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Trudy

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    How Long Before It's "safe" To Let Them Off Their Lead?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    Trudy, total aside, but did you not have to worry about bears in Kodiak?

     

    Yes, but no

     

    One day I packed the dogs into the car, grabbed my camera and we went out specifically looking for bears. Then I parked the car and thought that was a very dumb idea, I don't carry a gun, what was I going to do if I came upon one and pissed it off...

    You were usually good to go as long as you made lots of noise which was easy to do with 3 dogs, nobody was concerned that I was carrying on conversations with the dogs and their tags jingled.

    I never saw a bear while we were there. Bear sightings were usually along the water when people and bears were fishing or the occasional bear seen raiding the dumpsters people left open or sometimes walking around base housing (for the same reason).

     

    We did find bear poop, but never a bear.

    How Long Before It's "safe" To Let Them Off Their Lead?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    I'll add my late to the party bit...

     

    I'm of the NEVER let your new dog off leash until you really know how they respond to things.

    Jet and Ryan were leash walked for ages. My neighbors took Jet for a walk once and hoisted her over the ball field fence and let her run. They all had a great time, then hoisted her back over and brought her back to my house. That's probably the only off leash large(ish) fenced area she had for a long time.

    They had a fenced yard, but not large (postage stamp sized).

    Then I moved and they had a fenced yard, not large, but Jet made the best of it.

    Then they had access to ~200+ acres of fenced area and they both had a blast. They didn't know there was a fence, we weren't often near it. They chased deer and would reluctantly stop if you told them to or come back when they got tired of running after it if we didn't yell for them to stop. They had good recall off leash.

    Then we moved to Kodiak. They were leash walked around the neighborhood daily and we tried to go out when the weather didn't suck for some off leash hikes in the woods or playing at the beach. Hiking in the woods with them off leash was so much easier than on leash with 3 dogs. Tavarish (a doberman) and Jet could run circles around me and leap fallen trees and just run around like crazy dogs having fun and Ryan could trot off when he wanted, but typically stayed back with me. That was really one of the only things I enjoyed about Kodiak... the great places to go with the dogs off leash and their enjoyment of it. I have gobs of pictures of their off leash adventures.

    Then we moved here and it was just hot :lol

    The back 4 acres of our property is fenced and the dogs get their yayas out there. No real good places to run them off leash around here - beaches aren't dog friendly (on or off leash).

     

    But my dogs were leashed for eons before I was willing to trust them off their leash.

    If you are going to come back from chasing a deer when I call you off, I'm willing to give you some freedom!

     

     

    Now for gratuitous off leash pics taken in Kodiak ;)

     

    This is just easier when you don't have to deal with leashed dogs

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    That is not warm water that I want to go in with Jet

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    much easier on the dog when not attached to a human via 6' leash

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    easier with each dog going their own pace up the trails

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    I'm not a trail runner to keep up with these guys on the mountains (or anywhere else :lol)

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    you'll notice Ryan is missing from most... he didn't usually keep up with Jet and Tavarish

    IMG_8261.jpg

     

     

    not a greyhound, but Jet was usually not too very far from him when he was running around

    IMG_8319.jpg

     

     

    Ryan was off leash too, but never had to worry about him, he was always by my side or right behind me

    Trudywithryan.jpg

     

    Spinner And Osteo-Decision Time

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Jet limped for a few days, but we attributed it to being knocked into and falling down on our tile floor. She would still run around like a crazy girl and run laps around the garden with Tavarish and Abby. She did that on Mother's Day 2 years ago. That night I laid her on the couch to ice where she fell. She was done, jumped off the couch and broke her leg. We never had a clue.

     

    If it has spread to his brain already and he has a visible tumor on his leg, it isn't if there will be a break, but when.

    Good luck with your decision. It sucks.

    Calendar And Gt Secret Santa

    in Announcements and News

    Posted

    The Calendar forum is now set up to accept images for the 2015 calendar - details are in the forum.

    Ideally I'd like to start selecting, collecting and editing photos in mid November so it is ready by 01 December.

    I will be using MyCanvas again and they still don't seem to like to ship to Canada, so if you are in Canada, you will need to have somebody order and send for you. Maybe there is a GTer that would be happy to organize that or just hit up your GT friend to have them order and ship you one.

     

    Secret Santa 2014 - it is open now, I will do a round of matching in a week or so.

     

    Dill 31 March, 2014 - 19 July, 2014

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    There were only 6 ducks out in the pond last night when I went to put them away for the night. I searched for Dill with a flashlight hoping he'd somehow just gotten scared and separated from the girls. But that boy is never very far away from Jasmine and if not with her, he's with the others waiting for her to fly over with them.

     

    Went out again this morning hoping again that he'd come out to wait for the girls to get out. Nope. I searched again, a bunch of the time with Jasmine right behind me quacking her head off. She's a very unhappy camper, even hanging out with the others. Poor girl.

     

    Dill was here 3.5 months. He only just got his drake feather last week and I didn't get a picture because I had plenty of time to take some pics... He was a quiet big boy with his cute little raspy voice. I'll miss you Dillweed.

     

     

     

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    Oliver - 25 March, 2013 - 12 Feb, 2014

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    We've had our times.

    She used to sit on my head when she was little. Hid in a tree one night when she was still sleeping on the patio so I spent forever with a flashlight looking for her.

    I'd have to take her from the garden each night and put her in the chicken hut each night.

    Then Penelope disappeared.

    Then she took to sleeping in a tree.

    She would attack my shoes in the morning and finally, about a month ago, I took my shoes off and let her peck the living day lights out of them. Then she just ran over to me to get scooped up and get a free ride to the deck each morning.

     

    So we ran the gamut from sweet little bird, to pain in my ass and being threatened to be rehomed back on the road to a sweet little bird again.

     

     

    Then something ate her today in the yard :(

     

    Bye Oliver. I'll miss you.

    IMG_7772_zps6e53c148.jpg

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