Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Bumping Lake Family Camping Trip

Well we finally did it.. the 6 of us got out for a family camping trip (Mom/Dad/Eric/Andrea/Derek & I) We had been wanting to get out, it just took all summer for us all to have the same weekend free. My brother originally had planned to head over to Banks Lk area and boat in to camp, but Derek & I really preferred to not do it that way, we kinda like using our camper :)

With just a few days to spare before heading out for the extended weekend, I found a private campground on Bumping Lake in Goose Prairie WA.. What an amazing drive that was!! We went over Hwy 410, one we had not ever been on before, we were innocently driving along when all the sudden we came around a bend and there was Mt Rainier!! I missed getting the really good shots, this was the best I could do on such short notice.
Bumping Lake was beautiful and the campground was pretty cool actually. We had 2 side-by-side campsites right on the water, so we were able to park the boats right infront of us for the weekend. The morning sunrises were so peaceful, I woke up early enough to catch them. Saturday morning I sat in my bathing suit waiting for the sun to peak the mountain so I could get my bath in, the water was clear and inviting at 7:30am!

While I waited, Cooper kept himself busy sniffing out squirrels and such. I'm sitting at our campsite looking out at the lake in this picture, there is a small rock beach on the other side of that log leading to our waterfront.
Here's another view of the lake and mountainsAs the sun came up Saturday morning, I was practicing with the panoramic option on my camera. The beachline was actually straight, but the panoramic makes it looks curved here.
Derek could not get the motor running in our boat, so we left ours behind; we were able to go out in the boat Eric brought. The fishing S U C K E D!! And I mean SUCKED... Mom caught one trout that they released on purpose and Eric caught one trout that Andrea successfully released accidentally! :) Apparently she is not a good "netter" of fish! We had a nice fish finder and even with that, we saw very minimal fish, it was incredible how FEW fish were in that lake that showed up on the finder. Down in the area we were camped, when the water was calm, you could see to the bottom, on Sunday before we left we attempted to troll for fish but realized it was pretty pointless as we would lean over and just looked in the water and saw only one or two lonely fish every 10 minutes and they were sittin on the bottom of the lake.

Cooper was a really good boy for the trip! We only brought him along. He spent some of the time tied up in camp, and some in the camper.
Saturday morning after breakfast, Derek took Cooper out in Eric's boat for a while, it was Cooper's first boat ride. He did really good and seemed to enjoy it! Derek of course didnt catch anything..
Our neighbors at the campground informed us of local trail to Boulder Caves, indicating it was an easy 1/4 mile hike. So we loaded up into Erics truck and drove to the trailhead, which was only about 25 minutes from us. It was a really nice trail, but it was not 1/4 mile, more like 3/4 mile! Dad and I were the slowest of our group, we are in no shape to be hiking uphill that much, but we did it! :) Well dad made it 80% of the way and he decided it was far enough. He waited as the rest of us continued up the trail to the caves.
Once we reached the top of the trail, we dropped down into the canyon where a creek flowed through the caves.. It was a good thing our campsite neighbors told us to bring a flashlight, it was pitch black inside w/o light!!

This is just outside the entrance of the caves which are downstream of us just a few feet.
Starting to walk down into the cave opening
It was a pretty hot day (mid 80's easily) so the dogs were all very eager to get in the creek to cool off.
Now that the pups are all wet, we can continue! :)
It was too dark to get any good pics inside the cave, my camera put spots all over those pictures, but this is coming out of the cave.. it was really cool and we managed to get through w/o any bat incidents!It felt great to make the hike, as badly as I wanted to turn around at times, it was a fun family excursion. We were ready to head back to the lake and jump in to cool off.When we got back to camp, Eric really wanted us to try to swim Cooper w/o his life vest. Cooper had swam with me earlier that morning when I took my morning bath, he looked so sad sitting there watching me, so I put his vest on and he had a great time! He would stay pretty close to me, I did not have a leash on him, he would venture out only about 6 feet from me, so I would swim out a ways, he would follow and then we'd swim back. The only problem was he liked to swim so close that often he was pushing off of me with his paws.. not good when he has nails that are too long!!

