Paradise

There is a Milan Kundera quote that I have always loved. "Dogs are our link to paradise," he writes, "... To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden . . ."

These words have often resonated for me, particularly when Pongo and I have spent so much time together on a hillside or mountaintop.  But I have learned that paradise is not a place but a state of being.  The day Pongo came into my life in May 2002 left me forever changed.  What began as a commitment that I made to provide him with what he needed to be healthy and happy in exchange for companionship, was quickly transformed into something much more.

At the time, I had spent a dozen years trying to emotionally heal and move past being attacked one January night in Seattle.  I moved across the country and vowed never to live in Seattle again.  But I found that fear followed me.  Though many years passed, in 2002 when my roommate moved out of our apartment, leaving me alone in an old building in the heart of Washington DC, I began having nightmares again. Looking for a solution, I decided to get a dog.  Little did I know that this simple act that people do all the time, something so ordinary, would be my catalyst to change.

My life centered around him.  Except for when I was at work, he was my almost constant companion. I began to engage in outdoor activities I hadn't felt safe doing in years.  Not only did Pongo bring me a sense of safety, he brought me peace. Eventually, Pongo brought me back to Washington state where I faced those fears by living in Seattle again.

Temple Grandin, a well-known researcher, innovator, and professor with Autism writes that "animals make us human." Her insight into the human-animal relationship is unprecedented. I continue to ponder these words as their depth is immeasurable. She is right.  I believe animals are a blessing and that by bringing them into our lives we have an important stewardship. Yet the reward for doing so far exceeds what we are capable of giving.

To my sweet boy . . .

My Best Friend
April 11, 2015


. . . I owe everything.

The 3 Out Of 4 Club

After yesterday's Nose Work 1 Trial in Oakville, WA, we are now solidly entrenched in the 3 out of 4 club. It's hard not to feel disappointed, but what I have to remind myself is that Pongo loved the excitement of the trial site, seeing all the other dogs, and playing the game he loves: find the odor.  He doesn't know that he didn't earn a ribbon or a title on a piece of paper.  Those are human constructs.

Pongo gets a drink of water in the truck.

 Oakville is not far from Olympia, just eleven miles off of I-5 on Highway 12.  Mapquest estimated it would take us an hour and seventeen minutes from our house.  We left at 7 am, stopped for coffee on the way, and jetted into our day long journey. Because Pongo has been slow to start in the last two trials, failing to pass the first element of the day, we pulled over at a rest stop on the way to practice.  I did two hides with him outside, practicing an exterior hide.  Pongo was understandably distracted on the first one, not sure whether he was there to pee. The second one was better, but he was still very distracted.  I hoped it was enough of a practice to help him get right into the game at the trial site.

Each trial we have been to has done things a little different.  Sometimes elements are run simultaneously, sometimes back-to-back.  There are always 40 dogs divided into two groups of 20.  Yesterday we were in Group B, Team No. 6.  I liked being at the front of our group, but the Oakville trial ran the containers and exterior elements back-to-back so that teams went directly to the exterior hide after finishing with containers. That meant that we had a long wait time before we even started, as Group A ran through two elements first.
Our number did not come up until almost 11:30 am.

Pongo rocked through containers.  Next we went out a side door of the high school to a flagged-off area that included grass and the side of the building. Pongo got to work after looking out at all the people standing around watching. I felt cautious, noting that he took interest in a couple different spots, but not wanting to make a mistake, let him keep going, then directing him back to the areas he'd shown interest before.  I called alert when he stopped again and stuck to a utility cylinder next to the wall. YES!  Relief and excitement washed over me.  We'd made it through the first half of the day!

At the truck, playing the waiting game.

We went back to the truck to wait.  Thankfully, they reversed the order in the afternoon and Group B would go first after lunch.  We purchased delicious baked potatoes from a concession stand inside the school which was being run to raise money for a senior class trip. We felt good about supporting such a small town school and were delighted to not have to leave to find something to eat.

