© 2012 Joshua Stark
Now that I have a spaniel(ish) dog, I've been looking up spaniel training on YouTube, and what I've found are some really, really inspirational videos from folks from the United Kingdom who make training dogs look like a snap.
I've never had a problem with basic obedience out of any of my dogs; I recognize I've been really lucky with my dogs, too. But I've never been able to train for distance - getting dogs to stop what they are doing and instead of coming back to me, look at me for directions. This is my next project for Rosie.
My hunting dogs have all had a great drive, a wonderful desire to please, smarts like you wouldn't believe, and above all, loved me to pieces. Rosie is a bit different, so far. She comes to me for protection now, and she comes fairly regularly to the recall, but she lacks some enthusiasm. I'm chalking it up to her being sick (looks like a cold, but no cough) and to youth. She shows some real action for about five or ten-minute spurts, and then she has to take a break, so it probably is the former. (She also lost a tooth last night, so there is much going on.)
I know she's smart, she's passed all the tests I gave her, and she's nosy as all heck - she's even become our early warning dirty diaper detection system. And she loves the kids. I'm hoping that when her health improves and her teeth come in, she'll get some bounce in her step.
The past two days we have been working on coming when called and sitting. The recall is kinda tough for both of us, but especially me. I'm trying to tighten up my commands so that I don't start bad habits, and I have some trouble remembering that her name doesn't mean "come!" I'm also using a new hand signal that will be helpful in the field, but that feels really silly, especially when I'm motioning to a dog that is seven feet away. She likes me whistling, so if that's how it goes, then so be it. The biggest thing for me is that she comes back.
Sitting has been going very well, although she's funny about it like a puppy should be. She'll get so excited to sit that she'll go ass-over-teakettle backwards sometimes. I love it.
I'm also uncomfortable using a leash during training, as I've trained all my other dogs just by being out in the yard with them. I'm not using the leash too much right now, but I might start using it more just because all the cool guys on YouTube are doing it (and by "cool" I mean tweed-and-rubber-boot-wearing, thick brogue talking types with dogs they could probably train to fly an airplane).
One interesting book I picked up is "The Intelligence of Dogs" by Stanley Coren. It's not a training manual, it is a book about dog smarts. I'm enjoying it, but then again I am a gigantic nerd, so there you are. One thing I've noticed is that I've always gravitated toward the smarter end of the breed spectrum, and my last dog, Irma, was a mix of the smartest (border collie) and the fourth smartest (golden retriever) on the author's list. The English Springer Spaniel, by the way, Mr. Coren ranks at 13.
And speaking of nerdy, I've even been researching dog whistles, of all things. I've settled on a pealess Acme 10.5 because I don't think I'll need anything super-loud and I don't want a pea in my whistle (that sounds funny). I've never used a whistle on dogs, but I'm not confident in my own whistling to be loud enough.
Really I'm just pleased as all get-out that I've got a dog, and watching my kids with her, I know I've made the right decision. Just today, for example, Ruben decided it would be a great idea to hit her with a metal measuring cup. The good dog just sat there and took a couple of swipes, then got up and walked over to me. When I noticed what he had just done (and was trying to do again), I laid down the law to the 19 month-old, for all the good that'll do, and gave Rocie all kinds of fuss.
And Phoebe and her caniphobia? Day-before-yesterday, she started feeding Rocie out of her hand.
I'll end with a wonderful video extolling the virtues of FTCh Buccleuch Pepper, an advertisement for those looking for a champion Springer sire (and who, if you wanted to call him, would come to "Paper! Come here, Paper!"). He is our goal:
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Posts I've neglected as of late
© 2012 Joshua Stark
While playing with my kids and my new dog, painting the kitchen, visiting long-unseen relatives and driving all over town, here are some posts I've worked on and thought up but haven't finished:
I took my nephew on his first-ever hunt where he could shoot (last January he passed his hunters' safety course - and so did his mom, my sister);
My new friend and brewer Matt brewed up a few bottles of nettle beer, and we discovered that one can squeeze a lemon out of a nettle;
Agnes' herb garden is growing, with additions of lemon balm, cilantro, garlic and lavender, and we are looking for herb suggestions (legal ones, of course);
My slug battle has heated up, and I'd love to find a cure that doesn't cost as much as patented prescription drugs.
