Dog Days Giants Game

Every year, the San Francisco Giants hold one game where fans can bring their dogs.  We finally got ourselves organized enough to get to the game, along with three other Leo families (one couple with two Leos just happened to be there, without knowing ahead of time that we had organized a group to go). 

It turned out to be a beautiful day - sunny, but with a lovely breeze that kept it from getting too hot.  I took the girls and Zatarain up to the park on my own since our son had his first baseball game of the the fall season the same day.  He and Mike planned on meeting us at the game after his game finished.  We met up with the Leo people outside of the park and we all lined up to participate in the dog parade before the game.  The San Francisco SPCA had provided water bowls and wading pools to keep the dogs cool and there were people coming by as we waited to give out swag, keeping the kids happy, too.  One of the families has two girls who have become good friends with our girls over the last couple of years, so they were all excited to spend the day together.  It was a bit like herding cats trying to keep track of the four girls plus the dogs, in addition to answering the inevitable questions about the dogs, but we managed to keep from losing anyone or causing irreparable damage with tangled leashes.

When the line finally started to move, we all got to parade around the warning track with the dogs.  We had our moment of fame on the big screen as we passed by the cameras.  A couple of Arizona Diamondbacks players were warming up as we passed by and one of them handed our youngest a baseball; she was beside herself and refused to let anyone else carry it for her until we were done with the parade.  There were a few people in the stands who recognized the dogs as Leonbergers and were excited to see them walk past.  It was fun for all of us to get to be down on the field, although we got less air time than we thought we would.

We all headed to our seats and enjoyed the game.  We took turns taking the kids to the bathroom, watching them play on the slides, getting food, standing with the dogs in the shade, getting water for the dogs, and just generally trying to make order our of chaos.  Every time the crowd cheered, the dogs in the stands would bark and bounce around, adding to the excitement.  The kids ate tons of junk food and were thrilled about it.  Since our seats were right below the slides, the older girls were given the freedom to play on them on their own, as long as they checked in with us occasionally.  They loved that and were very good about stopping by every once in a while.  It definitely made the game more enjoyable for them since they didn't  have to sit in their seats being bored by the game.  That, in turn, made it much more pleasant for the adults as well!  The little girls went back and forth between the slides and the seats with one of us and made friends with all of the dogs and people around us.  The game was actually exciting and the Giants won, making it an even better day.

Mike and our son got to the stadium just as the game ended, so they got in line for the "Kids Run the Bases" and we met them there.  The moms took the 5 kids back onto the field while the two Mikes waited outside with the dogs.  Our son took off for a true run around the bases, the two older girls trotted around together, and the little girls walked behind them.  They all had a great time, although our son lamented the fact that he had to miss the game because of his (which they won 14-7, with him pitching the final inning, getting two strike-outs).

When we met back up with the guys, we said our good-byes and headed off to the cars.  It was a fun day and amazingly well-organized.  We found out later that there were about 800 dogs there - I never would have guessed there were that many!  I would definitely do it again next year, and our son said next year he's going no matter what else is happening that day.

Pre-July 4th Beach Day

Each month we have a get-together at the beach for the local Leonbergers and their owners. The number of dogs and people varies, but there is one other family that joins us almost every month. Our kids are close in age and all get along really well, so we can just turn them loose together and they make their own fun in the water and sand. It's been a godsend for us, because for so long we were the only ones with kids and our guys were kind of tired of only having each other as playmates. Now they look forward to heading out there each month and so do we!

Spring Has Sprung

We had our monthly Leonberger get-together at the beach this past weekend. We lucked out with an absolutely stellar day - sunny, blue skies, and warm - and we were all ready for some outside time after all of the cold, gray days we've had this winter. The kids can't resist the chance to get in the water, even when it's in the 50s, and Sunday was no different. They were running in and out of the water, jumping off of the big rock, playing in the sand, and just generally being the beach kids they are.

