Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

Carbon is looking great @Emily_BabbelHund
The Danube is not as I was expecting! Just lookslike a small country river!!
And his swimming! He has been having lessons?!?

 

Lovely to hear from you @Emily_BabbelHund , Carbon is looking grand but sorry that you`ve been having a rough time xxxxx

 

Carbon is such a handsome fella, and WHAT a swimmer! like @drjs@5 I'm suprised by the smallness and prettyness of the Danube - I've only ever seen it huge and slow in Vienna

 

So lovely to hear from you. I am sorry that all has not been to good for you. Fingers crossed things will get better.
Love Carbon and his little friend. Take care of yourself.

 

Carbón is a star

Lovely to hear from you again, I think about you both every day, fingers and paws crossed life improves for both of you xx

 

Aww Varnon is such a lovely lad. Finally caught up with all your adventures! So sorry you’ve been having a tough time adjusting being back. Transition times are always hard, with so much uncertainty. Take care of yourself and try to stay positive. I know it can be hard at times but taking things one day at a time and making small, positive decisions each day will eventually end up steering you in the right direction. Hugs from here!

PS Simba snarfs anything on the ground. He will drop it (most of the time) with a “leave it” command and then he gets a treat. Basically he’s trained me to give him a treat when he picks something up. Oh well it works for us.

 

The Danube is very swimmable here in Regensburg, despite the fact that this time of year about 10 cruise ships are docked here daily. It's clean, has a slow current and not all that wide.

Just to share a bit of my adopted home town, the yellow dot is where Carbon was swimming in the first video, the red lines are 'dog beach' areas - shared by dogs and humans but all off leash and great places for dogs to swim with lots of little sand beaches. The blue dot is where I live. The "Dom" is the cathedral and "Thurn und Taxis" is the local castle. Both the old town (the area within the original medieval walls) and the island of Stadtamhof are UNESCO world heritage. There are still visible original Roman walls and a Roman tower and the main bridge across the Danube is also of Roman origin (though re-made throughout the ages).

It's a very cool little city worth a short side visit if anyone is ever in Munich.

As to Carbon's swimming lessons...nope! He's just a natural.

 

Thank you, Mags.

 

I think Carbon is ALSO training me to do this. I don't mind giving him the treat, but I'd like to get it to the point that he doesn't actually pick up the 'yuck' item before I treat him!

 

When you've cracked this with carbon, I'll pass you Monty to train! I find town walks quite challenging, in my head we are trotting along and people are commenting about what a beautiful well trained dog I have, isn't he lovely.... Reality is he is snaffling up whatever has been dropped often before I even see it. Throw in the local market with all those open sights, smells and droppages and all bets are off ...

 

Mmm....don't hold your breath.

Right now your description of Monty sounds pretty much exactly like Carbon.

I'll give it the old college try, however. If I could get actually get him to pass up a discarded pretzel even once, I'd do the happy dance in the middle of the street and everyone watching would think I lost my mind!

 

We were walking my our local fishing pond last week and I forget to put him back on lead. He raced down to one of the little jettys and found half a loaf of white bread, and had snaffled two slices before I caught up with him and clipped his lead on.
He then did his passive resistance thing throwing himself flat on the ground in front of the rest of the loaf, legs wide, refusing to move and fixated on the rest of the it.

The fisherman was just laughing as I had to hoick him away by his harness handle, as absolutely nothing in my treat bag came close to another slice of Warburtons best white sliced. Ho hum. There's worse things he could eat than bread.

 

So pleased to hear from you again, had been thinking of you, though very sorry things have been bleak, hope that reverses quickly. I loved the map and to see where you lived and Carbon swam, it looked a lovely place on the video. My husband went to Munich on business once, I asked him if I could go with him and he said 'no'! Just one little thing, be careful where Carbon swims when he has his harness on, the river is probably ok, but other places may have branches under the water which he could get trapped on, a friend nearly lost her dog as his collar got caught once.

 

Monty has STYLE!

 

Yes, I agree and have been wondering what the best thing to do is. Where he swims the water is very clear and no reeds/branches, but I know this is always a risk. Frankly at the beginning he always looked like he was going to drown and I wanted something to grab onto -the harness - if I had to jump in and save him. I also don't want him without some form of ID if he is out and off leash. Not sure what the best thing to do is....

 

In the UK it is frowned on to let a gundog wear a collar while working, largely because of the perceived risk of snagging and drowning. Yet in the USA all hunting dogs wear collars, and many swim in what we would consider quite dangerous conditions. Accidents are believed to be very rare. Here views are starting to change too and I know quite a few people that allow working dogs to swim in collars and harnesses. It may be that the risks have been overstated Either way, your dog is clearly having a lot of fun !

 

I always take Rourke's collar off when he swims and then when he finishes put it straight back on again. I did walk into a lake, in above my bosom )) to rescue a little dog caught in some submerged branches, the owner called for help and I just didn't think and went in to save him. I had a wet drive and walk home!

 

You're amazing Stacia xxxx

 

I tried letting Carbon swim in just his collar today. The only issue? Trying to get his harness back on after the swim was over! I think he's accelerated into snotty adolescence, because where he's been coming to me very nicely, today he took one look at that harness and immediately took a flying leap back in the river. "Not NOW I'm not going back home, crazy lady!" Cheeky monkey.

 

Naughty boy!