A solid understanding

I let Larsen roam freely at the park on our evening walk.  The park has a mysterious valley cut behind the soccer field.  The poplars are truly gigantic and the canopy inhibits plant growth on the floor of the valley so that the vale appears almost apse-like, with the trees acting as columns.  A dry creek cuts through the valley, although the creek is running given our wet summer.

In a true act of insubordination, Larsen gave me a look, peed on a plant ("this is you!") and then took off into the brush that covers the steeply sloping sides.  He left me standing there for a solid five minutes.  I went looking for him.  I finally gave the whistle a peep or two and look who re-appears!  Hot, wet, muddy, and covered with burrs and briers.  I was beyond fury.  I grabbed his throat and looked into his eyes, knowing that it was too late for any type of thrashing that he deserved, were I of the sort to indulge in that sort of thing.

We heeled to the car without a lead.  I was almost half-hoping for another break so that I could have justified breaking his neck, but he was as obedient as he could be: heeling with his head at my knee and sitting promptly when I stopped walking.

Larsen was crated him in the car (no front-seat ride home), and this is where the solid understanding came in.  I told Aki about Larsen's escapade, and she completely understood that no hugs or pats were in Larsen's immediate future when I brought him into the house.  We both treated Larsen as though he was invisible.  No eye contact.  No pats.  Dinner was kibble with no cottage cheese or anything else.  No seconds.  No play after dinner.  When I walked upstairs or down I ignored him, even though he was bumping into me as he followed along.  When Aki worked on her computer, she ignored the dog at her feet.

No one looked into Larsen's eyes until right at lights-out at bedtime.

I'm convinced that Larsen knows he done wrong.  I'm hoping that his evening of excommunication lets him think about things.  I was called out of town unexpectedly and won't know until this weekend.  

Eating

Even the toughest little spaniel can have a sensitive stomach.  It can take a lot of trial and error to find a dog food that the dog eats and that sets well with him.  I look back with remorse on how I would doctor up his kibble to get him to eat dog food that simply did not agree with him instead of simply moving to a different type.  It took us a long while to find one that Larsen could really digest (Nature's Balance).  Some comments about an alternative had us looking at Frommes.

We switched to Fromm's (from Wisconsin) and found an even better fit.  One of our correspondents recommends saving the label from an early purchase so that if anything goes off later, you can check and see if there have been changes:

When trying/switching to a new dog food [I]cut out the ingredient list and nutritional stats from the bag and file it. That way if I ever suspect an issue or formulation change, I can refer back to this information. 

Noon, late summer, Atlanta, Ga

Impossible!

August

The end of summer means listless plants.  Larsen and I went to the nearby nursery to see if we could find something to brighten the back and front porch for Aki's company.  

Larsen finds a cool den under the flower pots on a hot Saturday afternoon.

Conformation class

Aki and Larsen continued working on their ringsmanship last Saturday.  The class was geared to puppies, but the principles remain the same: treat/enter - treat/position - treat/stack & present.  Aki got a chance to move around the ring again and keep her arms at her side as she did so.  We got some good canine health tips from Adrian and saw the some of the usual crowd of Kathy P. (Fire), Debbi (Rayne), and Susan (Rosey).

Aki and Larsen set about the ring. 

Aki practices the stack. 

Steady

Danny took us way back on his property - - the part beyond the single-file bridge of dubious integrity -- where it was ok with him if we used our barn chukar (a/k/a pigeons) for training.

Obedience.  I first demonstrated to Cathy Larsen's performance with the fetch dummy.  As is often the case, Larsen pretended not to see or find the dummy and used that as an excuse to tour the grounds.  I caught up with him  each time and corrected him by marching him to the dummy and commanding that he pick it up and hold it.  We engaged in this little battle of wills for a while and only stopped when he brought the dummy in smartly and sat.  This will endure for a bit until Larsen understands that he must fetch the dummy any time I request it.  It's boring work for a spaniel, but it's his job.

Quartering.  I still feel only partly in control with Larsen's quartering.  He wants to range wide, but I know that my ability to sit him on a flush declines with the square of the distance he is from me.  I try to hold him tight and he tries to wander and the display is messy-looking.

Steady.  On a good note, Larsen was steady to his last flush of the day.  It was a solid flush, and one pip from my whistle, and no shouting or arm waving.  The setup was me-Larsen-bird, with the bird flying away from us, and so not ideal for steadiness, which made the result all the more gratifying.

Larsen earlier had broken on a sucker bird that got away from his trap.  I did not hit the whistle because it seemed impossible to stop him.  He returned readily on my recall, however, which was good, but I'm not entirely sure whether he'd already started his return before I pipped.  I'll give myself the benefit of the doubt and chalk that up to a good practice day.

Retrieve.  Larsen tried to be sloppy with the retrieve, and got a firm correction each time for his effort.  I believe that this ultimately will pay off.  I think he is past the point where I need to be overly concerned that his lack of full retrieve is a fear of correction insofar as he absolutely knows why he is being corrected.

We practiced with Cathy (Bing, Zelda, and Humphrey) and Shoni (Sunny) on a hot Alabama morning buzzing with late summer bees.

  Larsen follows Cathy off the field after a good run.

The spaniel still has some gas in the tank as we leave the field.

Shoni is pleased with Sunny's advanced work in the field.

Sunny cools down after her outing on a steamy morning.

Honey & the 45s

Everyone has a secret life of some sort, I suppose.  When that secret life involves genuine talent it is notable indeed, and that's the case with my colleagues Kristina and Kim.  By day they appear absolutely normal (see photo #1).  On the evenings and weekends, they become part of a 5-piece band called Honey & the 45's (photo #2).  I can no more describe music than I can a fine wine, but I love it when I hear their overlay of close-to-the-ground country on a Chicago blues sound as in the "Trains Gonna Go" and "Believe".  If you like your Chicago-style neat, try "I Got the Need."    

Kristina and Kim hard at work.

Alter egos.  

British understatement

"Welsh Springers, particularly males, have immense energy and a strong nose for following game scents, even if that is not your interest."

-Welsh Springer Spaniel Club, United Kingdom