Masterful Swimming

Masterful Swimming a video by joanna.madsen on Flickr.

So, of course you know that we've been trying very hard to get Hinckley interested in the water and swimming. In the last few months, he's actually taken quite a liking to getting wet and has been much more adventurous both at the lake nearby and at the beach. He's still been timid about swimming (i.e letting his paws leave the ground,) but much more excited about splashing & getting wet in service of fetching balls & sticks.

Well, today he took a massive leap in doghood and actually swam! Tyler & I were so excited for him, he did just great. He's a bit confused about how to start his swims - we were around other dogs who were fine with just leaping into the pond but Hinck likes to kind of hop his way into it. So he looks a bit silly on the way out - but on the returns to shore he's a pro! He even went so far as to fetch two balls at one time, while swimming! We have video, so you can check it out. Hooray for Hinck!

Happy New Year!

I've been fairly delinquent about keeping up with posting, but wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. Hinck, Tyler, and I rang in the new year up north in Mendocino at a dog-friendly B&B called The Inn at Schoolhouse Creek. We had a great time exploring town and the coastal paths nearby, playing outdoor chess, and sitting by the fire. Hope to share more in the upcoming weeks!













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Stanford vs. Oregon game

I decided that since things are getting pretty routine with Hinckerz these days, I'm going to try to spice things up with some thoughts on food. Besides, Hinckerz often hangs out with me in the kitchen while I'm cooking...so...consider this "Puppy & Kitchen chronicles" until further notice.

This weekend was the big Stanford vs. Oregon game - #9 vs. #4! We had Adders over to watch (Sal was out of town) and I put myself in charge of making snacks.

Mom & Dad sent me some delicious-looking potatoes from mum's garden a few weeks back and I had been looking for a special occasion to merit cooking them. This was it. Per dad's suggestion, I simply roasted them with some olive oil, salt & pepper.

Though I knew they'd be ridiculously good on their own, Tyler and I were feeling ambitious and decided to make a dipping sauce, like the kind you get when you have Patatas Bravas at a Tapas bar. We used Bobby Flay's recipe and let me tell you, it was awesome. Only drawback is that now I have a whole lot of it left over but no idea what to use it on since I'm out of potatoes now. Sigh!

Here's the goods:

• 1 tomato
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup homemade mayonnaise
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons smokey paprika
• 2 teaspoons whole chipotle in adobo sauce

I basically roasted the tomato alongside the potatoes for awhile, then put all of the ingredients into my Magic Bullet blender and pureed. Tyler made the mayonnaise from scratch after my first attempt failed. Note: use the Cuisinart for that part.
We also enjoyed some Kale chips (bake kale seasoned with olive oil & salt for 20 minutes at about three hundo) and later, steak tacos.
Sadly, Oregon ended up trouncing us in the second half. Hinck was pretty upset about it. Or that may have been because we put him in his pumpkin costume from last year. Only the hat still fits.

Adventures in Florida

Tyler and I just got back from a great trip to Florida that started in Naples, continued in Clearwater, and ended unexpectedly in Atlanta.

We were in town for his cousin Ellen's wedding and after a fabulous day and a half in Naples where we celebrated his dad's birthday, we drove up to Tampa. The wedding was held at the Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater, which was beautiful. It was great because after the rehearsal dinner on Friday, there wasn't another event until Saturday evening, so we were able to hang out by the pool and beach all day. Here's the view from the beach.

The wedding started at six and was held outdoors. Everyone was very worried about rain but luckily it held off!


The reception was also at the same resort, which was a lot of fun. This was our salad course which I thought was quite beautiful - and I got extra cucumber since TLK is allergic.We meant to come home Sunday night, but when we got to the Tampa airport we learned that there were thunderstorms in Atlanta and our incoming flight was delayed, meaning that we were delayed. After at least an hour and a half of ridiculous plane antics, we took off only to arrive to Atlanta ten minutes after our flight to SFO had left. I have to say, Delta was not very helpful on this one. But we got through to someone on the phone and booked ourselves on the next available flight...Monday at 5pm.

To make the best of things, we explored a bit of downtown Atlanta on Monday, visiting the Olympic park and the Coke Museum. It really did turn out to be a fun detour.



