Lots of Change

Hi, It's Jack and I'm back! Boy has life changed for me in the last year.

Mom took me to this new house and then we stayed and haven't gone back. She said this is our new home. I had a hard time understand why we couldn't go back to the other house but after a while I kinda forgot about the other house and now love this one.

The coolest thing is that it has a big pond behind our house. Mom puts me on a long leash and lets me play in the water. I just love the water. I like hunting the things around the pond.

There is also this really cool walking path just out down the street that we go on long walk on. The really neat thing is the open field that are next to the walking path. Mom lets me go in just a little bit so I can practice hunting. She never takes me off my leash, she tells me it's not safe because we are so close to the road.

The most important thing is that mom brought along my chair and yes she finally gave in and tells me this is my chair.

The sad news is my little sis went over the rainbow bridge. It was hard seeing mom so sad for so long. I don't really understand I just know Ladybug is not coming home. It make me sad.

When we moved mom started taking me to this place were I get to play with a lot of different dogs. Mom calls it doggy daycare. All I know is I have so much fun that I want to go everyone. Mom say's I can't go everyone day but we do have a routine and let her know when it's time for me to go and play with all my friends.

This moving things wasn't so bad once I felt comfortable in the new home.

My Chair!!!

A couple of months ago mom brought home two chairs for the living room and I was so excited! When she unwrapped all the plastic off of them I knew one was for me.  It didn’t make since for her to get two chairs because she can only use one and then the other would sit there empty. 

So I study each chair and decided the big fluffy chair would be mine. But then mom looked at me and said “These aren’t for you, Jack”. I just let out a sigh because she was wasting a good seat.

Once mom put the chairs where they belonged I immediately jumped up on my chair. She told me off…”NOT FAIR! I love my chair!” But I jumped off anyway because she didn’t look like she was playing with me.

For the past several months I kept trying to lay on the chair and each time she will tell me “OFF”. But I’m more stubborn than she is because after seven months of trying I finally won!  Well kinda…I was up there for a few minutes anyway and then after she took this picture she told me “OFF!”. 

But it was still a win for me because I was up there long enough to lie down and close my eyes. She just doesn’t understand that’s my chair and I’ve set claim to it!! But she will learn.

It's been a while

It's been a while since mom has jumped on here and helped me type about our adventures. There really hasn't been many adventures with mom recently. She's been busy with her new job which requires her to work at night.

She did say when it warms up and stops raining we will be going to the doggy park to play with all my friends. I really miss going there. Mom has done a good job bringing different doggie friends over for me to play with. We don't have any doggy play dates any time soon because all my doggie friends moms are busy too.

For now I keep myself busy with my favorite rope toy and my glow in the dark ball. I love those things! Mom plays tug with me and then when she gets the rope from me she throws it and I chase it. My favorite game.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop by and let everyone know I'm doing good.

Oh wait mom took this great picture of me waiting for her to get done at the computer. I think I look really handsome.

Mom said a blog isn't a blog unless we have a picture to add. So here it is....and yes I was totally bored!

OK...until next time!!!

Blizzard conditions?!

So the weather here in Indy is crazy. Mom tells me its a blizzard out side and she can't go anywhere. We sat and watched movies for a while but then mom let out a big breath and told me she was bored...cabin fever I think is what she said.

So she went into the room in the back of the house and pulled out these big fluffy pants...she looked kinda funny. Then she put on a big fluffy coat and said let's play outside.

I got all excited, I ran out the door and found my big yellow ball. This is my out door ball. Mom says it's better to have one indoor ball and one outdoor ball. I don't agree but it's what ever mom says because no matter how many times I try to bring the yellow ball in somehow it ends up back outside.

After chasing me around and throwing the ball for a while she went back in and grabbed her camera. Then we spent more time outside. I played and jumped and ran and mom took pictures of me and my little sis.

Here is some of the pictures she took.

Mom says this is her favorite...I don't like it because you can't see me very well. I'm all blurry.

Here I am showing off how fast I can run along the fence. You can't really tell in this picture but I ran really really fast.

This is little sis....I like this picture of her...makes her look all cute and nice when she's really mean!

Geezzz...I look so goofy here!

This is me playing with the big yellow ball.

Boy I wish I could hunt some birds!

I thought mom was playing with me because she sat on the ground. So I turned and surprised her by jumping on her. Guess this is what I look like when I do a sneak attack:)

The wind was blowing really hard and I would have to stop playing and turn my back to the wind so the snow won't hurt my face. 

That's my yellow ball. Mom says it looks like a snowball. 

Here I'm digging for the yellow ball. It always lands really deep in the snow and I have to dig for it. 

I like blizzards if mom gets to stay home with me and play with me all day. Best day ever!!!!

Jack's first time in the Field

Jacks first time out in the field! Yes, I changed my mind and decided to take him out. It was rather nerve racking for me at first. I had my hand gripped around the e-collar control like it was going to try to run away. I was so worried that Jack wouldn’t listen to me and would run away.

