Alice's 1st Beach Trip! 4th of July Update

We took Alice on her first beach adventure for the 4th of July!

We planned on spending the entire 4th of July on the coast, wanting to make sure we got home after the fireworks, so we took our time, stopping at some hiking trails. This picture was taken on the Cape Lookout trail. It's a gorgeous trail that we haven't hiked since Zoe was an only dog!

Cape Lookout Trail is where a lot of people come to whale watch!

The girls had a blast exploring this "new to them" trail. The trail was super narrow and so busy with other people and dogs. The girls did really well. We did have a few moments where Alice got overly excited but she didn't react and ate all the boiled chicken I shoved in her face. Most of the time the girls just cooperated and moved off the trail to eat while other dogs passed. I am so proud of them.

Alice was super excited when we finally made it to the beach! 

There were smells and sand and dead things to eat! Woohoo!

Run, Phoenix! RUN!

Phoenix is the only one with a reliable recall, so she's allowed off the leash.

There were sisters to play with! 

At one point, Zoe pounced on Alice and said "this is where we play!"

It's been so cute how Zoe has finally accepted Alice into our family! 

Just Zoe and her mini me.

Phoenix just wants to play fetch at the beach!

We practiced lots of recalls! This little dog loves chicken. 

At one point I felt safe enough to drop the leash and she came right back when I called her.

Waves are weird and wet!

Being brave because "sisters". 

Unfortunately we walked too far south and ran into some people with illegal fireworks. Cannon Beach is a Nature Reserve and they don't allow them so I thought we'd be safe. We couldn't get away quickly enough. The girls were exposed to around 4-6 big booms and they were very scared. I had to carry Alice for about a mile because I was worried she'd slip her harness. I'm glad she's little!

It took us about 2 hours to hike back to our car. We did see some recovery in that time. I was able to get their meds into them and they were feeling better after they kicked in. We spent the rest of the evening in the car watching the sunset. Luckily no more fireworks! We made it home just after midnight and our street was covered in firework debris. Even with the few booms we dealt with at the beach, I truly believe it was better than staying home and listening to them all day. Zoe actually ate her food the next day and that hasn't happened in the 8 years we've had her. 

We are planning on going to the beach again soon so that we can make sure those booms did not leave a lasting impression on anyone. We want Alice to love the beach as much as we do.

Since coming home we haven't really had a break from any of the noise, our neighbors are still lighting something off every night. Alice has become really sensitive to loud noises, including the airplanes that fly over. I hope we get a break soon and we're able to work on it. Just like other times when she gets upset about something, she won't take food. I have learned to hate the 4th of July.

Dobby is a free elf!

I'm free!

We are not able to let Zoe off leash at the beach very often, due to that one time she saw a bunny. 

So when she finally gets off the leash she's pretty happy!

Beach, The Happiest Place On Earth!

Hi everyone! Long time, no write! I got really busy, then I got super sick and I lost some motivation to update the blog. I am planning on trying to update it more frequently and I apologize for our absence!

We recently took a much needed vacation at the beach. We spent three days playing fetch and exploring. It was glorious!

Zoe and Phoenix had so much fun. 

Phoenix is always so at peace when we go to the beach. Her peace is my peace. She wants to fetch her ball and play with us. She doesn't care about other dogs being around, she's not reactive at all. She's fearless and she's completely reliable off leash. 

Usually we have to keep Zoe on a leash when we are at the beach. She is so independent and has a tendency to wander too far. This trip we were able to let her off the leash more often and she had a great time running around! She even brought back a few balls!

The beach is definitely our happy place. We always have a great time and I really miss it when we leave. All I want to do is go back!

Do you have a favorite place you go with your dogs?

A Beach Trip!

Peter Iredale Ship Wreck! Check out those wind blown ears!

A while ago, we made it out to the Oregon coast for two fun days of fetch at the beach!

I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post about it until now!

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach

Zoe managed to have some off leash fun at the beach! 

We generally keep her on the leash for the most part because she saw bunnies one time and never forgot that there might be prey animals to hunt!

We trust Zoe a lot more when she's gotten a little tired. Here they are having a burst of zoomies!

Phoenix is very serious about her ball time! I was so proud of her! She didn't care about any distractions or other dogs at the beach. All she wanted to do was play fetch! She's come a long way!

