I’ve been an avid cyclist for a long while. Terri and I like to ride on a regular basis. In the past, we mostly rode our performance bikes on the roads. We have two very nice road bikes that we have had for a while now. Recently we made an investment into two new mountain bikes. I must say that we have had a blast riding mountain bike lately!
Terri was never willing to ride much mountain bike with me for fear of my taking her down a mogul trail, much like I use to do when we snow skied together. Well times have changed and I’m not quite as crazy as I once was in my youth. Our time together on the bikes is some the best high quality time we can possibly spend together. We look forward to biking almost every day now. This has left us with one problem. How do we get our Lucy involved in the fun? We’ve been playing with the idea of letting her run with us on the back trails at state parks and such but are fearful of doing so because of leash laws and park rangers.
There are some dog parks in the local area that will allow us to do this but they are congested. I’d hate to run over someone or their dog on my bike! I wonder how many people actually take their dogs with them when they go mountain biking on back country treks?
One major concern is Lucy’s conditioning. I’m sure that she would run herself into the ground to keep up with us. We would have to do short trips at first just to build up her endurance I’m almost certain. We are going to give this idea a shot just as soon as we can find the right location. I’ll make future posts on how the outings go and how Lucy adjusted to them…
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Looking for answers...
This past weekend we were visiting family down in Texas and had a great time of it. We've always tried to include Lucy in on our trips whenever possible and she is a great traveller. The weekend was absolutely perfect until we arrived at our daughter Lauren's house on Monday before our scheduled return time. Lucy was in great spirits and doing fine, getting along with everything that came her way until we met up with her former family member Maddy the Boxer dog...
Maddy and Lucy grew up together in the same home for the most part. Actually, Lucy was about 6 months old when we first got her and Maddy helped Lucy join the family. They got along great until Lucy became taller than Maddy. One day they got into a dispute over by their feeding area. Neither of the two dogs backed down, and you guessed it, they got into a fight. Now this behavior has become a common occurrence when they get together.
My problem is, I don't understand why one dog is trying to dominate the other? They both have the same privileges, care and attention. Could their behavior be due to them both trying to establish the Alpha role? Other than keeping the dogs separated is there a technique that can be used to help them get through this behavior when they see each other? Or would it be best just to keep them permanently separated from one another? Help...
Maddy and Lucy grew up together in the same home for the most part. Actually, Lucy was about 6 months old when we first got her and Maddy helped Lucy join the family. They got along great until Lucy became taller than Maddy. One day they got into a dispute over by their feeding area. Neither of the two dogs backed down, and you guessed it, they got into a fight. Now this behavior has become a common occurrence when they get together.
My problem is, I don't understand why one dog is trying to dominate the other? They both have the same privileges, care and attention. Could their behavior be due to them both trying to establish the Alpha role? Other than keeping the dogs separated is there a technique that can be used to help them get through this behavior when they see each other? Or would it be best just to keep them permanently separated from one another? Help...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Some thoughts...
O’ to be a dog like Lucy with not a care in the world…
A friend of mine sent me the following statistics. To some this is a reflection of the state of things in United States of America. Just thought I’d post these thoughts and see what comes of it…
It looks like "Change" equals more badly run government programs!
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it is not able to compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out again, as it continues to run at a loss.
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America, and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
A friend of mine sent me the following statistics. To some this is a reflection of the state of things in United States of America. Just thought I’d post these thoughts and see what comes of it…
It looks like "Change" equals more badly run government programs!
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it is not able to compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out again, as it continues to run at a loss.
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America, and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
Friday, August 7, 2009
Walking the dog...
I must relay something that happened to me the other day while walking Lucy with my wife Terri. Here’s what happens…
Terri and I were walking Lucy out in front of our housing area. There is a main street that has a lot of traffic passing by. Well, all of a sudden a Germantown Police Vehicle passes us and then proceeds up to the turn-around on the four lane avenue, then goes past us in the opposite direction and turns around and puts its lights on and stops about fifty feet in front of us on the street. The female police officer jumps out of her car and starts to approach us. Now, your thoughts are probably the same as mine at the time. What did I do to draw the attention of the police while out walking my dog?
