A day in the Life of Halle

Halle, my oldest, can be so routine based, so obedient about not getting on the bed or couch unless invited.   From first impression, she seems to be the sweetest dog, the most obedient, the good girl.  She however has a dark side, a side that enjoys rolling in something vile, not listening and repeating the same bad behaviors.

Alarm goes off, Halle raises her head, and glances toward us and waits patiently for us to awaken and rise from bed.  She lies nightly between Joshua and I.  She enjoys cuddling with us during the night.  She is not that invasive and stays toward the foot of the bed, most nights.   

 As the morning sun begins to shine, Halle drops her head to the ground and rubs her head along the floor. Scratching her head and ears on a rug, she anxiously awaits for Joshua or I to scratch her back near her tail.  This is a very cute and interesting trait of Halle’s that she has been doing since she was a puppy.  She is always so excited to awaken and start a new day.

We all venture down stairs to prepare for our day.  Halle and Cadet usually follow us into the bathroom.  If I stretch before a walk she will watch as I stretch and patiently wait for her walk.  Sometimes pawing me in the shoulder or licks my face to urge me to hurry.

We then go for a walk.  Halle loves the fact that I spend more time outside because of Noodles.  I usually walk .5 miles in the morning or run 1 mile with the dogs.  This gives Halle plenty of time to roam around the yard and sniff out what the night brought onto our property.  After about 20 minutes playing outside.  I call the dogs to come inside to have breakfast.  Halle usually is close, but can be stubborn.  Not because she doesn’t care to eat, she would prefer to spend the day outside with smells. This behavior is limited to warm temperatures.  During the winter I can barely get her out the door to potty. 

After breakfast is inhaled, Halle goes willing to her place (dog crate).  She spends the rest of the morning and afternoon in a crate during the work week.  I have tried for years to let her out of the crate and to allow her to roam freely in the home.  She has let me down each time. Her crate is the safest alternative to her and our house.  She has always been trained that her crate was a safe place.  A place she could go and not be punished and be 100% safe.

Out of all my dogs, Halle has been the one to help me improve the most in my life.  Halle helped me learn to take solo adventures in my early 20’s.  I would go to Indianapolis by myself with Halle, go to a dog park or go hiking in the woods alone.  I had never before really spent much time alone doing recreational activities.  Halle has also been a huge reason for learning my anger problems.  I can get angry and not necessarily be fair in my punishment with the dogs.  Throughout my 20’s I have learned to calm myself and realize that bad behaviors are more often than not, my fault.  I was not giving Halle focus, not picking up or putting away temptation items, or not giving proper exercise and training needed.    I still have a ways to go with my anger issues, but I have changed dramatically.  I am learning that dogs are just that, dogs.  They are not humans.  They do not roll in a pile of stinky to make me angry, they do it because that is what is instinctual.

My dogs have been wonderful friends for me throughout the years we have shared.  They have helped me try new activities, they have motivated me to exercise, and they have helped me strive toward better nutrition.  I enjoy our daily routines and even the crazy “why did you do that” moments.  I couldn’t imagine my life without havening experienced each of my dogs.  They have all shaped me.  I still have to thank my dog Halle, she has and continues to make me a better person.  

Mid March entry.

The weather is beginning to break from winter.  Cold days are getting less frequent.  The sand hill cranes have been flying overhead returning to their summer homes.  Daffodils are beginning to unfold their spring bloom.  Our spring work schedule has kicked into full blast.   We have booked our schedule for the year.

 

Our pup Noodles has been invited to a handful of jobs this season and has begun to be Langston’s understudy.  She has attended two different jobs.  She has had the opportunity to work on a job in which we walked around the entire property pruning and maintaining the landscape.   The second job was a pond cleaning.  This was actually more difficult for her than the large job.  The first job mentioned was a property with acreage and only fencing in the back yard of the property.  Noodles kept eye on Joshua and I and remained close by.  The second job was a small fenced in backyard with a few landscape beds.  The problem being, the landscape beds surrounded the pond.  Noodles wanted to be next to Joshua and I and had difficulty staying close without walking through a landscape bed.   Noodles still needs to learn landscape bed boundaries.  She doesn’t understand that we are in the beds and she cannot follow.

