Walks with Dogs

Another day of great good fortune. Fortune for Sadie and for me. Miserable for the ground squirrel and the lizard she nailed. I was waiting for Sadie as I so often do, waiting and waiting seated immobile on a rock in the sun, rather like a lizard. She was barking, which means she has live game cornered.This can take all day, so I finally went down the hill to her. She was plunging at one clump of brush, then the next, following the scuttling of a ground squirrel. On the third pounce, she scored. She had worn the little squirrel out; it just wasn’t fast enough.

Sadie carried the limp little creature to the shade of a juniper where she collapsed, panting,  upon the soft bed of duff, her little prey beside her on its back. I went up to take a look. It was, as I feared, a female with tiny little dots of teats. This probably means a brood of orphans. The victim opened and shut her little mouth once which was her last movement. Her legs were perfectly still. At least Sadie kills quickly and completely. I possibly could have stopped her before this happened. But today I rationalize: it’s her karma, not mine. It’s her only sport in life; it  keeps her vital and alert. No good. At heart I see how I am part of the worldwide web of suffering.

It seemed ultimately disrespectful and ghoulish to take a picture, and so I did not. I left Mom Squirrel where she lay so at least she can feed another predator. Sadie trotted away after resting, and never looked back.

A few yards further down the hill, my pet plunged into another clump of brush, blindly, paws first. She came away with another limp form in her jaws. Again, she trotted to a shady spot and lay down. This time she lay on her prey - which I have never seen any other dog do. She deliberately centered her belly on the inert creature as if to say it was damn well hers and she damn well worked hard for it, and it damn well wasn’t going anywhere.

Eventually, as with the squirrel, when she was rested she got up and trotted away without a backward glance, unlike Melody who would have buried the kill “for later” - or unlike Roger who would have devoured it on the spot with great crunching noises, and a big grin.

It was a particularly handsome fence lizard with brightly defined pattern, and about ten inches long.

As I stood lost in uffish thought about all this, there was a stirring by my foot. I looked down to see an equally large fence lizard standing stock still as though asking me to take his (her?) picture. There were orange-red spots along the sides - does this indicate gravid female - I will look it up - and I’m happy to report Sadie showed no interest.

I followed my own advice and approached him (her?) where he could see me which does work for a while anyway. Then he  thought to hide under a bush just in case. He took his time, and I got a good picture of him hiding, though it wasn’t easy. I couldn’t really see him through the viewfinder, so I just aimed and hoped for the best. Here are the happy results. Western Fence Lizard appears cut off in thumbnail below, but entire lizard clearly visible in full size shot.

Click on photos for full size

Lizard Hiding

Most likely this is a Sagebrush Checkerspot

Two days ago, I got my first decent butterfly picture. It’s not all it could be. It’s a little blurry. But it’s close to what I want. I still need a digital SLR with insane macro powers to get what I really want, which is every hair on its little legs.

This happy success led to a long, unplanned, trek around the butterfly websites to bring up the following identification. My guy doesn’t look exactly like the featured Sagebrush Checkerspots, but he looks more like them than anything else and all the other data fit.

SAGEBRUSH CHECKERSPOT
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1725
Attributes of Chlosyne acastus

Family: Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae)

Subfamily: True Brushfoots (Nymphalinae)

Identification: Upperside is checkered black, orange-brown, and orange; hindwing has a dark wing base and a light median band. Underside of hindwing has pearly white spots.

Life history: Males perch and sometimes patrol in gulches for females. Eggs are laid in batches on underside of host plant leaves and sometimes on flower buds. Caterpillars eat leaves and flowers, and feed together in groups. Third- and fourth-stage caterpillars hibernate under rocks; some diapause for months and maybe years to survive bad weather.

Flight: Two broods from June-August.

Wing span: 1 1/2 - 2 inches (3.9 - 5.1 cm).

Caterpillar hosts: Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus) and aster (Machaeranthera) in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

Adult food: Flower nectar.

Habitat: Sagebrush scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands, dry gulches.

Range: Eastern North Dakota west to eastern Washington, south to New Mexico, southern Arizona, and eastern California.

Conservation: Not usually required.

NatureServe Global Status: G4 - Apparently secure globally, though it might be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management needs: None reported. Note:This butterfly includes several subspecies including neomoegeni.

I was not so lucky this morning trying to photo what I believe to be a Painted Lady which appears actually to be more common. One expresses oneself tentatively when identifying butterflies; butterflies and distant little birds.

Painted Lady. Click for full-size image. Courtesy butterflyutopia.com

Sadie is taking an extreme obedience class: “Hear Me Roar”, or Growly Class, in which participants wear a harness, a collar, a Gentle Leader and a muzzle. It works.   Five weeks of training and she’s mellower in daily life even without all that gear. Something relaxed in her. I was afraid it would break her spirit, but far from it. Her huntress spirit is intact, but her anxieties and defenses have all but evaporated, and she’s happier for it. She smiles now. Her face used to be a taut mask.

