My engines of destruction

I let the dogs out this morning, and kept an ear out for any sort of barking or snarling, but didn't keep a very close eye on them. Bad me. When I went out onto the deck to check on them, I found they'd removed a screen from a window (there are two low windows over the deck) and totally demolished that sucker. I think it must have had a loose corner, and somehow they managed to pry it right off the window, and then used it as a dog toy. It's dead. Quite dead. They bent the frame, tore off the lower edge of the frame, and ripped a lot of the screen itself off.

*Laughs* Those dogs. They are two furry engines of destruction. They both love toys, and it doesn't matter if the toys come from PetSmart, or are found conveniently attached to the house. If it looks like fun, they play with it!

Four on the floor

I'm working very hard with Hero on keeping all four paws on the ground when he greets people. He still jumps up on me occasionally, and the kids more often. We are all turning out back on him instantly when he starts to jump up. Then we turn around, tell him to sit, and reward him with a treat and praise for the polite sit. Already it's improving his behavior-- he doesn't like losing our attention when we turn our backs on him. And he has always been highly treat motivated.

I'm also trying to get him to stop mowing down the toddler. He loves the toddler (who's actually not a toddler-- he'll be four in February) and tends to greet him like an onrushing freight train. The toddler has been faceplanted into the grass more than once, which he not surprisingly dislikes. I've been avoiding this by the simple solution of keeping them separated, but sooner or later, I'd like them to be able to play together. Today I put out Hero and let him get his first bouncies out, then took the toddler out, holding his hand so he couldn't get far away, and made sure Hero didn't pounce on him. Hero actually didn't even try to jump on him, so I think he's improving on that front, too.

Hero does love his kids, though. He guards them with great intensity, and when they went back into the woods where he couldn't follow, he sat down and stared at them until they came back. And when the toddler's feelings were hurt by one of the older kids, and he sat down and howled, Hero came up to him and licked his face: Quit crying, kid, it'll be okay. I imagine dogs actually lick crying children's faces because they like the taste of salt, not in an effort to provide sympathy, but the toddler took it as a comforting gesture, and started to laugh, which made Hero's stub wag. As I said, he loves his kids!

Coming home

After several days away visiting family, we went to the boarding kennel today to pick up Hero and Impulse. It's the type of kennel where they're in a run with other dogs much of the day, so I'm sure they had fun. But once they spotted us, they went into ridiculous paroxysms of joy. Impulse was so excited he piddled everywhere (something he very rarely does), and Hero was overjoyed and whirled around like a crazy dog, leaping up at everyone and whimpering with ecstasy. Once I got them in the car, though, they both settled down and just leaned their heads against us lovingly: Thank God that ordeal is over! Let's go home!

I'm working on two new tricks with Hero. The first is "feet up, stay." He knows "feet up" already (he jumps up and puts his front feet where I point, whether on me or on a table or railing). He knows "stay," too. But he's a bit unclear as to what the two commands mean together. He jumps up well enough, but when I say "stay," his first instinct is to drop back into a sitting position and stay. He doesn't quite understand that "stay" means "hold whatever position you're in." But he's beginning to get it.

We're also working on "bang," which is just for fun. The eventual idea, of course, is for us to make a "gun" with our hand, shout "bang!", and have the dog play dead. But first I'm teaching him to roll onto his back. His previous lessons have taught him that "over" means roll onto his side from the "down" position, and "roll" means roll over entirely. I'm teaching him to roll over and expose his belly by saying "Bang!" and giving him the roll-over gesture, but stopping him with my hand midway. He seems to be getting it quite readily.

Guard the yard!

I have an invisible fence, and both dogs are pretty reliable with it now. They spend a lot of time outdoors, because they love to run around (I do keep a pretty close eye and ear on them, though, because dogs can always go through the property line if they see something exceptionally exciting, and besides, the invisible fence line doesn't keep other animals out). The downside to the invisible fence, however, is that innocent strangers sometimes come into the yard and suddenly find themselves with two rather large dogs charging at them.

The UPS guy came today, parked his truck in front of the house, and headed for my porch with an armful of packages. When he was midway up the yard, two furry gray missiles came charging around the corner of the house, barking furiously: Intruder alert!!! The poor guy froze up, looking panicked. I yelled out the window to the dogs, telling them to back off, and headed down the stairs to rescue the poor guy.

Of course the dogs weren't attacking viciously, just doing their duty by sounding off, and then charging up to him, waggling their butts and looking for pats (and quite possibly wondering if they could get away with grabbing the boxes from him, too). The problem with an Aussie, however, is that they have no tail, and thus people who are unfamiliar with them often don't seem to realize they're wagging. The people I meet often seem to have difficulty deciding if Hero's intentions are friendly or not.

