Spring in Northern Norway

I might not be impartial, but I believe Link is the most beautiful dog in the world.

This year we have, unlike most years, had a proper spring! Usually winter turns into summer in less than a week, but this year we have had spring for about a week so far, and we're not even in May! Love it!

Love you Link!

 So to enjoy the fantastic weather we woke up to today, we drove to Berg, to walk along the shore there. Berg is just a 10 minute drive from Tromsø. Link really loved it! As soon as we let him off leash he went directly out into the water. He really loves the water...

Link sitting like a bear :)

We also took the oportunity to do some training in a more difficult setting. We practices "bear" (i.e. is sitting like a bear), "kiss" (i.e. Link holding his nose against our lips) and "pray" (see picture below).

Link praying.

Link kissing.

It was a wonderful walk, in wonderful nature and wonderful weather. Everything was simply wonderful!

Wonderful Link!

Link's birthday and weekend at the cottage

Beautiful birthday boy!

It was Link's second birthday Thursday 29th January, but I haven't been able to write about it because my computer is sent to the repair shop.
Anyway, the day started of great, we took an extra long walk to work and when we got there Link got treats and a dried cow's ear before I had to start working. It was a normal day at work, until a few minutes past three in the afternoon. We, and the entire two northernmost counties in Norway, had a power outage. The power didn't come back until well into the evening. So we just had to make do with some flashlights and candles, trying to help customers and treat sick animals. I think we managed quite well considering how limited we were by the loss of electricity.
Anyway, when we got home Link got a luxury dinner consisting of his favorite canned food, fish oil and some of his favorite treats.
I think that, apart from having to lie alone in the dark for a couple of hours, Link thought the day was pretty good.

Link 2 years old. He almost looks smaller than he did on his first birthday, but that is because he has shed all of his undercoat.

Link at 10 months of age.

The weekend after we went to the cottage with my boyfriend's parents and their Danish Swedish farmdog Scott. It was fairly cold -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Farenheit) and windy, but apart from that the weather was wonderful. 

The view of the lake from the road leading up to the cottage. A beautiful view of the sunset!

 We went for a long walk both days. First on the road that goes around the lake and then across the lake, on the ice. The sky was so beautiful with the pink and turquoise clouds and the sun just above the horizon. We were outside for almost two hours and I didn't even want to go inside when we got back to the cottage! I could have stayed outside forever if the sun hadn't set.

My boyfriend, his parents and the two dogs on the ice on the lake.

Mountain hike and photo editing

Link and I on the top of Nattmålsfjellet.

Yesterday was spent mostly going through the 1400+ photos I took during the dog show on Saturday, but Link had to get a walk too, so Mads, Link and I went for a short mountain hike on a small mountain called Nattmålsfjellet.

Link happy to be off leash!

 It took approximately one hour, and best part was that unlike last time Link could now be off leash. The law states that between April 1 and August 20 all dogs must be kept on leash in Norway, to protect the wildlife.

Beautiful dog amd beautiful view.

Last time there were also lots of people and dogs, this time we met one dog with its owner where we parked the car, and they had just come down from the mountain. So it was a perfect day to let Link stretch his legs.

It is wonderful to hike in the beautiful Norwegian nature.

 Now I have to continue editing the picture from the dog show, you find the first post from the dog show here.

Sunday mountain hike

When I woke up this morning, there was a thick fog outside. So I thought that I would spend some time working on stuff for the new YouTube channel (which you find here). After a couple of hours though, the fog cleared and the sun was shining from a clear blue sky, so I changed my mind and headed out to the island outside of Tromsø to hike to a mountain top with Link.

Link and the fantastic view on the way up.

Link thought it was way too hot to walk up any mountain, so just 30 minutes into the walk he simply stopped and lay down. It is important to listen to your dog in situations like this, they can easily overheat and heatstroke can kill. So my choice was to either let him rest and then go back to the car, or find another way for him to cool off.

Link refusing to walk...

Luckily there were several small lakes on the way up, so he had plenty of opportunities to get his temperature down.

Link doing what he loves most, bathing.

