pics from the woods

Hi everyone! Kiri here! Just thought you might enjoy a few photos from the past couple of days, of me and my Things out exploring and having fun in the woods near our house. It's great to be a young Labrador in the springtime in Connecticut!

'K, gotta fly, places to go, sticks to carry....

See ya!

how to pick up a duck

As promised, here are a few notes about how Mom taught me to pick up a dead duck. You probably think that's pretty easy for a Lab to do, since that's what we were intended to do, go pick up dead ducks and bring them to our parents. But have YOU ever had a dead duck in your mouth? No? Well, then, don't judge how hard it is!

In this first video, I'm pretty suspicious about the whole dead duck thing. I mean, I've followed them around some when they are alive, but a dead duck looks different, and smells different, and even acts different. (Well, it doesn't act like anything. Other than a dead duck.) Anyway, here's what I did when I saw my very first dead duck. (By the way, a weasel killed this particular duck the night before, no ducks were killed just for me for this lesson.)

Mom let me mess around this way for a little bit until I got quieter about it. (It took awhile!) I did eventually settle down and get less scared of it, and sniffed it and checked it out a bit:

Then she started picking the duck up by a wing and walking in a big circle. I was really curious so I followed behind her, then she dropped it back down again to see what I would do. After doing it a few times, I decided that maybe I wanted to try to carry it too, and in order to do that, I would have to touch it with my mouth:

It was a little icky at first, the feathers stuck in my mouth and were hard to get back out. But I started to get used to it. And when I started putting my mouth on it whenever Mom dropped it, she started throwing it instead. That got me more excited about doing something with it:

I figured out I could drag it around a little if I grabbed a wing good and tight:

I was really starting to get the hang of wanting to pick up that duck, but there's no way to pick up a heavy duck by the wing. So Mom kept working with me until I gave up on the wings and tried grabbing it by the body. Then she whooped it up and tossed it for me again. All I need now is to either get a little bigger so I can actually get that duck up off the ground all the way, or get a smaller duck!

I hope you enjoyed the videos! I'm off to see if I can't find me a smaller duck....

See ya!

weekend in Maine

Ok, for now just ignore the duck feathers in my mouth, I'll get to that part later....

Hi everyone! It's me, Kiri, fresh back from a weekend trip to the fun state of Maine! Mom took my sheep-moving sisters up to work some friends' livestock, and I got to go along. She said I'm their mascot. Whatever. All I know is that I had a really good time, so if that's what being a mascot means, I can live with that.


Here's the friends we went to see, Cindy and Laura. They've got sheep-moving dogs too (what is it with everyone having sheep-moving dogs??), and none of them wanted to play with me. But Cindy and Laura did, so it was all good!




We got to play on this really cool beach. All the sheep-moving dogs went for a great big long walk, but I didn't get to go, I took a nap in the car instead. Something about too much distance and Mom's back not being able to carry a sack of potatoes for miles....anyway, they all said that next time we visit up there (Hooray! There's going to be a next time!) I can go on the walk, too. And I got to play twice there, before and after the walk, so I'm not complaining. Besides, why walk when there's seaweed to eat and salty water to wade in??

Other than playing in the salty water, I learned some important Labradorian Life Skills while I was in Maine. Like picking up a dead duck. It's harder than it sounds, actually, and I'll show you all about how I learned to do it next time. I've got video and everything! (I'm turing into quite the high-tech pup!)

Another important skill: flushing a pheasant. Ok, ok, so this isn't a pheasant, it's a rooster. But hey, same difference, right? A pheasant is pretty much the same size and color, and makes just as annoying sounds, and I'm pretty sure both would taste pretty good if I actually caught them.

So anyway, Mom thought maybe you guys would want to see why we were up there in the first place. (Although she says all this stock work was mostly just an excuse she gave Dad to get away with us for the weekend to visit her friends....shhhh, don't tell Dad that, he might not let us go again!) This is one of my sheep-moving sisters, Cheer, doing her thing with the sheep.

And here's another of the sisters, Grace, although Mom seems to spend most of her time getting Grace not to move the sheep. I'm telling you, this whole sheep thing really doesn't make much sense.

But, look at this! Now we're talking! That's my oldest sister, Joy, moving COWS! Whoa! I might not get the whole sheep thing, but even I've gotta admit, this looks pretty cool.

I think I could do it. Especially if I make a face like this:

Don't you think? I'd move if I were a cow....

Oh, well, maybe I oughta just stick to ducks....

