Shepherd visitors

The shepherd boys had a visitor today. Actually they had one yesterday too, who came out and sat with them and fed them hot dogs. Dakota tried to climb into her lap. Today's visitor passed out treats as well. They weren't hot dogs but they were well received and once again Dakota tried to climb up to get closer to the source. The best thing about today's visitor is that she's interested in fostering one of them, starting probably this Sunday. 

She met the boys in Daneland first and made friends by passing out treats. Then I brought them over to the dog yard, one at a time, to meet her other dog. Sturgis was the most interested in her dog but I think it could work out with any of them. The good news is that they walked to the dog yard on a leash, I didn't have to drag anyone or even pull very much. They are getting better with that. Fargo goes to the vet tomorrow to be vaccinated and neutered.

I didn't have time to hike today, but I did take Norman out to the pasture on a leashed walk. He would have preferred to run around free, but he needed the leash work and I needed a little exercise. It was his first time out there and he was interested and excited to explore so he kept going with me pretty well. He really only stopped on me once and tried to refuse further forward motion. He wasn't great but he was better than the day before. I just need to keep doing it.

Sturgis taking a chewable treat.

Fargo

Gathered round the visitor and her treats.

Dakota

Fargo, Sturgis behind 

Sturgis, with Fargo behind

Fargo leaning in for a treat.

Sturgis

Dakota, getting up close and personal.

Dakota

Sturgis in the dog yard

Sturgis meeting the visiting dog.

Dakota in the dog yard

Fargo, looking handsome

Norman walking the pasture with me.

Hiking with Delvis

I kept myself on task pretty well today and got my work done so I could get out in time for a good long hike with Della and Elvis. I was feeling good and wanted to cover a lot of ground and we did, just over five miles. Della didn't do nearly as much stopping and sniffing as she usually does and that helped our pace and my mood. We passed several other walkers, one with a dog, but everyone was leashed and we just went on our way without incident. 

After a couple of days of being pulled around by Norman and the shepherds, my back needed a break and my legs needed the workout. This was perfect.

Spring is definitely happening.

Della, my shadow, and Elvis

5.05 miles

I should know what these are, our front yard is full of them.

You also see a lot of them along the trails.

They don't show up so well in the picture, but they form a virtual flowering carpet in our front yard.

Making progress

Sturgis went to the vet today and got vaccinated, microchipped, and neutered. And his heartworm test was negative! That moved him closer to adoption. Also, I was pleased that he walked on a leash from Daneland to the van and from my van into the vet's office with very little resistance. Our walk yesterday may have had some positive effects. I'm sure it did actually, it's just that every bit of progress is slow with these guys.

When I got him home I cleared the yard of other dogs and then he walked nicely with me back to rejoin his brothers in Daneland. This evening I just sort of asked them to all go inside and they did. They've definitely gotten into the routine of sleeping inside and last night there was no pee or poop, which I really appreciated.

In the evening I loaded up Norman and Chico and we went for a training session with Erika. We walked quite a bit and it went better than I might have expected with Norman. Chico is used to walking with the Gentle Leader now and he doesn't fight it. Norman didn't so much fight wearing it, but he displayed his go-to move when he doesn't want to do something, flopping down on his back to become dead weight. Erika dealt with that better than I would have so I just walked Chico. Chico also met a cat and seemed very interested in it. The cat didn't care for the vibe it was getting from the dog. He wasn't overly aggressive, but it was far from a disinterested response.

Much like three shepherds, there was no huge breakthrough moment, but they are making progress.

Sturgis arriving a the vet.

Walking out of the vet's office later in the day.

He hopped into the crate in my van entirely on his own.

Re-uniting with his brothers back home.

Norman, learning some manners.

Walking with Sturgis

I started out the day feeling rather optimistic. When I let the three shepherds out of the puppy shed this morning they all gathered around me like they were happy to see me. I was able to touch them all at least a bit and Sturgis actually came forward and let me pet on him quite a bit. I didn't have the meat with me or even dry food at that point so I was very happy that he seemed to be almost seeking out the touching and affection. I decided right then that I'd take Sturgis on a walk later in the day.

Don't be fooled by this first picture. This was at the end of a three mile hike/drag through the woods. In the beginning he was as bad or even worse than Fargo had been yesterday. He almost pulled out of the harness right near the start. I was very glad I had the slip lead around his neck as well, but he was choking himself so bad I had to ease up on that and use the harness as the primary control device.

It wasn't pretty in the beginning. In fact I turned back before we were too far along knowing that I couldn't pull the damn dog the entire route. But I decided I wasn't going to give up so easily, because I still needed the exercise. We went another route that would give me the option of taking a shortcut back if he continued to make it difficult on me. 

He got slightly better, ever so slightly, the farther that we walked. Occasionally he'd spaz out again, run into the bushes off the trail or around the wrong side of a tree, but it was enough better overall that I kept going. Della wasn't as helpful as she could have been. She likes a slow walk anyway, with a lot of stops to sniff so she wasn't doing anything to encourage him to keep moving. I should have taken Elvis. At one point she dropped back behind me and walked next to or just in front of him, and that seemed to keep him moving better, probably because he was trying to sniff her and check her out.

It was slightly better than Fargo's hike, but I'm just as tired. Progress is slow. Sturgis goes in for surgery tomorrow.

The blue leash is on his harness, the grey one is around his neck.

Both are pretty tight here.

Della at Sparky's watering hole.

After Della showed him, he stuck his nose in and had a drink.

We were at about two miles here.

You can see that my left arm is behind me because I'm still pulling him along.

But I'm just pulling on the harness now, the grey slip lead is slack.

3.05 miles