Archie and His Orbee

I mentioned one of Archie's sillier behaviors in a recent post: how he lays down with his front paws straight out in front of him, side by side, and then carefully sets the ball on his paws and nudges it with his nose, using his paws like a piece of Hot Wheels track to direct the ball to me. He's learned, of course, that he has to be more or less facing me or this trick won't work. I refuse to chase balls so one of his newer commands is "no, YOU get it!" 

I'm now going to attempt to describe some other unique aspects of playing ball with Archie. I have to specify that we prefer to play with the Orbee balls patterned like globes. The dogs gleefully and immediately peel off the continents when given a new Orbee ball, which is rare because they last forever (rated 10/10 by T3i), but even without those decorations the balls are satisfyingly knobbly. Iceland in particular is alarmingly large and pointy. The balls are made of soft rubber (not latex), and have two holes in them at opposite ends. The part about the holes is important, as you will see. 

Archie likes to chew on his ball a bit before he rolls it off his paws to me. But he doesn't just mouth it. He rapidly compresses this thick, strong ball nearly in half with his giant fox terrier teeth and jaws. Now imagine what happens when you do this with a hollow rubber ball--all the air rushes out the holes and puffs his cheeks out. Then he relaxes his jaws and the ball pops back to shape as the air rushes back in, sucking his cheeks with it. He often gives a terrier head shake when he clamps down just to make really sure the ball is dead. He will do this more than a dozen times in a row after every throw so I can only conclude that he likes how it feels. His actions are deliberate, not frantic. This is high church ritual for him.

Throwing the ball to Archie has become a challenge. When I play in the house, I don't want things to get too wild so I'll bounce the ball off the floor in a low, forward arc. Archie rarely misses. It's kind of eerie. I've tried throwing faster, to the side, with a higher bounce--I can't really get the ball past him very often. As soon as he catches the ball, he runs back to the same position on a rug near my front door. Mimi is often already there with her ball so Archie has to carefully navigate around her--bumping a cranky old terrier even by accident is not the best idea. He'll lay down a few feet from me, maul the orbee for a bit to ensure it is completely covered in slobber (he has the most slobbery mouth I've ever seen in a small terrier), roll it off his paws to me...and then he waits still as a statue, tongue hanging out just a bit, almost holding his breath, laser eyes on the ball at my feet.

When I reach for the ball, he bursts into action, levitates up and over Mimi, somehow never touching her, and runs to position in the living room, skidding into a turn so he faces me as he comes to a stop. I taught him "beep beep" (the command I use for "back up") simply by waiting for him to randomly take a step back. Now he often starts backing up on his own if I don't wing his ball to him right away. 

I like playing ball with Archie because he is so obsessive, so dedicated to executing all of the little parts of the game just so, over and over and over. To illustrate the depth of Archie's obsessive behavior with his orbee, I have this example. I threw the ball and to everyone's surprise, it bounced off his nose and rolled to a position far behind me. He ran and grabbed the ball then ran back to the position in the living room where he would have originally caught the ball, skidded around to face me and only then ran to lay down in the usual launch position near me, carefully winding his way around Mimi. I was floored. 

I am perfectly aware that playing with him like this created the little monster that wouldn't let me study this term. But the focus he has when we play ball is very similar to his focus when we play agility. I want to nurture this focus, learn to direct it and reward it.

Linking to YouTube

I don't spend much time on YouTube. But I think that posting videos there will resolve viewing issues for those of you who use tablets.
I'm starting with two short videos, one of Archie and Azza playing in the backyard, and the second of Archie dragging Beast by his head. 

Just for grins, here are two screenshots:

Look at that air!

An excited terrier puppy and a cat--what could go wrong?

I Don't Understand This

I got a new (cheap) bit of carpet to put in front of my door. The cat in particular loves to lounge on it. I guess he likes the texture. Or the smell. Maybe the color. Who knows? He's a cat. Might as well be a helium-based life-form that lives in gas giant planets like Saturn for all that I understand what motivates him (sorry, my re-reading of the most excellent sci-fi Culture series by Iain M. Banks this summer is taking over my metaphors).

I was working on my summer research project the other day when I looked over to see Archie chilling on the rug. Good, I though, that means he won't be bugging me for a few minutes at least. I worked for a few more minutes, looked over again to see Beast stretched out on top of Archie's paws. Archie didn't even bother to move and the cat was already mostly asleep.

I don't understand the relationship that Azza and Archie have with Beast. They love him. He loves them. The cat ducks in and out of various rooms, runs under the bed, and zooms behind chairs in the living room, leading them on a truly merry chase through the house. The three of them go all out for this game.

You might recall how Azza would drag the cat across the living room by his head, cat screeching the entire way but loving every minute of it. 

Imagine my astonishment last week when I walked down the hallway just in time to see Archie dragging the cat across the living room by his head. 