See ya!

floods are fun!

Hey everyone! I want to show you this really cool place that Mom brought me and the Things this week. C'mon!


Is this not the COOLEST looking place ever? Joy, one of my sheep-moving sisters, told me that Mom used to take her there, but she didn't like it much. She's not so big on water, and while she put up with all the other dogs that like to play here, she didn't really enjoy it. So she's perfectly happy that I get to go now instead of her. (Have I mentioned that those sisters of mine are a little nuts??)




ANYWAY, this place was totally covered in water. Lola (that's the friend I'm swimming with now) says that it's not usually as watery as it is right now -- seems with all the rain we had last weekend, we've had a flood. Which means that there's water in all the low lying fields. Which means TOTAL FUN for those of us who love to swim and play in the water!

See?!?! FUN!


Now, I'm not sure the Things were so thrilled with all the water, although one or two of them took off their shoes and socks and mucked around in all the glorious mud with us. My things didn't, though. And my other friend, Stella (that's the red head in the middle of this picture) didn't want to swim either. But we all had a blast!

Ahhhh....heaven I tell you! And even better, I found a tennis ball on the way back to our car, and Mom threw it in the field for me and I got to play fetch all the way back to the car. WAHOO!!!! It doesn't get any better for a Lab pup!

And look, the weather guy on the Talking Box says more sunny, warm weather coming, which means more fun in the water, woods and fields for me! So I guess I'd better go rest up so that I have enough energy to enjoy it.

See ya!

back from the match

Hi there! Kiri here. I'm home from the match and my weekend with Granny Annie and the dog family. Turns out a "match" is actually a practice dog show (and not something that you start campfires with, which is what the snickering sheep-moving sisters told me). It was actually pretty cool. You have a "handler" who holds your leash and gives you good stuff to eat (my handler was our friend Wendy -- thanks Wendy, I had fun!), and then you have to just stand still while a "judge" pets you, and then you get to trot around like this:

Only on the leash next to your handler. I did pretty good I guess, 'cuz they gave me a ribbon, and the judge said nice things to Wendy about me. Granny Annie's pretty proud. Me? I liked those treats and all the petting. I was a little confused about why I couldn't find Mom anywhere, and I kept looking for her wherever we went. Maybe she lost track of where I was? But she found me again in Granny Annie's car, just in time for work last night, so phew, that was a relief.

I had fun hanging out with the dog family and all, but I was really happy to get back home to my yard, and my kitchen, and my Big Bed, and my toys, and my Things. And look what happened -- in just a few days, I've outgrown Thing 1's lap. That's pretty disappointing. Fortunately I still fit in Mom's lap.

And while I enjoyed the match, this is really more my speed.

Ok, I've gotta go, Mom's taking me and the Things back to the frog pond. I'll write more when I get a chance, I've got lots to tell you about. Wait 'til you see what Mom and I are working on. She wants me to do the darnedest things....

See ya!

puppy management

Hey, everyone!

Today I want to talk about the things Mom does to keep me from developing bad habits while I'm a young impressionable thing. At the training center, Tails-U-Win!, they call this 'management' (and in fact, they wrote an entire booklet called "Management Magic" -- if you'd like to buy a copy, the Tails-U-Win! website is over there on the left-hand side of the page under my favorite links). I call it common sense. If I'm set up to only do acceptable behaviors now, I'll carry that "good" behavior into adulthood and be a well-behaved canine citizen. Puppies that are properly managed don't wind up at the pound!


Here's an example of some of Mom's good puppy management. The Things tend to leave their stuff all over the house, and that stuff sure is attractive to a young dog like me, who really likes to pick up everything I see and chew on it. So Mom makes sure I stay away from all the stuff by either carrying me or walking me on a leash past it, and then using barriers to keep me from going back to the stuff-infested rooms. (In this photo she's using chairs, bins, and stools -- rumor has it that she in fact owns baby gates and x-pens and other stuff actually made to keep me in areas she wants me, but I've yet to see any of them....) Meanwhile, she gives me plenty of good stuff that I can chew on, and encourages me to chew on them by getting down on the floor and playing with me sometimes. This way I'm getting used to chewing on dog toys instead of kid toys -- it keeps the Things happy, and Mom too since she doesn't have to listen to them screaming about me grabbing and destroying Bakugans and Pokemons and Legos and other stuff with weird names.