The afternoon elements started with vehicles and then the interior search.  Pongo seemed perky and ready to go.  But when we came through the door to the vehicle search which was in a covered area open at both ends between school buildings, Pongo froze.  He looked at all the people standing in a line with timers or clipboards in their hands.  He sniffed the air.  The wind was blowing as if through a tunnel.  I took Pongo to the first vehicle and he started sniffing.  But at the end of each vehicle, he seemed to pause, distracted, and I had to turn him around and get him to go down the other side.  I started feeling nervous.  It felt as if I were in a vacuum, time getting sucked away.  I remembered the advice of the judge at our last trial. "You have to get your dog around all three vehicles."

The vehicles were parked side by side, parallel to each other with ample walking distance in between.  We ended up back at the first vehicle and Pongo showed a lot of interest at the back left wheel.  I wasn't sure if that was it, so I let him work it around to the other side.  At this point, I thought the odor was blowing under the vehicle, but Pongo was not giving me any strong signals.  We ran out of time.  The judge verified that Pongo had been in odor at the rear left wheel, but that the hide was in the hitch on the tailgate.  Pongo had walked right past it.

I buyoed my spirits as we went indoors to the interior and the last hide.  Dogs are allowed to be worked on or off leash, and Pongo has typically done well being off, so I started that way.  But as time passed, I felt he was not working the whole room and I put him back on the leash. I called alert just in the nick of time.  The entire room let out a big sigh as if they had been holding their breath.

"I'll call that 2:59." the judge said. There was nervous laughter.

"What a good boy, Po!"  We hurried out of the room and back to the truck.

Rather than stay for the award ceremony which was still hours away, we decided to leave.  We were tired and feeling defeated.  On the way home, we stopped in Olympia to look around.  As close as it is to us, I've never spent any time exploring there.  We took a downtown exit and left the truck at Heritage Park.  Pongo and I walked in the beautiful sunshine on the edge of Capitol Lake.

Next Del and I looked for a place to eat an early dinner.  We wandered into the 5th Avenue Sandwich shop.  I loved the old jazz music and pictures on the wall. Service was reasonably quick but the sandwiches were to die for.  Made from homemade bread daily, they were just running out of bread and closed after serving us.  I had a melted four cheese sandwich with an avocado spread and spinach.  It hit the spot!  Perfect on a crisp February day.  Del ordered a club sandwich without the bacon, but the waiter brought the thick slices of bacon on the side, trying to convince Del that it would be worth eating.  My husband, being a very particular eater, especially when it comes to bacon, declined.  Instead, the bacon went in a TO GO box where Pongo, waiting dutifully in the truck, devoured it immediately without question.

A Mock Nose Work Trial

Yesterday was a beautiful day for nose work in the Pacific Northwest! It was an unseasonably warm day with a brilliant blue sky.  Pongo is getting ready for another nose work trial this Saturday.  He's hoping to earn his Nose Work 1 (NW1) Title from the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW). They say the third time is a charm, right?

My friend Mary set up a mock trial at her house for us to practice.  If you've read other blogs, you'll remember that Mary and her dog Crosby are longstanding nose work friends who are part of a practice group we've established. Crosby earned his NW1 title in Sandy, Oregon in November.  See "Pongo's Second Nose Work 1 Trial" posted on November 9, 2014.  I noticed a pattern in Pongo's behavior at this trial. Pongo starts off highly distracted and seems to need more warm-up time than just the trial boxes that are set up outside in the parking lot at trials.  Both times Pongo has competed, he has failed the first element (different elements each time) and passed the final three.  There are always four elements in a NW1 Trial: boxes, interior search, exterior search and vehicle search.  Your dog must pass all four to earn a title.

Knowing Pongo's tendency to a slow start, Mary planned five blind searches for us.  Each one was timed according to NW1 element standards.  The first one was an indoor search to get him warmed up.  Pongo circled the room, and was clearly working intermittently, but gave up easily and began looking to me.  Mary gave us the 30 second warning, then Pongo found the hide just before the time ran out at three minutes.  It was hung in a bag underneath a corner table.  Pongo was showered with lots of praise and cut up pieces of chicken Dog Joy Treats made by Freshpet.  Positive reward is important in training dogs for nose work to maintain their motivation.

