saturday
Icy little lake.
This afternoon Dave and I took Andy for a walk on a piece of property that we are part owners of with 2 of his brothers - it's down in Butler County. I must have walked on it once, 25 years ago when they first bought it cause I remembered a small isolated lake in a steep valley that had been formed from strip mining but other than that it seemed all new to me.
Another deep valley - there are many long valleys and ridges cut when they strip mined it long ago.
Andy in the pines. These pines were all planted after the mining. Over the years Dave has gone in there and trimmed the lower branches off many of the trees. It's one of his favorite things to do in the woods - trim the trees so the timber will be worth more later.
Dave was showing me a tree where a bear had ripped the bark with its claws.
The ground was littered with fallen pine branch tips - not sure why that happens in the winter sometimes...
Edit - I read that it is caused by red squirrels. They sever the branch off so they can easier reach the buds on the tips, which they eat, then they discard the branch.
As we were walking Dave and I were discussing an article that he had read that said that the most words a dog can learn are about 26. I think Andy already (kind-of) knows 29 words - I don't doubt that someday he will know even more.
List - all the words Andy definitely knows or pretty much knows now:
Andy
doggy
good boy
yes
sit
lay down
ring (get your ring toy)
chicken (get your chicken toy)
come
close (stay close when we are walking)
go ahead
no
ring the bell (when he needs to go out)
back (get in the back of the car after being in the front)
move (out of my way)
down
calm down
bed time (go into his crate)
ow (stop hurting me)
enough (stop barking)
clean up (put your toys in your box)
shake hands
look (at my face)
what do you do next? (at the door he is supposed to sit down and look at my face before he gets permission to go outside)
where's Mommy? (that's me - or where's Johnny, Daddy, Rossy - Andy will then look around for the person)
what's that? (another case where he looks all around to see whatever it is)
drop it
give (give it into my hand)
tug (play tug with a rope)
That's 29. Though some are situational - maybe he understands the words because there are other clues as to what we mean when we say them - but he responds correctly when we say the words.
I really enjoy talking to Andy. I can't remember ever having a dog who liked to be talked to as much as Andy does - cocking his head back and forth and using his eyebrows.