35 posts tagged “haven”
This morning was the annual running of Bailey's Doggie Dash. Andrew hasn't been running much at all this year due to a back injury so he decided to enter the costume contest. He has had this idea for a couple of years but finally got costumes this year. Andrew's race number this year was a cool one. His birthday month and year.
Since we call Haven Miss B when she's naughty (get it - Miss B Haven) the bee costume is fitting. Andrew had to be a sunflower to go along with her. They ended up placing fourth in the costume contest.
These two collies have creative costumes each year. One year they were "collie flowers" with head gear similar to Andrew's! The football player took first place and the cheerleader took second in the costume contest. A pirate was in third place even though we thought Haven should have been there if the collies were going to be first and second. Haven was doing her screaming while being *judged* so we told her she got points taken off her score for her behavior. You can see video of Haven screaming here.
Once the race started Haven settled in. But Andrew said that she was mad that they weren't running as fast as they usually do!
After the race we hung out while waiting for everyone to finish. Haven was all over getting treats and watching the people. She didn't mind all of the dogs but they weren't as interesting.
Back at home we took our yearly photo of Andrew and Haven in front of the burning bush with whatever they took home from the race that year.
After throwing a ball at the bumper it eventually came down. Now both dogs are happily sleeping - Beacon in a sunbeam and Haven on a double decker soft bed.
More photos that I took this morning can be seen in my Doggie Dash Flickr album.
We went out this weekend and got Haven's costume for the Doggie Dash, which is the end of October. Since Andrew hasn't been able to run this year he wants to still be able to make the race fun (although how can any race with your dog not be fun) so he's entering the costume contest. In past years he has thought about this and has had this idea but finally the pieces are starting to come together. Haven's all set. Andrew still needs to work on his part.
Haven tolerated the costume and didn't look too sad. Andrew will probably work with her taking her out on a leash while wearing it so that when it comes to running with it on she's not wigged out. Although if she's feeling a bit weird maybe she won't "scream" before the race (although I have my doubts) or go out too fast and be worn out by the end. We'll see if Haven's a good little bee or one that lives up to her Miss B Haven nickname using mostly when she sneaks up on the couch.
There are white things floating down from above but it's not snow. It's cottonwood seeds. On the side of our yard we have a cottonwood tree behind out house in the woods off to the side. Every year for at least a couple of weeks the seeds float around. At times they look cool. At times they're a pain, especially when mowing.
This tall tree started dropping seeds last week. I don't think we've reached the height of all of the things floating around. There are still a lot of cotton clumps all over the tree.
I was on my belly in the grass taking photos of all the seeds in the grass. Andrew and the dogs were also outside. The dogs started playing and kept trying to use me as a home base. In order to not get jumped on or have the camera knocked out of my hand I decided to go vertical. There were a few stare downs next to me.
Amber went home a day early since her mom was home and ready for her. It was fun having Amber in the house while she was here. She seemed to like playing with our dogs. And they liked having her around. Although I think all of the dogs are happy to have things back to normal.
When we dropped Amber off this morning she was happy to be back at home with her mom where she could be a spoiled only dog. Beacon and Haven are happy they can go back to their lazy ways without having to "entertain" a guest.
At some point during most days that Amber was here I was chasing a dog or some combination of dogs off the couch. I never saw all three of them up there and suspect that only two were up there at a time. And likely never Beacon and Amber at the same time.
Both Beacon and Haven liked playing with Amber. Beacon and Amber have the same physical style of play. When they're chasing and being chased there's lots of moves and lots of contact. Haven and Amber liked playing tug o war.
We've actually had to teach Haven how to play this. And going against training techniques we have to let her win. When we've fostered puppies (we're talking 8 weeks old) she would let them all steal toys from her without asserting any kind of authority. So we play tug o war with Haven and let her win. Not all of the time but enough to where she's finally starting to tug back and get into the game. We were surprised when she actually played with Amber.
It started with a stare down. Well, I should back up. It actually started with Haven squeaking a toy. Amber got interested in the noise. Haven noticed another dog wanted her *prize* so she shook the toy around to show off her possession. THEN the stare down happened.
