The First Spring Walk of the Season

Bailey and my husband used to walk year round at least once daily. Since Katy has joined us the walks have dropped off. Katy needs leash practice and Bailey has hated leaving Katy behind.

Katy has walking outings with her friends during playgroup. However, my husband and I have only taken her to the Vet and for a few shopping trips to Petco and Petsmart. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Katy is not thrilled with shopping. We have determined Katy would be an Internet shopper if given the choice. While she likes getting bones and toys, the shopping experience is not one she enjoys. Bailey enjoys getting out, meeting people, and getting to see all the products available.

Katy loves playing in the backyard. She has speed and turns Bailey has never had. Watching her get up to speed and cut her turns sharply is amazing to watch. We have not been concerned about her getting enough exercise. However, we would like her to be leash trained and more comfortable in public.

Saturday the weather was warmer and after an afternoon of yard work, my husband decided to take the two of them for a walk. Bailey was thrilled. He loves the exercise and social aspects of a neighborhood walk. Katy enjoyed the time with my husband, but she was overwhelmed by experience. While she walked, she pressed close to my husband the entire trip.

Our hope is if the weather stays nice, there will be more opportunities for her and Bailey to get out and practice walking together. She has learned to enjoy experiences that previously terrified her. My hope is that being in public will be one of them.

Dog Names

When you get a puppy, naming a dog is generally the choice of the owner. Everyone has a different approach to naming and teaching the dog to respond to the name.

When you bring home a rescue dog, deciding to keep or change the name is a different issue. Bailey was a puppy when we got him, but he already responded to his name. At the time, we did not think much about the name. We have since learned it is a name given to both males and females. However, it does appear that the name is more commonly used as a female than male name. It is also a very common Sheltie name. I find many Sheltie owners with Baileys. Since Bailey responded to his name and we had no issues with the name, we chose to keep it.

Katy had a much longer name that she refused to answer to when we met her at her foster home. The only word she responded to was "cookie" and it was becoming her default name. I will not offend anyone by discussing her given name. I just found it too long and awkward for a dog that at two clearly did not recognize the name as hers. After talking to the foster Mom, we decided to look for hard "C" names that would trigger the response cookie did without naming her cookie. We went through a list of short hard "C" names and Katy was the one that drew the most response.

It amazes me what time and attention can do for a smart Sheltie. I suspect she did not hear her name much in the two years prior to arriving at her foster home. However, she quickly learned to respond to her new name when we brought her home and used it frequently. She had no problem distinguishing between her name and Bailey's name. Her resilience continues to amaze me.

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Disappointed Red Sox Fans

Bailey and Katy love watching sports with my husband. As the Red Sox season opened, they eagerly found their spots to watch the games. Bailey settles on the couch on his Patriots blanket. Katy watches from the front of the couch.

They actually do seem to be focused on the game. However, I think their excitement is primarily based on how happy or frustrated my husband is with the state of the game. The opening of the season has not been a happy one for the dogs. They are hoping the Yankees series will change the pace of the game.

Peanut Butter Pills

Growing up giving the dogs pills was as much punishment for the owner as the dog. The dogs were as creative at hiding the pills we thought they had swallowed as we were at hiding the food we hated from our parents.

When we took Bailey to the vet, she introduced us to a simple method for giving pills, peanut butter. Bailey and now Katy both love peanut butter. We smear a little on the pill and they think they are being spoiled rotten. We keep a separate jar and brand of peanut butter to avoid any chance of cross contamination between dog medication and human consumption of peanut butter. This was a personal choice.

The little things make life easier.

Signs of Spring

Our weather has been crazy, but the perennials have been pushing forward with their efforts to claim spring. Bailey and Katy are going to have to get used to new boundaries. I noticed Bailey napping in a sunny spot yesterday. It just happened to be one of my flower gardens. Katy and Bailey have been using the back vegetable gardens as highways in their squirrel hunts. We are going to have to work on establishing boundaries.

I hate to resort to fencing. In the past, Bailey has been trainable. We will have to see if the two of them can learn to respect the gardens.

Sheltie Ice Cubes

Thankfully, the snow melted fairly quickly over the weekend with some warm sunny weekend weather. Bailey and Katy insisted on playing with Bailey's new outdoor birthday toys.

Since his puppy days, Bailey has always had a challenge staying hydrated. Katy has no problem diving into the water bowl. The woman that runs their doggy daycare gave us a hint that works well for Bailey, ice cubes. For some reason Bailey loves ice cubes. We take them outside, place them on the porch and Bailey treats them like cold bones. He considers them a great challenge. Since it was warm last weekend, it seemed like a great time to introduce Katy to the tradition. Bailey dived into the ice cube pile. Katy touched one cautiously and then turned up her princess snout at the idea of an ice bone. Bailey looked at her as if she was missing a steak dinner. We tried convincing her to try one, but she refused. Bailey cleaned up the pile without any help.

It is good to know Bailey's summer hydration trick still works. It will be interesting to see if Katy's competitive nature gets her engaged in trying the treat.

The Snow Angels Attack Katy

We used to joke about snow angels throwing snowballs at us from the trees when I was a child. When we walked home from school, there were large trees that would drop snow on us as they shed snow. We would laugh when another snow angel attacked us.

As you can see from this older winter picture, we have trees in our backyard that are perfect for snow angel attacks. Bailey has learned to be wary, but Katy was under full assault after the April Fool's storm. She was convinced it must be a squirrel or bird attack. Nothing Bailey did would convince her that all she need do was move from underneath the tree to avoid the attack.

Bailey finally gave up and snacked on his snow cookies. Katy is starting to rethink this snow-whispering thing. We may have her ready for spring.