Look Who Learned to Open the Door

We know that dear, sweet, Elsie Bear, when she feels like, can open the back door using the lever handle whenever she wishes. She's been able to for years.

Then Tuc came along and figured out how to do so, and Elsie took a back seat to Tuc's door-openings (lazy girl that she is). Why bother putting out the effort when the young upstart can do all the work?

Now Pinot has developed the same skill:







I don't know why I'm surprised; she is her mother's daughter after all.

But, while Elsie opens the door to be with her humans (she's people-focused), Pinot opens the door to bring Kongs in for us to throw for her (she's retrieve-focused).



Tuc, on the other hand, opens the door just because he can -- the goofy galoot!

So now we have three doggie door-openers. All we have yet to do, then (since none of them were born in a barn), is teach them how to close the door after themselves (sound familiar?).

Especially when it's raining.

This weekend is the last official weekend of summer; autumn drizzle is on the way. Guess we have our work cut out for us -- but fast!

'Til next time,
Joan

GoD and DoG by WJ Francisco

Regular Reader knows I almost never post things from other websites.

But I found this little clip so simple and moving that I couldn't resist thinking it might encourage my LabTails readers. The following was composed, sung, and illustrated by Wendy Francisco



I happened across the video on Facebook, but it finds its home on YouTube.

Enjoy!

'Til next time,
Joan

Baxter: Still Family After All

Long-Time-Reader (LTR) knows that a gigunda, now 6 yo, Black Lab named Baxter was once part of our gang here. Baxter (aka, The Boos, Baxter Boos, The Big Galoot, Knucklehead, and My Baxter Bud) belongs heart and soul now to our daughter (DSD) and her husband (DSIL) who live in Maine.

And where DSD and DSIL go, Baxter goes.

So it was this weekend. The Boos tagged along to the cottage to enjoy the lake with our regular gang. The Boos, btw, loves the cottage.

Here's he is (normally a lazy, sluggish couch potato) anticipating going swimming as DH readies the retrieving dummies (remember, Baxter weighs a good 100 pounds):










Baxter, you might remember, was the first of our "second round" of Labs, purchased in 2003 less than six months after our last Labs passed away, and coming to live with us at just shy of seven weeks old. He grew up with us and was our "only" until we brought Ridge home 18 months later (Ridge was 3 yo then). Soon to follow came Elsie, then Kenya, then Pinot, then Tuc. Baxter didn't leave with DSIL and DSD until last July (2008); he had five years with us.

All that is to say, Baxter is family every bit as much as the rest of the canine crew. And this weekend, The Boos acted just like family--like we'd never been apart.

Take his move-your-feet-lose-your-seat mentality. DH got up from sleeping on the roll-away, and had not yet pushed it back under the other bed, and guess who decides DH's bed is for him (pillows and all)?

Yup ... Just Make Yourself at Home Why Doncha Baxter.





Then there was the I'm-family-and-therefore-should-be-included-in-everything expectation (You mean you're actually going swimming without me?):




And his staking claim to the kitchen sofa (yes, there's a sofa in the kitchen at the cottage -- extra sleeping space):





Why would humans need a couch when they have perfectly good chairs to use (note Baxter on sofa to right)?



Yes, all of Baxter's presumptions remind me that he is, indeed, still part of the family. Though he lives hundreds of miles away, he's still one of us.

And the thing that reminds me most of his being part of us, for real, is his love for the cottage.

Now Baxter, who was exposed to swimming at the cottage from about six-months-of-age on, is a natural in the water, and he, indeed, hasn't lost his knack:





Nor has he lost his enthusiasm (at six, he's still like a puppy in the water):







He loves the cottage as much as I do. And it shows.

Ahhh... the Boos. The cottage is in his blood. My parents, my siblings, my spouse, my kids, my cousins, my canines -- we all have the cottage in our blood. The cottage, with its lake and lands, has been in my family for generations; it's part of my heritage.

As because it's part of my heritage, it's now part of their heritage, too (DH, my canines, and my kids alike).

For good or bad or everything in between, we're kin.

And though you take us away from our roots, our roots never leaves us.

You can take a girl away from the cottage, but you can never take the cottage outta the girl.

Nor outta the canines (and humans) who share life with the girl. Though you take Baxter to Maine, he loves the cottage still.