 Noodles has been more active in playing in the yard.  She has continued to play with the ball that we bought her a week or so ago.  She is also playing more actively with Cadet.  This has all been a lot more fun and entertaining because we have been able to drop her 20 foot lead and give Noodles a bit more freedom.  This has been so much fun to walk and play with Noodles.  Her having more freedom and being able to play with the dogs and chase a ball at her own free will has been entertaining. 

Langston is still very active and having a good time.  He still runs out back with a ball in his mouth just waiting for someone to either grab the ball and play a game of tug or throw the ball for him to fetch.  Cadet and Halle are enjoying the warmer weather.  We are having to step up on making sure they stop sniffing in the wood shed and in our limestone pile.  We are worried that if they continue to poke their heads about these areas, they may get injure themselves.

  

Feb. 28^th

Thunderstorms continued throughout the night.  The Tornado sirens started around 1 am and the dogs began getting edgy.  Noodles lay in bed scared and Langston was nervous and in need of attention.  We had very little sleep throughout the night.  Cadet and Halle seemed untouched by all these events. 

With little sleep, we still managed to pull off a very productive work day.  Arrived home and got greeted by our wonderful pups.  The evening walk was relaxing and rewarding.  Nice casual exercise and new training with noodles.  She accomplished a new command.  We are calling the new command two feet.  She stands on her hind legs and attempts to take a step or two.  We have ways to go until the command is fully understood or mastered. 

With a good walk, training and full bellies, we all relaxed in the living room with the tv jabbering in the background.  I spent the evening working on photographs for our portfolio while the dogs munched on a rawhide and dozed in and out of consciousness.

March 1^st.

The temperatures never got as high as expected, but comfortable.  The sun shined all day making for a pleasant day and a great mood.  Joshua and I finished up an inside stone facing job we have been working on.  Always great to see a project completed. 

Arrived back home after a long day.  This was one of the longest days that Noodles has had to deal with us being gone.  She was extremely full of energy and very excitable.  During our walk she had a hard time focusing.  She still did a great job training and we walked a bit of the energy from being home all day out of her system.

We had a little loss of focus towards the end of the walk.  Something distracted Noodles and she completely tuned out Joshua and I until a tug of her leash redirected her attention.  This reinforced that her training off leash is going to be a long time away.  When something distracts her attention, whether it is another dog, a squirrel or a stinky place to roll, she can tune out the world and focus only on what is entertaining her at the moment. 

After our walk, I relaxed by combing Noodles.  I never figured that I would ever enjoy grooming a dog as much as I do.  I have actually worried in my past, that if I were to adopt a dog with long hair, that I would not have the discipline to groom.  No problem.  I love grooming her, it is very meditative. 

Cooked the dogs dinner of ground beef, mixed vegetables and rice mixed with eggs.  I was a bit lazy and didn’t juice there carrots.  Will add that tomorrow to their left- over’s.  I have been trying to increase Langston’s protein intake because the special high protein kibble I buy for him was not available at the pet store. I also try to give him carrots often with dinner.  I have been told that beta carotene is a good anti-cancer agent.

 Cooking dinner for the dogs for me is a never ending struggle of trying to find the right recipes.  I have had so many opposing sources on proper diets.  I do not feel comfortable experimenting with my dog’s health to find the right diet.  I have done a lot of research and plan on discussing diet with my Vet as well as, as many professionals in the topic as I can.   Raw, cooked, grain, no grain.  I am not sure which is the best, but plan on attempting to find a solution?  I do not plan on taking my dogs off kibble, but would prefer kibble only for breakfast and whole food for dinner.  In the future I may make a complete switch, but not with 4 dogs. 

March 3^rd

Spring has sprung.  As landscapers, our business picks up in March.  We start spring maintenance; start getting phone calls from prospective clients for estimates.  Usually, estimates start around mid March.  This year, we started getting calls in February.  This winter was awful and as soon as the sun peaked itself from behind the clouds and the temperatures rose above freezing, people started getting the landscape bug.  We have had three estimates and already two confirmations from those estimates.  Not only the exciting news that we are finishing booking up our year’s schedule, but Noodles and Langston have been given permission to accompany us on the two excepted estimates.