Oswald West

We visited three different beaches and they had fun on each one!

Overall we had an amazing time! We absolutely love the coast!

Silhouette Sunday!

There's nothing better than a dog getting to do her favorite thing on the beach at sunset!

Silhouette Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone! We recently took Zoe and Phee on a weekend trip to the Oregon Coast! We visited three different beaches and toured Fort Stevens. The girls had a blast and as soon as I'm done editing the photos, I will share more of our trip with everyone!

Super Fetch on Cannon Beach!

One of Phoenix's most favorite tricks that she's learned is to "frisbee flip". Generally we make sure this trick is very controlled. We were super surprised that she flipped for her ball on the beach! Even more shocking that I captured it with my camera!!!

Phoenix loves playing fetch!

Fit Dog Friday!

I haven't done one of these posts in a long time!! 

I got some neat photos of Phoenix running on the beach, showing all her muscles and how fit she is!

I love this dog! I honestly couldn't believe how focused she was on  her ball and playing with us!

"Throw the ball!!!!"

The beach is one of our most favorite places and I really wish we could visit more often! 

Do your dogs have a favorite place to visit?

Phoenix is the best! Reactivity and Other Updates!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you will know that Phoenix has struggled with some "reactive" issues. She's never been a dog who barks and lunges a lot, so I've struggled with coming up with some sort of label for her. Isn't weird how we humans need to label everything??? Mostly, I just try not to.

Anyways, what I am realizing, after spending a lot of time with other more experienced trainers and bouncing ideas of them, is that Phoenix struggles with "proximity" issues. She is uncomfortable when certain dogs get into her bubble. Most of the time she's actually a completely normal dog. She just gets worried about rude dogs who don't respect her space and she's a little nervous with new people.

The past two weeks have been insanely busy for us, we went to the snow, we went to the beach and they've been hiking. We've been having so much fun but my favorite trip by far was the beach. Phoenix did so awesome. She was super excited about playing fetch and she had a blast. At one point 200lb mastiff ran up to us and Phoenix didn't even think about snarking at him. She was so good. I have tons of photos and I'll be sharing them with you guys soon!! In the meantime, enjoy this funny video of Phoenix "in drive" for her ball. She was side stepping, heeling and walking backwards! It was so funny!

A video posted by Lauren Miller (@zoepheedogs) on Nov 18, 2016 at 12:25am PST

Then yesterday, because Zoe has been feeling a little under the weather, Phoenix filled in for her at my work as a decoy dog for a reactive dog class. She was a little tense at the start of it but by the end she was relaxed enough to lay on her side and chill out. She was really good and I was so impressed with how well she did.

That's about it for our updates! We've been super busy but things are going really well! I'm really happy about where Phoenix is at the moment with her behavior and training. I realize that there will always be set backs and she won't ever be a perfectly social dog but I am really starting to accept her for who she is and work with her where she's at.

The Wreckage!

I love how Phoenix is always up for whatever. When I asked her to hop up onto the wreckage of The Peter Iredale she was happy to do it! She loves posing for me!

Does your dog like posing for photos?

Recalling Off Prey, Seabirds!

Believe it or not, while we were at the beach, the dogs could not have cared less about the seabirds. They trotted around and for the most part ignored them! At one point Phoenix did decide they might be fun to chase but I was able to immediately call her back. Thanks to Premack!

Phoenix half hearted attempt at chasing the birds was a great opportunity for me to practice calling her off prey. The birds were not in any danger and they really were not all that bothered.

As soon as I called Phoenix she immediately turned back and came. The birds landed right down where they were. It wasn't any worse than the birds taking off to avoid cars that were driving on the beach and everyone was fine. As you can see, Zoe did not care at all about birds and was busy sniffing.

I love the beach so much! I hope we can go again soon!

Have you ever taken your dog to the beach? Did they like it?

Silhouette Sunday!

Zoe having a fantastic time running on the beach!

So this isn't my best attempt at doing a silhouette. The lighting and the wind made photography very difficult on the day we were at the beach. I think it's okay but I probably could of done better!

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

Beach Day! Shipwreck of The Peter Iredale!

The Girls and Me! Totally Crazy Windblown Look!

The beach is one of our all time most favorite places to go. It's one of the first trips we ever took Zoe on when we got her and it was the first trip we took Phoenix on, too! We have a lot of really awesome memories and it's a place that brings me a feeling of peace. I love going to the coast!

