MARYLAND TACOMAS

Morning MD

 

Geez that's a beauty!

Did you do that at Jamboree?

 

The wife veto'd that idea. She made me buy a gas operated post hole digger too. At least until our life insurance premiums are all paid for........well, mine, that is..........

 

Ok, been busy with the dog lately again and hangin' out over in The Lair with those Jamokes.

I was doing some intense research on dog training collars. I watched some videos, read some blogs, yada yada yada.

For most of you, here's the short story.........this will arrive next week.
https://www.dogtra.com/products/beeper-locator/tb-dual-1-dog
along with this
https://www.dogtra.com/products/accessories/trainingbook

Now for those of you with nothing better to do than sit on the porcelain throne reading my babble until your feet are numb............

Last week we went to happy hour at our neighbors and took Phoenix to play with their dogs. No fences or leashes. It was great. I got confident and decided to start walking her around the house off lease. Then I kept increasing the distance, day by day. Finally we were walking off leash in the woods. I was blown away. She is a completely different dog off leash. So much more confident and happy. One morning we went in and it was going great and she must have either winded or spotted something because she took off. In 30 seconds she was out of sight, and her direction was in an area I know deer frequent. I also know that from the spot she disappeared in the deer travel towards and across the freaking road! I was sick. I had been making sure she was wearing both her collars with the bells on them for one, to alert game, but also for an instance like this. I knew I had to get to higher ground if I was going to be able to hear them though. It's a pretty good climb under non-stressful circumstances but now I was loosing it. So I would climb, then freeze and listen, then climb again. I can whistle louder than anyone I know and scream pretty loud too. I knew that was being effective because I could hear dogs much farther away barking as a result. So climb, listen, whistle, scream!!!! Until I got to the top and I knew she might have tried to make her way to the goat pen on that farm. I listened and in the distance, I could faintly hear her bells. Then they would stop. Then bells. Then I saw the tall grass moving. She was coming towards me. My fear immediately turned to anger, then gratitude (to the big guy above) and naturally her tail was wagging so I couldn't be mad at her, but I did scold her good. I knew though that by the time we'd be home she would have forgotten and the chance to correct her would be lost. The whole episode lasted about 40 minutes.

I decided to give her another chance but this time, only on the common drive, not in the woods and certainly not in any direction of the road. We get to the top of the common drive and she is listening great. She was right in front of me, and I said "come" and she turned and started walking towards me. I turned to check and she vanished. In an instant she caught wind of the neighbors dog and bolted towards their house. It's a rolling hill part of the area so I could hear her but not see her. I thought she went up the hill towards the other neighbors because the sluts boyfriend is up that way. When in fact she ran the opposite way. 10 minutes later she was back on leash. I walked her home rather abruptly and when we got in the house I gave her the serious cold treatment. She's a very intelligent dog and the Black Mouth Cur is a super sensitve feelings breed. 10 minutes later I felt like shit and apologized.

Since then our walks have been back on leash. I hate it, and she really hates it! Especially in this heat. One of the really sucky parts of a leash is the part when she has to poop, and need to get like 12' off the road or trails into leaves to go. Normally it's no bother but there are times she goes in one way and comes back out another with a tree or two now wrapping her up. I know, I tried, and tried, but dogs simply do not understand "go back the way you came". Then here we have to go, in the briars, which she is impervious to, or worse, some sort of poisonous plant, all the while making sure we're not stepping on a copperhead or water moccasin, or snapping turtle, just to reach her to be able to get the leash off her collar, then hope as it retracts back to us it does so without getting hung up.

[enter @lynyrd3 Bill to tell me that's why he just uses a 50' rope]. So far we've been lucky and no mishaps have occurred. However, these are the least of our worries. We want her off leash, but not just for walks here, we want her also to be trained to understand all the things we want. She does really well with most things, unless she sees a critter, or one of the neighbors dogs. There's no way way in hell I will discipline her by beating her. I'm sure her last home is why she has certain fears now. The other day a fly was in the house. They obviously beat her with a fly swatter. Water too. If we get the hose out, or turn a faucet on high in the house she runs. Lately she is confusing my work hours with her play time. The easy fix is to shut the door to my office. It works but you all have to remember, I've, we've loved and wanted a a dog since forever and like any new human parent or any new dog owner, it's nearly impossible not to cave in and spoil the shit of them. Especially since technically she is a puppy and all she cares about is sleeping eating and playing.

