Fun Saturday in Maine

Posted on August 13, 2012 by annieriecken

On Saturday morning, Chico and I went to the Bridgeton, ME Framers Market with a friend of mine. Ours.

It was threatening rain and I was told that the market was not as big as it sometimes is, but it was very nice, with plenty of variety and agreeable, knowledgeable, vendors. Bread, goat products, veggies, hand made soaps, flowers – all the essentials were there.

Chico at the bread stand. My friend held Chico’s leash while I made my purchase. He could see me, but not be with me. In an email, she reported that “While I was holding him at Farmers Market he was being very good when two little boys came over to pet him. He seemed very concerned about what to do, but just sat and let them introduce themselves. ‘Chico, my name is Trevor. ……and I pet him like this’ as he showed a flat and very gentle hand.” I’m so sorry I missed seeing (or even better, videoing) that.

Meeting strangers isn’t Chico’s strong suit and the fact that he accepted petting from unfamiliar small children, while being held by someone other than me, well, that’s just plain awesome for this dog.

Later we went to see J&E who were lunching on their porch with their eight month old Rat Terrier, Ruby. J kindly made me a sandwich which I ate while the humans chatted and the dogs worked things out. Chico is pretty much a Grumpy Grandpa when it comes to playful puppies, and he let Ruby know he had no desire to play. She kept trying. J&E are super relaxed dog owners, so the tension level was low. The dogs never quite managed to play, but by the same token, things never got ugly either. There was a fascinating canine miscommunication – the ‘talking’ noises that Chico makes to complain about a situation (need a cookie, don’t like where we are or don’t like what’s happening) are pretty much exactly the same sounds a Rat Terrier makes when inviting another dog to play. My take is that Chico was saying something to the effect of  “Umm, please get this little dog to leave me alone. Failing that, can we please move to the next destination?” while Ruby was hearing something that she interpreted as “Oh, yeah, I know what you mean. Sure c’mon, let’s mix it up a bit. Play fighting only, right?” We sent Ruby outside to play with the other dog at that house, a big, sweet German Shepherd named Xena while we finished our conversation.

And because it was Saturday in the summer, we squeezed in one more activity: canoeing. Ever since the trip to Algonquin Park in May (where I saw dogs riding in canoes packed with camping gear), I’ve been wanting to see how Chico felt about the idea.

The answer is, he thought canoeing was a fine idea. Sounds like fun, let’s go and all that. I flipped the canoe over onto its keel on land, asked him to get in and he hopped right in. I gave him a very high-value treat and dragged the canoe to the water. The put-in is a ramp, I pulled the canoe parallel to the ramp and invited Chico in. He hopped right in. I rocked the canoe a little and he was utterly un-phased, so I got in and paddled away.

The neighbors were on their dock, with the camera to record their family fun, and they got a couple of pictures of me and Chico:

That goofy look on my face? That’s because I am both ecstatic that Chico was so ready to do this and stunned that it was so easy.*

We paddled for fifteen or twenty minutes, with Chico calmly looking around him,

like this, but not panting. He did not react to dogs barking across the lake or to other watercraft, he just looked around. And accepted the occasional, small, piece of steak.*

After a while, he was ready to lie down and relax, but that didn’t provide enough visual stimulation, or maybe security, so he was back up again pretty quick.

I’m hoping to put together a day long, lazy paddling, flat-water, canoe trip down a local river after tourist season wanes. As long as the canoe company permits, it looks like Chico will be able to come float with us.

*Pictures courtesy of Jill & John Bates.

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Basket weaving

Posted on August 5, 2012 by annieriecken

At some point earlier this year, I mentioned our summer project: teaching Chico to carry a small marketing basket around the Farmers Market. I started by getting him to hold the basket in his mouth, and clicking and treating that. I knew he had the idea when he started to pick up the basket and shake it in front of me when he wanted an extra after dinner cookie. At that point I started delaying the treat so he had to hold it longer and longer to get a treat. When Mila was visiting, one evening she picked up the basket and asked him if he could “take it to your momma” and he did. We did that a few times, but he couldn’t take it back to her. But he did have the idea that he could carry the basket somewhere. We started walking around the house, then the yard, with Chico carrying the basket. Time to ‘take it on the road,’ so I thought I’d take the basket to the Farmers Market and see if he was ready to do it with that many distractions. We stopped at the transfer station and Chico was able to carry his basket across the parking lot to the man who runs the place for the town*.

At the market, there was too much going on, too many distractions – smells, crumbs on the ground, other dogs – basket carrying was off the agenda.