Anyway, I called my missiles off, the UPS guy delivered his packages, and then he headed for his truck. Hero then did what he always does-- waited till the guy had almost reached the street, then charged after him, barking loudly and dramatically. He then came strutting back to me: I chased him off, Mom! Who's the watchdog? I'm the watchdog!

Hero does this same performance with the garbage man every week, too, welcoming him warmly onto the property, with only a token bark or two, and then pursuing him when the guy is leaving and is only a foot or two from the street. Hero apparently wants everyone to believe he's a mean, lean guarding machine, when in fact he's a friendly goofball who'd happily show a burglar where we keep the silver if he thought he might get a treat out of it.

New photos!

As I said in a previous post, Impulse has grown a lot lately. Today I took some pictures that show how big he is now in relation to Hero, and thanks to a friend who gave me a new gadget for Christmas, I now can upload pictures immediately. So here are a few new pictures of my handsome boys:

Hero, mighty watchdog

Last night around eleven, I put out the dogs for their last bathroom break, as I always do. A few moments later I heard Hero barking fiercely (and Impulse's more falsetto tones chiming in). I ran out and saw something large and brownish running through the neighbor's yard.

Hero came racing to me and ran back and forth, clearly trying to tell me something was amiss: Mom, there's something out there!!!

"The neighbors just let their dogs out, you big dummy," I told him. He loves the neighbor's dogs, and doesn't bark at them much, but sometimes in the dark he gets a little overzealous with the guard dog routine. "Hush. It's late."

I grabbed at his collar, but he dodged, and went back to racing along the property line, barking like a maniac. I called to him, but he refused to come to me, just raced up and down, defending his yard for all he was worth. I said some unpleasant words under my breath, thinking of the poor neighbors who were being awakened by my very stupid dog, and went back in to grab a leash. With the leash on his collar, Hero settled down and allowed himself to be led back into the house.

This morning, when I was more awake, it dawned on me that Hero is not stupid (despite occasional appearances) and that if he was that angry, there was probably a good reason. I called my neighbor this afternoon, and she confirmed that her dogs hadn't been outside-- in fact, she'd heard Hero barking, and had decided not to let her dogs out because he sounded so upset. So whatever he was mad about wasn't her dogs. Might have been a deer, might have been a stray. Two different people have claimed they've seen a bobcat around (which seems extremely unlikely here in the suburbs, but I suppose it's possible), so it might have been that, too.

But whatever it was... it definitely didn't belong in the back yard, and Hero knew what he was doing when he chased it out!

Lap puppies

Something I love about my dogs is that they are full of affection and adoration for their humans. When I sit down on the floor with them, they both try very, very hard to climb into my lap. Hero in particular is not even remotely lap-sized, but that doesn't stop him from trying to fit into my lap. He's not a puppy any more, but he's failed to notice. As far as he knows, he's still "mommy's fwuffy puppy," and if you pat him very long, he'll roll around on the floor, wiggling with joy.

Here is Hero in one of his more dignified and stately moments:

So much for that decoration

I usually put up garlands with lights along the front porch railing, but upon reflection I decided to just put up my old cheap garlands with no electrical cords. I was afraid if I put up the lit ones, I'd let the dogs out one night, forget to unplug the garlands, and wind up with barbecued dogs. But the dogs let the garland alone, and I thought maybe I should have put up the lit ones after all.

But perhaps not. Because this morning, the dogs suddenly noticed the garlands (after they've been up for well over a week) and they're now in little pieces on my front steps. Little, bitty, shredded pieces.

So... it's just as well there weren't any wires involved:-).

Impulse gets bigger

Wow. Impulse had a shot today, and while we were in the vet's office I got him to sit on the scale. He weighs thirty-nine pounds-- an increase of five and a half pounds in a month. And there's no fat on him. I don't know if he's going to wind up being as big as Hero, but I am beginning to suspect he'll end up more than fifty pounds.

New behaviors

Impulse seems to have realized he's a herding dog. When he's chasing along behind Hero now, he nips at Hero's hind legs-- something Hero does not appreciate in the least. Impulse hasn't started doing it to me or the kids yet, but he probably will sooner or later. I'm told it's a very common herding dog behavior. Hero did it as a puppy, too, but we were able to train him out of it eventually.

Also, Impulse has developed a new method of gaining the upper hand. When Hero's running along full speed, Impulse will suddenly dart at his side, grab him by the shoulder, and fling his whole weight against him. He's bowled Hero over more than once this way, which is pretty impressive given the difference in their sizes.

