New dog in town

“Sarabelle, just to let you know there's a new dog around. My wife, Reino (there, I've given her a TT name), gave me a 2-year-old Sheltie for Valentine's Day. She is very good on a leash, which will make walking with her a pleasure compared to Max the clown dog of the house. We named her Keksi (her former name was Cassie, so we tried to stay close), which is Finnish for biscuit or cookie. So she's my "pikku keksi" or Little Biscuit. This "gift" is recognized as a big hint to go walk some lard off, while achieving my wife's goal to get another pet against my usually vigilent objections. Beware when your SO gets on first name basis with the local shelter director. Plots are hatched.

Interesting fact from the Interpersonal Communication text I'm using this term: Americans say a dog goes "bow wow," Finns say a dog goes "hau, hau."”

“pekka, I love Shelties, they are so pretty & cute. Good luck with her. P.S. - don't forget about Max.”

“I goes doo doo...

and pee pee.
do;3”

“LH - no chance of that. He's actually getting more than ever. But I'll let my wife deal with his tugging on the leash. Since we gave Keksi a Finnish name, I've started calling Max a "suuri makara" which means "big sausage."”

“Sarabelle, not in the house or right on the trail, I hope. I just know you're a good girl about that.”

“One time after we made a tent I walked off a long way in the woods to doo doo so it would not be stinky by the tent. The next day when we started walkin we saw my doo doo. Know what? It was in the nother trail that we was walkin on now!

Next weekend me and my daddy was ridin around in the truck. Know what? Skinny Kenny was ridin with us! He likes to ride in the truck, too. Anyways, Skinny Kenny stand up by the windo and started sayin "stop the truck so I can get out and doo doo byside the rode". But my daddy keeped drivin and jerkin his hed cuz the raydeo was noisy and he anored what Skinny Kenny said so Skinny Kenny doo doo'ed IN THE TRUCK! EWWWWW!
STEEEENKEEEE!

heheheeeeee!
It was a funny time!”

“sarabelle, does your daddy pay more attention to what Skinny Kenny does now? Once when I was about 9 I wouldn't let a friends kitty kitty off my lap and the kitty kitty did a doodoo on my lap -- and I was wearing shorts! Now I always let kitty kitties down when they are tired of being held. I know, sarabelle, you don't think I should have been showing any attention to a kitty kitty and just got what I deserved. No kitty kitties in our house these days, just dogs.

What should I tell Keksi about saddle bags for hiking, sarabelle?”

“A Sheltie! Awsome! If you ever have anyquestions about care or grooming just ask me. I've done just about it all, if I don't know the answer, I can find it for you.”

“Thanks DM. She passed her vet check today with flying colors and praise for how mellow she was. On the otherhand, Max the water spaniel wagged his tail so hard against the exam room wall he left blood. He's always got a new trick.

Keksi likes to be chased, we've discovered. And she has already settled in enough to where she herded Max into his crate. Maybe she will train him better than we have.”

“Shelties do love to run and herd things, some more then others. I assume you have a fenced in yard, right? A lot of times people have problems with shelties being hyper because they don't let them run enough. I highly recomend obediece training her. There is probably a loal obedience clun that meets every week and will instruct you on how to train her. I think you'll find that she will learn very fast, especially since she is not a puppy anymore. She should also be very loyal. I think you'll enjoy having her.”

“Say wasn't that an Eagles tune? "New Dog in Town."

??????????? Moooooohahahahaha”

“Yum, fresh meat for the spit.”

“Congrats Pekka and Keksi(that's cute). Herding breeds usually make great trail dawgies. Good luck. :o)

I wouldn't even think about putting a pack on her until she has hiked with you extensively and you know what she's made of. Subtle things, such as weight shifting around and the fact that the saddle bags make her wider than she's used to accommodating for, could cause her injury if she's not already a seasoned hiker.

This is yet another great reason to get out on the trail more!!

ChChas, oh behaaaave!
>;oP”

“I took Belle on a dayhike in the Cohutta Wilderness within 10 days of her arrival. The hike required several crossings of the wild and scenic Jacks River. Belle performed surprisingly well. The next weekend, we did two nights in the Kilmer / Slickrock Wilderness. Belle sported her new Wenaha pack, to which she became (almost) instantly accustomed. She got wedged a couple times, but by the end of the weekend she had learned to judge which openings she could and could not fit through.

BTW, She has found a new sport - chasing deer! Grrrr!
She chased one in December on our Providence Canyon trip, and did it again this past weekend on a dayhike in the Hitichiti Forest. I thought that mebbe since the Providence deer crossed the trail within fifty feet of us, that the nearness was too much to resist. However, the Hitichiti deer was rather distant - in fact, I never saw it. I now know that I will hafta keep her leashed - at least until we encounter deer and I can give her a few tugs and "no!"s.

This new development is somewhat surprising in lieu of the fact that a muley walked right into our camp in the Sawtooths last summer, and Belle didn't budge.”

“pekka, It seems as though Finnish dogs may have taken singing lessons from Muddy Waters.....a, hau, hau, hau, hau!!!”

“My house has a new member as of Valetines Day as well.He is a four month old Siberian Husky.We named him TONKA as he is built like a little Tonka truck. Iffin I am correct in estimating his full grown size he is going to be a monster sized Husky, his feet are huge and he has a very cool personality.My other dog DOTTIE is after a few days loving his company but in the beginning she had lay down some ground rules for him LOL!”

“Thanks for the advice everyone. The note to the shelter that came with Keksi from her previous owner said the only command she knew was "no," that she liked to play ball, and that her sleeping location was "everywhere." We already have "sit" pretty well established, and "come" is showing progress as long as we don't trigger the "chase me" response. When she gets close to us on "come," she hunkers down to the ground and waits for our next move, though she is beginning not to flatten quite so much.

Yup, the backyard is fenced, though some of the snow drifts are getting high. She is trying to teach Max about playing tag, but he seems more interested in marking her pee spots, and her if he can. There's a behavior we need to nip.

gojo, that deer chasing development is tough. Good luck with sarabelle.

Hey sarabelle, what ya gonna do with a deer if ya do catch it? Not like a rat you can suck on.”

“gojo, i think i know now why so many national parks and wilderness areas require dogs to be leashed. i have witnessed more than my share of dogs chasing deer. deer can outrun them for a short time but it greatly stresses them. in winter, they expend every bit of energy just to stay alive. in spring, they have fawns to care for.

people should be aware if their dog is loose, it could get shot by a neighbor who is unhappy about it running loose. sometimes people decide to take care of problems themselves. I hope for sarabelles sake you keep her on a leash.”