So I took the basket to agility class on Monday nights. Over a period of weeks, Chico became willing to carry the basket around the arena. Then came the night where he looked at me, as if to say, “You want me to carry the basket, I want to do agility, so, I’ll carry the basket while I do agility, OK?” He picked up his basket, left my side and darted into the opening of the closest obstacle – the chute (picture here). Cute as that was, it seemed a bit dangerous – if Chico tripped on or got the basket caught in the floppy part of the chute he could get all tangled up and end up hurt or develop a fear of the chute. So we went over near the weave poles and he started to do the weaves with the basket in his mouth. As they say, OMG, ROFL – Chico was basket weaving!

Luckily,  I was able to get a classmate to capture the behavior on camera:

It isn’t the goal behavior, but it is one Chico made up all on his own and (pardon me for being proud of him) it is cute as all get out, I get a huge kick out of it.

It’s the height of ‘visitors from out of town’ season and the Farmers Market is packed from the opening bell. Given the swollen crowds and hot temperatures (Chico doesn’t need to go stand on hot pavement), I’m pretty sure we won’t do much basket on the market work for the next couple or three weeks. But we’re going to a trial today, at American K9 country, a place Chico knows well, so I’ll take the basket and see if he can concentrate enough to carry it around.

*Glenn Johnson, whose title is something like transfer agent and I think of as ‘the dump master,’ is a dog fan. He recognizes how far Chico has come and he’s a fan. When my car pulls in, he stops what he’s doing and goes to get a biscuit for Chico. I’m to understand that Chico isn’t the only dog who has Glenn well trained, there are several other vehicles that prompt the same response. Glenn knows he’s highly trainable and is a good sport about it.

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Chico earns his Hikin’ Heron patch

Posted on July 31, 2012 by annieriecken

The Conservation Commission in my town, Tamworth, NH, maintains a number of short trails on various pieces of property that are under their auspices. Last year the commissioners instituted the Hikin’ Heron program. If you hike all the trails in the system, you earn the patch. A really ambitious, in condition, hiker could probably do them all in a weekend, maybe even in one of summer’s long days. As I write I’m looking at the Commission’s website an I see that twenty-seven humans and one dog (one we know – a sweet little poodle name Napoleon) have completed the walks and received the patch.

For me and Chico, hiking all the trails was a way to get out and see new places (or smell new smells, as the case may be), to explore places close to home – parts of the town where I’ve lived for nine years and never seen, and a way to set and achieve a goal.

I enjoy having a camera in my phone, I can capture the interesting things I come across, like this rotting log.

To do the Hikin’ Herons walks, you pick up a card at the store, or download and print one from the commission’s website, look at the website for maps, and then off ya go.

The trails are pretty well marked, with signs like these:

at the beginning of the trail and yellow blazes along the way. In places where the markings are not clear, the trails are pretty well worn and pretty easy to follow.

The Black Spruce Bog walk is one of the few that isn’t really a loop and we had the devil’s own time finding the sign pictured above – finally we started at the other end of the trail (which comes off a trail we know well). That strategy worked well.

Blueberries were ripe. And in real life, they were in focus. And delicious.

And the bogs (there are two) were small and peaceful:

Chico loves exploring these new spots. He runs ahead, periodically stopping to sniff, which puts me ahead of him, and then gallops to catch up.

Chico spends most of his time out in front of me, sometimes stopping to wait for me to catch up a bit, but never all the way.

There are three different trails that lead to the fire tower on Great Hill where there is an amazing 360 degree view of the White and Ossipee mountains. A pair of trails circle Jackman Pond, another trail in the system is a short interpretive walk through some woods. At the eastern edge of town, in the village of Chocorua, you visit a waterfowl haven. There’s a network of trails at Big Pines, one of which is one of the three trails that lead to the fire tower; and there’s the Spruce Bogs trail, near White Lake.

I’ve filled out Chico’s card (listing myself in the spots for recording hiking partners) and sent it in, when the patch arrives I’ll post a picture and figure out how he’s going to wear it.

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Watermelon and more summer delights

Posted on July 27, 2012 by annieriecken

I inherited half a watermelon this weekend. It turns out that Chico loves watermelon. The red part, the white part, the green part; but the red part is best.


This summer, Chico can hang out in the front yard while I’m in the house. I prop the door open and he lies in the yard and watches the world go by. He ignores cars, but I do have to call him back when walkers or joggers come by – he still thinks it’s his road and in summer when there are a lot more strangers passing by.

The fields by the house got mowed last weekend and, interestingly, he was completely relaxed about the tractors. The lawn tractor that M uses to mow and plow, that makes Chico crazy, but the big tractors were no problem at all.

Tractor? What tractor?

