Busy Busy Buster

Busy Busy Buster

I realize it's been quite sometime since our last update.  I've had quite a busy schedule.  And, one thing I've learned about trying to take your dog everywhere with you - it's takes almost twice as long to do everything.

Going to the store:  Walk Buster to the truck after making sure he doesn't need a potty break.  In the parking lot, putting him in the back of the truck. Shopping.  Come back to the truck, place Buster in the back.  At home, Buster gets out first, then...well you get the idea.

Size - Growing Boy

Buster is over 60 lbs now.  His appetite has stabilized at 2 cups of Blue Buffalo in the morning and 2 cups in the evening.  He is much taller than Rusty as you can see in the picture.  He still loves horse manure judging from the luscious green color of his poops.

Exercise

According to the Nike tracking app on my phone we walk over 35 miles each month.  We are already over that for April.  I don't keep track of every step we take either. Buster tolerates walking, but I don't think he is a big fan.  He generally is looking all over the place, which brings us to...

Training

Buster has a sit and a down.  His heel is whatever he may feel like.  As long as he doesn't pull me around, I kind of tolerate that.  Oh, and he can pull!  This is much different from other dogs I've owned.  I usually wouldn't tolerate such insubordination.  I've realized over the last couple of months however that Buster just needs constant reinforcement.  Trying to force him into a regimental training program just isn't going to work.  For the most part he wants to be a good dog, it's just that sometimes he has too much puppy energy juice flowing through him and it carries him right away.

We've done a little dock diving.  He loves going in the water, but he has yet to consistently "jump" in.  I think this would be a great sport for him.  We will continue to work on this and see if he can get the hang of it.

Socialization

We've been to the dog parks in and around Bakersfield over the last couple of weeks.  One had a lot of dog traffic, one only had a little, and the third had no one else around.  Buster is not quite sure what to make of the other dogs.  We'll keep working on this too.

The people downtown know him well.  People see us on almost a daily basis.  They've seen Buster grow up.  I had to start asking people to make Buster sit before they touch him.  Most do, some don't.  It was getting to the point where if Buster saw someone he thought he recognized he would just pull me over to them.  We've managed to get this behavior under control.

Buster is great on the trail with the horses.  He follows along well and has good stamina.  At our usual restaurant stop, he rests quietly while we enjoy a meal or conversation.  We still buy him a burger before heading back to the stables.  Most definitely his favorite part.

I do get concerned about his lack of concern for the horses.  I'm not sure how to make him understand that all horses aren't as friendly as ours.  This might be something he will learn the hard way.  I took him over to a friend's house to help her with her horse training.  She had a little mule there too.  The mule put Buster in his place.

Buster Brown the Clown

He still makes us laugh on a daily basis.  He is totally uninhibited and truly a free spirit.  He has learned to deal with the cats.  He still sleeps in his crate until 6:15.  He can go 90 miles per hour or be a couch potato.

He is still hard on Rusty.  Rusty is a tough old girl and refuses to back down.  Buster will steal Rusty's rubber ball and run circles around her until she pretends to give up.  She looks disinterested, he drops the ball, THEN she steals it back. 

Riding on the River

Buster is better on the lead with the horse
than he is with me walking on the ground.

Buster is a little more than 5 months old now.  He has done exceptionally well off lead and we feel comfortable riding along the river with him.  There are a few places we have to cross traffic and I have a 15' line I attach to his collar.  Buster is not the most attentive when his nose picks up one thing and his ears hear me calling his name.  While we continue to work on this, I think this might just be a personality trait he may never out grow.

The Kern doesn't have a lot of water running this time of year.  We did find one place he could take a swim and cool off.  The temperature was in the mid-70's and he was getting hot.  We took the horses in first, then I hear this big "BLOP" behind me.  Buster must have jumped in!  When I looked back, he was completely under water.  His head came bobbing back to the surface and he swam right past us.  Then he swam to the horse.  I really didn't want him pawing at the horse in the water, so we turned around and headed for shore.  Buster was close behind with what looked like a big smile on his face.

Buster was not sure who to keep an eye on!

We rode out to Ethel's and had the usual.  Buster got a plain bun with his patty.  On the way back we were able to cross at a different place and got a picture or two with the cheap pocket camera.  Buster was having a good time splashing around.

We ran into a few other riders with dogs on the trail.  Buster handled every thing fairly well.  He really just wants to play.  It's nice because all the other dogs are quite used to this and they are very good at teaching Buster the correct social protocol.

Buster sleeps incredibly well after these outings.  Not only did he sleep well Sunday night, but he took some time Monday catching up on some zzz's.  The boy knows how to have fun!

He Is Growing, Not Grown

Judging His Juice

Buster has an amazing amount of energy at times.  It's difficult to tell at times just how much he has left in the tank.  Sometimes it takes a little reminder that he still is not even 6 months old yet.  So, when we take him out with the horses and he is full of piss and vinegar, we think he can go forever.  When we started the trail ride he was doing great.  About 20 minutes in, we realized we were going to wear him completely out.  We were meeting up with friends at a lunch spot, so Ranae helped me get him in the saddle and Jessie and I carried him for about 15 minutes.  

After the break, he went for another 15-20 minutes on the ground before we hit a high traffic area.  He was happy to get back in the saddle and we met up with our friends.  They were kind enough to drive him back to the trailer and we rode the horses back.  

He was glad to see us and he slept well that night.

I found the above video in one of my folders.  I seem to have them everywhere.  This one cracks me up because he is looking around for a cat to chase.

Long Days Together

Ah, the life of a working dog.  Thanksgiving was a bit tough on the Bustmeister.  While we spent time with family across town he was crated.  It was longer than he was used to, but he can not be trusted on his own, so we were left with no other options.  To make it up to him, we spent all day Friday together.

We've been needing a new(er) truck for quite some time now.  One that had a little muscle to pull our two-horse trailer on the longer trips we can now take with the horses.  I am not crazy about car shopping.  I thought we would go look at a couple of models and then come home and go riding.  We took Buster along.  We left at 9 am and got home around 7 pm with a new truck.  Buster was a pretty good boy sleeping in the dealer's office as we went through all the rig-a-ma-roll of the process.  He was also a great source of stress release during those long periods they keep you waiting.

So he had a day spent in the crate, followed by a day of getting dragged around looking at trucks, and we still felt he needed more.

Today, we took the new truck on a shakedown cruise with the horses and Buster came along.  It was his first "official" tag-a-long on a ride.  Again, he did great!  It was unusually warm - almost 80 degrees!  We were in an open part of the trail near the Kern River.  Buster followed along with us as we rode down the trail.  There were a couple of egrets.  I don't even think he saw them.  He was too busy keeping an eye on us.  We did not ride very far.  His tongue was hanging out.  We went back to the trailer for a short break, then went the other direction for a bit.  He looks like he is going to be a great trail dog.

Tomorrow it's back out to the river for a ride with the nephews.  We will likely be leading the horses as the kids ride, so he won't get so worn out.  We'll see what happens.

Checked his weight today and he was 24 1/2 pounds before dinner.