White Shepherd Stories

Training

 

Journey and I went for an outing today.  He waits for me in my car while I go to my water aerobics class.  When I am finished we usually go for a walk at Lake Sacajawea.  My Fitbit says we walked 5378 steps, which is 2.28 miles.  Pretty good for a rainy day.  That is not counting the energy expended in the aerobics class.   I was making up to Journey for missing his agility class last night.  Our instructor, Karin was sick and could not hold the class.  Tonight is suppose to be Quest's and Pirate's rally classes and I felt that Journey needed to do something special to make up for missing his class.  When we got home I found out that the classes tonight are also cancelled, so guess I need to do something special with the other guys too.

Quest training Pirate.

I have been thinking a lot about training - not just people training dogs, but also dogs training dogs.   Since it has been raining a lot we have been mostly playing ball inside the house.   Monday night I threw Journey's ball and it went under the dining room table. It landed behind the chairs, back by the table trestle.  Journey tried to reach it through the chair legs and from the end of the table, but he was unable to get it.   Pirate watched him try.  When Journey finally gave up and came back to me, Pirate went to the table and proceeded to lay on his side and reach through the chair legs.  He managed to bat the ball to the edge of a chair, then reach in and pick it up.  He brought it over to Journey and casually tossed it to him.    I liked that Pirate waited to see if Journey could do it himself before he retrieved it for him.   Journey watched how Pirate got the ball  and he will probably try to get it if it happens again.  They learn so much from each other, just like any kids in a family.  

Quest with his ball in "don't touch" position.

The next night as we were playing ball, I threw Pirate's ball.  It went down the entry hall to where Quest was resting, and landed between his front legs.  During the last almost two years since Spirit died, Quest has gradually been taking over as alpha dog.  He is doing a pretty good job of it.  Sometimes he sounds a little harsh, but he never bites anyone or does anything I would consider unfair.  Quest has an amazing sense of humor and this unexpected power position set that humor into effect.  He did not touch the ball, as he did not really want it.  He was just intrigued to see what Pirate was going to do about it.  

To fill in a little more detail, Quest is ten years old and Pirate is five.  Pirate totally accepts Quest as alpha dog now, but he will sometimes tease Quest with nose punches and fake charges.  Quest enjoys the action and never gets really mad, although he also makes fake lunges at Pirate and he growls.  My three guys all respect "possession" of a toy.    If the toy is in a dogs mouth, or between his paws and he is watching it, then no one will take it, even if it belongs to them.   If they put it down, and they look the other way, or fall asleep, the others may well try to nab it.   

Brothers

Quest and Pirate spend most of the time acting like peers and just respecting each other.  Journey, (two years old) spends a lot more time making up to Quest: licking his lips and his face and fussing over him.  When Quest gets tired of it and growls at him, Journey just renews his efforts and tries even harder to demonstrate that he is submissive.  He does not do that with Pirate, although he does not try to act as an equal with Pirate, he does not make up to him the way he does with Quest.  It is a fine line apparently, and I find it very interesting.  I am glad they know the rules and that I do not have to make any decisions on what is okay and what is not okay.  

Journey being submissive to Quest 

Quest teaching a lesson on manners.

Back to Pirate's ball ....  he was not about to try to get a ball that was that close to Quest's teeth.  You could see that he just immediately wrote it off when he saw where it had landed.   Journey, on the other hand, felt that he could help.  I don't know if he thought he had special brownie points because of all his submissive behavior, or if he was just fool-hardy, but he seemed to think he could help his buddy Pirate by possibly returning the favor and getting his ball for him.   He assumed his most submissive position as he stretched toward the ball.  Quest just watched Pirate.  Maybe he thought Journey would never try to get it, but get it he did and he was actually not very sneaky about it.  He just brought it back to Pirate and gave it to him.   Quest went back to sleep, Journey got  his own ball, and Pirate happily brought his ball to me for another throw.   

As I mentioned, I am very glad they know the rules.  As I watch and learn, I am amazed again and again by their fairness and the logical reasoning they demonstrate.   It often seems to me that they do a far superior job of training than we do with our human kids.  I notice that with larger packs of dogs it does "take a village" or at least it certainly helps Even with our small pack, I used to observe when Spirit reprimanded a pup,  either or both of the other two adult dogs would step right in to affirm and emphasize Spirit's direction to the pup.  In our case, three un-neutered males would unite to train the kids to have manners, much like the best human parents do, if they work well together.  I guess somewhere along the way I was surprised but I have watched it for so long now I just take it for granted.  