When we all got back from the hike, we decided to give it a try w/o the vest, and what do you know.. Cooper swam!!! YEAH! He did the puppy paddle a few times, but for the most part, he was figuring it out. Eric was throwing tennis balls for his dogs and Cooper seemed eager to play the game, but we held him back, hoping by him watching, maybe it would click how to retrieve in water, which he had yet to figure out how to do. When he seemed ready, we threw a bumper for Cooper to retrieve in the water.... well he swam out to it and kept right on going! :( bummer...

Eric was out in the lake, so we threw the bumper to him and when Cooper got to it and was about to swim past, Eric grabbed him and told him to "hold" while he was swimming, so Cooper put it in his mouth and swam back to us. We tried again and this time Cooper clicked!!!! He picked up that bumper in the water and he was HOOKED... He thought that was the coolest game ever, to swim AND retrieve. It really was such a relief moment for Derek & I to see our dog finally figure it all out.. His only issue is that once he gets the bumper in his mouth, he goes back to puppy paddling instead of swimming.

Overall it was a terrific weekend, except for the lousy fishing, but I would definately go back to the lake, maybe earlier in the year when fishing might be better. We have all decided to make it a priority to do a family camping trip every year, maybe going to a different location every year.

On our drive home, we pulled over to get some photos with the great scenery.

Monday, August 29, 2011

CHC Ladies Ride

I always enjoy when I can take 5 days for a weekend camping trip! Especially when my horse and dog are involved, as well as good friends. I was trailboss for the annual horse club ladies ride this year, decided to move it back to Silver Ridge Ranch in Easton this year, I enjoy the riding and camping over there.

Amber came along with Oakley, it was her last weekend with him as he came home with me for good. She would have gladly kept him, but timing is not right for her and Derek is in need of a riding horse since Edgar has been having lameness problems off/on this summer again. :( I brought Ellie along, thought it would be a good bonding weekend and a good safe environment to work off-leash with her and see how she handles it. She handled it perfectly! She was my little angel and I was so proud of her!! Just made me love her so much more, by the 4th day I was able to keep her off-leash for most of the time I was in camp. She was comfortable in the camper as well and would lay quietly when I would go out riding.
The lake was SUPER SUPER high this year, the highest I have ever seen it by a couple hundred yards!! And thats no exageration. It was so beautiful this year and because it was so high, it was perfect for wading the horses in to cool off. Had I been prepared, I would have rode in my swimming suit (well with clothes over the top as that would not be a site for sore eyes to see me riding down the trail in a bathing suit!!) :)

The area Barb & Nadine are looking straight over at is normally not covered in water. We were up on this almost-an-island high section. The weather was perfect for us, in the 80's mostly.

Amber & I. Oakley looks so great!!

Amber & Oakley in the creek. The trails around the creek were not great, they have been de-commissioned in this area to keep ATV's out which is a pretty big bummer. We tried crossing the creek and hitting the hills on the other side, but those trails have not been maintained much and there was a lot of blowdown.

Hot & Dry! I love this picture and amazingly it was taken with my horse riding the same direction as all of them! I turned as sideways as I could get in my saddle (which isnt far) and turned the camera behind me, hoping to get a decent picture.. looks like I succeeded.

This was my favorite place to ride to over the weekend! Went here all 3 days that I rode, a really nice watering hole to play in. Amber's looking down at all the baby fishes, there were hundreds!
Chillin!

On Thursday as we rode, I hid some flagging out on the trails and then told the ladies Friday night that if they found a group of flags, to bring them Saturday night for a prize. I had 4 prizes to hand out, it was fun. I also brought some bells and beads for the girls to make either a bear bell or just fun bells to hang from your horses or dogs, some made bracelets and rings and tack attire, it was fun... Amber & I rode 3 days in a row, putting in 12 hours, I think I wore her ass out though, she was a bit sore.. :) she does not have the natural cushion that I do.

By Sunday, Ellie was ready to go home.. as well as me. We are loaded up and almost ready to hit the road. She seems happy to know her life will get back to a normal routine.

