More Science Experiments

We got an email from the folks at the Duke Canine Cognition Center asking me, Ambrose, to participate in another research study. I was there a few months ago helping them with an experiment on true and false information. Even though Barbara says I got called because they did a random sample of the data base, I know they picked me because I did so well on the last experiment. They didn't ask Niamh back. HA!

This experiment was on spatial recognition. Barbara had to hold an occluder (fancy scientific name for a piece of cardboard) in front of me while the experimenter put a treat in one bucket and pretended to put a treat in another bucket. Then I was released to see which bucket had the treat. Hot dogs. Yum!



I quickly learned that the hot dog was always in the bucket on my right and never in the one on the left. Easy peasy! After awhile I didn't even bother checking the bucket on the left.



Then Courtney, the researcher, had me go to the other side of the room and do the experiment from the other direction. She wanted to see if I was going to the bucket based on spatial relationships in the room or response learning. My results showed that I was going to the right even when we switched directions so it is response learning. Doesn't that sound impressive?



Courtney was very nice to me. She kept saying how well I picked up the skill of finding the treat. It wasn't hard but I appreciated the compliment and of course I will do almost anything for treats. Courtney petted me a lot and said I have a sweet face.



I like going to Duke to participate in their experiments. They love dogs there. The other students made a big fuss over me too and I got to eat a ton of treats. They can call me any time they need a smart boy to help them.



Of course I do have a sweet face.



The only thing I can complain about is that when Agatha and Archie went to Harvard to participate in their studies they got a diploma. Where's my diploma?

A Two Breakfast Morning

You know that I have been concerned that Barbara is now 385 in dog years. She is very decrepit but I have decided that it may work to our advantage! Yesterday Ambrose woke her up much earlier than usual because he needed to go outside. She grumbled a bit but of course took us both out for our business and then made our breakfast when we came back in. We had a good breakfast and then she looked at the clock and exclaimed that it was too early and she was going back to bed. When she woke up later, she took us out again and then made us a second breakfast. I was amazed at our good luck. Just before she put the food down, she said "Did I give you breakfast earlier?" I didn't say a word and neither did Ambrose. We just sat there looking very hungry, she shrugged and gave us our second breakfast of the day!!! If she is this forgetful now, just think how many breakfasts we will get when she is 400 in dog years.

Other than that, life has been very boring. It has been so hot, that I barely want to go outside. We did go out to the dog park very early to try to beat the heat. No one else was there yet so we had the whole 3 acre park to ourselves. Here is a short movie to show you what I did in the wet grass.






BTW I have seen Ambrose's attempt to take over the blog. That is goofy little brothers for you. I think he has been influenced by Mango's pee wee labradork brotherDexter. Don't worry, I will never allow Ambrose to have two posts in a row again!

My Brother Wallace

Ambrose here! I am getting to do 2 posts in a row. Niamh will be sick with jealously when she sees the blog.

Anyway life here has been very dull. It is too hot to do anything fun and I am bored. But today Barbara said that I was going to see my littermate Wallace! His person brought him to our training center to do some practicing.

I have not seen Wallace since last November and he has grown to be bigger than I am. I am 70 lbs and he is 80 lbs! This spring he earned all of his confirmation points and is now a Champion! His fancy name is Ch. Albannach A Knight's Tale.



We were a bit unsure about each other at first but we walked around the center together, did a lot of sniffing and got lots of treats for being good boys.

Here we are together. I am the one on the left and Wallace is on the right. His feet are even bigger than mine!



We did get to run around a play a bit too but then I got a bit over excited and started to hump Wallace which Barbara thought was very rude and she made me stop!



We are going to get together again next week. I am looking forward to hanging out with my bro!

I Like Blondes!

This is the 200th post on our blog! It is not my 200th post of course since Niamh hardly ever lets me have a post to myself but the 200th since Niamh started the blog. We are so glad that we have met all of you in the blogosphere.

It has been hot and humid here which means life is very boring. It is hard to get enough exercise in the heat. Fortunately my girlfriend Scout has two kiddie pools and several times a week I get together with her for some running and a dip in the pools.

