Happy Birthday, Ozzy!
Sunday, May 1st, 2011 | Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends, Ozzy, Training
Can you believe it? Our baby boy turned 1 today!
It’s been a celebratory weekend for him that included his Ring Ready Obedience class at Wiggles and Wags (with his favorite trainer, Julie), a nice walk, a play date with Vasey, some toys and cake from Happy Dog Barkery. So it’s been a great weekend for Ozzy. I would say he probably feels pretty special, but I think he normally thinks that everything is about him anyway. Typical male.
Here are some pics for you. Enjoy!
Here’s the birthday boy himself outside enjoying the nice weather.
Playing.
Swissies are silly.
Vasey would try to relax periodically.
So would Indy.
Bad picture, good faces.
Someone might have a new girlfriend!
As I mentioned, there was cake…
Although a certain someone made a complete mess.
Thanks for looking!
Fur
Thursday, April 21st, 2011 | Indigo, Ozzy
I think most people, Swissy-owned or not, are in my situation now. You know, spring coat blow? Which means when can brush daily and get enough fur to provide for at least two bird nests.
The thing I find funny is that both Indy and Ozzy seem to believe the the removed fur is the best treat in the world.
That’s right. They eat it. And then they cough it up like a cat with a hair ball.
Weird, isn’t it?
Wolf Park
Monday, April 18th, 2011 | Wolf Park
This post is happening about a week behind. I started it while I was working in France last week, and then I got too busy and had laptop issues. So – you’re getting it now! I know it’s non-Swissy related, but I figured you’d still like it.
Dan and I traveled to Battle Ground, Indiana, to the Wolf Park to participate in a photography seminar. We spent about 90 minutes getting some great wildlife instruction from their photographer, Monty Sloan, then we spent a bit more time getting the safety protocol from Pat, the lady in charge. After a birthday celebration for the eighteen year-old wolf in residence and quick lunch, we embarked on several hours of photography with the main wolf pack. It was not done through a fence – we were in the enclosure with the wolves.
There are wolves in the main pack – Wolfgang (the alpha), Ruedi, Wotan and Dharma, an eleven month old “puppy”. Wolfgang can be a little tricky, so we were given instructions to ignore him (or put our camera up to our face) if he approached us. But otherwise, he was quite willing to pose and interact with the other wolves and trainers for pictures. The other three were quite interested in we humans, and we were able to pet them and got “kissed”.
Enough babble – I’ll give you pics. Please note – these are mostly unedited images, as I was home for less than 24 hours before leaving for France and didn’t have too much time.
Something that made me laugh
Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | Ozzy
Have you ever noticed how dog people introduce themselves? I have, but I never really laughed about it too much until tonight.
I was walking Ozzy tonight, and we came across a Basset and his human. I asked from a distance if he was friendly, because both Ozzy and I would love to hang out with a Basset for a bit. When the human confirmed the Basset’s friendliness, we made our introductions. It went something like this.
Me: Hi, this is Ozzy.
Guy: Hey there. This rambunctious Basset is Archie.
And then the guy went on to tell me about how he rescued the dog and all sorts of stuff. We swapped stories. It was a nice time. Then we went our separate ways. I know him as Archie’s human, which is fine.
About a mile later, we had a similar encounter with Ruby the Springer and her human. It was good.
Did you laugh at all? Maybe just a little bit?
Traveling and work
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 | Uncategorized
As you can tell, I haven’t been posting too much lately. Work has decided it should keep me busy for a change, which seems to mean travel as of late. I’m back in town for a little over a week before I head out again. I should have at least one post (other than this lame one) before then.
Check back soon!
Politics
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 | Ozzy
Ozzy is in an interesting stage of his life. And when I say interesting, I may mean annoying, cute, infuriating, adorable…the list goes on. He’s starting to come into his own. And he definitely has hormones.
The marking has become an issue more recently. I try not to let it happen constantly on walks, but rather find a time and give him a potty command.
I think it will help.
That is, if I can keep from being amused by his rather political statements of last night. Because that probably just encourages it.
If your town is like mine, you have all sorts of “Larry, Darryl and Darryl for Village Council” type signs up. They are everywhere. They have been for a few weeks. Last night was not the first time we encountered them on a walk, but it was the first time that Ozzy tried to mark every third sign (give or take). He almost completely ignored the various bits and pieces of shrubbery he usually enjoys.
What do you think he’s trying to say? Is he making a big political statement?
Dominance
Thursday, March 17th, 2011 | Indigo, Ozzy
It appears that after going over a year without a dominant dog in the house, Ozzy is making a play for it. Lucky for him, he’s not testing his luck with the humans…
We first noticed the signs a couple of weeks ago. Indy likes to sit herself between Dan and I on the couch. Ozzy would periodically place himself there to block her. Or sometimes he’d be on the other part of the couch, and if she made a move to get up to her normal spot, he’d launch with a play growl/nip. But I don’t think it’s all play. And neither does Indy, because if he’s on the couch, she needs coaxing to get her up while he gives her a crazy stare.
The next thing I experienced was at the Barkery’s St. Patty’s Day party. Ozzy and I were waiting outside for two other Swissies, Jett and Tank. Ozzy had not met either of them before, but never has exhibited any behavior that would make me worry about him meeting dogs. Especially Swissies. He was good – he didn’t launch or anything. But both Swissies came up to his face, and I could feel (and hear, but more feel) the growl emanating from him. I pulled him back, and he was fine unless they got in his face again. (Then we’d just get the warning rumble.) But he’s bigger than either of them (one is a puppy, the other is an adult) so who knows what was going on.
And yes, we’re back to Indy getting humped by Ozzy. It seems to happen in the middle of a play session. And she seems to be ok with it. What a hussie. Since she’s told him off before, I trust that she’ll do it again if she’s so inclined.
Please send good thoughts to Ozzy. If he tries it with the humans, he’ll find he gets a different reaction.
The most pleasant walk – ever!
Monday, March 14th, 2011 | Ozzy
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this or not, but Ozzy, like Indy, is a puller.
I’ve tried mild corrections on a martingale, in addition to the stop until he lets up on the leash and changing direction tactics, but they have not worked. I learned a fair bit from going through this with Indy, so I decided to try a head collar with Ozzy instead of going through the chain and prong collars. We tried it out for the first time on Saturday…
It was the best walk ever with Ozzy. The first block was a bit odd with some pawing at the face and the attempts to pull. But the stopping to wait for the relaxed leash worked much better with the head collar, and in a little over a block, we were doing quite well. We went for two more walks over the weekend, and they went pretty well too.
I’m hoping that the head collar is a temporary thing with Ozzy instead of a more permanent thing like it is with Indy. I’m going to try to walk him this way for about a month, then will try to phase the martingale back in on it’s own.
Check back for more!
Why?
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 | Indigo
If you’re one of my 8 readers (yes, we’re up to 8!!), you are familiar with Indy and her skittish/fearful behavior around people. But having a fearful dog doesn’t mean I keep her locked up in the house. I still do lots of stuff with her – we just need to be careful and control the environment a bit.
I’m a decent human. I take the Swissies for walks. The last few Indy has been on have NOT been through the downtown area by us or to the Barkery. But big head Oz’s have.
So why is it that the first time in a month or so that I take Indy through downtown that some mom lets her child (maybe 5 or 6 years old) run towards Indy screaming “doggy doggy!” without trying to stop her child? Did she think that all BBDs are friendly?
Well, lucky for all of us I saw it coming (yay me!) and got between Indy and the child. And, for a change, Indy was rather calm. Maybe it was because we were already 3 miles into the walk.
TTFN!
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