Zatarain had a fabulous time, as well. He swam and swam and swam, chasing his ball in and out of the water, for about 3 hours. At one point, he lost sight of both me and his ball and ended up swimming around for probably close to 10 minutes while I kept directing him from the shore. He did eventually find his ball, after coming in to shore and then chasing a rock that Mike threw out towards the ball. Silly dog. Bella and Goulash joined him playing on the beach and we ended up with 3 very tired pups.

After our time on the beach, we headed over to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company for a late lunch with our friends, Mike and Mandy and their girls, Allanna and Daniela, who own Bella, and with Ian and Mo, who own Goulash. Ian joined us for lunch last month and the experience didn't scare him off, so that says a lot about his constitution! We took over about half of the back patio, the kids spread out and played and colored, and we had a really lovely lunch. Fun conversation and good food and tired dogs. It was a great end to a really fun day.

Foot Trimming

For any of you who do not have Leonbergers, just skip this post. It will be utterly meaningless!

For those of you who stuck around, here are the instructions I sent to Teresa Schlaffer recently about how I trim Zatarain's feet. Feel free to comment if you have any questions. And yes, I know his nails are pretty long. I may be good at trimming the fur, but I have ALWAYS been awful at trimming nails.

Here's what I do (each foot takes about 10 minutes):

I use a pair of hairdresser's scissors for the whole thing.

Lay the dog down on his side and start with the underside. Trim around each foot pad, cutting as short as possible and as close to the skin as possible, including between the pads.

Trim the outside edges to even with the bottom of the foot pad.

Trim upward between the toes, just to the bottom of the nail.

Cut around the face of the foot, making a straight face from the nail upward and creating the shape of the foot that you want.

Pull the hair up between the toes, so that it sticks up over the top of the foot. With the scissors held parallel to the top of the foot, trim the hair that you pulled up down to the surface of the foot, using small cuts to help hide the scissors marks. Push the hair back down between the toes.

Trim any stray spots around the nails or along the sides of the foot until it looks neat.

Leo Potluck

Today was our annual Leonberger Pre-Thanksgiving Potluck. Every year we get together on the Sunday before Thanksgiving to catch up with each other, eat, and let the dogs play. It's a tradition that started about 10 years ago and that I've continued planning for most of the years since. The number of people and dogs varies from year to year, but it's always fun to get together and let the dogs run around.

When Leonbergers have the chance to play with each other, it's pretty impressive to watch, especially when big males really get to playing. They play very differently with each other than they do with other dogs. Rousing games of spithead are the norm, with the occasional body slam and polar bear hug thrown in to keep it interesting. Now imagine 6 or more Leos running around together, taking over a dog park, and you get a feeling for our annual gathering. Watching the reactions of the other people at the park is always fun and we spend a lot of time explaining what kind of dogs they are and answering all the usual questions about them.

So all in all, it was a fun afternoon once again. The weather didn't really cooperate this year - it got cold and windy pretty suddenly, so everyone headed out a bit earlier than usual - but at least it didn't rain. We were seranaded by the flocks of parrots once again, the kids had a grand time running around with their buddies, and I got to eat my favorite sweet potatoes. You can't ask for much better than that!

Pictures from the Week

My poor bruised toes. They've been a lovely shade of purple for about a week now.

The kids had a fun time at the park on Thursday. Lots of time on the swings, running around playing tag, going down the slides, and playing in the sand. It was a gorgeous day, so it was great to be outside enjoying it.

I have a small cooler with a pump that circulates ice water through a pad on my food. It's much easier than constantly switching out ice packs. Zatarain discovered he could flip the lid open on the cooler and have his own bowl of ice water right there in the family room.

The girls came downstairs thie evening dressed in their finest. When our older daughter, who loves to help Mike with the grill, found out that we were grilling for dinner, she asked, "Can we be your flower grill fairies?"

We have a very small backyard. This picture actually makes it look bigger than it is, but that doesn't stop Mike and our son from practicing baseball while the ribs are cooking. Our daughter was the cheerleader in the background.

Catching Up

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Our summer started off nice and calm, with a good rhythm to our days. And then camp started and everything went crazy. My son did one week of camp and loved it so much that he asked to go back this week. Since they had open spots, including for swim lessons, we signed him again. So instead of just having one kid in camp (my older daughter), I've been juggling two and my poor little one has been suffering with very short naps the last few days. The up side is that all three kids have been going to bed very early, so my evenings have been pretty quiet.

