Heart Like a Dog

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

Zoned Out

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Delilah has been doing super on our walks.

I keep her on leash in certain areas and in other areas she’s allowed to be off.  The majority of the time she returns immediately upon being called.  On those rare occasions when she doesn’t respond, if I run in the opposite direction or loudly reward Sampson she zips right over.

Until Saturday.

We’d been walking for about 45 minutes and were heading out of the field.   At this stage, she’s responded to every call.

Then she entered the woods at the edge of the field.

And she kept going.

Sampson  wasn’t too far away and I called him over, raising my voice and showering him with treats.

Sometimes when Delilah appears to be blowing off a recall, she’s actually running a great big circle and will come at me from the front.

Not this time.

I continued calling her as we made our way out of the park.

Fine, she can go to the pound, I said to Sampson.

But I couldn’t do that.  I couldn’t just leave her out there, and take a chance that she’d get hit by a car or come in contact with some unscrupulous character.

As Sampson and I walked back to the car I looked over and could see her grazing in someone’s yard.

Damn it!

At this point, I wasn’t really sure how this was going to go. By the time I could get to her, would she have moved on?  Would she run when she saw me coming?  I couldn’t chase her through the neighborhood with Sampson in tow, so I took him to the car.  I cracked one window about 2 inches and locked the door.  I figured if it took longer than 10 minutes I would call Hubby and ask him to come and get Sampson.

I can’t tell you accurately what the distance was.  Let’s just say it’s not the gingerbread house and there’s no trail of crumbs leading to it.  I had to forge my own trail and honestly I did not count my footsteps as I stomped through the woods, but if I had to guess I’d say it’s at least 100 yards.

Path See the patch of white through the trees?

Lightening Yup, she was grazing in the yard.

The whole time I was Sasquatching it through the woods, I was calling, clapping and whistling, yet Delilah never  raised her head from her grazing.

Not once.

In fact, it wasn’t until I was about ten feet away from her that she actually looked up.  To me it seemed like it took her a few seconds before she realized it was me.

Who is she kidding Oh hey mom, were you looking for me?

Does that make sense?

I’m not a dog trainer, expert or behaviorist yet I’ve heard stories of dogs in survival mode that don’t recognize their owners immediately.

I can’t see how she’d be in survival mode, but it was like she was in a zone somewhere.

As I thought about it after and discussed it with Hubby, it seemed to me she wasn’t just blowing off her recall.  There was something more to it.

Then I recalled how in one post I’d written about something destructive that Delilah had done and 2 Brown Dawgs had said, didn’t she do that at the same time last year?  And when I looked back at the posts, she was right!

I went back through my posts to Defeated and Lost Parts One and Two and OMD, it was March of last year, although to be fair, it was the beginning of March.

So here are the thoughts racing through my gray matter:

Is there something in the air (birds that leave droppings) or ground with a strong scent that is prevalent this time of year that makes her lose her mind?

She came to us in May of 2007, at that time she was in a high kill shelter but we don’t know why.  Had she been picked up as a stray, scavenging for her food for a couple of months and this time of year is like an acid flashback?

Is there just something in the spring that makes this bitch feel her wild oats?

Will she EVER be reliable off-leash or will I have to trip over this dog the rest of my life?

Am I too neurotic to own pets?

She Wears a Mask

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I’m not quiet when I walk Sampson and Delilah.

If you’re walking with me and hoping to enjoy the quiet of nature and scenery like

IMG_4347 this

IMG_4353 or this

You may want to choose another walking partner.

My whole purpose of walking with my dogs is to interact with

IMG_4346 these two.

In order to do this, I talk to them and at times I need to call them.  In other words I’m very loud.

So when I catch someone unaware it surprises me, I mean sound really carries in our little neck of the woods.

We were taking our walk on Sunday when I noticed someone ahead of me on an adjacent trail.  I called the dogs to me and waited, watching.

From the distance we were at I couldn’t tell who it was.   Then all of a sudden I saw a brown dog with an orange collar come into the picture.

Ah, it’s Brady and one of his moms I thought.  So I let the dogs go, and started walking towards them.

This was a big mistake.