In other garden news, the first sprouts have sprung up in the Summer vegetable bed, and the potato patch has come alive, thankfully with potato leaves. Also, the orange tree and boysenberry are blooming, and the walnut has lost a ton of tiny (about 1/4") walnuts.
Last, every third Saturday of April, Kiene's Fly Fishing puts on their annual Expo in honor of trout season opening the following Saturday. I've missed it the past couple of years, but hope to stop by there Saturday morning to say hi and to let some travel fly-fishing fellas about Hippo's resort, and how they'd better get out there before he catches all the fish
So, lots going on here.
While playing with my kids and my new dog, painting the kitchen, visiting long-unseen relatives and driving all over town, here are some posts I've worked on and thought up but haven't finished:
I took my nephew on his first-ever hunt where he could shoot (last January he passed his hunters' safety course - and so did his mom, my sister);
My new friend and brewer Matt brewed up a few bottles of nettle beer, and we discovered that one can squeeze a lemon out of a nettle;
Agnes' herb garden is growing, with additions of lemon balm, cilantro, garlic and lavender, and we are looking for herb suggestions (legal ones, of course);
My slug battle has heated up, and I'd love to find a cure that doesn't cost as much as patented prescription drugs.
In other garden news, the first sprouts have sprung up in the Summer vegetable bed, and the potato patch has come alive, thankfully with potato leaves. Also, the orange tree and boysenberry are blooming, and the walnut has lost a ton of tiny (about 1/4") walnuts.
Last, every third Saturday of April, Kiene's Fly Fishing puts on their annual Expo in honor of trout season opening the following Saturday. I've missed it the past couple of years, but hope to stop by there Saturday morning to say hi and to let some travel fly-fishing fellas about Hippo's resort, and how they'd better get out there before he catches all the fish
So, lots going on here.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
I got a dog! I got a dog!
© 2012 Joshua Stark
So... I got a dog.
The rescue place (yeah, so what?) that sold her to me calls her Freckles, but Phoebe and I are pretty set on Rocio, with Rosie for short. Agnes (my lovely wife) still likes Freckles, and it sure would be fun to step out onto the field and call out, "Freckles, hunt 'em up! Hunt 'em up, Freckles!" Ah well, we shall see.
Anyhoo, she's about five months old, has all her shots, and is all nose about the world - something I love. I also love that she plopped right over on her back for my kids - although she's too scared to do that for me, yet.
In fact, she's taken to the kids and wife pretty well - a cruel irony if there ever was one. Today, though, I get her to myself for a while, as I prepare to paint the kitchen.
I've been poking around a number of hunting dog websites, just in case, but I'm going to go slowly with her. She's scared of me (following me around the house right now, but if I look at her, she has to walk away).
I wonder what the night will bring.
So... I got a dog.
 | |
| Some kind of spaniel mix |
Anyhoo, she's about five months old, has all her shots, and is all nose about the world - something I love. I also love that she plopped right over on her back for my kids - although she's too scared to do that for me, yet.
In fact, she's taken to the kids and wife pretty well - a cruel irony if there ever was one. Today, though, I get her to myself for a while, as I prepare to paint the kitchen.
I've been poking around a number of hunting dog websites, just in case, but I'm going to go slowly with her. She's scared of me (following me around the house right now, but if I look at her, she has to walk away).