I finally had time tonight to get some little chores done that I've been putting off. My older cat, Ben, has always had an amazing coat. She sheds like a German Shepherd and I periodically have to really go over her to get her undercoat out or she mats badly. I've put it off too long this time and now I do have to battle big chunks of fuzz under her coat. She is not a happy kitty when I start working on her and she lets me know loudly. It should at least decrease the hairball puking, if nothing else.

I also sat down and trimmed Zatarain's feet. Leonbergers are pretty low-maintenance as far as grooming goes. They have a lot of coat and do require brushing, but you aren't supposed to do any kind of fancy trimming. The one thing that does need to be done on occasion, though, is trimming the feet. Audubon's mom, and therefore Zatarain's grandmother, had amazingly fuzzy feet and both of my dogs ended up with the same. Left alone, they start to look like snowshoe rabbits. It's not the best look for a Leo, so I trim Zatarain's feet when they start to get furry. I let them get pretty long this time, so it took a while to get them under control. Zatarain closely monitored my scissoring, resting his head on my left arm while I trimmed his feet with my right. It was very cute and he was very patient, wagging his tail when I would talk to him and tell him how handsome he looked. He was less happy when I started working on his nails, but he cooperated better than usual and I was able to get them done fairly quickly.

I've also been trying to work out more the last few weeks and that takes up a chunk of time in the morning. I'm having foot surgery on July 22, so I want to get into the best shape I can ahead of time since I won't be allowed to work out for a while afterwards. I try to run on Mondays, do a cycling class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and do Pilates on Fridays. I just added the cycling back in after 2 1/2 years and it's been miserable getting back into it. I'm finally feeling better during and after the classes, so I think I've gotten past the worst of it. I'd love to add one more day, but I've never been good about working out on the weekends.

So that's the update. Hopefully I'll be more timely over the next couple of weeks since our pace will be slower.

The Cookie Monster

No he's not blue, but he did eat 2 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies this afternoon.

I made a batch of cookies this afternoon for my son's birthday celebration at school tomorrow. They finished up just in time for me to leave to pick the two older kids up from school, so I left them on the counter to cool, covered by towels. I had a brief thought that they might be in jeopardy, but I really didn't have any choice since they were too warm to put into containers. I just hoped that Zatarain would ignore them and I could put them away when we got home.

No such luck. We got home and Zatarain immediately went out to his dog run and didn't come back in. Never a good sign. I walked through the kitchen and sure enough, he had eaten all but 6 of the cookies. We'll see how this comes out in the end (get it?). I'm sure it won't be funny when he's running for the door at 3 am.

So I had to make another batch, but I didn't have any Crisco left and I had to take Zatarain to his obedience class (fat lot of good that's done!) this evening. That meant heading to the grocery store at 9:00 tonight to get Crisco, and since I was there, I figured I might as well get the things I need to make soup tomorrow. I finally got home at 9:40 and got the cookies finished by 10:30. At least I don't have to go to the store again tomorrow. And I get the adoration of my son for making him the cookies he asked for, which makes it all worth while.

Handsome Boy

And here he is laying on my lap afterwards. He's so soft right now!

The Remains

Here is what I raked off of him AFTER spending close to an hour
blowing out his coat at the bath place. You should have seen the
clouds we left behind there.

Bath Day

I finally got to take Zatarain in for a bath today. He was giving me
his best pathetic look, as you can see, but it didn't do him any good.

Beach blog

As if we didn't get enough beach time in Maui! It's ridiculously hot at home today, so we headed to Half Moon Bay to hang out at our favorite beach. It's gorgeous out here - about 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze. The kids are running between the water and the flowers and the dog has been chasing his ball like crazy.

Can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Hike

My parents have been visiting, so I haven't had time to update this as often as I'd like. It's been good to see them, though, and the kids are loving having them around.



