Herman the Foodie

Training Success: Day 2

I think I read on a dog training web site that the handler should vary the food rewards so the dog is expecting the unexpected. Will it be chicken or cheese? Hot dog or steak?

In this light, I purchased something new: Chicken Livers. They were actually recommended in the same line of the book as hot dogs. This was my first experience with chicken livers, and you can take my word for it: Chicken Livers Are Fowl! Um, I mean FOUL! Nasty as hell. But the book said dogs like them, so I took them out with me in a baggie.

I take Herman out training first, and click and stick a piece of chicken liver in his mouth.
Herman spits it out.
I try again.
He spits it out again.

At this point I determine that Herman does not enjoy the chicken livers. Luckily I also had some centimeter cheese with me, and he likes that. So we used the cheese and did the click training.

Diego on the other hand LOVES chicken livers. (Although I cannot differentiate his love for chicken livers from his love for any other food.)

I like the name Gustav

Jips and I like going to the gulf coast during labor day weekend because there are fewer people on the beach, and this labor day the combined forces of Gustav and the shitty economy made for even fewer people on the beach.

Yes, you read that correctly, with the approaching hurricane Gustav, I traveled south to go to the beach. It was wonderful. The beach is the most healing place for me: mentally, physically, emotionally. Coming home I feel refreshed and peaceful. If I was doing it again, I would not stay during the 24 hours before the hurricane hit land. 2 days before the hurricane was ideal beach weather:

And then on Sunday, August 31st, the winds picked up and the surf reminded me of the Atlantic rather than the gulf.
We drove back Sunday night after seeing Bobby Jindal on CNN talk about how once the tropical storm winds started it wouldn't be safe to drive. We drove north with lots of other evacuees and since we were just leaving vacation early rather than leaving our homes, the exodus felt fun like going to a football game.

The Danger Zone

Don't walk under the danger zone. I saw this flight of pigeons a few days ago when I was walking home to my new apartment. The barrage of bird poop was audible. The scene was pretty though, so I took this photo.

Here's the second installment of commute cut-ups:

Cut-up Commute II

Going to do some more recording today.

Freshly Dead

I found another dead bird. This time at work, or just as I was leaving work. This little finch flew into one of the five stories of glass and fell to its death onto concrete. It makes me feel responsible as part of the human race for making buildings that kill little birds. There is something very unnatural to see a beautiful bird lying dead on cement. I think this last picture is the worst.