Raisin, Learning to Point

Raisin is a German Shorthaired Pointer. That means that his breed was made to hunt, track, and even retrieve. Naturally, they should be able to be trained to stand completely still while tracking. That's called "pointing" and sometimes, he even lifts up one foot. Anyways, almost every person we've talked to who are familiar with the breed have asked if we are going to train him to point, and given us tips on how to train him. So, we decided to try. We bought a cheapie fishing pole and tied a stuffed duck on the end. At first, we let Rai chase it around. He barked and leapt and chased. Eden did, too, at first, but then she got really tired and just sat there watching Rai. Eventually, Rai got tired and began to point. He would walk up to the duck slowly, and then learned that if he stopped attacking the duck, he would be able to get it when Chris said he could. Chris has been working with Rai every day for the past 5 days, and Rai seems to be getting it pretty well, once he tires out. He's even learned to jump on the duck to the right when the duck is on Chris's left, and to jump to the left when the duck is on Chris's right. He's also gotten pretty good at fake pointing, and then attacking the poor stuffed duck. Eden still likes to chase the duck a little, but she's learned to wait until Chris forgets that she is there, and moves the duck close to her. Then she strikes. Anyways, it's pretty cool to see. Here are some pictures...

Rai, chasing the duck.

Here, he's trotting up to the downed duck.

In this picture, Rai has slowly approached the duck, and is faking his point. Right after this picture was taken, he put his paw on the duck and bit the duck's wing.

Here, you can see that Rai is pointing with his left paw. He stood there pointing at the duck for a good 15 seconds before Chris released him. He's really getting it!

Hiking with the Puppies!

Yesterday, Chris and I went to Parker Canyon Lake to hike around the lake. It was the only trail around that allowed mountain biking and dogs (though after walking the trail, I've decided not to try to go around it on two wheels.). It was about 2 1/2 hours and 6+ miles, we got around the whole thing. There were a few times when we lost the trail, and a few times when the trail was under water so we had to forge our own trail. But we made it. We also met a few other dogs, and Rai ran into the water and then ran out (he didn't realize that it was water when he leapt in.) Eden played in some of the streams, chasing her bubbles. Rai almost fell in because he's a spaz. Chris slid backwards off a clump of grass. I got scratched from some pricker bushes. But all in all, it was actually fun! And it really tired out the dogs...

After the hike, I tried to get a picture of Chris and the two dogs...

But Eden was hot, so she kept trying to get in the shade...

and hide...

Finally Allowed in the Rest of the House

Well, after months and months of being restricted to the kitchen and backyard, the dogs are finally allowed in to the living room and hallway. They are STILL not allowed into our bedroom...though they still get in there sometimes. Like this morning, when Eden got into the bedroom unsupervised, and resurfaced later with Chris's underwear. Charming. Anyways, we only allow them out there when they are tired. But waiting for a tired puppy is almost like waiting for the cable guy. A few days ago, Rai came running out into the living room, jumped onto the coffee table where he slid across due to inertia, and then jumped onto the couch. Then, he promptly put his head down on Chris's lap, begging to stay up on the couch. Fortunately, Chris is getting more (not all the way) immune to cute puppy eyes, and had him get down. By the way, Rai is also trying to claim the loveseat as his own, jumping up on it and laying down whenever he thinks he can get away with it. Well, anyways, Eden has claimed the old papasan chair cushion as her own. We covered it with a sheet. And Rai has decided that he will lay on two pillows that are covered with towels. Very cute.

Well, Rai got his second pillow to help him keep his head out from under the couch. But he just turns around and sticks his head under the other couch.

Eden usually starts on the cushion, and then pushes herself off onto the floor. Her favorite position is usually butt ON the cushion, head OFF the cushion.

Rai, finally on the cushion. Peeking.

Rai, sleeping.

Raisin is just like his Daddy!

