Catching up after Christmas

It was a busy few weeks for Duncan, as all his human siblings and his feline buddy Jax all came home for Christmas!

Jax is beginning to feel a bit more at home, finding comfortable places to settle down for a nap:

He's even beginning to learn to play, something he didn't seem to know how to do until now. He prefers yarn or scrap cardboard to actual toys:

Christmas morning, of course, meant presents! Jax checked out the tree looking for his...

...while Duncan preferred to wait on the couch until someone delivered his to him:

Duncan got a new Lambchop II toy, among other things:

And Jax got a nice new cat toy. He wasn't at all impressed, and totally ignored both the toy and the catnip we sprinkled on it.

Duncan, though, was quite entertained. His cousin Taz may possibly have been laughing at him in the background:

By the end of Christmas Day, Duncan, Jax, and little Taz were all exhausted!

The afternoon of New Year's Eve, Cerys came over for a playdate. It was a cold day, so they ran in and out of the house every few minutes, but they had great fun playing constantly for almost two hours. We love having Cerys come to play; Duncan sleeps so soundly afterwards!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

The staff at Askey worked a Christmas miracle to get Duncan to sit quietly(-ish) for a photo by their tree while wearing a Christmas collar!

(Why, yes, that does look like a treat-containing hand in the top corner. Coincidence, I'm sure.)

Duncan Cuts a Christmas Tree

Today was Duncan's first experience with cutting a Christmas tree. It's hard to believe that he hasn't gone before, since it's been a (nearly) annual tradition with us since for close to 30 years! But two years ago, he was a broken-legged puppy who was having an off-day. And last year, thanks to a series of bad-weather weekends and the big ice storm, we actually had to stoop to buying a pre-cut tree.

It was a drizzly, muddy day,  which meant that the tree farm had endless fascinating smells. Duncan ran from one tree to another, and sniffed every patch of mud within reach:

It took a while, but eventually we found a tree that everyone liked. Duncan thought Megan was acting rather oddly, though:

He forgave her for her strange behaviour once Dad and Evan lugged the tree away, and he could get back to exploring and sniffing around.

Luckily, we brought several large towels along, because he got very muddy! But he seems to have had a great time. 

Next weekend, after Erin gets home, we'll put the tree up and decorate it. What will Duncan think of that?

Update: After such a busy morning, Duncan is spending the afternoon sleeping off the excitement:

The Start of the Season

It's official: the first step toward Christmas happened this morning, when Megan arrived home from school. Duncan was delighted to see both her and Jax. 

Jax was less delighted to see Duncan, and is hiding behind the big chair. What he doesn't realize is that Duncan hangs out back there too, so it may not be as good a hiding spot as he thinks!

A Walk in the Snow

With all due respect to Pierre Trudeau, sometimes a walk in the snow is not for pondering affairs of great importance. Sometimes it's all about dancing, spinning, running, and towing Mom to the park as quickly as possible, ignoring all the rules of Walking Nicely on Leash.

Like this morning, for example. Duncan was full to overflowing with energy and excitement at the snow we were getting.

He wore his spiffy new red plaid coat for the first time. He wasn't very happy about it, but after a sizeable bribe of meatloaf, we got it on and headed out. He tried to shake it off...

... but only managed to loosen the velcro a bit.

When we got to the park, we went into one of the baseball diamonds to run off-leash for a while, trying to burn off a bit of that energy.  First he chased some imaginary snowballs. He doesn't fall for that game as much as he used to, but when he does it frees up a hand for the camera! 

After he'd had a good long run, we did a bit of obedience homework to bring him back down to earth. Today we practiced waiting for the command "Come". 

I tried to trick him, but he's so smart it's very hard to do. Look at the way he caught himself after "Canteloupe"! (Apologies for the poor video quality; between the dull light and juggling mitts, treats, leash, and camera I completely missed the excellent "come" at the end.)

Crack o' Dawn Duty

People think it's easy, being on Crack o' Dawn Duty:

1. Roust Mom out of bed to open the door.
2. Step outside and pee.
3. Rush back in and steal Mom's spot in bed while she closes the door.

But really, it's much more complicated than that. Here's what really happens:

1. Roust Mom out of bed to open the door.
2. Step outside.
3. Check 437 mandatory smell points:
   
4. Pee, if you happen to think of it.**
5. Rush back in and steal Mom's spot in bed while she closes the door.
6. ** If you didn't happen to think of peeing, repeat from step 1.

Thundershirt

We had Duncan's Grade 1 teacher, Joan, who is also a behavioural consultant, come over to talk about a few issues, especially the way he gets so upset when someone leaves (unless, of course, everyone leaves and he goes into his crate, which is fine.) She did make some training recommendations, but she feels most of his problems are due to high anxiety rather than behavioural issues. 

She suggested several ideas to reduce his anxiety levels, including a Thundershirt. We picked one up yesterday. Doesn't he look handsome? He doesn't seem to mind wearing it at all, and we do think he seems calmer with it on. Fingers crossed! 

(If we find it works, it comes in several colours, with optional sweaters and jackets that snap on. I think he would look quite dapper in the trench coat, don't you?)

In other news, Duncan had a pleasant romp at the Alton leash-free park yesterday. First he played with an enormous but very sweet dog named Jackson, then with 7-month-old Penny. Penny was a bit worried at first, apparently due to a recent encounter with a couple of determined herding dogs who mistook her for a sheep, but she and Duncan seemed to have fun. (You can tell he had fun – look how black his paws are!)

And here is the annual "helping Daddy put up the Christmas lights" photo. We went outside to supervise in person for a while, but eventually Duncan decided that there was no point in all of us standing around getting cold.