Back on Track

After several days of river rising and flooding again, finally the shoreline is back and we can resume water training. Today was Inas's turn, the air turned cooler last night, but the water this morning was very warm.  No improvement in swimming style at this point, but to be fair, alternating a dog each day only gets him to the river every three days, and with the flooding we have lost time.  However, fun is always on the menu, and fun we had. :-)

Brown River

No swimming today..... river has swelled to a muddy mess.  Too much rain here last night, and up north. More rain predicted for the next two days.  The concrete pillar seen in the background and the green tree tops to the left of the pillar is usually where the edge of the river is!

Morning Fog on the River

This morning the fog on the river created a soothing effect for the start of a new day.  An Osprey came down and landed in the tree up river from us.

Osprey flying

Swimming Update

The Mudis have all had their first day of swimming. (videos below) The next time I write on this topic, it will be mid-summer, and the dogs will be halfway through their swimming strength and conditioning sessions.  I will take videos again at this time, and at the end of the summer.  It will be interesting to see if any improvements are noticed.

Swimming with Tally

Swimming strength and conditioning day one for Tally. Unlike Leza, Tally was not a natural swimmer.  She pretty much mirrored Inas's swimming style, front feet reaching for the sky, splashing the water, sinking more with each splash.  After many trips to the river, and many attempts at helping Tally swim correctly, one day she just "got it."  You could literally see the light bulb go off in her head.  We were in a different section of the river, a place where the water very gradually got deeper.  She was fetching the bumper, and each time she got in a little deeper.  She went from running on the bottom, to actually swimming.  That day was a few years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Tally loves chasing the Canadian geese that are often in the water, but could never go in after them, as she just could not swim in the deeper water well enough.  That day when the "light bulb" went off, there were several geese in the river, much further out in the water.  When Tally started to actually swim, I was elated and shouted out that she was swimming!!! Yay!! Within seconds Tally realized it too, and with that, she did a sharp right turn in the water (forget that bumper!!) and headed out as fast as her little legs could swim to get those geese!!!! LOL!!  After I realized what she was doing, I was in hysterics.  Of course I had to call her back, as the geese were way too far out in the river for a dog that just found out she could swim!!!  From that moment on Tally never looked back, and swims with gusto.

Tally Swimming Session #1

Ready, Ready, Ready!

Swimming with Leza

Swimming strength and conditioning day one for Leza.  Leza is my first Mudi and is the best natural swimmer of the three. She took to swimming as an 8 week old puppy like it was the next best thing after walking.  She is getting older, so she has less stamina, but she can still show how it's done best!  I will post the video later tonight. In the video you can clearly see her swimming style is smooth, no splashing of the water as she moves, very quiet.  If you compare Inas swimming from yesterday, and Leza's from this morning, you can clearly see the difference.

Leza Swimming Session #1

Leza Riding Shotgun 

Swimming and The Versatile Blogger

 The Versatile Blogger

Hello!  It has been nearly a year since I posted. Recently I was notified that I had been given an award for my blog, ?? how's that possible?
The Versatile Blogger Award.

It came from another Mudi lover, so thank you!!! I consider that an honor since it came from another like minded individual! Julie from the Moody Mudi blog, gave me the award. http://dogsandgeeks.wordpress.com/

Apparently there are requirements for accepting the award, unfortunately I will refrain from meeting those requirements. But thanks anyway!

Swimming

Now that summer is once again upon us, I am going to try and get my dogs in shape by alternating swimming time with them.  This morning was the first day with Inas.  I had all three of them to the river a few days ago, but the noise level was unbearable (Mudi LOVE to swim almost as much as they LOVE to bark!) and I believe the family living on the other side of the river thought there was some kind of disaster happening! LOL!  So I decided one at a time would be better for everyone. It also gives me more one on one training time, and this is good for relationship building.  Out of all my Mudis, Inas is the worst swimmer.  He struggles to keep balance, but once he grabs the bumper in his mouth, this somehow balances his body weight in the water and he swims with less splashing.  As seen in the short video below, he is breathing heavy also, swimming is hard work!  I am hoping by the end of this summer, he will show improvement. It will be interesting to see if I can keep up with doing this everyday as well!  Not sure, time will tell!!!

Inas Swimming Sesson #1

Playing with the bumper was more fun than actually bringing it all the way to me, until I fell back from the shoreline, and then Inas was bringing it back beautifully!

River

Inas is learning to be a river dog, he is pretty good in the small raft, and looks cute in his life jacket!!!

Inas in the raft

Inas and his new friend

Early Morning Visitor

Hard to miss, the big black blob in my front yard...the bear who has been playing havoc with the platform bird feeder, I finally see him!  He has been coming about once a month, but always under the veil of darkness, and of course yesterday I fixed the feeder only to see he easily undid all my doing.  The dogs had not been out yet, thank goodness I didn't blindly open the door.  Though I know they have seen each other, from the opposite sides of the fence...would not want to see what might happen if the fence was not there!!

My Early Morning Visitor

Whistle Recall

Training a whistle recall is a must for Mudi who love to run. To see this in action click on the video below.  Not without a little squabbling with the girls...Leza almost always has to "herd" Tally in...

Whistle Recall