Category: barclay

Barclay – future therapy dog?

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay2 Comments

Beautiful Barclay is in training to pass his therapy dog certification later this month. Tonight we went to dog class and did a bunch of free-form training – working on attention, heeling, doing a long stay. He did great, even working with other dogs loose in the room at the same time. He’s a real doll, such a nice boy to people and animals alike. I don’t know exactly what we’ll do if he passes and gets his certification, but it sounds like it’s right up his alley. With his friendly and mellow personality he’d probably be great at hospital visits.

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Chicken chasing

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, chickens, jack, navi2 Comments

I’ve been home sick all weekend with a nasty head cold/sinus thing – yuk!

This evening I woke up after a long afternoon nap and decided to go out and check on the chickens and count to make sure they were all still there (Dave has been feeding them while I was sick). Everyone was there, and I checked the nest box and they’d even left an egg! So I reached in to get the egg and Navi slipped by me and ran into the coop, and one of the young hens got scared and jumped off the perch and she started running around in circles, flapping and sqwaking, while Navi chased her around and around the coop trying to pounce on her. The hen finally made for the door into the shed and blasted past me, and on the way by I caught Navi and tucked her under my arm.

Unfortunately for the hen, Jack and Barclay were in the shed, and they immediately chased the poor little hen out into the darkness and rain. I hauled Navi up to the house and tossed her inside and grabbed the flashlight, and went back out. In the dark I could just make out Barclay down by the lilac bush, poking something with his foot. I went down, expecting to see a dead chicken, and there was the hen, huddled under the bush, wet and miserable. Barclay didn’t want to catch her, or he easily could have, he just wanted to make her run some more so he could chase her! I picked her up and took her back to the coop and checked her over in the light. She looked fine, just scared. So I put her back in the coop, counted everyone one last time, and went back inside. Too much excitement for one evening – I should have stayed in bed!

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An excess of eskimos

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi, pets3 Comments
This weekend Saki and Sitka came to visit while their Mom & Dad took a little trip!
There’s a reason people call them ‘peski eski’s! That’s a lot of devious, destructive power to have in one house!
They don’t have cats at home. But our cats still liked them just fine. 
They had great fun chasing each other around the pasture
Barclay is biggest and Saki is smallest, while Navi and Sitka look so much alike I had to take a good look to tell who I was talking to!
Out in the swale Barclay showed them how to dig up field mouse holes
 Even Sitka got into that!
Then we rinsed off the mud by playing with the hose. 
Saki
Navi & Sitka
I was surprised that Barclay got tired of the company first, and would go sit by himself with his back to them when he’d had enough. I had to go looking for him a couple times. Navi and Saki & Sitka all played and had great fun together, romping and wrestling. They were like a little pack of three! Jack just disappeared for the most part. Way too much activity for him!

The dogs meet Mary

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, jack, navi, pets, pigs3 Comments

Last night the dogs only saw Mary trotting around the field, and they completely lost their little minds! Barclay has no excuse, because he has been around sheep, goats and llamas since he was a baby. Navi has every excuse, because livestock is a new concept for her. Jack was the one that really went nuts, and he should know better by now too. His running around baying did nothing to help the other dogs realize the new critter was not a threat. So this morning I took them out one by one with a clicker and super yummy treats to introduce them to the pig.

The last time the dogs were in the pasture there was no pigpen there, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that as I brought Barclay out through the pasture gate, he turned and saw the pig ten feet away (behind the pigpen fence, but he didn’t notice that) and he reacted by RUNNING as fast and far away as he could go! He went about 50 yards out into the pasture before he even slowed down to look behind him and see if the monster was following. So much for hanging around to protect me!

Once he noticed the fence (and that I was still in the area), he got up the guts to come back and face his fears. So he came back and barked at the MONSTER. I ‘clicked for calm’ – whenever he’d stop for a breath, or look at me, I’d click and give him a bit of lunchmeat.

After a bit he started to relax, and there was less barking and more sniffing. Mary did not seem to be bothered at all. By the time we’d been out there a few minutes, he got up the guts to meet her nose to nose at the fence. I watched closely to make sure the interaction was good, and he got lots of praise and treats for being nice.

