Bad science?

Take some time to go through Scholastic's Moon Olympics and see how many scientific errors are made. The wrong concepts here are a great example of "common sense" not being very accurate. You'd think they would have run this thing past someone with scientific background, say, in physics.

So, what errors can you spot?

The US Military is Making Super Puppies

No, really! Apparently the US military did research in increasing intelligence in dogs by using techniques during the early stages of life. The video below describes the project and the methods used.



I knew that I'd read this somewhere before, so I took a look in my "dog library," to find out where. In The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks of New Skete discuss the benefits of stress, suggesting that "Puppies exposed to mildly stressful experiences from an early age (1-6 weeks) usually develop into dogs possessing superior problem-solving ability, with less emotional imbalance than their counterparts raised without such stimulation." They also say that mild stress will activate the immune system. The monks achieve this stress mostly by having various people handle the dogs multiple times each day. Obviously the military goes further in the video above (and in other ways).

It just goes to reinforce the well-known fact that you need to spend time with your puppies.

Canadian Idiot

I stumbled across this again and it made me laugh.


You can find the lyrics here.

Cold, cold, and colder.

It feels like forever since we've been in this deep freeze, but it's really only been a week. G'Kar got walks up until Saturday and then it was just way too cold. Even the few days before caused him to do the famous "my feet are too cold" dog limp. It was only -30C, but he was still limping after a few minutes unless he was full out running. Did I actually say only -30C?

He's actually been better behaved than I expected the last three days, even though he hasn't had a walk. I thought he'd be a bit more attention-seeking and have the zoomies every few minutes, but he's been really quite good. I was able to tire him out (a bit) on Saturday and Sunday with games of fetch inside. I realized this weekend that, other than his week off after surgery, G'Kar has never gone without at least one run in the field each day.

But tomorrow it finally warms up and he'll be out running again.

No Comment

Two prawns were swimming around in the sea, One called Justin and the other called Kristian. The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks that inhabited the area.

Finally one day Justin said to Kristian, 'I'm fed up with being a prawn; I wish I was a shark, and then I wouldn't have any worries about being eaten.' A large mysterious cod appeared and said, 'Your wish is granted' Lo and behold, Justin turned into a shark. Horrified, Kristian immediately swam away, afraid of being eaten by his old mate.

Time passed (as it does) and Justin found life as a shark boring and lonely. All his old mates simply swam away whenever he came close to them. Justin didn't realize that his new menacing appearance was the cause of his sad plight. While swimming alone one day he saw the mysterious cod again and he thought perhaps the mysterious fish could change him back into a prawn. He approached the cod and begged to be changed back, and, lo and behold, he found himself turned back into a prawn.

With tears of joy in his tiny little eyes Justin swam back to his friends and bought them all a cocktail.
Looking around the gathering at the reef he realized he couldn't see his old pal.

'Where's Kristian?' he asked.

'He's at home, still distraught that his best friend changed sides to the enemy & became a shark', came the reply.

Eager to put things right again and end the mutual pain and torture, he set off to Kristian's abode. As he opened the coral gate, memories came flooding back. He banged on the door and shouted, 'It's me, Justin, your old friend, come out and see me again.'

Kristian replied, 'No way man, you'll eat me. You're now a shark, the enemy, and I'll not be tricked into being your dinner.'

Justin cried back 'No, I'm not. That was the old me. I've changed.'.........

'I've found Cod.
I'm a Prawn again, Kristian'

Dog or cat?

G'Kar has surprised me a few times, but this was the most surprising thing he did yet. I was getting ready for work downstairs one day last week. When I came upstairs, I saw this:



Well, when I first saw him he was on his back, soaking up the sun. He flipped onto his stomach to look at me when I took his picture. You see, Leah left a chair pulled out from the table, and G'Kar saw the sun, and, well, he just jumped up on the table, completely oblivious. He's not allowed on any furniture but our bed, but we haven't told him he couldn't go on the table yet, right?

I told him "off" and he just jumped onto the chair and down onto the floor without a thought.

Note that he's nestled in between a $600 Blackberry and a $300 Kindle.

Back in the Field

One of the great things about sharing your time with a dog is marvelling at their agility and athletic ability. I took my tennis racket, ball, and camera to the field today for a session of ball-chasing. I alternate between hitting them long and making him run and hitting them high and making him watch and then "hunt" them down. Here are some pics; they're not the greatest because I have to hit the ball and then quickly focus (with gloves on, too), but they tell the story.

I can has new blanket now? k thx

G'Kar would like to thank Jasmine for his blankie. He's like a little kid how he goes everywhere with it! I'm not sure how much longer it'll last though...