On Wednesday, I took all 3 kids and the dog on a hike. I do this hike with friends most Wednesday mornings, but the 2 older kids have never done it with me and really wanted to see where we go. I take the little one with me in the backpack each time, so it was old hat for her. She did get to walk part of it for the first time, though, which she thought was very cool. It's about a 3 mile loop and I hadn't planned on doing the whole thing, but the big kids really wanted to see it all, so we headed up the hill. We took our time - it normally takes me a little over an hour and we finished it in about 2 hours - got to see lots of flowers, birds, and the tadpoles. My son loved the little waterfalls in the stream on the way back (he's been obsessed with waterfalls since before he could talk).


I usually take the dog with me when we do this hike and he does fine, but usually really lags on the downhill sections. This time, the kids were in front of me and he absolutely had to keep them in his sight at all times. He did not like it when my son got ahead of us and wasn't easily visible and pulled to get to him, which is really unusual. I haven't seen this protective side of him towards the kids before - not overt, just wanting to keep track of them and keep them close.It was interesting to see him react so differently on a hike he's done so many times before.

Postscript

I found out this evening that Audubon's brother, Ancho - who is also Zatarain's father - died yesterday of hemangiosarcoma. It's taking far too many of our great dogs these days. May he now play happily with his brothers, Audubon and Jed, at the Rainbow Bridge.

To learn more about the research that is being conducted to try to prevent this disease and several others in our great breed, please check out the Leonberger Health Foundation site. We have submitted blood and information from both of our dogs as part of the ongoing studies, and we also support the organization through donations. If you would like to help out, click here.

The Dog

We currently have one dog named Zatarain, after the New Orleans-style rice mix company. He is a three-year-old Leonberger, which is a big dog related to the Saint Bernard, Newfoundland, and Great Pyrenees. At 100 pounds, he isn't as big as most male Leos - he'd actually make a beautiful female with his build and size - but we weren't looking for a big guy this time. I really wanted a Leo with a good working temperament, and I definitely got what I wanted. So far, I haven't made the time to work with him like I should, and I'm hoping to remedy that soon. He does go to obedience class every week, so he's a good dog and he's ready to start doing trials. I just need to make the commitment to get him entered - around soccer games, school functions, dog get-togethers, family things, etc.

I've done a bit of tracking with Z, as he's got amazing natural instincts for it, and a little bit of carting, too. he seems to be able to pick up on things really quickly and he tries really hard to follow directions, so he's pretty easy to train. He loves to swim and is very strong in the water, so he should do well with water training, if I can teach him to hold on to things. It's the one thing he doesn't naturally do. He'll bring things back - and loves to play fetch until he's ready to drop - but he always drops whatever it is at my feet instead of holding on to it. At least I don't have to chase him for the ball. So that's where my training with him needs to focus now, on getting him to hold and carry things so we can move forward to bigger and more exciting things.

Zatarain is our second Leonberger. Our first, and our first dog together (I grew up with a dachshund and Mike had a couple of German Shepherds), was Audubon, named after Audubon Park in New Orleans. He died on October 28, 2009 at the age of 9 1/2 of suspected hemangiosarcoma of the spleen that had metastasized to his lungs. He was an amazing dog, incredibly enthusiastic about working in the water - he got both is WD and WRD titles before I retired him - and always had his own opinion about how things should be done. He won over many a child who was fearful of dogs and he was a beautiful and regal example of all that a Leonberger should be. We still miss him dearly.

Audubon was clearly the top dog in our house, behind Ben, of course. The queen- bee cat rules everyone with an iron paw! Zatarain remained a ridiculous puppy for a long time, really until Audubon's death. Once Audubon was gone, he realized it was all up to him and he has taken on the responsibility very seriously. He still does some completely ridiculous things, like bark like a mad fool when anyone dares to walk past his house, but he grew up very quickly after Audubon died and we saw a profound change in him within a week or so. We won't be getting another dog for a while to give Zatarain the chance to be an only dog. I don't want to wait too long, though, since these guys don't live that long and it would be nice for a puppy to be able to play with Zatarain before he becomes a grumpy old man like his Uncle Audubon was when he came home.

For more information about Leonbergers, click here.