Brandy's Adventures

Brandy was putting her muzzle deep into the dog park water bowl yesterday so we decided today to see how she liked more water. We filled a kiddie pool about half-full of water and she immediately jumped into the pool. Brandy was biting and pawing at the water, swirling it around with her muzzle and occasionally biting at the debris floating on the water. Then, she tried chewing at the edge of the pool. Unsuccessful at getting a good grip on the edge, she jumped out, turned abound and grabbed the curved lip of the pool, bending it up until we stopped her.

We have a lap pool and we can hardly wait until the water gets a bit warmer so that we can see if she likes deep water. It should be exciting!

We are exploring the trails a little at a time with the goal of going from Lake Poway to Mt. Woodson peak. We’ve several times been around Lake Poway and now wanted to explore Warren Canyon. We started at Lake Poway Trail (counter-clockwise) with Brandy being at times after a good start, a little hesitant to continue around the lake. Brandy would stop briefly and just look at me, then, she would continue because I didn’t stop. I thought this slightly strange behavior as she almost always hikes in front of me, except for her “sniff” stops.

We took a short break where Lake Poway Trail joined Warren Canyon Trail and then continued uphill on Warren Canyon Trail along the canyon. Brandy kept stopping and starring at me. I had to keep encouraging her to continue with “Let’s go!” and she reluctantly and briefly complied. We kept hiking uphill until we met Mt. Woodson Trail and there we stopped for a short rest and to look at the scenery.

That was a far as we intended to go today, with the thought of next time we would hike from Lake Poway to the top of Mt. Woodson. We then went downhill toward Lake Poway and Brandy led the way tugging slightly on the leash.

When we got to the Lake Poway staging area, I offered Brandy water and she lapped a few times and seemed disinterested so lack of water wasn’t the issue. When we go to the top of Mt. Woodson, we’ll have water and snacks.

I kept trying to understand Brandy’s reluctance to hike as she is usually very eager to do so. I’m very interested to see how she reacts the next time we hike.

We have been unsure about Brandy having the run of the house when we were away, as we were concerned with her chewing and potty habits, so a few times we have been putting her in the bathroom for an hour or so with her toys, open crate and a food-filled Kong. We twice found her on the counter-top when we returned and she would cower a bit. Most recently, she resisted somewhat going into the bathroom so we lured her, a real chow-hound, with food.

We wanted a better solution and, especially, a happy Brandy, as she has built our trust. Yesterday, as a test, we thought we’d leave her alone in the house for twenty minutes as we took a drive through the Old Coach area of Poway, admiring the homes, as well as a bit of country. When we returned, we were met by a happy Brandy and no destruction or soiling. We were ecstatic!

We later in the day went to our grandson’s, Hunter’s, 6th birthday party leaving Brandy with the run of the house for about three hours. Again, Brandy was simply happy we were home and had been a good girl while we were gone.

We would like to have the option of leaving Brandy outside while we are away and will soon work on that. Our concern is that she will bark, which is intolerable. We live in a very quiet neighborhood and will do our best to keep it that way.

Rancho Bernardo Dog Park had only one dog when we arrived (yesterday) and it left shortly after we arrived. So we waited hopefully for another to show. Then, Bela arrived! Bela is an Italian greyhound. Bela and Brandy quickly became good friends, chasing and chewing each other. Even though other dogs came to play, they would introduce themselves to the new dogs and then resume playing together.

Brandy suddenly yelped while running and then began severely limping on her left, rear leg. After a few minutes, she was just slightly limping, but we thought it best to end the play for the day. Brandy is eagerly looking forward to another play-day with Bela.