The Pack

I train my dogs from tiny puppies to the wonderful adults that they become.  We begin at puppy kindergarten and work our way through obedience until the completion of their Canine Good Citizen title.  Then we go on to various performance sports because we enjoy them.  Agility is probably our favorite.  My dogs have all done agility, lure coursing, herding, nose work classes, dock diving and we will continue to try any new activity that is fun for us.  As much training as I do, I don't know if I could manage it without the assistance of my adult dogs.  They oversee everything the puppies do.  They back me up and they take over the responsibility of continuing the training once they realize what I want.  I provide a doggy door, and start the initial praise as I take the puppies out to pee.  From about the second day after the puppy arrives, the adult dogs take over and reinforce the rules.  It makes my job so easy.  We have rules about not touching other dogs food; the toy possession situation; greeting; not getting on most furniture, etc. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering how a rule originated, but I know who is the most conscientious about enforcing it and it usually isn't me.  

Pirate & Quest teaching Journey agility.  Just kidding, but then, who knows .... maybe they could.

My dogs have never been in a fight.  They do not jump on people and have never bit anyone.  These are my rules, but my dogs enforce them.  I praise them for it and that makes for a solid bonding of our pack.  

I know that a lot of people don't have the kind of time I have, since I am retired.  Nor does everyone enjoy working with their dog as much as I do.  But it is important to know that you will end up with the dog you allow.  I  have had many people say they would like to have a dog if they could have one like mine.  It is important to realize that well trained dogs don't just come that way any more than children do.   And just like children, if your dogs are rude and unruly people are not going to enjoy having them around.  

Well, most likely more training suggestions than anyone needed.    Probably most of the people reading this already know what they are doing.  I do get asked about it a lot though and I feel it is important to know what kind of investment you are looking at when you get a puppy and you want him or her to be well mannered.   My breed is a German Shepherd.  Yours may be a different breed.  What ever breed you select it is most important to research the temperament, the abilities and limitations of that breed.   The time invested in research and in training is well worth it for a friend that you will hopefully live with and enjoy for at least 10 to 15 years.  

Our pack. 

The Watchers

It has been very cold here in the Northwest and now that it has warmed up, it is very wet. I am trying to catch up on things that I let go while I was busy playing outside with the dogs.   They still enjoy playing outside whether it be cold or wet, so I have to take a few outside breaks, especially when the sun makes brief appearances.   For some reason, the sun often makes its only appearance of the day, at sunset.  I have learned to drop everything and just go out and enjoy, before the next bank of clouds moves over or the fog moves in.     

Journey spends the most time outside and Pirate is usually with him.  Quest goes out when ever the young guys call him, or if it looks to him like he is missing all the fun.  

We have a pretty, red haired neighbor woman who walks the hill almost daily.  The boys began their relationship by barking at her, but they are really fond of her.  We do not have many walkers on our road.  It is steep, with no sidewalks or even a very good trail. They watch for her and when they see her or somehow determine she is coming up the hill, they rush to the woods in the bottom corner of the property and they wait for her. They accompany her the entire front  length of the property, frolicking opposite her, on our side of the fence. She talks to them and though they still bark, they really like her and look forward to her visiting with them.   If the dogs are all inside and they happen to see her from the front windows, they stampede for the doggy door and race down the hillside to greet her.   When they reach the top end of the property they stand at that fence line and watch her until she is out of sight.  She is their friend and they really look forward to her visits.  

Waiting for the red-haired lady. 

Some days, as happened last week, only Journey was outside watching for her.  After he had accompanied her to the top corner of the fence he came running back to the house as fast as he could and crashed through the doggy door.  We all turned to see him and he was over the top, he was so excited.   She had given him a squeaky rubber hamburger, with all the trimmings.   He was so happy he barely had his feet on the floor. He wanted to show his new toy to us, but he was not open to sharing.   I have been concerned that he was a little passive in allowing the other guys take toys away from him.   I did not need to worry about this one.  He knew it was his toy and he was not sharing.

He was talking and bouncing and he just could not not seem to get it all out, just how happy he was.   We have slept with that hamburger for many nights now.  It is so life-like and appropriately colored I am sorry to say it makes me hungry to look at it .... not helping my new diet.  