It turns out that the police officer had just been talking to a friend of hers, about maybe finding a white boxer dog. Her friend has a fawn colored boxer and I guess the officer is in love with the dog. She said that she had never seen a white boxer before and would we mind if she took a picture with Lucy to send to her friend. We said yes to the picture and then talked with her for about twenty minutes about boxers and how the white boxer really isn’t that rare. Almost twenty percent of all boxers are considered to be white or check.
The officer was very interested in acquiring a white boxer and asked if we knew of anyone who may breed them. We told her our story of how we adopted Lucy and how you really aren’t suppose to breed for a white boxer. We also told her to check with a boxer adoption agency if she was truly interested in getting a white boxer. White boxers are the most put up for adoption of the breed. This is probably because a lot of the white boxers have some type of special need.
If you are considering a new dog, please consider a dog that needs a good home. Adoption is the purest method of acquiring a dog in my mind. Almost every dog that we have ever adopted has turned out to be a very special part of our family. Thanks!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Went to the dog park today...
Lucy and I went over to the dog park at Shelby Farms Park today. It was warmer today than it has been and the humidity was up just a bit. Shelby Farms Park has a specific dog park area where you are allowed to unleash your dog. There is a pond for the dogs to swim in and just stay cool. This is so much fun for Lucy!
I can't believe how socialized Lucy has become. Even with all that was going on by the lake she never lost her focus on what the trip was about. Sure she was there to play, but she was also there to get good solid exercise.
Once we set off away from the other dogs she was on voice command and the time I've put in with her has paid off. Even with the distraction of other dogs she payed attention to what I commanded. I think she knows that I am commanding her for her own safety and she responds.
One example of good solid behavior occurred while we were on the hiking trail when we ran into some other folks with three dogs. Lucy introduced herself and then we started off again and one of the other folk's dog decided she wanted to follow Lucy.
Well Lucy had headed up the trail from me about fifty or so yards and the other dog went running after her. The other dog's owner was calling and calling for his dog to come back with no response. To remedy the situation I went into my call position and called for Lucy to come to me. She returned instantly and held in place until the other dog owner was able to retrieve his dog, standing next to Lucy! To say the least I very proud of my Lucy! The other owner looked at Lucy and I and said thank you. I released Lucy and we proceeded down the trail.
What a great outing...
I can't believe how socialized Lucy has become. Even with all that was going on by the lake she never lost her focus on what the trip was about. Sure she was there to play, but she was also there to get good solid exercise.
Once we set off away from the other dogs she was on voice command and the time I've put in with her has paid off. Even with the distraction of other dogs she payed attention to what I commanded. I think she knows that I am commanding her for her own safety and she responds.
One example of good solid behavior occurred while we were on the hiking trail when we ran into some other folks with three dogs. Lucy introduced herself and then we started off again and one of the other folk's dog decided she wanted to follow Lucy.
Well Lucy had headed up the trail from me about fifty or so yards and the other dog went running after her. The other dog's owner was calling and calling for his dog to come back with no response. To remedy the situation I went into my call position and called for Lucy to come to me. She returned instantly and held in place until the other dog owner was able to retrieve his dog, standing next to Lucy! To say the least I very proud of my Lucy! The other owner looked at Lucy and I and said thank you. I released Lucy and we proceeded down the trail.
What a great outing...
Friday, July 24, 2009
A pleasant evening...
What a pleasant evening in Memphis last night. We have been experiencing some really great weather here in Memphis over the last week or so. We’ve been experiencing mild weather with temp in the daytime around 85 degrees and cool evenings in the 70s. What’s really nice is the fact that the humidity has been relatively low for this part of the country.
What made last evening especially nice was the way that Lucy and I spent our evening. Lucy and I spent most of the evening setting outside on the balcony. There were very few lights on in the neighborhood and the music of the crickets was playing very genteelly in the background. We were caught in a moment together just sitting there! It was one of those moments that only an animal lover can appreciate. We must have been out there for a couple of hours but I can’t say for sure. I lost all track of time! A perfect evening with a great friend… the only thing that was missing was conversation, or was it?
