bike, checked his pads and didn’t see anything so I think he was just a tad sore.

Haven’t been updating the site too much lately so here’s a little something something.

Isaac hasn’t done any OB in forever and has been spending the majority of the time in his crate or kennel except for a few trips to soccer games, daily walks and to get out and bark for a ball 5 or 10 minutes at a time. His barking is coming along nicely IMHO, the only issue I see is that he has developed a little habit of sitting and barking because no one else can hold him and I haven’t been back tieing him. He seems to understand what’s going on and I hope it transitions to a helper.

I lied above about being in his crate or kennel, because I’ve also started taking him on bike rides 3 times a week. doing between 1.5 and 3.5 miles in @ between 7 and 9.5 MPH (rule book range). Figure if he washes out because of protection I can at least get him an AD (assuming I can make it 12 miles). Kennel/Crate statement is probably more accurate stating that other than tracking, barking for ball, walks, and bike rides and a couple soccer games he doesn’t get to hang out with anyone and just chill.

Have been doing some tracking, though after checking the rule book for SchH 1 track I might be on the short side of a SchH 1 track. Still a lot of food, but he skips most of it because he knows there is a jackpot at the end.

From where we were with ball drive Isaac has made 200% progress. He’s got fire coming out of his ass (that’s a relative statement). I think once we start with OB he’ll actually work for the ball…he looks for it, roots for it, barks for it, and plays tug with it. At soccer games he’ll show more interest in the ball than what’s going on around him, would rather play and stay engaged than sniff the ground. So maybe the days of him walking on the field and being more interested in the environment than the ball are over (please).

He has definitely matured a lot in the past couple months, still a little goofy, but not totally Marmaduke…more a combination of Snoopy and Hootch (from Turner and Hootch)…he’ll bark at fishermen in the backyard if they are the ‘normals’ instead of just staring at them. He still isn’t Barky Mic Bark Bark, but I think a bark and hold might be feasible.

Have been skipping going to training because it was just frustrating to watch him stand there and not engage and figured I was just wasting my time until he was ready. Seems that he’s more comfortable barking/pushing for a toy so maybe the time is right. Have kept him used to sitting in the crate in the car by taking him to Ric and Diane’s on occasion at night while I’m sitting and chilling out with them.

Here is a video of the ‘dog cam’ I posted a while back on youtube, you may vomit if you watch this…..this was a failed experiment in what I thought would be cool.

Since Steve removed this from his FB wall I felt the need to share it here, need to make sure it continues to make the google dance!

Yet another video of Steve Romard training for the 2009 GSD National Championships has been leaked. I feel sorry for the dogs on the back half!

Isaac had his first trip out to a soccer game this year (it was in Rockford, IL which can only be describe as the 7th layer of hell). Got yelled at in the parking lot (way in the back of a grass field) for having him off leash. I was playing ball with him to take the edge off before meeting the public and to get him to relieve himself. He took a giant dump as the rent-a-cop walked over to reprimand me (I cleaned it up). I put him on his lead.

There were 3 or 4 little rat dogs running around and he behaved himself. He also got a lot of attention from kids ranging in age from 3 to 14 of Hispanic decent. Kerry will argue that because I’m pointing this out I’m a racist, but this is probably the first time he’s seen ‘brown’ people in mass. He was very well behaved, didn’t steal anyone’s soccer ball, and only licked the 3 year old a couple of times.

He was obsessed with the ball I had in my pocket (even with stuff going on around us) which was good to see. Not just walking around sniffing the ground like his old self, so maybe he’ll work for the ball at the club some day (still not doing any OB with him). He was pushy pushy for it making good eye contact, rooting with his nose, pawing at it, and even barking. Keeping him even more contained than I used to and keeping the ball play down to 1 or 2 minutes have paid off. He’s still has issues and his drive isn’t over the top, but it might just be workable for OB. He sure is maturing slowly….I need to keep that in mind.

Isaac had his first trip out to a soccer game this year (it was in Rockford, IL which can only be describe as the 7th layer of hell). Got yelled at in the parking lot (way in the back of a grass field) for having him off leash. I was playing ball with him to take the edge off before meeting the public and to get him to relieve himself. He took a giant dump as the rent-a-cop walked over to reprimand me (I cleaned it up). I put him on his lead.

