Showing posts with label leash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leash. Show all posts

Monday, October 20, 2014

Evel "Luna" Knievel

Usually people say things like "'Dangerous' is my middle name" when they try to brag about their daredevil tendencies. Well, if Evel Knievel (the daredevils of the daredevils) had a middle name, it would be "Luna". I can hear you laughing as I write this post—What did Luna do this time?! 



Let me just start off by saying, Luna is alive and safe as I am writing this.

Luna has had 2 near death experiences within the last couple weeks (and this is not me being an over protective mother—I am seriously thankful that Luna was as lucky as she was).



The first thing that happened occurred when Drew, Luna and I were walking to Downtown for dinner. It was just after 6pm and still light out. Drew was walking Luna on her pinch collar, as we always do. Luna does her normal dog shake (imagine a wet dog shaking after a bath), and her pinch collar somehow came unlatched and came off of her. If you put 2 and 2 together, you will realize that Luna is no longer constrained to her leash. She is a free woman. Sensing this freedom, she takes off, into the middle of the busy street intersection. She turns around as we scream her name, and she realizes "Oh this isn't a game...they aren't following me?" Drew starts to head out in the middle of the street, to try to get oncoming cars to slow down and stop. 

LUCKILY the intersection Luna bolted into was all stopped and everyone was aware what was going on. Luna jogs back to the sidewalk we were walking on and lays down on her back submissively, as if we were going to scold her for doing something wrong. However, I did not feel that she did anything wrong in this case. She listened pretty quickly after we all realized what was happening and came back. Instead of punishing her, I comfort her and tell her "Good girl, it's okay Luna, you're okay" (I think this was me coming to reality and convincing myself that she was okay.) It took me a while to realize how EXTREMELY lucky we were that at that given time it was light out and all the cars were stopped. We were all a little shaken up after that, adrenaline rushing, but we continued our walk to dinner, moving on from the scary situation we had just dealt with.

That was the first time she escaped death, just like Evel Knievel did many times in his stunts.



The second time Luna got away lucky, was when I was taking her to the dog park. I was driving down one of the roads to the park with my windows down (as I always do when Luna is in the car). Luna starts to get excited because she knows where we are at and that she is going to play soon. As I am driving (10 miles an hour or so), I see a couple and their strollered baby getting close to a cross walk. It doesn't look like they have plans on stopping and looking both ways before crossing, so I slam on my breaks, and I hear Luna stumble a bit in the back seat, but she seems alright. 

Right when I think she's okay I look to my left and she is OUTSIDE of my car in the middle of the road. Luna seemed to land partially on her feet then did a tuck and roll and then landed back on her feet. At this time (all happening in 2 seconds or less—but I felt like I saw this in slow motion), I put my car in park and call Luna over to try to get her to come. She stands there, bewildered. I call her a couple more times and she walks over to the side of the road in the dirt. I jump out of my car and grab her leash before she takes off. But I don't think she was planning on running anywhere. I think she was so confused how she ended up in the middle of the road when half a second before she was in my car. Again, Luna is alive and well, no broken bones, no serious injuries. She has a scuffed chin and 2 scrapes on her front legs. All in all, we were both shaken up, and I feel completely terrible and at fault for my little girl's traumatic experience :( My poor baby girl. 

I wonder if these 2 situations are signs that we should invest in pet insurance...

Sunday, July 6, 2014

American Weekend

This 3 day weekend was action packed and huge for Luna!

1. OFF LEASH!
Friday, Drew and I experimented with off-leash potties with Luna. Last time we did this it turned into us chasing after her for an hour, the whole time I was having a heart attack. The Husky in Luna makes her BOLT, and the Lab in her makes her have ADD which makes it hard to get her to "come" when she sees a squirrel. But we have been working on it...slowly. So we decided to take a "leap of faith" and we took off her leash, grabbed a couple motivational treats and opened the door (dun, dun, DUNNNNN)! 

At first she was a little hyper to be off leash but stayed within 15 feet of us and just ran circles and peed. Then we told her to "come" and she did (so we gave her a treat), then told her to "go home" and straight up the stairs she went! SUCCESS!!! Happy parents for sure.

