Rabbits

We have seen one woodchuck in our back yard, but Mendel enjoyed a romp with him, and I doubt he will be back this year.

We successfully got one mother rabbit to move her nest to the yard behind us. We see the 5 youngsters visiting daily, and so far Mendel has not got them. They stay way in the back, and there is plenty of greenery for them to hide in at this time of year. [In the winter, the rabbits were unable to run away or hide.]

We thought we were successful with the second mother, who wanted her nest in my lily patch, which is fenced specifically to keep out rabbits. We saw yesterday, though, that her babies are just a few feet away from the lily patch, not far from our house. As they begin to venture out, we don't think there is much hope for them. They are at the very young, innocent and extra-cute stage.

This is the first year we have not lost any lilies, annuals, clematis or beans to rabbits [so far]. So we do have Mendel to thank, but we hate to find carcasses. We are rather torn about this hunting job/game he seems to enjoy so much. We don't know whether to yell at him or encourage him. But it has been a month since he caught anything. In the winter, he caught a rabbit every week.

Triple Q

It looks like Mendel is finally catching on. He did very well in all 3 AKC agility events today. What an improvement from his April experiences of running away and refusing obsticals! He is no longer afraid of the artificial turf, or jumping on the judges.

He also earned his very first agility title this weekend, for Novice Fast.

NADAC success

Here is Mendel's 1st place novice run at today's agility match. I am really proud of him. A couple of weeks ago I was ready to give up on agility because he couldn't concentrate and he had problems slipping on the astroturf. Today he paid attention and ran really fast (I also tried a special grip spray on his feet).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx1x0WArmKM


The Chances and Standard runs are below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXtOmg_O_FY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvz9QnDhnW8

Last Sunday's AKC trial

Here is 10 second clip of Mendel falling on his face as he turns to enter the weave poles. He had lots of problems slipping on the astro-turf. Is there someplace to practice on a similar artificial grass? I would like him to get used to it before the next trial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keqVYOXQGOU

Skijor Music video 2

I had fun putting together another video of Mendel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpTTrrziSRA

Funny announcer

Here is the youtube link to yesterday's race at Tug Hill with Mendel (he did
great):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EkOrVIqCMc

Not again!

We can't believe it. Mendel has been attacked again, this time by a stranger's dog at while Jeff was skijoring at Chestnut Ridge.  His shoulder is bleeding and a large flap of skin has been ripped open.  Further more, why, oh why, do people with unreliable dogs let their dogs loose in the park?  Back to the vet.  The past few months have been regularly punctuated by emergency visits to the vet, starting last fall, when Mendel played with a rabid raccoon.

There are so many reasons why this is frustrating, even infuriating:

1] He just recovered from being "off his feet" with the paw injury.   (See the bootie in the above photo?)  It is really hard to keep a young, athletic dog "quiet", and now we have to start all over.  We have to watch him carefully, so he does not chew the wound or stitches open.  We also have to keep his side clean, without any dressing on the wound.   When we leash walk him, he throws himself on the ground and rolls.  There is no way to protect his wound, when he does this, as he is in an unstoppable fury.  We can't trust him home alone, so I will be curtailing my own activities, and hiring a sitter for the time I am at work.  The inconvenience is enormous.

2] The owner never learned that his dog is dangerous,  AND we got stuck with the $350 vet bill.

3] The big Tug Hill race is next weekend, and he is on restriction for at least 10 days, until he gets the stitches out and is re-examined.  This race has been the focus of our winter, and we already took the time off from work and so on....

4] It is becoming clear that the wound on Mendel's head (from Flora's Thanksgiving attack under the dining table) is going to leave a noticeable, permanent scar on his forehead.  I wish the emergency vet had stitched it, so it would have closed up better.  That injury took a long time to heal, and the scab busted open many times, because no stitches were recommended on the face.  Boo.

Skijor race Chapman Park PA

The "pro" skijors are all competing in races in New Hampshire and Canada this weekend. Its just me and Mendel, a woman with Rocky, who has little interest in leaving the starting line, and a girl on downhill skis (!) with two beautiful racing siberians. Mendel ran well both days, only stopping once to take a poop. The snow coverage was terribly thin, and after spending the past week fine tuning my skis, rocks on the trail left the bottoms of my skis a mess.

In addition to the the skijorers, 2 dog and 4 dog sled teams all ran the same course (about 3 miles) and I can at least take some satisfaction in that of all the dogs that ran this course, no dog ran faster than Mendel! After the race Sonia, Mendel and I went out for a fun ski on the frozen lake. Mendel still had plenty of energy to pull Sonia and we had a good time. Our big worry was the cut on Mendels foot. We ran him with a bootie protecting the cut and happily we got through the weekend without the cut re-opening.

Saturday night we did some tricks and set up a small "agility course" in the hallway of the Warren Holiday Inn. I put trash cans in the 1st floor hallway and used them as jumps and posts to run around. We were having fun and I was impressed with myself in how well I could control Mendel. Then he decided he had enough agility and took off like a rocket toward the main Lobby area. I yelled "DOWN!" and luckily the stars must have been alighed because he listened and performed an "emergency down" before he created chaos in the Holiday Inn Nightclub. I'm also glad that we thought better of the idea of letting Mendel have a late night swim in the Holiday Inn pool. I wouldn't have wanted to get kicked out during our Mendel's first hotel experience .

day 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpvXl97o2xY
day 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHb0L930Sw&NR=1

Cuts his paw again!

Mendel has cut his paw again.  There was blood in the snow but I don't know how he cut it.  The cut is deep but luckily on the side of the paw and not the pad.  The vet glued it together.  We will see the vet again later this week and tell us if he is fit for the weekend's race.

