Archive for the ‘Callie’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Dog Learns How To Dive Off A Dock, by Callie, Golden Retriever

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Hey, guys, look at these pictures. I finally learned to jump off the boat dock at Lake Arrowhead!

Trust me; it wasn’t easy. I was pretty afraid at first. I’ve had some practice swimming, and I like to jump off of benches and rocks, but it was real different getting up the courage to jump off the dock into the water. The water’s always moving and bouncing around.

Fred worked with me on some steps by the dock where the water wasn’t so far down. Even then, I was a little afraid at first. I’m used to walking into the water, but Fred blocked the steps, so I had to jump. At first, the steps were just a few inches above the water. It was pretty easy.

But every time Fred took me out on the boat dock, I just froze up. Actually, I was eager to get in the water and retrieve my “Floppy Disc.” So I tugged hard on the leash and pulled Fred really hard until I got to the end of the dock. Then I just kind of freaked out. I couldn’t do it. I looked down at the water, and it just seemed so far away.

I leaned over as far as I could, and I reached out with my paw. But I just couldn’t bring myself to jump.

So Fred kept working with me on the steps. We got a little higher every time, until I got comfortable jumping in from a few feet above the water. Then it was a piece of cake (I mean, a piece of doggie bisquit).

In this first picture, you’ll notice I’m nice & dry. This is my first jump for this day. You can see from the look on my face that I’m still a little scared.

But in this picture, you can see I’ve got it! This is my third or fourth jump, and I’m really starting to enjoy it. Man, this is fun! After I jump in, I get to swim around with Barbara for a few minutes, chasing my “Floppy Disc.”

I can’t wait to get back to Lake Arrowhead so I can do this some more.

Thanks to Fred’s son, Brad, for taking the photos!

Bye until next time,

Callie

Posted in Callie, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Dog Learns How To Dive Off A Dock, by Callie, Golden Retriever

This Dog (Callie) Makes Friends Wherever She Goes

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Golden Retrievers are supposed to be very friendly and sociable, and Callie is no exception. On her recent vacation at Lake Arrowhead, California, Callie made several trips to the Lake Arrowhead Village shopping center, where she made lots of good friends.

Of course, Callie is always very careful to introduce me to her friends’ owners, so I end up making lots of friends, too!

Here’s Callie with Lindsey, another Golden Retriever. Lindsey’s mom, Chelsea, has emailed a few times. Hi, guys! Callie and I enjoyed our visit with you.

And here’s Callie with Scampy at the Three Dog Bakery. Callie sure loves their special puppy treats.

This is Callie’s friend, Bailey, who lives pretty close to Callie’s house.

And here’s Callie with Bub McCloughlin. Bub’s a cadaver dog; that’s why he’s wearing the pinnie. Bub’s a pretty fun dog, but he does some very serious work.

Callie also met Bandit, a Labrador Retriever.

And, finally, Callie made a lot of people friends, too. This bathing beauty was one of her favorites.

Callie is a very social animal; it’s fun to encourage and reward her social life!

Posted in Callie | Comments Off on This Dog (Callie) Makes Friends Wherever She Goes

This Dog Finds Money — Callie, Golden Retriever, Finds More Money

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Callie, Golden Retriever, retrieving

My Golden Retriever, Callie, is slowly getting rich — on money she finds on her morning doggie jog. I wrote, on March 24, that Callie found a five dollar bill. Well, she’s moving in the right direction; this time she found ten bucks!

Callie is making some progress with the “leave it” command. “Leave it” is a really good command, because, if you’re fast enough, you can tell your dog to “leave it” before it picks something up, like a piece of trash along the road.

Callie’s morning jog is about three miles long on a pleasant road near a golf club. It’s not like the road is littered with trash, but there are occasional tid-bits that are very attractive to a doggie — especially Callie, it seems. Sometimes, a doggie’s mouth is faster than a person’s eye! Once in a while, Callie stabs at a candy wrapper, or a grass divot, before we can say “leave it” or pull her away from the offending article.

When Callie’s mouth beats us to the punch, the next command is “give!” Yesterday, Callie beat Barbara to the punch. Barbara knew Callie had grabbed something, but she didn’t know what it was. So, bravely, she pried open Callie’s very strong Golden Retriever mouth, reached way into it, and pulled out a ten dollar bill.