I took him in and waited a bit, then brought Navi out. I did the same thing, but this time Mary wasn’t up by the fence, she had gone back to bed and was sitting in her hay pile, still as a stone. Navi was sniffing around the outside of the pigpen, then Mary turned her head a bit (she was about 15 feet away) and Navi spotted her – and LOST HER FREAKING MIND! But with a few minutes of clicking and treating, she started to settle down. She’ll need more work with Mary up moving around though. I was actually glad Mary was setting still for this lesson.

For Jack’s turn, Mary had gone back to sleep buried in the hay, so he didn’t even see her. He just ran around sniffing the fenceline. I clicked him a lot for quiet or looking at me. He had a great time, and didn’t even see a pig. Again, more work for later, but a good start.

Working with the dogs individually was the way to go, there’s no way to settle down three dogs who are all going insane at once, they just build on each other. They all did very well one-on-one. Mary, for her part, was perfectly calm. Even after all that barking, I came out and she came right up to the fence for a scratch. 🙂

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Dirty Dog!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, naviLeave a comment
What is that I spy out in the swale?
Why, it’s a rare North American Mud Dog!
So Happy! Now, how do I get her clean enough to let back inside?
Start with a rinse:
Luckily Mud Dogs enjoy this sort of thing!
Then a spin cycle in the trough:
Followed by drying off in the tall grass
And Tah-Dah – Mud Dog has magically transformed back to Navi – House Dog!
People are always asking how I keep them from getting dirty? I don’t! 🙂

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That time of year

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi1 Comment
When the praying mantises show up. 
I think they are so cool! It’s the only bug that can turn it’s head and look at you!
The dogs were out playing in the yard, digging holes and having fun.

I love to see them like this because they have so much fun running and barking and digging. That’s the sort of life every dog should have!

Mr Smudgy-face

Little Miss Dirty-Paws

Kitty door

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi3 Comments

The door to the back bedroom has a kitty door cut into the bottom of it, and sometimes while we’re back there working Barclay likes to lay there with his head through the kitty door watching us.

Sometime Navi likes to get in on the act!

Good thing Barclay is so patient!

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New Boomerang CollarTags

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, jack, navi, pets2 Comments

Today I got new ID tags for our crazy pack of dogs. Well, actually Jack didn’t get one, I just got tags for the other two. Last week Navi got hung up on the heater vent, and the next day I was leaving for work and found her on the bed in a funny position, wagging her tail, and when I looked closer I realized her tag was caught on the blanket! So I looked up Boomerang Tags, which is where I’ve been getting my tags for years. They make excellent tags, ship them out fast, and they last forever. All our dogs have had their tags, and I even had tags made for the llama’s harnesses.

They have a new kind of tag called CollarTags. They slip onto the actual collar, instead of dangling. They are guaranteed not to come off, and it looks like it would be impossible to catch them on anything.

I received them today. They fit perfectly, and of course look very well made and are easily readable. I think the only downside is that if the dogs got lost and someone glanced at them, they would think they don’t have any ID, because there are no obviously dangling tags. Because the eskies are fluffy, the tag isn’t immediately obvious on the collar like it would be on a short haired dog. However, I haven’t lost a dog yet, and these two are shaping up to be the best trained dogs I’ve ever had, so they are less likely to get lost all the time! On the plus side, without the jingling of tags, the dogs are running in ‘stealth mode’. No, wait a minute, maybe that’s NOT such a good thing!! 😉

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Caught!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi3 Comments

I came home this afternoon and found Navi wearing a little something extra around her neck…

That’s one of the furnace vents! Apparently she had been sleeping on the vent, and her tag slipped between the louvers and got caught. When she stood up to greet me at the door, it came with her. When I opened the door, instead of jumping up and down, she sort of staggered up to me, and I reached down to check her and found this hanging below her neck! I’m surprised the breakaway collar didn’t pop open, it probably would have if she’d moved around a bit more, but she had probably only gone a couple feet between getting up and meeting me at the door. I unhooked her collar with one hand (other hand was full of groceries), and she was free to dance around like usual!

The tag was really stuck in there too! There was no way she was getting out of that without help. It’s amazing how much trouble your dogs can get into when you leave them alone.

None the worse for wear, and ready to go outside and play!
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