They were like two kids trying to see who could last the longest. Amber kept moving closer. They would continue to stare. Amber started making noises. And they would continue to stare. Haven sat there calmly watching Amber. Haven's the master at "stealing" toys so she knows all of the tricks. The stares and moves by Amber went on for a few minutes. Andrew and I were trying not to laugh.
Eventually Amber got close enough to touch the toy and try to take it. Haven actually "fought back". There was tugging. We could tell that both dogs were having fun and while serious about wanting to have the prize possession of the moment neither was being mean. We continued to watch and tried not to laugh because we didn't want to distract them. We egged them on. Andrew held Beacon back because he would have jumped in, taken the toy, and the fun would have ended. Typical boy, right?
I like to say that the two girls were fighting over rights to kiss the frog in hopes of it turning into a prince. The frog doesn't look like he's too eager for either girl to win him. But no such thing happened or was even attempted. Haven won the battle. There were a couple rounds of the process of staring, Amber getting closer, and the eventual tugging. We ended up putting the frog out of reach so that we could hear the hockey game we were watching rather than squeaking.
All of the antics tired the girls out. Soon they were both napping. Of course on some softness. There always has to be softness.
I haven't been around these parts lately. I've heard from JJ's new family a couple of times and she's doing well. They said that she has fit right in and adjusted quickly. I'm glad that she is enjoying her new family.
Christmas morning consisted of Haven doing her yearly shredding of paper. She loves ripping up balls of wrapping paper. I tried to get her to rip paper off an actual package but she wasn't into that. She only wanted wads. And as a new wad was being formed for her she ditched the one she was working on for something "new". Beacon will also rip paper up but he's not into it as much as Haven. Eventually she wore herself out and wasn't interested in anything but sleeping.
Andrew got on some warmer clothes and headed out with a flashlight and leash to see if he could find anything. Andrew didn't get too far up our street before he heard the noise coming from the direction of our house! We came back into our yard and found two beagles. They were baying as they followed deer trails.
I looked out the window and saw that he was holding on to the collars of two dogs. I figured he only took one leash so I went out with a second. The two beagles were eager to continue their adventure chasing scents but otherwise were fine. They didn't show signs of aggression and didn't mind being held. It was clear that they were traveling companions that knew one another.
After both dogs were on a leash Andrew let them lead the way to see where they were going. He wondered if they would lead him to their house. When they just continued sniffing deer scents he brought them back to the front of our house. Not knowing if the dogs were friendly with other dogs or up to date on shots we decided not to have them interact with our dogs.
We looked at their collars and they didn't have any hanging ID tags. But after a more careful inspection we saw that there was something attached flush to the collars with a name and number. Of course we called the number and then waited for their owners to retrieve them.
One of the girls (they were both female) was bleeding a bit on her leg. We think it was from running around in crunchy snow. She didn't seem to mind or act hurt. Both dogs were pretty nice and let us pet them but you could tell that they'd rather be off on a hunt.
After 10-15 minutes someone came to pick the two up. We learned that Lacy and Lucy were the names of the pair. Apparently they've been trained to hunt. Originally small game but they seem to prefer bigger animals. We weren't told how they escaped.
This isn't the best photo but it's the best I could do while waiting with the girls in our garage.
This week we got our first snow that stuck to the ground. Only a couple of inches but it was a wet, heavy snow. We threw snowballs for the dogs in the backyard and built snow people. After a few minutes the dogs remembered what chasing snowballs and eating snow was all about. They especially loved "tackling" piles of snow. They were cracking us up.
This photo of Haven was taken a couple of winters ago. Both dogs got a smaller version of snow bling this week. Eventually they figured out how to get it off.
Earlier this week I met Andrew and Haven at the dog park on my way home. Andrew ran with Haven the two miles to the park and we all drove home together. We were at the dog park for a little over an hour.
Haven's used to being around Beacon. She's used to running on leash or running off leash in the woods as her exercise. She almost seems confused by dog parks the handful of times that we've taken her. She generally stays by us and doesn't care about playing with the other dogs. She'd actually rather visit with the people that are there.
