The dogs experiencing snow for the first time during Snowmageddon CHS 2010.
Snow dogs
Barkley: Year 1
Barkley was adopted just over a year ago and today I got another update from his new family. It’s so great to hear about former foster dogs doing so well.
First anniversary, which we consider his birthday was this Monday! The only reason he kept from freaking out wearing the hat was because we were holding pizza. (we tried to put one on him for maggies birthday, without the allure of pizza, and he ran to the third floor and hid.)
We flipped past ST:TNG last night and watched, because you said Barkley was named for a character, so we were trying to spot him! I looked up the character, because you said they were similar, and read that Barclay was afraid of the transporter! Perfect!
He is still terrified of vacuums. He still needs a nylabone constantly- really likes to gnaw at midnight and 6am on the bed. He still rolls around on his back kicking his legs when he’s entertaining himself. He now drops a tennis ball at my feet all day long- and when I’m in bed on my head all night long. He’s a good runner, we do 3 miles a day. Many days the finish line of our run is the fish store, so they each get a cooked shrimp as a reward. He saw his first crane (as in the bird) on the river and went cuckoo, since it’s on our running path he searchs for it every day. He doesn’t seem to mind the snow.
CSCLRC Supported Entry 2010
I’ve been going to the CSCLRC‘s Supported Entry Lab Retriever show for the past 4 years now, ever since we got Nala.
Each year it has rained before or during the show (and not just a light sprinkling), a trend that remains unbroken for this year’s event. It was a cold and damp event, but the dogs didn’t seem to mind one bit.
Have a couple hundred photos from today to go through, but so far this is my favourite photo.
Ball-slinging
The dogs got a 4-ball Hyperdog slingshot/ball launcher for Christmas, so today we spent a drizzly half hour or so at the dog park trying it out. It comes with 4 tennis balls, so it’s ready to go out of the box.
Hyperdog ball launcher with 4 dog-tested and approved balls
According to the product description, it’ll launch a ball up to 220′ (67m). I’m pretty sure I could have cleared the dog park from end to end with it pretty easily. Even with a short pull back you can launch the ball a good distance. Nala definitely had a good time running after the ball. Simba didn’t quite figure it out yet, because all he saw were the balls in the launcher, rather than the one that was launched.
Business end of the Hyperdog slingshot. Convenient ball storage.
It’s pretty comfortable to use, with a padded arm brace to absorb some of the pressure of pulling the ball and pouch back. The product description also boasts hands-free pickup, but this tended to be somewhat awkward because of the slingshot arms. I ended up finding it easier to just pick up the ball with my hands.
If you’re squeamish about picking up dirty and slobbery balls, you’ll probably want to stick with a regular Chuck-it or something similar for true hands-free play. If you have a dog that likes to run after balls and want to be able to send something far downrange, it doesn’t get much better than a Hyperdog launcher. It’s best in large, wide open fields and where the density of people/dogs is relatively low. Launching a ball and beaning someone in the head probably wouldn’t make for a good dog park experience. It would be perfect for the dog park at James Island County Park or Palmetto Islands County Park. It’ll work fine in smaller areas too, but you’ll have to be careful about how far you pull back and the launch angle.
I think the next thing I’ll do is replace the regular fuzzy tennis balls (hate how gooey and nasty they end up getting) with some Chuck-it rubber Ultra balls. They’re a little heavier, don’t get quite as dirty or gooey, and are easier to see in grass than a dirty tennis ball.
Crashed in the car