Here I am standing up on a chair to try to get a treat from Scout's person.



Scout is a very athletic girl and is getting good at agility.



And now I have a new blonde friend named Ginger. Isn't she pretty?



Scout introduced us and since I have a "thing" for blondes I am trying to get Ginger to play with me. I think that she is somewhat overwhelmed with my enthusiastic style of play and Barbara says I need to be a bit more gentle with her. Scout and I are used to playing very wildly as you can see in this little movie clip.



But I am sure with time, I will win Ginger over and she will play bitey face with me the way Scout does.

Goat Babies

It has gotten so hot here that we have been taking walks very early when it is only 75 degrees! Yesterday morning we went to Fearrington to see the goats. I love goats!



The goats have had little babies and they are so cute. They smell delicious. I would love to get in the pen with them but the fence is electrified and I will get a shock if I touch it. I don't know why they want to keep me out. I would be very gentle with the goat babies and lick them all over.



I would be happy to trade Ambrose in for my own little goat. Barbara says that she doesn't think they are housetrained, and for all Ambrose's faults, he is does know to do his business outside. Too bad because I think having a goat in the house would be very fun.



Since I can't have a goat, she got me this great little sheep stuffie. The best thing about it is that it has 16 squeakers! I will not let Ambrose near it.

In Memory

Lots of you get very creative with your blogs and are always changing the photos in your header. You may wonder why the photo in our header is always the same. Barbara does not want to change it because it is a picture of me and my big sister Selkie wagging our tails. I was just a puppy then and had hardly any fur on my tail while Selkie, who was grown up, had a very waggy tail with luxurious fur. I still don't have as much furnishings or feathers as she had. Barbara says it would make her too sad to change the photo so it will be that same one for a long time.

Selkie had to be put to sleep three years ago today. You can read some posts about Selkie and another one here.

Here is photo of Selkie and Barbara when Selkie finished her Rally Advanced title at the Gordon Setter National Specialty in 2006.



Selkie was a great Gordon Setter. She was quite the diva and loved performing so that people would clap for her. She was very playful and flirty but she had strict rules about how boy dogs had to behave around her. While I have been developing my talents at teaching boys manners Selkie was a natural at it. All she had to do was glare at a rude dog and they would back down. If she was alive now, Ambrose would not be allowed to move!!!

Surviving Canine Adolescence

I have been a busy boy this week. Niamh always gets to be Barbara's demo dog at class and events. I am very jealous of her and I whine when they leave me to go off and do fun things together. But Tuesday night was my time. She said that she needed my help for a lecture. Of course I was very excited.

I was a bit disconcerted to find out that the title of the lecture was "Surviving Canine Adolescence" and I was to be the adolescent in question! Barbara wanted to show people things they could do to help their adolescents grow up to be great dogs. She actually told people that I was the most destructive puppy she has ever had!! How demeaning! However I demoed my excellent mat work, which has definitely helped me have some self control.



Look at the nice elephant stuffie I got for helping Barbara. And I got to hear that Miss Practically Perfect Niamh wasn't always so perfect. Barbara said that Niamh was very flakey when she was a teenager!! Ha!

I went to Jordan Lake for a swim and to chase sticks.



It is fun to splash around.



Unfortunately because it has been so hot here all through June, the lake water was very warm and not really that refreshing. But I did get some good playing in and I needed the exercise.



It finally cooled off today so I got to run with my girlfriend Scout.



Don't I have a sweet face?



Scout and I play rough but then we are very sweet with each other too. We will be friends forever!



I've been a good boy this week so it is time to see what I can rip to pieces.

Dog Grooming Torture Fail

On Sunday, Joan Tennille, the Founder of the Canine Freestyle Federation is coming to our freestyle guild meeting and practice to give us a presentation on scoring. She is very important in the freestyle world and Barbara wanted to make sure that I look my best when we show her our new routine.

I knew this meant dog grooming torture of a serious nature and yesterday I was attacked by all sorts of evil implements. She actually did a good job on my head.