This week wasn't much different. But this week we saw around 20 dogs at the park! It was pretty packed, certainly the fullest we've seen it. Dogs kept coming and going. Haven just stood there as dogs came up to her and sniffed. She didn't look like she appreciated getting slobbered on during the process. At one point a smaller dog even growled at her for some reason.
As Andrew and I talked with various people Haven mostly stood near us. But toward the end of our time at the park she ventured off a little bit. That little dog that growled at her came back at one point. The dog growled again but this time Haven growled back. Finally she was showing the little dog that she's bigger and shouldn't be messed with. Haven even half-heartedly joined in some chasing, although quite a few times she ran along the outskirts more observing and following the action than actually participating.
Everyone kept saying how good Haven was. She wasn't the typical dog park dog that goes there to burn off energy. She was calm and quiet. Haven was the role model at the park.
She was also the ham, which is nothing new. She enticed a couple eating apples to give her a piece! Just the week before Haven had her first taste of apple and liked it. She kept sitting and staring at this couple until finally they gave in. I wonder if she knew though that they were the owners of the little dog that growled at her.
Hopefully some practice being around other dogs and having to interact with them will be good practice for Saturday. It's Doggie Dash time!! Andrew and Haven will be running once again. Since Andrew hasn't been doing a lot of running lately he's running for fun rather than to "race". Hopefully Haven got that message. She typically gets really excited in the beginning and goes out fast. Last year she started "screaming" before the race in anticipation.
I'll definitely be bringing the camera to document the action.
Even though Beacon got to chase a deer and coyote yesterday, Haven ended up having her share of fun with wildlife. When Andrew got home from his bike ride there were two red squirrels in the garage. We let Haven out to sniff them and hopefully chase them out. Not as easy as it seems.
One got out relatively quickly, within five minutes. The other we were battling for at least another 20 minutes! It kept going back and forth along one wall of the garage. We ended up having to move a bunch of things in order for it not to have a place to hide. Then it went to the other side of the garage.
Haven was spooled going back and forth sniffing and chasing the squirrel. At one point it was sitting on a cabinet that's on the ground and Haven just sniffed it. It moved and she tried to bite at it but missed. Back and forth and back and forth. We and the squirrel went from one corner of the garage to another.
Eventually Andrew and I had to split up and guide the squirrel toward the front of the garage. A few times it was there but didn't want to make a break for the woods because it had to run in the open. And there was Haven. We wanted to let Haven chase the squirrel but we didn't want her to kill it.
When the first one got out she chased and bit at it as she ran, trying to pounce on it. But it got away safely by climbing up a tree. The second one wasn't as lucky. When it finally left the garage Haven was giving chase. She bounded along looking like Pepe LePew and ended up being able to catch the squirrel. I think it was tired from running back and forth in the garage while Haven was still fresh and mentally eager to get a closer look at the squirrel.
Haven got the squirrel in her mouth and then tossed it. I think the moving around made her drop it. Then she pounced and the squirrel was under her. She kept trying to look for it until it eventually squeezed out. Then she got it in her mouth a couple more times. All of this happened in less than a minute.
Andrew and I were telling Haven to "leave it". In the end the squirrel was still. It was still alive so we think that it was stunned. We took Haven away from the squirrel and Andrew put it into the woods. Haven was panting and excited by this point. She was focused for a long time on one thing, which is something for her.
We saw that the squirrel had bitten Haven right below the nose. She had two little puncture wounds, which reminded me of Bunnicula. Haven was bleeding a little but it quickly stopped. She's no worse for wear now and you can barely tell that something bit her.
We went out for a while and by the time we got back the squirrel was no longer there. Hopefully both of the squirrels that were in the garage tell their friends not to come around. I'm always chasing them off the bird feeders.
This morning when we were leaving to go out Haven was eager to go into the garage. We let and she started looking around, wanting to make sure that there weren't any squirrels.
There is a dog park about two miles away from our house. It opened last fall and will have a grand opening sometime this spring even though people have been going there with their dogs for months.
The dog park is about an acre in size. There's a large area for bigger and more active dogs. There are three big piles of sand for the dogs to play on and dig in. There are benches and places for people to get (and donate) poop bags. We've driven by this part quite a few times but haven't ever taken our dogs there. This changed yesterday.