G'Kar Ready for attack!

Since G'Kar isn't able to run for another week (!) I thought I'd put of a video of him running. He's become obsessed with the ball and absolutely goes nuts when I pull out the tennis racket, a tool I've come to appreciate for fetch.

I wish I would have been able to catch him running hard, but he only runs really hard when the ball goes far, and that requires a tennis racket. You can imagine that holding a video camera, ball, and tennis racket is a bit demanding, so I chose to just throw it.

A bad day...

Even though our bundle of yellow fur and energy didn't know it, this day was inevitable. Yes, there will be no little G'Kar progeny.

The poor guy is pretty sore and completely out of it; I've never seen him so down and it's hard to see him this way.

The toughest part of this whole thing is that the vet has told us that he only gets leash walks for 7-10 days! I'm not sure he'll live!

Laundry Lurker

Ok, I know I've been terrible at posting lately and it's something I need to rectify. Here's an updated pic (from August). I need to put up some newer pics, but this one is just so darn cute...

Obedience Class

G'Kar had his second obedience class tonight, and once again, I was really happy with how he performed. And tonight, he learned a new command: "Stand." He has no idea what it means, so we're going to have to spend some time working on it now!

He is still an extremely excitable dog and he loves people to death. Jumping is still a huge issue, though now he usually jumps beside people instead of on them, but if a person gets down low, squatting or sitting, it's over. He'll be on them in seconds, tongue slurping.

He peed again tonight whenever the instructor came over to do something with him, or use him for a demonstration. He just gets so excited.

But, what amazes me, is that even though he's so excitable, he still can focus remarkably well. Even with other dogs around him, people moving, and toys nearby, he can still focus on us with a watch command well over 90% of the time.

His stays have always been rock solid. I ended every training session for 3 months with a stay and he always got a HUGE reward for staying. I'd like to say this has a lot to do with his staying ability, but I'm not sure because he learned stay so quickly and easily. He was staying after two lessons. After four lessons I could move around him, and after six, I could bounce around the room. He has always had amazing patience for a puppy.

Next week, I have to take my camera to the class!

Disney Day 1

Tuesday Aug 4

8:05 - arrive Animal Kingdom
8:55 - get FP to Everest (2 feet back from rope at drop)
9:01 - ride everest (1 min)
9:15 - ride dinosaur (walk on)
9:35 - get FP to Kali River
9:48 - use FP to watch Lion King (we were given the FP at the gate in the morning - walk in)
10:30 - get FP to Safari
10:48 - use FP for Everest
11:10 - eat at Flametree BBQ
11:42 - use FP for Safari (6 min)
12:20 - use FP for Kali (8 min)
1:15 - back at hotel for nap
2:45 - go to Hollywood Studios
3:00 - get FP for Star Tours
3:30 - eat at Mama Melrose (great meal for both of us!)
4:40 - watch Muppet Vision (walk on)
5:00 - thunderstorm and heavy rain
5:45 - watch Indiana Jones short version (due to rain)
6:04 - use FP for Star Tours
6:14 - Great Movie Ride (15 min)
6:45 - wait for rain to stop
7:00 - wander park and stop for iced tea
8:00 - get seated for Fantasmic
9:00 - Fantasmic (after a 1 hour wait in the stadium - yuck)

Disney arrival

We've had a very busy first 4 days in Disney.

Monday Aug 3

We waited 25 minutes for the Magical Express and then an addition 25 minutes ON the bus for a whopping 50 minutes before we left the airport. We arrived at 6pm for a total of 95 minutes from the time we were in the Magical Express line-up. Not so magical.

Our first night we went to Epcot to eat at the Marakesh in the Morrocan pavilion. This time Leah got the great meal and I got the average meal (instead of the reverse last time). After dinner we walked the park a bit and rode Spaceship Earth (walk on) and then headed to the Magic Kingdom. We got caught behind the parade and struggled through the crowds to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and then went to the Haunted Mansion (both walk-ons). After that we went home to our, once again, fantastic hotel at Port Orleans Riverside.

This sucks

It's 4am and we're waiting for the cab to take us to the airport for a freakishly early flight and I can't help but think of Mark Black.

I have nothing against Mark, and in fact I think he's a great speaker, but when I saw him last fall, I was struck by something he said.

Mark was talking about his successful life, and how he's overcome adversity (and he certainly has). One of the things he said was a "secret" to his success was that he gets up early every day and gets things done before everyone else is even awake and he felt this gave him a head start on the day. I've always thought this was absurd and fallacious, but this morning it feels even more so.

