A drive to Pt Reyes

Sunday, we took a drive to Tomales Bay with Pops and the two rascals. The road was very windy getting to Stinson Beach on Hwy 1 -- Max and I were getting a little woozy. Pops does not get sea or car sick and Troy was driving so he wouldn't suffer from this. I think Sadie didn't feel very well either - she just lay down in the wayback. We all survived -- I applied a little accupressure to Max's paw and my inner wrist to fight off the nausea. He was very calm and didn't seem to mind having his paw held tight.

Both dogs were a bit taken aback at the sight of cattle. Sadie barked furiously at one particularly large bull but on the way home, she didn't seem to mind seeing them.

Oh, and on Friday, Max went to see Doc Griffin. He got a clean bill of health: wt 40 lbs, temp 102F, no bad lung sounds or heart murmur. His microchip hadn't come in yet, so we'll have to go back soon. In the meantime, we need to figure out how to pin his ears.

We also met a couple with two Airedales in the Land's End parking lot on Saturday. They were in the 50 - 60 lb range. Very nice dogs. Max jumped around and tried to get them to play but they were quite stoic -- tolerating his puppy ways. They told us the dogs came from an obedience trainer and breeder in Santa Cruz.

The dreaded vet visit for Sadie

Sadie took a little drive to South City to visit the vet on Friday -- we call him Doc Griffin. He's great! She weighed in at 74 lbs and got a clean bill of health. Although he didn't perform any X-rays, he didn't think Sadie had hip dysplasia so that was really good news. He also sat his 2 1/2 yr old baby girl next to Sadie to see how she would react and she was an angel. In general, Sadie is a gentle dog even though she can be aloof around strangers. So, Sadie was microchipped and sent home no worse for the wear. We're delighted that she is in good health because it means she'll have more choices for a forever home. She'll be featured pretty soon on Northwest Airedale Rescue so keep your eyes peeled.

Socializing Max

Max is a pretty confident little boy. He doesn't get spooked very easily and he's been exposed to quite a bit here in the City. Yesterday, we saw some kids, probably 6th graders or junior high age, by the ropes course at Ft. Miley. We stopped to say hi but one of the kids was apparently scared of Max and went running away screaming. Amazingly, Max didn't seem to mind. I've met more kids and adults who are afraid of dogs here in the City -- it's probably a reflection of the diversity of the area in contrast to Colorado where most people seemed unafraid of them. We hope Max will turn out to be confident and friendly like Stanley was.

We've been trying to train him not to lunge at joggers and there are a lot of them here. The key is to keep an eye out and make him sit before they come by. This seems to be working -- he seems less inclined to get excited when the few joggers I didn't realize were coming snuck up on us.

A walk with Max and Sadie on the Coastal Trail

Our first walk with Max and Sadie from our house after Max arrived today.  This pup will be quite the handful - always keeping us on our toes, forcing us to figure out the next thing he is ready to investigate. haha

 

 

 

 

Sadie and Max (Max is the 'whirling dervish!')

Today we picked up Max, a highly exuberant 5 month
old male ADT. He is a sweetie, albeit, a handful.
Sadie was not amused when she first met Max
since he was a little out of control -- i.e., barking,
jumping and lunging --habits we will need to break him of.
But, they soon got accustomed to each other
and now they are best buds.

It is truly amazing how patient Sadie is with Max. He still
has sharp milk teeth and he is literally itching to get rid of
them -- by gnawing our arms or various tender parts
of Sadie. When he gets to be overwhelming, she tries
to calm him down by putting her paw down on him.

It has been 7 yrs since we've had a puppy ADT. While we
remembered how cute ours looked, it's easy to forget how
much energy they have. We were concerned that Sadie
wouldn't put up with Max, but that worked out well
after the initial apprehensive intro.

Max's owners were sad to see him go as were Sadie's.
But they did a good job with his training. He's very
good with sitting and he comes when called.
Generally speaking, he seems to listen. He's also
taken a liking to my 90 yr old dad.

We look forward to the next few weeks with the
two of them.

P.S. Sadie also had a great day yesterday with our friend's
mixed breed dog --she is part terrier --
probably Wheaten. They romped around on the lawn in
Ft. Miley. Sadie took some embarrassing stumbles,
landing on her chin, since the green is pocked with
groundhog holes.

