Why can't dogs scratch with their front legs?

I have been considering this for a few days. I have never seen a dog use their front paws to scratch. I thought about this as I watched Hana and wondered if she perhaps has gotten fleas. She uses her hind legs to scratch her head and neck, she will even stand on three legs to raise a back paw to her side. She will also contort her spine in a variety of ways so she can nibble on her paws, her backside, her rib cage or her belly. I realize that her hips can open up in ways her shoulders can't but why can't dogs use the front paws to reach down and scratch their belly when they are sitting up? It seems so much more time and energy saving then having to rotate her head and spine 45 degrees to get to a spot that itches.

Hana had her first half day at doggie daycare today so that we could get ready for a visit from our family (more on that later.) I was much more anxious than I thought I would be because she is such a shy dog and being a rescue dog I have limited information on her previous life so I worry. Luckily she went with her good buddy Dude so he could show her the ropes and hopefully make her feel at ease. She made it the whole four hours and more importantly so did I. Apparently though she only played with Dude when she did play but mostly sat back and observed. This is par for the course for a thinking dog and probably Border Collies who aren't sure what their jobs are in this situation and who they should be clinging to. I hope the next time she will have more playmates and be trusting of us that we will always return to get her.

Hana is back in "school" for intermediate obedience. She still gets a little stressed with the other dogs barking and all the humans talking to the dogs, but I learned to use her stress signals to calm her down. It is really cool to have that communication with her and she keeps her eyes glued to me so I know it is working.

On Wed. evening, she had her first long play date with Dude (pictured above). For almost 6 hours she played at Dude's house and made him pretty tired. I think she was pretty good for Jennifer who was so sweet to take her on a warm day for us. The funniest moment we saw came at the end of the night when we were saying good bye and I was trying to get Hana to do her "touch" (where she puts her nose on the back of my hand) and instead she put her paw right on Dude's shoulder! It was too cute.

Last night we took her for her first kayak in the water experience. I think this will be a long process. While she willingly gets in the kayak in the yard, once she had her vest on and we were at the water's edge, she was not interested in being in a floating kayak. It may have something to do with her Frisbee which she prefers to semi-bury when at the beach or the kayak moving and her not being ready to swim. We tried to use the Frisbee to lure her further into the water to no avail. We will post a short video of this trial as soon as we can edit it!

Full Moon Paddle

Did you spend or save your stimulus money? We decided to do our part for the economy and spent it on a new activity that we could do together. We bought a Cobra tandem kayak! It won't be in for a couple of weeks so they let us borrow 2 regular kayaks in the mean time. Last night we went out for our second paddle on Mission Bay- it was a nice sunset and we were supposed to see the full moon (aka Strawberry Moon because it is as close to the earth as the sun is in winter), but there was a bit of a haze on the horizon so we didn't actually get to enjoy it until later.
Still the water was smooth and fairly quiet so we took a nice leisurely paddle out and back at dusk. We can't wait for Hana to go with us once we get her fitted in her life vest, we hope she will enjoy it as much as we do. Yes, she is the primary reason we chose a tandem. Also it will be easier to share with friends when they come to visit (hint hint). No it does not mean we won't move back to KY ever, we hope to use it here and there whenever the time comes.

Hana had spontaneous play dates this morning with both her boys. Hovis and Dude. Of course playing with Hovis only happens because she lies down in his yard and waits for him to cry enough that Chris will let him out. Then she heard Dude going down the alley and hung out with him in the yard for awhile. She is now sleeping it all off. A dog's life is truly good.