I’ve come to love my adopted city and the many great things that Memphis and the surrounding area has to offer. Last night was just one more gift that this great place where I live, with my wife and Lucy, has to offer.
What made last evening especially nice was the way that Lucy and I spent our evening. Lucy and I spent most of the evening setting outside on the balcony. There were very few lights on in the neighborhood and the music of the crickets was playing very genteelly in the background. We were caught in a moment together just sitting there! It was one of those moments that only an animal lover can appreciate. We must have been out there for a couple of hours but I can’t say for sure. I lost all track of time! A perfect evening with a great friend… the only thing that was missing was conversation, or was it?
I’ve come to love my adopted city and the many great things that Memphis and the surrounding area has to offer. Last night was just one more gift that this great place where I live, with my wife and Lucy, has to offer.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
How to travel with your favorite critter…
This is a subject near and dear to my heart. How many times have you seen people driving down the road with a dog in the back of a pickup truck or perhaps hanging out the window of a car? I get really irate when I see this!
The proper way to travel with a dog is with it securely inside the vehicle. If you have ever witnessed a dog falling out of the back of a pickup truck, and I have, it is not a pretty site. The damage is incredible!
When travelling, Lucy has her own spot in the car. If she isn’t in a create, she is securely placed in her own space in the rear of my vehicle. I don’t allow here to hang out the window or roam about the car, period, end of discussion. Allowing a dog to hang out the vehicle is asking for trouble. The potential for injury from flying debris or falling out is enormous. It’s okay to open the window a bit to allow the dog to take in all the great smells in this world but it is not okay to allow them outside the safety of the vehicle.
I would even make a case for car restraints for your dog. There are some really great systems on the market for restraining you pet. To find one, all a person has to do is look! Try this out, type in “dog vehicle restraint “ in your Google search window, I’m sure you’ll find one that will work in your car with your animal. End of rant!
The proper way to travel with a dog is with it securely inside the vehicle. If you have ever witnessed a dog falling out of the back of a pickup truck, and I have, it is not a pretty site. The damage is incredible!
When travelling, Lucy has her own spot in the car. If she isn’t in a create, she is securely placed in her own space in the rear of my vehicle. I don’t allow here to hang out the window or roam about the car, period, end of discussion. Allowing a dog to hang out the vehicle is asking for trouble. The potential for injury from flying debris or falling out is enormous. It’s okay to open the window a bit to allow the dog to take in all the great smells in this world but it is not okay to allow them outside the safety of the vehicle.
I would even make a case for car restraints for your dog. There are some really great systems on the market for restraining you pet. To find one, all a person has to do is look! Try this out, type in “dog vehicle restraint “ in your Google search window, I’m sure you’ll find one that will work in your car with your animal. End of rant!
Monday, July 20, 2009
No more about my travels...
After thinking about it for a bit, I'm not going to write about my trip to Europe any more. It doesn't fit this blog's theme and I've been critiqued by my wife that I should stay on topic in this blog. So, here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to put together a few articles on travel and post them to my website under the topic of "Travel". If you would like to read about The Netherlands you'll be able to access that information over on my website in a couple of weeks. I'll be back on topic with this blog in a couple of days. Thanks for putting up with my rants about my trip.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
My trip to Holland and Germay
The beginning…
The trip began with a nine hour flight on North-Worst Airlines. Toons and I met up at the airport with the appropriate amount of time to check in for the flight, exchange some money at the airport and stop in at one of the many pubs to be found at Memphis International Airport.
Our flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, although I barely fit in the seat that I was assigned back in coach. The hardest part of the trip was the flight. Nine hours on an airplane in an uncomfortable seat with only three hours of darkness total is hard to take. Flying out of Memphis to Amsterdam you lose seven hours travelling east in the summer. Jet lagged at landing to say the least.
