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Link on one of our walks near the cottage

Pretty much everything in my life has changed since I last posted something on the blog. I've been pregnant and given birth to a beautiful baby girl. I've gotten married. I've lost my best friend and best dog in the world, Link, and gotten a new dog, Eddie.
Since this is a "dog blog", I will not dwell on the first part, but focus on the latter, the dog part.

My beautiful Link

We lost Link during our vacation in Sweden this summer. Long story short; he was hit by a car and died instantly. This is now almost 3 months ago, and still not a day goes by that I don't miss him terribly. Just last night I dreamt that we were out doing field training with other retrievers and their owners. He did so well, he was happy and I was so proud of him. But alas, that will never happen again. He will never lie close to me again, never beg at the dinner table, never happily offer behavior during clicker sessions and never excitedly wag his tail while I pack dog training stuff in my bag to go out and train with him.

Me and Link

He was with me during the hardest parts of my pregnancy and was a saint when we brought our little daughter home from the hospital. He was my first baby, even though we weren't the same species. In my mind he was really my baby. I loved him more than what is possible to express with words. He was my best friend, my baby and my rock. I will never love an other dog like I loved him. Now he is gone. It is times like this I wish I believed in some kind of heaven. I would like the thought of him being somewhere nice, where I could run around and play and be happy. But he is just gone, and somehow I have to find a way to accept that.

Link and my daughter

To fill the void, but not in any way to replace Link, we started looking for a new golden retriever puppy. We found a breeder a couple of hours away from where my mom lives. She had a litter of golden puppies, and one male left for sale. We went to see them, and as always when just visiting a breeder "to have a look", we decided we wanted little Eddie. Or Dio as we thought we would call him at the time.

Me and Eddie the first time we met.

Eddie would not be old enough to leave his mom for another week, so we returned a week later to take him home to my mom's. It was when we were driving from the breeder that we decided that the name "Dio" was not right, he felt more like an Eddie.

Eddie the day we brought him home.

We had another 2 weeks left of the vacation when we got Eddie. We also had an 1800 km long drive to get home.. Considering that we had a 4 month old baby and a 2 months old puppy with us, it went really smooth! Both of them slept for most of the time, and when we stopped to feed the baby, we fed and played with the puppy.

Eddie's mother.

When we got to Norway, we stopped at the family cottage and stayed there for a couple of days. Here Eddie met my in-law's dog Scott. He is a Danish Swedish farm dog and he is 6 years old. He is the sweetest dog in the world, but he is too much of a push over for his own good. I believe he was relieved that Link had finally started to act like an adult, and here we bring home a new puppy! He was less than pleased, but like always he was very nice to the puppy and had more patience than he should've with all the puppy shenanigans.

Eddie when we were back from our vacation in Sweden.

So here we are. Marriage, baby and new dog. Lots of things to be happy about and thankful for. Don't take me wrong, I do appreciate the things I have. One thing is certain though, nothing and no one could ever replace Link.

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.

A very good day!

Yesterday was a fantastic day! Not only was it my birthday and wonderful weather, Link was given a clean bill of health by the vet after a couple of weeks with an ear infection.

Link waiting outside with me after work. Wonderful weather on a wonderful day!

 Another reason why this is a good day is that Link has done a good deed today. He donated blood to a injured dog that needed serum! 

Link got a band aid on his leg where they draw his blood.

But back to Links ear. He has had a mild ear infection that turned into a ugly inflammation after 2 weeks of treatment. We had been able to cure the infection but for some still unknown reason, the inflammation got worse and wouldn't go away. So one week ago we put him on cortisone and when I had him checked by the vet today, everything looked really good! So now we're going to gradually decrease the dose of cortisone and in about 1,5 weeks time he will hopefully not need any more medication. 

Link was rather tired after a long day at work...

 Another good news is that I finally got the blog's youtube channel up and running. So far I've only gotten the video that I made about Link's first year uploaded, but I promise there is more to come. The plan is to start making dog training tutorials. Hope you guys will like it!

The channel is called Dogtelligent and you can watch the video here.

Gun dog training my Golden Retriever

Lexie, the 4 year old golden retriever female attending the gun dog course last weekend.

 This weekend Link and I attended a three day course in gun dog training for retrievers. In addition to Link there were three Labrador retrievers, one female Golden retriever and one Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever. The instructor of the course, Vera Verlo, is a clicker trainer specialized in gun dog training. She has three Labrador Retrievers herself, that she competes with in gun dog trials for retrievers.

Link waiting for me to send him to retrieve a dummy.

 Friday

 Firday evening the instructor held a seminar. We learned the basic steps of gun dog training:

• Obedience - Not the dog sport, but basic gun dog obedience like heeling, being quiet and only retrieve game/dummy on cue
• Marking - Seeing where the dummy falls and remembering it
• Sending and directing - The dog should be able to be directed by the handler in the direction of the dummy. If the dog walks too far away from where the dummy is, you should stop it and direct it towards where it is.
• Delivering the dummy/game - Without shaking, chewing, spitting out on the ground or dropping one dummy to pick up another. The game or dummy should be delivered by the dog unharmed, right into your hand.