Now I know that Mango is very concerned about his momma losing steam and I am afraid that my person is losing her mind. My Auntie Karen has taught Barbara how to put a big towel on me after my bath and to pin it down while my fur is drying. This helps to keep it nice and smooth. Well somehow she forgot to do this and you can see the result.

I have a Fluffy Butt!!



Gordon Setters are not supposed to have Fluffy Butts! Look at my tail. Some of the fur is going up instead of down! I will be a laughingstock among setters. Look at all the cowlicks. I hope my sister Tori (Ch. Stonemist Wrinkle in Time) does not see this because she will make fun of me, I know.



I think it is time to trade Barbara in for a new person. She had a birthday the week before and is now 385 dog years. That is ancient and she is becoming very forgetful.

In other news I have gotten together with some of my boyfriends. I had not seen my boyfriend Riley in quite awhile because he had a big operation on his hip and a long rehab. Fortunately it was a great success and he seems as good as new. His people brought him to see my new training center. I was very glad to see him but I played hard to get for awhile.



But Riley was persistent and we got into a good game of bitey face.



We really got going and our ears were flying. It was so good to see him again.



I also got to visit with my boyfriend Trotter. We like to practice our obedience together. Here he is practicing the trick of standing on the stool. I think this is a good one because it will make it easier for him to steal things off the counter.



It is very hot here and we haven't been playing outside very much. I am bored so I am looking forward to freestyle practice tomorrow even though I have a Fluffy Butt.

No Bitey Face Before Breakfast

I am do not try to be a bad dog on purpose. I just couldn't help myself. Barbara's training bag was open and Flat Brutus looked irresistible. What can I say??

As you know from previous posts I am very good at bitey face. Niamh taught me the rules of the game when I was just a little puppy. And Niamh has a lot of rules! The most important one is no bitey face before breakfast.

While I am a morning dog, Niamh likes to take her time getting up. Then she likes to spend time looking out the sliding glass doors and contemplating the canine condition (I think she is just looking for deer). She does not like me to disturb her while she is meditating and will give me a severe correction if I do so. I learned early on that I have to leave her alone at this time.

After we have breakfast she is much more interested in playing with me. We usually get on one of the dog beds and do some good bitey face. It is a pretty restrained version but a nice way to start off the day.



Sometimes Niamh will even play a little tug of war with me with one of her toys. I also like to tug on her ears if I get the opportunity.



It is most annoying to have the camera flashing at us when we are trying to play though.



At night we play a much more active form of bitey face which can get a bit wild. There are no pictures of that though because we are usually moving too fast for Barbara to get photos plus there is a lot of crashing into furniture and Barbara trying to calm us down. What's a good game of bitey face without some furniture crashing?

Our Visit with Flat Brutus Comes to a Sad End

As you saw in my post last week, Flat Brutus arrived and had a good time socializing with the puppies in the puppy kindergarten class. It rained a lot so we had to wait until the weekend to take him on an outing. The it got terribly hot and you know how black dogs suffer in the heat. So instead of an outing, I took him with me to freestyle practice where it was air-conditioned, which I know he appreciated. All my freestyle friends were happy to meet him but I don't think freestyle will be his sport. You have to trot to the beat of the music and I don't think Flat Brutus is good at that.



It cooled off Monday and Tuesday so we decided to take a trip to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC is the flagship school in the university system here and was the first public university in the country, established in 1793! The campus is beautiful and it is one of my favorite places for a walk.

We walked in the oldest section of the campus where you can see the Old Well. That is the site of the only water on the campus when it first opened. Now it is a water fountain and is a symbol of the university.



Flat Brutus and I posed on the steps of the Old Well and then we had a drink.



Then we headed over to Morehead Planetarium which is where some of the Apollo astronauts trained. Of course they don't allow dogs inside (although I don't know why not) so we visited the sundial and the rose garden.



Here is Flat Brutus at the sundial.



Posing by the roses.



