“Life is a series of dogs.” George Carlin

“Everyone thinks they have the best dog and none of them are wrong.” W.R. Purche

I used to look at my dog and think “if you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking” and he’d look at me like he was saying “if you were a little smarter, I wouldn’t have to.” Fred Jungclaus

Well, it has been an interesting last two weeks. I had forgotten all the work that goes into raising a puppy from scratch so to speak. Our last dog passed away in August of last year at the age of 12, so we have not had the “young puppy experience” in a while. I would like to say that Janet and I are both feeling a little sleep deprived these last couple of days. Actually that would probably be some what of an understatement. Lol

Marvin, yes we named him Marvin and he has been an an “absorbing” experience so far. But I feel that we are managing for now. We started to watch a series of Dog Training Videos a few weeks before getting him and I think that they have paid off and will continue to do so. It was interesting to see how training has changed over the years. This will be our 6th dog in the last 35 years. Wow! Just thinking about that makes me wonder where did the time go?! Oh well I am getting off track a little bit. More about Marvin, we decided to go with a mixed breed dog this time due to all the continued genetic problems of pure bred dogs. Especially German Shepherds. Marvin is what is know as a King Shepherd. They are a mix of German Shepherd, Alaskan Malamute and Great Pyrenees. Both of his parents, one a King Shepherd and the other a Great Pyrenees, were both tested genetically and received a clean bill of health. I will have Marvin tested by EmBark Vet to see if any significant genetic issues arose in the breeding.

Right now as far as training goes, we are really concentrating on socialization. The current or most recent research suggest that this crucial window closes a lot earlier than first expected, some say by 12 weeks. With that said he has been to Old Town in Fort Collins, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Poudre Feed and Seed, Edora Park, Petco, the Vets office and the houses of friends. Also he will start a puppy class next week. One expert in dog behavior said that before 12 weeks your dog should have met and greeted at least 100 different people of all ages and types. That seems a pretty tall order when I think about it. Especially if you are working full time and have a family with children. For us it is not as much of an issue, so far. Lol.

OK, on to other things. I did my first race of the season. Not an Ultra, that comes later, but a half marathon called the Horsetooth Half. It is a local race and has been held for a number of years. I have done it one time before and thought I would give it another try. We lucked out this year and received beautiful weather for the day. This is a point to point road race and transverse some of the most picturesque scenery around Fort Collins. There is about 1000 feet of elevation gain/loss, but 99% of this is in the first half of the race. Once you are past that half way point it is pretty much downhill all the way to New Belgium Brewing in Old Town, Fort Collins. A very nice course in my opinion.

I felt really good for this race, even being a little sleep deprived with the new puppy. I finished the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 7 minutes and averaged about 9 minute miles. This was great for me. Much faster than my first time. Lol So maybe all the training is paying off? Oh, I so hope so! Next race is the Quad Rock 50!

I want to give a big Thank You to the Fort Collins Running club for again putting on a fantastic event. And I have to say that the sponsors and volunteers really did a great job of handing out water and making the race fun and entertaining. Without you this event would be just another “run of the mill” half Marathon. For a full list of sponsors and information about the race check out the web site here: https://horsetooth-half.com/

Running this past week has been beautiful. Cold mornings with warmer afternoons. Just fantastic weather and great air quality due a series of small fronts that removed most of the particulate matter from the Front Range.

This blog post is going to be a little shorter this time. Marvin is still impinging on sleeping so I do not have as much time to write. The dog training course Janet and I are still watching is from the Great Courses. Pretty good. There are 24 lectures in the Course, each one being about 30 minutes long. We try to watch only one each night to help absorb all the information. I would also suggest to get the course book to help with going over certain concepts in the video lecture. Once we go through the entire series we plan to watch it a second time just to help with retention. So far things seem to be going along really well. You can find the link here: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/dog_training_101

So that is about it for me. I hope to get more sleep this next week!! Lol. Oh well – still need to get in running in preparation for the Quad Rock in May. It is only about 3 week away. So if I am going to lengthen my distances a little more, I need to do it in the next week and then start the taper so I am fully rested on race day. I think that I will leave you with one more picture of a Colorado afternoon. They have been beautiful. Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trail. Adios amigos!!