White Shepherd Stories

It Has Been a Year Today ... April 23.

 

It has been a year of firsts:

First time we camped at Gray's Harbor fairgrounds without Spirit.  He especially loved the time when the event we were attending shared the fairgrounds with a goat show.  He never forgot it and at each subsequent visit he looked for the goats.  

First Easter Egg Hunt without Spirit.  He still holds the record.  He would just move along at his own pace, collecting egg after egg.  He opened them and ate the snack inside, then moved on to the next one.  It appeared effortless when he did it.  

Spirit out front, hunting eggs.

The first time we went on a camping trip without him.  No one argued over the co-pilot seat.  No one was sure who it belonged to now though ... and it really did not seem quite as wonderful or special, when Spirit was not there to dictate who used it.  

He never pushed to get out of the motor home ahead of everyone.  He knew he was going ... if anyone was going, and he just waited for what he knew was due to him.  If he found someone in his seat, he simply stood patiently, waiting for them to realize they did not belong in it.  A look from him was all it took.

When something, or someone needed to be barked at, the young guys always looked to Spirit so he could let them know how serious it was.  Quest is doing a pretty good job of managing this chore lately.  He will get better at it.  Journey has taken over the front fence watch.  Pirate goes between checking on me or helping Journey.

The first time a skate boarder, wearing a hoodie clattered past our car at a stop light, the other boys were frantically looking in all directions.  They did not really care about the skate boarder, or his dark hoodie, but they knew someone needed to bark at him.   So Quest has taken over that job for now.  However, since he does not really care about them, he sometimes forgets.  I notice that Pirate and Journey both turn to look at him intently, until he barks.  I am letting them work this one out.

I miss the way Spirit sat so regally in his co-pilot seat, beside me.  I always enjoyed the way he semi-ignored anyone who occupied the lane next to us.  He looked at them, but only out of the corner of his eye.  What made him do a slow burn,  was if they pointed at him.  Spirit seemed to think pointing was rude.  If the pointing went on very long he sometimes growled low in his throat.  I explained to him numerous times that they were admiring him.  He was not going for it.  

Spirit loved Hans, and raised him from a tiny puppy, but he could be awfully bossy.  Hans didn't care.  He seemed to feel  that Spirit could do no wrong.

I miss the way Spirit could simply cast a look in the direction of a misbehaving young dog and they would immediately straighten up and look to him for direction.  Without ever having been in any kind of altercation with another dog, for all the years of his life, he was the strongest alpha dog I have ever known.  He did it with a glance, or what we referred to as "the silent snarl".  It was simply a curled lip, accompanied by an intense stare.  If we were on a walk and a dog followed us, Spirit would stop, and maybe, secretly flash the silent snarl.  As soon as the other dog saw this it would change direction, or back off, whereupon Spirit would continue with us, looking back occasionally to be sure we were safe.  

I miss how social he was with people he really liked, or loved.  I liked how he dictated who should hold his leash.  If the wrong person (most anyone but me) were to pick up his leash he would gently but firmly remove it from their hand and give it to the person he wanted to hold it.  

Spirit & Quest with best friend, Dan, helping him with clean up at the RV barn construction.  

Spirit ruled and he knew it.  He did not need to flaunt it or act upon it, his expressions could be withering.  I do not believe he was ever challenged.  If he was, he just handled it in such a way that no one else was usually even aware of it.   I used to call him the benevolent dictator.   He truly made the rules and the only one he would occasionally check with was me.   He decided when the younger dogs should not have something that belonged to me and he would remove it from their mouth and put it away.  

When I took Quest and Spirit to try herding, Quest was very successful.  Spirit had a different idea.  His only concern was to keep those strange looking creatures away from me.  He walked between us, his legs stiff and his tail up in dominance.  He did fine with moving them, but as soon as he had them away from me, he just stood guarding me.   I guess his attitude could be described as a live and let live attitude.  As long as the sheep stayed away from me, he had no argument with them.  At home it was a different story.  If I called a dog, Spirit would watch it.  If it did not make a move to come to me, he simply went after it and brought it to me.   Had the herder seen him do that, she might have rated his herding abilities differently.  

Spirit could glance at me from across a room and transmit his thought to me.  I guess he was also able to pick up my thoughts, because when he acted on them, it was always something I wanted him to do, even if I had not yet voiced the wish to him.  This kind of communication is not easy to learn to live without, once you have enjoyed it.  

Spirit knew I made mistakes some times.  I believe that is why he guarded me so attentively and sometimes double checked my actions.  There were times he did not approve of my inattention.  I think that is what caused him to appoint himself as Diva's guardian.

