Ice fishing

Lots of people put ice cubes in their dog's water dish to keep the water cool in summer. I took some ice from the automatic dispenser, conveniently dropping a couple of cubes on the floor as usual. Miro darted after them like a shark while Alanis sat looking at me as if to say, "Where's my treat, please?" I pointed to an ice cube. She looked at it, looked at me with the same hurt, puzzled expression. She's too polite to look disdainful.

Meanwhile, Miro crunched the ice with his brand new grown-up teeth while I put the other pieces in the water. Normally he plays with ice, then leaves most of it for me to mop up. Not today. Today he decided he had to have all the ice, including the partly melted bits in the water dish.

First he tried getting the ice by lapping. Didn't work. Then he plunged his nose straight in, blowing bubbles and grabbing a piece of ice at the same time. He emerged triumphant with water running out his mouth and dripping off his beard across the floor as he carried a piece of ice away to eat it. Then he went back for the second and the third.

By the time I stopped laughing and got the camera, he was about done. Giggling while you're trying to take a photo doesn't work too well, but I thought I'd post the least bad ones (which shows you how bad the rest were--as in black and tan blur). Then I mopped up the lake that had spread across the floor.
The wet-beard look.
Resting after a job well done.

Stripping knives

Hi Karen and Bentley! On the left are my two old knives with the new one on the right. It's not one of the premium brands; I think several companies make the same type of knife. This one says CP Classic and I ordered it from Cherrybrook. Other grooming suppliers probably carry the same one.

Super simple stripping

We pet owners are always searching for grooming tips for our Airedales. Few of us have the time or stamina to keep our dogs hand-stripped. I've always used a combination, stripping out the undercoat before clipping, in an effort to preserve the rough texture and black and tan color. An Airedale without a dark undercoat can end up looking more grey and blond after years of clipping. A friend put me on to this extra-easy stripping knife:


It's the easiest one I've used for undercoat because it works like a comb. You don't need to tire out your wrist and thumb with this one, though you still need to hold the skin taut with one hand while wielding the knife with the other. Hold the knife at an angle so that the teeth are not perpendicular to the dog's skin and comb through with short strokes. As with all stripping knives, dull the tips of the teeth by filing the knife across a rock or concrete before you use it on the dog for the first time.

Fuzzy undercoat. This gets dirt and dander out, too.




If you are a lifelong amateur like me, your method isn't always elegant. The point, however, is not to do this like a pro but to keep your Airedale looking totally cute and/or gorgeous.



And happy.

Chickens love nectarines

One over-ripe nectarine, six chickens. One puppy trying to get in.

Arming up for July 4

I hate July 4th and New Year's Eve because my neighborhood sounds like a war zone during those holidays. It's hard enough for me to endure the explosions but it's torture for a dog who is afraid of loud noise. Having been introduced to noise from an early age, Miro should be OK. Alanis is another matter; even the occasional distant booms of the past few days have sent her running indoors from outside or searching for me if she's inside.

As much as I'd like to hunt down and do violence to the people making the noise, the law forbids. Instead, I'm getting the dogs ready, laying down a stock of Melatonin and Acepromazine for Alanis and conditioning the dogs as best I can with bubblewrap practice.

This training exercise requires sheets of the large-size bubblewrap, high caliber treats like chicken or stinky liver, and the ability to hop around like a fool while chanting, "Oh boy good doggies," and such. A little bit of dexterity is needed, as you crumple the bubblewrap in both hands so that it goes pop-pop-pop like firecrackers, hop around, praise the dogs, and hand out treats at relatively the same time. We have been doing this nightly. Miro thinks all excitement is good; even Alanis is working up some enthusiasm. Whether or not bubblewrap explosions will help inure her to real fireworks remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, a spur-of-the-moment view of Biteyface:

The hazards of weeding

The chickens like to eat dandelion greens and the minute delicacies that live in the roots. It's a cheap means of getting them their salad greens, so every once in a while I dig up the plentiful weeds from what is called a lawn, for lack of a better word. This evening Miro helped by putting his head in my line of sight everywhere I started wriggling the trowel into the hard-packed dirt.

Being Airedale-experienced, I know it is highly dangerous to let the dog get his head anywhere below yours when you bend over to tie shoes, pick something up, or weed. The Airedale head will inevitably pop up straight into your nose, chin, or eye; and you will go out the next day looking as if you have been in a fight. On me, it's not a particularly romantic look. As a result, every time Miro got between my head and the weed, I moved my head away and groped around, trying to dig up the dandelion without being able to see it. The chickens grumbled over the poor pickings.

Noting my apparent interest in dirt, Miro dug a few small holes; but I was not able to persuade him to dig up any dandelions. Probably I was just teaching him the joys of digging holes in the back yard, a lesson I'll pay for later.

Leggy

Miro plays with his favorite toy

I was upstairs when I heard an almighty thumping and scraping and tearing. Naturally Miro halted his efforts to dig his way through the box when I went down to see but I managed to capture a bit of the action. It's never the toy; it's the box it came in.

June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square

Although this is a blog about enjoying animals, not a political blog, I'm making an exception today to observe the 20th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising in Beijing's Tianamen Square when the army moved on its own citizens to crush the demonstration. In an attempt to quell observances of the anniversary, the Chinese government blocked a number of electronic communications.

Those of us living in countries with laws protecting our right to free speech can mark this day for the sake of those who cannot.

Miro's first beauty treatment

I have missed keeping up with other dog news, not to mention missed keeping up here. Last week Miro had his first ear-gluing and stripping. Less and less puppy coat remains. No more punk hairstyle! It's always sad to see that go. Here are before and after pics.




Standing on the grooming table nets lots of treats.