The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 26: Remember that old Carpenter's song, "Close to You"?

 You can easily find the song Close to You by the sibling duo Richard and Karen Carpenter through any of a number of search engines.  But B and B-B would like to show off their versions of close to you through interpretive sleeping positions.  First up:

Couch Cuddling

Now for a side close up:

Bed Buddies

Floor Friends

And finally, an in-your-face close up because not only do they like to be close to each other, they like to be close to you too!  (Because B and B-B say if you're following this blog you've got to be a pretty great person!)

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 25: Three "S" exercises with B!

 B will now lead the class in a quick example of the following exercises in order:

-stretch

-shake

-scratch

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 24: "Drool" Part 2

B-B drooling over something in the living room.  Who knows what-practically any food, either dog or human grade, is enough to start B-B salivating.

B-B often slimes B with lines of drool saliva.  Here he's managed to slime himself over his muzzle and up between his eyes.  When the lines of drool are long and sticky,  he just needs to shake his head and then they'll stick almost anywhere.  The consistency is similar to the lines of slime that one sees in the garden after slugs and snails have left a trail. It's that gross but we love him in spite of more frequent hand and clothing washing due to his slobber.   He really does have some heavy duty drool.

 

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 23: Toy Stealing to Mutual Carrot Chomping

These contrasting videos were shot on the same day, less than a 1/2 hour apart.  Are these two behaving like siblings, or what? In the first one, at around 7:50 p.m., B decides that B-B cannot have his blue rubber and rope tug toy and makes some interesting vocalizations to determine toy ownership.

In the second video around 8:15  p.m. I had given them several full size carrots cut in half so that they would each get a few pieces.  Surprisingly, they still share common chunks of carrot. (Not shown in the video but they did share and took bites from some of the same carrot halves with their heads right next to each other.)  I would have thought they'd be more inclined to fight over the food.  When we first got B-B a year ago there would be some sharp reactive growls and behaviors from B over food and food bowls but now they take turns licking out each others food bowls and will even take turns with some foods.  B-B tends to wolf things down as quickly as he can but B takes her time.  However, sometimes she surprises us and eats more quickly.  She'll move over to B-B's portion and they communally eat from the same bowl with no signs of aggression or territorial/reactive behavior.  We have worked to make sure they both ate separately until they both seemed satisfied and used a spray bottle with water when one went to steal a treat from the other one.  We also put them on leashes when they get a long lasting treat like a cow ear so they have separation from each other to just keep one (mostly-I mean entirely-B-who would happily keep many treats to herself even if just to hoard them away from B-B who barks in frustration when she hogs some of the toys).  Maybe carrots are just the magical sharing treat since they've done this before: https://cookingandorscience.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ongoing-saga-of-b-b-and-b-part-9.html

 

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 22: Summertime and pool fun

B-B getting the sheep trough /pool filled in August of 2022. 

He's definitely a water dog and enjoys small and large bodies of water.

 

Sunday Randomness #430 : Hiding Tinsel and the pups meet Santa

My library is hiding Tinsel the elf in a different location each day in December.  If you find her you can get a treat ( a Hershey's Kiss) from the info or children's desks.  I signed up for a couple of days and the first day Tinsel was found in our book bag display encouraging patrons to buy a book bag-especially since the price will go from $1 to $2 starting in January 2023.

Her second hiding place was on top of the book sale where she encouraged patrons to buy a book!

I'm glad she doesn't have a fear of heights because I wouldn't have been comfortable being that high up from the ground!

 And the pups, B and B-B, got to meet Santa at Home Depot.  I don't think they were too impressed...they expected him to smell more like a workshop and cookies...the workshop smell was there with the Home Depot background but not the cookies.  Sigh. They'll just have to wait to see if Santa leaves them a treat Christmas morning.

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 21: Training at Olympus Pines Park

 A few weeks ago I took B and B-B to a new park for a little bit of training and I took some pictures.  It was a challenge-the park is very small, right on a corner, and with lots of distractions.  People walking, running, other dogs, strollers, and lots of cars turning and going by.

They eventually did a a good job but it took over 20 minutes and putting them alternatingly on transitional to finally get them to make eye contact and reliably check in with me.

Sunday Randomness: #178: Another example of Dr. office medical advertisements-healthy restaurant eating

While going in for some follow up at my doctor's office I found a new ad to share.  This one is about Choosing Wisely at Fast Food Restaurants.  I did a similar  bunch of posts back in February of 2021 starting with this post:  https://cookingandorscience.blogspot.com/2021/02/sunday-randomness-142-dr-office-medical.html

Carbohydrate Servings

Additional Fast Food Tips and How Much Exercise Will Burn Off Junk Food?

