Day 4.....Day 6

October 9 2023 

Just like Duchess, he was someone's pet.   He was trained & he knows the rules.  He's a very sweet boy, so I don't know why they'd let him go /not look for him.      He's a lover.  

Right now the cons are: 

He's still got "Horney toad" hormones flowing through him. He keeps attempting to mount Ziva. She's shutting him down.  This will happen for approximately 6 weeks while the hormone levels drop.

He's not exactly "in" with the pack yet. That will come with time. Although his playing with them will hopefully help things along. 

He's not learned the yard yet.  We need to get him both used to where he can & can't go AND learn the INV fence.   

Otherwise he's a sweet boy.  Picking up the mantle of bringing "energy" to the group.

Day 6  10/11/23

Oh, wear to begin... 
First, must be his non-Berner side...he's a barker.  He sees someone, he barks. He hears something he's unfamiliar with (the shredder, Clancy (robot vac), he barks.    The ball the cattle dogs play with, he barks. 

It takes some getting used to ignoring.    But he's actively on patrol quite a lot. 

He has a lot of Volos like qualities. 

He does the nose punch to my arm when I'm working.
He loves running to play in the basement. 
He makes these little moans & huffs that sound like him. 
He's a little lover. 

Peryn & his relationship is VERY much like Peryn's & Volos' was in the beginning. They've already gotten into it once.  

He's obsessed with Ziva. She stops him, but it doesn't seem to get through to him. I need to start carrying around a spray bottle.

He is not shy about climbing on furniture.    He's not shy about jumping into my lap when I call him. And I do mean jump. 

I was a little hesitant regarding him. Not sure how I should feel the first few days. However, I'm going to say, I adore him. He's a sweetheart. 

He also LOVES getting brushed.  Volos did too, but Khors is king of loving getting brushed.  Turns him into a pile of mush

Alright, I was just interrupted there about a half hour ago.   
Went to the basement at lunch time & something different happened.   
Ziva went to play tug with me & Khors took the rope!  We had actual play!!! So Ziva who loves tug more than anything once again has a tug partner.  
He plays much differently than Volos did, but this is a good thing.  

Unleash the Crazy

 Was able to catch something last night.  The kids all playing together with Dad.  Usually Volos will come in and out, but this time he was involved.

This is about 12 minutes of unedited recording. Meaning-- if you like watching dogs play....this is for you.

and another gem shot within the past week ..don't know if i shared or not

Two things......

 Let me describe the insanity that is going on in my home right now on this rainy Friday night.

Dogs went to day care today.  Approximately 9+ hours.    They come home and immediately want to begin playing.

After dinner, Peryn & Volos headed straight to the basement to play their little "games" or whatever it is they do..bark at one another. 

Lada--I bought a small shooter to use upstairs ( I got tired of touching wet balls).  Unfortunately it takes the small tennis balls.   SO we begin to play with that. She immediately loses one ball.  Finds the other and then Volos comes flying back upstairs because he's decided he LOVES this new blaster.   
So both of them are fighting for the balls.  He takes the one squeaky one and I find one of the originals that came with the blaster.

However this ball is dead. Broken open, felt peeling off, & the blaster will barely hold it.  SO begins the shooting of the orange "ball" that they fight over.  If Volos gets it, Lada then runs to the basement in search of the yellow squeaky one.   If Lada gets it, it's clash of the...errrrr it's a rumble.

Meanwhile, Peryn is in the basement doing....whatever...  I can't tell you what because he's not making a sound.   He's not rolling his herding ball nor is he holding a squeaky toy. So who the heck knows what he's doing.   

Lada comes back over to me, expecting me to shoot off a ball, but she's failed to bring me back one.   SO I have nothing to shoot....well I do but I don't want to open those balls yet.    We get up and go to look where one is. Volos is sitting there at the entrance of my office and just breathing hard staring at the steps....why? NO Clue.   
Lada then runs to the basement to look for the ball which is actually in Rich's office.   
More running around and I get the ball back.    
Shoot it off  and then nothing.   Silence.  I look down, Lada is waiting for me to shoot off a non-existent ball. I head to the foyer, at the bottom of the stairs, standing and looking up is Volos.  He comes flying upstairs and then Peryn pops his head around the corner to let me know he exists.

Currently all 3 are sitting around me in the living room. Peryn whining at me for....I have no idea.  Lada keeps pawing the blaster. Volos nudged the blaster.   I'm trying to tell them I need a ball to shoot.   They aren't getting it.....