She knows it isn't a real baby. So no worries. Smiling here with trainer Jana Williamson of Dog Training by P.J. That's a Gentle Leader on her face.

Sadie has always been edgy around small children. This problem behavior seems less intense, but still needs attention. So we tried introducing a “baby and stroller”  in class to desensitize her. No reaction. Until it lives and breathes and feels fear, she’s not interested. Oddly, though I asked nicely, nobody in class would volunteer a child to act as aggression trigger. And it may not be necessary.

I base my hope on a recent  encounter with  three boys, one of them very small, on the trail last week. Sadie was a perfect lady and the oldest boy told me she is “a cool dog” .

The other reason she’s in Doggie Gitmo once a week is her  leash aggression, i.e. lunging and barking at other dogs when she’s on the leash. Off leash they are just furniture to her; she’s got chipmunks to catch; not much else matters. But we can’t have that kind of behavior in agility class where she will be on the leash much of the time. And all this training is about getting both of us back into agility.

For this purpose, Growly class is working amazingly well. Sadie was on the leash surrounded by loose dogs at a ranch recently. Formerly, she would have picked the one she hated the most and gone at them with everything she’s got. This time, as the furry bodies and hot breath closed in on her from all sides, she paid no attention to them, preferring to sniff the grass.It was not cowardice; far from it. It was sublime confidence. So she didn’t get growly and nobody else did either. A principle: calm dogs create other calm dogs.

Class has definitely helped. What we’ve also got going for us is age. A dog reaches the Age of Reason around  eight. Roger did a major personal readjustment in his eighth year. So did Melody. You can see them thinking about things. They watch you more intently, and in some cases try to talk to you. Melody would stand there and make high whiny noises at me. Sadie communicates with a rich variety of barks. They give up their puppy illusions and make peace with their reality. The change is dramatic and happens seemingly overnight.

So I have reason to hope agility class will be better this time around. Two years ago, she handled the obstacles , in my opinion, brilliantly. But between her runs she entertained herself by dragging me around, barking at the rat terrier in class (I still think he started it), peeing on everything she could reach,  occasionally lunging at other dogs if they came too close, digging under the shed for ground squirrels. The peeing was the biggest nuisance. The trainer keeps jugs of water around the lawn. If a dog urinates, the owner has to hike to one of the jugs, try to remember where the spot was,  schlep the jug to the spot, and pour enough water on it to dilute the harmful bodily chemicals.

She’ll probably still pee. But maybe the other folderol will be reduced.

Early training with low hurdles. We were both two years younger.

Finally, have these changes come too late? Sadie, along with her wisdom, is getting stiff front legs. Mom is occasionally an arthritic basket case. Will agility 2009 be an ironic, bittersweet impossibility? Or a triumph of will and heart? Am I watching too many dog and racehorse movies? Stay tuned.

Dark phase Great Basin Fence Lizard. Breeding season, May 2009

–Click on image to see full-size–

The daytime temperatures are now in the high 70’s and low 80’s. My squash seeds sprouted in the yard, and lizards abound in the nearby hills.

Boy Howdy! All this time I thought this frequently encountered guy (see left) was a separate species called the Blue Belly Skink. I’ve probably mentioned Blue Belly Skinks in this blog. Come to find out there are no Blue Belly Skinks. And skinks look snakier or, in some cases, wormier, than this very appealing specimen who is a proper lizard. He does, according to the literature, have a blue belly. I wouldn’t know, because it’s all I can do to sneak up on him and take his picture. His belly color remains his secret.

There are Great Basin skinks, Skilton skinks, western red-tailed skinks, great plains skinks. I will look these up and report back. Meanwhile, let’s say this guy is no kind of skink. He is the dark phase of  the Great Basin Western Fence Lizard. Until now I’ve been confusing 3 types of lizard: the Great Basin Western Fence Lizard: two phases — and — the long-nosed Leopard Lizard. I will try to correct any errors in previous posts.

Clearly, May 15 is the height of breeding season. In addition to numerous lizards sunning on rocks, four  scuttled across the path this morning during a one-and-a-half hour walk. This is unprecedented in my experience. Usually I see them on rocks, but very unusual to see them running around. Sadie is still sleeping three hours after our walk, exhausted from chasing them. Some day I’ll be quick enough to capture them in a mini-movie. Today wasn’t that day, but I did capture the stills here by gaining new insights into lizard psychology. I tried several others, spotted at a distance sunning themselves on rocks, and learned from my mistakes. You don’t sneak up on them from the back. They can tell you’re coming and they will be gone.

Instead, you let the lizard see you coming. You let him scope you out. You advance a foot or two, pause, advance, etc. until you can get him in your view finder. This is more acceptable to him.

Center of Arrowleaf Balsamroot. Florets visible

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Balsamroot
Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) is a native American plant that blooms in the early spring. The flower is a member of the Asteraceae (Sunflower). The herb has notably large arrow leaves and big yellow flowers.