Water dogs

Sunday afternoon and a mid-winter trip to the beach with my humans and Enzo. A first for him - he's never been in salt water, whereas I've been a salty dog for a long time. 

I try to persuade the young fella that things will be OK - after all he is a Golden Retriever, and we are meant to be water dogs. You'll notice that I've already had one dip into the waves (the smell of the sea air makes me straight to the waves) and also that I get to be off-leash (my humans know I am voice controlled so don't need to be reeled in on a long line anymore, but Enzo is still being trained to come back).



 However the wee pup wants to walk along the beach first.

And then he slowly follows  me...

 until he gets his feet wet. Don't you love the look of disgust on his face?

Another try, and the leap of a golden retriever,

and then this.  Although I'm half out of the frame mum wanted to include it anyway as she says that you will notice the look of absolute joy on my face and the look of something else on Enzo's face.

 It seems Enzo is more interested in sniffing the sand,

 and digging, whereas the water and the big stick I found (in the first photo) are what makes me truly happy.

Eventually he went into the water, but it took him ages. So that was Enzo's first visit to the beach. If you have read any of my earlier posts you will see I love the beach, I love getting wet in rivers and I even love the garden hose.

However, it was a fun afternoon for three of us (and Enzo survived), so my humans are keen to take us both back to the salty water sometime soon to see if I can teach the young pup to swim in time for our New Zealand summer. 

Woofs, 

Riley

Monsters in the sky!

Yesterday afternoon I was enjoying a nice mid-winter walk in the park with Enzo and my humans. Enzo and I were busy sniffing the long grass, listening to comments about what nice dogs we are and getting pats from young children when all of a sudden a large floppy thing landed on top of me. It just fell out of the sky and covered me so that mum couldn’t see me. Then I felt the monster’s whisker like things wrapped around my legs.

Unfortunately there are no photos of my courageous encounter with the beast, but mum was amazed that I stood so still when she told me (instead of fighting with it and tearing it to pieces) while she removed the thing. Then the owner came over to apologise (no apologies were necessary) and to take the strange creature away. I noticed that Enzo looked shocked by the whole incident, but as we walked away my tail was wagging, and I was happy as I had shown the young pup how brave an old dog can be! After that I looked up lots and this is what I saw.

(You can click on the photos to make the monsters bigger!)

Woofs,
Riley

PS I have a human attached to the end of my leash - there wasn't enough wind to make her fly!

I'm so relaxed after being massaged.

On Saturday afternoon mum and I went to a Dog Massage Course. I think mum secretly hoped that the tutor would teach me how to massage her sore back, but instead I was the one receiving the massage. You see my mum realised that I needed some special Riley time after three and a half months of the young pup constantly in my face, jumping on me, stealing toys out of my mouth, eyeing up my food and getting far too much attention from both my humans.

The course was a four hour introduction to the basics of dog massage so that pet owners could learn some simple skills to use at home. Beth (our tutor) originally learnt to massage humans, but she loved dogs so much that two years ago she went to Australia to learn how to do Canine Myofunctional Therapy, and now she has a business massaging both humans and dogs here in Auckland.

Beth demonstrated different techniques with Colson (her own dog – a black lab x) who happily jumped up onto the massage table to be massaged. Then she went around everyone in the class, and checked things were being done right. Of course my happy face was a clue that I liked it. Beth also gave us some individual information about what my mum could do with the sore parts of my back, and she gave me a gentle rub down.

These were some of my class mates.

In between lessons about different techniques, seeing scary pictures of dogs (like the ones below the massage table – do we really look like that with no fur?) and information (like how many muscles I have in my ears!) we had several breaks where I got to play outside with the other dogs and say hello to all the humans.

The afternoon was so peaceful that I even let mum massage my paws and between my toes (normally I have tickly feet and don’t allow my feet to be touched).

The dog on the left was so relaxed that the whole class could hear him snoring as he was being massaged.

The best thing about the afternoon was that my mum also relaxed; she was calmer, wasn’t talking endlessly, or worrying about all the things she had to do next. Instead she was smiling as she rubbed her hands over my fur as she could see that I was happy. When we got home I went straight to my mat for a long nap. I was so relaxed that I didn’t even notice or react to the young one (who had been at home causing chaos with dad) until three hours later when I got up for my evening meal.