Well, here we are 2 weeks since we said good-bye to Athena.   It was hard.  I miss that sweet girl.   She never deserved everything that happened to her.  However if a dog was going to get that crap, she would be the best candidate because she was just sooo happy.

Her last day

She didn't go down like Galen, Goldberg, or Duchess.  She struggled to breathe at the end.  It was a bit traumatic for me as it was very reminiscent of my father's passing.   
It's just hard.

We never realized how much of our lives was devoted to her.   I'll give you an overview. 

Waking up in the am, I would let the pups out to go bathroom. *IF* she was up, I'd have to go pick her up and carry her outside.  I'd have to stand out there and hold her rear up by the harness and wait for her to pee or poop.   Sometimes it was quick other times I would have to move her around to get the right "spot" in order for her to go.

I'd bring her back in and place her on the bed in either the living room or my office. It depended what time I got up (4 or 5) and what room I was in.  
If she had soiled the bed, I would have to go take care of that.    

I would then hand out their brush chews.    If I was in the living room, I would pick her up and carry her into my office.   If we were already there..no biggie.   

Rich would get up about 6:15 and come check on her status.   Sometimes we took her back out other times she was fine.   He would then go and prepare her morning pills.  

I would then get up and retrieve her bowl and fill it up with water and food.   
If the others were hyper and running around, Athena would be barking at them as they did so.  If not, they all laid there.. Usually Lada curled up beside Athena.

Eventually Rich would take the pups to day care and so would begin the day of Athena & I from home.   She would take naps, but darn if that girl did not have a 6th sense of my leaving the room.  I'd pop back in and there she was up awaiting for me.

Most days she was pretty chill. Other days she would we very agitated. It was on those days that I would take her out multiple times to make sure she went.  She HATED going and sitting in it.  

If I ever left the room for more that 10 minutes, she'd begin barking .  She wanted me to know she wanted to be with me.

Most of the time our days would be boring. WHen I went to lunch, I'd bring her in the living room while I made lunch in the kitchen.  I'd bring her back to the office when done. 

I'd get off work at 2:30 and once more we'd take a bathroom break.  I would then bring her back in to either the office , living room, or bedroom depending on what I had to do. 

A lot of times I'd get on the floor next to her and cuddle with her.   SHe loved being cuddled or hugged.  

On really nice days, I'd put her at the back door to watch people walk by.  She loved watching out the window. 

I'd start dinner and she would watch me from her bed.  WHen the other cames home she would get so happy. Oftentimes she'd lift her front up and swivel around to watch them come in. 

After diinner was her cuddle time with Daddy. Rich would get on the floor in front of the couch and just pet her. She loved to place her head on his leg.  The other crazies would run around and she would bark at them.  She loved her pack.

At 8 it'd be bedtime and we'd take her out one last time, she'd get her pills, and we'd set her up in bed. Her nighttime treat was ice cubes in her water. She loved to gnaw on them. 

Now often during all of this she would soil her bedding and we'd have to wash it.  SO there was an awful lot of bed changing. 

On non-daycare days I made it a habit to take them all out or down to the basement at lunch to let them play.  She'd get 20 mins of cart and running time.   Sometimes I couldn't do it and it would just be a change of rooms while I prepped lunch. 

AFTER work on non-day care days they definitely got Mommy time.  I'd take Athena out and when I brought her back in, put her in her cart. The dogs got excited because they knew that meant play time. Even Athena did. 

We'd either go outside or to the basement. There she would roll around chasing after Peryn & Lada with their ball.  If it was the basement, she would always pee while in her cart and I ended up cleaning up the floor while they played. 

She LIVED for this time.  SO depending on how she was feeling and what I had going on , we'd be down there for 45 mins to an hour and a half.  I may have had things to do, but I let them go.  I knew this wouldn't last long.  Athena playing with her siblings.   

I also used this time as a gauge on how her disease progressed.  
After play we'd come upstairs and I'd place her on the bed in the living room. 

The rest of the evening proceeded like day care days. 

Caring for her became such a part of our day to day life, we never realized just how much we did until we weren't doing it.   It felt wrong and empty at first. 

We're relieved that she's not miserable anymore and that we don't have to wash bedding day in and out, but I would happily put up with that to have her back with me---healthy at least.

The others? Now sure. It is only this week that Lada has gone back to lying on the beds where Athena laid.  She had avoided them since that day...so I don't know if that means she's accepted it & is coming to terms with it  or if I am reading too much into it. 

THank you for all the messages and gifts we received.  Each and every one meant the world to us.  That you guys know what she meant to us. 

So that's pretty much it for now.  The pack and their crazy antics and the hole that Athena left....... Until next time. 

