Today we started out earlier than usual for a Saturday, since we had a big morning planned: it was Ducky’s day to become a certified “good canine citizen”. Huh? Yup. We decided to give it a try, and just do the “hundehalter brevet” test to see where we all stood in terms of giving and following doggie commands.

Though last year we did a lot of puppy school followed by one class for young dogs, the last time was about a year ago. No official courses in a while, then, but as I said to a neighbor once: when you have a young dog, every day is dog school.

We’re not into the whole competition thing that’s popular with many dog clubs, but we are pretty serious about raising a well-mannered dog. We decided, though, to take the test without preparing specifically for it – just see how it goes to kind of check if we’re on the right path with her (as opposed to just being blinded by our gushing love for an adorable furry critter with a special talent for oozing cute at us ).

The plan was to get there really early, make sure we could find the place, then go for a nice long walk along the river. OK, we admit it, the pre-test walk was especially intended to tone down her high energy with some romping and rolling. And roll she did…

…in fresh cow manure fertilizer. Blech. Oh well, it’s a big event, why not put on her best perfume?

Then we met Gin, an Irish Setter that she’d played with before in a different park, and they had a great time running like deer through a nearby field. After one of Gin’s people petted Ducky without realizing that she was covered in cow poop (uh oh!), we talked about what you do with dogs who stink from fresh doggy bling. Usually we just encourage her to go swimming in the river…

…but she has a funny thing with her “down” command when she’s wet: it’s like she gets all frilly-frou-frou and just won’t lay down with a wet belly. So I thought I’d leave out the river bathing for today. I was just saying that to Gin’s people, when you-know-who comes charging up from the river where she’d disappeared with Gin. Soaking wet. That’s my girl! Oh well, the test doesn’t count that many points for a perfect “down”, better that she stinks a little less. And she looks so adorable when she’s all wet, maybe the judge would be moved by that.

Finally it got to be time to head up to the testing area and put little Ducky through her paces. There were 7 sections: walking on leash, sit and down commands, encountering passersby, meeting and greeting someone, walking by a person with a dog, several recall situations (the biggie!), and being touched.

And tada! She’s a star: She finished with 14.5 points out of 16! Three times we lost a half point for minor mishaps. First was the down (frilly-frou-frou, or as the judge said, she “needed a lot of motivation”). When doing the one where we met the person who approached and asked a question, first she sat nicely, then got up and sniffed him, then sat again. And lastly, when we passed the dog I didn’t keep her moving along and she moved behind me to get an extra sniff in. She’s a social butterfly, what can I say?

She absolutely shone when I had to call her back in 3 different off-leash situations: once just walking free, once away from a passerby and once she came after heading for a dog who was running around behind a fence – wow!

Woohoo! Are we proud? You bet! Granted, we both were nervous after all (yes, me too) and OK, we do admit to doing a few extra recall and sit/down exercises the last couple weeks. But we found out that Ducky is indeed a very good canine citizen, and having a goal does motivate us to keep up the training, basic and fun as it is.

And the reward, a nice kong dinner for a happy little kongaholic. Mmmm, looks yummy no?

Dog photos? Got lots. And lots. And now maybe more of them will be in focus where they’re supposed to be. That’s thanks to a photo workshop we all went to this past weekend, with the specific theme: photographing dogs. (Don’t tell anyone, it’s almost embarassing. Almost.) Ducky had the luxury of two two-leggeds, so she got to go on nice walks with one while the other sat in the classroom.

We did lots of learning inside and outside, too, in lovely Buochs on the Vierwaldstättersee. On day two we got to try out motion blur shots with panning. Here’s the best attempt at capturing Ducky’s speed and blurring the background. Not a bad start…

Just the other day we came upon a special sound in the woods. Not birds. Not other dogs. Not wind in the trees. Well, not only that.

Apparently the Bremgartenwald is a favorite practice room for someone who plays the bagpipes. Really. Bagpipes. I’ve caught a glimpse of him, but have resisted going right up close, choosing instead to linger within listening distance. I love to hear  him play, it’s  a special way to start out on a walk in the woods. Who would have guessed?

Here’s a little sampling, with my thanks to the anonymous bagpipe player.

Little did we know we’d get a chance to socialize Ducky to the sound of bagpipes. Wonder how she’d react if she saw someone performing in town!?

There are a lot of theories about why dogs love to roll around in the stinkiest possible stuff they can find. I like the one that says that being really smelly is how dogs show off their stuff, that big stink equals big prestige. Hey why not? We don’t really know the reason anyway, why not go with the fun theory?

Here’s a shot of Ducky about a month ago with her shiniest doggy bling ever. She was touting that bling very proudly! What could be more prestigious than very fresh cow manure? Loads of it. All over. Everywhere.

Wondering how we got home? And how many people gave us dirty looks after noticing her perfumy decoration? We took the train. Imagine.

No really, it wasn’t that bad. Fortunately, long before we had to board a train full of hikers going home (so hey, it wasn’t smelling like roses anyway), we crossed a nice creek where we stayed and gave Ducky a quick but effective bath.

