Visiting Astoria (Oregon) with Dogs

Out of the Oregon Coastal towns I've been to, Astoria so far has been my favorite. We took Mr. N last year. I've been wanting to go back so when Sage's human suggested going to the coast, I nominated Astoria which is the oldest settlement on the West Coast. There's a trolley that you can take that does a history tour (they allow dogs... at least small ones).

I wanted to go to the Bowpicker for lunch but unfortunately they were closed. They are a fish and chips food boat and I always recommend them to people visiting. 

He likes to think of himself as an ace navigator. Land ho! 

Mr. N says would you like some fries with that? 

We ended up eating lunch at the Fort George Brewery. The boyfriend likes their beer. Their patio is dog friendly. I put Mr. N up on the railing for a photo and the table next to us remarked that Mr. N was actually posing for the photo. He loves the camera. 

We stopped by the Blue Scorcher Bakery & Cafe next door for dessert. I highly recommend their chocolate ginger cookies. Mr. N finds bakeries boring. He's not a fan of grains. Give him meat! 

Mr. N found this and thought about eating this giant can of salmon all by himself. 

The dogs aren't allowed in the Oregon Maritime Museum (at least I'm pretty sure they're not, we didn't try) so they posed by the anchor outside. 

Mr. N thought about running away and joining the coast guard. 

Or maybe becoming a pirate. I think he would look good in an eye patch. 

There's a glass studio behind the brewery so we took a quick peek at the wares. Lovely colors.   

On our way out of Astoria, we visited the Goonies house. I have to admit I've actually never seen the movie but it's on my list. It's a private residence and there are signs saying not to go beyond a certain point. There were a steady stream of visitors when we went by. 

BW Sunday #49 - Leap

FitDog Friday #38 - Gearhart Beach

Portland was under a heat advisory so we jumped in the car and headed for the coast. We ended up at the beach at Gearhart. It's not as popular as the more touristy towns so it was relatively uncrowded. You can drive your car up this particular beach past a certain point so we went the opposite way because we didn't want the dogs getting accidentally run over. Mr. N is sand colored....

The dogs adore the beach because it means they get to run and run and there's all sorts of interesting things for them to investigate. Like the dead bird Mr. N found and that Sage tried to roll on.

And sticks. Sage found a long one and was carrying it around in her mouth. I was a little worried that Mr. N might get poked in the eye accidentally with it because it was so long and he was running around trying to steal it from her. This is before he found his own stick.

We ran into a few other dogs on the way and the dogs said hello. 

But mostly, they just like to run with each other. I think part of the reason why Mr. N adores Sage so much is because she is almost always up for a good game of chase.

Or at least Sage thinks it's a game. Mr. N takes it rather seriously.

The first time Mr. N went to the beach, he drank some salt water and was sick. I don't know if he remembers being sick or he remembers us sternly admonishing him not to drink salt water on that trip but he doesn't do it anymore. Now I make sure he gets regular water breaks so he's not tempted.

We made a stop in Astoria on our way back and played tourist. More to come on Monday.

Sea Monster

How adoptable is your dog?

We didn't know this at the time when we adopted him but Mr. N hit just about all of the hallmarks of a super adoptable dog. Small. Check. Fluffy. Check. Light colored. Check. Young. Check. Looks like a stuffed animal. Check. He was also house trained and knew how to dance and high five.

Mr. N's adoption profile photo

Dogs that are harder to adopt out include older pets, those with behavioral needs, Pit Bulls, fearful/shy dogs, those with medical needs and those that need to be only dogs, according to Petfinder. Black dogs can also have problems finding a home.

Mr. N's foster told me she had turned down half a dozen people who wanted him before us. She also said that if he was at the humane society, he would get adopted so fast you would get whiplash. I sometimes feel a little guilty that we adopted such an adoptable dog over a less adoptable one.

Even now when he's a bit older, I think he would still be extremely adoptable (not that he's going anywhere!). He would probably have to go to a home that would be home most of the time (due to his mild separation anxiety) or could take him to work or make other arrangements but aside from that no special needs. He would also be fine with older children as long as they were gentle.

Now whether or not his new home would want to keep him would be a different story! Mr. N has tons of energy and brains (you think this is a good thing until he outlasts you and tries to outsmart you!) and he would not be happy with the conventional little dog lifestyle.

Yes, I stick him in a purse sometimes so he doesn't get stepped on but he also goes for ten-mile hikes and isn't tired afterwards.

How adoptable is your dog? Would your dog have trouble finding a home?

BW Sunday #48 - Little Retriever

FitDog Friday #37 - Mr. N wants a new home

Mr. N wants a new home... because he clearly feels like he is not getting enough stimulation at ours! Yesterday he:

• 
  
• went for a car ride
• walked for forty minutes
• did conditioning exercises on the FitBone for about ten minutes
• played "find it" scent games for thirty minutes
• ran around off-leash for twenty minutes
• attended a book reading about hiking and met new people and received pets from said people

Apparently this is not enough for him. I caught him rummaging in his toy box (at 11 pm) and he pulls out a squeaky toy and runs around the house with it. Sorry, pup. We can't go hiking every day! Not that hiking tires him out significantly either.

Wordless Wednesday #44 - Parade

Can all dogs fetch? Even non-mouthy dogs can be taught.

In a past life, I think Mr. N would have made a good circus dog. Assuming he didn't try to chase the elephants.

He likes learning tricks (and he's good at it!). And he loves being the center of attention. But there was one area of tricks that was totally closed to us. Retrieving tricks. A lot of tricks are built around your dog fetching on cue.

Most of the advice I came across suggested teasing your dog with the object and they would try to mouth it. Well Mr. N wouldn't even do that. I would throw a toy and he would look at me with this quizzical look on his face.

I stumbled across this Youtube video for dogs that takes a different approach to teaching them how to fetch. It's meant especially for dogs that don't naturally mouth things. You use dog chews to teach them how to mouth on cue and transfer that to a wooden stick.

I used a bully stick because that's what we had in the house. Mr. N would pick up the bully stick with his mouth. I would click and treat. We did a few rounds of this and then I tried giving him a bamboo skewer. And then he started mouthing that and picking it up.

This video is amazing. For people who are having trouble getting their dogs to even mouth things, I would definitely recommend this.



Something clicked in his brain. Within a day or two, he started bringing back objects and releasing them to my hand. We've been working with different objects and he totally gets the concept now.

I thought it was going to take us weeks if not months for him to learn how to put away toys in his toy box. And just a couple of days after we started working on fetch, he figured it out.

Yesterday, we were cleaning out objects from under the couch. I was holding a sock in my hand when Mr. N took it from me unexpectedly. I started laughing when I realized he thought we were going to start training and he wanted me to throw it for him.

Next on our agenda... a handstand maybe?



What training successes or triumphs have you had with your dog(s) or other pets?

BW Sunday #47 - When Toys Come to Life

Wordless Wednesday #43 - Acrobat