See her spine? She lost so much muscle mass

Closer look at her spine. See her bald spot

Bye Bye June

at play care

In the world of the pups, time is flying!     

I was just re-reading what we posted last time and it feels like a lifetime ago.   

When we brought home Volos all those months ago, I never thought this house would turn anymore crazy than what the cattle dogs already made it.  I was so wrong. 

The past few weeks have been INSANE!    Volos, once petrified and awkward on stairs, regularly flies up and down them with Peryn.    They all go NUTTS when they want to play.   Lada and Peryn were bad, but Volos makes it insanity.   

He and Peryn spend their free time running up and down the stairs barking at one another and playing.   It seriously is crazy.   For 2 dogs that don't seem like BFFs, they sure love heading downstairs to play.   
   


Part of me is grateful as Peryn isn't bugging me as much now that he has a partner downstairs with him, but Volos is sooooo LARGE.   

hanging out together

Larger than life in his enthusiasm and energy. He's large-in size and soo uncoordinated.   He really is a 1 dog wrecking ball.   

At day care they tend to hang out near each other when just chilling and don't fight--Volos has even slowly started to open up to attention from other dogs.  Before we know it, it'll be like Duchess.   Once a loner to a playful big thing. 

Volos FINALLY got on the couch!! Well, he had help the first 2 times and he had no issues any time after.    He was wanting attention from Mommy and she assisted getting him up on the couch. HE LOVED IT.   He was able to lie there and relax while getting loving from Mommy.   

Handsome brothers

Now we just indicate we want him up and he jumps up for cuddles.    I finally have my cuddle dog!  Lada is not pleased that he is getting more attention, but as long as she can plop herself down on the other side of me--she'll deal.

Invisible Fence. They all got it down, but Peryn will test the limits at times.  Especially if a ball is involved. He's pretty good and coming back in, but he still will go over the line. 
Lada and Volos are good and there are no worries there. 

Running around play care

chatting it up with a buddy

Athena is doing ok.  The weakness in her front legs is a bit more noticeable, but she still has some great days. Now that the weather is nicer and I'm working from home, she has had a few days outside with her siblings after work.   
She really is happiest when she is with them.   She still gets some time downstairs, but I try to keep it more to outside.  She enjoys outdoors more than in doors..especially with all the walkers. 

She goes to day care at least once a week for a max of 3 
hours.  It depends on how she was the day before and how she was throughout the day (usually Fridays).   We try not to over due it too much.    She loves it.    

She's hanging on & still has a fighting spirit.  We still see the signs of decline in how she holds (or doesn't) hold herself while in her cart as well as when she barks.  There is a weakness there that you can just hear.   

She still loves to eat and play--so as long as that is still there-- she'll be sticking around.      We really really are thankful to have had her for as long as we have.  We didn't think she'd be with us going into July.  

Two Happy Puppers

Isn't he handsome

Athena...get outta her way!

Pupdate: June 8 2020

Another pupdate here.   It's been about 2 weeks since we last posted and a bunch of things have happened with our Pack.   SO let's get to it.


Peryn & Volos -  I don't remember if I indicated that the two of the have a somewhat adversarial relationship.   It escalated again last week and the fur was flying.    At this point in time, Volos is the continuing problem.   Peryn has taken to giving him a wide berth when they aren't playing.    Volos growls almost every time Peryn is in his line of site.   We're working on curtailing that.   


Volos-- he's our little klepto.  If he sees it and wants it, it's taken. He loves to take my shoes. In fact, I just today noticed a hole in them.   Mind you this is after I retrieved

both pair from his stash.  He has no shame, if he can reach it --it becomes his.     It's funny and annoying. 
He tends to pull on the laces of our shoes, making them close up real tight.  The hole...not sure if it was him or me.     

He still loves playing with his toys.   He spends his mornings in Rich's office, rolling his  Wobble Wag Giggle Ball (WWGBall from here on out).  He plays with the stuffed toys and barks.  He's such a freaking happy dog.     

He's a regular at play care now and that's a work in progress.   He also regularly runs down the stairs now to go play with the other two. Is favorite thing to do is to collect the smaller balls and hoard them.      Such a silly boy.

Peryn is Peryn. Still loves heading for the basement to play with his herding ball.   He will be down there whether or not he has company.    Ball is life with him.     When Volos comes down and tries to play with the herding ball, Peryn backs off to let him.      

Peryn has taken on some mannerisms that Duchess had.   He didn't do some of the stuff before, but now that she is gone he does.   