There were 3 or 4 little rat dogs running around and he behaved himself. He also got a lot of attention from kids ranging in age from 3 to 14 of Hispanic decent. Kerry will argue that because I’m pointing this out I’m a racist, but this is probably the first time he’s seen ‘brown’ people in mass. He was very well behaved, didn’t steal anyone’s soccer ball, and only licked the 3 year old a couple of times.

He was obsessed with the ball I had in my pocket (even with stuff going on around us) which was good to see. Not just walking around sniffing the ground like his old self, so maybe he’ll work for the ball at the club some day (still not doing any OB with him). He was pushy pushy for it making good eye contact, rooting with his nose, pawing at it, and even barking. Keeping him even more contained than I used to and keeping the ball play down to 1 or 2 minutes have paid off. He’s still has issues and his drive isn’t over the top, but it might just be workable for OB. He sure is maturing slowly….I need to keep that in mind.

Noah, Bethany and I gave Isaac some swimming lessons today in the backyard. He’s coming along pretty well in the water. Oh and then Isaac got a bath in the driveway.

I’ve been messing with Adobe Premiere to figure out what the best settings for rendering video intended for youtube are. The video of Isaac barking is the one I’ve been playing with because the text over the ‘movie’ are causing problems.

All that to say while I was playing around I did a screen capture to get the following image. I thought it was funny because it makes Marmaduke look a little less like Astro from the Jetsons.

Isaac did some strong barking for the ball yesterday (after being in the kennel all day). Did about 2.5 minutes worth or bark/play and put him back in the kennel. Was some of his best barking (drive for the toy) yet.

This morning he was in the front yard when something blew by that spooked him, hair went up and he bark bark barked at it (away from it at first then started stepping towards it). A couple minutes later Jeff Day walked over to give Noah the to-do list for taking care of their dog Chester, Isaac was still in the front yard. Isaac postured, squared up and bark bark barked at Jeff and wouldn’t let him in the yard until I finally called him in the house (didn’t tell him to stop just let him go for awhile sorry Jeff). Normally Isaac is pretty chummy with Jeff, but I think he was still a touch ‘off’ because of the thing that blew by.

One of two things. Bill is right and because he’s soft and kind of squirrely with his drives it might just have been his nerves (not good ones either). The other option is that now that he’s learned to bark he’s a little more free and open/confident/comfortable and this might be a good thing. He saw Jeff last night while he was out mowing the lawn and was fine. I will have to keep an eye on things and make sure I don’t see things moving consistently in the wrong direction. Probably didn’t articulate this well, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s either good drive or nerviness showing itself in my opinion (and I’m not sure or qualified to say). Hoping it’s the former and not the second.

He is definitely turning into Barky mick bark bark lately, and has way more drive for the ball. Now how that translates on the field when a helper is present is a different equation all together. Hoping for the best…..

Posted this on youtube last week and forgot to embed it in a post. BTW I’m struggling figuring out the best format to render for youtube with the new Flip. Facebook looks awesome youtube does weird post processing I haven’t quite figured out.

Isaac is starting to consistently bark for the toy, still keeping him crated/kenneled quite a bit and only working on bark for the play in short random intervals. Tends to still really like the soccer ball better than the Gappay’s and food of course rules over all.

He will also occasionally just fall into fuss for the ball or sit at my side with attention. Haven’t been doing any OB, just working on seeing if he’ll consistently bark for the toy and make that connection.

This a follow up to the previous video of Isaac barking at the ducks. They appear to be stepping it up and engaging in a turf war!

Here is my attempt at lowering our households carbon footprint by not burying plastic bags full of dog fecal matter in mother earth? Just doing my part to save the Polar Bears!

Al Gore’s video and appearance on Oprah really had an impact on me. NOT! I just think it will be a more efficient way of disposing of the dog nuggets, plus how funny will it be when a kid falls in it? Oh Mr Gore if you’re reading this I’ve found the fountain of youth, stop by and take a dip!

Oh and youtube dam you for continuing to bust me for using copyrighted music…Love stinks would have been so appropriate.

The sister-in-law came over yesterday for Easter and all the kids were wearing matching outfits for the Easter photo shoot. Haley got grumpy and the photo shoot was put on hold so Isaac got a little time out of his kennel and in front of the lens. These are candid shots, but if you want to look at Heather’s real work and portfolio check her site out here.

[View with PicLens]