Get the Ball in the Small Box

To continue with the ball-in-the-box puzzles, here’s another one – get the ball out of a small, enclosed box. Can Mocha do it?

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Get the Ball in the Box

To challenge Mocha mentally, we decided to try a series of puzzles: putting a ball (his favorite toy) into a box. The challenge is trying to get it out. Mocha seems to enjoy these puzzles too.

Here’s the box in a different orientation to change things up a bit. Go Mocha go!

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Exercise, Discpline & Affection

This is Mocha after a nice three-mile run first thing in the morning. It’s part of my new training regime for Mocha. Exercise, discipline & affection.

Ever since leaving Mocha in a kennel, he’s been a changed pup. He’s more skittish, more nervous, and a lot more barky.

During the day, he’s usually pretty good. Playful, goofy, and pretty chill. But at night, he’ll bark at people walking outside, even if it’s neighbors that he once happily sniffed & licked.

Suddenly, he started barking at every person we encountered on his bathroom breaks. Even the nice neighbor and their kids. That was the last straw.

According to Cesar Milan of The Dog Whisperer, one way to restore order and banish the bark is to assert your dominance. Become the pack leader.

I thought I was doing that already, but perhaps not. Or perhaps the time in the kennel knocked me out of that position.

So starting today, I’m getting Cesar on his ass. It’s going to be all about exercise, discipline, affection, and calm & assertive pack leadership, dammit!

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The Mocha Marathon

A romp at the dog park and a three-mile run didn’t do it. A two-hour uphill hike didn’t do it. So we decided to take drastic measures.

We decided to take Mocha on a Mocha Marathon. Run three miles to the dog park, then the usual fetch, followed by a three-mile run back home. And lots of water in between, of course. That oughta tire him out once and for all!

To be totally honest, the runs and hikes do tire Mocha out. As soon as he gets home, he collapses to the floor and sleeps for a good hour or three. But then he’s up and active again, as if he’s been sleeping for days. I blame it on his damned Jack Russell Terrier half.

We could also be a victim of our own doing. Perhaps we’ve been exercising Mocha so well that he’s a mass of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle now. Damn.

So how did Mocha do from his Mocha Marathon today?

He slept pretty much the rest of the evening. Not a peep from him. I had to poke him to make sure he was still alive. Success!

Except… next time, we’ll probably have to do eight miles to tire him out. Greaaat…

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Two Hour Uphill Hike

Yup, you read that right. We did a two-hour uphill hike today. And with Mocha’s dog backpack on, you’d think he’d get tired, right?

If you thought that, you’re a fool. Like us. The darn little guy didn’t get tired at all. We think he got tired near the end of the two-hour hike, but I think we got so tired that we started to believe, truly believe, that Mocha was tired too.

“I think he’s getting tired.”

“Yea, I think so too.”

“He’s slowing down.”

“Totally.”

“We should stop and turn back now.”

“Yea, you’re right.”

“No sense in tiring the poor boy out.”

“Yea. Let’s go back now.”

Meanwhile, Mocha’s like, “What? we’re going home already? Awww…”

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Exercising Mommy and Daddy

Woof woof woof. Yip yip! Woof woof woof. Yip yip yip yip! Woof woof woof. Woof woof woooooof woof.

Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Bark bark bark! Bark bark bark!

Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Snort.

Translated from Dog:

Mommy and Daddy took me to the dog park this morning. Oh boy! Then they took me for a long run. Oh boy oh boy! I think it was three miles. There was so much activity and exercise that I was pooped when I got back home.

But not as pooped as Mommy and Daddy. I think they were more tired than I was. And I ran more than them today! I was running around playing fetch at the dog park!

I think I need to run Mommy and Daddy more often. They need more exercise. I should take them to the human park and make them fetch the ball for me. Tee hee.

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Exercising at Home with the Dog Backpack

Since the dog backpack worked so well yesterday, we thought we could try using it back home.

Our plan:

Load up the pockets with cans of soda to weigh it down, then play fetch down the hallway.

The result:

Mocha loved it! He loves fetch in any form, outdoors or indoors, so of course he loved it. He didn’t quite understand the effect of the added bulk to his body though. Namely, he’d dive under the bed and get stuck because the backpack was too large. Or he’d try to squeeze through a narrow opening and get stopped in his tracks. At one point, he tried to turn a corner and smacked into the wall so hard that a can of soda almost exploded. Damn this boy has a lot of energy.

By the end of the fetch session, he was pretty pooped. Unfortunately, he recovered fairly quickly. That means this might not be an effective part of his daily exercise, but it could augment it well.

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