Off The Leash

Here Comes My Girl

I am proud to announce that Honey did a most excellent show at the BASHA lure coursing event last Saturday in Long Island.  Not only did she complete both runs in good time, but she didn't want to stop (surprise surprise).  She caught on whenever the sound of the motor turned on that the course would start up again and she really wanted to run. so much in fact that she would start to run when other dogs took off after the bags.
(Lure coursing=A track within an open field, consisting of lines staked in a square or more intricate pattern, whereby a few white plastic bags are run along the lines via a motor that is controlled by an operator)  The lure coursing takes the place of field coursing in which a live rabbit plays the role of white plastic bag.  Clearly, the bags are a better choice as they are not afraid of the dogs and at the end of the race the dogs can bite the bags without drawing blood.

     
It was so cool to watch Honey bark her brains out at a plastic bag and to witness Scott snatching her up at the finish line.  The group cheered, for both Honey and Scott as they were happy with her performance and just as happy that he got her off the field promptly!  More Lure Coursing Photos here.

Early Spring in Central Park

The recent warm spell has given me the motivation for several long walks in the park (and exploring new parts of the city too).  Mmm, flowers.                                                                                                                                                             

 

Honey's new mission

All day, all night (even when people are trying to sleep).  Honey's new mission: let no mouse enter the house.  To all street rats: You shall not pass.  Who needs a cat when you have Honey?

Rainy Day Dog

Honey at her finest on Saturday: sopping wet from a rainy day!  She gets really energetic after being soaked and she runs around like crazy.  I picked up a new squeaking toy (latex, and never vinyl) for her today too, so that increases the crazy behavior twofold.
Today wasn't as fun for Honey.  She had her third seizure in just over a month.  She has been instructed to cut it out by me.  I've been instructed to give her another 1/2 pill every morning and evening.  Her levels are very low on the therapeutic range of phenobarbital (She is at 17 and the range is between 15-45).  So up the dose we go.

A Pickle of A Day

On Sunday, Honey and I ventured on a journey across the Williamsburg Bridge to the International Pickle Festival on the Lower East Side.  We had a fun time walking 3 miles to taste pickled cucumbers, beets, scallions, green beans, and cabbage.  The only kind Honey liked (the only kind at which she wouldn't turn her nose) was the new pickles.  They are more like cucumbers than the sours and half-sours.  I didn't dare let her try the spicy sours, since they even made me pucker.
Here is Honey.  She loves the Williamsburg Bridge.  Well, she really loves all the attention she received from the construction workers on the bridge.  They loves the Brittanys!  Can you tell that Honey was tired after we had to walk the whole way home since no cabs would pick us up ?  I know that I didn't expect to walk the full 6 miles that day!
Here is an image of the new sign on the Williamsburg Bridge, put up by the oh-so-enthusiastic borough president, Marty Markowitz. The rest of my Pickle Day Pictures can be found here.

A hard earned weekend

Naturally, I could go on and on about my first week of my new job.  However, it is a pretty standard situation where I am just a bit tired from uploading all of the information, rules, relationships, and nuances that come with a job.  Unlike my previous paid engagement, I am really enjoying learning all about our clients and the important, yet small, details of a smooth-running ship of a veterinarian's office.
This weekend is hard earned for both myself and Honey.  She has been cooped up in our bedroom while I am at work, so she is there from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm.  I don't think she minds too terribly, because she can see the birds out of her window and she receives a meal and a walk in the morning and in the evening.  (We are Scott-less this week.  He is in Ann Arbor for work.)
In honor of her excellent handling of this new routine, I took Honey to the park with the laser pointer.  I've been reluctant to play with her and this toy in the house because she barks at it (a lot).  In the park on a Friday evening, however, I don't give a damn who hears her bark.  That is why there is a dog run and so she can bark all she wants there. 
We played for quite a while and passersby were highly entertained.  I'm glad Honey is a one-dog comedy show.  Maybe more like a one-hit wonder since that laser is the ONLY THING IN THE WORLD!! for her.
Honey is resting well by me now and tomorrow we may go to Central Park for the My Dog Loves Central Park Country Fair if only I can find a good mode of transportation.  I was really excited for a moment when I discovered that I could walk her over the bridge to Queens and take the NY Water Taxi to Manhattan, however, they do not accept non-service dogs.  The subway seems like a poor choice because I don't have a carrier for this dog and I refuse to buy a doggy stroller (since I don't exactly want a kid stroller either!).  Maybe we'll walk as far as we possibly can and then take a cab.  I just don't want to pay $60.00 to attend a doggie event...I'll let you know how it goes.
UPDATE: I never made it over to the fair.  I determined that it would be possible to walk to the fair (a trek of 3.5 miles) but there's no way I'd walk back too.  A $40-60 cab ride just isn't practical either, so no fair for us this year!