In the last couple of days mum has been practicing what she learnt on me, and incorporating little bits into our daily routine. Even my towel rubs (after being out in the winter rain) are different now, as she gently kneads my back through the towel (a bit like kneading bread) which is one of the techniques she learnt. I really like this!

Woofs,
Riley

PS For more information here is an article about the course which was printed in Fetch earlier this year.

My Sunday walk in the park

Well the young one is now five months old now, so it was time to take him to one of my favourite Auckland parks. The park is called Cornwall Park and is about 15 minutes drive away from where we live, so we also get to enjoy being chauffeured around.

Dogs are are allowed in this park as long as they are on a leash. I think this is because otherwise we would follow our noses and find the source of all those interesting cow pat and sheep deposit smells.

However Enzo and I managed to find enough other things to keep us busy like greeting other dogs and sniffing the smoke from people cooking food on the barbecues in the park, and generally leading our humans where we wanted to go.

Now Enzo is a worry sometimes as he thinks the light just shines only on him, but it was just the way mum took the photo below. However you can see he's finally starting to get Golden Retriever fur on his tail and legs, though he needs lots of practice walking on a leash. This was just a Sunday walk and not the stuff he is learning in obedience classes, so we didn't have to walk at "heal" all the time.

This photo shows the monument at the top of One Tree Hill, and half of the puppy! I tied to tell Enzo about the park, but he had his nose to the ground most of the time.

Below is the view from the top today. If you are interested have a look at one of my old posts  Climbing a volcano as I wrote about this park (and the views from the top) last year.

Then it was time for a quick photo opportunity with the autumn colours behind us. Even though it is autumn now here in New Zealand it is still quite warm. 

Bookend dogs - are his ears are bigger than mine?

 And then he is off again...

I hope you have all had a good weekend.

Woofs,

Riley

Wordless Wednesday

Synchronized Sunday

Yesterday afternoon I decided it was finally time to take the young one under my paw and show him how to do things my way.

That's it ... put your right feet forward  and keep your left feet back.

Now put your left feet forward and keep your right feet back to match mine.

We practiced walking side by side for a while in our garden, and then we went for our very first car ride together.

I travel in my mobile kennel often as you can tell by all the fur on my travel mat. Up until now Enzo has traveled in this box (on the back seat with someone beside him when he was very young, then in his box in the back of the car). However I always think of the back of the car as my very own area, but on Sunday it was finally time for us to try travelling in the car at the same time to see if we could share the space.  

Good Enzo... sit up straight, put your tongue out.

Now look as cute as you can for anyone behind the car.

It might help if you opened your eyes though!  

Mum decided to keep his box in the car so I didn't use him as a cushion, but after a while she realised that we were OK together (as Enzo had climbed out of his box to be closer to me which meant that we shared an even smaller space and the box was empty) so she took the box away and we travelled happily side by side. He didn't even try to climb over the back seats to escape from me.

We went to a few different places, dropped the trailer off (being followed by a trailer didn't seem to bother him), saw some people and then headed to the park for our first walk together. Up until now I've been going for daily walks without him as my walks are on hard ground and I like to walk long distances.

 

At the park I reminded Enzo to always put his "best foot forward". I was very impressed that he managed to keep his tail to the same side as I held mine the whole time (mum thinks it had something to do with the wind but I know is it because I've taught him so well). His feet are perfect in the photos.

During our walk we saw a chicken and I resisted the temptation to chase it. Chasing chickens is not a good habit for a young  pup to learn - trust me on this as I had a foul experience the day before, with small black feathers left all over my dog bed, the neighbours cat nowhere to be seen and mum not sure exactly what to accuse me of.

Anyway I enjoyed my walk in the park with Enzo. It was short, but we spent about twenty minutes walking side by side (not obedience walking at "heal") without getting tangled up or tripping mum, although I do think she needs to sort out the length of my lead better so I can be head of the pack! 

Then another car ride, and back home to relax together in our "family  dog room"

Paws out front and left leg to the left side, right leg tucked under.

So what do you think - am I doing OK training my very own mini-me?

Lots of woofs,

Riley

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I've been so busy looking after the young one since he arrived here at the end of February, that I haven't had time to post much or even chase my tail, but hopefully I will get my P.A. back to her keyboard soon so I can tell you what Enzo and I have been up to!

Woofs,
Riley