A Goat?!

When I first got Beckett he had some issues, with dogs, not every dog, just you know all the ones that were not greyhounds. One look at these ferocious four legged creatures, the scariest of which were 20lbs or less, and he would be turning around with a speed that would make any racing greyhound trainer proud.

After a truckload of patience, work, help, and time; when given the "go ahead" Beckett now will approach another dog from the side giving a small air sniff in the general vicinity of the back end. Sort of like a doggie air kiss, then he looks to me, gets his treat, and we move right along. I'm pretty proud of my pooch and once he warms up to a dog,  things change, he makes friends. What more can a girl ask? However, when Beckett greets a greyhound everything is different he is excited, happy, and enthusiastic. Where is this going? (I have no idea) And what does it have to do with a goat? (I'm getting there.)

When Beckett met his first goat, with its funny goat shape and oddly slitted eyes, I was unsure of Beckett's reaction. The thing was, he didn't have one, he acted so normally it took me by surprise. With no signs of doubt or misgivings he gave the goat the same doggie air kiss he does every other dog we ever pass on our walk and then turned to looked at me for his forthcoming treat. Didn't he realize? It was a GOAT! Shocked and dismayed, but prompted by routine, I reach in my pocket give him his treat and we walked right along.

Racing greyhounds are generally socialized with other greyhounds, and only greyhounds. And though many post-track racers quickly come to understand that all dogs are - well dogs, some like Beckett don't.

Are all dogs goats to Beckett?

It suddenly brought new understanding to his original apprehension, to me they were simply dogs and correspondingly I had a hard time understanding his challenges. But maybe to Beckett, those other dogs might as well have been goats.

Cookie Monster Says

As the wise and infamous cookie monster says, "A Cookie is a Sometime Food."

I put aside a portion of Beckett's food daily to be used on training. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way and he gets the food added to his dinner, but using his food for training not only keeps him healthy, but gives us humans a not so subtle reminder to reward the good behaviors daily.

Dog Treats: Blueberry Camomile Dog Cookies

These cookies were especially created to go to a place where sensitive stomach doesn't begin cover the reality, this poor pup has LOTS of dietary restrictions. These cookies are a bit more work so I'd save them for a special occasion, still they look beautiful and lend themselves to new and exciting shapes using cookies cutters or I would use cookie cutters if I owned any - which I don't.

1 cup frozen wild blueberries
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 TBLS chamomile
2 TBLS honey
3 TBLS flax seed
1 cup potato flour* (add last after blending other ingredients accept no substitutions)

Blend together the wet ingredients no need to thaw the blueberries just use them frozen. Every recipe says, "mix wet ingredients then the dry ingredients, then mix the two together" and if your like me - you often disregard that bit of information as unimportant. Here it is important, I promise, once you add the potato flour the dough takes on a strange consistency that is somewhere in between a sponge and a pie crust dough. Its odd texture but amazingly fun to play with. Once you add the potato flour it takes up to 3 min for the sponge like quality to develop.


Take your now solid dough and put it on a cutting board covered with parchment paper. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough and roll it out to your desired thickness. From here you can apply your cookies cutters to make fun shapes, or if your lazy like me use a pizza cutter to cut it into bite sized pieces. Gather up any extra dough and repeat.

Bake your cookies at the lowest temperature possible, my oven went down to 170 F and that is where I baked them for several hours until crispy. If your impatient you may feel the need to turn up the heat - Don't - these cookies burn very easily. They are a lot of work but worth the effort.

The Pet Expo

Beckett and I volunteered this weekend at a Pet Expo. Of course, as per usual I'm running late (I left with plenty of time to spare, I swear). So after finally finding a parking spot in a garage 5 or 6 large blocks away, I get the dog out of the car only to face the smelly damp cement stairs. The treats I have in my pocket don't hold much over the nervousness he is showing, but if I put them right by his mouth he takes them. So with some verbal encouragement, more treats, and surprisingly little effort we make it down the four flights in the spooky stair well. Awesome considering greyhounds and stairs aren't always on the best of terms...

I'm alone holding all the stuff that ones needs to for these sorts of things including a greyhound sized dog bed (just what you want to be carrying 5 or 6 blocks). And of course, this is me, so inevitably I get lost. I can't find my way out of a paper bag never mind to the guard shack on E 16th street, so not only do I have the dog stuff, but a cell phone with my husband trying to give me directions to my ear and a dog to handle while all while I'm trying to figure out where I am and how get to where I need to be.

Some embarrassingly long amount of time later I find my way to the guard shack, the guard points me to the entrance - a huge dark foreboding tunnel with vents powerfully blowing warm stale air lining both the floor and ceiling. Beckett wasn't going anywhere.

The treats I had in pocket which barely got us down the garage stairs were doing nothing, I was stressed, anxious and irritated. So I took a deep breath, fished around for a higher value treat and used a verbal "yes." Nothing, he wouldn't even look at the treat. I juggled my load and fished around my pocket for the really really good treats. I tried again, nothing - he was frozen - gone.

Great, now, I'm even more irate. I hate when I get that way, its just not the me I want to be. I had choices, I could try to tug him, push him, turn around. I chose to put my bag down by (but not touching) one of the many fragrant urine soaked orange traffic cones and emptied my bag, locating the clicker which had made its way to the absolute bottom. I took another breath, I said Beckett's name, no response.

Then.. I clicked.

At the sound of the click Beckett turned his head and took the treat. His ears popped up and he looked at me. I clicked again, soon I was clicking and treating for every movement, then every step forward, and suddenly my dog was back. Beckett had his mouth open, ears relaxed and was happily heeling at my side through a tunnel that would make Freddy Krueger pause.

Once again, I rediscovered the wheel or in this case the clicker. Positive reinforcement alone just doesn't work as well for me or my dog. The clicker worked where positive reinforcement alone failed and it continued to work - in a convention hall filled with cats, rabbits, lizards, parrots, food, and more dogs then I've ever seen. The entire time Beckett walked by my side in relaxed attentive manner that would have made a service dog proud - well at least it made me proud.

Beckett & Keys Part: One

I know it has been awhile, but in the name of domestic peace I have had to cut back on my dog pursuits, actually all my pursuits that aren't looking for a job - since I am still not gainfully employed-

All that aside: here is my latest experiment. Getting Beckett to locate my keys. If your one of those people with it all together, all the time, well - I envy you. Although, in the lab I have OCD tendencies instead of taking those home with me, I leave them where they need to be - at work (or I would if I had a job).

At home I'm more of the leaving the door open, where did I just put that thingy mabob sort of gal. If your similarly inclined, you might be familiar with the key dance. The I-just-had-them-where-are-they-checking-all-your-pockets-bags-tables-and-your-key-hook-where-they-should-be-but-aren't dance to find your keys.

So again, instead of changing my behavior (which isn't nearly as much fun) I'm playing with teaching Beckett to locate my keys. I really don't need him to retrieve them because not only does he lack a solid retrieve, but I don't want him slobbering into or more likely through my pockets to get at my keys. So if he could just point with his nose, that would be great.

The Untested Experimental Plan: Part One
1A. Click and treat when he touches my keys with his nose
1B. Click and treat for touching his nose to my keys in several different locals ie., hanging out of pocket, on table, on a chair, also using different rooms
1C. Start adding decoy keys, repeat 1A and 1B only clicking and treating only when he touches my keys
1D. Add a tissue over keys and repeat 1A through 1C.