dog side effects.

Todd Duncan Tennyson

Todd Duncan Tennyson

Well-known member
Something I've noticed

things are better with a dog

I'm better at thinking and sorting through things needing done

better at decisions and
better in general

in between bird dogs you guys know (ol'l alex, and the red dog Kaden) have had their great seasons
and made their memories along the way and have busted a freightcar load of birds in doing so


being back in forth between countries with my mom now on her own without the dog
and with the travel bs restrictions i haven't felt like it was a good arrangement to bring on a new dog

so arrangements managed to be made for me in transition and I am glad.

we've got a few street dogs here in our neighborhood
one of them is a white one that kind of looks like he wants to be a lab or somebody's buddy

we tried mustering him them a while back with his sidekick who was a smaller and more unruly and spirited girl.
the combination really didn't match up with the cats we had at the time and the other dogs that were in the area

it wasn't right to bring in a new dog so enter Tony..

he has floated around for a few years and recently his dog sidekick buddy annie was killed by a moped kid

it was dark and the kid was riding 2 up and annie bolted out and was struck. it killed her and the kid was hurt too. a sad deal. But it happens here with so many people ripping around on bikes.

He's kind of a yard dog. He's Tony.




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i've had a few sessions with the old boy and it looks like he may have some stories in him to tell.

We discussed figuring out a way to use the seawall so that we could access the water to throw fetches when the tide out back
went hi slack.

I can't very well have a water dog and not have access to the water.

So I will need to find a way to get that tail rudder working.

The old dock is there that we might be able to fashion some sort of platform on but it isn't technically "ours"


hope you guys (and gal) are doing well.
 
There are many dogs here that really nobody claims, but everybody kind of looks after.
It is part of the culture here and the Buddhist way.

I am uncertain of his pedigree, he is no doubt a mix of things but kind of looks like a lab.
Has the temperament of a lab. Lab sized.

One day I walked up to the 711 up the road to get a pepsi.

The road is pretty busy, trucks and busses and no lights for 2 way flow. no sidewalk and little shoulder to walk on and a lot of dogs along the way. Most of the street dogs have a home turf that they gravitate to, because they are able to get the things they need there.
Food, water, a place out of the rain and shade in the sun. Maybe somebody to talk to, maybe another dog to hang out with.

A spell back, Tony walked all the way up past the street dogs and the temple dogs to the 711 with me It is about a mile or so. As he crossed their turf boundaries, he was challenged but stayed the course with me for some reason. Some of the dogs snarled and snapped but he held his head high and was brave and showed his teeth too.

he did not change course.


I went into the 711 and he waited for me and then we walked all the way back to his home turf.


I didn't have him in a leash or anything.. he was just doing as he wished

it was an unusual and remarkable thing that he'd just up and go with me.. almost like he was looking out for me as funny as that sounds
 
That's a pretty strong sign he wants to be your dog. I hope it works out. Dogs are great and great company. They are intuitive about people. You and Tony hanging out. Seems like its meant to be.
 
Hiya Tony! Good for you for deciding to take care of Todd. He is right...things are much better with a dog at your side.

Todd, not sure of the situation you have but I know you have a kayak, or at least access to a kayak. If you want a nice stable platform but are worried about ownership of docks and such, you might consider a paddleboard. I have a five foot boogie board I take out to the gulf and use as a platform to get Belle out of the water when she needs to chill out. Or to work on staying steady. A paddleboard with more width and length would be great for the two of you if you wanted to take Tony on paddling adventures. You could fashion a ladder that hooks over the left and right side of the paddleboard when you are playing but then could be folded up when you are paddling.

Just something to consider

Dani
 
Dani, that is a good idea. I have that seawall that is about 4 ft tall (from the land side) to contend with.

I could build a ramp up to the edge with some boards layed across it, but then hoisting the dog off of the paddleboard back over the seawall would be hard to do from the water.

The drop from the top of the seawall into the water would be about 3.5 feet on a high high tide. but more like 4-6 ft a lot of times. Tough to lift a wriggling lab sized dog up and over a seawall from a small floating platform, but maybe I could make a hoist of some kind that I could lift the dog and the board up together.

Hmm. Maybe some photos would be a good idea.
 
Pictures would be good.

What about an idea of a rope ladder where the steps are oversized and maybe the bottom most step is the widest and the top most the most narrow? Like stairways in a naval ship? Then teach Tony to ascend/descend the ladder? Though I'm not sure how it could be anchored.

Or maybe something like this

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Again, just thinking....not sure if you have "your" section of sea wall that is considered private property or not....but pictures would be good...

Doesn't help on the paddleboard though....hmmmmmm Maybe have a cleat in the bow end of the paddleboard where you could pull it up over the seawall with a bowline attached once Tony is up with you? You'd have to be careful with the fin/fins on the bottom but if you were only using it as a platform, I guess you wouldn't need your fins attached.
 