Once she realized we were headed home, she just sat back and enjoyed the full-bast AC on her face!!! AHHHHH
It had been a very stressful couple days building up to the ladies ride this year.. I left on Wed wondering if Derek was going to have a job when I got back on Sunday and it turns out he did end up unemployed within that 5 day period. But all is OKAY and with the BS, it truly was for the better for him. It just means something bigger and better is waiting on down the road... :)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Family Reunion 2011

Dereks family reunion was 2 weeks ago, over at Lake Wenatchee as usual. We had just gotten Cooper home a few days prior to leaving, so he came along for the trip while we left Russell & Ellie home. We camped Wed - Sunday, had a good time even though many were not able to make it over this year.

The weather was not great this year, the lake temperature registered almost 4 degrees colder than last year and it was windy the entire time, so the lake was very choppy and wavey, not great for swimming. Thursday morning was the ONLY time the lake was calm and clear, I did get in around 9:30 for my morning bath, but it was so damn cold that I was unable to dunk my head. Just using my hands to splash the water over my head to dampen and wash it, made it sting real bad it was so cold. Fri morning Tammy and I went in the lake and it again was too cold to dunk. After 2 days of being chilled all day from the morning swim, I opted to not go in again on Sat or Sun morning. I think the daytime temps felt like the high 60's, very low 70's due to all the wind.

We did get down to the lake on one of the nights to watch the sunset. Crystal, JoJo, Derek, Cooper, Rick, Marley, Shelbie, Kristen, Barney, Kiki & Randy!
Here's the best shots I got of Derek & Cooper hangin out watchin the sunset.. well Cooper was not watching the sun, all he cared about were the waves crashing on the shore and that he wanted to jump in!!Ahh.. a moment of relief where Cooper actually sat still... but notice he is still intently focused on the water! Since we knew we had water issues with Cooper, we wanted that weekend to focus on getting him in the water. On our walk on Thursday morning, he seemed interested in walking by the water and he even waded in it just a little. The wind had not kicked in yet, so it was smooth and calm. A couple hours later when we returned to the water, he immediately wanted to go in and really seemed to enjoy being in the water. By the 3rd trip to the water that day, he started to get very excited the closer to the water we got and was pulling very hard to get in and he went straight to playing! He was jumping and splashing and paddling at the top of the water, trying to catch his own splash with his mouth.. he was being so damn cute, he drew the attention of many on the beach with some telling us he was the funniest dog they'd ever seen in water!

The 4th trip to the water that day, he again went crazy playing around and did NOT want to come out.. but I started to realize he was only going out as far as he could touch with his back legs. A couple times he got swallowed up by a wave and was rolled completely over under water. Didnt seem to faze him one bit. He was using his back legs to jump up and out of the water, it really was hilarious! We talked a bit that day and could not figure out why the trainer struggled when clearly we had a dog that LOVES the water!

The next day we took Cooper over to the dock before allowing him to play in the water. I wanted to know 1) if he would jump off the dock and 2) if he could actually swim. Well with a little encouragement, Cooper jumped off that dock!! YEAH!!!! and he immediately went vertical in the water, reaching for the bottom with his back legs and started to really struggle with the potential for drowing, so I got over to him, put my hand under his belly and helped him get to shore. DAMN my suspisions were correct, we had a dog that did not know how to swim. After that, Cooper was not willing to jump off the dock and we concluded that the reason Butch (the trainer) struggled is because Cooper was not confident in the water so he just would not jump in for Butch. I spent the next 20 minutes in the water with Cooper and helping him learn to swim, felt like the only thing I accomplished was getting wet and full of scratches on my arms and legs from him flay-ling around in the water.

I was dissappointed, a bit upset and also frustrated. We immediately quit allowing Cooper to go in the water because we knew he needed to learn to swim and letting him play was not going to accomplish that. We'll let him play once he learns to swim. The good thing was that we clearly had a better understanding of our dog and what needed to happen to move forward, although we were unsure how to accomplish that.

When we returned home, a few days later we took Cooper to a local lake and I again went in the water with him to help teach him to swim. We put a training bumper in his mouth so he would not try to bite at the splash, that did help, but he still was flay-ling his front legs all about, trying to splash the water instead of having them under water to swim. He did a tiny bit of actual swimming after 20 minutes of working with him but then he would go back to vertical and drowning! When we got out of the lake, I was covered in really fine lake bottom dirt, it was rather gross.. so when I got home, I jumped straight in the shower.. a few minutes later Cooper came into the bathroom so I opened the shower door and he joined me! I figured if I was covered in dirt, he was too so I washed us both up.

