What are the rules?

Lots and lots of photos of young Enzo (with the black collar) and me (with the denim collar) playing bitey face in our back yard, and then my mum would like your advice.

Now for our questions - Mum has never had two dogs before so she would really like your advice. You see ever since the young pup arrived we have been allowed to play bitey face as mum decided that it was unwise to wait until Enzo was my weight before we were allowed to battle.

For the last six months I’ve been gentle with him, and when we fight there is no raised fur, growls or blood. I’m a Golden Retriever, and although I make some silly faces in the photos I have a soft mouth. In fact we’ve never injured each other, and despite the photos showing the occasional mouthful of fur it is very rare that either of us yelps. If this was a movie it would probably be a silent movie!

But mum said there is something called “pack order” (in our games I always manage to knock the young one over, and so far he’s only done that once to me so at the moment I'm claiming I'm at the top of the pack), but  Enzo is almost eight months old and is getting more and more male hormones as he is still a full dog (whereas I was taken to my nice vet just after my first birthday for what I thought would be a fun visit!) so mum wonders if there is anything that she should consider or do differently when we play so that our play remains fun and we stay friends. 

At the moment my rules are:

• stand still while the young one runs around and around and around the garden and then around and around me as eventually he gets tired

• never let him bowl me over

• always try to have the upper paw

• show him there are no hard feelings after our fights by being friendly, sleeping together and generally being good together around the house

and Mum has these rules:

• we are not allowed to fight inside the house or in the back of the car

• we have to stop immediately when she says "Enough" until she says it is "OK" for us to play again (or if we are getting too energetic or tired, she gets us to do something else like a few sits or some heal work and then we all go inside)

• we have to wait for at least two hours after eating before playing like this because of some strange fear she has of the word “bloat” while we jump and twist, and

• we only get play fight if she or dad are home. When they are both out, for now, we are in separate areas of the house or garden.

So what do you think about how we play together? Do you get to play bitey face, and do you have any wise words about pack order. How did your humans know it was safe to leave you home alone together? Is there anything else we should know or consider as Enzo gets older and bigger?

Woofs,

Riley

Snow or graupel.

Yesterday snow landed around parts of Auckland. Why is this news, well it was the first snow since 1939 or 1976 depending on which record you go by.

For Aucklanders having snow fall in our city was huge news, even though much of southern New Zealand and parts of the lower north island are regularly covered with the stuff. The snow didn’t last very long on the ground, and some news reports even claimed we only had graupel amongst a day of rain, hail and cold winds, but NIWA (a weather service) confirmed that it snowed and that Auckland set a new record with its coldest recorded temperature (a maximum temperature of 8.2 degrees C or 32 degrees F) yesterday.

Mum decided to stay inside and not take me for my daily walk (so she and Enzo could stay close to a heater) but she’s promised to dress up in all the clothes she can find and take me out today (even though more snow is forecast down to 100m) so I don’t get cabin fever.

However I did have a good walk in the weekend around the new Wynyard Quarter area of town. This is an  industrial area, by the waterfront, that used to be known as "Tank Farm" due to all the big tanks that stored bulk liquids. It opened to the  public about a week ago, and there are cafes and restaurants, playgrounds for the children, sculptures, tanks, a viewing thing to climb and a new exhibition centre.

(A photo off the web - I've circled Wynyard Quarter. You can see lots of tanks on the left). Auckland's CBD is behind Wynyard Quater where the tall Sky Tower is. You can click on this photo to biggify it).
 
The trams are back - for the first time in Auckland in over 50 years, and do a circuit round Wynyard Quarter every 15 minutes.

  The playground was busy.

Here is the viewing platform that we went up, even though mum didn't like the fact that the steps and floor on the lower two levels were made from expanded metal (which meant she worried our toe nails might get caught) She didn't like looking down, but Enzo and I did really well, navigating past people, and walking from one end of this building to the other.

There was a glass lift at the far end, but we took the stairs. You can see the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the distance.

More tanks...

We walked past lots of people and a few dogs enjoying all the new cafes and bars along the wharf which is still used by boats delivering fish to the fish market (mum forgot to take photos) and we went up the outside of the new exhibition centre,

 

and got a view of the working boats, Devonport and Rangitoto (the volcano in the middle of our  harbour) from the balcony.

The white building behind us is a Hilton Hotel.

and this is the view from the other side of the building towards the Viaduct Harbour area of town. . Can you see the bridge (which opens up to allow boats through)? The Viaduct area also has bars and restaurants and lots of apartments. It was built for when the America's Cup was held here.

We then walked over the bridge, and the last photo is looking back to the Exhibition Centre.

I hope you all had a good weekend, and wherever you are you are warm.

Woofs,

Riley

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!