I guess, if dogs can be trained to sniff out drugs and people, it should be possible to train them to sniff out money. Right? So how do we train Callie to go after the really big stuff, like one-hundred dollar bills? Is a Golden Retriever supposed to retrieve gold?

Posted in Callie, Relationships, Training | 1 Comment »

Goodbye, Ishka: Callie, Golden Retriever Dog, Says Goodbye To Her Best Doggie Friend

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Hi! Callie here (short for “Woodlands Callaway Hole-In-One”). I have some really sad news to report and a heartfelt doggie goodbye to say.

I met Ishka when I was about ten weeks old. I’m eighteen months old now, so that was about a year and a half ago, and Ishka, also a Golden Retriever, would have been about thirteen years old — getting up there for a Golden Retriever. Ishka was an old dog, and I was a young one. I learned pretty fast that Ishka didn’t want to romp and wrestle with me. When I tried to get her to play, she just looked the other way. Sometimes she walked away.

But Ishka and I got to be good friends, once I quit trying to make her tussle with me. I think I cheered her up in her old age, and I know she helped me grow more mature as a puppy. Sometimes, I presented my special “Stinky” (stuffed puppy security object) to Ishka. She never took it, but she acknowledged the gift, and I know she appreciated it.

Ishka (short for “uisce beatha,” Gaelic for “whiskey” or “water of life.”) was one of the heroines of “My Doggie Says… Messages from Jamie,” the book that Fred wrote about Jamie. Ishka and Jamie met when they were eight-week-old puppies in 1994. Ishka belonged to Fred & Barbara’s daughter, Karen. Ishka and Jamie loved to play together, rolling around on the lawn or into the bushes. And wrestling for hours and hours. They were best friends until Jamie left us in December, 2006. (I was born in January, 2007, so I never met Jamie. I just learned about her communication skills by reading “My Doggie Says…”)

Here, from “My Doggie Says…” is a picture of Jamie and Ishka wrestling together. Jamie is the lighter dog on the left; Ishka is the darker dog on the right.

And here are Jamie and Ishka sitting at the top of the stairs at Lake Arrowhead, their positions reversed.

Ishka has had some arthritis problems, so it’s been very difficult, almost impossible, for her to walk lately.

A few weeks ago, she stayed at my house, while Karen and her fiance, Chris, did some traveling. I think she really enjoyed having me around; some of the old sparkle returned to her eyes. A few times, she even got up and moved (which was very hard for her to do) so she could be close to me. When I was in my training crate, Ishka often sat down right outside it. I really liked helping her feel better.

But her health problems caught up with her, and last week she went to doggie heaven, where I know she and Jamie are romping around and enjoying being together again.

Goodbye, Ishka. I know Jamie really loved you, and I did, too. Thanks for sharing a small part of your life with me.

Love,

Callie

P.S. Whether you’re a person or a doggie, here’s a wonderful web site that will help you deal with the loss of a pet: www.petloss.com. Fred especially likes the collection of 100 poems, including several by Rudyard Kipling, that express the feelings of authors who lost their beloved pets. It’s at http://www.petloss.com/poems/poems.htm

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Books, Callie, Dog Communication, Dog Talk | Comments Off on Goodbye, Ishka: Callie, Golden Retriever Dog, Says Goodbye To Her Best Doggie Friend

Today is national "Take Your Dog To Work Day"

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Pet Sitters International created a neat thing; they created national “Take Your Dog To Work Day.” It’s today — June 20, 2008. Here are a couple of links to articles about “Take Your Dog To Work Day.” K9 Magazine. National “Take Your Dog To Work Day.” Big Wag Gourmet Bakery. “Take Your Dog To Work Day.”

Actually, more and more companies are becoming dog-friendly and allowing employees to bring their dogs to work. You can read about it here. Most of these places have some pretty strict guidelines, such as 1) dogs have to be on the leash, 2) dogs need to be well-behaved, 3) three strikes and your out, 4) owners are expected to clean up, and 5) some rooms (like the cafeteria) might be off limits.

Callie, my 17-month old Golden Retriever puppy, has learned to be pretty calm when she’s allowed to hang out around my office. This morning, I went to her crate, opened the door, and said, “Hey, Callie, it’s national ‘take your dog to work day.'” Callie grunted approval and followed me into my office. Then she made a tight u-turn, went back to her crate, and retrieved her “Stinky,” her favorite stuffed puppy security object. She sat down beside me and proceeded to suck gently on “Stinky.”