She was our elderly Standard Poodle.  She was loosing her hearing and her eyesight. Spirit became her seeing-eye dog.  He walked at her side, touching her shoulder with his body.  The minute he positioned himself at her side she increased her gait and stepped confidently out with him.  If he saw her stopped and looking about uncertainly, he would rush to her side and nuzzle her to let her know he was there.  If she took a wrong turn in the park he ran to turn her around.  If we walked in the evening, his coat was the bright white illumination she was able to see and take comfort from knowing he was there.  As a true diva should, she expected him to take care of her and she insisted on it.  

He left such a gaping hole in our lives.  I am only just now thinking that the rest of the pack is picking up the slack, thanks to Spirit for training them so well.    I know Quest really misses him.  Quest was always kind of a happy-go-lucky dog and did not seem to have a desire to be an alpha dog. We had our alpha dog, so the rest of us could afford to be less responsible. Quest is very capable, but he rather enjoyed leaving that role to Spirit.   So did I. Sometimes I watch Quest now and I feel that he would really like to be able to ask Spirit some questions.  So would I.  Spirit had a habit of just handling things himself.  He was such a strong leader, we all just trusted him.   

All my dogs are protective of me but there was something special about the way Spirit made me feel.  If I had to go someplace dark or scary; if I had a problem to deal with; if I just needed a canine best friend to rest his muzzle on my knee; it was always Spirit that I looked to, and he was always there.  Sometimes I realized he knew me better than I knew myself.   There have been times when I really did not feel certain I could do it all without him.  Guess he taught me well though.  After a year without him, we are doing okay - not like everything is wonderful, but every few weeks, something might happen that makes me realize things are gradually improving.  I would still give anything to have him back and I sometimes wonder if I will ever really feel whole again.  There is that terrible empty place in my heart and the way my throat just closes when my eyes tear up with wanting to hold him in my arms.  What wouldn't I give for a walk with him or a picnic.... 

Journey spent a lot of time copying Spirit.

Spirit was almost 14 years old when we got Journey.  I did not know if Spirit was going to be up to raising another puppy.  At first he seemed a little put off by all the puppies.  That lasted about a day.  Then the puppies began edging respectfully closer to him.  I attempted to keep them from bothering him.  Then I could see that he was enjoying them.  He demanded respect and they gave it, instantly.  They just knew.  Even if they had not known, Quest and Pirate kept them from climbing on him.

Of all the puppies in the litter, Spirit chose Journey.  I know he saw things in Journey that he considered important.  He liked all the pups, but he seemed to share something with Journey, that was more akin to what he had with our other dogs.  It pleased him when Journey chose to nap beside him.   I guess he knew Journey fit in with our pack the best. Now that Spirit is gone, Journey has transfered his leader-respect to me and to Quest.  Pirate and Journey are best buddies.  I am glad that the first year of "firsts" is over.  "Seconds" are not as noteworthy and eventually we will simply remember the action and not how many times we miss it.  Things are working out .....  It is just that I miss my boy so very much, my great Spirit dog. 

 Spirit taking a nap in his tent.  Sometimes he shared it, but it was his first.  

 

 

 

The Easter Bunny Was Here

This is Journey's first egg hunt.  Quest remembers what to do as he is 9 years old.  Pirate also remembers, though he is only 4.  I cut up treats and put a small cube in each plastic egg.  I leave the dogs in the house and hide eggs all over our two acres.   Then the dogs go to work finding them.   

Journey on the right, watching his big brothers finding eggs.

Pirate & Journey

When someone finds an egg he brings it to me to open, if he cannot do it.  After a few eggs they get pretty good at opening them.  Pirate is the best.  He tosses them in the air and catches them.  Then he sort of wiggles his mouth and usually manages to open the egg so he can get the treat.  If that does not work, he runs to me and throws it at me. That works too.  

Quest is a little more gentlemanly.  He takes the egg to either me or Laura to have one of us open it for him if he cannot do it.   So far, Journey is just finding them and moving on to find another one.  He has not quite figured it out yet, about opening them himself.

"Oh wow, look at all the eggs we have found".

Journey, Pirate & Quest with his head in the egg bowl.

"I think we really found a lot of eggs.  Maybe we found them all."

That was a great hunt.  Happy Easter 2012 everyone.  

*Pictures taken by Laura Domela

Journey Graduated - Agility 101

"I am so good at this sit-stay".

Journey graduated with honors!  Actually, the whole class graduated.  It was an especially good class.  Some dogs need to do the class more than once to pass on all the obstacles.  

Above, Journey is doing a sit-stay, and waiting for his "okay" to do the jumps  He is very good at this, probably mostly because all the dogs practice sit-stays when I open the gates at home.  

"mom insists I do the baby jumps until my hips are x-rayed".

Journey loves all of the obstacles, even the teeter and the chute, which were a little bit startling at first.   I guess if I had to choose his favorite it would probably be the weave poles.  He flies!  He does 12 poles, off lead and he is very fast.  He can find is own entry to the poles, which must always be on the right side of the first pole.  I can send him from all the clock positions.  He doesn't care if I run with him or not.   We owe this success to our instructor, Karin and the wonderful method she uses to train. The first agility dog I trained took months to train on weave poles and he never really loved them.