There were also several spots of snow when we got higher up on the mountain, and of course we also stopped there so Link could play, eat snow and cool off.

Link rolling in the snow.

 On the top of the mountain, it was rather windy, so keeping cool there was not a problem. Link and I both ate and I had some coffee. I have been up here twice before, and this was by far the time with the best weather conditions. It was actually nice to sit on the top, something that is usually too cold.

Link on the top, with Tromsø in the background.

Another really positive thing about the walk today is how nicely Link handled meeting other dogs during this hike. We met maybe ten dogs today, and Link was so much better than he has been before. I won't say he's perfect, but he has definitely improved.
So all in all it was a really nice day. Hope all of you have had a nice weekend!

Wonderful Weather on our Sunday walk

Today we finally got the good summer weather back! I've stubbornly claimed that August is a summer month, despite the very autumn-like weather we've had lately.

During today's walk Link had some balance training on a type of swing.

At first he thought it was really scary, but he soon felt more confident.

Tomorrow it's Monday again, but I'm not sad. Tuesday is my birthday! The best day of the year. I can't wait!

Miserable dog walk and failed training

An example of me and Link failing to cooperate. This picture was taken during the gun dog course, where I was in a much better mood and hence better able to handle situations like this. Today was not such a day.

Sometimes everything you do seems to fail. No matter how much you try to motivate your dog or try to be fun, it just keeps sniffing the ground and pulling on the leash to get away from you and do something else. I had one of those days today.
 
During Link's and my walk home from work tonight, nothing seemed to go the way I wanted. At first we trained on some of the things we learned during last weekend's gun dog course, which went fairly well, but then the trouble started. Apparently a female dog in heat had been there before us, so Link paid no attention to me nor to lose leash walking. Then we met the first dog, a Cairn terrier. I managed to get the now very exited Link to sit while the terrier walked towards us, but in the moment it passed, Link lunged out. The only thing keeping him from getting to the other dog was my firm grip on the leash. Link barked out of frustration. The terrier, thankfully, just kept on walking. I thought I handled it fairly well, under the circumstances, and figured we could still get this walk on the right track.

Then the second dog meeting. A Boston terrier and a mutt. They began barking and growling at Link the second they saw him. This did not exactly calm him down. Link growled back a little, but it wasn't hard for me to hold him back or to get him to walk away with me. At this point though, I was irritated and Link was very stressed. I know that the more irritated I get, the more stressed Link gets. So I decided to just stop for a while, sit down on a bench and wait for Link (and me) to calm down.

It didn't work. Link started pacing back and forth next to the bench. Eventually he sat down, but then he started whining and barking. He just was not able to relax. And I felt my irritation grow. I tried not to show Link that, but he wasn't fooled. I settled for a few seconds of calm behavior from Link and then we got on our way again.

Soon after that, we met a Staffordshire bull terrier. I got Link to sit by my side as it approached, but like with the Cairn terrier, Link lunged. Only this time he lunged behind me instead of in front of me. This got me off balance, and it didn't exactly get better when I tripped on a stone. I almost fell on top of Link, but to my great relief I managed to stay on my feet. This whole maneuver however, led to Link getting all the way over to the other dog. Which in turn, turned out to be aggressive. It snapped at Link and growled fiercely. This probably took Link by surprise, he has never met an aggressive dog like this before. So thankfully he backed off for a second, long enough for me to regain my balance and be able to get Link under control. The Staffordshire bull terrier kept growling and Link answered in kind, when I held him back. Both me and the other owner mumbled something about how crazy our dogs were, both of us rather embarrassed about the whole situation.

I had by now gone from irritated to completely furious. I'm really glad that I am 100% convinced that it never helps to physically punish a dog, and also relatively good at keeping my temperament in check. A lesser person (or less convinced person) would have gone medieval on Link at this point.
I felt that another loss right now was more than I could take, so from that moment on I walk with Link on a very short leash and as fast as I could. I really needed the walk to be over!

The last dog meeting was with a Soft coated wheaten terrier, but I didn't even try to get Link to cooperate with me as we passed it. I just kept the leash short and kept on walking. Link tried to react to the dog, but wasn't given much time nor space to do so. I just wanted to get away from it all.

