I can see you coming!

[lizblackdog]

I love it when I manage to do what I say I'm going to do. Took the dogs to Big Park for a romp. Remembered to recharge camera batteries. Remembered to take camera with. Spike was splashy. Squish was squishy.

Notice how Spike starts off with a tennis-ball sized neon ball and ends up with a football? This is why I have to keep replacing the small balls. I did not take the football home. I have four in my utility room already and we didn't buy any of them.

Comments

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

HA! Through these pictures I was thinking "YAY Squish"! and then I laughed a lot at the last one of Spike.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Spike: I HAS A BALL!!!

Squish is hard to photograph. He only looks at me if I have something he wants and then he bounces and wiggles so much it's still hard to catch him. Those two smiling pics are him waiting for me to throw his ball.

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

Spike just seems so very proud of that ball!

And I loved the pictures of squish sniffing the ground, it was so obvious that he was just kinda enjoying doing his own special thing.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

He was. He found it in a hedge so it was all his. I hated making him leave it in the park; but I've stopped taking them home. He always finds a fresh one every time we go to the park anyway.

Squish: I think it's a bird dog thing. I've never met another dog that can get quite so rapt and lost in smells. A good smell makes him blind, deaf and immovable.

[yesididit.livejournal.com]

happy dogs!

wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing. spike looks as happy with his ball as puppy does with his tennis balls!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Balls are the BEST THING EVER. And he's extra happy because he found that one by himself and it's BIG!

One day I'm going to get him one of those huge balls you can buy for horses. That'll be fun.

[yesididit.livejournal.com]

i was watching animal planet and they had polar bears at some zoo and had gotten them a big special heavy duty ball for them to play with. all i could think is where can i get one for puppy, hehehe.

[mudshark58.livejournal.com]

Looks like a grand time was had. :D

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

oh yes!

I love my dogs so much. Happy on tap.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

YAY!!! that last picture is just pure love! <3 spike!!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It needs to be an icon, doesn't it? *hint hint*

lollllll

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Re: lollllll

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I HAS AN ICON!

thank you!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Also, which one do I enter for ratemydog theme week? The Spike one is a better pic, but the Squish smiley ones have this goofy, psycho quality that I adore - and Squish gets entered for fewer theme weeks. TELL ME.

[mudshark58.livejournal.com]

Toughie. The close-up one of Squish is really good, but there's something awesome about the very last one of Spike with the Big Ball.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i'm a fan of #9 myself. :D

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

...yeah... its such a good smile. But head cut off.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

it's such a great picture though.
he's so cute!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

He's INSANELY cute. You need to come visit so you can see his "It can be sausage tiem nao?" face.

Though it's possible young Jim has the edge. XD


P.S. ILU

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

that's not a fair competition!!

ILU TOO!!!

[welshred.livejournal.com]

LMAO at Spike gripping his newly acquired football. They sure had fun!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

He manages to find one almost eevry time we go to that park. I used to bring them home with me, but now I make him leave them in the park - to find again next time we go.

[jeneration-why.livejournal.com]

Yay!! I've missed doggie pictures! The last one is priceless.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I had no camera for the longest time; then by the time I had one again I'd got out of the habit of remembering I had one, if that makes sense.

Now I have reminded myself. I will do this lots more.

[revolution-grrl.livejournal.com]

How long is that lead on Squish? I'm terrified of letting my boys off leash unless I KNOW there isn't anyone else around. I should get a reeeeeally long one, to compromise.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Ten metres - long enough to do some running and strong enough to keep him safe.

If I was out with Squish by himself, I could probably let him run free. His recall and attention to me are SO much better than i ever thought I could get them. But when I have to split my attention between two of them, I can't guarantee keeping his attention well enough not to do an unexpected runner; and of the two of them, he's less reliable and more amenable to wearing it.

[revolution-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yesterday when I got home from work, I took that dogs out on a long trail, and fortunately, I got home early enough that no one else was out yet. I let one of them off leash, and worked on getting him to come to me. Even when there wasn't anyone else around, he tended to keep sniffing what he was sniffing and ignore me for a while before trotting up to me on his own time. Very frustrating. I should go back to the part in your journal when you were really working with getting your boys to outside-safe levels and get some advice. Was that last summer?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Spike was always outside-safe; from day one he was focussed on me, and I don't think I could lose him if I tried. That was his doing, though, not mine, and I take no credit for it.

Squish is the one I have really had to work with. It needed lots of practise and lots of really good treats (I use little small chunks of sausage or swedish meatball). If you click on my "squish" tag or my "dog training" tag you should get all my entries that deal with it; but I am not that great a dog trainer.

Some resources: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/recall.htm

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/Lesson6.html

Basically, it's practise practise practise. Don't start outdoors; start somewhere where you and your treats are the most interesting thing in the dog's world. get in the habit of calling dog for small treats hundreds of times a day in the boring places. Then start doing it outdoors on-leash.

Squish's long leash is probably the single best investment I ever made in dog training kit. I strongly recommend getting something like it.

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting these. It's so good to see them again. :-D

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

thank you yay!

I haven't forgotten the cats. I just kinda really need to clean before I can show anyone pics I take indoors. This place is beyond pigsty right now.

[ghost07.livejournal.com]

My favorites are numbers 10 and twelve...

in 10, Squish seems to be saying,"Got something for ME?"

in 12, Spike has that "Ball + water = ecstasy" look...:D

I'm so glad to see them again...next, of course, are the cats...(looks around at her own messy apartment)...but I can understand needing to clean up first...:D

eventually, I'll have to do that here...sigh...

[kyra-neko-rei.livejournal.com]

HAHAAAAAAAAAH!!!

That last picture, I swear he looks like he's going "Ohhh, my preciousssss!" LOL.

Love the footballs, they're so lovely and round. (I sounded demented just then, didn't I?)

I think I recognize that puddle.