Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Follow-Up Friday and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 13

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the blog hop that helps you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

 

Well here it is December 13th and I just realized yesterday that I missed my three year blogging anniversary!  LOL  See what happens when you switch to self-hosted?  You don’t have those little WordPress monkeys to remind you of important mile stones.

You Make Me Smile and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 8

Animal Couriers said, “Bet you wake up with a crick in your neck ;-)”

Sometimes I do, but it doesn’t matter to me, I’ll happily sleep like a pretzel if my puppies are cuddled against me.

Emma said, “Mom finally caved. Bailie sleeps all snuggles with Mom and sometimes Mom gets a paw in the face, but she doesn’t care, she loves having a dog in bed to snuggle.”

Welcome to the dark side Mom. 🙂

Lauranne said, “Cuddling up to my dog is the favourite thing in the world!”

You and me both!!

Meet the Bloggers and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 9

Emma asked, “Since I’m the dog and I’m the blogger, should I skip it or do it? Mom seems to think they want humans but it is my blog. What is your opinion?”

Read what one of the originators of the blog hop had to say.

Pup Fan replied, “Maybe you can blog about your mom that day? Hehe.”

Frankie and Ernie asked, “Heeehehehe do you SIRIUSLY think anybuddy Really wants to read all that stuffs about our PEEPS???”

I realize a lot of people aren’t comfortable putting themselves ‘out’ in the blogosphere, BUT I think a lot of people want to make a connection with the person behind the blog.  It’s a personal preference so if you don’t feel comfortable participating no one will be mad.  Disappointed maybe, but certainly not mad!

Kristine asked, “So tell me, Jodi, what makes you feel fabulous? ;-)”

You’ll just have to wait until the 18th to find out. 😉

Off-leash Chatter and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 10

Roxy the Traveling Dog said, “That’s all so interesting. I do wonder about the second leash thing though. When I am walking Torrey and unclipped her, she’s off and running. Maybe it’s just the sound and the fact she knows that’s what I’m doing.”

Now that you mention it, I’m wondering if it’s the sound as well.  Food for thought.

Jessica said, “It seems to me that Delilah needs some off-leash recall practice in a low-stakes environment. ….Have you practiced with her in a fenced yard or a really boring place outside??”

It’s been a while since we worked her there, I’ll have to find an enclosed area where we can practice.

Delilah’s Reality Show and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 11

Emma said, “In the end, it must be the fault of the human for leaving such a temptation unguarded.”

I absolutely take full responsibility for that Emma, it was totally my fault.

Jessica said, “Labs are usually a little too mellow for me, but Delilah is definitely not!”

I think it’s the Chocolate Labs, I’ve never met or heard of one that wasn’t just a little off the wall. 🙂

This story cracked me up.

Dawn said, “I used to feed my cats on a table on what we call the back porch (it’s a room off the kitchen all enclosed) and one of the dogs was helping them selves, but I couldn’t figure out who.

One day I left to go run errands when I went back into the house to grab my sunglasses. As I walked in the door, I could hear someone out there chomping on cat food. Ah ha, now I had the culprit! I started into the kitchen when my lab, Torri, came running around the corner. She skidded to a stop, looked at me and then spit a whole mouthful of cat food all over the floor and took off past me. I hadn’t said a word the whole time, but I was trying not to laugh. It was just the funniest spit take ever.”

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And no, she’s not still sitting there.

Sampson is Home and Advent Calendar for Dogs Day 12

Thank you all so much for your kind words and thoughts.  He is none the worse for wear and I’m having a hard time keeping him quiet.

Animal Couriers said, “That is great news – dear chap still looks knocked out in the photos.”

He was just happy to be home.   Although he was a tad bit clingy.

Pamela said, “And since you didn’t mention any problems, I’m assuming Delilah did ok by herself while Sampson was gone.”

Delilah surprised me in a pleasant way.  She was so good, and she didn’t get into anything!