So as I said, I've been doing some intense Rob style research and I'm going to give a training collar a try. I know, some of you might say "Oh no!, not a shock collar!!" and will wonder what the difference is between that and beating a dog. I said the same thing, honestly. Until I learned that not all training collars are shock collars. I also learned that with the proper education, a human can learn how to train a good dog to be a great dog. I ordered one today, along with the companies book on how to properly use the device. I originally looked at GPS versions of these devices and Garmin was at the top of my list for a while. However I learned about the company I bought from, Dogtra, and how their products were more widely used by trainers, than how Garmin was mainly used by sportsmen. Of course Dogtra has those types too, and the one I bought is actually used for Upland Bird Hunters. It has a 1.5 mile range and the transmitter has physical buttons but the best feature is the Beeper. I can activate it to use that to locate the dog better than any amount of beels I can put on her collars. But it also has a vibration feature built into the collar and that combined with adequate training should provide the results I am going for. Like I said, she listens really well, unless she is fixated on game, then she requires some sort of physical stimulation. Typically I can touch her and that signals her I am there. She forgets a microsecond later if the animal is still nearby but it helps. These Dogtra devices also have the ability to stimulate the dog with electricity. Yes, "shock" them. But this brand has 127 levels of of increasing stimulation. Phoenix is a stubborn dog when she sees a deer though. Squirrels and rabbits not so much. We already had a baby goat incident that almost went really bad. Naturally I will try it on myself and determine what is the max I am comfortable with. I pray I never need to use that function, and the vibration in combination with the beeper is all I need. If we could afford to fence in our entire property or didn't live so close to a 50mph road this would all be a mute point. But there are other aspects of her life I want her to enjoy too. Like being able to approach people, especially kids, or other dogs, and her not want to jump up on them right away because she is so excited. She's a friendly dog, too friendly honestly and not all humans are dog lovers. Some humans hate dogs. We don't like those types of humans but they are out there. I don't want her chasing animals, but I also don't want her running up to unfriendly dogs, or snapping turtles or snakes. Emergency vet bills be cray cray!

So my immediate plan is to learn how to properly train our good dog to be a great dog, and in the process, make her and our life better, and keep her safe. I'll be sure to keep my updates shorter than this for those of you with shorter attention spans. For the rest of you I will most likely create a thread dedicated to dog training since that whole Tacoma build thread thing has been done to death. I mean yes, there will be Tacoma related content, but it will most likely be in the form of things like this:

 

And now for some fun stuff! Let's see who can guess who this Lovely couple is?
The winner (can only be whoever this aint!) gets the detective of the year award!

Randall @EatSleepTacos you might want to get in on this too!

 

Good evening fellers! I hope that everyone is staying hydrated and is staying healthy during the heat wave.

 

I'm giving some serious thought to painting the visible sides of my pallets, just to make them "blend in" a bit better. I only have neighbors on one side, I live on a corner lot and the neighbors behind me have a strand of trees plus 10 acres between my fence and their house, so literally almost no one can see the wood racks, or be bothered by them, but it stills bugs me a bit that I have a ghetto pallet city in my back yard.

I have a lovely shade of "poo brown" that might help them blend in.. I'm still on the prowl for some used tin roofing material so that I can have a decent roof and lose the plastic covers.

 

Well, like I said, up in the woods I could probably get away with it but I rethought things and I got my tape measure out. I really think now I could get away with a 4' high wire fence, and I can get it for $1 a foot! I think that's a deal.

 

I hear ya Dawg, and you are warm! 107 heat index again today! That ain't no fucking dry heat either up here in Street!

However I'm toasty!

I have a heatwave abatement process in place though!

It involves plenty of ice, real fruit (peaches) and liquid fortified with more fruits. Oh and coconut because well coconut is a super food. Right!?

 

We get a new pup Sunday, it’s my first dog and I look forward to training her and I’ve trained myself a ton already as well. Delmar training method for hunting is over the top but has some great basics. I hope to hunt birds and so I did the deep dive into collars as well. Ultimately, after using the same collar my uncle uses for rabbit hunting with his beagles, I ended up with a Garmin collar; that hit the wallet hard but has all the features, chimes, vibration, shock and GPS tracking. I’m in your boat and don’t intend to use the shock feature but it’s built in. Lots of planned on leash and check cord training before we try off collar. It should be a great learning experience for both. Keep the update posts coming!

 

My dog just looks at me and laughs… she knows when I call her and will look at me, then do what she wants. Shiba are not know for being off leash dogs… while at one time hunting dogs, that has been a long gone trait of them.

 

Rob….you know that aint me right?

That aint us chief

 

As I was reading this I said he needs the long rope

 

Morning Maryland

 

Heat wave is over
Last night and more on the way .

 

Morning Md

 

I'll just respond with, can't wait to talk to ya in person Rob.

 

Morning fellas! Who's ready for a holiday weekend?

 

Mornin' Chris. First and foremost....CONGRATULATIONS!!! Make sure you post up photos of the new family member!