Last time, he cut it when jumping our 4 foot fence in pursuit of a rabbit.  The first time, there was blood all over our front porch and everywhere he walked. It looked like a murder scene.

First music video

Jeff is very excited about making his very first music video creation! He clipped together a bunch of his skijoring footage and put it carefully to a sled dog song (don't worry; it's just 3 minutes).

Just for fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5BdzB0sAMc

AKC outdoor trial

Mendel and Jeff had their second agility trial of 2007 on a windy and frigid September day. We wished we had brought hats and gloves, if not coats. There were 3 AKC events.

In the first event, Mendel made a disqualifying error in a jump, but thank goodness, he did not leave his tasks or jump on people.

In the second event, Jeff made at least 2 disqualifying errors, but Mendel followed all instructions well. Mendel earned the hearts of the crowd, when he conquered an unexpected equipment failure, and continued on. The "Table" (a 24-inch high platform) was not properly staked into the ground. Mendel took his jump onto it enthusiastically, and this upset the whole contraption, which tipped halfway over, to about a 45-degree angle. Somehow, he managed to stay on it, upright the table and do a beautiful sit, while onlookers cheered.

In the third event, both Jeff AND Mendel did well and qualified for first place in the game, "Fast". It does not mean anything to get first place, as he was the only dog in his height category and experience level, but still, it was a clean run. They got a ribbon, and Mendel earned a toy.

Now there are no more events until next year, but at least Jeff and Mendel got a taste of the trial experience.

First agility trial!

Jeff and Mendel entered 4 Novice-level NADAC runs, or games yesterday. The first two were disasters, with Mendel leaving his course 4 times, to visit bystanders and jump on all four of the judges. The second run was the worst, because instead of doing the final jump, be jumped into the judge's lap, and did not finish the course! Mendel also had trouble with his weave poles. Jeff was really ready to give up.

In the third event, Mendel stayed on course, but he knocked a bar down, so he was disqualified. Actually, they got a 4th place ribbon for it, but that doesn't count. Still, Mendel's weave poles were good.

By the fourth event, Mendel was finally calm enough to concentrate. It was Novice Jumpers, and they got first place in Mendel's height class (20 plus inches). I completely forgot to turn on the video recorder for that one, though.

Canine Academy

Mendel canine academy [agility]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1suhnsn6w

Remembering Moja

Eleven year old Moja died suddenly last week. We knew he was slowing down but stoic Moja never let on how sick he was. Sonia wrote this nice memory of Moja that captures his loyal, steadfast personality.

I know why I miss Moja so much. He was a 24 hour dog.
Mendel is a 12 hour dog. He is smart, talented and cuddly
but steals our food, devours our slippers and barks demands.
I look forward to the time he relaxes into his crate for the night.
Moja was appreciated at all times of day and night
patient, though eager to eat, when I awoke late
grateful to play fetch any time I had a spare 10 minutes
polite in greeting us at the door
easily entertained by vegetable chopping, scraps flying into mouth
tolerant when 3 consecutive muddy, rainy days meant no outdoor adventure
calm when thunderstorms made me jump
comforting when sleep would not come at night.

There's no longer a need to leave the bedroom door ajar
but perhaps I will.

Mendel at 10 months

Mendel is now 10 months, strong, active and 60 pounds or so; neither fat nor skinny. He is no longer scared of every new sight and sound.No longer barks at us, but he does bark at Moja. No longer slow to eathis kibble (but does counter surf and steal people food). In the woods, Mendel dashes about independently, looking like a tall, fast fox. He loves agility and had his first fun match. He is very alert to different smells and sounds, birds and squirrels. He's still crazy about people, but unfortunately, he nips and jumps on them if they do not pet him immediately. We are quite surprised he generally will not retrieve. He runs after things, but loses interest before bringing them back.

Mendel's fears

Three month old Mendel is afraid and will react to everything new. On walks he is disturbed and will react to anything he has never seen before: a blue mailbox, a parked motorcycle, a a bicycle left on the sidewalk, loud traffic, novel lawn ornaments, a blowing bag, a tall man, etc. We are also concerned about his stamina and lack of coordination. He tires easily and we often have to end up carrying him. Our breeder wrote to tell us that he is young and will soon outgrow this stage:

" Gradually expose him to strange things. Remember, he lived on a farm where he didn't hear traffic, city or town sounds. Go easy on pushing his with his endurance. Trust me, he will be athletic, but now he is growing at a rapid rate and this is taking his energy. He is also constantly learning to adapt to a new body, (longer legs, bigger feet, etc). He heard plenty of adult dog barking here as I have 16 adult dogs. He didn't hear lawn mowers, but heard plenty of tractors going by on the road. "

Mendel copies Moja

Mendel copies Moja's every action. If Moja chews on a stick, Mendel follows his every move.

Mendel settles into new home 3/30/2006

Mendel is settling into his new home. He sleeps in a crate downstairs. Moja is still not thrilled about Mendel. So we let Moja know he is still number one by having him sleep upstairs in our room.

Mendel's 1st bath

When we brought Mendel home we were disappointed with his gray color.  It turns out he was stained with newspaper ink.  After his 1st bath he has a nice color coat.

Moja meets Mendel 3/25/2006

Eleven year old Moja is not too happy about having a new puppy around. But Moja is tolerant and Mendel is extremely persistent. On the 1st night home Mendel tries to snuggle up to Moja on the kitchen floor and Moja protests with a quiet growl. So Mendel consents and lies down about 1 foot away. Over the next hour Mendel slowly sneaks his way over until they are lying next to each other. Mendel is content. Moja accepted Mendel's proximity for a brief moment.