That’s it for this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday.  You can find the blog hop below the Advent Calendar info.

Have a great weekend!

Day 13: Win The Game of Life - Dog's Life Edition in the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Giveaway Event It’s time for the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers hosted by Kol’s Notes, Heart Like a Dog, My Brown Newfies, My GBGV Life & Bringing up Bellat! 24 giveaways in 24 days, plus a grand prize worth more than $800 – who wants to win? Today’s giveaway is sponsored by Winning Moves Games. You could win the Game of Life Dogs Edition. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!



Delilah’s Reality Show and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 11

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I’m not a big fan of reality TV.

Except for that one season I watched the Bachelorette, I could care less if Ice Loves Cocoa, Harry Loves Lisa or if I’m Keeping up with the Kardashians.  Really, before the show, just who the hell were the Kardashians anyway?  And someone, ANYONE tell me why do I need to keep up with them?

I know a lot of people are enjoying some kind of puppy cam, or eagle cam or bear cam, (I’m not exactly sure) and while I think small animals are adorable, and could really sit and watch puppies play all day long, I think people would get quite a bit of amusement watching Delilah’s Reality Show.

I mean let’s face it Delilah is amusing, she has her own mind set and does pretty much what she wants, plus she’s funny as hell.

The real amusement however would come from the human’s reactions.

Let me set the scene.

It’s Saturday afternoon, I have two 10 pound bags of chicken necks defrosting in the sink.  I’ve already chipped away at one and pulled off about three pounds, which have been bagged and refrozen for future breakfasts for Sampson and Delilah.

As I am want to do when I have too many ‘to do’ items on my list, I stop one thing and wander off to do another.  In this case it was to swap out a load of laundry.

As I’m putting the last piece from the washer into the dryer I have a sudden thought, “I’m going to go out and catch Delilah with her face in the sink, doing her damndest to grab herself a chicken neck.

I giggled slightly to myself at the thought.

I step out of the bedroom and look towards the sink, but there is no Chocolate Lab there staring back at me.  I take three tentative steps towards the living room and that’s when I see her.

Gnawing on the frozen lump of chicken necks on my living room carpet.

Now I don’t care what anyone tells you, but when you come out of your bedroom and find your dog has removed SEVEN POUNDS OF FROZEN CHICKEN NECKS from your kitchen sink and is eating them on your living room rug, your first thought is not, “Let me grab my camera and take a picture.”

Oh no.

Believe it or not, it’s not your second thought either.

I’m sorry if that disappoints you, but I’m human after all and my first thought was OH MY GOD, she’s eating raw chicken necks on my rug!

On. My. Rug.

My second (coherent, printable thought) was, I must stop her, so I screamed, “DELILAH!”

She turned and looked at me then whipped her head back around working all that much harder to gather whatever bit of juicy goodness that she could before I took her treasured prize away.

I on the other hand, had turned into one of those “Here’s Your Sign” people, I screamed “What the Fuck?” and then “What the fuck is wrong with you?”  Like I really expected her to answer me.

In case you’re wondering, she didn’t.

After I managed to pull her away from the chicken necks, I did snap a photo.

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Seven pounds of chicken necks on my carpet.

I loaned my crate out to someone for a new puppy so I didn’t have it to put her in.  I know, I know you are not supposed to use the crate for punishment but on rare occasions I do.  Dragging seven pounds of chicken necks through my house constitutes punishment.

Whatever, judge me if you will,  you don’t live with this dog.

So since I did not have the jail to incarcerate her in crate, I made her sit on the couch until she was sorry.

She’s still sitting there.

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When I see something I want I go after it. Saturday I wanted chicken necks.

Come on, she’s a freakin’ lab, she’s not sorry!

See what I mean about the real amusement coming from the human’s reactions?  If she’d had a camera like Miss Meadow does, she might have actually captured the look on my face, in that brief but shining moment she turned around to look at me.