Hinckerz meanwhile was being looked after by Sally and Adam (thank you!!!) who graciously rose to the challenge when we told them we were delayed an extra day. He told me he had tons of fun visiting IDEO (he says he can't tell me what he did there since it was confidential,) running around the park in Potrero Hill, and playing with the blue squash ball Adam found. He's been sleeping it off since. Gotta love a sleepy puppy!

Swimming Progress

The last few weekends have been HOT and Tyler and I have been trying our hardest to make them into swimming opportunities for Hinckley. This weekend he had his first ever 2 second long doggie paddle, but it has been a long road to get there.

The recap:

Step 1: Drop puppy off dock
You may recall that when Hinck was only a few months old, we took him on a warm October day up to Treasure Island and tried to teach him to love the ocean like we do. We did this by getting him a life preserver and dropping him off a dock. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately, I think it really just ended up freaking him out. Whoops.


Step 2: Try out the beach
At Fort Funston, We carried the puppy into ocean waves. Again, this maybe wasn't the best idea for a 'medium warm' day in November. Tyler braved the icy water and tried to lead by example, but Hinckley was really having none of it.


Step 3: Bribe with Peanut Butter
Fast forward to just a few weekends ago in May. Tyler looked up a nearby 'beach' in Foster City that allows dogs, but only on leash. We took off in the late afternoon and brought with us plenty of treats and a jar of peanut butter. While the treats did nothing, spoonfuls of peanut butter did seem to have a pretty strong pull. We led Hinck into the water inch by inch until he got up to his belly, stopped licking peanuttiness off his chops long enough to realize where he was, and bolted.


Step 4: Combine hot weather with lots of dogs and one big stick
To the beach again. We brought Hinck back to one of his favorite spots, Fort Funston, and let him loose on the beach. He had a blast chasing dogs of all sizes and occasionally found himself knee deep, having been distracted by pursuit of another pup. It was hot enough that he repeatedly took to the shallow water (and unfortunately, drank half the ocean and was barfing all afternoon) but the waves were definitely intimidating him. Tyler tried to tempt him with a big ol' chunk of wood, but it only worked about half the time.


Step 5: Tone it down with a lake
And finally, this weekend. We chose a super hot day and took Hinck to Water Dog Park in Belmont. There were some nice big sticks to choose from and we had fairly good success tossing sticks out just far enough that he had to lean on his tippy-paws to get the stick before falling off the lake bed. And on one try, he did fall off and gave a few brilliant doggie paddles before jumping out of the water and running around like a maniac. We were very proud.

Unfortunately, that was the only paddle of the day. Especially as other dogs showed up, Hinck let them (and the wind) do the heavy lifting of actually retrieving the sticks, then chased them once they were back on land. We think there is hope though, and with more opportunities and practice (and a place where we can get in the water too) He'll get there!

Here's a video where we hoped he'd repeat his swim...he didn't, but he still looks cute.

Lots of Hinckley Pictures

This is Tyler, here with a guest post. I got a new camera and -- after taking pictures on vacation in Naples -- came back to snap scores of photos of the Hinckapotamus. You can see a few favorites below (with my throw-away comments) or can visit the whole set on flickr.

Hinckley being cute.

He don't eat the meat but he sure like the bone.

Hinck learned how to be a good smiler from Jo.

Hinck likes this blue bone. Unlike most of his toys, he hasn't found a way to destroy it (yet).

Hinck learned this from the "Madsen School of Sticking One's Tongue Out to the Side."

I think it's hilarious how his body looks disconnected from his head.

He's a big tennis ball man these days.

Ok, that's all for pictures -- again, you can visit the rest here. As for real news about Hinck, he's becoming a better fetcher (with the help of new treats from CostCo) and a better walker (thanks to the Easy Walk Harness). A video of him walking properly wouldn't be that interesting, but maybe we can conjure up a video of him fetching this weekend -- it's especially fun when he jumps for a high bounce and flips around in mid-air.

To close, Hinck has a special message for everyone reading this. He says "[snore]."

Great Pictures from Bernal & Happy Mothers Day

Today Hinck, Tyler, Sally, Adam & I all went on a short jaunt to Bernal Heights. Despite feeling a bit ill over the past week and a half, Hinck seems to have returned to his normal self and was running around like a maniac. Sally & Adam took some awesome pictures, which I wanted to share here. Man, I wish I had a camera that could capture Hinck in his true essence like this! (They took some of people too, but this being a blog about Hinck, he's heavily featured.)







Finally, Hinck wanted to share a message for all the moms out there!