Doogan progress

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Ninth day,

Not much happening today , due to the rain.

Went out let him out for a few minutes to act silly, like he never was out.

Practiced a few commands.

Fed him and went back in ...rain all day.

Let him out for few minutes in evening between rains.
Fed him.

Nasty , muddy everywhere.

Jim
 
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Tenth day,

My goodness , how time is flying by.

Well today was a cold windy day , but we went out running and hunting for a few hours.

He continues to amaze me as to how quick he learns.
We were resting behind the house , in front of garage , he wanted to go on back deck.
I decided I didn't want him on the deck, so he went up steps to back door , I yelled NO, he came down , ran around a bit then went back up again, 3 times I yelled NO. That was it , he went over there but never went up again.
Too smart.

We played, practiced commands , he chased a blue heron out of the creek. Found a deer skull in the creek, ( now in his pen).
I guess it was the cool weather ,(50 deg) but he was extra energetic today.
Now when I command to come , he comes and sits , without sit command.:cool:

Thinking about training him to leash lead ,heal and set, properly . Don't think I'll ever leash him though.
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He had to investigate the firewood that's piled by the shop.which I have been moving to the woodshed little by little.
As the weather allows.
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When he gets tired , I let him ride some then he is happy to go back to his pen for supper..

Jim
 
Seventh day,

Not much today , due to rain most of day.

Went running earlier between rains,
Practiced commands some.

He is getting better.
Introduced him to my wife, first time he has had contact with her.
He acted very nervous for a couple minutes , until she petted him...then he was her friend.

Started raining so back to shelter.

He is very busy and nosey, had to check out the shed where I keep the golf cart.


I had to go to Walmart to get him a 50 lbs bag of dog food.
My first visit to WM in over 6 weeks.

I HATE THAT PLACE.
Another story :mad:

Jim

LOL, he is home now and he knows it! So nice to see him so happy and frisky.
 
@phideaux for those rare times where you may have to take him somewhere or are required by some unforeseen circumstance, it would probably be a good idea to train him to some type of restraint. Like if you have to take him to the vet for some reason...
I found a really nice halter for our dog at TSC. It has a handle on the back! As well as the metal loop for clicking the leash on to.
Some folks swear by a choker leash which I put on our girl if she barks too much. Just putting it on her quiets her down.
 
The collar he has on now is one. That is a choker. It's fabric with chain and ring in the middle that chokes when pulled .
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He needs leash training for sure.

He doesn't fight the leash he just goes forward as hard as he can.

Maybe I will start working on it soon. I just don't want to overload him.

Jim
 
I didn't know that about you. You're a humble man. I apologize for being a punk. lol
You seem like a pro. Expert. Awesome. ETC. And I can tell you don't like a fuss made over you so I'll stop.

You must have a certain way with yourself that Doogan realizes it is in his best interest to listen. And you don't have to act like a crazy person to get him to listen.
 
I have no idea what you would apologize for..

I started horses as babies or as young as possible.
My motion toward them was always back up to them never do forward pressure..that also seems to work with dogs , never pressure...always...lots of
rewards.

I think Doogan is just happy to have stability, no more kennel. No bouncing from person to person.

They are people too , ya know. ;) :)

Jim
 
Eleventh day,

Been outside most of the day. I just go about doing chores and protects, but keep an eye on Doogan.
He is widening his circle around me. He loses sight occasionally , but not for long, he comes flying when he reconnects .

Sometimes I call out to him and he does come flying, right up to me , watches my hand go in the pocket for a treat. Then immediately sits, without command.

So today he got itroduced to his first Black King snake..he didn't react too much, barked a couple times as the snake (3' long)went under an old rotten railroad tie.
We went back a few times , I wanted a pic , but he was too fast to hide.
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Then he got introduced to the mowing machines. I thought he would be really nervous, but the diesel John Deere didn't bother him, But he did keep his distance.
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He finally discovered the old storm cellar I dug years ago and have pretty much abandoned.
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He gets lazy after running for hours and , I cant keep him off the cart.
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I'm trying to get him to smile real big on command..
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all in all a good day.
I told the kennel today to go forth with bthe adoption paperwork.

Jim
 
Doogan's minimal reaction to the snake is some different than the couple time I've witnessed a cat-snake encounter.

I would like to have seen him in the open , where the snake had no escape.

Might have been entertaining...but I really don't want the King snake harmed.

They're our protectors from Copperhead.