And speaking of Duchess..... don't think for one second that we don't think about her. We miss her so much.   That girl was one of a kind.

Lada-- Little girl is just like always.  She's still possessive of Mommy. Still loves to play with tennis balls. Loves playing with her big brother.   Loves lying with Sissy.     She's also proven herself to be such a good girl.   Still a bit psycho at times, but more protective and better behaved.

Athena!   Girl is still going strong.  2.5 years in and she's still got spirit.  That being said, there is a slow decline that we are noticing. The muscles around her lungs are getting weaker. We can hear it in her barks.  Some days they are wheezy and weak and others a lot stronger.    Her front legs are definitely declining.  She only seems to be able to hold herself up when she's running in her cart. If she's stopped, she tends to bow forward. 

She still goes to play care for a few hours once a week. It all depends on the days leading up to and the day of.  

Unfortunately the depression that accompanies the later stages of the disease is also noticeable.   Throughout most of the illness, she's had a pretty happy attitude.  She  never seemed to let it get her down.  As of late i see it.  It's heartbreaking and it mostly happens the days the dogs are at play care.   It's heart breaking.  

But what isn't heart breaking is that she's still here with us. We really didn't think she'd still be here at this time of year.  She took such a drastic turn in January, we thought at that rate she'd be gone in a few months.   She sure showed us.  

We have been wanting to get Invisible Fence for the yard for some time. We're not allowed traditional fences, so we decided we would invest in IF.   The biggest hold up has been the lot next to us. We wanted to wait until that lot was built before we got it installed.  The lot was sold when we moved in 10 months ago, but it wasn't until last month that they began building. 

Now that they're working on the inside, we got the IF installed.  We're on week 2 and this is how it goes on the training:

Athena--no collar.

Lada-- This smart little cookie got it.  She's 98% trained.   Such a good girl.   Discovered it while playing fetch with the chuck it over the weekend.  She knows what the boundaries are and what will happen. She won't chase a ball that rolls over the line.     
The real test would be her reaction to the animals she sees like the deer from a few weeks ago.    We have yet to test it against her prey drive.   Otherwise she's pretty much good to go.

Volos--Yeah he's what they consider a Self trainer.  His history and his reaction to the correction indicates he may have had some correction training in the past.    He gets buzzed once--training is over. He wants inside. Know what else doesn't help--he's not a fan of the heat.   
First dog I have ever had that does NOT want to be outside in the sun.       So trying to train him has been a chore.   
They are going to give him an additional warning beep to alert him so he has time to react before correction.   

We'll keep you posted.

Peryn. Peryn. Peryn.  Have I ever told you he's stubborn? Well his breed is stubborn and hardy.   One thing we learned about the breed and their hardiness was they could be injured and you wouldn't know. They're just built that way..tough. They are meant to work with cattle so they need to have thick skins.

Those of you who have met Peryn have seen his reaction to ball.   He has laser focus and it's all about the ball. Those two factors together have made training a bit tough. 

He's heard the beep. He's heard the correction. Yet he doesn't give a damn.    Today we went to train with distractions (IE BALL).   Dude is so laser focused on the ball, he didn't feel the correction.   The training correction did nothing--he totally ignored it. The up one level, which we did at first, did nothing when he was focused on something like getting to the ball.    The next setting--gets his attention.   SO we've had to start over to get him aware of the boundaries so he can learn to avoid them.     
Small progress, but progress none-the-less.     
Stubborn fool.

Athena & Lada

Volos plotting to take the bone

We're all having fun

Volos & Athena in the bedroom

Pupdate April 18 2020

Pretty girl

There was no update last week.   What originally was going to be our saying Goodbye to Athena was put on hold.   Good news that she still has fight in her after having a couple bad weeks.   
She's had 2 good weeks so far. Even yesterday, while physically hard for her, she was still fighting.  

Her front legs slowly continue to decline.   It won't be too much longer before she can't hold herself up at all.  Not looking forward to that day.

But Athena fans, rest assured she's still with us and still playing with her siblings.

hangin in Momma's office

Peryn & Lada are doing well. Lada continues to bond & play with Volos.  Peryn & Volos continue to but heads. Peryn's been a bit of a butt head as of late with his siblings.   He also still loves heading downstairs to play with his herding ball.  He prefers us down there, but we are not necessary most days.

Lada has really blossomed as of late. She is the best little sister.  She loves on Athena quite often & cuddles with her on the bed in the office.  She plays with Volos often now too. The two of them get along well, which makes us happy.

Rough day

She's been much better than she was a month ago.   No more vomiting or lethargy.    She's been her happy little self.