I'm not a morning person. I never have been, and I doubt I ever will be one. When it comes to work, the "secret" to my success has been to be well-prepared. Every teacher knows this. For me, this meant not going to sleep until everything was done for the next day. It just bugged me too much for me to sleep, so I did it before I hit the sheets. What's ironic, and points out the fallacy in Mark's argument, is that by staying up late, we night owls get things done before those early-morning-loving freaks even get up! Talk about a head start on the day.

No, Mark, the secret to your success was not getting up early - it was being prepared, working hard, having amazing self-determination and a strong will to succeed.

Just like everyone else who's ever been successful.

On to Disney

We leave for Walt Disney World on Monday, and G'Kar will be spending his first bit of time without us... or maybe I should say we're spending our first bit of time away from him. I'm sure he'll be less concerned than I will be. Fortunately, he's going to be well taken care of, with daily walks, lots of visits, time in the run with Dune, and even visits to other homes! The only thing I'm concerned about is that he'll be sleeping without us all night long.

I'm going to miss him a lot!

He had a great time last weekend in Calgary with a house 'o dogs - 6 dogs running around the Burt's house. G'Kar loved the attention and did really well, though Dune and Riesling had more than one dispute. For some reason they have a hard time getting along with each other. Fortunately, by the time we left, they were playing nicely.

On the way home, we stopped outside of Brock on a country road to let them out of the car and run while we ate our lunch. After a break I took them for a short stroll down the gravel road and suddenly G'Kar put his nose up in the air and sniffed, then bolted away from me, under a barbed wire fence, and into a pasture. About 3 seconds later he was rolling in a very foul pile of green, soupy, mostly-decayed grass clippings. The stuff reeked, which only made it that much better for him. He came back to me a few moments later covered in green goop and stinking like a compost heap, happy and proud of his new-found treasure. He was, literally, dripping. We spent 20 minutes and all the paper napkins we had in the car (why had we forgotten paper towel???) trying to wash him down so that we could stand him for the next 3 hours of our trip. Thank goodness it wasn't manure.

When we got home, G'Kar got a bath - his first bath. He wasn't sure at first, but soon accepted it and didn't seem to mind all that much. And the energetic after-bath running was nothing but pure fun for him. Why do dogs do that? The running, not the rolling in pea soup.

I've enroled G'Kar in obedience classes that start in the fall. They're offering beginner agility training after each weekly class, so I might stay for that too.

Hopefully my next post will be from Florida!

G'Kar Fetching at the River

I took G'Kar to the river last week for his first trip to water. He loved the time in the sand, though he wasn't so sure about the water itself.

I've been working on his retrieving skills, though, and here he is fetching a stick. He still gets caught up in the whole, I just got a stick!!! thing (or ball, or kong, or wubba) and forgets to sit after he returns with the item, but even in the last week he's gotten much better.



Here is is, when I sent the first stick into the water. Hmm... water dog?

Victory is Mine

I just can't help buy here Stewie's voice when I look at G'Kar, especially when he's sitting on Dune like this.



He's been doing this for a long time now, and, yes, it's a very dominant position, but we long ago realized that there is no way that we can prevent G'Kar from being "on top" of Dune. At 8 pounds he was making our 55 pound marshmallow dance to his tune.

This picture is a bit misleading, but, yes, our little G'Kar has been growing fast.



You can really see how his body has elongated and his overall shape is more mature. He's definitely into adolescence now.

Even Better

The vet gave us Metacam, which is a NSAID like aspirin, and it's working wonders with Dune. He's walking much better - almost like his joints have been oiled. I took him for a walk today and he was romping in the field and was fine all the way home. When we got home, he tromped up the stairs with no troubles. Earlier today after soaking up some sun he ran up the stairs.

We may choose to keep him on this arthritis drug for some time; our vet says some dogs show remarkable improvement and stay on it for years, so a few months should be ok.

Feeling Better

By 3pm today, Dune was remarkably better. The vet says he probably had a fever (and his temp was at the low end of a fever) and we have no idea what caused it. He's back to what he was like a few days ago.

We had a long talk with the vet, and we all agreed that he won't be able to last another winter for sure, but we'll have to see how he is from day to day, week to week. We have some medication for his arthritis (basically aspirin). Hopefully that'll help his mobility.

Regardless, it was a pretty tough day; I spent most of it ready for the necessity to put Dune down. Dune has lost 8 pounds in the last year, and much of that, probably, in the last couple months since he just can't run any more. The vet says his muscles have started to atrophy and will continue to do so. We realize, with sadness, that it's only a matter of time, but we're hoping that time will be the rest of the summer.