Duncan, Surf Dude

More photos, and a couple of videos, of Duncan enjoying the beach!

Boy Meets Beach

The main reason we chose Pinery for Duncan's first camping trip is its nice sandy, shallow beach, with 2 of the 9 areas designated as dog beaches. Although it's packed in the afternoon, it's much quieter in the evening. And we had it totally to ourselves in the morning. 

Duncan loved being able to play off leash! The video's a bit wobbly, but notice that excellent Come at the end? His teachers would be so proud of him! 

He was less sure about the water at first, but I held him at the edge while he thought about it, and he decided that he could risk getting acquainted:

And it was probably safe to just run along the edge:

He was a bit concerned when I lost my mind and walked out into the water:

But he followed me in, and then he started having fun:

Under attack!

Hmm, a stick.

This is fun after all!

Duncan Goes Camping

On Sunday, we headed off to Pinery Provincial Park for Duncan's first camping trip. On the whole, it went very well. Except, perhaps, for the part where we had to strike camp by lantern light at 10:00 p.m. Monday evening, while consoling a hysterical puppy, and drive 2½ hours home in the middle of the night...

He actually settled into camp life quite well. There were interesting smells, his very own blankie, and a brand new chewie. He quickly caught on to roughing it, and found drinking from the water jug as we filled his bowl almost like having a bathtub:

The sand was a bit of a problem, and his wet beard seemed to attract it:

And he was a bit dubious about the tent at first, but settled in and slept through his first night just fine:

We're going to sleep WHERE?

He loved the beach – you'll see lots of beach photos and videos in the next two posts. But the campground was full, mostly of families with young kids – there were at least 5 kids staying on the site next to us – and he seemed to have a problem with all those people so close to his space. By bedtime the second night he was getting so upset we decided it wasn't worth staying, especially since we'd have been leaving the next day anyway. By 1:30 a.m., he was home in his own little crate, and life is good again.

More Wildlife

It's too hot for Duncan. He's spending most of his time moving from one air-conditioning vent to another, and isn't even keen for his walk. So until he's back to his normal photogenic self, here's more of the local wildlife. We've already met the raccoons and skunks, but the rabbits have really taken over the neighbourhood this year. These two can be seen most mornings, nibbling happily on the grass, sometimes with friends. 

But they're feeling the heat too – it was even too much work for this little guy to sit up to eat! He was stretched out on his side relaxing, and didn't feel any need to move just because Duncan and I were passing by.

The other one is known as Bunny-with-the-crooked-leg. (We need to think of a catchier name!) I don't know what happened to it, but he (or she?) has had this deformed leg, which sticks straight out from his body, since at least last year. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, and he hops around as well as any of the other rabbits. The poor little guy was stretched out on his side earlier this morning, just like his friend, with his bad leg sticking up. But he wouldn't hold still while I got the camera. 

BWTCL reminds me how lucky Duncan was to have so many great vets and techs looking after him when he broke his leg. 

Pool Problems

Duncan is worried. His humans have apparently lost their minds. They keep getting into the pool voluntarily. Without falling in.

He tries to explain how foolish this is...

He shows them lots of cool, shady places to hang out without getting wet...

Like this.

Or this.

But they don't listen. In fact, they put on his Spiffy Orange Lifejacket, and force him into the evil thing. They call it a swimming lesson, and keep telling him to swim to the steps. 

Afterward, he runs a few laps and shakes a bit to dry off, then finds a cool, shady spot to lie down (still in his Spiffy OL) where he can get all muddy:

They'll never find me here!

Duncan 0, Skunk 1

Notice the product placement?

Well, if you own a terrier, it's going to happen sometime, I suppose. And tonight all the stars were misaligned. Duncan managed to encounter one of the neighbourhood skunks during his bedtime excursion to the backyard. The skunk won. 

I was sure we still had a bottle of skunk shampoo, but it was nowhere to be found. I did unearth a couple of ancient bottles of hydrogen peroxide, but discovered we were pretty much out of baking soda. So I made a quick trip to the vet for a bottle of the magic substance (it's closer than the supermarket) while poor Daddy hung out with the little stinker in the bathtub. (Before you feel too sorry for him, the roles were reversed when we made the same trip for Kerry – and she hated the bath!) On the way back, I noticed the smell well before I got to the mosque on Fairview, so I'm thinking it was a pretty potent skunk! Happily, Duncan now smells much better. Megan, who arrived home just as he was tearing around at full speed post-bath, says the family room is not as bad as I feared. But I'm afraid we're all going to be a bit unpopular at work for a few days.