Here's another example of good puppy management -- my crate in the van. We go for lots and LOTS of car rides, and when we do, I ride in my crate. It keeps me from wandering about the van climbing on Things and chewing the upholstery, while at the same time keeping me safe in case Mom has to brake or swerve suddenly. (I'm not saying Mom's a crazy driver, mind you, I'm just saying just in case....) She stocks my crate full of toys and bones to chew on, which is also good management because it keeps me happy and I don't bark or whine as we're riding. (Fact of the matter is, I usually use that time to rest up, because we're almost always on our way to someplace super-fun that I'll need my energy for!)

I've also got a crate in the 'dog room' with the sheep-moving sisters, but I really only ever wake up in there in the morning. At some point after I fall asleep at night (in the big bed with Mom and Dad, which is The Way It Should Be), one of them must move me down there. Or it's a magic bed that transports me there during the night. Either way. In any case, that's where I wake up in the morning, and I hang out down there with the sisters from the time Dad wakes me to take me outside and the time Mom gets my breakfast ready, which is about an hour or so. Mom says it's also there for those times she can't keep an eye on me and I can't be outside in my yard because the weather is bad. Oh yeah, that reminds me, my yard is ANOTHER way she uses management -- it's big and safe and oh so fun to be in!!

Yet another way she uses management is to make sure I've got plenty of exercise and am tired when it's time to hang out in the house, or in my crate, or visit with people. Here I'm playing with my friend Solana the Golden, who is a puppy too, but a little older than me. She's my Thursday afternoon playmate, and she's loads of fun. I have lots of play dates, and Mom takes me and the Things for lots of romps in the pastures or in the woods. Honestly, I'm pretty exhausted most of the time. Which means I sleep a lot. Which Mom really likes. "A tired puppy is a good puppy!" she always says.

She makes especially sure that I'm good and tired when I'm going to be playing with Things other than our own. That way I'm not grabbing stuff away from itty bitty Things, or jumping on bigger Things or their Moms. And she also gives me stuff to carry in my mouth so that I'm not tempted to grab at the skirts the girl Things like to wear (and they are SOOOOOOO tempting!!). That's management, too. So is that long leash I'm dragging --that's so Mom can step on it if I make a break for it. (But seriously, where else would I go??)

So, all in all, Mom's got this management stuff down pat. And as a result, I never get yelled at or scolded -- there's no need, I never do anything wrong!

Guess I need to go now -- I'm off to spend the rest of the weekend with Granny Annie and the dog family. She's taking me and my brother, Apolo, to something called a "match" tomorrow. I heard her say to Mom that it's a good place to "get my feet wet". Maybe there's a pool there? (Oooh, I hope so! Swimming!) I'll let you know more when I do. But it'll be a couple days, 'cuz I don't think Granny Annie lets her dogs use the computer.

See ya!

food, glorious food

Oh, arf, gulp, hrmph....excuse me! I was grabbing a quick snack while Mom uploaded the photos for me. Smack, gulp....

Ok, so there's lots of stuff I want to tell you guys about. But none of it is nearer or dearer to my heart than this first topic -- FOOD!!! What we dogs eat is extremely important. We need something that is easy to digest and change into energy to use for doing stuff, and to keep our insides as shiny and healthy as our outsides. And the best stuff for dogs to eat is the same stuff that our cousins the wolves eat. Because although MOST of us are quite different from wolves (although I have a few friends who act a little closer to that end of our evolutionary chain....), our digestive systems are pretty much exactly the same. That's because even though it only takes a few generations to change outside traits like coat color and the way we hold our ears, it takes eons (literally) for actual body organs to change. So if you opened me up and laid me next to a wolf, you'd have a pretty hard time telling who was who. (Ok, so that was a gruesome image....moving right along!)

ANYWAY! So the question is, what is it that wolves eat? Did you guess meat?? You're right!! Meat! And bones! Lots of it! As much as they can manage to hunt down and kill. Sometimes it's big animals like deer and caribou. Sometimes it's little stuff like birds and mice. But if it's meat, they eat it, along with the stuff that the animal they killed ate (and for the most part, that would be grasses and other vegetable like stuff, already partially digested in their stomachs). So lots and lots of meat, a little bit of vegetables, and then whatever fruits might be in season that they can get (berries or apples, etc), and whatever eggs they might come across.

I've heard these really weird stories about some dogs eating hard crunchy grain-based food, like our chickens do. It was pretty hard to believe, so I asked my sheep-moving sisters if they knew anything about this, and they just laughed at me and told me that it's all a big myth, nobody would ever give their dogs stuff like that to eat. I dunno. I have it on pretty good authority from some of my friends that there really ARE dogs that they know who actually eat that way. I'll let you know if I ever find any proof about that.

