Kaibab Bernese Mountain Dogs

Capella is pretty convinced the cart will blow up at any moment. Look at her ears — I suspect she is listening for the ticking of a CED (Cart Explosive Device).

I thought Harper B for Blasted Cart was a tough cookie — I suspect Capella is going to provide even more opportunity for me to stretch in my draft dog training skills 🧐

Grandma Tricia suggested having Capella pull pool noodles — brilliant! They are relatively quiet and light, and after a few days of doing it inside the house it was time to take the show on the road.

Check out her new blue harness! I love the color and am having ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ added to it because yes — someday that beautiful harness will be attached to a cart.

#believe

The pool noodle pulling was a big success — if one defines “success” as “dog tolerated without completely freaking out.”

The other way I know something is successful with Capella is if she will still eat treats. If she stops eating treats, I have pushed her too far and need to dial back. Super important to know your dog.

And every dog is different — if Claire refused a treat, I would rush her to the vet. This is Claire beating the heat.

Something else to think about is how we create associations for the dogs. Capella LOVES agility and so I hitched up the pool noodles and had her pull them to the arena — and then she did agility. So “meh” was followed by “YAY” — that helps add value to “meh.”

BUT I did not end agility and go right back to pool noodles because I certainly do not want to pair “YAY!” with “meh.”

“Great job, Capella!!! And as your reward for your excellent and happy and fun agility work — you get to pull pool noodles, which may also contain explosive devices.”

That would be a Bad Plan.

And so after agility we walked down the driveway for a bit to provide a fun break between “YAY!” (agility) with “meh” (pool noodle pulling) — and then finished off by unhitching from the pool noodles and practicing weave polls, which are another YAY!

Hmmmm… I need to pair draft with swimming because I think that is Capella’s favorite YAY! This is Capella and her dog grandma, Sparkle, at the river earlier this week.

A draft test that involves pulling pool noodles in the water — that is what Capella needs!

Happy Sunday ❤️

At eleven years and nine months, Harper B for Blessed is no less worthy of an interesting life than a young dog.

I took Harper to the Bitterroot River for a walk sniff.

The river is just a mile from our house and is now sufficiently low to be safe for an older lady like Harper. Unlike some members of the family, Harper is not a swimmer but she does enjoy getting her paws wet.

And there were so many new smells to be sniffed!