Hero's education

Hero and I went to obedience class yesterday. Hero is almost through with the intermediate class. He's heeling beautifully, and yet continues to have problems with loose-leash walking. The instructor says this is because heeling has more structure. He stays very well, even when I drop the leash and step away or walk around him in a circle, but he has great difficulty in staying when the instructor plays with a ball or rolls it past him. He wants that ball so badly! A ball is clearly one of the most exciting things in the world to him, and asking him to stay while it rolls past him is like asking a human being to stay put while thousand-dollar bills blow past in the wind.

Hero's other major downfall is jumping up on people. He'd improved greatly on this, but this is one area where getting Impulse has been a bad influence on him. Impulse jumps up to greet people, and Hero has picked up the habit from him. I'm working with him to try to correct it, but it's a hard thing to fix. Sixty-five pounds of exuberant Aussie can be a dangerous thing.

But despite these issues, Hero is a smart boy. He knows the following commands, and usually obeys them:

Sit
Come
Down
Sit/stay
Down/stay
Shake hands
Wave
Give me five
Take a bow
Look sad (drops head to the ground when lying down)
Over
Roll
Crawl
Jump
Speak
Heel
Wait
Let's go (command for loose-leash walking)
Shhh!
Feet up (command to put his front feet onto something or someone)
Up (command to jump up onto a table or car or bench)
Off
Drop it
Leave it

We'll be taking the advanced class in January, which works toward getting the companion dog certificate. Hero isn't going to get his CD unless he learns to greet people more nicely and to stay even with distractions, so those will be the two big areas we work on, I think.

A younger Hero stays:



Hero shows he knows the "jump" command:

Play biting

When I got Hero and he began to interact with the dogs around us (two golden retrievers and two yellow Labs), I was struck by how much play biting dogs do. Put two young dogs together, and the first thing they do is gnaw on each other, and sometimes jaw wrestle. Hero's method of interacting with the big dogs mostly involved biting them by the ear or neck, then hanging on doggedly (so to speak) until the big dog got annoyed and snarled a warning, or just rolled over and squished him. But I also observed that no matter how persistent he was, none of the big dogs ever did any serious biting back.

As a puppy, Hero liked to bite hands when he got excited, but I noticed that if he got adequate time in with the big dogs, his tendency to gnaw on humans was reduced. Clearly biting was something he needed to do. To dogs, it's a form of communication and play. In teaching a puppy not to bite people, then, what we're doing is teaching him not that biting per se is bad, but that biting people, even in play, is bad. It must be like learning a whole different language for the puppy, and what they learn is, "Jaw wrestle with other dogs all you want, but don't put your teeth on humans." Considering how important play biting seems to be in dog society, it's amazing they can learn that lesson at all.

When I got Impulse, I wondered if Hero was old enough to tolerate a puppy hanging off of him the way the grownup dogs had tolerated him, or if it might cause fights. As it turned out, there was no cause for concern. Every morning, I let out Hero to do his business, and once he's ready he stands at the back door and yips for his brother. I let out Impulse, and Hero grabs him by the neck and pushes him to the deck. Impulse yelps and rolls over to show submission, and Hero lets him up. And they're off and running.

Sometimes Hero does get Impulse down on the ground and appears to be murdering him, biting his neck and stomach and legs with what looks like brutal savagery. (Over Thanksgiving, my father-in-law was quite alarmed by this show of apparent viciousness, and kept trying to break the dogs apart when they did this.) Impulse tolerates it for a while, then yelps, and if Hero doesn't heed his yelp, his little lips curl back and he utters a falsetto growl. Hero then leaps back and barks indignantly: I was just playing, kid, what's your problem?

But Hero's not the only one who does the biting. When Hero is sprawled out, peacefully chewing on a stick or a toy, Impulse will tend to sneak up on him and "savagely attack" him, leaping on his back and biting his ear and neck, and Hero will then amiably roll over and show his belly: Yeah, yeah, kid, you got me. You're the boss. Let me get back to my stick, will ya?

Hero has gotten two small scratches on his muzzle from Impulse's needle-like baby teeth from this sort of play. Impulse, on the other hand, has never ever gotten so much as a scratch. I check him over for scabs daily, and I've never seen one. As much as it looks like they're earnestly trying to kill each other... they're not.

Now, I don't know how things will shift as they get older. I expect some changes in the power structure (I have a feeling Impulse will one day be the alpha), and that may cause some real fights eventually. But I hope that since they grew up together, and since they will both be neutered, that they'll work it out peacefully and without any serious quarrels.

Dogs and decorating

I'm starting to decorate for Christmas. Yesterday evening I put up a wreath on the front door, figuring it was out of Hero's reach. This morning I let him out and came back upstairs, and before long I heard an odd thudding sound. The front door is right beneath my office, so it wasn't hard to figure out what the thudding sound might be. I went downstairs and took a look, and sure enough, Hero was leaping energetically up on the front door, trying to get the wreath down so he could rip it to shreds. Clearly he thought it was a dog toy.

