Late in the year, late in the day

Sunlight becomes ever more precious as we approach the winter solstice. It also becomes rather magical. It highlights the color of leaves, either on the ground or still on the trees. It brings out colors in dried grass that appeared just brown at noon.

It causes a dog's fur to glow with a warmth that makes you want to run your fingers through it, envious of their clearly superior mammalian pelt.

L to R: Trooper, TJ, Maya

Sherman meets Stella

Sherman's days as a foster dog are numbered and that number is getting smaller quickly. He met prospective adopters yesterday and it was pretty much a mutual love fest. The adopters have a female bulldog named Stella who came along as well. She was maybe more interested in Sherman than he was in her, but they got along fine. Sherman made it clear that he craves human contact, affection, and attention and I expect he will get plenty of that.

Just a couple of bulldogs dancing.

This is Stella. She is shorter, but wider, than Sherman.

Sherman would make a helluva poker player, his face gives
away nothing, but his actions (climbing up on the adopters
and smothering them with kisses) spoke volumes. 

Saturday's hike

I hadn't had Max out on the trails in a long time.
He's really good on a hike; the trail gives him focus.

Saturday was a beautiful day. I didn't have anything that I really had to do, so I walked.

TJ, Maya, and Max, all looking right as we come to an
intersection of two trails. Maya listens for my verbal "to the
right" command and to the right they all go.

The trail was narrow and everyone wanted to be in front.
I'm amazed that they can push together this close and not
get into a fight about position, but they don't.

Fortunately, they spread out a bit when we get to the water.
With Trump's republicans intent on decimating the EPA and
rolling back environmental regulations, you have to wonder
how long it will be before local streams and rivers are impacted.

Max really enjoyed himself.

For Maya, it's just another day of routine deer patrol.

The autumn sun on TJ's coat is a thing of beauty.

The first hike with TJ, Maya, and Max was four miles. Then
I dropped off Max and picked up Trooper. TJ came along on
the second hike too, for another two miles.

By the end of the second hike, TJ had hit
his limit, but he hung in there and loved it all.

Two miles was enough for Trooper. He doesn't have to go far
but he likes to be included. He was out front the whole way.

Trooper always leads and he always
looks back when I stop to ask why.
 

Maya would probably rather walk with Trooper
than anyone else, but she has decided that TJ
is a pretty good hiking buddy. He's learned the
routine, although he really doesn't care about deer.

Taking Carly out on my final walk of the day probably
wasn't my best idea because my back was already hurting
at this point. She is very strong and completely lacking
in leash manners. I should have brought her alone, but
I thought Maya could model good leash manners.
Maya did so, but Carly paid no attention.

I had two leashes on her, attached to a prong
collar and an easy walk harness.
Nothing stopped her pulling.

It was a pretty sunset but I had to remain
concentrated on holding Carly. She didn't just
pull forward consistently, she would periodically
and without warning, plunge into tall grasses or
 thick brush on either side of the trail.

She had always lived on a chain and this may
have been her first time ever being out for a
hike in the country on a leash.

This arrangement of leashes, one on the harness
and the second one wrapped around her belly
and attached to the collar gave me a modicum
of control, at least enough to continue walking.

We walked over two miles, survived a couple
encounters with off-leash dogs, and made it
back to the van at last.

Next time I take her, it will be just her and me until she settles
down a bit. Maya may not mind staying at home when I take Carly.

Maya and I logged almost 8.5 miles on Saturday.
We were both happy to stay home on Sunday.

Sherman takes a bath

If you read this blog very often, I hope you have noticed that I try to choose my words carefully. If I offend with my writing, it's more than likely quite intentional. So I hope that you notice that I titled this post "Sherman takes a bath" rather than "Sherman has a bath" or "I gave Sherman a bath" or something like that. He was a willing participant.

I've been talking to a couple who is interested in adopting him. We are just working out a time to get together to meet, so I wanted Sherman looking and smelling good. Sherman has been needing a bath as his skin has been getting rather greasy, yeasty, and sort of smelly, as, I'm given to understand, is not uncommon with English Bulldogs. Today was a nice day but I made it an indoor tub bath as cold well water is rather shocking even on a hot day. I led Sherman to the tub with the sprayer already running. He put his front paws up on the tub and all I had to do was give the rear end a boost and he was in and the bath was underway.

Sherman had obviously done this before. He may have even known that he needed a bath, I don't know, but I've rarely had a dog this cooperative with the process. I think one of the Great Dane fosters I had, maybe Diesel, actually stepped into the tub. Sherman would have but his legs were too short. Once in the tub, he just stood there and let me do my business. I used a few different medicated shampoos on him and left them on the skin for a good five minutes. He didn't even shake during the entire process so I didn't get wet and the bathroom didn't get sprayed. 

When I was done, he stood there and let me towel him off and then he hopped out of the tub on his own. I took him outside to a sunny spot to finish drying and it was only after we got outside that he did a full body shake to get any remaining water off of him.

Sherman's stock rose appreciably today. He is a very good dog.

This is why I love bulldogs.  He's not upset, that's his happy face.

Moving on up

This is me reaching into the car for a
farewell nose kiss.

Today was Duggan's adoption day. He has moved on to his new home and I'm sure he has had a happy and a busy day. The adopters are first-time shepherd owners, but Duggan is really pretty well suited for that. He doesn't seem to have any of the more difficult GSD behaviors that we often see. He's just a happy pup who loves everything and everyone. Very lab-like personality actually, and that's a good thing.

The adopters got themselves prepared this week and it's safe to say that Duggan will be spoiled. His limited vision will present some challenges for all of them, but I feel confident that everything will work out.

Duggan will have every material thing he needs, but more importantly,
he will have the time and attention that a young dog needs.

Carly is the rottie in the middle, Theo is the shepherd on the
left and Trooper is the shepherd on the right. Her response to
being surrounded is just to drop down, look up, and be sweet.

Any dog leaving or coming in usually means there's some rearranging to do. I had been keeping Max away from Duggan because Duggan didn't understand Max or how to deal with him. That meant that Max had been spending the day in a kennel by himself and in the shed at night because all the crates in my office were full with Duggan, Sherman, and Rex. Even Sparky was ousted from his crate at night. With Duggan gone I could move Max back into the dog yard. I needed to get Carly integrated with the pack, so I moved her over to the dog yard late in the afternoon where she met Theo, Trooper, and Max. My plan is for Carly and Max to share the shed at night and the dog yard during the day.

Carly was happy about the move, happy to have some friends to play with, happy to have room to run. She's a happy dog and she did a lot of running, which explains the blurry pictures. She was good with the three shepherd boys that she met today, dropping down submissively when one of them approached her. She's a good girl, but she's going to need some work on leash manners, house manners, and just controlling her level of enthusiasm.

Trooper, Guardian of the Manse

Carly on the run.

Trooper is so good with new dogs,
he's the one I let them meet first.
He's an ideal temperament test dog,
but he's so bad with people that I
can't take him places.