Dog Show Contestants

The BARC (Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition) shelter weighed anchor in McCarren Park (about 8 blocks from our apartment) for their pirate-themed Dog Parade and Show fundraiser on Sunday.  So Scott and I watched the parade floats, bands, and all, stroll into the park and I returned with Honey a little later.  She can't handle too much doggie action and it was blazing hot in the sun, so we stopped in for the Costume Contest and that was about enough.  We didn't place-maybe they saw us before at the Howl-oween Parade in Ann Arbor, but we had fun in the ring anyway and Honey picked up a goodie bag with a couple of squeaky toys (destroyed in seconds) and an issue of Bark Magazine for me.  With the move, I didn't receive this issue of Bark, so I'm happy!

Thanks to everyone who clapped for us and to a mysterious pirate who took our ringside photos.

The Art Fair

Sara, Honey, and I stopped at the Ann Arbor Art Fair yesterday.  I picked up some lemon-lime earrings and we ran into Sara's friend Andy Z. from Virginia (previously from A2).

The art was, as always, diverse and mostly expensive.  My highlight was meeting Jill & Steve Flinn of Flinn Designs.  They work in mixed media and also rescue dogs. 
They are from Glasgow, Missouri and I plan on sending their contact info. to Erica & Chris since they are expecting Labrador pups. The Flinns graciously gave Honey some ice water while we talked (dog) shop, but I think they were sad to see her out in the heat.  Although it is rough on a dog to be walking out on hot days, I know she'd have given me hell if I didn't get her out of the house. 
To see more on Jill & Steve Flinn: Art Off the Leash from January '05.

Our next free water stop was at the Arbor Vitae Loft/Panoramic Graphics Estate Sale. Canaan, Sean, and Scott worked hard to get the sale of Rich Ahern's work and collectibles all set.  I hope they get many happy returns when people stop in and buy stuff (a.k.a. take stuff out of the loft for them).  Rich was quite the collector (National Geographics from 1930s to 1980s, tons of other magazines, antiques, books, maps, posters, hats, etc.)  There are many copies left of his prints too, so I hope people stop at the sale to get them.  Scott took the week off from work just to help at the sale.

I spent a lot of time trying to get people to traverse the stairs to the 3rd floor (Arbor Vitae loft) and it helped tremendously when the sky opened up and rain poured onto everyone.  People gathered under tents and awnings to wait out the storm so I told them there was dry space available at the sale.  I love a warm, summer rain, so I enjoyed standing in the rain convincing people to venture into the unknown.  A student from CA in town for a fellowship came up and took some pictures of Honey and just emailed them today.  She got a free beer at the loft so she returned the favor with pictures.  Thanks Angela! 

Honey had the pleasure of meeting her human counterpart on the Diag: a lovely little girl (probably 2-3 years old) named Miel.  Honey was almost named Miel (Spanish for Honey) so I thought their meeting was destiny.  As Miel was petting Honey, both of them turned toward the band playing on a stage and Honey just relaxed while Miel started dancing and petting her.  It was the side-by-side kid & dog scene I've ever seen.  I gave Honey a treat for her excellent behavior with Ms. Miel.

The rest of the night went well as Sean played his accordion to get people into the Arbor Vitae stairwell and Jeremiah hooked us up with some dinner.  Thanks Miah!  I also met two girls that were very interested in helping with the dog park cause.  Honey, being the conversation piece that she is, got us talking about dogs/dog parks/the need for a dog park/the Canine Social Club.  I hope they are serious about helping out because I'm off to NYC and they need people to take care of business on the dp front.

A Day in the Prairie

Honey and I visited the park that is nearest to our house yesterday.  Greenview is partly a City of Ann Arbor park, but it is connected to As you can tell by the sign, we had to keep the leash on (or pony up $500.00 big ones if found guilty of off-leash play).

We enjoyed both the prairie and the pond area.  The community garden is looking really nice too.  You can tell that the people who hold plots at Greenview really care about what they are doing.  It is hard labor, but I have seen many happy faces there.  For more pictures, visit my photo folder.

Honey has day of up's and down's

Today Honey visited Scott's office.  We've stopped in enough times that the elevator is no longer a scary moving room.  There was a new situation today, however. Lisa's awesome lab mix, being an office mascot, stopped in to say hello and Honey backed herself into a corner and started barking like a mad dog.  I feel bad because I could tell that the situation was about to get bad as Honey moved into the corner, but I didn't act fast enough to get Stella out of the room. 
As the doggy-style yelling ensued, I had to apologize for Honey's poor conversation skills.  I don't think we'll be visiting the office again.
On an up note, Honey finally made visible progress on the Hand command.  She currently gives her left paw when asked "Paw?".  I am trying to get her to hand me the right hand only on the "Hand" command.  Eventually, as this becomes a solid trick, we'll do some patticake and some high-fives.  We might as well become constructive with the tricks if we can check the aggression, right?

On the Fourth of July, we did what everyone should do on a holiday: take a hike in the woods!  Scott, Amy, Josh, Honey, and I took a stroll in the woods near Arrowwood Co-op and had a nice time.  Honey imitated a train engine with her tongue sweating.  The bipeds had a good workout too.  We then ate food that did not require cooking (Grapes, gold kiwi, provolone, sandwiches, hummus) and had some wine and excellent Honker's Ale and Raison D'Etre.  Nice, relaxing holiday.  I was glad to have the day off from work since everyone else was able to share the day.