Christmas eve dog wash

The picture on the left is one of those Facebook memory photos, showing what I had posted a year ago today.  I had been out to buy straw to cope with the mud, and guess what, I did the same thing today. 

 

Last  year I'm sure I spread the straw in the dog yard and/or the kennels to help with the mud.  I did the same today but today I went a step further and washed a couple of dogs.  I don't let Max go out to the dog yard when it's muddy because he runs around neurotically and is soaked with mud in a matter of minutes.  Unfortunately, Theo does much of the same.  He's a fence runner.  He takes off running the fence line when I come out or when Vince or Gigi, or any other dog comes out the door.  I looked at him and decided he wasn't coming into the house today, and Commando wasn't much better.  

But given the freakishly warm temperatures, I decided I'd just hose them off, put them in a dry kennel, and then bring them inside.  The weather forecast is for more rain than sun for the next week or more.  I know I won't be able to keep the clean and inside for all that time, but I do plan to limit Theo's dog yard time until the ground is either frozen or dry.  

Theo, pre-bath, dripping mud.

Even his face was muddy.

Commando wasn't quite as dirty, but with
with his light coloring, it showed more.

At least his face was clean.

Commando was pretty good about the bath.

Toquima and Trooper had been in the same space for the same
amount of time, but had a small fraction of the mud on them.

These two are smart enough to know how to use straw to stay warm, clean, and dry.

Holiday preparations

My Christmas gifts to my family typically arrive late, often after Christmas.  This year, however, I had my shit together.  Gifts were bought, ordered, wrapped, and shipped to all arrive on time.  I made a wreath to send to my aunt, and even it arrived on time.

We don't do a tree or much of any decorations at our house, but I did string up outdoor lights on the kennels and the dog yard fence. With vacation days left to use by the end of the year I actually had time on my hands and I decided to do some cookie making this year for the first time.

Facebook is full of recipes and this is one that
caught my eye.  They are just small peanut butter
cookies in mini muffin pans with a Reese's
peanut butter cup pressed into them.
What's not to like?

And of course, what is a holiday without a couple extra dogs around?  Daphne and Toquima both arrived on Tuesday.  The weather is warm but very wet so we aren't getting out for walks but Toquima, Theo, Trooper, and Commando spent the day in the dog yard anyway.  The warm weather is welcome, but I'd prefer even colder weather without the precipitation.

This is the first time I've ever made my mother's
fudge recipe. It's what I grew up eating so it's
my favorite fudge. Turned out well.

Reese's peanut butter brownie bars, snickerdoodles, snowballs, peanut butter cookies with
Hershey's kisses, peanut butter cup cookies, Special K cookies (my favorite).

Commando and Toquima in the dog yard this morning.

Solstice Shepherd

Commando is our Solstice Shepherd this year.  I'd change his name to Solstice but I don't think I'll have him long enough to bother about doing a name change, and besides, it's equally "uncallable" as is Commando.  I'll leave that up to his new owner.  We went to the vet today and learned he had two previously unknown conditions: 1. he's Lyme positive, so we got a big bottle of doxycycline; and 2. he's still got testicles.  For some reason I had it in my head that he was already neutered, but he's not and when I look back over the messages I had received about him, no one ever said he was neutered; I had just made that up in my own head.  He will be neutered soon, however; we've got an appointment for January 4th.

He likes a nice pat on the head.

I got the head tilt when I was trying to
explain why he couldn't put his feet
up on the kitchen counter.

 

The Solstice moon at end of a hike with Max and Maya on Monday.
I will be glad to see the days getting longer even if winter is just beginning.

Coming back into the exam room after
his trip "in back" where they took blood
and fecal samples.  

At today's vet appointment.

The exam was tougher than the blood draw
because he squirmed, a lot.

There's nothing quite like the white teeth and
clear eyes on a young dog.

He's got a good build, a really nice head, and a nice personality.
He just needs some tutoring in the social graces necessary to live with humans.

 

Commando training

Commando is fitting in very well around here.  He has hiked with Maya, met everyone, and played with some of them.  He's trying to figure out everyone's personality and play style.  Max confused him.  He and Hunter only overlapped for about a day, but Hunter tried to initiate play.  Everyone seems fine with him.  He has been spending most of the day in the dog yard with Theo, Max, and/or Trooper, but he now spends nights indoors.  I have to push his butt into the crate sometimes, but he doesn't fuss, bark, or otherwise object to it once he's in.  He seems to like indoors, actually, because when I take him from the dog yard on a leash, he pulls me directly to the door of the house.  He's a little mouthy when he gets really excited playing, but an exaggerated yelp makes him back right off.

He has apparently been on a diet of exclusively canned food, so he's not yet accepting my dry food as "his food" but that will change.  He sees everyone else eating it, and he samples it, but he hasn't learned to eat all the food in the bowl when it's in front of you.  Walking away results in losing food to another dog, or me picking it up.  He had been an only dog so he didn't need to eat all at once like they do around here.

In short, this is an awesome dog.

Walking with Maya.  I used two leashes with a harness and a
 collar.  He needs to learn to keep moving or move to the right
when he stops to sniff.  I ran into him and nearly fell over him
a few times. Our style of trail walking is a learned skill.

He really enjoyed it.

Commando meeting Hunter

Theo with ball,
followed by Hunter and Commando

Playing with Theo and Hunter

Hunter goes home

Hunter went to his new home today.  His adopter is a teacher who has two weeks off to get Hunter settled into his new home and accustomed to a new routine.  He was fun to have around here for a while, but mostly he served as a reminder of how much I like and appreciate older, more settled dogs.  He's pure puppy still and the adopter knows that, although I expect the reality of it will come crashing down on him pretty soon.  Hunter is a sweet pup, though, not a mean bone in his body.  Everything about him screams "lab."

Hunter will be a frequent visitor to the dog park at Chris Green Lake, so if you see him, say hello.

Commando

The shepherd from my last post about incoming dogs arrived Friday morning.  I picked him up from his home in Charlottesville.  His name is Commando.  He's been living in a small outdoor pen.  He hopped right into the crate in my van.  I brought him home and put him in a crate in the kitchen.  He's not housetrained and has never lived indoors, until now.  I let him meet Trooper, Max, and Maya from inside the crate, and then put him outdoors with Max and Maya.  He seems to be very good with other dogs.

He will be two years old in February.  He weighed in at 97 pounds today; he's bigger than he may appear in pictures, and he's very strong.  We stopped at the vet on the way home to drop off his records and get his weight.  I'd say he's a no-go with cats from what I saw from his meeting the cats in the lobby.  He seems to know some basic commands like sit and stay, which made it fairly easy to take pictures of him once we got home.

In other news, it looks like the newfies are coming this weekend, and Jasso is finally beginning to eat again, at least he's eating the chicken and rice I've been cooking for him.