Can I Bring the Dog?

Actually, we have been back together for a couple weeks, but it’s taking me time to catch up with everything.

Julie had taken him from my house to hers when I was leaving, and she came here with him a few times while I was gone – to pick my tomatoes and kale, and to show him that I was really gone. She also brought him back here for me (have ever I mentioned how great it is to live so close to our coach? Well, it IS.) when I came home. He got out of the car, looked around, saw me and came running over to lick my face, then he raced into the house and back out, licked my face again before he raced up the back road, spun a couple quick circles, ran back, licked me again, raced in the house and back out and repeated the whole thing twice more. It was very cute.

We’re getting into our routine again, but I have noticed several changes in Chico that I just love. He finishes his dinner with gusto, no more picky eater. He’ll snack on a carrot. He’s much better at walking next to me on the leash without pulling. My homework is self-control games: waiting while I hold a treat in front of his nose, waiting while I open and shut and open and shut the door when he wants out; and multitasking: sitting or lying down while we are moving together.

While I was away, Chico competed in a trial, with Julie handling him, and I hear there is some video of that available. I’m eager to see how he did, and if my data-wrangling skills are up to it, I’ll get them shared here.

We met these guys one day. They were out with their owner, watching the flocks, and when he joined us for lunch, they did too. They stayed quite respectfully at a distance until we finished. Then they got the leftovers.

NOTE: This post was hiding, I just found it and am sharing now.

There are, in the small part of own that I have seen, plenty of dogs on the street.

They hang out in parks, and outside restaurants, on the grounds of Topkapi, and generally around open spaces.

They don’t seem to belong to anyone in particular, but some of them have ear tags that, as I understand it, associate them with a particular address.

I saw no evidence of pack behavior, just small groups that had an area where they hung out and other dogs didn’t seem to come into that territory.

When this guy saw me taking his picture,

He gave me a appeasing yawn, so I did him the favor of looking away.

I wonder what these doggies do in the winter.

This pup was at  small “factory” in Samarkand that makes paper from mulberry bark.

I saw a number of dogs with ears clipped off like his, one presumes that it is done in puppyhood, like other cosmetic procedures (tail docking on Rottweilers, whatever that is called that is done to Collies to make their ears all perky), but I didn’t find out why.

Too bad he is chained, but considering the number of loose dogs I saw along the highways, he’s probably living the good life – at least for an Uzbek doggie.

And the roof of his little house is rather attractive, don’t you think?

Hi everyone, this is Julie Daniels of White Mountain Agility.  I finally figured out how to post on Annie’s blog.  It was much harder than training and caring for her wonderful dog.

While Annie is traveling the world, Chico has been with us at WMA for 7 whole weeks now!  His family here, which is 12 miles from his home, has included my 3 Border Collies, their Lab brother Myler, and a host of other Board-and-Train visitors over those weeks.

At WMA the family is constantly expanding and contracting around our core dogs as the visiting dogs come for Board-and-Train Camp with me.  By now Chico is one of the core dogs!  In the last several weeks Chico has also lived here with two yellow Labs, another Border Collie or two, or three, a Sheltie, and currently a 1-yr-old Dalmatian named Atty, who was a challenge at first.  But now she is well adjusted to Chico’s ways, and they both know that I will help them turn tension into play if need be.  All 5 dogs and I are now sacking out peacefully together.

I will try to post a picture or two, but first I will just try get this brief written word out to all of Chico’s friends.

By the way, Chico has lost a bit of weight and has pretty good muscle tone now!  He runs out into the yard each morning, whereas he used to saunter.  I suppose sauntering wasn’t really working well, since all the other dogs burst out by him and he was apt to get bumped.  He hates that!  So moving quickly has proven worthwhile.  But he’s a new man on our hikes as well.  He cavorts and turbos when he has extra joyful energy but doesn’t want to run with the other dogs.  It’s adorable.  It’s his way of playing rough with me instead of with them.  I’m very impressed with how well he has adjusted.

I have gone over to Annie’s house a total of three times in her absence.  Chico goes along each time.  The first time was a little sad because he thought he was there to stay.  But without Annie there he was a good sport about leaving with me when I asked him to.  The second and third times he has been delighted to be there, helping me in the garden and such, finding a favorite toy; but understands about leaving and hops pleasantly into the car when it’s time.  He is a bright and sensitive dog, with the most beautiful dark eyes.

Thanks to Annie for setting me up to be able to post about Chico’s stay at WMA!

This is an interesting blog post I just read.

The author and a friend used Skype to monitor the barking (actually, their non-barking) of the friend’s dogs. A tidy application of an existing technology.

Virtual Dogsitting – Whole Dog Journal Blog Article.