This is the first time that Callie (the soccer dog in previous posts) has been able to really enjoy Lake Arrowhead. She has been here before, but she had not received all her shots, so she couldn’t really enjoy the lake and mountains and other dogs. Callie is now 4 1/2 months old and she’s had all her shots, so she can explore her Lake Arrowhead world.
Lake Arrowhead will be an important part of Callie’s life, so I am trying to introduce it to her gradually, so she will appreciate it in her own ways and so she won’t have any bad memories. So yesterday, Callie went for her first hike in the National Forest. As you would expect for a Golden Retriever, she loved climbing over rocks and fallen tree trunks. There are still a lot of fallen pine trees because of the bark-beetle attack we had a few years ago. There’s a lot of “slash” covering the ground, but Callie handled that really well. Afterwards, Callie said, “Thanks for the hike. I’m tired & I’m going to take a nice long nap.”
Yesterday, Callie did some retrieving (isn’t that what Golden Retrievers are supposed to do?) in the lake. She was on a long leash so she couldn’t get too far from shore. She hasn’t quite figured out how to swim, but it’s fun to see her push herself into deeper and deeper water to retrieve a floating piece of pine. I think she will take her first little Golden Retriever dog-paddles this weekend. She was very close yesterday.
Callie’s first words this morning were, “Can I please carry my squirrel up the stairs?” I was moving her training crate up to the living room, and I had her little squeaky squirrel in one hand. Callie looked me right in the eye, and then she nudged the squirrel with her nose. I gave her the squirrel and up the stairs she went carrying it.
I’m here at Lake Arrowhead with my wife, my daughter Karen, her boyfriend Chris, and Karen’s Golden Retriever, Ishka. Ishka is a 12 1/2 year old Golden Retriever. She was Jamie’s best friend (Jamie, the subject of the book My Doggie Says…). Ishka takes things pretty easy, but Callie is very excited to have another dog around, especially one that looks like her mother. At first, Callie was a little too rambunctious for Ishka. Callie jumped all over Ishka, and Ishka kept politely moving away. (“Hey, pup, can’t you leave me alone?) Finally, Ishka barked a few times and Callie got the message. Now they sniff each other and Callie says “hello” and does a little gentle frolicking, but she respects Ishka’s request for quiet.
The My Doggie Says… philosophy is to tune-in to your dog and help it do the things it was bred to do and enjoys doing. So these early hiking and swimming experiences are important. I’m assuming that Callie will enjoy these things, but I’m trying to introduce them to her in ways that will make them special for her. And I know they will become an important part of our doggie-person relationship.