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Garden note to self (because self didn't label the rows)... and a dog update
© 2012 Joshua Stark
Yesterday and between storms, me and the kids planted up one of our raised beds. Starting West and moving East: pole beans, corn, okra, swiss chard, okra, nasturtium (edges), cabbages (edges), cherry tomatoes (North), beefsteak tomatoes (South), poblano peppers (North), early jalapeños (South), basil.
Ruben, the eighteen-month old, was the catalyst for the plantings. Day-before-yesterday the little elf, famous in this house for throwing everything he can into the pond, had gotten hold of my package of basil seeds and tossed it in the drink. Since they'd soaked for a while, I decided it would be best to just plant the whole packet - something I never do (I still have seeds from five years ago). Frankly, it was kinda cathartic, and I knew it was time to get the rest of the stuff in, too.
I hate thinning plants that I've planted and that have shown the courtesy to come up, so my gardens always look a bit anemic because I'm afraid to over-plant. Not this time. I planted many, many seeds. We'll see if I'll be callous enough to do the dirty work and thin the babies, although I probably will do what needs to be done and just eat them, anyway.
The bed is 4' x 8', and I'm sure I'm straining somebody's take on companion planting (tomatoes with corn), but let me explain myself. We have three raised beds, and this year the Upper Bed was planted early with greens, onions and leeks (and now garlic, too). Agnes asked for the North Bed, which I was tickled pink to give her. In it we've put lemon balm, cilantro, marigolds, and more garlic, and we still have some room.
The one bed left, then, was "my" vegetable garden, and it all needed to go in. So I started with pole beans and corn on the Northeast side to minimize garden shading. I know that corn and beans don't get along with tomatoes, so I put in some okra (which supposedly gets along with everybody) and chard (which is always just happy to be here) in-between. I edged everything with nasturtium (yes, I'm 30 years late to the party, but I don't care, I love a plant I can grow that tastes just like black pepper). On the West side are rows of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, poblanos and jalapeños (not jalapenos - and never, ever make that mistake when typing about Spanish years), and finally the infamous row of basil.
I'm afraid that the latest storm will slow down the peppers and tomatoes; I'd rather not buy flats of started plants this year, but instead get some good show from these seeds. Our Spring temps. usually shoot up 20 or 30 degrees the day after a storm, so I'm not too worried, but you never know. I hope to use some of the cherry tomato seedlings to fill a hanging garden bag my Mother-in-law gave us a couple of years ago, but I will buy a started pear tomato if they don't show.
Speaking of hanging gardens, we also put a Rutgers heirloom tomato in an upside-down tomato bag (complete with pretty metal stand). The stand was my Christmas present from one of my lovely sisters, and it looks great!
Around the property, the cuttings are showing no additional signs of life, but the pomegranate, orange, fig, currant and boysenberries are definitely thriving.
Consider me your experiment for getting your entire vegetable garden in one bed. I'll do my best to keep you posted.
----------
On the dog front, more crappy news. The local SPCA turned us down over the phone because the dog I was interested in (a "lab/hound mix" which looks awfully like a lab/GSP mix) was not, according to them, good for a home with children. Apparently, the reasoning goes, she "jumps up a lot." B.S. I told the lady that it was too bad they were prejudiced against children instead of taking the time to get to know the potential owner, and hung up. I suppose they've never met a person who could train a dog not to jump up - and I'd like to know if they've ever had a medium-sized or larger dog under the age of two not jump up. According to the Sacramento SPCA, then, kids shouldn't be raised around big dogs. I don't know what they are trying to accomplish, but building a constituency of people who love dogs enough to want to save them obviously isn't one of them.
Yesterday and between storms, me and the kids planted up one of our raised beds. Starting West and moving East: pole beans, corn, okra, swiss chard, okra, nasturtium (edges), cabbages (edges), cherry tomatoes (North), beefsteak tomatoes (South), poblano peppers (North), early jalapeños (South), basil.