Okay, so we arrive in The Netherlands with plenty of time to spare to catch the train to Maastricht where we are to join up with the rest of our business group and then travel to Brunssum where we are to stay for the week. Confused by the train schedule, I almost started an international incident when I asked an attendant if this was the train to Utricht, the place we were to change trains. The attendant informed me that this was not the train I wanted and then asked me what time my train was suppose to leave the station? I told her 12:00 noon and she looked at me angrily and informed that it was not 12:00PM yet and turned around and walked off. This clued me in real fast that you don’t ask questions as to the time a train is to run. The trains run on time in Holland and Germany!
So, the train showed up on time and we began our trip. We met our connection in Utricht and began our journey to Maastricht. The train made an intermediate stop during our trip to Maastricht. The conductor came on the interphone and made an announcement in Dutch and started to countdown. Then the train continued its journey with Toons and I on it. We were suppose to arrive in Maastricht at 14:32 and I had learned to follow my watch and look for the station signs. Guess what, we didn’t arrive in Maastrict, we ended up in Heerlein, which is about 30 kilometers from where we wanted to be. You see, when the conductor made his announcement and started counting, he was identifying that the train was splitting in half with one half going to Maastricht and the other going to Heerlein. Luckily for us there was another train that arrived five minutes after we got off in Heerlein that was bound for Maastricht. This added about an hour total to our time traveling on the train to Maastricht.
To make a long story short, study the train schedule when traveling in Europe and don’t trust that you understand anything that is going on around you…
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Just got back...
Well I just got back from Europe. My business trip was successful and our customer is happy with the new course-ware that we delivered. The next couple of posts will be about some of the things that I did while over in Europe and not working. I trust that no one will mind if I write about something other than Lucy. Although I must tell you, since I've been back she has not left my side for a moment when I'm at home. I guess she missed me? I keep telling Terri that Lucy is her dog and I'm Lucy's dog. The hierarchy of the pack is well established!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Business Trip
I'm on a business trip to The Nederlands and I managed to find some time to go see some of the sites in Germany. Wouldn't you know it; anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
I awoke around 5:30am Saturday excited about the events of the day. I had planned for this event very carefully. I showed up about an hour early for breakfast at the hotel that I'm staying at. I am in The Nederlands with some folks that I work with. And two of us have to drop two other at the train station to go to the airport in Amsterdam. We meet them in the dining room and proceeded to the car to go to the Euro Rail. Yes, you guessed it; one of them left a bag in the breakfast area with their passport inside and their entire ID. Luckily this is a fairly safe and honest place; it was exactly where they left it.
A trip anywhere is an adventure here, especially if you don't speak Dutch. But following the GPS' instruction in the car gets you where you want to go eventually. You do follow the great circle route however!
After dropping our coworkers off Bob Hartoon and I set out for Koln, Germany. Following the route on the GPS once again we made it to our route A4, which is part of the autobahn, arriving about 10AM. Well as soon as we arrived I was excited about shooting some photos of the Cathedral of Koln. This is a church that dates back to the 4th century. Anyway, I got out my D-40 and wouldn't you know it, the battery is dead. It was fully charged the night before but I had left it on over night after downloading some pictures to my laptop computer. Ok I think, I'll just use my cell phone camera and there is no need to get upset. You guessed it again; my cell phone is dead as a brick. Apparently I had left it on as well. So, with no charger to charge my camera or my phone I was stuck using the old portable Kodak disposable with 5 shots left. We took a total of 3 pictures.
After travelling all that way to get only 3 pictures of a structure that I think I could spend a week shooting and not get everything I wanted was a total tragedy! Needless to say I went shopping in Koln and found two different types of chargers. One for my phone in the car with and then one that I can use universally to charge just about any lithium battery made! Moral of the story, don't leave home without you battery charger, it'll set you back about 40 Euros to fix the problem...
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Inside every Boxer beats the heart of a clown...
Lucy went to the park today. She ran like she's never run before. Hopping and skipping through the grass with the greatest of ease. Although we were there for less than a half an hour I can honestly say she had a great time.
Boxers in general require a great deal of physical activity to be healthy and happy. They are great athletes and require a good deal physical training. You can train a boxer to do just about anything if you can break through the inner clown that is in every Boxer. This requires patients.