It's the cat. That's the only possible explanation. Somehow he has figured out how to get two dogs with extremely different temperaments play the exact same crazy games with him. 

What can one do but shrug? They are happy, healthy, and full of play and silliness.  

Request From Reader: More Antler Kabuki

While playing the antler kabuki game, Azza will offer a combination of submissive/appeasing behaviors (such as licking Archie's face and rolling over) while she continues to guard her antler with lifted lips and tries to push Archie away with her paws.  

Mimi is always looking for openings to get involved, and I don't mean in a good way. Her behavior seems low-key here but she'll pile on top of Azza in a second if she sees an advantage. This is an escalation that usually requires my intervention. 

In this video, the kabuki get pretty heated but both dogs back down on their own. This is a perfect example of knowing when to trust your dogs.

 
Make sure you have the volume turned all the way up for this one to get the full ear-piercing effects of Archie's barks:

I love Azza's expression at the end of this video. It's as if she's saying, see, see what I have to put up with?

Antler Kabuki--Variations

Antler kabuki doesn't have to include an antler. As I write this, Archie and Azza are in the backyard performing antler kabuki with a stick. It can be performed with any object of mutual desire, as in the case of the video below, with a plush frog missing stuffing and squeaker.

Azza is making the noises you hear. Archie might let loose with a shrill bark every now and then, but for the most part, antler kabuki is a silent game. 

Archie grabs Azza's cheeks so often during this game that she has a permanent welt/bald spot on both sides of her face. I figure that as long as blood isn't drawn, it's not a problem.

I was grooming Archie yesterday and realized that he's not a puppy anymore. He's a big boy, clocking in at nearly 22 lbs of solid muscle. He's a lovely SFT with a cheerful and resilient temperament. I'm lucky to have him, and Azza is lucky to have such a fun playmate.

CircusK9 Gets A Little Crazy Too

It's sunny this morning for a change, but still rather cool: the perfect combination for the dogs to get frisky.

I can't be arsed to work out what video format works for every browser and device. I uploaded this file in .mov format. I have to use a real computer, not a tablet, to view it. Sorry not sorry.

If you watch this carefully, you'll see that Archie is playing entirely separate games with Azza and Mimi. He's quite a little monkey. I think it is most funny when he runs behind the chairs then suddenly shoots out right in their faces. At the end, you can see him making these hysterical sidehops to avoid nips. I started laughing and almost dropped my phone.

Azza and Mimi

I have been really surprised at how often Azza and Mimi play together now. And they don't mess around--furniture is usually rearranged in the process. They rarely make any sound, except for grunting or panting. Okay, that sounds really off-color...you need to get your mind out of the gutter! Even Mimi body-slamming the couch will shift it a centimeter or two.

Two female terriers just don't play together. Most of the time, they can't even occupy the same room at the same time. 

Azza isn't a terrier. But she is young and full of energy. Mimi is a terrier. She wants to be in charge pretty much all the time. And yet, when they play, she is perfectly willing to "pretend" to take a bone from Azza (getting the bone isn't the point of the game). Azza's most often employed wrestling tactic is to simply sprawl on top of Mimi, which only lasts for a second or two until Mimi squirms her way out from under and shoots across the room to another piece of furniture with Azza hot on her tail.

I've tried to video their hijinks but they get suspicious when I stop typing or clicking the mouse and they stop playing to see what I am up to--walk? treats? game of tug or fetch?

Anyway, here are some fun pics of them playing.

 

T3i initially gave this toy a rating of 2 out of 10. But after it lost both upper limbs and head, I tied a knot in its neck and it remains a favorite. Revised T3i rating: 8.

I have no idea what they are doing. I think they both have an antler chew. But really, there's no telling.

Harry, The Tennis Ball, and A Toenail

Harry and I just got back from the vet. He tore one of the toenails on his right rear foot four days ago. It was the only toenail he has that grows sort of normally. He has an autoimmune disease that affects his nail beds so his toenails don't really grow at all, and I haven't clipped his nails in years. So I don't often think to check on this one sort of normal toenail when I clip the other dogs' nails. And it grew really long. So long that it got caught and tore. Caught in what, you ask? Oh, in the grass while Harry was playing fetch with a tennis ball. 

Yeah, he's a couple months shy of turning 16 years old, his eyes are cloudy and he's partially deaf. But he loves his tennis ball! These cool spring evenings we've had for the past few weeks have been perfect--the dogs can get a lot of exercise without overheating.

The toenail didn't tear completely off. I waited, hoping that it might fall off on its own but it got infected (took care of that with some Neosporin and a bandage) and it was clear that I needed to get it dealt with more decisively. And I figured, better for the vet to be the bad guy than me. 