She gets to roll in whatever she finds – unless we’re quick enough to distract her away first – but she is definitely not allowed to take her bling back into the house. Poor thing.

Add a new camera to a new dog and what do you get? A gazillion pictures, a few of which are in focus.

The challenge is capturing a very active young dog, often wet and dripping in the swimming season. Here are a few more or less successful attempts…

Yes, Ducky is indeed wet from head to toe. She loves dunking her head in the water, even all the way under the water.

The wet head combined with a wild, happy run look like a dog gone mad here. Or maybe more like a wet cat, actually.

And here’s one just to show how dignified, yes even pensive, Ducky can look. Bet there was a goody getting her attention.

OK, OK, it’s not until tomorrow, but since everything else here has been posted late I figured that it would be alright to start the birthday celebration early.

It’s hard to believe that the little bundle of chubby puppy is turning 1 year old! She has grown into her almost full size, but still has a bit of her puppy-like expression. Some  highlights of the wonderful months that she’s been around…

Here she is just a couple weeks ago, posing while I test out my new camera (consider that a warning – I even signed up for a dog photography course one weekend next fall )…

Just a month ago we were all romping around in huge piles of mountain snow…

And there was the fantastic boat trip in Bourgogne last fall, complete with canine captains…

Don’t you just want to hug her?

She was 6 months old on that trip. Already she’s become more “adult” in several ways. She picks her playmates in the woods more selectively, rather than trying to get every single dog to play with her.  And she does fine being left alone for a few hours (on that boat trip she made a lot of noise just when the two of us got off the boat to hold the ropes while we were in a lock).

She still loooves to play, and then she poops out at home again…

We call this her “sleep like an Egyptian” position (Remember the song “Walk like an Egyptian”?) She makes the most amusing grunting sounds while she sleeps, sometimes quite melodious. We think they sound like satisfaction and contentment, though the timing sometimes makes it sound like she’s questioning whatever we were saying just then.

Of course she’s not yet an adult and does have those adolescent moments when she turns on her selective deafness – it’s a teenager thing and doesn’t last long. She’s a wonderfully good dog, who is friendly and polite with two- and four-leggeds alike. Our day-to-day lives changed when Ducky came, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Happy birthday Ducky!

The end of year holidays are winding down. Now is  usually the time to gather with friends and family, but Ducky already had a family reunion in the middle of the summer. Only now did we get around to posting photos from Ducky’s meeting with Ducky’s mom Djamba and Djamba’s mom and Caro and Caro’s friends. Needless to say, it was very exciting for the 4-leggeds and the 2-leggeds alike!

After a short walk in the woods nearby – a long walk then for little 4 month old Ducky, wow time has flown! – we came home for a visit and a snack. We love looking at the pics from “way back then”, and hope we’ll have a chance for another “family reunion” again soon. Actually, Ducky met her brother Branco at puppy school in September, a really exciting time for them both. They ran like crazy together during play time (the best part of puppy school according to Ducky . Unfortunately we have no pics from that get together, too much going on at puppy school to take photos.

Here are a few souvenirs from the summer reunion with Djamba and co. Picking these out made us realize how many photos there are to share. More to come!

Djamba, Caro and Ducky

Ducky and Djamba resting in the shade

Walking home alongside Djamba after a romp in the woods

Mmmmmm, Ducky’s favorite kind of gift, yum!

Ducky’s rabbit feet fly as she encourages Djamba to play

That smile must run in the family. It’s contageous, that’s for sure!

Wow, you go out to walk the dog and all of a sudden a few months fly by! We’ve got lots of pics and more videos to share. For now, this is Ducky’s latest achievement: giving paw, and getting shot down with a bang! 

Other “news” that we’ll be catching up on soon: a summer reunion with Ducky’s mom and friends, Ducky picks up doggie bling, hide and seek with yummy goodies and other fun canine adventures.

Uh oh, long time no update. Well, that’s how it goes, I guess. We have tons of pics and even a few videos, but the time just flies. And the time spent walking the little ducky dog, is well, a lot of wonderful time.

It’s already well into fall, but there’s a at least one summer scene that needs to be shown. We were lucky enough to be able to be in the mountains over the firecracker holiday weekend, where Ducky can enjoy the lake.

She enjoys doing post-lake acrobatics too, especially the frog dog stretch and slide:

Munch a little grass, do a little somersault:

We’ve all been busy lately, among other things with… puppy play time! It’s actually puppy school, where Ducky gets to learn stuff (and have recess to run wild once in a while) with other fun pups. Here’s a few pictures starring our little fuzzy-headed pup on July 10.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell her apart from her pal Eiela, a purebred Flatcoated Retriever. Ducky distinguished herself on this particular day, though – she was the one who was completely soaking wet…

Taking a break at puppy play time

Ducky's the one on the right, the wet one.

Oozing cuteness, that's what Ducky does best.

Thanks to Hundeschule Mitch for the photos.