Noodles, is being trained to be our work dog.  Langston is the most amazing work dog.  He is calm and attentive.  He follows us around a property and patiently waits when we are working.  He can comfortably wait for 8 hours in one spot while we build wall.  Noodles, has worked on a few jobs and has showed similar traits.  We have been training and socializing her to become a work dog.  The jobs she has worked, she has been very patient and attentive.  She seems to be happy to just be near us.

March 5-6^th

We spent the weekend away from the Hollow.  Joshua, myself and the four pups, packed ourselves into our van and drove back to our home town. My grandmother turned 80 the past week and we had a party for her Saturday evening.  We arrived to my Mother’s house early enough for the dogs to settle-in.  Joshua and I had discussed that Noodles could benefit from the party.  There were a large number of people and children attending.  She has been used to a pretty solitary life with only one owner in her past who had very little guests visiting.  Joshua and my life is not much different.  We have occasional guest, but usually our home is just the two of us, a pretty calm and quiet setting.  Noodles had no problem passing the test.  She enjoyed the attention of the children and adults but didn’t bother those that were indifferent to her presence. 

 

One more test passed, one more weekend of fun with the family and pups.  Happy to be back in the hollow, relaxing on the sofa with my husband and pups.  Good week.

Muddy Paws

The snow has finally melted.   Looking out back, I can see the grass and the patio.  The weather is chilly, rainy and still winter.  Our creek, which can be dry during the peak of summer, jumped the bridge due to large amounts of rain this last week. The creek has not flowed this heavily for at least a year.  Despite all the rain and winter, we have been given moments of relief with sunshine and mild temperatures.  I had a moment on one walk with the dogs of remembering a day in kindergarten.  My teacher was teaching us about the four seasons.  She discussed winter and spring.  I remember photographs of the seasons and how winter is snowy and cold.  Then suddenly everything begins to melt.  The rain begins to bring in the beautiful green spring and animals again begin to frolic about. 

Boots and paws squish into the muddy muck created by winter.  The sod is peeled away from the lawn with the slightest touch.  First season in the hollow, I was frightened of the damage.  My two big boys would run and slide destroying the lawn.  I figured no grass would survive.  Seasons have come and gone and is fine.  They can do some destruction and our natural lawn will recover on its own.  Overall, the muddy mess of boots and paws are hard to frown upon.  After a miserable winter of snow, ice and frigid temperatures, a muddy mess with mild temps seems like heaven.

I am not the only one smiling because of the relief in the weather.  The dogs are happy winter has slowly begun to fade.  The snow has melted, causing the earth to be exposed.  The smell of spring is tickling their noses.  Halle has always been overwhelmed, in spring, with the smells.  I enjoy watching the dogs walk, sniff and explore the ground that has been hidden from sight and nose, for months.

During our evening walks, I have been venturing more into to lower section of our woods.  This is enjoyable for all.  We cross the creek, truck through the woods.  Halle usually wanders off a bit into the woods.  This has been great for our whistle training practice.  A sharp blow of the whistle, Halle races back toward me expecting a treat.  Noodles and Cadet have also been improving on whistle training.  Langston seems to ignore the whistle.  He doesn’t need to come when called.  He never really ventures too far.  He patiently waits for all the silly dog games to end so a serious game of fetch can continue.

Training has been amazing this week, not just whistle training.  Noodle’s is beginning to down without a treat.  She has progressed with the crawl command, crawling about 3 feet.  She is healing without a lead and playing fetch.  Great progression this week led to a fun outing on Sunday.  Joshua and I wanted to take Langston out for the weekend.  He has not been able to work this week with us so we wanted to take him for a walk and a trip to the pet store.  We decided that Noodles could also benefit from a walk downtown and lunch outdoors at the Laughing Planet.  

We headed downtown and walked a few blocks to our lunch destination.  Langston sniffed and greeted people along the way.  I have forgotten how much he loves the city.  He has always enjoyed greeting and meeting people on walks.  Noodles on the other hand, had nothing to do with anyone.  She kept her focus on Joshua and I and ignored passer-bys and greeters.  Reaching our destination, we sat and quietly enjoyed our lunch, while the two dogs laid down and patiently waited for us to complete our meal.  After lunch we headed back to the van and off to the pet store, where Langston picked out a tug toy.

Spring may not be here, but it has fooled us.  My pack and I are excited about the warming temperatures and beginning to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  It has been a good week.