But I'm not here to talk about stuff I don't know about! What I'm here to tell you about is how Mom feeds me and my sheep-moving sisters, and how Granny Annie feeds my doggie relatives, and how most of my friends eat. Here's a picture of a really cool dog food made by a company called Bravo (I'm adding an link over on the left side in case you want to go get some good food for your dogs, too!). This kind of food has meat (chicken in this case) and bones and organs and vegetables all in an individually wrapped patty. It's a meal in a bag! This is not what mom feeds the sheep-moving sisters, but it's what I get for breakfast because it's easy to mix my vitamins and stuff in with. She says when I'm older and not eating so often during the day, I'll eat the same way the sisters do, which is pretty much just the rest of the stuff I'm going to talk about below. In any case, if you're only feeding one or two dogs, feeding them these Bravo patties is a great, convenient way to make sure they're getting everything they need in a balanced way.


The same ingredients in the patties also come in tubes like this one (although in this case, this tube only has vegetables in it, but it looks like this!). This is a 2 lb tube, but they come in 5 lb tubes too, in case you're feeding lots of dogs.

My mom keeps these tubes of vegetables (already pulverised and ready for doggies to be able to digest) around to add to her own meat and bones and organs and eggs to feed the sisters breakfast, and will be how I get my breakfast once I'm only eating two meals a day too.



Mom feeds us the mushy stuff for breakfast because we get our vitamins and minerals and digestive enzymes and other good stuff from Nature's Farmacy (which I'll also add a link to!). Mom says it's her "insurance policy" that we're getting everything we need, like when she gives the Things their vitamins at breakfast too. The vitamins are mixed with cheese, so they are very tasty and it mixes in with the mushy stuff really good.

Part of our mushy breakfast stuff is the eggs that our very own chickens lay. Eggs are super yummy and a really good source of protein (whatever that is, good stuff for dogs I guess!). Mom and Dad and the Things eat lots of eggs, too, although they cook their eggs. I guess they're as good for humans and Things as they are for us dogs!

The chickens are good for more than laying eggs -- they are good for eating too! Here's my usual lunch -- a couple of chicken wings, from our very own chickens. Mom says we don't always have our own chickens to eat, so sometimes we buy big boxes of frozen chicken from Bravo. The sisters say a big truck comes right in our driveway because Mom orders lots of chicken and tubes of vegetables (and sometimes bones and other things like the patties) at once and keeps it all in the big freezers.

Here's some pork, another favorite lunch or dinner of mine. Mom and Dad raise a pig or two every once in awhile, the sisters told me, so we've got plenty of healthy pork and pork bones. You'll notice all this meat is raw. That's why it's OK for us to eat the bones -- cooked bones might splinter and cause problems when moving through our digestive tracts, but uncooked bones are softer and don't break off in sharp pieces. It's important for us to eat bones because it exercise our jaws, keeps our teeth clean, exercises our digestive tracts, keeps our poops nice and firm and provides us with important minerals that we couldn't be healthy without.

Of course, we also raise lamb, which is why Mom needs the sheep-moving sisters. Here are some nice chunks of lamb defrosting for our supper tonight. Mmmmm.....supper.....I wonder if it's time to eat yet....?

Oh, look, a beef bone! Mom gets these from a guy who raises cows. Once in awhile he sends one to the butcher to be turned into hamburger, and we get the bones! (And we buy some of the hamburger, too, because it's very yummy for both dogs and humans and even Things.) We also have some hunter friends who give us deer bones, those are tasty too. (He gives venison steaks to Mom and Dad, too, but funny enough, the sisters say they don't share those with us....) Mom calls this kind of bone a 'recreational bone' because there isn't much meat on it, so it wouldn't exactly sustain us as a meal in itself. But it sure makes a lovely snack! And keeps a pup like me busy so Mom can teach a lesson, or hold a class, or drive across the state, or clean the house.

The sisters say that we also occasionally have duck, and I've heard Mom and Dad talking about raising Turkeys and Rabbits this year, too, so basically there's no lack of yummy, nutritious stuff for us canines to eat around here!

Ok, well, all this talk about food has made me pretty hungry, so I'm going to go see if I can hunt up something to eat here in my yard. There's still a couple hours 'til dinner, but sometimes Mom hides surprises out here, so you really never know what you might find! She says that she's exercising my nose, my mind, and my body that way.