What’s the craziest thing your dog has ever done?

 Can you believe it’s already the 11th day of December?  Check out the Advent Calendar information.

Win gorgeous, durable recycled glass PawNosh bowls in the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Giveaway Event It’s time for the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers hosted by Kol’s Notes, Heart Like a Dog, My Brown Newfies, My GBGV Life & Bringing up Bella! 24 giveaways in 24 days, plus a grand prize worth more than $800 – who wants to win? Today’s giveaway is sponsored by PawNosh. You could win a beautiful, durable recycled glass dog bowl. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!

Off-leash Chatter and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 10

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You may remember we had an incident in class where Delilah completely ignored me and went off and did her own thing.  Our trainer’s thought is that the leash is a connection for Delilah and I and once that leash is unclipped Delilah feels like she doesn’t need to interact with me anymore.

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That statement brought up so many great thoughts and comments, so I thought I’d respond to them here.

Jan said, “There is usually some logic and consistency in the way a dog brain operates, It’s great that you were up for the challenge.”

Yup, there’s Delilah the Mr. Spock of the dog world, logically she thinks when we aren’t connected by the leash, we aren’t connect at all.

Beam me up Scotty.

Pamela asked, “Curious. I remember you doing some off-leash heeling practice at home. Do you do something special to signal her that you’re working together off leash?”

Well the first thing that was different is at home I had food in my hand.  Granted it was ONLY a chick pea, but it was food none-the-less.  In Nosework class I don’t have the food in my hand, it’s in my treat pouch.

She is also not on leash at home nor is she wearing a collar.  Typically when I release her to find in the class room, I simply drop the leash and let her go.  But this particular time I unclipped the leash.  You may recall I struggle with her taking off on me on our walks if I don’t keep her on leash.

That is really the only difference I can think of.

Jessica said, “You can also use two leashes–unclip one leash and see if the dog tries to run off. No risk if they do, because you still have the other one attached.”

That is an awesome idea!  I have a 15′ leash I use on our walks and I think I might just try that, although I wonder if she can sense the weight of the leash on the collar?

Kristine said, “I am so glad you were able to come up with something that helped! Though I am kind of bummed there was no magic cure all. *sigh*”

Ah Kristine my dear, you’ve been working with the Tornado on a leash long enough to know there is no magic cure all.  🙂  I am however hopeful that now we know what the issue is, there will be a way to work on it.  Never fear, I will share as we go.

Dawn said, “Keeping that connection for off leash work can be tough (says she with terriers). It’s been a longtime since I’ve trained for the obedience ring, but I used to do a little routine where I would get my dog into heel position, look at them to be sure they were paying attention to me, then say ready when they were. This was to help keep that connection and let them know that we were in working mode. In training class, I worked to keep my dog engaged with me whenever there was downtime (other dogs working, instructor speaking, etc.). I would just ask them to do simple behaviors like puppy pushups, spins, nothing that would get to rowdy.”

You bring up a great point Dawn.  Typically I have Delilah focus on me while Arianne is hiding our find.  I also work to keep her busy while other teams our searching, just as you suggested.  We play target games, I have her sit, down or spin BUT for some reason that night I was short on treats, so I was stingy.  And I did not keep her occupied during our ‘down time.’

I might have played a part in this particular incident.

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You’re crazy woman, I am a searching machine!

So what do you think?  Does it make sense?  Is there off-leash hope for Delilah?  Sound off in the comments.

Now are you ready for the Advent Calendar information?

Win Acadia Antlers moose antler pet chews in the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Giveaway Event It’s time for the Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers hosted by Kol’s Notes, Heart Like a Dog, My Brown Newfies, My GBGV Life & Bringing up Bellat! 24 giveaways in 24 days, plus a grand prize worth more than $800 – who wants to win? Today’s giveaway is sponsored by Acadia Antlers. You could win durable moose antler chews and treats for your dog. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!

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