Harry has a senior wellness package with the vet that covers a lot of basics like blood work twice a year but I got an add-on for a bit more money: unlimited visits. In theory, that means I could take him to the vet every single day and, except for meds and consumables, it would cost me nothing. When I bought it, I thought, that's ridiculous, the idea of taking Harry to the vet every day. But these weird things come up and that add-on has more than paid for itself.

The vet got out the clippers and with a quick snip the problem was taken care of. Harry is a stoic dog (most fox terriers are tough little buggers) so he didn't even make a sound. Of course it bled like crazy, toenail and head wounds do that. She bandaged him up nicely and sent us on our way.

So my crazy old dog still loves to chase down a tennis ball. And I am perfectly happy to oblige him, even if we must deal with the occasional toenail incident. In fact, I'm sure that after dinner tonight, he'll be pestering me as usual, giving me that look, that head tilt, nudging me with his nose, all to remind me that it's time to go play!

Azza and HellBeast

Let me state up front that no cats were harmed in the making of this video. Despite all the drama, Azza and HellBeast know the rules of this game, which they play almost every day. When Azza gets too rough, the cat will simply get up and leave. And all that screaming? I guess it makes it more fun.

Ur-Dogs and Study Breaks

It isn't that my creative juices are at a low ebb, but that all my creativity is being channeled into finishing this term up. Rants about millenials can only be taken so far before they become parodies of themselves.

When the last study marathon is over (next week), I'd like to say that I will sleep for a week. But if the dogs don't let me be for more than a couple of hours now, they certainly won't do so when I'm home all day.




Time for a study break. Harry is giving me his best "come hither and tug with me" eye and Mimi is impatiently waiting for any twitch of my body that might indicate that I will grab some toys and play.

I wrote a short paper for my animal genetics class on genetic data used to examine dog evolution (when, where, how often). I had quite a bit of fun poking holes in "origin myths" which nearly all breeds have and which are rarely based in anything more than fantasy. The second part of my paper dealt with so-called "village dogs" which some researchers believe are some sort of ur-dog, ancient and pure (another origin myth!). Since I have a village dog (Azza), I included a picture of her in the paper. My own interpretation of the village dog genetic data (I happen to know what eigenvalue analysis is and how to interpret data displayed in those terms) suggested that village dogs are more hybridized than, say, a smooth fox terrier, not less. It was fun debunking ur-dog theories too.




Here's a picture of my very own village dog.

Canine Chaos

I drove up to Anne's in Portland yesterday afternoon for dinner (reluctantly dragging myself away from a palate fistula repair in an elderly dachshund's mouth at the clinic). I took my three dogs. Anne has three dogs. A friend from Utah was visiting her who had three dogs. Another friend from Portland joined us with one of her dogs. Lost count?

The role call:

• Azza, 2 yr old desert dog
• Mimi and Harry, 8 yr old and 15 yr old smooth fox terriers
• Forrest, 10 yr old parson russell terrier
• Skeeter, 4 yr old parson russell terrier (since she is matter and Mimi is anti-matter, their meeting would annihilate the universe so Skeeter isn't in the video below)
• Rumble, 1.5 yr old aussi
• Bender and Tolt, 6 mo old B&W BC pups
• their dad, 10-ish yr old, and older brother, unknown age, also B&W BCs

Another way of looking at this chaos: four border collies, three terriers (four counting Skeeter), an aussie, and the desert dog. It was a seething mass of dogs.

It was a little bit rough with Azza at first because she was overwhelmed by all those dogs. Lots of cringing, whining vocalizations, teeth baring and snapping, and generally not very nice behavior on her part. She's also not had the best experiences with black dogs so that might have played into her fear. Thankfully, the BCs and the Aussie were all well adjusted and simply turned away from her instead of engaging or escalating.

We ended up dumping Azza and Skeeter, who get along very well, in a side yard. That turned out to be a Very Good Idea as those sorts of random decisions can be. While watching everything for 20 minutes or so, Azza was able to calm down and work out that none of those dogs had any interest in harming her and might in fact have some play potential.

After behaving badly in the intro, it took Azza quite some time to convince the other dogs to play with her. They'd look at her and think "you crazy, bitch" and walk away. She kept trying though, and she can be pretty persuasive. She avoided the older dogs and eventually had great success with the younger ones.

I can only say this about the video, which I unfortunately shot late in the evening: Harry seems to at last be doing great on the Adequan (he's the only one who's barking, too), and that's a lot of dogs!

Azza and HellBeast

There is paper in Azza's crate because she eats everything else. Even though she tears the paper up into small pieces, it will still provide her a relatively soft, warm nest for quite some time. And since my shredder is slowly winding its way here on camelback, I currently use her to shred personal documents too.

HellBeast likes to play in Azza's crate because, duh, it's full of fun, chaseable bits of paper.

Here's the link to the video.