Perfect Day for Water Play

Today is a gorgeous spring-like day. Bright, sunny, 17 degrees celcius - in other words, the perfect day to skip out on the housework and take the dogs out to the river. It only takes about 10 minutes to drive to my favourite spot to take the dogs out for a good walk and a swim in the Murray River.

Even though it is a friday I was surprised that I didn't meet anyone else walking their dog. There is a paved walking/bike track along side the river which is normally quite popular as it is nowhere near any houses nor roads.

Gromit must be part retriever. He was happy when we got to the part of the river that he could swim and splash around in. If I threw a rock into the water, he would run out to that spot, look around for the rock, and even stick his head fully underwater in the search for the rock.

Maple, on the other hand, is not so fond of water. She did brave the river up to about her elbows but then would run back to the shore and run along the shore waiting for Gromit to come back out of the water. The longer we were there, the slightly braver she got, but Maple never got to the point of wetting more than just the lowest part of her undersides.

I had my first suspicions that Maple might not be a water loving dog when I had to give her bath at approx 10 weeks of age, and she fought it like a cat - and repeated the exact same behaviour the next time she had a bath.

Both dogs had a great time playing along side the river and running around the river flats. They are both sound asleep outside right now.

Since the walking track seemed to be deserted, I decided to try walking Maple off leash. She was very good and mostly kept very close to Gromit. I did practice lots of recall with Maple, and she was fairly good at it, but she still needs a lot more practice before I would be comfortable allowing her off leash with anyone else around.

I didn't take the camera with me, so no pics or videos - hopefully next time.

Maple and Her Sister Musings

Maple had a great time visiting with her sister. They were together for just over 24 hours. It was amazing to see how different the two girls were.

When we arrived at Bella's house, Maple was outgoing and curious whereas Bella was very nervous and frightened. Bella kept escaping to the bedroom to hide under the bed. Even after Bella was carried outside to play with Maple, she kept on hiding under her human mum's chair and growling at the kids and Maple if she got too close.

After about 5 minutes Bella's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to venture forth to see what Maple was all about. And then they started playing. Bella seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing with Maple, but she kept an eye out for what the kids were doing and would once again become skittish and hide under the chair if one of the kids tried to play with the pups or come near them.

Bella and Maple not only have different personalities, but they look quite different too. Bella is much stockier than Maple. Maple is definitely leggier, but Bella's feet were larger. Bella was ever so slightly darker in colour and her fur was a bit longer than Maple's. It is probably difficult to see these differences in the video in the post below, but in person they were quite obvious.

It was not surprising that Maple slept the whole 3 hour car ride home from Bella's house.

Littermate Reunion

Maple and Bella are sisters from the same litter. They were separated at 8.5 weeks of age, and met again earlier this week at age 16 weeks.

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Maple at 13 Weeks Old

Now that Maple is 13 weeks old, so is getting quite large, and is starting to look a bit more like an adult Murray River Curly Coated Retriever.

The fur on her legs has grown long enough to look feathered, and her ears are getting quite long and curly. Her eyes are not as dark as they were when we got her 5 weeks ago, but it looks as if they will probably not be the bright golden yellow of some MRCCRs, but rather a deeper, browner gold.

Puppy Preschool: Week 2

Last night we attended the 2nd session of puppy preschool (PPS) with Maple. It went better than last week, although Maple was still a bit of a bully.

It would seem that Maple does not like other female dogs very much. When she was off lead with 2 of the girls, she was somewhat aggressive, but when we picked her up and then put her down with a couple of the males to play with, she was much happier. They didn't play with each other very much, but at least Maple wasn't trying to dominate them.

We were sitting next to one of the female pups - the boxer. Maple was interested in her, but often growled aggressively when they got too close together. However, by the end of the evening, Maple and the boxer were starting to play together a bit and enjoy one another.

So we are happy as it seems that the socialization that Maple is getting a PPS is helping her to be somewhat habituated to other dogs. We are not really learning any new training hints however, but that is more than likely due to all our research into training that we have done on our own. Maple is so clever and picks up new things quite easily, so it has been fairly easy to train her at home without the input from an expert.

Dog Essentails on a Budget - The Outdoor Bed

Gromit has a very nice outdoor bed. See the first picture above. It is a welded frame with a hessian sack that is pulled across the frame to form a hammock of sorts. He has had it for the past 10 years. A year or so ago he was having a huge problem with fleas, so I added a vinyl covered foam pad on top to give him a flea resistant place to lay. Although Gromit would sometimes allow Maple to lay with him on his bed outside, the bed is definitely not large enough for 2 dogs adult dogs.

So I started shopping around for a 2nd outdoor dog bed. The welded frame / hessian sack bed retails from around $55.00 for the medium size (same size as Gromit's). There is also what many people call a trampoline bed which is a bed frame with shade sail cloth stretched over it. This retails from around $50.00+ depending on size.

Not happy about paying that much for another dog bed, I decided to wait until I found them on sale or found a 2nd hand one at a garage sale.

About 4 years ago I bought a mini jogging trampoline for the kids from the local op shop for $10.00. I noticed that Maple enjoyed jumping up onto it out in the backyard everytime she was outside. Things that make you go hmmm......

So I dragged the mini trampoline over to the patio and threw Gromit's old kennel blanket on it. Voila, an outside dog bed that both dogs are happy to use that didn't cost me anything. As you can see, both Maple and Gromit like the "new" outdoor dog bed, and it is getting a lot of use.

Mini trampolines are much easier to find at garage sales than old outdoor dog beds, so this could very well be a budget outdoor dog bed idea for anyone else looking to save some $$$.

She's Not a Stupid Dog

Maple has decided that the sofas are much more comfortable than dog beds. Hence we are having a hard time keeping her off the sofas.

She does seem to understand the word "off" and will, on occasion, actually get off the sofa when we tell her to.

When she is being goofy she jumps up and hangs over the back of the red sofa looking at us.

But when she is being covert, she snuggles down on the brown sofa. The sofa is the same colour as her fur, so she camouflages in with it and can have a nap in peace and quiet.