The rest of the walk home were to my relief eventless, but I had to really focus to stay calm. I felt like the worst dog owner in the world. Furious with myself as much as with Link, and at the same time I felt bad for Link. None of this was Link's fault, yet somehow the dog always gets the shortest end of the stick in situations like this.

I will try to not beat myself up to much about this and start fresh with training Link to pass other dogs again tomorrow. And I will try to remember the wise words I read in a dog training book once: "If you feel that you are in a bad mood or irritated, don't train your dog. Cuddle up with your dog in the sofa and read a good book instead."
Next time, that's what I'll do.

Dogsitting the neighbour's Bichon Havanais

Daisy wearing her cone collar, also known as Elizabethan collar. She is a Bichon Havanais with "wrong" type of coat. I think she is prettier than the dogs with correct coat.

 This evening we are dogsitting our neighbour's Bichon Havanais Daisy. She had surgery on her eye 2 days ago, so when her owner had to leave her for a few hours tonight, I said I could watch her. She is wearing a cone collar to keep her from scratching her eye. She is used to the collar by now, because this is the second time she has had this surgery (but last time it was the other eye). She had a condition called Cherry eye, for which the treatment most often is surgery.

Going for a walk.

We went for a walk down to the store where my boyfriend used to work. I waited outside with the dogs, while Mads went in to the store. Being the dog lover that he is, of course he bought treats for the dogs too.

Both dogs waiting to get treats.

 Link and I have been attending a gun dog course all day, so Link is exhausted. To keep Daisy from trying to get him to play all the time, I had to let Link into our bedroom and up in the bed where Daisy can't get to him. Poor Link, too tired to play, but too much of a gentleman to say no to Daisy's play invites.

Link and Daisy while we waited outside of the store.

Tomorrow Link and I are going to attend the second day of the gun dog course. I can't wait, it is so much fun! Even though we are among the least experienced participants of the course and have hardly impressed anyone today. We have a lot to work on, to put it that way. I will tell you guys more about it tomorrow. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

How to turn a normal dog walk into a training session

Yesterday when Link and I went home from work, we went through the city center. This is not an area in Tromsø that we visit often, actually it was only last week that we were there for the first time. As it is important to expose your dog to different environments and make them feel comfortable anywhere, I realized being down town is something we have to do more often. There are so many unfamiliar sights, sounds and smells there. For Link to be able to take all that in, at the same time as he does lose leash walking and tries to stay focused and calm, takes training, time and patience.
Our walk today was the third time we went to the city center and Link still gets rather easily spooked, though he quickly relaxes again. Today I realized that he reacts to statues, so we trained standing on one small statue of a bear and sitting next to another of a woman.

Link sitting next to a statue that he initially thought was scary. Using a little time and a lot of treats he eventually even liked sitting next to the statue!

When your dog is in a place where it hasn't been before, it sometimes help to do things that are familiar and fun for the dog. This makes the dog associate the new place with something it likes. So when we came to the bicycle parking we did some weaving between the poles.

The bicycle parking behind the library was perfect for training weaving, something that is both familiar and fun for Link

When Link appeared to feel comfortable I decided to challenge him a bit. We walked up some metal stairs. He seemed a bit hesitant at first, but after the first few steps he became more confident.

Link walking up the metal stairs.

During our walk we also made a point to seek out different materials to walk on. We found asphalt, concrete, gravel, grass, wood and metal (the stairs).

Link standing on gravel

Link standing on asphalt.

Link sitting on grass/vegetation.

Link standing on wood.

Link sitting on concrete.

 When we got closer to home I also started to ask Link to balance on things, a game we had when he was little. Below are two pictures of Link balancing on top of the dome-shaped "lid" of a rainwater drain.

"Mom, this is a difficult.."

"Look I made it! May I have the treat now?"

I definitely think spending the walk training and exploring is a much better way to use the time spent on walks, than just walking from A to B. The instructor of the therapy dog course said that she always made sure to do 4 (if I remember the number correctly) different things on every walk. Examples could be balancing on fallen trees, hiding treats or toys for the dog to find, asking the dog to crawl or jump over something, etc. Only your imagination sets the limit to what you and your dog can do during your walks.