I looked very hard at Garmin. Sportdog too. I personally think Garmin and Dogtra are at the top of the pile though. The Dogtra has two tracking kits. One comes with a handheld device, which is actually a CAT (yes, Caterpillar, the construction equipment company) smart phone, or they have a SE kit that allows you to use your own phone. Besides that they are essentially stacked with the same features and operate similarity. I think it was wise of you to get the same brand your uncle uses. If for nothing else, then the fact that he has the field experience he can immediately share with and there won't be any learning curve with a kit he is unfamiliar with.

The main difference for me seemed to be the fact that the Dogtra devices have more precise adjustability for stimulation, or a wider range so to speak. They claim to have 127 levels whereas others have less. Will everyone need that many levels, or a better question is, will the dog be able to tell the difference between say 56 and 57? I doubt that very much. But I will definitely experiment on myself before putting anything on my pooch. That was a major difference though and the reviews I was reading stated that other units were either too gentle then jumped right to too harsh. Those units did more harm than good, being that if the dog is overstimulated it can cause a negative reaction, and loose focus on the task at hand.

Phoenix really is a great dog considering her background. If we are walking on the trails I created in the woods and we get to a crossroad and she starts to go one way, I can stop her, and make her come back to go the other way by simply saying "no, this way". If she gets too far ahead of me, I can tell her "wait" and she will stop and sit. These gentle verbal commands are only effective when there is no critters involved though.

This morning we encountered some rabbits. Unfortunately, a seriously confusing aspect for Phoenix is that because of the cicadas there are hundreds of dead leaf bouquets all over the place and from a distance it's hard to tell the difference between them and a stationary rabbit. So she is keyed up the entire time.

The first encounter was in the neighbors yard 4' from us. They have a wire fence and she knows the fence is a barrier now. They have dogs and there have been unfriendly encounters at it on their part. So not too much excitement for the first one. Immediately after that though we came across a baby bunny at the spot where the common drive forks to my driveway. I have placed some large boulders and planted some hostas, lillys and a rose bush here. She is on point now but still wondering what it is. We got closer to the rock garden and the bunny twitched, but didn't run. She immediately sat and her tail started to wag. I believe she just really wants to play with them, not eat them. That's a fine line though and not one I am willing to experiment with. So for a couple minutes they are playing hid-n-seek running around this garden until Phoenix is now so full of adrenaline she is choking herself on the leash/collar. I ultimately pulled her back enough for the bunny to run off into the woods. I calmed Phoenix down but she still wanted to find it. She got so excited she pooped in a spot (in the leaves near the edge of the woods) she hasn't used since the winter. Her spots are oddly regular. We walked another 100' and there in the common drive is a another full sized rabbit. Now she is freaking out. The commands to calm her were not as gentle, her tail was not wagging and she was already trying to get that damn thing. It dipped down one of my trails and stopped. We got to the trailhead and she could see it. She was drooling to run into the woods. I was able to finally get her to come back to me by jerking the leash and aggressively telling her "no" "come" "here", after a while she finally did and I rewarded her.

So I feel like I am so close with her. I just know she is going to get the point eventually. Which is why I felt like I didn't need a full on hunting/training kit with GPS. Now, the unit I bought is a hunting collar, and has the searching / on point beep modes. It has a sophisticated accelerometer and it beeps every 10 seconds while they are moving/searching, and every 2 seconds when they have located the prey/stop on point. I will not use that mode. It has a Locate mode and at the push of a button it activates the beeper to do just that. Signal you to their whereabouts. I will have it set to locate all the time so that I can activate that mode as needed. If that fails to help me locate her in the event she does ultimately run off chasing something, then I will consider a standalone GPS tracker. And then it will be a true real time satellite version that has no range limit. Worst case scenario, I get a new cell phone, and attach my old one to her and subscribe to the available family tracking options almost all carriers offer. My phone is waterproof to 8', and the battery lasts days. I really hope to be able to untrain the hunting characteristic out of her though and never need any of that. We will see.

Like I said, I am going to start a thread and it will be unrestricted as far as who uses what device. Our love for our dogs, their safety and our human/canine accomplishments will be the backbone of it.

She is so pretty! Mine does the same thing except I swear I think she gives me the "Harump" as if to say "Yea, right, whatever"! LOL

I tried the long rope Brother William. It was a regular cotton rope with a nylon core. Pro Tip: cotton rope will get snagged on anything and everything in the woods and most of it comes back with the dog. It will also get so snagged that I had to leave her one time, go back home to get my machete to get to her to get her untangled. Oh, and even though she's only 55 lbs she was able to somehow break the nylon core. Maybe dry rot. It was an older rope.

Wes, can we do it over tequila beverages? I'm old and need a lot of lubrication when I talk in person.

 

Mornin' Andrew! Today is my Friday! And I am off Tuesday as well, for my birthday.