It was warm and calm. A perfect Sunday morning for a flight ... and for a Perfect Landing breakfast. Yum. Donnie was excited to join us and perhaps with some trepidation initially, but with an open mind, she also agreed to flying the plane for a short time. Gotta love her!
Taking off from Longmont's Vance Brand Airport
Donnie takes the yoke and meanders us through the sky. She's a natural!
Took to it like a duck to water... eyes inside and outside the cockpit, taking in the details of the instruments and chatting merrily as she dipped and climbed, turned right and left using the horizon and mountains to the west to monitor her position.
A few wee selfies as I amused myself from the backseat
Spring in Colorado... it's green and gorgeous
We landed at Centennial Airport and headed up to Perfect Landing restaurant for our breakfast reservation. The food was beautiful and delicious. The beauty was lost when we attacked it... but the perhaps some pictures that came too late give an idea anyway.
Breakfast of Banana's Foster French toast and salmon-avocado toast
The view from the restaurant
Downtown Denver
The flight back along the Front Range
To be sure, it was going to be bumpier this afternoon. But this morning... with full bellies and a warm plane, the flight was smooth and relaxing.
It's always a great day when a new adventure with an old friend is had. Our thanks go to Mark. My favorite pilot, the guy that makes flying with new passengers such an incredibly positive experience!
There are many good reasons to train a dog... but these are my top 5:
1. He enjoys it. There is joy on his face when we are working together one-on-one. He thrives on the recognition and reward associated with achieving. It builds his confidence.
2. Combining physical exercise with mental stimulation is the absolute best way to tire the little guy out... good for him and us!
3. A trained dog is a safer dog. He is less likely to have a run-in with traffic, steal and eat something toxic, have a violent interaction with another dog.
4. If we ever want to find a willing pet-sitter, then a potty-trained, gentle, responsive pup is going to give us more options.
5. Taking Teddy with us on travels and adventures, hikes and visits to other people's homes is 100% dependent on him being trained.
So with all this in mind, we decided the best way to get on the same page with cues and commands for Teddy, to achieve consistency and make it easiest for Teddy to learn, was to enroll him in Beginner Puppy Training Class at Petsmart.
He did 6 classes. There was just one other puppy in class with us - Trout. Teddy and Trout spent the first 10 minutes of every class "greeting" each other. IE Wrestling, chasing and mouthing each other. When that was done we got an overview of the class from trainer, Leslie and practiced the lessons together. Each class ended with another round of puppy playtime!
Chaos? Yep. Lots of chaos. For every ying there is a yang. Teddy did all his homework and practice during the week and he was an A Student at home. However, just 30 seconds inside of Petsmart and you'd think he was completely untrained! Ha! I guess the distraction, excitement and new environment has this effect on pups.
*Except that Leslie could make him perform on cue, so it's also fair to assume that Mark and I had a lot to learn and were also subject to distraction.
Last Friday, Teddy graduated beginner puppy class... How adorable is that?!
We celebrated this little milestone by taking the wee muppet to a trail near Boulder and giving him 5 minutes of "off-leash" time in which we practiced recalling him and, of course, the "leave it" command. On leash, he practiced sitting and waiting as other hikers, sticky kids and happy dogs approached. Impulse control is still a work in process, but I'd say we made measurable progress this weekend!
If you too are interested in training classes at Petsmart, then perhaps this little summary of the 6 week class we did has value to you:
Week 1: Marking
Focus - rewarding for eye contact
Hand Targeting - nose to palm for reward
Sit - you know the drill
Week 2: Establishing trust
Loose leash walk - learning to move forward and backwards again beside you
Lets go - from sit to walk, in the direction you are facing
This way - changing direction to avoid something, not in the direction you are facing
Come when called
Emergency recall
Week 5: Expanding foundation behaviors
Sit - using just verbal or just hand signals
Down - from the sit position
Shake - from the sit position
Come then sit
Week 6: Having more fun!
Come when called, from a long line
Puppy push-ups - sit-down-sit-down-sit!!
And for those of you who might think Teddy (or any pup) now has the skills to just go forth and be perfect, I'd be the first to say that is unrealistic and unfair.
We work on "lessons" every day in the house and try to incorporate them into walks around the neighborhood, trails and at play dates, but he's a baby still. He has the skills, but lacks the impulse control and motivation to get it right all the time. That's life...