Jim
 
That's A great smile from Doogan. He is very happy. It will be interesting to find out how he feels about extended family and visitors.
@VThillman cat meeting a snake is hilarious.

Yeah,
Meeting other people could be interesting.
I only say this because of how he first reacted to the wife , after not being around anyone but me for 7-8 days.
He wasn't sure about approaching her , seemed a little standoffish at first. Slowly made his way up to her.
Then she petted him talked to him and he was all good then.

Jim
 
psst, psst, @VThillman I'll tell you what I saw...I was about 5 years old. One of my brothers liked snakes so there was always at least one black snake around in the summer time. We had a few young cats. Snake was slithery slithering through the grass and cat was standing around observing us. Snake is approaching cat and when cat sees snake, cat jumps 4-5 feet up, and back. Like watching a cartoon. I don't think a 5 year old ever laughed so hard. That cat was making time in the air and hit the ground moving.
 
Twelveth day,

I'm probably going to skip some days , as he is in a holding pattern right now.
We let him out to play, run , investigate, hunt and keep his training up to par.
Nothing new really.

I will start working him on leash soon.
That will be interesting .
I'll keep the pics up to date on that.

I noticed today that he is putting on weight , looking healthier to me.

Jim
 
Does he mind the rain? My dog, even though she's not a prissy little fluffy dog, mostly refuses to go out in the rain FOR HOURS. I know you said it was raining there lately.
Doogan is going to be a muscle dog!

Rain does not bother him at all.

He will stay out in it if I would.
When it's pouring , he does go in his shelter.

I think he is going to be hefty , muscled dog .

I have only had one dog , back in the 70s , that was stronger than Doogan .
That was a 110 lb Malemute.

Jim
 
I'm glad to see Doogan is doing so well. I'm also glad he didn't catch the king snake. I do not like copperheads and cottonmouths. I remember being told about the time a bird mistook my Siamese cat's tail for a snake. Swooped down & grabbed her by the tail & picked her up. My parents said they heard howling & saw feathers and fur flying everywhere. Cat was afraid of birds after that. She was a very sweet cat though- great with kids. Never bit or scratched.

For leashes, we tend to use harnesses instead of collars. We don't want to choke them & it gives better control. Our dogs used to always slip out of their collars so the harnesses were more effective. We started Fippy on the harness young so he actually gets excited about having it put on. Princess is not thrilled about it & will run away. She prefers to stay at home & doesn't like going for trips in the truck. Fippy loves going for rides.
 
Fourteenth day,

I decide that he needs to recognize me on something other than my wife's golf cart, which is electric, and very quiet.
That's all he has ever seen me on for 2 weeks .
So today was his day to be introduced to other vehicles.
The first one is also electric and also quiet be but a little noisy, but lot faster , and bigger than the golf cart.
My Bad Boy SidexSide MTV.
He was ok with it not much different than just bigger , higher, and lots faster.
So we spent a lot of time running around . No problem , becomes on command . He will not get on and sit.
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Then I wanted to see if he would come near the John Deere. I don't know if you ever heard a vtwin 2 cyl diesel start up , but they are be extremely noisy at idle and low rpm.
Them smooth out , but still fairly noisy at full throttle.
Well he was standing beside it when I fired it up , yeah , he took off behind the barn , and stayed at least 50 feet away for. 15-20 minutes .
Wouldn't come close at all, even with hand out with treat.
So I stopped , shut down , he still wouldn't come closer than 10-15 ft.
Finally be got him to come take a treat and sit a while.he played around it for a while , but when I fired it up 20 ft thats it.
He does not like anything noisy.
So that's what we're gonna work on.

Then the big Orange diesel tractor.:ghostly:
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Slow and steady as ya go.

I do not worry about him wandering off at all now , when I'm out . He stays in range.
Soon I will leave him alone , but watch him from inside to see how he acts.

Jim
 
Eighteenth day,

Thought I'd share an experience we had today .

Picture a railroad track elevated 80ft or more , running east and west, across the north side of my property . Great backstop for my shooting range btw.
Now picture a 4' culvert running north to south under the railroad that's been , dumping all runoff from farmland onto my property, for last 40 year, creating a hole 20ft deep and 30-40 ft diameter, which created the creek that runs halfway round my property.

Years ago I built up the south side of the hole with dirt to. Prevent overflows.