Sadie showing off her new haircut over at Sutro Park

I decided to give Sadie another fresh haircut today and she seems to be liking it very much. Then we decided to take a walk over to Sutro Park and show off her new trim.

Sadie also had a great walk with Haipia this morning. Haipia is half the size of Sadie and just loves to romp and play. I wasn't actually on the walk with Lucy and Lois (Haipia's owner) and the dogs but they said it went really well. They returned and those two crazy dogs played for another hour or so at our house.
                                             
                                        
         
                          

Fort Miley

<Click the pic/collage to enlarge>
Our mid-afternoon walk today was over at Fort Miley which
is right in our backyard. It is so nice having places like this less
than a block away. We live in a very special area. Well, that's
my opinion anyway.
I let Sadie off the leash for quite awhile today since we were in
this very exclusive high hideout at the very northwest corner
of San Francisco. And she had so much fun! I have noticed many
good changes in her personality over the last week in a half since
she has been in my care. She is trusting me more each day. I was
surprised to see the 'leap of faith' she took today while we were on
the sandy trails. She launched into this bushy area with a bunch of
sand - though I did hear her squeal a bit, she came romping out
with a big fat smile and the tail wagging away.
Sadie is one tired dog right now! She is lying by my side by me and
my computer. In fact, she hardly ever leaves my side. She has to be
near me all day long. She'll get jealous when the pup shows up this
week. It'll be good for her though.

Sadie is adjusting!

Sadie is definitely calming down and adjusting to life in the City. Like Stanley, our recently deceased ADT, she favors the woody areas of our neighborhood, Ft. Miley and Sutro Hts Park. She's been good with other dogs and a good walker on leash. We don't think she heels (or heeds) off-leash very well so we're careful. She shows no aggression towards people, although, she is very tentative and is still kind of aloof towards strangers. Overall, she is quite a sweet dog.

Sutro Heights Park

Sadie has a very elegant walk

                    Sadie and Troy with Ocean Beach and the
                                                           Great Highway in the backround.

Another day at the exclusive seal rock beach for Sadie

Sadie checking out the water
Playing with the tennis ball
Very curious ... free to roam ... no leash for a bit
3 Park rangers approaching us...uh oh...they didn't seem to mind though.

Sadie had a wonderful time today galloping around at the beach. She also
had her first experience off leash with me. She did ok...but definitely needs
work. Good job Sadie!
She also got to play with a boxer puppy during this walk.

Oh yeah, Sadie met one of our neighbors dogs on our early morning walk --
a little beagle. She was unsure at first but settled down and seemed to take
a liking to this beagle.

Dog Food

Dog food is really important for a healthy pooch.
We found a site that rates all the dog food that's out
there.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
It's really alarming how bad the typical supermarket
brands are -- they barely rate one star. We note that
the quality of the dog food is inversely related to
airtime, as in advertising. Probably any of the kibble rated
4-star or above is suitable chow. A 4-star rated dog food
is not that much more money than the one star - after all,
with the one star we're paying for advertising. The 4-stars
may be harder to find in typical pet stores and almost never in
supermarkets. If you live somewhere more rural, try the feed
stores.

We're doing some research on supplements - as in raw
food, etc.

How we came to rescue Airedales

We lived with two Airedales but lost one in 2007 while
we were still in Colorado to leptospirosis and the other
in Aug of 09 to lymphosarcoma. Since we loved this breed,
we decided to start fostering them.

We got in touch with Northwest Airedale Terrier Rescue
http://www.nwairedalerescue.org/
and learned a lot! We still have more to learn, but in any
case, we got our first case, Sadie.
We'll foster her until she's settled down and ready to
transition to her "Forever Home".

Union Reservoir, Longmont CO (2004)

Stanley was the younger of our two Airedales. He
was taught how to swim when he was a year old and
he LOVED the water. Kavu was four years older
than Stanley. She never liked swimming so she
would get in up to her chest but no further.

Seal Rocks State Beach

Here's Sadie, our first foster Airedale.
We can't let her roam off-leash until we're confident
she'll come when called.

She's a tall one! Graceful, too.