Interior search with distractions.

Next, we went outside for a 3-car vehicle search.  Pongo was focused and quickly found the hide.  Pongo and Crosby took turns searching.

Crosby alerts to a find hidden in the wheel.

After the vehicle hide, the boys did a box search in Mary's garage.  There were lots of distractors with filled garbage cans, a parked vehicle, and shelves of your run-of-the-mill items stored in garages.  Boxes is where Pongo typically excels.  He got his best time on this element, finishing in less than fifteen seconds.  Pongo gave me a clear alert by pawing the box with the odor.  I love it when he does this on boxes and wish he'd do it on all hides!  But Pongo's alert is different depending on the situation, putting more pressure on me to make sure I read him correctly.  This is a team sport after all! 

Next, the dogs did an interior search in the living room.  This search area was full of lots of distractors.  It had some of Crosby's toys, a dog bed, a throw blanket tossed on the couch, etc.  This one proved to be very difficult for Pongo and was the only one he didn't find.  Mary hid the odor between the cushions and Pongo walked past multiple times without showing any signs of alerting to the odor.  But this is why we practice!  

Our practice session ended with an exterior search. Pongo found the odor hidden on a metal cat statue with plenty of time to spare.  What a fun day!  Many thanks to Mary for putting together a great practice session.  I'm so grateful for good friends.

    

       Pongo alerts on a metal cat statue.

Wish us luck! 

Happy trialing, Pongo!

Stay tuned for results this weekend.

A Doggie Valentine's Day

What is more fun than showing your dog how much you love him on Valentine's Day?  Pongo urged me out the door early in the morning.  We went to the "woods" near our house which consists of a few short dirt trails through a forested area on the edge of a park.  I am using this more and more as his walk on the weekends to reduce the amount of walking we do on hard cement.  Pongo loves smelling the plethora of layered odors among the ferns, soil and bark along the paths. 

We were home for only about an hour when I got ready to run some errands at the store.  Pongo followed me with his eyes, tilting his head, "Do I get to go?" How can I resist that look?  "Wanna go for a ride?" Pongo got up from the floor and headed for the door.

"You're going to make him sit in the car at Walmart?" my husband asked. 

"We'll go to the dog park first."  It's winter.  I don't have to worry about heat.  Pongo likes to run errands with me because he likes to BE with me.  He doesn't mind waiting in the car if he has already done all his business and gotten a little exercise.  Pongo used run errands with me a lot, but since I got married, I leave him home more often because I'm not leaving him alone. There's always someone else for him to hang out with.

The Bonney Lake Dog Park is not big, but what I love about it is that it has a wooded area with a few trails.  When we first moved to Bonney Lake, it didn't have a lot of dog traffic.  Pongo and I often went and there was no one there, so we stopped going - it made me feel it was a huge disappointment to him.   Bonney Lake dog people are not early birds.  On weekends, people don't show up until mid-morning at best.  Depending on the weather, it might be later.  This is so foreign to me. In Washington, DC, there were always people up early, exercising their dogs before they got on with their day.

Recently, I've noticed that on weekends, at least, the Bonney Lake Dog Park seems to be more populated.  When we arrived, there were about six to eight dogs running around, playing near the entrance.  Pongo loves getting to sniff and say hello to other dogs and the social time is important to him.  He exudes a calm contentedness after dog park time.  Pongo loves hanging out with the big dogs, but he doesn't play chase and run around with them anymore. 

After Pongo had some sniff and play time with the doggie visitors, we went for a walk through the wooded area.  It was quiet and it felt as though we were hiking somewhere by ourselves. Then we looped around and joined the other dogs again.  We stayed for about twenty-five minutes.   In the Walmart parking lot, Pongo lay down happily in the back seat and slept while I shopped.