The dog in question was not Brady at all.

The dogs were fine with the other dog but as soon as I realized my faux pas, I started walking towards them calling my dogs as I walked.  As I got closer I could see a woman holding her dog, while telling my dogs to “Go.”

My dogs did.  They came back and I hooked them up, then shouted over my apologies.

“I’m so sorry, I saw your dog off-leash and assumed it would be okay.”

“Are you speaking?”

“Yes, I said, I’m super sorry, I saw your dog off-leash and assumed it would be okay to allow them to say hello.”

“She wears a mask, because sometimes she doesn’t like other dogs, not all dogs, just some.”

Let me remind you all of what ASSUME means.

Yes, I felt like a complete ass.  Here is her poor dog, in the woods wearing a muzzle and the two galloping goofs are rushing over to say hello.

I’m going to make another assumption right now.  That assumption is you’ve read Suzanne Clothier’s article He Just Wants To Say “Hi.” If you haven’t read this amazing article, take the time to do so, if you don’t have the time, bookmark the page or print it off and stick it in your pocket for future reading. It is a must read for every single dog owner.

I. Kid. You. Not.

And I want to thank Pamela Douglas Webster again for sharing the article.  I cried when I read the article, thinking of the times I corrected my dog for reacting like a dog.  I also printed it off to put with my dog material and I intend to make at least one copy to carry with me, for sharing purposes.

That article sprang to mind as this woman and I shouted back and forth across the trails.  I thought of her poor dog and the frustration and fear her dog must feel, being muzzled and unable to let another dog know that she wants to be left alone.

And then of all the other dog owners who will misunderstand and misread the signals their dogs are sending to them.   Other dog owners who have consulted with professional dog trainers.

I did.  The first time Delilah reacted to a dog, we went back to class.  I worked with her on reactivity and as I worked her, I really started watching just exactly when and what she reacted to.

Yes, she was selective in her reactions.  Dogs who are rude, or misbehaving are the dogs she snipes at.  She’s letting them know she doesn’t care for their behavior.

The problem is, that many owners misunderstand her ‘reactions’ as aggression and I have to be careful.  I can’t have her reacting to a dog whose owner is not going to understand what’s going on.

Have you read the article?  What do you think?  Is it a reactive dog, an aggressive dog, a fearful dog or a dog with normal expectations of how other dogs should behave?

I Hear You Knocking

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One of my all time favorite author’s is Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I would read her books over and over again.  So you can imagine with this latest round of snow, I’m beginning to feel like I’m stuck in the middle of the Long Winter.  Except we’re not stranded on the prairie, relying on trains to bring us food, we’re not burning twisted straw to heat the house and we’re not eating just bread.

Okay, maybe the Long Winter is a bad analogy.

I just want to go on record as saying, I’m done with winter and I’m ready for spring.  Thursday afternoon it started snowing and it snowed until yesterday around 2 pm.  Twenty-four hours of snow.

Again.

This latest winter storm was named David.  Which coincidentally is the name of my favorite ex-husband. (Technically he’s my ex-work-husband but even still, I like him better than my real ex-husband.)

Sorry, I digress.

If I had to guess, I’d say we got at least another foot of snow.

Hubby cleared the driveway before leaving for work yesterday morning, but by the time I came home at night we had at least 8 inches of snow on it.

I gunned the car and stuck the landing but knew I’d never be able to get out or in again.  So Sampson, Delilah and I walked up to the park.

Our Park It wasn’t looking good from this vantage point.

I don't know I don’t know mom, it looks pretty deep.

Nope Nope, not going to happen.

If you like our page on facebook, you may have seen the video I put up of Delilah trying to get into the park.  (If you don’t like us, would you mind helping us out and popping over to click the like button?)

As we walked away I heard the park sing, “I hear you knocking, but you can’t come in.”

We had to be content with a walk about the neighborhood.

Rocks 1 Check out the cool boulders.  These are actually in someone’s front yard.

Sunset One of the benefits of a storm is the beautiful sunsets when it’s finally over.

Sunset1

Snow Just to give you an idea of the snow accumulation.

We’re digging out again this weekend, what are your plans?

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