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Today Caden worked very hard to grade papers with me. Mostly he kept me warm, but he was a great helper!
Thanksgiving break should mean no work, but of course it was a lot of catching up on work. For those of you not familiar with the joys of being a teacher, grading isn't really that much fun and takes a lot of brain work. So Caden worked hard all day to grade papers and ended up wearing himself out!
Caden and Dakota have started to actually get along pretty well. I even had them cuddled up with me on the couch today and they were laying curled up on top of each other. I wish I hadn't had to move them to get the camera, they decided they probably wanted to get up and play instead of pose for pictures.Caden thinks his kennel is a wonderful place. However, when using treats to play with the kennel it gets confusing for the dogs and they both wind up in it! Caden is up to about 18 lbs and we are increasing his food this weekend, so I'm sure he'll be over 20 in no time! He's almost half the size of Dakota now, but is almost as tall. He is really growing quickly!And now for something completely different... What a cutie!
Last weekend Dakota, Caden, and I joined a group to head up to a Recreation Area. I had high hopes of Dakota seeing so many birds she would really get the idea locked down about this hunting thing. She has seemed so excited when the gun comes out or when she finds a bird that I thought this would be an ideal setting. Little did I know, her intelligence would once again be our downfall. She very quickly learned that if she just had a good time doing what she wanted, the guides labs would do all the hard work. So there really wasn't any reason for her to go to all the work of actually finding birds! She liked to wait until the labs brought a bird back and then she would try to jump up and grab it away from the guide. We had one bright moment when a very silly pheasant walked up onto the road while we were about to get into the vehicles. So we held up the labs and sent Dakota after it. It took her a second to get the scent, but she found it and did a very nice job flushing the pheasant. One of the guys shot it and Dakota raced off after it. I think we were lucky in that the bird tried to get away from her, which of course Dakota wasn't having. So she grabbed the bird and brought it most of the way back to me. She then gave it to me when I went to her, and both of us were extremely proud. She expressed that by repeatedly trying to get it back! I tried to toss it for her to retrieve but she was only interested in smelling it at that point.
One of our friends is quite an amazing photographer, so thanks to Colleen for these great pictures!Caden did a nice job of retrieving birds and wings we tossed for him, well as long as he was on a leash so we could pull him back. He would much rather chew on the birds than bring them to me. We'll have to keep working on that! Here he is trying to feast on a bird.
The two pups also stayed outside in a heated kennel/run for their first time ever. I think both of them did really extremely well. I think it was the labs that barked to wake us up at 6, not the Tollers. I think both of them were content to just wait for us to come play again! That was very nice and I'm glad they were okay. Good practice in case they ever have to be boarded.
Caden also did an amazing job of running through the fields and not getting tired out. We were all pretty shocked at how happy he was to be out running even in some pretty heavy cover. We didn't hunt over him, but he was happy to be getting the exercise in a field. He also got exposed to quite a bit of gunfire at the camp and on the sporting clays range. He really doesn't even registers shooting. Just keeps doing whatever it is he is doing. I would be worried he was deaf if he didn't hear trucks and show fear of them. Really pretty amazing that the shooting doesn't even faze him.
I know, the flat tire to foot reference is getting overused, but I had to go ahead and throw it out because I did not have the creativity for anything else. Dakota, Maggie (German Shorthair), two neighbors, and myself went out pheasant hunting and had a blast. Dakota appears to have an idea of what her job is now, so I of course was thrilled! She flushed a couple of hens and then a group of four birds (2 hen and 2 rooster). Man, was she excited when those birds popped up. I could definitely tell when she went from smelling around to smelling a pheasant, and it was really fun to watch. I can't wait to take her out again. Next weekend we've got a trip with Secret Agent Man to a hunting preserve and I'm hoping seeing such a huge number of birds will get he to want to actually pick them up. I'm not sure how we ruined her for that, but hopefully she'll start to enjoy it again once they are birds she's flushing not frozen wings!The down side of the trip was Dakota got a few nicks inbetween her pads so we had to wrap her up with co-hesive tape (sticks only to itself, not hair and skin) and some antibiotic ointment. She did not care for that and spent the rest of the day limping. Once the tape came off she was fine and dandy though.
Yep, the new dog apparently also likes wine. He has not had any yet, but he sure wanted it.
He's also always hungry! He loves his food.
Caden and Dakota have started to actually get along pretty well. I even had them cuddled up with me on the couch today and they were laying curled up on top of each other. I wish I hadn't had to move them to get the camera, they decided they probably wanted to get up and play instead of pose for pictures.
We are definitely not great show dog trainers! We've been trying to teach Caden to stack, but it is slow going because he isn't really interested in standing still or letting us position him in any certain way. He's a little crazy about food, so I think that also makes it hard. We're going to keep working away at it though!
Last weekend Dakota, Caden, and I joined a group to head up to a Recreation Area. I had high hopes of Dakota seeing so many birds she would really get the idea locked down about this hunting thing. She has seemed so excited when the gun comes out or when she finds a bird that I thought this would be an ideal setting. Little did I know, her intelligence would once again be our downfall. She very quickly learned that if she just had a good time doing what she wanted, the guides labs would do all the hard work. So there really wasn't any reason for her to go to all the work of actually finding birds! She liked to wait until the labs brought a bird back and then she would try to jump up and grab it away from the guide. We had one bright moment when a very silly pheasant walked up onto the road while we were about to get into the vehicles. So we held up the labs and sent Dakota after it. It took her a second to get the scent, but she found it and did a very nice job flushing the pheasant. One of the guys shot it and Dakota raced off after it. I think we were lucky in that the bird tried to get away from her, which of course Dakota wasn't having. So she grabbed the bird and brought it most of the way back to me. She then gave it to me when I went to her, and both of us were extremely proud. She expressed that by repeatedly trying to get it back! I tried to toss it for her to retrieve but she was only interested in smelling it at that point.
One of our friends is quite an amazing photographer, so thanks to Colleen for these great pictures!
Caden also did an amazing job of running through the fields and not getting tired out. We were all pretty shocked at how happy he was to be out running even in some pretty heavy cover. We didn't hunt over him, but he was happy to be getting the exercise in a field. He also got exposed to quite a bit of gunfire at the camp and on the sporting clays range. He really doesn't even registers shooting. Just keeps doing whatever it is he is doing. I would be worried he was deaf if he didn't hear trucks and show fear of them. Really pretty amazing that the shooting doesn't even faze him.