And that's a good thing.

We're all swimmers. We're all lake-lovers. We're all cottage-comfortable. We all feel at home there.

That's as it should be for us cottage kin.

We're family. And, no matter how far we travel, we always will be.

'Til next time,
Joan

The Canine Crew at the Cottage - Labor Day Weekend

In the spirit of Wordless Wednesday, here's the crew enjoying the lake (above, is our whole crew: left to right on bottom, Ridge, Elsie, Pinot, and Tuc; at top right with the white dummy in her mouth, is Kenya). Since it's been a while since I've posted I will identify who is in each photo. The following, then, is not technically "wordless" but I think you won't mind. Enjoy!


Ah...our Ridge -- a sheer delight to watch in the water:




Tuc, who after his puppy-intro-to-the-water-last-year, is a natural:



Baxter (visiting from Maine), the ever-smooth swimmer (gray muzzle and all):





Sweet Pinot, always the-rough-to-start thrasher, who eventually settles into her glide:





Pinot multi-tasking (she can drink and swim at the same time!):




Pinot spotting:




Kenya, the otter (the stealth swimmer):




Pinot, Tuc, Elsie, Kenya (l to r):




Elsie dreaming:




Pinot, in the lily pads:




Tuc and Kenya (Tuc, top) making Kenya look like a peanut head! Now that's a trick!):




Ridge (focused) and Baxter (excited):




Ridge (focused on DH) and the rest of the gang (front to back, Pinot, Tuc (r), Kenya (l), Baxter (middle), Elsie (behind Baxter):




Kenya focusing, too:





Elsie in action:





Kenya in action, leaping (Elsie on dock, Tuc, Ridge, and Pinot in water):




More Kenya jumping:




Elsie's you've-got-to-be-kidding look:





Oh, look, the gang is bringing a retrieving dummy back to DH (l to r: Kenya, Elsie, Tuc, Ridge):




Oh, look, DH threw another dummy (check out their eyes) (l to r: Kenya, Elsie, Tuc, Ridge):




Oh, look, the gang (in total) drops the dummy they were retrieving to head for the one just thrown (l to r: Kenya, Tuc, Elsie, Ridge):




My favorite picture of Ridge (in the weeds next to the dock, looking at DH at the top of the hill):



That's enough for now. There are boatloads more to come.

Hope you're all well.

'Til next time,
Joan

Finally: We've Returned

It's been a while, I know. I hurt my neck several weeks ago ("pinched nerve" in lay terms at C7 in my cervical spine), and that left me with two very weak, numb, tingly arms, and two hands that didn't like keyboarding.

The ortho doc ordered rest, so I've been on forced hiatus. :D

But I'm back, and the gang is right back with me (they never left). :D

Here's a brief status report:

• I'm rebounding slowly from my neck injury.
• All the doggies are their typical selves (a good thing). :D
  
• We still don't know about DH's job, or if he will even have a job when new management takes over in the coming weeks (won't know for several weeks).
  
• In case you missed the last couple posts, we won't be having a fall litter this year, which is just as well with how uncertain things look for us.
  
• We've decided not to use Pinot for breeding, and we will be getting her spayed soon. Though she has PERFECT drive and focus for a field/working Lab and a wonderful temperament, her body type is just way too "off" when it comes to breed standard.
• Tuc is shaping up nicely to replace Ridge as our canine stud-in-residence.
• We may still allow Ridge to mate with Kenya this winter (since he missed his chance a few months ago), then we will definitely retire him and have him snipped. :D
  
• We may have to retire Elsie. We recently discovered a mass in her abdomen that needs further investigation (vet visit is on the 18th, I think). We suspect it's nothing serious, but want to get it checked (Elsie is acting just fine, and the mass doesn't bother her). She is, however, five years old (approaching six) and has had two litters. It may be time to retire her anyway.
• Kenya is doing fabulously, and we're hoping she'll produce a litter for us in early spring.

The human kids are fine: DFS is commuting to a local colleg now (I'm driving with him, but he has his driver's learner's permit!!!!); DSD and DSIL are still in Maine with Baxter; and DYS is back at Temple (his junior year).

Mom (86 yo) is slowing down; DTS is all moved into her new place, but still settling in (and is not herself yet...). Divorce recovery is a long haul.