I've been dying to get to the beach for a long time and I jumped on the opportunity to go to a new one the other day when we drove out to Longview, Washington. Longview is only about an hour from the coast so it was easily do-able. My friend Suzanne had recommended a beach sort of near Astoria and it also features the Shipwreck of The Peter Iredale which I had been wanting to see. So we killed all the birds with one stone.

Zoe and what's left of The Peter Iredale

Phoenix found a log to play on!

The Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. It was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles south of the Columbia River channel. It's a very popular tourist destination. 

Luckily we went on a weekday, it was horribly windy and there weren't very many people out there!

Phoenix was SO excited to play on the beach! 

Luckily with Oregon Coast Law they can be off leash!

 The Girls took turns racing each other around the beach and playing!

Phoenix poses with the wreckage!

The girls had a fantastic time running around on the beach! They were so happy to be there and so excited about everything. They were also really good for the most part! 

We did "lose" Zoe at one point and because it was so windy she could not hear us calling her. (I forgot my whistle at home.) Zoe had a moment where she thought the Seagull shadows that were zooming around on the hill above the beach were bunnies. On a previous beach trip, she saw a real live bunny and she's always remembered it. So when she saw the shadows moving on the hill she assumed they were bunnies and we lost her for a little bit while she was hunting them. By lost, I mean she was "out of control" because she could not hear our recall cue over the wind. We were able to get her attention as soon as she realized there was no scent of bunnies on the hill and she came right back to us on her own. She was never in any danger and she got a lot of "extra" exercise. We joked that she was a "Shadowhunter" and getting a little dumb in her old age! Other than that little incident this trip was probably the best behaved they've ever been at the beach.

The only downside to this beach is that vehicles are allowed to drive on it and it's a very popular tourist destination. March 15 - July 15 dogs are required to be on leash. If you're in the area, I would recommend going on a weekday and I would definitely go again! We had SO much fun!

Bitey Face Throwback!

I've been dreaming about going to the beach lately so I decided to post a beach throwback today! Zoe's got some serious bitey face going on there! Phoenix was getting on her last nerve! LOL!

The beach is one of our favorite places to visit! Do you have a special place where you take your dog?

Parkour Dogs

Phoenix in a tree at Thousand Acres.

This week I got a lot of questions and some concerns regarding my Monday Mischief post: To Catch a Squirrel... if you didn't see it just click the link. I decided to make a post about it so I can clear the air. There was NO squirrel in the tree where I was photographing the dogs. It was a joke.

Phoenix posing on the fence at Thousand Acres.

What is Parkour? (AKA: Free Running) From Wikipedia: Pakour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.

It's basically like agility but we use whatever obstacles we find! The dogs are trained to balance on fence posts, climb trees, jump over things. Everything I do with my dogs is completely controlled and trained.

Zoe on the giant rock at the south end Cannon Beach.

Zoe on the giant rock at the south end Cannon Beach.

If you look up "parkour dogs" on youtube you will find some pretty extreme videos. We don't do any of that extreme stuff at all. I don't allow them to jump down from places that are too high, especially if the landing will be on cement and we are very careful about the things we do. I would never allow them to do this sort of thing when they were overstimulated and chasing a critter.

Zoe posing on a pillar!

Phoenix learning parkour.

So the tree they were in was a tree that had been split and half of it was on the ground, they were able to hop up on a low branch and climb up into the tree. As you can see, Zoe is making her descent. She's focused on the branch of the tree and is very careful where she's placing her paws. We've done a ton of rear end awareness training. She knows exactly where her front and rear paws are. 

In 4 years of doing this we have never had an injury. 

Parkour can be great exercise and there's a ton of variety with it. It's jumping, it's running, it's balancing. My dogs really enjoy it. However, with any sort of sport like this, your dog needs to be physically fit. I would not recommend doing this if your dog is overweight. If you're interested in parkour and never done any sort of obstacle training, I would recommend finding an agility class and doing that first with a qualified instructor. I used to take agility classes with my family dogs and it was so much fun. I learned a lot. I would also recommend doing rear end awareness exercises and starting on really low and wide objects that are easy for your dog to negotiate while they are learning.

Happy Fit Dog Friday everyone! 

Do you do any sort of obstacle training with your dog? Tell me about it in the comments!