It was a really rough start because Jack was not listening to me. After a while and a couple of hits on the e-collar Jack started to listen. From there on I was able to let Jack do his thing. He’s a natural….he still needs a lot of work but I was really proud of him today.

The moment I was the most proud was when Tess accidentally flushed a bird, Mitch shot and the bird went down in some really tall grass (hip height). We told the dogs to “find the bird” and they both started to weave in and out of the grass. Then Jack took off to the left into the tree line. I called him back and made him search the grass again. Then again he took off to the tree line. This time, I stopped and just watched him. He stopped for longer than normal and I yelled over to Mitch, who was closer, to check on Jack.

When Mitch got there, Jack was pointing the bird…at least we think he was pointing the bird. You could only see Jack’s rear end sticking out of the grass. The bird was not dead but injured.

The part where Jack needs work is holding point. Jack went after the bird when the bird started to run. We did eventually catch the bird and took care of it.

I was proud of Jack because he was able to follow the scent and found the bird. I was proud of him because he started to respond to me when called. Jack also stayed pretty close to me most of the day. We were out there for about 3 hours and I only lost sight of him 3 times.  Jack and I started to get into a really good rhythm for the rest of the day.

We worked well as a hunting team. We still have a lot of work but for the first time out I think he did a great job!

Here is Jack at the end of the day with the one bird he found! (note: we only got two birds today).

Jack's First Day Training

I took Jack out training yesterday and boy do I have a lot of work ahead of me. After yesterday, I've decided I'm not taking him out this year. He still has a lot of things to learn and some growing up to do.

There were a few good things that came out of yesterday.

1) One of the most important things: Jack IS NOT gun shy. I didn't think he would be since during July when every the fireworks went off he would run outside and look up in the sky.

2) The other most important thing: Jack has a very good nose. He was able to get the sent of all three birds Mitch planted

3) When he's in the field he's focused on birds and not other dogs. I was worried that taking Jack to the dog park might have gotten him used to playing with dogs and when I get him out in the field he would want to play and not hunt. Worry no more, Jack knows what to do in the field.

4) Jack also response very very very well to the e-collar. I have to say his previous owner trained him well on the e-collar. The think I have to learn is not to be scare that I will hurt my dog. We got into a situation where Jack discovered Mitchs horse (who HATES dog and will try to step on them). Jack started barking and was trying to run into the pasture. I had the setting on low because Jack was responding to them before but in this situation Jack was not responding at all. He was way to focused on the horse. Mitch had to grab the controls when Jack ran through the fence and headed to the horse. Of which the horse started to hoof at Jack. Mitch cranked up the controls and Jack came running back.

Lesson learned, when Jack is not responding, especially in a situation where he could get seriously hurt, I need to get his attention and if that means on second of shock it's better than the alternative.

Over all Jack did well.

Things we need to work on:
1) Holding point: I figured I would need to work on this since in the back yard he chases birds.

2) When a bird is in our hands DO NOT snap at it. Not sure how to brake this habit but I will figure it out.

3) Keep him trimmed of long hair! I spent an hour in the bathroom with Jack bathing him (he was full of mud) and clipping burs out of his fur. I know after a long day of hunting I am not going to want to spend an extra hour or longer pulling these things out of his fur. So to the groomer before we hunt and I need to purchase this stuff call Show Sheen or something. Apparently guys use it on their dogs to help make the fur silky so the burs will almost brush out of the fur. Anything to make this process less painful.

He did exactly what I thought he would do and I kinda knew going in what I will have to work on. So no actual hunting for Jack until he gets better at responding to my command and he holds point better. Maybe next year. So for now, this year I will just work on training him.

JACK....Not the Couch!!!!

Can you tell I get really bored when mom's not here. OK really this is moms fault. She thought she could trust me for an hour while she went shopping for some chew toys for me. When she came home she was not happy...I could tell. 

She now has a pet name for the couch...she calls it the Frankenstein couch.  

This picture shows you what she came home to...sort of. She started to clean up and took the cover off the cushion before she grabbed her camera. But you get the idea. She came home to a living room full of snow...I thought she would like it because she's been saying she can't wait for the snow.

 

 I did feel bad when I realized she was mad at me. Here's a close up to the hole I chewed in her couch.

This was her fix. I think she did a great job and she just flipped the cushion around so you can see the hole. No big deal....mom fixed it like she fixes everything.

 Couch is back to normal!!!!!


 This is mom:
I know Jack is still a puppy at heart but the chewing thing has to stop at some point. Jack has gotten to the couch two more times. He chewed on a second cushion which could not be flipped to hide the damage. You really can't tell from the picture but Jack ripped the cushion from one end to the other.

Next he got a hold of the seat cushion. There was no fixing this one...I just flipped it over and made sure he couldn't break back into the living room. 

This is why I so lovingly called this the Frankenstein Couch. Jack destroys it...I put it back together. I was planning on getting a new couch but have put that purchase on hold. I think I will make sure Jack is out of his chewing stage before I spend money on a new couch. 

So the Frankenstein Couch has to stay a little longer.