When we got home, he found a quiet spot and resumed his nap while I began Valentine's Day preparations for my family.  I spent the afternoon baking for Pongo AND my husband and daughter.  I made Pongo's favorite peanut butter dog treats but instead of cutting them into dog bone shapes, I used a heart cookie cutter in honor of the holiday.

This is an easy recipe.  It's one of my staple dog treat recipes.  It consists of 1/2 cup peanut butter, 2 T. oil and 1 cup water mixed together in a bowl.  Then you add one cup of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour, stirring in one cup at a time.  I added a mashed banana as a special treat.  If you do this, decrease the oil by 1 tablespoon.  Next you roll out the dough and use your favorite cookie cutter.  You can roll it out thin or thick, according to your desire.  The recipe says to bake them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  I usually like a harder dog treat, so I turn them over when the timer goes off and bake them for another 20 minutes (40 altogether).  This makes them brown and crisp on both sides.

Since dogs can't have chocolate, I melted carbo chips.  I tried to decorate the hearts using a pastry bag, but it was too stiff and I couldn't get the chocolate to flow through the tip.  I gave up and spread the top of the hearts with the melted carob like frosting. But carob-decorated dog treats are messy and we typically make Pongo eat those outside.  Pongo likes to carry his precious homemade treats around the living room, parading them in front of the cats.  "Look what I have!"  The carob-decorated treats leave trails and smudges of brown on the carpet.

You can see that Pongo enjoys the privileges that come with old age. We allow him to stretch out on the couch now, something he was forbidden to do when he was younger.  But as we watch him try to get comfortable and have trouble lying down with the stiff arthritis in his hind legs, we don't mind sharing the couch with him. Pongo enjoyed Valentine's Day afternoon relaxing on the couch with Bella.

I love you sweet boy!  Happy Valentine's Day Po!

Superbowl Sunday Vehicle Search

Recently, Pongo and I went to visit my parents in Pullman for a long weekend.  My job has been busy working twelve hour days or more, writing evaluations and IEPs. Sadly, Pongo's nose work training has suffered.  He has been grateful to get in one nose work session a week lately, and sometimes we just don't get around to it.  But with our next nose work trial coming up near the end of February, I was determined to fit in some nose work while we were out of town.

Pongo sporting Seahawks colors.

On Sunday before we got ready to settle down and watch the Superbowl, my niece and my brother helped me park three family cars up at the picnic shelter at Kruegel Park. Just two blocks from my parents' house, Kruegel Park was my childhood playground.  I grew up playing on the equipment, jumping on the merry-go-round and spinning until I was sick, learning to build a fire in the picnic shelter with the Girl Scouts, then later shooting baskets and playing tennis on the fenced-in courts, and watching cute boys play baseball on the diamond.

I chose the park for our vehicle search because I thought it would be a good place to practice with distractions.  During the search, Calder barked excitedly nearby.  If you are new to the blog, Calder is Pongo's BFF and belongs to my sister.  He was waiting for Pongo to finish so they could have playtime in the snow.  Also during the search, another dog who was in the park off-leash came running over to say hello.  To my surprise, Pongo (my social butterfly) didn't even pause and continued with his search, ignoring the other dog.  Way to work through distractions, Po!


Pongo worked the vehicle search with enthusiasm. He detailed each car. I had tried to set the search up to be as close to a real trial as possible. There was only one hide with birch.  I used cooked chicken chunks both for pairing and for rewards.

We did three different hides in this session.  Each time, I placed the hide in a different location or on a different car.  Each time, Pongo found it without any cues.  There was a license plate hide, a wheel-well hide and a door handle hide.

It was exciting to see Pongo so focused when we hadn't been practicing regularly.  It reaffirms for me how much he loves this sport and how important it is for me to make the time to work with him.  Pongo is happy when he's using his nose.

When we were finished, I let him off leash and he ran around in the snow with Calder.  Pongo was in his element.  He is a cold weather dog and loves the snow.  He and I have both missed it this winter in the Seattle area. Playing with his best friend, Pongo is young again.  He finds the energy to chase a stick.

