TERRA - DOG PARK VIRGIN

Although Terra has been going to our local park since the day we got her, and has been socializing nicely with our neighbourhood dogs, Cerdarvale Park is the local official off leash area. It is about a 25 minute walk, or a quick subway ride, from the house. And this weekend, Terra was finally introduced to it.

We took the two dogs together of course. We walked them down, with the intention of bringing them back on the subway. The plan was to dissipate a lot of Terra's energy so that she would not be overwhelmed by the subway station and the train itself. That plan worked. The walk, and then a two hour play took most of the edge off her and she did very well on her first subway ride.

She also did very well on her first visit to the dog park. She has a fan club who had yet to see her; I've been telling some of the regulars there about her and they have been anxiously waiting to meet her. On our way to the actual off leash area, we met our friend John and his two dogs, greyhound Jazz and border collie Hayley .. yes, Hayley. Seems to be a popular name for the breed. John was so anxious to see the puppy that he and his two dogs jumped a fence to see us. In the video you'll see the three border collies playing, what can be better than that?

In the off leash itself, we ran into another friend, Joan and her dog Karma; this dog is, for Hayley, sheep number one. So we knew that she would be well occupied while Terra looked for friends. It didn't her long. In the mean time she did some fetch work with me, which is coming along nicely.

Eventually she met a lovely male Rottweiler pup right around her age. At first the male would just sit on Terra, pinning her, which is a sign of dominance. But Terra is pretty self assured even at this age. She kept her composure and kept at the pup and eventually his dominant behaviour turned into genuine wrestling (and we know, from the previous post, that Terra is a pretty good wrestler) The Rottie's owner was great "You dog has taught my do to play"

So Terra's first dog park experience was successful. More, I'm sure, to come


Terra at Cedervale from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

MARTIAL ARTS HAVE GONE TO THE DOGS

As I have mentioned in the past, Collette and I are big fans of Mixed Martial Arts, also known as MMA, in particular the Ultimate Fighting Championship, otherwise known as the UFC. It is a full contact fighting sport that combines a variety of martial arts including boxing, wrestling, ju jitsu, mui thai, judo and many others. Essentially a typical fight is comprised of two components; stand up (boxing, kick boxing etc) and the ground game (wrestling, ju jitsu, grappling). You can win by knock out or by submission by way of tap out ... OK that is the educational component of this blog. Hope you paid attention. There will be a test later.

Yesterday, in Viewmount park, Collette and I witnessed a live MMA fight that rivalled anything we've paid for on Pay Per View. It featured two young and up and coming mixed martial arts fighters who, although they lacked in experience, make up for it in enthusiasm and ferocity. Officiating is important in MMA, the ref has a lot of power, protecting the fighters, keeping the action flowing and even stopping a fight to determine a winner. Luckily, a wily and veteran ref happened to be on hand for this match.

TALE OF THE TAPE:

IN THE TAN CORNER: A five month old huskie from Siberia, a grappling specialist with impressive submission skills, this middle weight fighter is known for his effective throat hold submission move, introducing Barky:

IN THE BLACK & WHITE CORNER: A three month old Collie from the Border regions this lightweight fighter is a stand up specialist known for her take down defence and lightning quick offense, introducing Terra:

OUR REFEREE: One of the most experienced officiants in the sport, a former welterweight champion, known for her devastating stand up as well as her dominating ground game, a legend of MMA .. Hayley:

As the first round gets underway, Barky uses his weight advantage to good effect, taking Terra to the mat, pinning her and going for a quick submission

Barky uses his superior grappling skills, to pin his smaller opponent, but Terra maintains an effective guard, keeping Barky to a side mount

In a stunning reversal, Terra breaks the hold and gains the dominant position, attempting a full mount to initiate some ground and pound .. or perhaps that should be ground and bite.

The ref moves in, reminding the two young fighters about "bites to the face"

The fighters gain their feet and quickly engage, fighting for position, locking up, dancing in the middle of the ring, testing each other's strength

The ref, like the crowd, grows bored with the action

In a stunning move, Terra uses uses an obscure and probably illegal mui thai take down and gains full mount inside Barky's guard

Barky attempts a counter, but Terra retains her position through strength, guile, and the threat of peeing on her opponent.

Terra presses her advantage, trying for total domination of the other fighter and securing her victory and .. oh wait! Is that a tennis ball?

The ref's disinterest reaches an all time high ...

Sensing the match may be getting out of hand, Terra employs a never fail martial arts technique employed by females around the world over for thousands of years .. the dreaded kiss lock

Not even our valiant grappling specialist can deal with such overwhelming technique .. and besides that WAS a tennis ball ...

So, Mr Dana White, president of the UFC, we await your call. We expect to get paid in Milk Bones. Canadian.

THE DOUBLE DOGGIE BLUES

There is some kind of weird, alternate universe math going on in my house. We now have two dogs. Two dogs, by my math, should mean twice the poop, shouldn't it? Well something is happening here because I swear that two dogs = triple the poop. Of course, this all stems from the fact that I have adopted myself a little black and white poop machine. I'd be concerned with her output if it wasn't for the fact she is growing so much. She has now doubled her weight since we got her. As one of our dog park buddies put it: "What are you feeding that dog?" I swear, I can see her growing as she sleeps.

Here we have Terra eating a bone but I don't think that that is responsible for her growth spurts. No, I think her diet of shoes, tissue boxes, base boards (yes base boards), book cases, plastic pop bottles and anything else she can get her teeth on, all seem to benefit her physical maturity.

Speaking of plastic, Terra has found a new toy. We have this huge plastic jar, that used to hold dog biscuits; the thing is huge, it holds over 6 pounds of Milk Bones. It now has two or three bones in it so when you knock it over and push it up and down the hall, it makes a lovely, loud rattling sound. A couple of weeks ago, Terra could move the thing by nudging it with her nose. Now she can pick it up by the lid and whip around the house with it. You will see this in the video at the bottom of the post.

Another food source that Terra has discovered is ice. And although the video shows her romping in her first snow fall (in April, don't get me started), the ice came from the outside water bowl we have for the dogs. The previous night had been cold enough that a thick skim of ice had formed. Terra came bounding up to to take a drink, dropped her head down .. and met the icy resistance. She promptly smashed the ice, tore out some big chunks and set about devouring it. Also in the video.

As for my two dogs, that relationship is getting better. Terra loves Miss Hayley, there are moments she sees her as the mamma dog, emulating her behaviour and totally doting on her. These are good moments.

But she also wants to treat Hayley as an equal, wrestling with her, and positioning herself for dominance. These are not so great moments, especially for Hayley. Although Hayley enjoys chasing Terra as the puppy chases the ball, and she shows sign of almost wrestling with her, there are other moments where Terra latches on to the big dog's neck fur and Hayley wears her like a necklace.

What Hayley needs to do is give her a couple of firm put downs; other dogs have done this in the park and Terra does learn respect from this. The problem has been, Hayley has always given lee way to very young puppies. But Terra is three months old now and her time of grace may well be fading.

But it is special to have two border collies. Let's face it they just look damn good together, especially outside, in the park. I am walking them together, on leash, in the morning. Terra is doing very well on leash, actually better than Miss Hayley was at this age. Sometimes the walk is slow but this is not the fault of either dog. Terra is like a cuteness magnet, people just can't resist her and it sometimes adds a good ten minutes to our walk as we deal with her fan club. She may need security soon .. and a manager .. and an entourage.

Going to keep this a short post, take a gander at the video, and next post: Terra gets a contract with Dana White ... stay tuned.

Terra the Ice Queen from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.