He's a precocious little guy, though, Kerry didn't get hit for the first time (of her 3½ hits) until she was nearly 6. He's only 9½ months. 

Itchy Paw

In the last post, I mentioned that Duncan spends 10-15 minutes in the morning scratching (interspersed with jumping on the bed) before he goes to work dealing with intruders. He really is an itchy little guy. He does all the standard doggy scratches (hind paw-ear, front paw-nose) but he has a few of his own. Like this one. Sometimes he chews at his front paws, but there are times when chewing just isn't quite the thing. So he sits there, often staring thoughtfully into the distance, while he does the paw-paw scratch.

We're puzzled by all his scratching. His vet says it looks like environmental allergies. We've tried three different antihistamines, which he loved.** But they didn't make any difference to the itchiness. Once he's a bit older and off the puppy food, we're going to try a special food for sensitive skin. If that doesn't help, we'll start the allergy testing process once he's a year old. 

** All the tramadols and metacam when he broke his leg created a little druggie; he'll do tricks for anything in a pill pocket. But then, as Erin discovered recently, he'll do tricks for a blade of grass – while he's standing in the middle of the lawn!! Maybe he just likes showing off his tricks?

Duncan and the Masked Bandits

The scene of the crime.

Yesterday, Duncan slept in. He didn't wake up until 5:15 (yes, that's sleeping in!), and by the time he finished his scratching, stretching, and jumping on the bed routine, he didn't actually start his early morning prowl of the yard until 5:30. He more than made up for his slacking off, though, by proving his terrier credentials. He glared at the back corner of the yard, then went dashing off, barking at the top of his lungs. Feeling that the neighbours might not appreciate an early start to their Saturday, I followed, trying to call him back without exceeding a loud whisper. Needless to say, it didn't work.

On top of the fence were two medium-sized raccoons. A few weeks ago, Chris saw a mother and two babies on the same fence, so we think these might be the same little ones, now bigger. Raccoon teenagers. And a terrier teenager. Not a good combination!

Teenagers of all species are noted for not listening. The raccoons didn't listen to Duncan telling them to leave. They prowled along the fence, glaring down at him. And Duncan didn't listen to me telling him to leave. He danced around the garden, glaring up at them and barking, until Daddy saved the day by arriving with a bribe. Apparently freeze-dried chicken in the paw beats raccoon on the fence. Fortunately.

Having declared himself a hero, he wasn't about to rest on his laurels. The first thing he did when I let him out this morning was to dash down to the corner and look up at the fence. Empty. They must be too scared to come back, he figures.

The neighbours will be pleased.

Duncan 1, Vacuum 0

Duncan has hated the vacuum from Day 2. (No, that's not a typo; he didn't mind it when he was tiny. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.) Recently, he got a chance to get even.

He found The Archenemy sitting unattended, and took a moment away from his chewie to make sure it would never scare him again.

Sadly, the cord has been repaired, and Duncan's allowance has been cut until he pays off the repair bill.

Happy Canada Day!

Since Canada Day was cooler than usual this year, we took Duncan down to the celebration at Spencer Smith Park this afternoon. It's always a crowded, noisy event, so it was a good chance for him to get some practice at behaving himself in a tough situation. 

It's a very nice park, with a walking path along the lakeshore, nice fishy smells if the wind is right, lots of big grassy areas to explore, and special dog fountains. A civilized sort of place.

Nothing like a sea breeze in your face!

The highlight of the afternoon was the show put on by Duncan's alma mater, Scholars in Collars. Every year they do a demonstration of agility, obedience, tricks, and high jumping using mostly instructors' dogs. It's always fun, and we watch it every year, but this was the first time we knew several of the people and dogs in it.

Setting up the agility course.

Duncan did amazingly well. He managed to last through the whole hour-long show, with only a few lapses when we had to go for walks and explain that one does not jump on small children, even when they're jumping on each other. 

That's my friend Shanty in that ring!

Of course, it helped that I started off with a pocket full of freeze-dried chicken. Then his teacher spotted him, told him how well he was doing, and contributed a handful of duck treats. And finally, Daddy bought him his very own hot dog! He managed to get through almost half of the wiener, in tiny little pieces, as rewards for being so good.