We are counting down the days now to the next nose work trial.  While I hope Pongo will be able to focus on all four searches this time and come away with a title, it's all about Pongo and I being a team and having fun.

Pongo and Eva 

Communicating With Your Old Dog

As Pongo’s 14^th birthday approaches, I am struck by the changes in our daily life - how my commitment to giving him what he needs to be healthy and happy has changed.  We no longer go for a daily walk.  Pongo’s arthritis has progressed to the point that he doesn’t always want to go for one.  Occasionally when I put on his leash, he’ll walk to the end of the driveway and then stop.  He pulls back on the leash and refuses to move forward.  Paying attention to his attempts to communicate new ideas is important to me so that I can try to meet his needs. When he pulls back, I listen.  We don’t have to go for a walk, Popo. 

Other days, he wants to go.  He still shows the excitement of his youth, but he fatigues easily.  Our walks are much shorter these days - sometimes only a few blocks. But he shows signs of boredom being in the house all day.  His mind still longs to run, though his body cannot follow.  Even though his arthritis makes activity difficult, he needs to have the opportunity to be outside and smell the world.  Experiencing odor through sniffing is the essence of dogness.  In the past few years, we stopped going to the Bonney Lake dog park, as we spent more time going hiking on the weekends.  Now I find we are beginning to go back where Pongo can just be a dog. He no longer gets the other dogs running in a game of chase, sprinting at full speed.  But he trots after the younger dogs, wags his tail hello, and sniffs a little butt when they stop long enough for him to position himself at their rear.  He tires quickly but the joy is evident in his eyes.

I have started a new routine of jogging at a nearby school track on Sundays.  I take Pongo with me but let him off leash so he can go at his own pace.  Surprisingly, he still tries to run with me, sticking to the track a few hundred yards behind.  The second time we went, I put him in a down-stay in the grass by the soccer goal after he had an opportunity to sniff around and do his business.  He watched me as I made a lap around the track, then got up to meet me as I came around on the other side.  Repeated attempts at down- stays brought the same result.  He always got up, sometimes within minutes, sometimes when I rounded the track.  But each time he’d fall in line behind me, plodding along.  I am breaking all the rules of dog obedience, but then that's not what it's about anymore. I’ve come to accept that eleven years of running together are imprinted on his brain.  Like a professional athlete, it is not easily left behind. 

I am even more attentive to his barks and whines.  As parents do with infants, I try to interpret his cries.  “Do you need to go potty?” I ask.  Or, “Do you want to eat?” His YES is usually evident by excitement in his eyes and movement to a standing position then toward the door or the kitchen.  Sometimes his YES is an emphatic sneeze with a giant head nod.  But Del and I have noticed a new need.  A need for comfort.  He is visibly in pain sometimes and wants to cuddle or be massaged.  Del and I take turns lying on the floor with him rubbing his ears, neck and belly.  I cherish this cuddle time together.

               He seems more sensitive to sound these days, barking at every knock or bump.  When there is a lot of activity in the house (i.e. lots of noise), we have found that Pongo prefers to be in our bedroom with the lights off and a radio going.  I hung a blackout curtain on the window and this space is now calming to him.  It is huge that he will lie down quietly and accept being separated from the rest of the family, and especially Mommy.

                Another recent change is Pongo can no longer make it through the night without going outside to potty.  One day, we found dog pee in the garage near the cat litter boxes and then it was no longer a singular event.  As his ability to hold his urine began to decline, we began to buy puppy training pads and placed them adjacent to the three cat boxes.  Often now when Pongo makes eye contact with us and whines, he is telling us he needs to go outside.  In December we added a doggie door to the garage so he can go outside anytime he needs to whether we are at home or not. 

  

              Meeting Pongo’s needs today are more challenging than when he first came to me from the Washington Animal Rescue League thirteen years ago. But being sensitive to his changing communication continues to strengthen our bond.  I thank God every day for this sweet devoted boy who has given me so much.