"On my left is Molly, she is very good at agility and she is my girlfriend. Demi is in the back.  She is not real friendly but she is good at agility."

At this class our dogs learned to do the A-frame.  It was new for everyone except Demi, who has already had a lot of experience on everything.  Journey liked it.  He was just slightly cautious, but after the first time he headed for it every time.

"That is my girlfriend, Molly, watching me and waiting to do this after me."

At first we don't worry about the dismount from the A-frame or the dog walk.  We just let the dogs get comfortable on the boards.  We are just now training the "two on, two off" finish as of our last class.  The dogs have a tendency to jump off the board before they get to the bottom.  They must put at least one foot in the yellow section to qualify on those obstacles.  In order to slow them down so they will do that, we train them to stop with both hind feet still on the board, before they continue on the course.  

The teeter is a little harder to train, for some dogs.  The fact that the board moves and makes a loud "clunk" sound as it hits the ground, worries some dogs.  So on that one we train a complete stop on the end of the board, before continuing.  This prevents "fly-offs" which are disqualifications in competition.   

"This is the teeter.  I got a little over-enthusiastic once and did it on my own, when I was not supposed to.  I didn't realize it moved and the loud bang frightened me.  I am listening to Karin and mom in this picture and getting over my scary experience."

Journey's bad experience was because I was not watching him - so - my fault.  I was very pleased that he got over it so fast.  Sometimes it takes months to get a dog over a bad experience.  

"This is the chute. I used to be nervous about this because I could not see out of the end of it.  It is no big deal though.  I do it so fast now!"

The only other obstacle Journey was a little concerned about was the chute.  It is made of parachute material and it lays flat on the ground.  So the dog must run through it without being able to see out the other end.  He is good at it now.  It did not take him long.  He is such a funny dog.  Once when he was much younger, we were walking by the lake, in town.  He saw a large concrete statue of Buddha.  He did not want to go very close to it. The next day I took him back, armed with treats and prepared to give him lots of encouragement.  When we approached the Buddha, he just walked up to it, sniffed it and then walked past it as if it were nothing.  He never even looked back.  I have noticed since then that when he sometimes has shown resistance to something, if I just ignored it, the next time he saw it he ignored it too.  

"This is me learning to jump through the tire.  I did it the first time,  it is easy."  

On the tire it is important that dogs know the right way to go through it.  There are several spaces they can go through with a risk of getting tangled in tension lines that hold the tire in position.  

"This is my sit-stay.  Mom is going to leave me here and walk all the way to the end of the barn.  Then she will call me and I will jump over 4 jumps and then jump on the table and lie down real fast.  I am really good at knowing how to do this"

Once again I want to stress the importance of the sit-stay, or stand-stay, or down-stay if you prefer.  You can train it long before starting classes and it is one of the most useful things my dogs know. Sometimes it has been a godsend.  Occasionally a naughty puppy is so excited about something, he forgets to come when called and I need to go get him.  He might be inclined to run when he sees me coming.  Either because he knows he is wrong or because he is just so excited.  I have been able to command a "sit-stay", and thereby safely retrieve my errant puppy.   I never punish for this, nor do I treat.  I just practice more until the sit-stay is solid.  It can save your dog's life.  

Also, at my age, I am not very fast at agility.  It is important that I be able to command at a distance and to be able to work my dog away from me.  I get a long head start by leaving my dog in a stay, at the start of a course.  The timer does not start until your dog crosses the line.  I can then direct him, at that distance and already be on the move by the time he gets to me.  This training has always been very useful to me, even when I was faster than I am now.  Over the 15 years or so that I have been doing agility, I have sometimes had various injuries: knees, feet, whatever.... Training my dog to work away from me was always a plus, whether it was on the agility course, the park or even at home.  

Even after the start, there are places where you can use the stay to your advantage and gain time.  If you are doing one of the venues that requires a 5 second stay on the table, you can walk away toward the next obstacle and gain time for yourself.   While your dog is doing the tunnel you can gain time by moving away toward the next obstacle - just be sure to call him before he comes out of the tunnel and has to waste time looking for you.

There are many ways to even the playing field by training in such a way to make up for your weaknesses.  My weakness is being in my seventies, with a bad back.  I love this sport though and will continue as long as possible.   

"Here I go.  I love this part."

 "Love tunnels!"

Thanks to Rhonda McMahan (Journey's breeder at Surefire) for taking all these pictures.  She came to class to watch Journey perform.   We are now in Agility Foundation 102 classes.  We are doing sequences.  Last Tuesday Journey started with the chute, then the tunnel (in a U shape), and four jumps.  When ever he does any obstacle he tries to go on with another obstacle of his choice.  He can be a handful, but thank goodness he minds me pretty well.  

"Any treats left?"