Todd, the second youngest participant of the course. He is a 1 year and 8 months old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

Saturday

 Saturday it was time to get out into the field for some basic "hunting obedience", how to correctly use the dog whistle, how to search for dummies in a field search and how to direct your dog to find game that it has not seen where it fell.

Lexie and her owner showing us a perfect "hunting heel".

Link showed me that even though he can heel and retrieve under controlled conditions (indoor or somewhere outside where we often are), he was more interested in all the smells in the forest and running around with the dummy, than working with me. He was the youngest dog participating, so it was not so strange that he was the dog with the least previous training (well, him and Todd the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever that was just a couple of months older than Link). Learning our limits is also important though, that is the only way to find out what we have to work on.

The chocolate lab called Iver retrieving a duck-shaped dummy.

We were also taught the basics of a "close search". I'm sure there is a better term for it in English, but what it means is that the dog searches for the dummy close to where it is. It is used for when you send your dog out to do a so called "blind retrieve", you give it the "stop" signal, followed by the "close search" signal, when it comes to the place where the dummy is.

Link learning the basics of "close search".

Sunday

 Sunday we were also out in the field and that day we learned more about marking both on land and in water, and how to send the dog straight out to the dummy. We also got a chance to try the "qualification test", which if you pass it gives you the opportunity to participate in proper gun dog trials for retrievers.

The 6 year old black labrador felmale called Kimmie, retrieving a dummy. She is also a therapy dog that we got to know during the first weekend of thearpy dog training in May.

Link and I did extremely much better this day. He did really well when we trained sending out. We trained using a bowl with treats, so he was instantly rewarded for running straight out. Between his turns we trained being calm and quiet. It was hard for him to sit there and watch the other dogs work, but he did really well.

Here I am sending Link out to retrieve a dummy.

Next time it was our term it was time to try retrieving on land and in water. We tested what Link would do if he was sent to a dummy on land (he wanted to get into the water so badly!), and then to the other one that was in the water. Link went directly out to the dummy we sent him to, ran back towards me, ran past me, dropped the dummy and leapt straight into the water to get the other dummy. He eventually brought that dummy back to me though. So somewhere inside him, he feels good about running/swimming out to things and picking them up. But taking them all the way back to me is something we have to work on.

Beautiful Eine, a 4 year old black Labrador. He is like Link, aspiring to become a therapy dog.

 We also trained directing to left and right using hand signals. The dog is then sitting in front of you and there are one dummy on each side of the dog, some distance away. Link responded well to these signals, even though we have never consciously trained this before.  

Cute Todd.

He did surprise all of us in the end though. He was sent out to retrieve a dummy out on a small pond, but instead of swimming back to me with the dummy, he got out of the pond on the other side. There he dropped the dummy and went away to... well.. shit. Just hang in there, that is not the impressive part! I called him back to me, and sent him to retrieve the dummy from the other side. He didn't manage to do it on the first try, but the second time he swam over, found the dummy and retrieved it right back to me! I was ecstatic! I could not hope for more. Considering that this is the first time in his life that he has been asked to do this, I think it is really impressive that he grasped the idea and preformed so well.

Eine retrieving from the water.

 We also got to go through a walk through of the qualification test. We did it as training, with rewards all the way for Link. We definitely was not ready to do it then and there, but it was good for us to see how the test is done. The things that you preform during the test is:

1. Sitting next to you while the judge greets you 
2. Heeling on leash
3. Heeling off leash
4. Stay
5. Recall
6. Sitting while dummy is being thrown
7. Retrieving dummy
8. Sitting while a shot is fired

Me walking 50 meters away from Link while he stays on command next to the instructor. The mountain in the background is Tromsdalstinden, the mountain Link and I climbed the previous weekend.

 We didn't fire the shot during our walk through of the test, Link was already exhausted, so I didn't want to put him through more. We had already trained getting used to and liking gun shots, both on Saturday and Sunday.

These are the things we have to work on:

• Heeling in different locations and terrain, both on an off leash

• Retrieving into my hand (first while on leash so that running away with the dummy isn't an option)

• Using the whistle: 
• Close search. Starting by teaching link the signal for it by putting treats on the ground around Link and letting him find/eat them on the signal (double whistle on the dog whistle)
• Stop. Blow the whistle once and the dog should stop. You start teaching this by blowing the whistle once and then throwing a ball or a treat to the dog. The dog thus learns to stop what it is doing and have all of its attention on you
• Recall. This I have already taught Link, but we still have to practice it under varying conditions.

•  Sending out to the dummy (using bowls with treats in the beginning), and directing the dog to the left or right using either whistle or hand signals.

When we can do all of this, it is time to start putting everything together and to increase the difficulty. And maybe then we could pass the qualification test.

The pond where we practiced retrieving from water.

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.

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.