Heart Like a Dog

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

Follow-Up Friday

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

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

 

Joining me this week is Lynda from Two Ears and a Tail.  Lynda was a surprise friend I met while attending BlogPaws.  Lynda joined us when we went out to dinner and I was lucky enough to sit next to her, where she shared the story of her adoption of BJ, the hero of her blog.  If you haven’t met BJ and Lynda yet be sure to stop by and say HI!    Thank you Lynda for co-hosting with me!!

Follow-Up Friday

Ducky’s mom said, “Naw, if you happen to see someone not picking up after their own dog, yell to them to get their a$$es back there & pick it up. If they refuse, run ahead of them, snap a picture of their face. THEN, when you get home, put a caption like “this person does not clean up his/her dog’s poop”, print a bazillion copies, and plaster them all over the park and town.”

And I’ll tell you WHY I DON’T do that.  I worry that people will be vindictive and call animal control on me or harass my dogs in some other manner.  I know it’s probably paranoid, but that’s just how I think.

You Make Me Laugh

Jackie said, “Rita is the opposite. She almost never reminds me to feed her.”

You know Sampson used to be like that with his Kibbles, I’m not sure if he would remain quite as patient now that he’s on raw, but for sure he wouldn’t start bothering me half an hour before his scheduled meal.   Hubby and I have a running joke whenever we are out past their dinner time.   We think Delilah is dancing around the house saying, “Will they be back? When will they be back?  Do you think they know they’re late?”  While Sampson would just be patiently waiting.

Houndstooth said, “Ha ha ha! I would enjoy watching a Delilah reality show! Just sayin’!”

Sign me up.  I’ve often thought of wearing a helmet cam just to capture her antics.  Honestly, if you could hear her whining as I’m preparing her breakfast you’d think she hadn’t eaten in a week.

He’s Different on Leash

Rebecca asked, “Have you tried walking them on a coupler?”

No, I haven’t, but I think I may have to try it.

Donna asked, “What about shortening Sampson’s leash up when you walk, since he likes to stay close by you anyway?”

That’s what I try to do, it’s just a pain winding the leash around my hand.

Jodi asked, “If Delilah had been on leash, do you think Sampson would have run up to those people or do you think that he was just following her lead?”

Yes he would have.  When you get right down to it, Sampson is a people dog.  He loves people far more than he loves other dogs.  When we pull up to the park and he notices another car, he’s on a people hunt, you can see it in his demeanor.

10.3.13 002 Excuse the blurriness of the picture, but this is Sampson on the hunt for someone on our hike.

Jen K left a great video of her walking Alma on a hands free leash.  All I’ve got to say is, you are brave.  I can’t imagine walking either of my dogs with a leash attached to my waist, without a lot more training.  There have been times where they have lurched on the leash and pulled me, and I can’t imagine that coming from my waist.

Most of the time he’s very good off-leash.  BUT when we come upon people unexpectedly and I don’t get the chance to call him back (or he’s seen them first) that’s when the real trouble is.

For instance Tuesday we ran into another dog.  I had Sampson sit and he stayed, until the other dog moved and then there was nothing I could do to get him back.  I just had to let it happen.  (The other dog was also off-leash.)

You Can’t Save Them All

Pam said, “I’ll reserve my nasty thoughts for her previous owners.”

You don’t have to.  You’re welcome to share them here.  It’s not like I haven’t thought them. 😀  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes animals need to be re-homed, I understand that.  That is not the case with Sugar. If I had my way I’d chain her owner up to a tree in the dirt.  I have a really bad word for people like her, but even I won’t use it on this blog.

Jen said, “One dog at a time.”

Yes ma’am, if that’s how it has to be done, then that’s how we’ll do it!!

Cokie the Cat

Did you think it strange to find a cat on a dog blog?  Last year when Something Wagging did the Pet Blogger Gift Exchange I was paired with Cokie.  His mom is super amazing, kind and generous.  I know her heart is hurting right now and I wanted her to know that I’m thinking of her.

Dogs Just Want to Have Fun

This is going to be challenging for us as the days are shorter and it’s getting dark earlier.  By the time October ends, there will be no more walks in the woods after work.  Any after work walks will be around the block and Hubby is not keen on doing this, so we will have to work extra hard to get some fun things going on in the house.