So that's how it is here.

Stay tuned for some fun pictures from our weekend at the cottage. The canine kids had a ball (and Baxter joined us from Maine!).

It's good to be back.

'Til next time,
Joan

Windows of Opportunity

With how humid it's been here lately, we've kept our windows shut tight and the central air-condition humming. We stay nice and cool (and dry) in our controlled climate while the world outside wilts.

The canine crew, too, prefers to be indoors during these 90+-degree-high-humidity days. Here are the girls hanging out together: Pinot, Kenya, and Elsie, l-r below:



Ah, but when moisture factors and temperatures drop, the windows fly open and dogs come in and out at will (well, they come in at will since Tuc and Elsie can both open the back door; going out, however, necessitates opposable thumbs, i.e., human intervention).

We love open-windows kinds of days.

Open windows invite cool, crisp breezes to flow through the house. They allow us to replace stale, predictable, recycled air with clean, unpredictable, even robust odors of the outdoors (including wafting manure smells of distant farms..hehe...I did say "robust"). It's enlivening, uplifting, refreshing.

Open windows feel exciting and new. I love the scent of fresh air and the caress of cool breezes on my skin that open windows afford.

But I'm also allergic to molds and pollens and grasses (thankfully not to dog dander), and, to boot, I have allergy-induced asthma. So opening windows, though refreshing, is risky for me. I've learned to open windows at certain times to maximize the fresh-air benefit, but minimize the risk.

I'm learning to do the same with windows of opportunity.

Maybe it's because I'm a big kid now, a "grown-up" (otherwise known as an "adult"). Maybe it's that, at a year shy of fifty years old, I'm in full-fledged mid-life reevaluation. Maybe it's just that I've learned about life the hard way too many times. Whatever the reason, I just don't need the thrill-a-minute, blind-risk-adventure I used to enjoy.

I don't dive in without measuring the depth of the water. Not anymore.

That's how it's been with our Lab-breeding windows.

Am I a little sad (and disappointed) that we missed our window of opportunity with Kenya's heat cycle? Yes.

Did we weigh the risk vs. benefit of opening the window to a fall litter from her? Indeed, we did, and we decided that it was the right time.

But opening that window would not have been without risk:

• This would've been Kenya's first pregnancy. You just don't know how it's going to go with an unproven dam. That risk will be there until she whelps for the first time, whenever that happens.
  
• DH's job situation is still very up in the air. At this point, we don't know if he'll be commuting two hours (one-way) each day starting in late fall.
• We just found out DFS is not returning to residential college this fall, but will be commuting to community college instead. That means me driving him, until he goes for, and hopefully passes, his driver's test. He at least has his permit now (Yay! This is his first attempt at getting a driver's license, and he's 25 years old -- a welcome milestone).
  
• I'm still having trouble with the pinched nerve in my neck, and will be seeing the orthopedist next week. I have no idea how long this will take to settle down.

When we made the decision to attempt to breed Kenya this time, we knew about the first-time-pregnancy risks and the up-in-the-air job situation. We did not, however, know that DFS would not be returning to his residential college, nor did we know that my pinched-nerve trouble would worsen again.

Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, our missed window of opportunity with Kenya is really a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we're being spared the stress and responsibility (though missing the joy) of raising a litter when I would've been spending hours a day driving DFS back and forth to school (45-minutes one-way) or when I physically, because of the nerve thing, may not be in any kind of shape to care for pups by then.

The nice thing about windows is, though sometimes it's best they stay closed, there are other times, perhaps just around the bend, during which they can be opened again. It might be a different window or a different season, but it's an opening nonetheless.

And so it will be with Kenya.



And Elsie.


And Pinot.


And Ridge.




And Tuc (note the tail-wag blur -- one big, happy boy!).



And it will be that way with any other endeavor we pursue.

So, yes, it's definite: we missed our window with Kenya, and she will definitely not being having a fall litter.

But while that window is shut (perhaps for our protection and benefit), another will open. Of that I'm sure.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy the always-open window of loving and living with our Labs.

And, in this season, I'll try to more regularly share that window with you.

'Til next time,
Joan

Control: It's an Illusion (Aka, the Kenya-Bean has a Mind of Her Own)

Kenya, it seems, has a mind (and body) of her own.