After a while, she got tired of “Stinky” and went to her crate to get one of her Nylabones, which she also loves. So Callie’s having a very successful “Take Your Dog To Work Day.”

Be sure to tune into the “My Doggie Says…” radio show on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. MST/PDT. It’s broadcast live on KFNX 1100 in Phoenix and streamed live over the Internet. (Go to the KFNX web site and click on the “Listen Live” button in the upper right hand corner.)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Callie | Comments Off on Today is national "Take Your Dog To Work Day"

Calming Callie, a Golden Retriever puppy (an Update)

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

Callie is now over 16 months old, and she’ calming down noticeably – in nice ways.

She’s always used her “Stinky” (small stuffed doggie), which is down, now (because of Callie’s chewing), to two front legs, and a head – no ears, no tail and no hind legs. But the remainder of “Stinky” seems to be pretty solid, after some serious repair work by the local dry cleaning people. Since the last repair job, Callie has been extremely gentle with “Stinky.” She seems to understand that “Stinky” can’t take any more hard chewing.

“Stinky” is still Callie’s preferred security object. Almost every evening, she tracks “Stinky” down and uses it to unwind from her busy doggie day. Here’s a recent photo of Callie with “Stinky.” Notice how totally relaxed Callie is.

But, in general, Callie is spending more time relaxing and less time bouncing off walls, chewing on rugs, or getting into trash. Check this out. Does this look like an up-tight dog?

I’ve noticed, down through the years, that dogs are about as good as people at using soft fluffy things, including pillows, like pillows. Callie seems to be especially good at it. Sometimes she uses her puppy pad as a pillow for her head, instead of as a bed. Other times, she uses a toy like a pillow. And sometimes at night I wake up to discover that I’m sharing my fluffy, down-stuffed pillow with Callie.

Here’s another photo.

I think Callie is more pillow-conscious than Jamie was. After all, Jamie invented “tired puppy paws,” which was her way of using her own paw like a pillow – much like you would if you lay down on the floor and used your arm like a pillow. Except Jamie turned her paw backwards to make a comfy little joint for her nose to rest. Here, from “My Doggie Says… Messages from Jamie” is Jamie doing “tired puppy paws.”

Posted in Books, Callie, Dog Communication, Dog Talk, Relationships | 1 Comment »

Callie Creates Another "Why-Did-My-Dog-Do-That?" moment

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

“Why-Did-My-Dog-Do-That?” moments are the essential ingredient of understanding dog-talk. Whenever my dogs do something I don’t quite understand, I’ve learned to ask myself, “Why did Callie do that? What message is she trying to send me?” My personal objective is to never let a doggie-message go unheard, although I’m sure I miss a few.

This morning, Callie and I jogged our morning jog together without Barbara, who had an early business meeting. When we got to the golf club road, Callie pulled me in that direction, which didn’t surprise me, as we often jog down the driveway into the golf club parking lot.

But then Callie went on a “sit-down” strike. She just stopped running and sat her feathery puppy butt down on the asphalt.

I probably should have known right away why she did this, but I didn’t put two and two together fast enough. So I started through my mental checklist: “Does she want to go pee or pooh? Is there someone or somedog she wants to visit with? Does she have some bark or twigs caught in her hind puppy feathers? Is she hearing a strange noise or smelling a strange smell?”

Satisfied that the answer to all of these questions was “no,” I dug a little deeper and finally “connected the dots.” Callie was sitting in front of the stone wall that supports the golf club sign, and Barbara always lets her jump up on the wall and walk along the top until she has to hop back down to the driveway.

So I walked Callie over to the wall, and, sure enough, she jumped up and walked tightrope-style along the top as far as she could — a happy puppy because she sent a message and I (finally) heard it and did something about it.

To me, this is an important part of building a strong relationship with a dog — getting the message and showing my dog — by my actions — that I understood.

Posted in Callie, Dog Communication, Dog Talk, Relationships | Comments Off on Callie Creates Another "Why-Did-My-Dog-Do-That?" moment

Are Dogs Natural Swimmers? Callie learns to swim (again!)

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

I would have thought that dogs were natural swimmers. That teaching a dog to swim would be like teaching a bird to fly. But not quite so. Apparently some dogs do need a little encouragement and training.

Last summer, when Callie was five months old, she started learning to swim in Lake Arrowhead. It didn’t come all at once, as she had to overcome some fear of the small waves lapping at the shoreline. And she was apprehensive about getting into water over her head. But finally, with a little coaxing, she worked through it and became an “adequate” swimmer.