I have saved that ladder idea Dani, thanks .

I think my hurdle (aside from the seawall) is that any platform i make, or access to the water, must be a temporary thing... I can not put up a permanent floating dock per se, nor can i put in a post and pier dock of my own... I have to be able to get it up and out of the river lest the port authority come by and give me hell.


He's out here every day on his waterski bike snapping photos of all of the ships that are docked etc...

The land side of the sea wall is not technically our land, however, it is fenced and barbed wired so that no body can get to it to use it unless they scale the seawall.

So, although it is not ours, there is no way for anyone else to use it either.


I t looks like if I put a couple of ropes on the highest part of the landside ladder (up above the pivot bolt) that I could yard haul the entire set up out of the water and allow the ladder itself to rest atop the seawall... That should satisfy the port people that it is not a permanent addition.


I could use the paddleboard at the very bottom to be a platform to yank the dog up onto and out of the water if i had to.
 



It'd be great if I could add onto the pilings just upstream from the old dock that was here 40 years ago. But It doesn't look like I will be able to.

So here is the situation.
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Well Todd, there is no doubt about it now. You two have already bonded and sometimes no words are needed. Good eye contact may help considerably, however. Best of luck.

As I type this I am listening to my black pup, Coal, snoring like he has done if for years. I'm taking him out to the kennel today. He has a lot of 'learning' to do. I'm wishing him, the best of luck, also!
Al

Coal
Those eyes will tell you that he has some chocolate in him. One of the things I love about him---he is still my lap dog. (90 minutes this morning while watching some tv)


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If that were my situation, I'd likely consider how to do some sort of anchor so that I could anchor my ladder or platform and use it and then put it away so that the port patrol was not going to get upset. The anchors stay in place where they aren't obvious from the water and then the ladder could just be stowed away when not in use. Paddleboard too.
 
Anchor system?

Can you explain more how it works?

I am envisioning 5 gallon buckets of concrete and some ropes that counterbalance
A platform of maybe 4x8 foot that hangs out over the water allowing the 4x8
To ride the surface of the water like a floating raft, but one

that could be folded up flush to the river side of the wall when not deployed.

Is that what you mean?
 
Well that might work. Not sure what your situation is like with the port patrol so don't know if port patrol would be cool with that. But I was thinking the anchors on the house side of the sea wall to help keep the ladder and/or platform in place while y'all are enjoying the water. My thinking was more of a safety but also useful feature so you don't get stuck on the water side but you could also use those ropes to haul whatever platform up and out of the water.

I was thinking ground or maybe in the concrete anchors so you just clip your ropes to it so you don't worry about the ladder slipping and falling in the water. Maybe mobile home type anchors in the dirt would work. But two 5 gallon buckets full of concrete might work. Physics isn't really my thing so not sure how effective those would be for what I am thinking. Maybe just lines that go around the two fence poles. Then when you are done, unclipe everything and stow it away.

Not knowing but assuming that port patrol is pretty persnickety, I am trying to think how something could be easily deployed and retrieved so that everything could be stored landside.

I would think whatever platform you have you would want it as light and durable as possible. Light would also make it easier to get it out of the water....that is why I was thinking a foam paddleboard cuz those are in the 25-30 lb range and can take a beating fairly well. For use as a platform you could have a rope around the bow and stern ends that each one goes up and over the sea wall to your anchors.

I dunno.....I don't always think of the easiest ways to approach things so maybe what I am thinking is far too complicated. But you could have your stile style ladder, clipped to the anchors for added security and a separate but easy to remove platform of some kind also clipped to your landside anchors and that could be pulled up after you are back up on the land side.

Then when you are done, perhaps the ladder can just be pulled back over and stowed against the wall or inside your back yard fence. Then port patrol isn't unhappy when you aren't using the ladder or platform.
 
How deep is the water? If not too deep maybe you could make an open tread staircase only 2' wide with 2"x8" stringers and 5/4" treads just screwed to the stringers. The part below the water could be held together with just one piece of 1" black iron or galvinized pipe through a drilled hole with caps holding it on from the outside to keep it from floating up. You cut cut the top on an angle to rest against the wall and secure it with rope to your 5 gallon bucket of concrete.
 
the area at the seawall is a mud flat when the tide is all the way out..
We get about a10 foot tide on a highish tide.

I'd really be glad to get something set up so I could safely get a dog down there to do bumpers etc.

I don't want to have an arrangement where somebody has to be there to lift the dog up and over the wall. The dog needs to be able to get itself over and out.


It wouldn't be good mojo otherwise.
 
So will you be going down with Tony or staying up on the wall to throw the bumpers? You could make a cage from an old dog crate and get him in it and run it down and up resting against 2 boards or pipes using a boat winch attached to that nice metal pole.
 
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