Last Saturday, on a day with perfect weather, we attended a large wedding celebration. It was cocktails in the house followed by a lovely picnic on the lawn. Chico was very well behaved. Only one outburst of barking, early in the event. He didn’t touch the appetizers arrayed on low tables (though he did cruise the floor for dropped tidbits) or beg treats from strangers. At dinner, he did lick some plates abandoned on the ground. It’s quite possible that the plates weren’t actually abandoned until Chico licked them, but I put him back on the leash and put a stop to that.

The invitations said “champagne is welcome, as is fancy dress” so I broke my no-bandanas rule and put my favorite scarf around Chico’s neck for the event. Photo by Juno.

There was a little girl at the party who we’d also met on the Farmers Market that morning. She loves dogs and I discovered that if I gave positioned Chico near this girl and supplied a steady stream of treats, he could be brave enough to let her pet him. I think they both profited from the experience.

On Friday night, I took Chico to a pig and chicken roast. He thought he’d died and gone to heaven. He prospected under the table where we sat, he looked under the buffet line, he had the best time. When we went to the car to leave, he wouldn’t get in. That usually means he has to poop, so I took him to the woods. Nope. That wasn’t it. He wanted to go to the area where they were cooking the meat. He, in fact, refused to get in the car, lying down and rolling onto his back. I had to pick him up and put him in the car.

On the whole, this summer has provided some wonderful socializing opportunities and Chico has risen to the various occasions. Now, if I could change his mind about the big dog staying on our road for a couple weeks….

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Chico at the “compost farm”

Posted on July 23, 2012 by annieriecken

Whatever his breeding might be, Chico surely has some flavor of collie in his background, making him a working dog. His nature is to be by my side, helping me with whatever I have to do.

One of the things I do is edit a small local newspaper. Since it’s small, I often write stories as well. Last spring, I went to White Gates Farm to write a story about their compost making project. Of course, Chico went along to help. We started out down in the sand pit where plies of leaves, wood chips, and manure are carefully mixed and monitored until they decompose into fluffy, rich compost.

That’s Chico with compost maker, farmer, and entrepreneur, Hank Letarte. Behind them is a pile of finished compost, waiting to be sifted and bagged for sale. Hank is pointing at one of the rows of ‘still cooking’ compost.

The finished compost has sticks and stones in it, things that don’t add nutritive value to the product, will rip bags, and will annoy customers; so Hank designed and was having built a series of rotating, tube-shaped, sieves to do the job.

So we went up to the shop to take a look.

No matter how interesting something is, when a guy’s got an itch, a guy’s got an itch.

It’s always interesting to me how happy it makes Chico to tag along with me. Surely this is a remnant of the ancient bond formed when early humans and early canines hunted and gathered together.

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Chico’s on vacation

Posted on July 18, 2012 by annieriecken

I’m in Washington, DC, where it’s way too hot for humans, let alone dogs; and Chico is staying in New Hampshire, with Julie. I hear it’s hot back home as well. I believe that among other things Chico and Julie’s other dogs g0t to go blueberry picking and then swimming.

More soon.

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Take the dog to work?

Posted on July 15, 2012 by annieriecken

On July 4th, there was an interesting piece on NPR about dogs in the workplace. The story was prompted, it seems, by some new research:

“Lowering stress is just one of the positive benefits of dogs in the workplace, according to a recently published study from Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Study co-author Sandra Barker says dogs also make for a more satisfying work experience. ‘The vast majority of employees listed positive things about the dogs: that they reduced stress, that they made them feel more comfortable [and] they contributed to their communication,’ Barker says.”

I love it when there’s data to back up what I think and feel.

I’m lucky enough to work from home, and Chico has gotten pretty good at going to meetings. He goes to marketing committee meetings:

Is Chico wishing he knew how to play Angry Birds to pass the time while we work?

I’d argue that we benefit greatly from having animals in our lives and that there’s no reason a well behaved dog can’t go to the office. I suppose those with dog allergies would argue with me, but surely there’s a way to accommodate their disability.

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Fourth of July

Posted on July 13, 2012 by annieriecken

My town pulls out all the stops on July 4th – parade, games and food and pie eating contests, fireworks, barbeques – you name it, we got it.

President Grover Cleveland was a summer resident, around the turn of the 20th century; many of his descendants are year round residents, including his youngest grandson, George, who sometimes appears dressed as his grandfather. This year “Grover” rode on a float in the parade, and Chico got a chance to meet him.

Like my sister-in-love, E, said, “Chico looks so polite, and completely understanding that a handshake with a dignitary is a privilege!”