Ruben, the eighteen-month old, was the catalyst for the plantings. Day-before-yesterday the little elf, famous in this house for throwing everything he can into the pond, had gotten hold of my package of basil seeds and tossed it in the drink. Since they'd soaked for a while, I decided it would be best to just plant the whole packet - something I never do (I still have seeds from five years ago). Frankly, it was kinda cathartic, and I knew it was time to get the rest of the stuff in, too.
I hate thinning plants that I've planted and that have shown the courtesy to come up, so my gardens always look a bit anemic because I'm afraid to over-plant. Not this time. I planted many, many seeds. We'll see if I'll be callous enough to do the dirty work and thin the babies, although I probably will do what needs to be done and just eat them, anyway.
The bed is 4' x 8', and I'm sure I'm straining somebody's take on companion planting (tomatoes with corn), but let me explain myself. We have three raised beds, and this year the Upper Bed was planted early with greens, onions and leeks (and now garlic, too). Agnes asked for the North Bed, which I was tickled pink to give her. In it we've put lemon balm, cilantro, marigolds, and more garlic, and we still have some room.
The one bed left, then, was "my" vegetable garden, and it all needed to go in. So I started with pole beans and corn on the Northeast side to minimize garden shading. I know that corn and beans don't get along with tomatoes, so I put in some okra (which supposedly gets along with everybody) and chard (which is always just happy to be here) in-between. I edged everything with nasturtium (yes, I'm 30 years late to the party, but I don't care, I love a plant I can grow that tastes just like black pepper). On the West side are rows of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, poblanos and jalapeños (not jalapenos - and never, ever make that mistake when typing about Spanish years), and finally the infamous row of basil.
I'm afraid that the latest storm will slow down the peppers and tomatoes; I'd rather not buy flats of started plants this year, but instead get some good show from these seeds. Our Spring temps. usually shoot up 20 or 30 degrees the day after a storm, so I'm not too worried, but you never know. I hope to use some of the cherry tomato seedlings to fill a hanging garden bag my Mother-in-law gave us a couple of years ago, but I will buy a started pear tomato if they don't show.
Speaking of hanging gardens, we also put a Rutgers heirloom tomato in an upside-down tomato bag (complete with pretty metal stand). The stand was my Christmas present from one of my lovely sisters, and it looks great!
Around the property, the cuttings are showing no additional signs of life, but the pomegranate, orange, fig, currant and boysenberries are definitely thriving.
Consider me your experiment for getting your entire vegetable garden in one bed. I'll do my best to keep you posted.
----------
On the dog front, more crappy news. The local SPCA turned us down over the phone because the dog I was interested in (a "lab/hound mix" which looks awfully like a lab/GSP mix) was not, according to them, good for a home with children. Apparently, the reasoning goes, she "jumps up a lot." B.S. I told the lady that it was too bad they were prejudiced against children instead of taking the time to get to know the potential owner, and hung up. I suppose they've never met a person who could train a dog not to jump up - and I'd like to know if they've ever had a medium-sized or larger dog under the age of two not jump up. According to the Sacramento SPCA, then, kids shouldn't be raised around big dogs. I don't know what they are trying to accomplish, but building a constituency of people who love dogs enough to want to save them obviously isn't one of them.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
How to cook nettles
© 2012 Joshua Stark
Here is a short video my friend Abby from This Old Blog put together for me. If you don't realize it, she is the reason this video is so professionally put together; I did everything in my power to make it stink, but she is very good.
Here is a short video my friend Abby from This Old Blog put together for me. If you don't realize it, she is the reason this video is so professionally put together; I did everything in my power to make it stink, but she is very good.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Two strikes and they are out - my last experience with a "rescue" org.
© 2012 Joshua Stark
"Thank you for your interest in Bailey. We are not comfortable plscing
her with such young children."
That right there is the entire email I received after being stupid enough to fill out this absolutely ridiculous form at the Big Dog Rescue of Penngrove, California. I spent maybe thirty minutes answering questions as asinine and legally dubious as, "what brand of dog food do plan to feed your dog?" and, "if you have a family member or friend you would like to care for the dog... please list their contact information here, so that they may be qualified by Big Dog Rescue."