... And that's why, when I found his Certificate of Achievement chewed up in the back yard today, I just chuckled about the complete irony and put the soggy pieces in the trash!
We are indeed enrolled for the intermediate class in a few weeks.
It's like doggie daycare, but for babies and with the intent to provide a safe, happy, learning environment.
I dropped Teddy off at the Boulder Humane Society around 8:15am and agreed not to pick him up again before 11:30am. Both Monday and Tuesday this week.
I had my reservations on Monday of course, but he was super excited to join his friends Tuesday and at that time I was 100% sure this was both good for him and fun for him!
At Puppy Club, the super friendly staff texted me photos of his progress during the day. He was being socialized, having his energy tapped, his brain stretched and his experiences widened.
The cutest part may have been the Report Card we got at the end of the day:
Monday
Tuesday
In a nutshell, I highly approve of anyone who takes the time to play novel sounds, games with my doggie. I think its good for him to be exposed wheelchairs, toys, obstacles and other puppies. I've wondered if he missed playing with other puppies after leaving the "nest" and it makes me happy to find out he enjoys the company of other dogs!
Puppy Club round 2!
At 13 weeks old Teddy asked, indeed begged, to go back to Puppy Club. And so it was done!
What a good boy he was too. Showed up on time. Played well with others. Excelled with lessons.
We just love that he gets exposure to scary noises like fireworks and smoke alarms, all the while being held in a comfortable and safe space.
He also expanded his experiences to include wearing a sock as practice for boots and bandages in the future, meeting new puppy friends and playing with novel toys and objects.
We entered 2021 with drama and we exited 2021 with, dare I say it? MORE drama!
I don't even know where to start. The last week has been so turbulent, unsettling, frightening, disappointing and heartbreaking that it's hard to see how 2022 could be anything but a step up.
Yes, for sure 2021 had some highlights. Heck, we got 4 chickens and a puppy that year and all 5 have given me more reasons to smile and motivation to pick up a camera than I thought I could have in a year without travel. All that aside though, we have gone from near miss to near miss all year and while having avoided a direct hit, we are part of a community that has experienced great loss and suffering, multiple times and it is hard to not cry. A lot.
First there was COVID (which came and went with intensity and degree of personal risk all year long), then the King Soopers mass shooting just up the road. Wild fires from Canada to California and throughout Colorado that swept nasty, unhealthy air over us and forced more indoor time even after COVID-related gathering restrictions were loosened. Then the last hurrah.. the big one...
After a very wet and soggy spring, grasses and all manner of plant life flourished. They grew strong and tall, put up seeds all summer long and then dried up. No rain to speak of since July meant everything became hay... tinder... high risk for burning.
December brought with it high winter temps that stayed in the 60's and fierce winds and sparks from careless humans, lightning, downed trees that caught power lines. Silly little fires that randomly got started and might otherwise have just been a nuisance, were spread quickly and had plenty of fuel.
December 30 saw one such fire spark and then rage out of control as it was fanned - no, forced - along the ground over hills, through neighborhoods at 100+ miles per hour in Boulder County. There was no time to pack anything and people fled their homes with the clothes on their backs. Often leaving behind pets or not having the opportunity to get back to the home to retrieve them to start with.
1000+ homes and many businesses were burned to the ground between noon and 6pm. And when I say burned to the ground, I mean a black patch of land with a bit of chaotic, unrecognizable rubble greeted the person who dared walk up the concrete front steps to what used to be a house. Residents are lucky to make out the charred remains of a washing machine or file cabinet. There is nothing left to selvage. "Lucky" was when the trees may have not all been burned. Every now and then the fire snubbed a house and left it standing, for no good reason. Those residents at first felt lucky. Their worldly possessions were not burned but unlikely they escaped unharmed. Are those people still feeling lucky when they get to come home to an incinerated street, no neighbors, the stink of campfire hanging thickly in the air, unable to enjoy any outdoor time at home and missing every tree and critter that they used to share space with? They will be be putting up with construction mess, pollution, noise and chaos for the next few years? We consider them lucky only when we compare them to neighbors who have lost family photos, inherited treasures, original art, all of their worldly possessions and the place they call home.