She's also seen fit to remind us that "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray." - Robert Burns.

Yup. Apparently we humans have far too inflated a view of ourselves. We seem to think we can plan and scheme and, if we invest enough strategy, effort, and knowledge, we can ultimately get our desired results.

Ha!

How silly we are.

The latest round of remind-us-we're-puny-humans-and-any-control-we-think-we-have-is-just-an-illusion came in the form of planning for fall puppies.

We've done this before. Successfully. We've watched countless heat cycles, read biological indicators, avoided pregnancies when we wanted to protect our girls, and ensured conception when we thought the time was right. Timing the dogs' matings (or avoiding mating during prime times) has never been a problem. Nuts? Yes. A problem? No.

To boot, for this fall's planned litter, we have a notify list of over twenty people (people who want to be notified when Kenya is pregnant). We've already received three completed placement questionnaires (but didn't take any deposits -- never do until the pups are born) from people who seriously want a pup this fall.

We prepared. We did all the necessary screenings. Kenya's OFA certs came back well ("good" on hips; "normal" on elbows). She and Ridge passed their eye-certifcation exams with flying colors. No issues. Everything was good to go.

We had our plans.

Kenya, it appears, had hers.





Our Kenya Bean, for the first time, didn't cycle the same way as she has in past heat cycles. Mind you, this is not Kenya's first heat -- more like her sixth. This time was different.

In heats past, she made it obvious when she was ready to mate. Her day-counts (we count days from the onset of their heat cycles to estimate when conception is most likely to occur) have been well within the norm (20-to-22-day cycle, prime between days 10 and 14). She'd do the normal-for-a-Lab-in-heat attract-the-boys dance and would cock her tail to signal her readiness.

This time she's barely spotted. This time she's not cocking her tail. This time she wants nothing to do with the boys.

Not that the boys don't want her. They've been going nuts.

But Kenya's not interested.

Maybe it's that Elsie was in heat simultaneously (a couple days ahead of Kenya in her cycle). Maybe Kenya's just not feeling well. Or maybe, for some reason, Kenya is experiencing a longer-than-usual cycle and isn't yet prime, though by our count she's at day 15 right now. We've been putting Ridge and Kenya alone together now since her day 11 (last Thursday), and she won't have anything to do with Ridge. Period.

Oh, and she lets us know she doesn't want anything to do with him, too. Sweet, happy-go-lucky-always-wiggly Kenya morphs into snarly-get-away-from-me Kenya when Ridge gets close (poor, confused boy is only doing what Kenya's phermones are telling him to do). She's been behaving this way since we started allowing them to be together five days ago.

I'm beginning to realize we may not be having fall puppies after all.

Aaargh. You would think this would be easy, that nature would take its course.

It's not.

I don't know what happened (or what's happening). Maybe our counts are off (but we were checking her daily for spotting, and didn't find any until 15 days ago). Maybe we just lucked out with Elsie (our little always-ready-to-mate-would-be-a-breeding-machine-if-we'd-let-her girl). Maybe Kenya is just having an "off" cycle (she not at all flirtatious this time like she has been before). There've been no indicators from her, none, other than the onset of spotting.

Maybe she's just picky.

In any case, we planned a fall litter. And now it looks like it won't be happening.

And I'm reminded again of just how little control I have over anything.

Sigh.

This isn't the first reminder of my lack of real control, nor will it be the last. It's not my first disappointment, nor is it the first time things haven't worked out as I'd hoped and planned. I've learned to live with our other unexpected outcomes. I've even learned to embrace a few and have grown thankful for them. I trust there's a reason for this outcome out there somewhere.

So, though disappointed, I'm at peace.

I just dread disappointing all those people out there who were hoping for a Ridge-Kenya pup this fall.

Now it looks like we won't have pups until next spring. We'll find a new sire for Elsie over the winter (her next cycle six months from now), and then will get Tuc certified next May, for a Tuc-Kenya pairing next summer.

That is, of course, only our plan. We'll have to see how it all pans out.

I guess that makes me a pan-theist, eh? I believe it all pans out in the end.

'Til next time,
Joan

Wordless Wednesday: Pinot Learns to Share (aka: Tuc's Persistence)