dogs – Page 7 – fourwhitefeet

Bonnie was third!

We had a fun weekend of Frisbee in Thornton. Bonnie was third in the Skyhoundz Time Trial toss and catch competition Friday evening! Admittedly it was a limited field. Some teams had a member who had to work late Friday or they stayed home to rest up for the big Western Open Qualifier on Saturday, but the winning team, 2006 UFO World Cup Series Champions Matt DiAno and Maggie and runners-up, guest judge Ed Jakubowski and local disc dog Nitro Nana, must be pretty amused by their plaques that say “Novice Class”.

The competition on Saturday was very exciting. There were teams from Minnesota, Washington and Montana, as well as Colorado. It was a real treat to see Roo Yori and his famous pit bull Wallace perform. They won the Open/Expert Combined division with Matt and Maggie in second. Roo, Wallace, and Josh Grenell won the Pairs Freestyle followed by Colorado Disc Dogs’ Becky & Jeff Mueller and Bandit. Becky and her dog Flygirl recently placed second in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regional, in Phoenix. Darrell Earle and Nitro Nana placed first in the CDD Intermediate Distance Accuracy division, with Jay Smartz placing second and third with his dogs Boomer and Durango. Jay and Durango were first in the Skyhounds Expert Distance Accuracy division. The top four places in Expert Combined and Expert D/A, and top two teams in Paris Freestyle won invitations to the Skyhoundz World Championships.

I learned that believing you forgot your camera is functionally equivalent to forgetting your camera. The power of belief overwhelmed the fact that it was within arm’s reach most of Saturday. The photo to the left is of 11 month old Bonnie at her first competition, Thornton 2005.

I had a depressing meeting with the podiatrist this morning. I am in the boot at least a few more days. The depressing part was his suggestion that I may need to be “immobilized” for a few weeks so my foot can heal….not that absolute immobilization is even possible. Send We11butrin!

Skunked

Bonnie had her first skunk experience last night. She did not get doused, just a light spritz. A good thing because there was only about 20 oz of hydrogen peroxide in the house. Here is the skunk remedy recipe. It is the only thing I know that works.

    1 qt Hydrogen Peroxide
    1/4 c Baking Soda
    1 tsp Liquid Soap

Soak with undiluted solution and rinse with plain water.

Jessie was sprayed twice before she learned about skunks. Once at 4:00am when I was up early to drive to Denver for a conference. I bathed her with tomato juice and took her to the dog sitter. That was before I knew about the aforementioned remedy. She was banished to the dog sitter’s garage for the weekend. The last time she was sprayed at about 2:00am. A few months later we were running outside town. She saw the skunk before I did and crossed to the opposite side of the road and ignored it. I followed her lead.

Bonnie was clearly not happy about the smell. I think it bothered her more than me. She was headed to the tub before I could say, “I think we need a bath.” I felt sorry for her because the hydrogen peroxide mixture was cold and she was shivering straight away. I quickly rinsed her with warm water and the smell and shivering were gone. Then she raced around the house doing the joyous, drying-off-dance.

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Morning visitor

An adolescent bear was right outside the front door this morning. Its reddish, light-brown coat looked beautiful in the rainy, gray light. Unfortunately I did not get a photo. I was too busy telling Bonnie that yes, this was something I wanted her to let me know about. Then wishing it would hang around eating grass in the yard so I wouldn’t have to mow. Then remembering that I needed to try to impress upon the bear that people and their houses are not good places for bears to hang around. Then it left and I couldn’t get a photo.

Jessie intuitively knew about bears. She hardly ever barked, but for as long as she could hear, anytime day or night that there was a bear outside she used a special, very quiet, “woof-woof.” Her way of saying, “There is something outside you should know about, but I don’t want it to know I am in here.” Not that she was a wimp. Once when she was visiting a friend and a bear walked in the back door she barked it back outside. She just preferred to avoid confrontation if possible.

After two and a half days in the boot my foot feels better than it has in many months. I am sure I will get sick of the boot soon enough, but for now I am happy that it seems to be working.

Jessie on the Dunes

Here are some photos of Jessie at the Dunes many years ago. Missing the Frisbee or not, she was one amazing dog!

A few weeks ago I wrote that dogs are not allowed at the Dunes since it became a National Park. Well, I was happy to learn they have changed their policy. Dogs are allowed on the Dunes if kept on a leash. Owners, of course, are expected to clean up after their pets.

This makes Great Sand Dunes National Park one of the few in the National Park system that allows dogs beyond parking the lot!! Some do not even allow pets inside visitors’ cars within their boundaries. I find the exclusion of pets from our open-space and the general complacency about it pretty disturbing, but I will save that topic for another post. For today, I am going to celebrate that Bonnie and I can camp and play at the Sand Dunes.

If you want to visit the Dunes with your dog remember that on sunny days the sand gets too hot for pets to walk on. There is no shade in the parking areas. The water level of the river in the photo is below the sand much of the year. If it’s going to be sunny and not cold you should visit on another day or make other arrangements for your furry family members.

The Piñon Flats Campground does have shaded sites so you could hang out there during the day and hike when the sand is cool. Even before the Sand Dunes was a National Park camping sites usually filled on weekends and holidays. At this time only group sites can be reserved.