We kept her on a long leash, though, because we didn’t want to risk her swimming out into the main part of the lake, where there can be a lot of boat traffic.

Here’s some video of Callie swimming last summer, after she overcame her initial fears:

It’s spring at Lake Arrowhead, so we decided the water was warm enough to take Callie swimming for the first time this year. Again we kept her on her leash, not because there’s so much boat traffic this time of year, but we don’t quite trust her to “come” when we call her yet.

But Callie had to work through her little fears all over again. There’s a very nice stone stairway that lets her walk right into the water. She took the first few steps, and she obviously wanted to retrieve the small pine stick I had tossed into the water. But she did not jump in (as I had thought she might). She didn’t even walk in. It was as if she forgot everything she learned last summer, including how much fun it can be to swim. She kept shying away from the water — wanting to dive forward, but then pulling back.

Finally — again with a little encouragement — she took a few dog-paddles and then she leveled out her sleek Golden Retriever body and swam like a Golden Retriever should swim. Very graceful and confident in the water.

So Callie had to work through her fears all over again, but she did it, and, when it was time to go, of course, she wanted to stay and swim!

Here are two good articles about teaching your dog to swim:

How to Teach Your Dog to Swim – Part 1 – Catherine Forsythe at Lockergnome.com.

Teaching Puppies to Swim, Butch Goodwin, northernflight.com.

Dogs love to swim and play in the water, but some of them need help. It’s a great gift to give your dog, though, and it will be eternally grateful.

Posted in Books, Callie, Relationships, Video | Comments Off on Are Dogs Natural Swimmers? Callie learns to swim (again!)

Announcing the "My Doggie Says…" Radio Talk Show

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

The first My Doggie Says… radio talk show aired at 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, May 7. The show is broadcast by KFNX 1100 in Phoenix, and it is streamed over the Internet. The show will continue for at least twelve more programs, each running from 8:00 p.m. MST/PDT to 9:00 p.m. MST/PDT on Wednesday nights.

The first show, which consisted of four ten-minute segments will be posted in MP3 format on the new and revised www.mydoggiesays.com web site, which should be completed in the next few days. If you would like to hear the first show, go to www.mydoggiesays.com and visit the “Media Room” page. I’m not exactly sure when the new site will go live, but it should be this coming week.

If you’d like to listen to the show and you’re not in Phoenix, KFNX streams their programming over the Internet. You can hear the show in real time by going to www.1100kfnx.com and clicking on the “Listen Live” button in the upper righthand corner of the home page.

The My Doggie Says… talk show will address many of the same subjects we discuss in this blog — dog-talk, dog-relationships, improving our dog-listening skills, and nurturing our dogs’ personalities. And Callie will have a feature: Callie’s Corner.

Posted in Books, Callie, Dog Communication, Dog Talk, Podcasts, Relationships | Comments Off on Announcing the "My Doggie Says…" Radio Talk Show

A Dog's House (Crate) Is It's Castle (Isn't It?) (by Callie, Golden Retriever)

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

So here I am feeling all happy and excited because I’m getting a lot more freedom these days. Fred and Barbara are letting me wander pretty much anywhere around the house, except in the living room. And I come across this really nice, wet, juicy wash cloth. What’s a Golden Retriever to do, but retrieve? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?

But something inside me said, “This is not a good thing to do. Fred and Barbara are not going to be happy.” So I snatched the juicy gem as fast as I could and ran into my crate.

A doggie’s crate should be it’s castle, shouldn’t it? Sort of like an American embassy in a foreign country on a little piece of American soil. So isn’t my crate a protected doggie sanctuary in the middle of Fred and Barbara Land?

Well, I thought so, but guess what? BUSTED! Fred reached right into my doggie sanctuary and grabbed the wash cloth out of my mouth. I didn’t make it easy for him, but he was able to get it. He said something about, “What if you swallow the thing, Callie?”

That’s twice, now, that I’ve been busted on my own private piece of land. On April Fool’s Day, I grabbed one of Barbara’s socks and ran into my crate, thinking I’d be safe. But guess again. Poor Callie; no place to hide.

It’s funny. I love the freedom I have to roam around the house & just hang out. But I really love my crate, too. Sometimes it feels good to just go in there to get a drink of water or just to lie down and rest for a few minutes. This crate-training stuff is OK.

Bye for now.

Callie

Posted in Callie, Relationships | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »