Elvis Presley birthplace

Posted on December 26, 2013 by annieriecken

There I was, driving down the highway near Tupelo, Mississippi when I saw the sign that said “Elvis Presley Birthplace” and I just had to go take a look.
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It’s a tiny little shack.
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Chico wondered if we could go in.

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Elvis’s childhood church was moved here.
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There’s a circular walk of life with important and interesting dates and facts about Elvis’s life.

The nice ladies at the desk said that people from all over the world save for years to be able to come see the birthplace of their idol. And we just stumbled upon it. What a pair of lucky ducks we are. I wonder if Chico understands how cool he is to have been here.

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Something under the snow

Posted on December 24, 2013 by annieriecken

There’s a spot up the road from the house where something stinky and appealing to a dog attracted Chico all fall. It wasn’t sticky, or even smelly to me, but he was enthralled daily with the scent.

Even under eight or ten inches of snow, it’s still attractive.

As soon as he can, he takes off for that spot.

He runs down the road to 'the spot.'

He runs down the road to ‘the spot.’

What ever it is smells through the snow.

But he can't quite reach it from the plowed area.

But he can’t quite reach it from the plowed area.

No matter how much he stretches.

No matter how much he stretches.

So he has to dive in.

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And really dig.

And really dig.

And he comes up looking like this:

Snow face.

Snow face.

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Snowy walk

Posted on December 22, 2013 by annieriecken

There’s trail in Wonalancet that runs right along a brook. It’s one of my favorite places in Tamworth to walk. One snowy day, Chico and I went there for a stroll.

We were, it seems, the third group to arrive. In the snow are some XC ski tracks that look like they come from the day before, when it was still snowing. There's also some very fresh mountain bike tracks that have a set of very fresh pawprints with them.

We were, it seems, the third group to arrive. In the snow are some XC ski tracks that look like they come from the day before, when it was still snowing. There’s also some very fresh mountain bike tracks that have a set of very fresh pawprints with them.

But we never saw a soul.

But we never saw a soul.

That doesn’t mean that Chico wasn’t Mr Busy:

Running ahead and turning,

Running ahead,

then turning around to run back to me.

then turning around to run back to me.

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Classes at AK9C

Posted on December 20, 2013 by annieriecken

This week and last, just to mix it up, I took Chico to Julie’s Wednesday classes at American K9 Country. We’ve competed in trials here, and when I was away in the fall, Chico came almost every week with Julie, but we haven’t done classes together, and that made everything new.

Practicing down-stay with distractions.

Practicing down-stay with distractions.

The first day, Chico started out by standing and barking at all the other dogs in class. It took putting him on-leash and leaving the ring for a moment before he settled down. That’s also why this particular down-stay-with-distractions has the distractions so far away.

The second time we went, it was a different group, and we each had a chance to run a couple courses, one at a time. That went well, but when my group and the group from the next class all came in the ring at the same time to do an exercise where we each took a jump and practiced sending to the back side of it, Chico just fell apart again. He was very concerned about the dogs working near us, he couldn’t concentrate on me, he wanted to watch the other dogs. And bark at them. But why? To make sure they left us alone? To make sure they were not going to crash into him? Because he decided to be a jerk? To my eye, he looked more nervous than angry, but I still only get about a B- in reading dog body language. I didn’t have time to ask because our class was long over by the time Chico could actually practice the maneuver and I felt lucky to have the floor space and the time. I’ll get the answer.

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Snow is fun

Posted on December 19, 2013 by annieriecken

We’ve had some, as they say, “plowable snow” recently and it brings out the pup in Chico.

He just loves to run in snow.

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IMG_20131215_144220_381IMG_20131215_144221_109Sometime I wonder if it’s fair to take him to California, away from snow, for the winter. Then I remember that when it’s -15 in the morning, he doesn’t like the snow very much. And it doesn’t, at times like that, do a heck of a lot for me either.

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Our new game: Brush the Dog

Posted on December 18, 2013 by annieriecken

Chico and I are going to Texas, to San Antonio where my brother and sister-in-love live, later this month. We’ll drive, and make it another Can I Bring the Dog dot com road trip, and continue on to the West coast again.

In preparation for being good guests wherever we go, we’ve added a new routine, or as Chico thinks of it, game.

This game is named Brush the Dog. The idea is that if I brush Chico every day, less of his hair will end up all over my house, my clothes, my car, and those of the folks we visit, and more of it will end up in the brush.

Step one is Chico hops up on the table in the old chicken shed.

Step one is Chico hops up on the table in the old chicken shed.

Then I brush him until the brush is full of hair. And while I peel his hair out of the brush and toss it outside for the birds and mice to make nests of,

Chico gets a handful of kibble.

Chico eats a handful of kibble.

We repeat until no, or not much, hair is coming into the brush.

then my fluffy dog

Then my fluffy dog and I

go for a walk.

go for a walk.

Four years ago, when Chico came to me, it was almost impossible to brush him, as soon as he saw the brush (let alone the nail clippers, nail clipping is a whole ‘nother story, possibly worth a post of its own someday), he started playing “you can’t catch me” and when I did, he wiggled, squirmed, and snapped. Not very productive really. Again, patience and treats (OK, call it what it is: bribery) have given me a dog I can live with.

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The leading edge

Posted on December 15, 2013 by annieriecken

When I got up yesterday, it was a sunny, beautiful day. We all knew a big snow storm was coming, the news was everywhere for days. Like most of my neighbors, I spent the morning getting ready for the season’s first big snow – tucking some things inside the barn, getting other things into the house from the barn (snowshoes for example), and by the time Chico and I went for our long walk at about noon, you could see the weather coming:

IMG_20131214_130152_665And it snowed all night, we woke up to eight inches of fluffy snow.

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Saco River Stroll

Posted on December 15, 2013 by annieriecken

Chico went with me to an early appointment in North Conway the other day. He waited in the car while I went into the doctor’s office,* so he got a consolation walk afterwards.

The Saco River flows all along the west side of town, and there’s an easy access point right near where we were.

There's a flood-plain/field that's been declared a park.

There’s a flood-plain/field that’s been made a park.

With the fog, it was sort of mist-i-cal/mystical/magical looking day.

And zillions of critters have been here, so there's a LOT to smell.

And zillions of critters have been here, so there’s a LOT to smell.

A whole lot. Everywhere.

A whole lot. Everywhere.

And of course for a canine, a species that has a sense of smell hundreds or thousands of times more sensitive and sophisticated than ours, a place full of new smells is like being the proverbial kid in the candy shop. And I get a little tired of our standard, out-the-door neighborhood walk, beautiful as it is. Doing anything with too much regularity can take some of the sparkle out of it. Mixing it up keeps us both happy.

*I get an injection in each knee every six months or so and I’m not very good at it, I get pretty tense, and while Chico is welcome in the orthopedist’s offices, I don’t want to have to manage him and me at the same time.

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Why I don’t yet compete at the Excellent or Masters level

Posted on December 14, 2013 by annieriecken

It’s the AKC National Invitationals right now, down in Orlando, FL and I just got a link to one of the courses. It’s for the top level dogs, and we’re eligible to compete at that level in Jumpers, so I could conceivably be confronted with this at a trial.

Here it is:

http://images.akc.org/agility_invitational/2013/courses/Round2.pdf

The opening makes my head spin and I have questions about how long it would take to learn the course. It does look fun, and I’d like to have it set up at a practice facility and take it apart, bit by bit ’til I can run it all, but at a trial, with one shot at it – no way, not me, not yet.

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Like it says on the splash page,

Posted on December 13, 2013 by annieriecken

I’m taking the dog everywhere the law allows. Even though my gut says that my dog in a cafe is no greater health risk than a service dog in a cafe, I do my very best to do what’s right.

I just read an interesting piece on fake service dogs. Can you tell? Take a look at it, it’s not a long read and lays out the case against faking it with one’s dog pretty well.

I so love taking Chico with me, he loves it, he’s well enough trained that if I were in Europe where it is permitted, I’d take him to a bar or cafe in a heartbeat, and easy as it would be to slap a jacket on him and take him to the supermarket, and fly him in the cabin for free,  it just isn’t right to do that because I don’t have a disability. And that’s what service dogs do – they help people with disabilities.

(Thanks to James Radford  for this image of a real working service dog.)

So folks who fake, folks who have well behaved dogs and want to take them more places – let’s organize and change the laws, and leave the service dog thing to the folks who really need the help of a canine companion. Are any of my readers of the organizing type? Want to lead the charge to loosen the laws on where dogs can go? I’m behind you, but have no desire to be a leader on that big a project.

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