While Andrew took Beacon to the river to fetch sticks I took Haven to the dog park. We know that Beacon would likely be stressed going there. But Haven's not a typical dog park dog either. She tends to like people more than other dogs. And she usually seeks out the omega position.
When we first arrived there were about half a dozen dogs running around. Of course when we entered they all had to come and check out Haven, the newbie. She stood there and looked sad and confused. She put her hackles up but didn't make any noises. Within a short amount of time the dogs were satisfied with their sniffs and went back to playing.
Haven greeted all of the people. She didn't care about running around with the dogs. When she wasn't off sniffing people she was standing by me. She's so used to playing with Beacon who dominates play that she doesn't know what to do, although in recent months she has become more "aggressive" with Beacon not letting him win all of the time.
We were at the park for about 45 minutes. By the end of the time we were the only ones left. I walked around with Haven so she could sniff things and be more familiar with the place. We then went to pick up some Subway for lunch and headed home. We took a detour and went to meet Andrew and Beacon at the Boyscout camp.
Haven didn't get tired at all while at the dog park. I knew that Beacon would be pretty tired so I let Haven run around for a few minutes. Beacon tried to run with her but he was too tired and slow. After Haven burned off a little energy we went home.
Later in the afternoon we took Haven back to the dog park!! I wanted Andrew to go and see what it was like. This time when we arrived there was only one dog there. Haven ran around but only because Andrew and I were at different ends of the park calling her back and forth between us.
Haven ended up getting hot and plopped down in the big, gross mud puddle. She was wet and smelly. But she was running around and having fun even if she was ignoring the other dog that was there for the most part. Eventually a couple small dogs arrived who went into the small dog area. Haven sniffed them through the fence. Then a Jack Russel Terrier arrived. Haven seemed to like this dog. I think if she were more comfortable she would have run around with this dog.
Hopefully we'll have the time to take Haven to the dog park on a somewhat regular basis. It'll be a good way for us to meet dog owners close to where we live.
Yesterday was Haven's turn to help out at the store. This was her second time here during business hours. She went to work with Andrew a couple of Saturdays ago. I was warned by Andrew that she whined most of the day with him.
Haven whined almost non-stop for the first two hours. All she did was watch the cats and whine. She wanted to play with them. She was mad that they were able to play with each other and all she could do is watch.
Eventually she got tired but she would go through bouts of whining throughout the day. Thankfully it didn't last too long whenever she decided she wanted to let it be known that she didn't appreciate being left out.
Haven got to chew on the rollio that Beacon had started the day before. She was a stinker and kept trying to "steal" it from the shelf where I kept it while she wasn't using it. She's definitely good at making her wishes be known.
She did some wandering around the store. She wasn't as into looking at things as Beacon was the day before but I wonder if that was because she had been at the store recently.
I had Haven pose by some dog food. She looked about as thrilled as Beacon did posing by the leashes and collars. But she was a good sport and looked at me so I could snap a photo.
The biggest thrill for Haven was greeting people that came in. She's such a social butterfly. Although she thought that everyone entering the door and walking around the store should give her a treat. She would follow people around and sit next to them if they stopped long enough as if to say that she was being good and deserved a treat. She even did some of her tricks for some kids in the afternoon.
I could tell that Haven actually liked being at the store. Beacon didn't mind because he was hanging out with me but he didn't actually *enjoy* the time. Although by the time 6PM arrived Haven was ready to go home.
Worn out from a day without much sleep she crashed when we got home. She's usually the first to remind us that it's time for dinner but she was too lazy to do that.
I brought Haven's harness with me but only used it when I took her outside. It helped with the pulling while on leash. But she was too sad to wear it throughout the day like Beacon did. She doesn't like to have to wear things. She doesn't like to move when something is on her. When we arrived at work in the morning I actually had to take the harness off her in order for her to get out of the car!
I plan on bringing the dogs to work with me from time to time. It's good for them and people like seeing them. And as long as I'm not expecting a big shipment or have a lot to do it's pretty easy to have one of them in the store.
