Brix Gets an Upgrade!

and other stories of the week

Hi all! We hope you are happy and healthy out there!

As I write this, we are finally getting some rain, and the August-like summer heat has all but vanished. I’ve mentioned before that our area of Canada has been in an active drought for years now, and the start of spring has been REALLY dry.

The rain is good, and I think I might take the dogs for a rain walk later today — which I love doing. We might even break out their adorable raincoats!

Ok, let’s get on with the stories of the week!

Bernoulli Actually Struggled in School This Week

Up until this point, Bernoulli has been breezing through all of the different tasks for his brush-up at Level 3. He hit a wall with a task he has always struggled with — take it and drop it.

It wasn’t because he was a naughty boy and wouldn’t give back or drop the thing he was supposed to drop. It was because he wouldn’t take it in the first place!

Our first run-through of this was also a massive problem, and he literally wouldn’t take anything, no matter the scaffolding techniques we used to teach it. It was abandoned for another trick — finding his leash — which he got really good at. I’ve been working with him using toys, and I thought he would do it because there is this pretzel toy he likes playing tug with, but in a game situation it was like he had never seen the thing before.

So, we have our work cut out for us.

The good news is he also showed a huge improvement in having strangers come up to pet him. As we mentioned last September/October, something changed for him and he became REALLY shy — so much so that he would bark at people if they got too close.

He does fine now, with no issues at all in public, and in class strangers had to come up and pet him. He did fine initially, but then he started to dodge people as they came up. No barking, just a dodge. It’s not ideal, as we want Bernoulli to be more friendly like Beaker and Bunsen, but it’s an improvement!

He is the perfect gentleman in class too — he doesn’t bark at other dogs, other people, or anything. He just smiles and wants to work.

The Brix Wall Improvement

Ever since I put up a ton of shelves for Brix at Christmas time, I had wanted to expand the setup for him. Kris and I wanted him to get a bit bigger and stronger first, and he has. We also noticed that about two months ago he started using his shelves WAY more. He would get the zoomies and zip up to the top, screw around for a bit, and then zip down. Other mornings he jumps up to the last step and lays there, almost like he is looking for more.

So, unbeknownst to Kris, I did a massive Etsy order from a place called Cat Mode and got a bunch of new steps, a swinging bridge, some honeycomb hidey holes, and my favourite — a Brix hammock/bed.

I put them together on Friday evening and then spent around two hours installing them. They look great, but does Brix like them?

He isn’t sold on the swinging bridge yet, but he LOVES the honeycomb hidey holes and REALLY likes his bed. He hops up there, naps, and looks down on all of us. It’s really cute.

The shelves take up an entire wall, but because they are so high up, they really don’t affect anything we do. In fact, they are taking up space we never would have used anyway. It’s a win-win!

I’ve been hiding treats up there, which is encouraging him to explore. I’m sure there will be tons more footage as the days go on!

Wag and Walk

We had a great pack walk on Saturday through a really fun path that followed the Red Deer River. Bernoulli was a little bit too excited at the start, but he calmed down once we got going.

Beaker was just in her glory, exploring a path and getting to walk with people and her humans.

She’s adorable. Every 15 steps or so, she looks back at us with a huge smile on her face, just checking if we are still there.

We didn’t take Bunsen because last week we noticed he was a bit stiff after some of the walks. Out of an abundance of caution, he is getting a rest from long walks for a week. We don’t want him to overdo it, because he absolutely will, and aggravate the slipped disc in his neck.

I mentioned on Pet Chat that one thing I have been doing to show him he is loved and special is taking him out with me for 15–20 minutes first before I do anything with Bernoulli and Beaker. He goes for his potty break, and then we just leisurely meander through our front field. He gets a sniffari in and a ton of mental stimulation. Then, after we return, the other dogs go with me on a longer walk.

It’s been working great, and Bunsen is fine letting the younger dogs go because he already got his time outside. He’s such a good dog. Love him!

Ok! That’s it for the stories!

Oh… I’ll leave you all with one more big news item.

We have finalized the prototype of the Brix stuffie, and once we have it in hand and approve it, we will be able to begin the pre-sale campaign for it!