My watchers also keep a lookout for the dogs that live across the road from us.  The two that live across from our gate, are Cody (a yellow Labrador) and Kona, (a dark, black and tan German Shepherd).   They used to come across the road and onto our property which did not make anyone very happy.  That was a long time ago, and now they have an underground invisible fence which contains them.   They are also not outside as much as they used to be and seem to be much happier dogs.  They bark at my boys, but they are just warning each other and the only one of my boys that pays much attention to them is Journey.   Years ago, when they were trespassing,  Cody once came under our gate and was casually walking up our driveway when Spirit discovered his invasion.  Stiff legged, Spirit met him at the driveway and approached him.  Cody growled and Spirit growled.  Spirit moved slowly toward Cody and Cody started glancing furtively back the way he had come in, under the gate.  Spirit slowly backed him up.  When they got to the gate, you could see that Cody would like to have turned and gone out under the gate.  However, he was afraid to turn his back on Spirit, in order to go under the gate.  Spirit summed up the situation and with all the dignity in the world, he stepped back and waited for Cody to leave.  I guess they both understood the communication because Cody quickly turned and exited under the gate.  Once he was safely under the gate, Spirit charged the fence and complained about the trespass.  Cody hurried to his own side of the road and once he was back in his own yard he turned to tell Spirit that he should also not trespass on Cody's property.  After that they apparently had an understanding and Cody never again come under the gate. When we got a new puppy, Pirate, I added some wire to the bottom of the gate, making it secure from trespassers.  

Our other neighbors dog, Rocky (a lighter colored black and tan Shepherd), also got an invisible, underground fence.  It does not work, or contain him near as well as the other neighbor's fence.  Maybe they forget to turn it on, or to put Rocky's collar on him.   Sadly, Rocky had to be hit by cars several times before they decided to do anything about keeping him off the road.  He is not an old dog.  I believe he is younger than Pirate.   He has a pretty bad limp now though and since they are inconsistant with the fence operation, Rocky never knows when he is going to get zapped and he often screams, making me think he got hit by a car again.  The fence does not encompass the entire property, so Rocky sometimes wanders off the property, where the fence is missing.  Then when he tries to get back to his home, he gets zapped by the electric fence.  Apparently I am one of the only people who worry about Rocky.  His owners often go away in their motor home and leave him to the elements on the chance that nothing will happen to him for a week or so, until they get back.  I don't believe Rocky ever gets to go inside the house.   I doubt he has ever been to see a vet.  When his people leave him, he looks so sad it breaks my heart.   When I hear an animal shelter ad on radio,  saying that every home should have a dog, I  cringe.  That is so untrue and such a sad idea to perpetuate.  Every family should not have a dog. Some people are not equipped to handle a pet rock, let alone a living animal with feelings and needs. 

Last week a beautiful pair of Boxers came sauntering down the road.  As they approached our area Rocky was barking at them.  The largest, a male, turned and looked at him, for all the world with an expression that said "Hey you, are you talking to me?"   Leaving his mate, he preceeded to head onto Rocky's property.  Rocky turned tail and ran around his house.  The Boxer pursued him and when he caught up to him, he sniffed him from one end to the other.  Fortunately the Boxer was a nice dog and fortunately Rocky had the sense to act submissive.  The Boxer rejoined his mate and they continued their walk down the road.   We are out of the city limits here and no one cares about the loose dogs.  There seems to be a rather "old school" belief here, that dogs should run free.  I wanted to live in the country, but I did not think about the restrictions that would put on us, not to be able to go for walks in the area.  I am so glad we have a couple acres where my boys are safe.  Other than that, if I want to walk my dogs in another area I take them down to the lake, in town.  It is pretty, and dogs are either on leash, or at least under the control of the owner.   Other than that, we do go camping or picnicing and we find hiking trails.  

Pirate at Lake Sacajawea

Happy New Year, Party Boys!

Presents - can we start now?

Our New Years Eve began with opening gifts.  A little different I guess, but that schedule was what the boys preferred.  

Quest is ready...

Pirate in back, Journey in front.  "We are ready too".

Can't we start now, please.

Journey

Next I fixed the special New Years Eve dinner:  Shepherd Pie mixed with Fromms Game Bird Kibble.  Dollops of yogurt decorated the top and a few bacon sprinkles add a little more flavor.   Dinner went over great, and for dessert, there were homemade dog cookies and a small scoop of ice cream.    The rest of the evening was spent checking out all the toys and trading them back and forth.  

At one point Pirate decided he liked Journey's toy best so he nabbed it, as Pirates are known to do.  I told him that was not nice and that he needed to give it back.  He threw it to Journey.  Journey did not fall for that, as he figured Pirate would just take it again.  Pi watched Journey for a minute and then poked him toward the toy, as if to say it was okay to take it.  After the poke, Pirate looked at me and decided he should give Journey a kiss in addition to the poke.  

How could I help but be madly in love with these guys.  They are so sweet to each other and to me.  The rest of the evening was a mix of watching TV, watching the dogs and throwing balls - our favorite kind of evening.   Not much different from other evenings, just lots of fun.  

We got up early on New Years Day.  Journey and I watched the Rose Parade.  He had never watched it before - or if he did, he did not remember.  Later we went outside to play in what little snow was left.  

Pirate

Quest

Pirate

Journey