First up, a few second clip of the puppy enjoying his new pool.
Next up, his 2nd practice at the local Weight Pull club. He’s finally starting to understand the concept, though no real amount of weight being pulled yet.
Dog
Took the puppy for another walk
Actually we’ve been taking him for walks pretty regularly, both for exercise and for general exposure, we haven’t managed every day, but certainly most days. We make a habit of NOT walking by the psychotic german shepherds, cause not only does that mean I have to convince him to pass them, but also to pass by an elderly chihuahua who thinks he owns the street (damn pipsqueak comes barrelling out of nowhere yapping away, only to stop mid street, about two feet from Apollo’s nose to crouch and shiver, only to break out yapping again if Apollo tries to approach, which happens every time cause Apollo wants to be friends with EVERYONE). The prong collar solve the pulling problem. In-fact he’s walking pretty much loose leash with no problems and little distractions now. Very cool.
More thunderstorms tonight.
I’ve come to the realization that folks that successfully photograph lightening have one or more of the following:
1: really good luck
2: really really good reaction speed
3: extra (expensive) equipment
got some cool looking shots, but no actual lightening. I know what’ll be going on my wishlist for christmas/birthday/whatever!!
Apollo thinks its really odd how I sit in the dark with the camera in my hand trying to photograph lightening, he just doesn’t get it!
Prong collar vs Easy Leader head halter
Some asked me why we were using a prong collar vs an easy leader head halter, and the answer is multifaceted. I actually bought a head halter and put it on Apollo. And made some rather annoying discoveries (one of which SHOULD have occurred to me when looking at the package.)
1: the big one…..when he pulls to the point of choking himself he generally hits the end of the lead with some signifigant force. If he does that, even once, wearing the head halter he’s going to potentially do major damage to his neck. Oooops.
2: the package and all info on the head halter says that when adjusted properly the dog can still open his mouth normally. No dice. Maybe its a side affect of the mastiff head structure, but no matter how I adjusted the straps, if it was loose enough that he could yawn then he was also able to pull off the muzzle portion.
3: by the time I put it on him for the third time it was leaving a dent in his nose, even though it was too loose
4: and as soon as I strapped it on he flopped flat and refused to move, I was able to get him to his feet and out the door (so I won not him) but after that third time I said no more.
So onto a prong collar….have you ever actually handled one? They look mean as heck, but those prongs aren’t sharp, and you can even get plastic covers for them, or even plastic versions of the collars. A prong collar thats properly fitted and used doesn’t cause discomfort to the dog unless he pulls against it, especially one with the thick coat of the Tibetan Mastiff.
There are dogs for whom the Easy Leader is a good solution to the problem. I’ve seen it on dogs, and talked to people who use it, but its not a good solution for us. On the other hand I think a prong collar will likely solve the problem, and hopefully once he learns pulling is bad I won’t need it any more.
General update
Lets see.
Broken tooth: has a temporary crown on, while we wait to see what the insurance says they’ll cover. The dentist is of the opinion that there’s some life left in that nerve afterall so we’ll see.
The rest of the plants have arrived, but mother nature is attempting to see if we can grow gills and so they haven’t been planted yet. Hopefully tomorrow.
Apollo has continued to grow at the same insane rate, unfortunetly his leash skills aren’t keeping pace. The more excited he gets the more likely he is to pull, and the more he pulls the more likely he is to end up choking himself against the collar in his excitement. To the point where I worry he’s doing damage. After discussion with the breeder we’re taking a multi-sided approach. More exercise to wear him out, more dog interaction with appropriate dogs (she feels he is possibly lonely, and considering how much he LOVES playing with other dogs she probly has a point), and we’ll be adding a prong collar to his closet this week. Its very difficult to get him enough exercise and interaction when he’s attempting to pull me down the street cause there’s a “PERSON who might PET ME”, so the prong collar will hopefully teach him that pulling is not pleasant, which in turn will make it easier for all of the above to get done. On the other hand we’ve had fun coming up with games to wear him out at home. I’m trying to get video I promise.
puppy comparison
So…..remember this picture? It was taken when he was 10 weeks old the day we picked him up from the breeder:
So here he is today, 21 weeks old exactly:
(he couldn’t figure out WHY we were picking him up…..it was very funny)
If you know someone in Cali…..
…..urge them to go to a participating store and buy a participating product to help raise funds for their local SAR Dog community! Basic info here, Specifics here.
Apollo’s pedigree
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| Pedigree of SARAS HIMALAYA’S APOLLO | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 SARAS HIMALAYA’S APOLLO Gold USA 2010 |
AKC Grand Champion LEGENDS KAILAS HIMALAYAN Gold USA 2005 |
LEGEND’S ST. NICHOLAS Gold USA 2001 |
AKC CH TIMBERLINE BARNI DRAKYI Gold 2000 |
| MOLOSSER CHAKA OF LEGEND 1998 |
|||
| BUDDHA’S LEGEND’S DOLLYWOOD USA 2004 |
CH SIERRAS’ MAJESTIC MUFASA Black and Tan 1994 |
||
| DRAKYI BABA YAGA | |||
 QUEENY OF SARAS Black and Tan India 2003 |
CH India HIMALAYA’S TANGO AT SARAS Black and Tan USA 2002 |
ATMA/ARBA Champion HIMALAYA’S LOKESHVARA Black and Tan USA 1999 |
|
ATMA/ARBA/DFUSA/CKC Champion HIMALAYA’S ISIS Black and Tan USA 1996 |
|||
| FIZA OF SARAS Black and Tan |
RUSTAM 2005 |
||
| BALLERINA OF SARAS | |||
| This pedigree was generated by http://www.tibetanmastiffinfo.com/pedigree | |||
Mice
We have a mouse problem. I don’t expect to have one for long though……
Folks we bought the house from had a pair of energetic Yorkies (little guys, I doubt they’re more than 5lbs a piece) which I’m sure the mice were thrilled to see the last of.
We had a minor incursion over the winter, some mouse sign in one cabinet. Some traps solved the problem and we’d not seen them since though we left the traps in place.
I guess the rain has finally flooded them out of their home. Today I looked in the cabinet and discovered that two of the traps had caught a mouse….and just about 30 minutes ago Janie was going nuts trying to catch one in one of the puppy free corners of the house. It escaped her by dodging under the puppy barrier only to be greeted by said puppy who’d been trying to figure out what all the noise was about…..theres one less mouse in the world tonight.
As I type this Janie is attempting to digg her way under a set of shelves and the puppy is sitting ever so patiently outside the puppy barrier hoping for another snack!