The next day I found a yellow dog swim vest on Craigslist for $10, decided to give that a try and Saturday morning we took Cooper to a better cleaner lake to swim in, Flowing. The boat launch area has nice big gravel out as far as you can touch, so its not dirty or nasty to walk into. We put the vest on Cooper and since I anticipated having to still help him out, did not put a leash on him. He ran right into the water and took to swimming like he'd been doing it all his life! He actually started to just head towards the middle and I got a bit frantic that he wouldnt turn around. But he did. We put a leash on him and just let him swim circles around me! He was LOVIN IT!!! He paddled above water a few times to "play" but I discouraged that and made him focus just on swimming. Derek tried to get him to retrieve bumpers in the water, he had NO interest. At home, he loves to play fetch with the bumpers, but apparently he loves the water more than fetch.

Derek did pull him out of the lake and made him do some retrieves on dry ground, we have a lot of work to get Cooper to figure out how to combine swimming with retrieving, but we are now on the right path. We have done a lot of brainstorming and talking about what is and is not working for Cooper and are happy that we seem to be progressing!

Derek took Cooper to a Hunt Test in Duvall this past Saturday while I was gone at our annual ladies ride (seperate post for that). He didnt run Cooper in the test, just took him for exposure and also Coopers daddy was there as well as his trainer. Elroy (who owns the daddy) was happy to see Cooper and hear of his progress and Butch (the trainer) was very impressed with Derek & I for the ideas we have come up with on our own with helping and training Cooper, he said we've done everything right so far and he liked that we were very logical in our thoughts and practical. He was happy to know we seem to have a good sense for training our dog so that we are not ruining him and wasting time doing it wrong. Derek helped out during the hunt test as well at one of the stations, a great way to meet people and he was able to observe what is and is not working for other "started" dogs which is the level that Cooper is at.

Derek recently self-taught himself how to make these survival bracelets which was cool, but then he started venturing into making dog whistle lanyards, leashes, duck call lanyards and more.. the office has been over-run with paracord!! He donated a couple of them to the Hunt Test as auction items for their fundraiser. Now that he is unemployed he has time to maybe learn other braids and make some to sell! :)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Good Dog - BAD DOG!

Derek has been working on retrieves, a few every day with Cooper and he is doing awesome. Showing tons of enthusiasm for it, he wants to get out and work with Derek, it was really great to see him so happy to work yesterday.

We had a club meeting at the house, Wendy brought her dog Patch over to play. All was good, the dogs got along great and after they left, we were winding down watching a little TV when Cooper got up, walked to my chair (which I was not sitting in) sniffed it, then turned towards it and pissed on it! Mother Fucker was marking my damn chair..

Excuse my language but I got red hot, immediately screamed/yelled at him, Derek ran over to him and he proceeded to get thrown outside to poddy and then he sulked in the corner. Wendy's dog at one point had rubbed against my chair, so we are thinking he must have smelt her on the chair and decided he had to put his scent back on the chair.

I absolutely HATE dogs that mark indoors, and I'm not real sure how to get a handle on this and make sure it does not become a problem. It did just happen the 1 time that we know of, and maybe it was a one-time deal, but what if he continues to test his manhood?? Guess I have some research to do online with this situation on how to correct it if it turns into a problem.

Monday, August 1, 2011

It's all about Cooper..

The plan initially was to pick up Cooper on Saturday, but the trainer called and said he would be gone all weekend at a hunt test; therefore we had to drive down Friday to get him. I was able to leave work early, picked up Derek from his job in Seattle and we headed south.

When we arrived, Butch brought Cooper out of the kennels and he was running free.. We called Cooper over to us, he stopped about 6 feet away, hunkered down and looked at us as though he was unsure of who we were and why we were calling him over. For 3 months, he basically has probably only had Butch's attention and I would assume no other interaction with people other than the kennel employees and Butch. My heart sank in that split second, my worst fear came true that Cooper did NOT remember us! :( Derek and I were only 2 feet away from eachother and I called Cooper to me again and he decided he would come visit, as soon as he got to me, he REMEMBERED who I was!! He got super excited and then he immediately went to Derek. My heart smiled and I knew all was going to be okay.