It was quite hot by parade time at 11, so we stood in the shade in front of the library to watch. There was a lot of clapping for the different floats, the firetrucks loosed their sirens, there were other dogs, and (other than ‘applauding’ as he does) Chico was quiet and attentive, lying on the ground just behind me and looking at the parade passing by.

The tree behind Grover was being dedicated to a member of our community who has given a lot of his time and energy to bettering the town. Of course, there were speeches, and Chico joined in the applause. Makes people laugh – at least the ones who get what he’s doing.

We stayed home for the fireworks that evening, climbing the hill behind the house to look down on the show taking place about a mile away. We could see fireworks from at least three towns, plus neighbors, near and far, who set off their own displays. As the fireworks tailed off, nature took over with a heck of a lightning show that had me scurrying to get home before the skies opened up.

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Implementing the action plan

Posted on July 9, 2012 by annieriecken

I got distracted, this post’s about what we did to implement the action plan I wrote about here.

Implementing the action plan involved some interesting techniques.

To keep Chico out of the road, I bought two sets of the reflector-on-a-stick things used to mark the edges of a driveway so the snow plow doesn’t dig up the yard. The idea was to create a zone right around the house called ‘home’ that he wouldn’t leave unless he was on the leash. One set of markers went at the top of the driveway, the other in a narrow part of the yard. Chico went on leash, I took the clicker and some treats and showed him the reflectors, clicked & treated when he sniffed them – that showed him that they were important. Then we’d walk up to the markers (and later the line across the driveway (or yard) created by them) and I’d make a surprised noise when we stepped past the markers or over their line, and retreat to the ‘inside’ of the area they demarcated, saying ‘home, this is home’ and giving lots of treats. We made a ritual (with praise and treats) of stopping right at the markers to do ‘leash’ – putting him on the leash to walk a hundred yards up (or down) the road before releasing him to run and sniff. Which are high on his list of fun things to do. He’s not 100 percent reliable about staying in the home zone, but he’s very good about coming back to it if he wanders. We’ll call this a work in progress.

M, the caretaker/property manager, got his own jar of super high value treats and instructions that Chico has to do something, on request from the human dispensing the treat, before he gets one. The treats are kept in M’s shop, which we pass almost every morning on our walk. After a very short time, Chico started dragging me over to the door of the shop to get his cookie from M. I’d say that now they have a very good relationship. If Chico does go running up to M barking, M just looks at Chico and says “What? What are you barking at?” It’s really very cute.

The machines used for yard work are still very upsetting, but M has taken an active interest in conditioning Chico to the machines and maybe someday we can have peace when the lawn is being mowed. Right now, it’s just a cookie-fest. The machine starts up down at the shop and Chico alerts me to that, if it drives down the road past the house to another part of the property Chico will calm down, but if our yard in being mowed, I just start cutting cookies into teensy-weensy pieces and throwing them by the handful. If the treats are super yummy, Chico will race around frantically (and quiet), finding them and hoovering them up. As soon as the floor is clean, he’ll start barking again. Only more treats will stop the barking. Again, a work in progress.

He’s much less sensitive to cars driving by the house since this training started, he used to bark furiously, now he gives a low growl/whine and comes to me for a cookie. If he’s outside and someone comes jogging by, he still can’t resist going and barking at them, but he will respond to his emergency recall word* and come back.

*The emergency recall word (ERW) is something I trained by using it in first easy, then increasingly distracting situations. When he comes to it, he gets a HUGE reward, a real party. Lots of people have ERWs, ours is the Dutch language pronunciation of the letters WC (as in water closet – hey, I have an odd sense of humor and have had a bathroom emergency or three in my life); Chico’s friend Sophie’s ERW is “Yipee!” – it’s whatever works for you. Heck, it could be “squid.”

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Dear Readers

Posted on July 5, 2012 by annieriecken

I started this blog about nine months ago, mostly because I couldn’t stop talking about my dog. It seemed that if my friends and family were actually interested in my stories about Chico, not just being polite and listening to me go on and on, they could come here. Besides, I realized that I’d finally found a subject on which I could write, unprompted, at considerable length.

He’s such a looker, and so smart, and he’s come so far since he came into my life, it’s all I can do not to gush about him to strangers.

And yet, through the miracle of the internet, “strangers” have started to read this blog. In the last few weeks I’ve had a real increase in likes and follows from people I don’t know at all.  Let me say I am just thrilled, just thrilled, that you like what I write, or like my dog, enough to keep reading.

So, here’s my question – what content do you like best here? Training and agility techniques? Watching video of us doing agility? Pieces from other writers that I refer you to? Accounts of our field trips? Something else? Please use the comments to let me know what interests you the most. I don’t promise to have more to say about it, but I am quite curious what it is that attracts my readers.

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