Boxers have the ability to be a guard dog, herder,hunter, the best of family pets and even a retriever if necessary. They are incredibly intelligent dogs. All a person has to do is introduce the activity to the dog in a positive manner and praise them when they get it right. Once they understand that it pleases you to see them do the activity, they'll gladly perform for you over and over again. This is part of their Psyche, they want to make you happy! This is probably true for most dogs, but especially true for the Boxer!
The one thing you must do to get your Boxer to perform for you is have patients and provide them with the training they need to be successful. Training will require time on your part however! If you have a dog that just doesn't seem to be catching on, you will have to do one of two things, either spend more time on training or find someone well versed in the type of activity you are looking for and have them train the dog.
One thing I will caution you on is the trainer. Make sure you examine the training methods used by the trainer. You want to find someone who trains through positive reinforcement versus someone who uses more stern methods. People to ask about training will include your Vet or maybe the folks at a quality boarding house such as Pet Smart or Pet Co. They usually have the inside track on quality trainers...
Yes Lucy is a big clown but I like to consider her a big well trained clown that loves people and wants to please all.
Boxers in general require a great deal of physical activity to be healthy and happy. They are great athletes and require a good deal physical training. You can train a boxer to do just about anything if you can break through the inner clown that is in every Boxer. This requires patients.
Boxers have the ability to be a guard dog, herder,hunter, the best of family pets and even a retriever if necessary. They are incredibly intelligent dogs. All a person has to do is introduce the activity to the dog in a positive manner and praise them when they get it right. Once they understand that it pleases you to see them do the activity, they'll gladly perform for you over and over again. This is part of their Psyche, they want to make you happy! This is probably true for most dogs, but especially true for the Boxer!
The one thing you must do to get your Boxer to perform for you is have patients and provide them with the training they need to be successful. Training will require time on your part however! If you have a dog that just doesn't seem to be catching on, you will have to do one of two things, either spend more time on training or find someone well versed in the type of activity you are looking for and have them train the dog.
One thing I will caution you on is the trainer. Make sure you examine the training methods used by the trainer. You want to find someone who trains through positive reinforcement versus someone who uses more stern methods. People to ask about training will include your Vet or maybe the folks at a quality boarding house such as Pet Smart or Pet Co. They usually have the inside track on quality trainers...
Yes Lucy is a big clown but I like to consider her a big well trained clown that loves people and wants to please all.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Cruelty to Animals
My daughter Whitney, who lives down in Abilene, TX sent me an article to read about a person who was being charged with cruelty to animals. It seems that the person in question abandoned her two dogs and the house she was living in. The two dogs in question were locked in the home for almost two months with limited food and water.
The two dogs were finally rescued when the home was to be inspected by the company trying to sell the abandoned home. Both dogs were on the verge of starvation. It seems that they had been living off of whatever they could find in the home and their own fecees. Now this is cruelty at its hight!
In these days of homes for unwanted animals and shelters, why would anyone just lock an animal in a house and walk away? What kind of reasoning goes on in the mind of an individual that would do something like this? It would almost be kinder just to take the critter out and shoot it? Of course I'm not advocating shootting a dog that you don't want but I think you get my meaning. There are a lot of options for caring for an animal that you don't want or can't afford to take care of!!!
In my way of thinking, I trust that the individual responsible for this has the book thrown at her! There is just no excuse for this type thing happening.
The two dogs were finally rescued when the home was to be inspected by the company trying to sell the abandoned home. Both dogs were on the verge of starvation. It seems that they had been living off of whatever they could find in the home and their own fecees. Now this is cruelty at its hight!
In these days of homes for unwanted animals and shelters, why would anyone just lock an animal in a house and walk away? What kind of reasoning goes on in the mind of an individual that would do something like this? It would almost be kinder just to take the critter out and shoot it? Of course I'm not advocating shootting a dog that you don't want but I think you get my meaning. There are a lot of options for caring for an animal that you don't want or can't afford to take care of!!!
In my way of thinking, I trust that the individual responsible for this has the book thrown at her! There is just no excuse for this type thing happening.
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