After that humiliation, I expected, at the very least, a call-back so that they might get to know me and my family. I figured that since they are rescue folks, they would care enough to realize the impersonal nature of the internet and want some time in direct communication. I also assumed that they cared about getting dogs to homes where they are loved.
I am an idiot, obviously. They didn't even take the time to spell-check.
I probably should have let the extraordinarily offensive image they have of Buddha with a dog's head on their website be my clue (only a North Bay liberal could have such callous disregard for others' religious beliefs). I should have let my first experience with a "rescue" person over at Golden Gate English Springer Spaniel Rescue exemplify "rescue" people, in general. I even could have listened to my sister-in-law, who works at a county shelter, or my sister, who has dealt with "rescue" people a couple of times for dogs, and who both told me that they are crazy charlatans who make ridiculous demands and charge insane amounts of money.
Why do I keep using quotation marks around "rescue"? Because these people aren't rescuing these dogs. I don't know what sore part of their consciences these people are trying to salve, but they aren't doing what they purport to do. The only dog I've met via rescue was matted and scratching fleas, and the others haven't even given me the time of day.
Under normal circumstances I'd be much more self-reflective, but I know dogs, I love dogs, and I'm pretty good with dogs. In fact, I'm so confident that I'm not even going to defend myself here.
So I'll still scour the shelters for dogs and I'll still look up classified ads. I'll even consider dogs from a reputable hunting dog breeder (a first in my life and maybe a sign of a mid-life crisis). But I will not try for another poor dog from a "rescue".
And as I said in my response to the Big Dog Rescue of Penngrove, I pray for those dogs they pretend to rescue.
"Thank you for your interest in Bailey. We are not comfortable plscing
her with such young children."
That right there is the entire email I received after being stupid enough to fill out this absolutely ridiculous form at the Big Dog Rescue of Penngrove, California. I spent maybe thirty minutes answering questions as asinine and legally dubious as, "what brand of dog food do plan to feed your dog?" and, "if you have a family member or friend you would like to care for the dog... please list their contact information here, so that they may be qualified by Big Dog Rescue."
After that humiliation, I expected, at the very least, a call-back so that they might get to know me and my family. I figured that since they are rescue folks, they would care enough to realize the impersonal nature of the internet and want some time in direct communication. I also assumed that they cared about getting dogs to homes where they are loved.
I am an idiot, obviously. They didn't even take the time to spell-check.
I probably should have let the extraordinarily offensive image they have of Buddha with a dog's head on their website be my clue (only a North Bay liberal could have such callous disregard for others' religious beliefs). I should have let my first experience with a "rescue" person over at Golden Gate English Springer Spaniel Rescue exemplify "rescue" people, in general. I even could have listened to my sister-in-law, who works at a county shelter, or my sister, who has dealt with "rescue" people a couple of times for dogs, and who both told me that they are crazy charlatans who make ridiculous demands and charge insane amounts of money.
Why do I keep using quotation marks around "rescue"? Because these people aren't rescuing these dogs. I don't know what sore part of their consciences these people are trying to salve, but they aren't doing what they purport to do. The only dog I've met via rescue was matted and scratching fleas, and the others haven't even given me the time of day.
Under normal circumstances I'd be much more self-reflective, but I know dogs, I love dogs, and I'm pretty good with dogs. In fact, I'm so confident that I'm not even going to defend myself here.
So I'll still scour the shelters for dogs and I'll still look up classified ads. I'll even consider dogs from a reputable hunting dog breeder (a first in my life and maybe a sign of a mid-life crisis). But I will not try for another poor dog from a "rescue".
And as I said in my response to the Big Dog Rescue of Penngrove, I pray for those dogs they pretend to rescue.
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