Now you got the picture , guess who went over the edge, that I built up, down to the water , about 10-15 ft almost straight down to the water. Wish I had my phone , he didn't know what to do. He tried climbing back up...too steep. Then he starts whining, so I walk down the creek 50ft, and get down into creek , standing on Rock/Sand bar , started calling and clapping my hands...he's going nuts , but still barking and carrying on.

Finally I here a big splash and see him coming around the corner swimming his butt off.

He made down the creek to me and got out. I told him he was not smart...don't go if you can't return..but a good swimmer.

We run some more to dry off.

Funny...
Guess you had to be there.

Another day in the life of Doogan .

Jim
 
Be careful about snakes now that weather is warming up.

Her dog got bit in the face and they were in veteranarians et ER till 5am.this morning.It was a copperhead.This is in a surburban n-hood,not in the country.so far think dog will be ok.Time will tell.We had a huge full blooded wolf when I was a kid that was bit in face and it almost killed him.
My daughter has had a backyard full of them under their shed and inside some railroad ties used for landscaping.She has called all kinds of officials about it for years and they did nothing.
We tell her to move or bulldozes that pit, but she won't. Her two little grandsons she is raising since birth play in that yard everyday for 12years now.
Picture took of puppy today with swollen nose,

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In 25 years living here, I've seen 1 tiny copperhead, 1 rattler.
But, I know where there are at least 4 king snakes territory. Always near buildings, barns, brush piles...food supply.

I found a king snake skin
In my shop last year 7 1/2 ft long. I think I posted it here somewhere.
Doogan met one behind the shop last week , about 3 ft,
That's small for a king snake.
They are my protectors against poisonous vipers.

I do keep my eyes open though.

Jim
 
In 25 years living here, I've seen 1 tiny copperhead, 1 rattler.
But, I know where there are at least 4 king snakes territory. Always near buildings, barns, brush piles...food supply.

I found a king snake skin
In my shop last year 7 1/2 ft long. I think I posted it here somewhere.
Doogan met one behind the shop last week , about 3 ft,
That's small for a king snake.
They are my protectors against poisonous vipers.

I do keep my eyes open though.

Jim

I always heard king snakes will kill rattlers.So maybe thats why no poisonous there Jim.I grew up in Stone Mountain and it was full of snakes.Mama is only one who got bit but we swam with them ,jumped over them runnign thru woods.

Doogan is really turning into a nice looking dog, and you say he is smart too no wonder your so proud of him.
 
Does he mind the rain? My dog, even though she's not a prissy little fluffy dog, mostly refuses to go out in the rain FOR HOURS. I know you said it was raining there lately.
Doogan is going to be a muscle dog!
If there was any moisture falling from the sky, Crosby was not going out the door.

There was one exception to that. Crosby had always been on a leash, except at the dog park and my front yard. I always let her out in my front yard and sat and watched her. I didn't want her to be taken or to get out. My back yard was a place I didn't let her out into, because I didn't want her in the garden and other stuff. One day I was in the back yard and she got a taste of it. The next day, I opened the back door, and it was raining. She ran out so fast into the yard and if she noticed it was raining, she didn't let that bother her. She loved exploring the back yard. I laughed so hard and my daughter laughed when I told her about it. I have no idea what was out there that was fascinating to her, but she was in hog heaven. She would go out there and just stay out there and she would finally come in when I called her.
 
Poor Doogan must have been scared when he fell into the pit. Glad he wasn't hurt. Hopefully he'll know to stay away from that.
Wish I could import some King Snakes to where I live. Some kind of venomous snake got one of my cats a few years back. Vet misdiagnosed & sent her home without treatment. She started getting worse but vet was closed. I called the so-called emergency line but no answer. Before I could get her loaded up she started trying to run around. Fell on her side and was trying to run in a panic. I held her & tried to calm her & she died in my arms. I described it to the vet later & she said it must have been a snake bite. We had a copperhead get up into the air circulation compartment of the AC & die a couple years back too. That was unpleasant. Found it when we were trying to reinforce the support for the water heater. Sealed up all the gaps so none could get in, but we see the copperheads around here. They like to come up to the house.
 
I'll be getting more pics of him soon.

I'm not sure when he was dewormed last, so I ordered wormer med today.
No signs , he seems healthy, looks good.
But , just know you gotta worm em about twice a year.
I got 8 months supply of prescription flea and tick meds from the shelter, to put on every month, like Frontline I guess.

He sure is full of energy.
He runs nonstop beside golf cart for hours everyday.

Then he likes to ride a while.
He likes wading in the shallow edge of pond , up to his chest.

Jim
 
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