Hiking with your dog - Tromsdalstinden

Me and Link in front of Tromsdalstinden (the mountain behind us, 1238 mamsl)

 This weekend Link and I went hiking. We went to a place called Tromsdalen (the actual valley, not the district), on the mainland across the bridge from Tromsø. We went into the valley as far as the trail go before heading up the mountain and then found ourselves a nice spot for the tent.

The view from the tent. The two places we stopped to take pictures while hiking to the top of Tromsdalstinden. (Mamsl = meters above mean sea level)

 When the tent was in place, there were still a few hours left of sunlight (the sun actually sets here now, but the sunset lasts for hours), so we went for a little hike up the mountains on side we were camping (the opposite side from Tromsdalstinden).

Link up on the mountain in the soft light of the sunset

 We walked for about 1 hour before stopping for dinner. The light and the view was fantastic!

The view from where we had dinner.

After the meal, there was of course also time for a selfie...

 On our way back to the tent we passed a waterfall disappearing into a cave. It was really beautiful, but Link was just happy to find snow...

  There were several spots where there were still snow and having watched Link I have hereby redefined the world "happiness". Happiness is now defined as the feeling Link experiences when playing on snow in the mountains.

The view across the valley was stunning as we headed back to the tent, and the whole experience just got even better when a couple of rough-legged buzzards took of from the mountain wall below us and started circling and made their alarm call when we got too close to their nest. I've never seen a bird from above when flying before, an experience I will remember for a long time. Unfortunately it was too dark to get any pictures of the birds, but I took a picture of the cliff they flew from.

The cliff where the buzzards had their nest and Tromsdalstinden in the background.

 When we got back to the tent again, it was midnight and it was really starting to get dark. I made myself a cup of tea on the Trangia stove before going to bed... or sleeping bag. Link fell asleep right away next to me, it was super cozy! It started raining a bit too, and there is nothing cozier than spooning with your dog in a tent, while listening to the rain.

Nighty night!

The next morning it had stopped raining, but it was a bit windy. I made breakfast (or rather heated the food I brought with me) and sat there thinking about whether or not to "try for the summit" of Tromsdalstinden. I called my boyfriend and asked him to check the weather forecast, I wouldn't want to be caught up on the mountain if the weather got worse. But the weather wasn't going to change, so I decided to go.

Nothing tastes as good as food when you're out in nature.

I was up on the top 5 years ago, on my birthday, and I haven't been up since, so I figured it was about time. Last time though I was aching in the legs for several days after and nearly tore a muscle on the way down, so I planned to let it take some more time this time. Also I had Link with me now and I didn't want him to get too warm or tired either, so we made quite a few stops to snack and just rest.

Snacks for me and snacks for Link.

 It's also important to make sure to get enough water, something that isn't very difficult on this mountain. There are small streams everywhere during the first 750 meters, and after that there are spots of snow, so making sure Link got enough water wasn't hard. I filled my bottle with water from the last stream we passed on the way up.

Link drinking from a small stream.

 These stops were perfect opportunities to take pictures, so here are some.

Picture from Salen (see second picture of the post). The tent is just a small dot now.

Link and I on Salen, with the view of the other side, Ramfjorden, behind us.

Link on Salen, with Tromsø in the background.

 As we got closer to the top, the weather got worse, it started raining and it got windier. So I didn't take any more pictures before we got to the top.

Me, Link and some random people, on the top of Tromsdalstinden, Tromsø in the background.

Link on the top of Tromsdalstinden, the mountains around Ramfjorden in the background.

The view from the top, Tromsø way down there.

 On the way down I was too tired (and too focused on not falling or getting pulled by Link) to take a lot of pictures. So it wasn't until I had packed down the tent and begun hiking back out of the valley that I started taking pictures again. My boyfriend walked to meet me and met me half way. It was really wonderful to get some help carrying my things back to the car after the long hike up the mountain!

My boyfriend took this picture of me and Link when we met.