Then we headed toward Franklin Street which is the main road in Chapel Hill. Brutus is on the stone wall along Franklin Street in front of McCorkle Place. I am not in the picture because I was obsessing about the squirrels there. The students feed them so they are very well trained and don't run away like the dopey squirrels that live near me. Flat Brutus did not seem to be too interested in the squirrels which I thought was amazing.



I like Franklin Street because there are so many restaurants that it smells very good. We stopped at Sugarland, one of my favorite places. It is a store full of cupcakes!!! I could see that Flat Brutus approved.



We throughly enjoyed our outing but I knew that other dogs were waiting to host Flat Brutus and that we would have to send him on his way soon, Barbara thought that we should take a quick trip down to the pond this morning.

Now if you are very sensitive you may want to stop reading and not look at the graphic photo which I know you will find quite disturbing. Barbara has been keeping Flat Brutus in her training bag. She left it on the counter, unzipped (a tragic mistake) while she took a shower. While she was in the bathroom, Ambrose, the counter surfing beast, pulled the bag down and extracted Flat Brutus. Just look what the little cannibal did!!!



Barbara was horrified and very upset with Ambrose. I really don't know what we are going to do with him. Not only did he rip off Flat Brutus' legs, Ambrose ate his rear end. We are so sorry and we will be making a donation to French Bulldog Rescue in his memory. I hope that his person can clone him because I know that Moose was expecting to host him next.

Flat Brutus Has Arrived

We have been waiting and waiting and finally, yesterday afternoon, Flat Brutus showed up in our mailbox. It is very exciting to have such a celebrity visit us. He got here just in time for puppy class. Now we know that Flat Brutus is very well behaved but we thought that he would enjoy some socialization with the puppies. You can never have too much socialization.

Here is Flat Brutus socializing with Ziti.




He also spent some time with Sophie.




He hung out with Luke.




Here he is with Ellie Mae.



Flat Brutus is a very friendly guy and did very well with all the pups.

We can't wait to take him all around town. Unfortunately it has been raining like crazy so we haven't been able to get out much yet.

I Am the Birthday Girl!

Can you believe it? I am five years old today!!!

Because it is going to be very hot today, Barbara said that we had to start the celebration early. So off we went to Fearrington for a walk around the ponds. Then we stopped at the outdoor cafe for a birthday treat.

I got this entire poppyseed muffin all to myself. See how politely I waited for it?



Barbara fed it to me in pieces since she was afraid that I would have gulped it down in one piece, which I seriously considered.



I ate every last crumb and I can tell you that it was quite delicious.



Then I had to stand by this fountain to pose for birthday photos.



It doesn't show up too well in these pictures but I got a pretty new collar this morning. The connector on my old plaid one broke and I have been wearing a pink collar that is so not me. One of my presents was a new collar with a green pattern which I think is more my style.



We have been very busy at the new training center and I have been helping Barbara by being the demo dog for her classes. She had her website put on our dog-crate-on-wheels to get more visibility for the center. Since the name is on it she says that we have to be very well behaved when she takes us out in public. This is a lot of pressure.



I am practically perfect in every way but sometimes, especially when we go to a new place, I get a bit silly when I get out fo the dog-crate-on-wheels. It is very exciting to visit different places and sometimes I can't help myself with all the great, new smells, but I will try.



However I don't know what we are going to do about Ambrose. Just when I think he is maturing he goes and does something really, really bad. I know you will be horrified when I tell you.

Last week Royal's sister Jet came to visit us at the training center. She is a confident little puppy but minded me quite well.



Then Ambrose came in and he stood over Jet in a rude way and then, to everyone's shock, he lifted his leg and peed on her!!!! I am mortified! Poor Jet. She didn't want anything to do with Ambrose after that (and I certainly don't blame her) but then he thought he could do play bows to her to get her to play with him. He is a real dope. He will never get a girl friend if he thinks that marking them is the way to go about it.

Anyway I am going to enjoy the rest of my birthday. I heard that we are having roast beast for dinner which is one of my favorites. Now if only Barbara refrains from singing Happy Birthday to me things will be wonderful.