This is a video of Luna when told to "Go Home" after doing her business. (She gets ahead of me but looks back a couple times to see if I'm following).




2. Playing with 5lb Teddy
We went over to Drew's parents' house for Independence Day and Luna got to play with Teddy. I swear, every time we go over there, Luna and Teddy get better and better about playing together. The two got a little crazy when Moxie came around (3 dogs at G-ma and G-pas house can get exciting at first), but then settled down. They went outside and played with bubbles. Teddy was all about them and definitely won first place at popping the most bubbles. Then after a long play day the 3 were exhausted, and fell asleep. 







3. FIREWORKS!
This was the first time Luna would be experiencing fireworks with us. We didn't know how she'd react but seeing that the garbage truck that sounds like a plane crashing into our apartment never phases her, we weren't too worried. And when we walked to Downtown Livermore where they were setting off the fireworks, Luna was intrigued by the lights in the sky. She was staring at them just like she stares at flies, questioning how they got there and how in the world is she gonna get them! All in all a very successful, non-freak-out experience, which is a HUGE relief.



4. OFF LEASH X2!
Saturday, I took Luna to Lake Borris (the off-leash dog lake/trail area in Livermore, behind Shadow Cliffs). It is by far my favorite place to bring her. She can swim, play with other dogs, and get in a nice little tiny hike at the same time. This place is COMPLETELY off leash, and quite frankly it's the best place to train your dog off leash. There's no place the dog can really go and get into any real danger (far from busy streets, and it's basically all in a large ditch). Luna is a HUGE fan of water, I mean she tries to swim in the fountains Downtown, and I don't stop her. 

I decided that this time at Lake Borris, I would try to see how she does off leash on the walk over to the beach (well more like on leash, and I just drop it on the ground and let it drag behind her). I kept treats in hand and when she would get too far I would tell her to come back, and if she listened she was rewarded. She was amazing! I told her to "stay" when I wanted her walking right next to me (which was whenever I saw a dog coming towards us). Then I would have her sit, when the dog and its owner were about 10-15 feet away, and when they passed we would keep walking. 

I'm telling you, it must be a maturity thing, that once your dog hits 1, they listen better and do what you say (for the most part). I don't think that a week ago she would have been able to do this! It's crazy!

So we get to the beach part of the lake and she's playing and swimming and having a great time. Then this 5 month old Black Lab comes around and starts playing with Luna. This was the first time this dog has gone swimming, and the best way to teach your dog something is to have another dog train it! DO NOT EVER THROW YOUR DOG INTO A POOL TO TRY TO HAVE THEM SWIM!!!! EVERRRR!!! (It's like throwing a kid who doesn't know how to swim in the pool, and then they are traumatized for the rest of their life and will refuse to go in the water.) 

When it's time to go (when mom is tired and hot and sunburnt), I decided to put her on the leash again but drop it on the ground for a little. Then a couple minutes later I thought I would try and do NO LEASH AT ALL! And usually (like I said before) she will BOLT like there's no tomorrow. This time? That was not the case. She acted the same as when the leash was on the ground! She was a little more testing her limits but it was okay, she would turn around and walk by my side when I told her to. 

I was such a proud Mama. When we were almost to our car I put her leash back on and a dog who had just arrived was pulling his (or her) owner like you see in those movies. That Lab was easily 90lbs. Big boy (or girl). Then he (or she) just starts barking and barking and BARKING! Meanwhile, I just tell Luna, sit and stay, and she's quiet, just watching this chocolate Lab go berserk. And the owner and family say "Wow! How old is your dog?" And I tell them she's one. And they are shocked since their dog is 5 and "not as well trained." (Clearly a socialization issue). Sorry, was that bitchy? 

Not going to lie, Drew and I have done a great job training Luna on how we want her to act. Of course she isn't perfect and she still makes mistakes, but she's a dog. I'm not a military sergeant training soldiers, I am just a crazy dog lady training her crazy dog.