Butch pulled a live hen out of the pen to work Cooper a little, demonstrate his abilities and how he'd like Derek to work Cooper etc. Cooper sat next to Butch as he threw the bird and then Cooper waited for the command to retrieve, slowly loped off to get the bird, struggled with wanting to pick up the live bird, needed some guidance and support and finally picked it up and brought it back. After that, he was doing retrieve after retrieve of the bird. At one point Cooper brought me the bird and Butch told me to grab it and throw it.. as I was swinging back to throw, Butch says "hold it by its wings" but it was too late and I threw the poor hen from her ass feathers, plucking about half of them out as she went flying in the air, she landed poorly due to the lack of tail feathers, I felt a little bad about it all.

We went in the office to wash our hands and for Butch to say goodbye to Cooper, we could see very clearly he was sad to see him go as he let Cooper jump up in his lap and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. :) Its pretty special to watch the trainer love on your dog so much and know that he was in such great hands and see the connection between them. As we loaded Cooper into the backseat of the truck, he got very nervous and hid his face under Derek's arm. He panted most of the way home. He is used to going places, but it's been in a metal box all this time and not in the backseat, but he did NOT get sick! :) Yeah!!

We pulled in our drive at about 10:30pm Friday night, Cooper was a little unsure in the yard, he was slowly starting to figure it all out and remember things. Ellie of course was pretty excited, she remembered him. Russell just had this look of disgust as I'm sure he thought Cooper was gone for good. :) Derek went in the house and I stayed outside for a minute.. A few seconds later, I could see it all just clicked in Cooper and he bolted for the front door, burst through that doggy door without a second thought and in the house, he just went crazy running all over, down the hall, in the bedroom, out in the living room.. he was truly happy! It was like the lightbulb turned on and he knew 100% he was home and safe.

Over the weekend, Cooper has gone back to his normal self, like he never left. Except now he is smarter! Derek took him in the backyard on Saturday and did a few retrieves with him and we were so happy to see he was actually excited about doing it.. actually he wanted to retrieve so much so, that he was heading out for his retrieve before he was given the verbal command to go, whereas with Butch, he would sit and wait very patiently for the command and then would non-challantly trot off to retrieve. Cooper also remembered how he loved to show off his toys to us and show us how proud he is of himself.. when he gets the bone, he loves to bring it to us, puff up his chest, hold his head up high and whine with joy at his great accomplishment! :) We really encourage it from him because we want him to LOVE LOVE LOVE showing off to us, bring out that desire to please so he will continue to make for a great hunting partner.

Butch did indicate that Cooper was not as far along in his 3 month program as most other dogs are at that point, sounds like Boykins have a mind of their own and can take a bit longer to get the same results, so we have some work to do, but it is the fun kind of work.

I think Ellie is a little annoyed, Cooper thinks she is the bees-knees (whatever the hell that means!) and he likes to chase-tail with her and since she has no tail, he really just has his nose on her ass constantly :) He puffs up to her, shows off his beautiful self, side steps over to her, paws at her to play and notice him and occassionally mounts.. she's been a little bit bitchy these days as she certainly does NOT appreciate it as much as he wishes she would. They get along just fine though, but at times I can see she just wants a break.. Russell, well again he is just annoyed that the kid is back, he really thought the problem was solved and gone for good. We have to be a little cautious though, because Cooper we've noticed is trying to establish himself back in the household and occassionally he seems to want to prove he is the new man of the house, and Russell is having non of that BS. Russell is standing his ground and demanding Cooper to back off, I just hope Cooper doesnt overstep his boundaries because I worry a tiny bit that Cooper will get a little too cocky and an actual fight might happen. So far its been okay, but part of the problem is that Russell is cranky and likes to growl at Cooper and Cooper LOVES to antagonize Russell.. If Russell has the bone, he will bat his legs at Russell, he'll play bite at Russell and just do all he can to annoy the shit out of him and if Russell is relaxing on the couch, Cooper thinks it is such a hilarious game to raz him up and bark at him, so then Russell starts barking like crazy, which gets Cooper even more riled up and excited. I am not sure Cooper understands that although he is playing and thinks its all funny, Russell on the other hand truly is pissed off and does not think it's so funny!