Jan K said, “We really want to join k9 Kamp this time, but we are definitely going to need some ideas.”

Here’s one for you that I saw on Kol’s Notes.  Monkey in the middle.  Try throwing tiny treats over the dog’s heads.  You can stand as close or as far apart as you want.

That’s it for me, many thanks to Lynda from Two Ears and a Tail for co-hosting with me this week.



He’s Different on Leash

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Despite challenging weather and sometimes being bombarded by bugs, I enjoy walking with my dogs.

Most of the time.

Ideally for me, both dogs are off-leash, sticking close by me and responding when I give them a command, more specifically when I recall them.

And my dogs always come when they are called.

Siriusly, you didn’t buy that did you?  Because if you did, please contact me privately, I’m sure I have something very special that is one of a kind that I can sell you, for a large amount of money.

Delilah has proven time and time again that she is not reliable off-leash.  So now Delilah walks on a 15 foot leash, I also have one the same length for the times I need to leash Sampson as well.  No point having one dog on a six footer while the other leads the charge.

I carry treats, plain old treats and I also carry beef hearts.  The plain old treats are for when I say, “This way” or “No” or “Leave it.”  The beef hearts are for when I say “HERE!”

I try and use HERE at least once or twice per walk, because I want to reinforce that I have good treats and when you come when called, you get the goods.

My biggest struggles are when we encounter people or other dogs.  Last Sunday for instance, I had let Delilah off-leash in the deep part of the forest to practice her off-leash.  The first time she’d been off-leash in six months.  She was doing great and then she spotted some people.

Here did not work and both my dogs ran up to a woman with two children and a small dog.  Thankfully the small dog was super good with other dogs, so there was some sniffing but no barking or growling.  My dogs are not typically jump up on you dogs, so I think the kids (who seemed to be in the 7 to 10 year of age range) were mostly startled to see two large dogs charging at them.

Naturally I apologized profusely and leashed both my dogs.

And here is where my walks become stressful.  While it’s true, Delilah on a long leash can be a pain in the bum, for the most part we manage well.

When Sampson gets on a leash, he turns into a different dog.  If you don’t believe me, here are the pictures to prove it.

9-25-13 010 Sampson off-leash; notice how he’s ahead of Delilah, enjoying his walk.

9-25-13 003 Now add the leash.  As you can see he’s crossed her more than once and tangled his leash up.

9-25-13 006 You may have also noticed how close he is to me.

9-25-13 008 I can’t get him to move out of the way.

That and his leash drags on the ground, which means I’m either jumping leash or stepping on it.  Neither of which is very fun, not to mention all the crap that the leash picks up from dragging on the ground.

This has a tendency to turn my nice, relaxing walk, into a frustrating, stressful experience.

I’d love your suggestions for ways to handle this.  I’ve tried so many of the recall methods, but nothing I have in my pockets can compete with other dogs or people.  And in Delilah’s case, I can’t figure out what she’s hunting when she runs off into people’s yards.

AND for those of you who walk more than one dog on leash, how do you manage?

P.S. Have you seen the Dogs of Blogville Calendar?  Julie has the entire calendar up on her blog so you can check it out.  Remember ordering is finishing up today!!  Be sure you don’t miss out on this opportunity to have this one of a kind calendar.

You Make Me Laugh

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One of the big reasons I started this blog was for all the crazy, funny things my dogs do that bring a smile to my face or a laugh to my lips.

Sometimes it’s not easy to write a full blog post about it and sometimes I forget to share.

Some posts will be You Make Me Laugh and others will be You Make Me Smile, but they will all be the silly, sweet, funny things Sampson and Delilah do that help make crazy days just a little bit easier.

Feel free to share what your pet does to make you laugh/smile in the comments.

photo-10-PIC Delilah, when you come into the bathroom and shove your head between my legs because you’re impatiently waiting for your breakfast;

photo-11-PIC you make me laugh.

She does it every morning, while I’m getting ready for work.  And let me tell you, she is persistent!  She will keep pushing until she accomplishes what she wants to.

What kind of quirky things does your dog do?  Anything as strange as this?

 

 

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