I did notice that both Peryn & Lada were getting rather chunky in the middle.    All of my dogs have always been fit and healthy.  At first I chalked it up to their DNA as most ACDs tend to be stockier.     Then I realized Volos had filled out as well as Athena.  Athena's was wanted, the others not so much.
I had recently changed food (shortly before Duchess passed) in hopes that Duchess would like it.   Well, the rest of the dogs LOVED it.   So much so that they ate a lot of it and it was higher in calories/fat.     So back to the old stuff.   Need to trim these 2 up like they should be. 

VOLOS!
We have had a BUNCH of firsts to tell you about.    This guy has made great strides.  
 

At Daddy's feet

Dude has slept in our room, of course it was due to the storms, but he slept in our room.      He barks now.   He doesn't hesitate to be vocal when it warrants it.   The others barking- he joins in.  
Mommy down in the basement playing with the others, he barked from the top of the stairs.
Someone walking along the back trail, they all bark.     He doesn't over due it-thank goodness-- but he does let us hear his voice.

He has a favorite toy!    Since a few weeks in, he's taken to picking up things/toys and taking them with him.  He doesn't do much with them, but he does like picking up things.      

It was in Rich's office & occasionally when Volos was in there ready to get up, I would hear it make noise.   I thought it was a coincidence because it was right near where he laid.    Last week when she was done, moving onto another toy, Volos proceeded to roll it around, getting excited & proceeded to pick it up. He then carried it around in his mouth.   

His Ball

He's done this a number of times, getting really excited if someone rolls his ball.    He's adorable!

So for a long while when the ACDs get excited & fly down the stairs to the basement, Volos would run with them & stop at the top. He would excitedly wag his tail from the top of the stairs.   I knew eventually he'd get to the point where he would hate being left upstairs. 

Finally----the dude finally had enough.   This past week as I was downstairs with the pups & I started to hear his paws on the steps.   It went on for some time & before we knew it, he came excitedly around the corner to me.  
After seeing what all the fuss was about, he headed upstairs. Then not even 10 mins later, he was back down.      Now that he knows how to do stairs, he uses them.

The strength in his hind legs is building. He even got on his hindlegs to get to me sitting in the drivers seat after a shopping trip.   Dude is on a roll.

Hanging with Dad watching TV

He's out in the house with us 90% of the time.  Before we'd have to call him out to join us. He might stay with us, he might not.  He tends to be right in the middle of it with his siblings all the time now.   He's very much comfortable in his family.
He still LOVES car rides.  All he cares about it getting in the car, lying in the back seat, & sleeping.   He doesn't care about looking out the window or where we're going. That's all irrelevant.  He loves the car!   

In fact after driving around for a bit, after arriving home I left the car door open in the garage.  He stayed there until I eventually made him come back inside.    If he could, he'd stay in the car all the time I'm sure. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

As I mentioned earlier, he & Peryn are still 'at odds'.  They just have stand offs where neither will move & they just growl at one another. 

It's only escalated the one time, but I know another is coming.  I think if Volos would just give in & play with Peryn, most of the issues would disappear.   

We still have issues with Volos in spite of these great strides.  Trying to train him is turning out to be difficult.   He will not sit still or focus to try & teach him.     Raising a voice or trying to put his harness on leads to him "leaking'.    When he's outside he loves to visit the neighbors yards even though we've tried over & over to keep him in the yard. He'll listen & do what he's supposed to 9x, but the 10th he's off exploring. 

A big issue is that we do not have back stairs. Ideally we would let them out the back, watch them, & bring them back in.    No, we can't do that yet. We are in & out of the front door. He sees someone he wants to greet, forget it. 

Handsome!!

Another issue we had, but we've changed, was taking them ALL out at the same time.  Athena requires our focus so we may miss the cues he's about to explore.   We're now breaking up the outings to Athena only & the other 3 only.   

Peryn tries to reign him in. He will chase after him barking & nipping (doing what heelers do) trying to get him to come back home. 
We planned on getting Invisible Fence at this house, but had to put that on hold while we waited for the house next door to get built.  FINALLY 7 months later, it's started.     Coinciding with the Stimulus money, we've begun the process.     Another issue holding it up is the possible regrading of our yard.   In the back there is standing water that does not drain & little spots all over like that. Additionally there are spots where NOTHING grows. No grass, no weeds, nothing.        We need to find out when that can happen.   I was hoping they could do spots, but Rich wants them to do the whole thing.         

We're slowly getting there though!!

Who's a handsome boy?

Cheezburger!