Tragedy has struck our community again.
Mark and I are among the truly lucky. Our Boulder home escaped with just power and internet disruptions. While no light, hot water, furnace and other amenities felt like hardship, we quickly realized, our house was still a safe haven for us and anyone experiencing much worse.
Our friends Kathy and Mike found a place with us here and will be welcome to treat our home as their home, as long as they like. Their beautiful home burned to the ground on the afternoon of December 30. Their whole neighborhood burned to the ground, if we are being blunt about it.
My rental house in Louisville was assumed to have been a total loss too. By some miracle, it was spared and became one house of 3 that wasn't destroyed. Better than that, the tenants escaped unharmed, with their dog as the yard and neighbors began to catch fire. We are hosting their dog as the family shelters in an Airbnb until further notice. The house, while undamaged by fire, is a stinky mess of dirt and ash. Little 'dunes' are piled up around it, smothering gardens, walkways and play areas with toxic filth. The wee trees that I planted 2 years ago got roasted... as did a lot of grass and the wood around raised beds.
Miraculously the house, garage, shed and barn still stand. Heck, the firewood behind the barn is still there! Whatever the velocity the wind was doing in the moments the fire swept through, it was too fast for flames to take a hold and the fire sped across the yard and finished its business at other addresses.
9 of the 12 homes on Dyer Rd were lost that day. Smoldering piles of rubble, free-standing brick chimneys, burned out cars, decimated gardens and wooden power poles still aflame, greeted us at 8am the next day.
Who pulled the car over and cried big loud tears? This gal. Relief? Dismay? Empathy? All of the above.
So yeah... 2021 went up in smoke in Boulder County as the rest of the world partied and toasted the new year in. We ate cheese and crackers by candlelight, then took some leftovers across the street to the neighbors house with electricity. By 8pm we were all in bed.
We picked up Teddy today. Before departing there was just one more thing I needed for Teddy's album... A picture of Ross and Leslie. For without whom there would be no Teddy.
This is the real truth: To produce well-rounded, nicely adjusted, adaptable, low anxiety pups you need a Leslie. It takes a boatload of energy, care, knowledge and passion to do this job. Leslie planned everything from conception to birth, she slept on a cot near the pen for weeks, sacrificed a lot, cleaned up a lot and bathed in an environment of never-ending grunts, high-pitched barks and whines. It's easy to think this is so cute that it makes the job easier. Nope. It's cute AND it's still hard. So yes, we are beyond grateful for her effort, energy and enthusiasm, for without Leslie, our Teddy would not have realized his 8 week old potential.
She even bathed him last night!
Ok, so Teddy and I took our spot in the back seat and settled in while Mark drove the first leg. He was a super quick to settle. Maybe in part because Leslie had "prepared him" with potty time outside, play time, food and a last wee drink of milk from mom, Lola. Yes, all that for us and him, by 7:30 am.
It was a pretty day and forecast to be not much more than partly cloudy most of the way home. We stopped about every 90 mins for a little stretch of the legs.
At Rock Springs it was discovered that Sheriff's were enforcing an I80 road closure and hundreds of semi's were lined up... parked. The closure, due to 95mph winds over the pass resulting in zero visibility from the ground blizzard, was estimated to last 9-11 hours. Eek... that's not going to work! We asked Google to find an alternative.
That's when we found ourselves headed through Medicine Bow wilderness from the NW corner of Colorado. The roads were unpaved, icy and deserted - except for the free-range grazing. This wild space was gorgeous and without such a wrinkle in our plans, we likely would have gone a lifetime without seeing it.
Bathroom breaks were frosty. This one was around Medicine Bow or Arapahoe National Forest or somewhere in between!
Teddy slept on.
Rest stop at Craig, Colorado and hallelujah, back on paved and well used roadways!
After this, it got dark. We passed through Steamboat Springs, Kremmling and then into Silverthorne. All in the dark on icy roads. But at least there was other traffic with us now. (I was driving, so no pics.)
Arriving home near 9pm, we were exhausted and oh so happy to be here. Both cats greeted us and Teddy. Rusty then made a beeline for his spot under the sofa, out of sight and reach. Wrigley hung out though... social distancing of 3 feet was enforced with hissing. They are going to be tight. I can tell.
