Getting back into it

[furtech]

Just a miscellaneous post to get back into the swing of posting...

What it looks like fitting four large dogs (two of which don't get along) and two people into a Prius: Indy (the dark husky) found her place under the dog-hammock (you can only see her tail) and London (the grey husky) somehow managed to squeeze into the front seat well.


On a recent dogwalk in the wash, we came across some graphitti that was a little -too- literate to be authentic. Probably CalArts or CoC art nitwits trying hard to be cool .

On another walk in the (then) dry wash, Roz found some tracks she had a hard time identifying...possibly toad. I said maybe if we follow it long enough we'd find the answer and... Voila! Kind of sad, actually...but what was interesting is that the sharp-eyed will notice the second, intersecting set of tracks in the last photo: it looks like two toads met and fought, leaving the loser for us to find. We felt all CSI when we figured this out!

Got rooms in the ghetto hotel for SDCC, but at least they're on the bus route (and the view is nice). They really need to find a better way to get the reservations made.

Thank goodness the local elections are over...I'm really not looking forward to more LJ political scraelings like those in 2004.

Next up is a recap of FC.

Here are pics of Apache and Rondo just because. At some point I'll go over Apache's obedience school and why I hate the Koehler method with such a passion.

Comments

[yaochi.livejournal.com]

I have roomed anywhere from Hotel Circle to out near old town. This year, nailed the Marriot next to the Convention Center.

One never knows until one tries.

Have a good time !

[furtech.livejournal.com]

If you got the Marriot Marina with the con rate-- you are *win*! The con rate + convenience is huge! Congrats!

I actually don't really mind the Holiday Inn: it's so casual that I don't mind schlubbing through the lobby in a sweaty t-shirt with all my con loot. Plus, it's right on the water and has a couple of really decent restaurants. The shuttle helps a lot, too.

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

What is this "Koehler Method" thing?

Such nice-looking dogs. :D Rondo the Miscreant is looking particularly cute. ^^

R. brought his honking-bigass-lens & fancy new camera to the dog park today to test it (he has to test this new camera setup loads, because he is doing the official California tour photography for a top-level Japanese Taiko group later in a few months.) Anyway, I'm nagging him to post the dog shots to the internet. There was this little 4-month-old attitude-y black Scottie named James Bond, and a gorgeous husky-mix dog also named Kaiya, and... and... ^^

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Bill Koehler (http://www.koehlerdogtraining.com/faq.html) (pronounced "Kee-ler") epitomizes old-school dog training: negative re-enforcement, choke chains, dominate your animal, no treats or positive conditioning, stresses absolute obedience.

His schtick is that he was a big Hollywood dog trainer. Truthfully, he could claim to have invented organized dog training for the ordinary person-- I think his first book was published in the early 60's.

I'm all about positive conditioning, treats, etc. so philosophically, we're at opposite ends of the spectrum. Training techniques are a personal choice: many people are vocal proponents/disciples of his techniques and whatever works for that person-- more power to 'em.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

PS-- yeah! Get him to post/upload his dog pics! And the camera specs-- I'm getting very tempted to get back to an SLR and any input would be great!

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

The husky tail sticking out from under the dog-hammock cracks me up! I like the way Apache is eyeing the tail warily.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Apache -knows- what's attached to the other end of that tail. Indy was very cute, too: she's an old husky (so dear to my heart) and just poked her head up from under the hammock betweent he seats.

Thankfully, it was a short ride to Roz' house...wouldn't want to try this any huge distance (that's what the dogmobile is for!).

[djmermaid.livejournal.com]

so... what makes grafitti "authentic"? I'm not being schnarky, I'm genuinely curious. does being a college student somehow make it inauthentic?

glad to know that I am not the only one who has not put up a post on FC08! ah, life... I look forward to hearing what you thought (I had a great year.)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Well, we were being being snarky ourselves...but I've found it annoying when upper-middle class whitebread kids try to be "ghetto" and do "crimes". First because there is enough urban-trashing without stupid kids adding to it for fun, and second because it's stupid.

We walk enough to see plenty of tagger/gang art and there's a certain grittiness to the "real" (that's not the right word, but you know what I mean) stuff. Plus, the regulars depend on their style/technique to identify their work-- weekenders feel the need to sign their stuff for attention. Plus, *real* gangstas don't quote song lyrics by Jimmie's Chicken Shack!

[gilmorelion.livejournal.com]

Car-cramming with Dogs!!!! Woot!

Now let's see what you guys can do with a phone booth!
(provided you can still FIND a phone booth!)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Actually, if we used the hatch-section, we could have fit in a few more dogs or maybe a teenager!

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

Can't wait for the Koehler method bashing!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I have to spend more time in my Happy Place before I do my scrael on Koehler...otherwise it would come out as a foaming, rabid, barely-comprehensible rant.

Ironically, Apache is taking an obedience class by a first gen. Koehler disciple...the other dog-park friends wanting to do obedience -really- like her, so I joined them (under protest). Waiting until I was ready to find a better class would likely have ended up the same as Rondo: still w/o obedience class! I cheat, tho'-- when I practice the week's lesson, I use traditional positive/treat conditioning. If the world were perfect, I would take 'em both to a clicker class (if I could find one less than 20 miles away!).