Ooh! I'm hot on a trail! Smells like beef....

See ya!

dog days

Hi there, it's me again. Kiri the blogging Labrador. I thought you might like to know how an up-and-coming pup spends her days, so I had Mom take a few photos to share.

I start my day with Breakfast, which is The Way Things Should Be. I eat outdoors because my food tends to be pretty messy. (I'll talk more about what I eat another time, but just let it be known that I do NOT eat "dog food", nor should any self-respecting dog. I eat REAL food, the sort that, if Mom chose to cook it, she'd be willing to eat herself.) While I'm eating, Mom goes and feeds the other critters, then lets me run around in the horse pasture with her for a bit. Then I come in and hang out in the kitchen with my collection of really cool toys while she cooks breakfast for the Things and herself. The first few days I thought for sure she'd give me some of what she was making if I was really cute, but I eventually realized that there was no hope of that ever happening, so now I just mind my own business while she's busy.


Thing 1 often comes in to play with me while Mom cooks. He knows how to play my favorite game -- holding together -- really well. Some people call this game "tug", but really we're just sharing a toy. This game makes me wiggle and waggle and I get so happy about it that sometimes I groan. Thing 1 knows that if he steps into the kitchen with one of my toys, I'll bite onto that instead of onto his ankles or his clothes. (He learned that when I accidentally ripped his pajamas one morning -- oops! Sometimes I don't know my own strength!) After the Things and Mom eat, Mom trains me a bit. I'll talk a lot about what we're working on and how Mom goes about it in other posts. But in a nutshell Mom is a positive reinforcement trainer, which means that I get things I like (toys, games, belly rubs, treats) for doing things she wants me to. It's really, REALLY fun!

After our training time, I go out into my yard with a bone while the Things get their morning lessons. Mom says I'd probably go into my crate if it was bad weather out, but so far it's only been nice since I've lived here. (I think maybe I'm a good-luck weather dog....) This is a picture of my yard. Isn't it the awesomest?? It's a cool place to hang out, especially when I have something good to gnaw on. Sometimes Mom and the Things take my sheep-moving sisters for a walk up the road on leashes. I don't get to go on those walks -- Mom says it's only frustrating to try to walk puppies too much on leashes. For my walks, we romp in the pasture or in the woods without a leash on at all. That way I can run and frolic and lie down and jump around without pulling on a leash. Mom says it'll help keep me from learning to pull her around. I am NOT in training to be a sled dog!

After lessons, we either eat lunch (which happens in exactly the same order as breakfast), or we pack into the car and head out on an adventure. If we stay home for lunch, we get to have a 'rest time' after lunch, where we all climb into the big bed and the Things watch a program on the TV while Mom and I catch a nap. If we head out instead, the Things and I eat lunch and "rest" in the car, them by listening to a CD, me by napping in my crate. Mom doesn't get to rest on those days, 'cuz she has to drive. Poor Mom! Whenever we get where we're going, we're all rested up and ready to GO!

Where do we go in the afternoons? EVERYWHERE! Usually it involves visiting other people and Things, and most times it includes a doggy friend that I can play with. This is me and my Labradoodle friend, Beegu, playing in the woods yesterday. Sometimes we go places that Mom and the Things have to do stuff indoors, and I can't always go with them. In those cases, Mom parks in a nice shady spot and leaves me with a good bone to chew on, then checks on me and takes me for little walks during the afternoon. But there's always some fun for me afterwards -- a romp in the woods, play with a doggie friend, or running around with some Things. I'm always really tired by the time we head for home.

Some nights I go to Tails-U-Win! with Mom, and one night a week I even get to go to a puppy class of my own (which I'll also write more about another time!), but usually I go to hang out with Granny Annie or to help Mom with her classes. I like going there, all the people treat me like I'm really special and I have lots of dog friends there. On the nights when we stay home, we read stories in the big bed, or sometimes watch TV. I tend to get the "zoomies" about the time the Things are going to bed, so I go back out in my yard for an hour or two to get it out of my system. Then I come back in and crash on the big bed with Mom and Dad. At some point one of them must bring me to my crate in the dog room, because I always wake up in the morning surrounded by my sheep-moving sisters.

So that's a day in the life of me! I'd share some more stories with you, but tonight's a work night, I have to go get ready to help Mom train some other dogs, first at somebody's house, and then at Tails-U-Win! I'm also hoping for a chance to kiss Granny Annie and play with my Golden friend Tessie. I love work nights!

See ya!