Choose foods from different color groups daily.

 

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 20: Sleeping positions in Sept. 2022

On the downstairs couch they have very different spots.  B has that couch. Always.  B-B is allowed to be on the floor but B blocks him if he tries to join her on the downstairs couch. She bops his head with her paw if he tries to get on and she'll herd him right off if he happens to actually get on the couch.

B-B seems pretty content to be on the floor downstairs and will roll onto his back for some tummy scritches.

B usually curls into an sled dog ball on the couch and will sometimes even tuck her head under her tail.  She definitely tucks in her nose when she curls up this way outside.  She's going to love the coming storm.  We keep them inside most of the time but she loves going out and lying in the snow.

Under the bed side by side.

B-B finally decided he wanted to stretch out in his usual spot with his legs extended under the bed so B just had to scrunch next to him.

This is a typical hallway sleeping pose.  B-B sprawled next to a wall and B lying down in a more dignified position.  She'll roll over on her back for her humans and only occasionally with B-B.  B-B rolls on his back daily.

 And finally they do share the upstairs couch a lot when the humans aren't on it.  They also don't usually contest us about sitting on the couch-they just move off.  (Except for B bumping off Daisy. https://cookingandorscience.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-ongoing-saga-of-b-b-and-b-part-18.html )

Here again are typical poses: B-B relaxed with his head on the arm of the couch as his pillow and B perched where she can keep vigil-looking out the window to make sure nothing is invading her pack's space be it human, dog, bird, or squirrel!

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 19: One of B-B's first public outings from Feb. 2022

 Throwback to one of B-B's first training outings to a store back in February of 2022.  He and B did well.  At some point I'd love to trade our carpet for a more cleanable floor type.  But I am grateful that our current flooring is not packed dirt nor hard concrete.  

Sunday Randomness #264 : Store display of chocolate chips Sept. 2022

Guittard chips-how I love you!  But there's something about this display that bothers the OCD part of my nature...  More about Guittard at: https://www.guittard.com/   

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 10 : Misc and the end!

First up?  Some underwater green.  From plants to anemones...

 Our trip to the Vancouver Aquarium was wonderful and we would recommend the excursion to others.  We would definitely be willing to go again!  For more information about the aquarium please visit: https://www.vanaqua.org/    Tickets currently range from $38 to $50 for general admission for ages 13-64 depending on how far in advance you buy your ticket and weekday vs. weekend.

And of course lots of fish...and the occasional turtle...

And now the last miscellaneous items to share from the aquarium: 

more anemones and shrimp and sea stars...

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 9 : Toy loving otters

Hedgehog watching the otters just frolicking in the water.

 

Then they give the otters some toys.

They obviously love their play time with the toys, both the blue-green star and lime green swirly S.

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 8 : Sea lions! What? More Sea lions? Yes! Plus a seal

And what could be better than a nice yawn after dinner?  Maybe a background discussion of the dangers of drag nets?  Maybe not the best after dinner subject but definitely necessary for conservation.
 

Along with yawning let's add some meditation for the discussion about positive reinforcement and the use of yellow jellies (plain gelatin dyed yellow which apparently they love) for more reinforcement.

Don't forget to scratch!  Let the handler talk about California Sea Lions.

Shake, shake, shake it off!  

Apparently this Harbor Seal is secretly an underwater ballerina-see how they twirl?

Awwww....the cute little seal getting a fish dinner.

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 7 : Sea lions! Continuing on...

 A slew of sea lion videos for today's post!

In this first one the handler calls the sea lion.

Second video features the sea lion getting eye drops and getting rewarded.

Just some simpler tricks like touch in the third video.

Now we get into a string of commands with the fourth video like wave, back-up, and raise flipper.

For the fifth video the handler sends the sea lion away...

...to do long distance fish catching in the sixth video!

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 6 : Sea lions! Training and Feeding Integrated

Note in the first clip how much they keep their heads submerged or partially submerged.

 

Then the handlers appear...

One handler has gone back to get supplies but the other handler is still there.  Maybe he has treats at the fence?

Noooooo!!!!!!  They're both walking away!

Wait!  Are they coming back!?! 

 Notice how much more they keep their heads out of the water to look for the handlers.

Similar to training domesticated dogs, the handler motions the sea lions back from the gate/door.

We're currently working on that with B-B.  B will patiently wait to be released but B-B still gets very excited about going outside and wants to rush out.  

Good Waiting, B-B!

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 5 : Jellies! (For real this time)

 

Japanese Sea Nettle!  (Also called Sneezing Jelly)

Like a large proportion of the rest of humanity, I find jelly fish fascinating.  So ethereal and yet exquisitely defined.