I stepped outside and told him firmly to "leave it alone," and he's respecting it... for now. I think it's likely, however, that my $30 wreath will wind up shredded on the front lawn at some point. Crazy dog.

The Christmas tree is likely to meet a similar fate if I let them have access to it. We've already decided we'll keep the dogs out of the family room while it's up, and leave off all the fragile ornaments this year, just in case they get in (which means it won't have a whole lot of ornaments, but oh well). I hate to banish my boys from the family room, but there is no way a tree is safe around a hundred pounds of rampaging Aussie. All it takes is one happy leap, and splat!

Electric Blue Impulse

Once I got Hero, I decided to eventually get a second Aussie (they say Aussies are like potato chips; you can't have just one). I was firmly convinced Hero was the greatest dog ever, so I wanted another dog closely related to him, perhaps a full brother if his breeder bred his parents again. However, when Hero was only about eight months old, his breeder had a new batch of puppies on her website. They were by Hero's father, and the dam was a full sister to Hero's dam.

"That's pretty close," I thought. "But it's a little too early. I don't need another dog until Hero's at least a year old."

So, after mature and thoughtful consideration, I decided not to buy one. But I kept an eye on the site, and this little guy caught my eye, because his coloring was very striking and his face was so pretty (picture courtesy of Rocky Top Farm):
They don't get much cuter than that. Even so, I dawdled and dithered, and eventually, to my shock, this particular puppy was the last one left available. I don't know why on earth a blue-eyed merle (usually a very popular color with buyers) with such a striking pattern of color would be the last one bought from a litter, but the website said he was still available.

I looked at the picture again, sighed, and emailed the breeder. She confirmed he was still available, and I made an appointment to go up and look at him. That Friday, I found myself driving home with a second puppy.

I wanted to name him Steel (a comic book name), but the kids overruled me, and he was named Impulse (also a comic book name, but also appropriate given the somewhat impulsive way in which I'd bought him). He has a more relaxed and laid-back attitude than Hero-- where Hero tends to bound off walls, Impulse lies down and chills out. But he's also very smart and very trainable, and very sweet.

Here are some pictures of him at around two to three months. He's growing leggier all the time, and his adult fur has grown in on top-- I need to get some new pictures taken! His eyes have remained blue (surprisingly, as neither of his parents have blue eyes) and at his last checkup he weighed 33.5 pounds.

Big Blue Hero

Hero is almost a year old now (he was born on December 10), and weighs about sixty-five pounds. For an Aussie, he's a pretty big boy. But when we first drove up to the farm where he was bred and met him, he was about three weeks old, and seemed to be the size and shape of a guinea pig. Here he is as a tiny puppy (pictures courtesy of Rocky Top Farm.)

I don't know why I picked him, exactly. Clearly he was too young for me to choose him on the basis of his personality. I liked his coloration (I rather superficially was looking for a blue merle with lots of white) and I liked the way his head and ears looked. I wasn't looking for a conformation showdog (I don't yet have the knowledge to pick out a show-quality Aussie from a lineup of full-grown dogs, let alone three-week-old puppies!), but I know the kind of Aussie head I like, so I did have a certain sort of look I was going for.

Hero had grown massively by the time we saw him again. He had mostly brown eyes, except for one streak of blue, and he looked like a ball of fluff (or possibly dryer lint). He was adorable. Here he is at three months, not too long after we brought him home:

He grew really, really fast, and quickly moved out of the dryer lint stage. By six months his adult coat had come in, though it was nowhere near as thick as it would become, and he looked almost like a full-grown dog. His earset changed to rose ears, folded to the side (which look fine most of the time, but flop rather goofily when he runs) and most of the pink on his nose filled in. He has a few "dilute spots" (areas where the fur is a murky brownish color, rather than black or gray), but his coat is nevertheless very handsome, and people remark on it all the time (merle coloration seems to be a novelty to most people).
Here he is now, all grown up. He's grown into a beautiful, sweet boy with a heart of gold and a brain of stone:-). Seriously, he's really quite smart and trainable, but he nonetheless has a goofily exuberant way about him that makes people think he's none too bright. I think he'll steady out as he gets older.

Greetings!

This is my journal about my two Australian shepherds, Big Blue Hero (Hero) and Electric Blue Impulse (Impulse). As of this writing, Hero is almost a year old, and Impulse is about four and a half months old. They are brothers (the same sire, and their dams were full sisters), and they're both blue merles-- Hero is bicolored (no tan markings) and Impulse is a tri.

Here's a picture of them together, not too long after we got Impulse. Notice how nicely they sit... but only for treats!