So, when we got Rai, we kept in contact with his Dad and Mom's owners. The owner send me a few pictures of Rai's parents a few months back, and was amazed at how much Rai looks like his Dad. Well, recently, we realized that Rai also takes after his Dad in other ways...Rai's Dad likes to sit on the top of his doghouse and just sit and look. Rai likes to sit on the top of his toy tub, too. Chris, thinking this is hilarious, has taught him to jump up on the tub on command. Because of Rai's love of tub jumping, we had to move the tub away from the patio furniture so that he didn't learn to love table jumping. And we keep it away from the walls so that he doesn't learn to love wall jumping....(but Chris encourages Rai to love Eden-jumping...it's actually pretty funny to see him sailing over Eden's back...)

Rai, on his tub.

Rai, still on his tub...

That's Chris before work, right next to Rai...on the tub...

This is Rai's daddy...see the similarities? It's crazy! 

Mutt March 2006

Yesterday, Chris and I took Eden and Raisin on the "Mutt March". It basically is an organized dog walk. We got T-shirts. Eden and Rai were very well behaved. Raisin got beat up by two daschunds. (More impressive, though, was that they snapped at him and he didn't get aggressive back.) Anyways, we took at 5k walk, and the dogs loved it.

Here's Chris, walking the two pups.

In this one, the pups were trying to get to me, because I was in front of them.

We got a free picture, too. This is before the walk. The puppies were very well behaved, because not 20 feet away were 4 other dogs, barking their heads off. 

Raisin and the Peanut Butter Jar.

The best treat ever is peanut butter. When I want them entertained and quiet, I rub peanut butter all over the side of their crate boxes. When I want to brush them and trim Eden's nails (Rai won't let me), I put peanut butter on the door. When I want them to sit and be quiet in their crates, I put peanut butter on the bars. When Chris and I want to keep them entertained in the back yard, we stuff a kong ball full of peanut butter and kibble. As you can see, we go through a LOT of peanut butter, so I buy the super sized container. We finished one off the other day, and there was a little peanut butter on the inside of the container, so I gave it to the puppies. Rai's nose is longer, so he did better at licking the inside. Anyways, here he is...

Rai, with his head FULLY in the jar.

Rai, trying to push his head entirely in the jar.

Eden, sitting, watching Rai, pretty much thinking..."what an idiot!"

Rai finally figured out that if he put the jar in his food bowl, he wouldn't have to chase it around the kitchen. Can you see how far he shoved his head in the jar? 

Dogs wearing seatbelts

So, before we went on vacation, I ordered the dogs some seatbelts so that they could ride in the back seat (on a hammock-style cover). I ordered them both mediums, and when we got them, Eden's fit, but Rai's was just WAY too big. So I sent it back and ordered Rai a small and had it sent to my sister's house. By the time we got it, Rai had grown a bunch, and now the small was too small, and Eden's medium fit. So, when we got back to AZ, I sent the small back and ordered a large for Eden (she's getting bigger), and will give the medium to Rai. Got that? Anyways, in the mean time, Rai sits in back with a harness on that we got him once he broke his collar when he was tethered at my sister's house. (We looked outside, and he was gone. Oops. Fortunately, it was in a fenced in yard.) Anyways, the dogs have been enjoying sitting in the back seat. Basically, they just fall asleep. Here are some pictures we took while we were in Wisconsin.

You can see Eden's nice seat belt. It has padding to protect her chest.

In this picture, the dogs have fallen asleep. It was funny, because one second, Rai was looking at us, and the next second, his held fell backwards and he was sleeping. He's our narcoleptic dog.

Rai falls asleep while sitting up, also. Better that than hopping around. 

Back from a GREAT vacation!!!

So, a week ago, Chris and I got back from our vacation. We had a GREAT time in South Dakota and Wisconsin, and Chris had more than enough fun in Chicago. Here are some pictures that I took (with my NEW camera) while on vacation.

So, Hannah has perfected her "Smile on command" smile to look like this...It's a good thing that she is so cute naturally...

Here are Chris and Isaac, walking out of the baseball game that we saw. Isaac is clearly making a scary face.

This is Ellee jumping from the wall to be caught by Mark. It's such a cool picture because she's literally in mid air!

Isaac is also a fearless child. There was no-fear for this one!