Heart Like a Dog

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

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Follow-Up Friday – August 28, 2015

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up my week. I apologize in advance as this post is a wee bit long.

You Make Me Smile – August 23, 2015

Labrador Retrievers

So close and yet so far.

Earl Lover said, “We only have dogs. My dogs couldn’t get on with cats; they’ve never been socialised with them.”

My dogs are weird. They are typically fine with the cats in the house, although they do sometimes chase them, but let them see a cat outside and it’s on!

Hailey and Zaphod said, “When we had both (which was like for 15 years), we always had a baby gate to keep the dogs and cat food/litter apart. We would keep it high enough so the cats could go under but low enough so the dogs couldn’t. It worked 99% of the time.”

If the cat was staying with me we would have done that, but Grandma does not have the room to do that and knowing her, would more than likely fall trying to get over the gate.

Jan K said, “We have a pantry downstairs with a hole in the door that only the cats can fit through, and that’s where the kitty litter is.
Samantha gets fed on the kitchen counter, and she usually has an audience. Dogs just love cat food! They usually get to lick her bowl after canned food, and occasionally get a couple pieces of her kibble!”

I just don’t get the fascination with the cat’s food and litter box.  If the food tastes so damn good, why don’t they make dog food taste the same way?

Blueberry’s Human said, “I wonder though…if you were to use the litter box yourself if that would deter D & S from wanting what’s in there? You never hear about dogs eating human poop (or maybe I am not in the right social circles)”

Dear God, thank you for not letting my friend run in the social circles where it’s ok for human’s to use a litter box. Amen.

Faithfully Yours…The Trailer

Genevieve said, “I preordered the book, and I would have preordered the song if it was available. I love it!…Gah! Siri told me it IS available. …so I bought that too.”

Thank you for pre-ordering the book. I did as well. I hope you enjoy both the book and the song!

Pamela said, “I sometimes wonder if we form the strongest bonds with the animals who need us the most.”

I think we are drawn to certain animals more than others, just the same was we are drawn to people.

2 Brown Dawgs asked, “Best of luck to Peggy with the book. I am a bit confused though. Is it a picture book?”

I haven’t read it yet, but from what I understand it is not a picture book. It is a book highlighting the human-animal bond via stories. There may be some pictures in it, but I think the trailer was designed to “show” you the bond to entice you to read the book.

Don’t Count Us Out

Emma said, “Sometimes I think you humans just start to see our naughtiness as normal and don’t even think of posting about it. That has happened a bit with Bailie but she has possibly started to mature, so some of the naughtiness may disappear!”

You may be right. Now when I see something torn up on the floor, I usually just pick it up. 😉

Sue said, “BOL Can’t help but be happy Delilah is still Delilah. :-)”

OH, she is definitely still Delilah. She makes me laugh every single day.

Jan K said, “Luke stole a stick of butter right out of the butter dish last week. My hubby thought it was far enough back on the counter when he left it unattended….I think my favorite Delilah story that I have never forgotten was when she stole all that chicken out of the kitchen sink.”

Oh I feel for you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought something was ‘safe.’

And I like that story about the chicken necks myself. It’s quite enjoyable telling to. I get quite animated. LOL

Jan gave us her approval, “Oh yeah, the girl still has it and so does Jodi.”

Thank you Jan. 🙂  I can’t wait to tell you what she did yesterday.

Blueberry’s Human said, “Bahahahahaha! I love Delilah. It’s like a battle of wits with her. You think you’ve gotten everything cleaned up and she finds the one thing just close enough to reach to prove you wrong.”

It is like a battle of wits, I think I’m the witless one. LOL

Jen Gabbard’s comment was priceless, “OK the knife would have given me a heart attack – doesn’t it make you wonder how she got it onto the floor? I love all of your misadventures, they really remind me of how silly life really is. Things happen, but being able to find the humor in it makes it so much easier to handle. We had our own little adventure today in the yard. On the way back from getting the mail Laika spotted some turkeys before I did – they were so close I didn’t have a chance to tell her to come here before she’d pinned one down. I heard a bunch of hissing (yeah turkeys hiss apparently, who knew?) and some feathers flying, and as I approached Laika was still pinning the poor bird down. Fearing the worst I picked it up to see if she’d hurt him – to my surprise he looked unharmed. So of course Laika is flipping the frak out because I’ve got her lovely prize in my arms – she’s jumping up at me and whining.. I didn’t want to give it back and since it was young I knew it wasn’t going to be able to fly (or roost) away so I carried the thing all the way back home (our driveway is really long). It took me 5 minutes to trick Laika to get her ass into the garage so I could let the bird go. Anyways the bird was fine, ran off hissing into the sunset. But yeah I got to hold a turkey for the first time.”

It does make me wonder about the knife, and I did check her mouth for cuts. As for Laika and the turkey. OMG I don’t know what I would have done! And while I didn’t know that turkeys hissed, I did know that birds did. For an amusing story, read about the Hissing Tree.

Stop Means Stop

There, that ought to cover it.

There, that ought to cover it.

Lauren Miller said, “Our stop walking cue is “WAIT!” I try really hard to not make cues mean more than one thing. It’s tough sometimes and I’m not very creative. LOL”

I see the value in that. I think it’s whatever works (or is the word that comes quickest to your mind.) 🙂

Jen Gabbard said, “If I saw her kicking as you were picking it up I’m sure I would have been rolling on the ground.”

I know if I saw it, I would probably have wet myself laughing so hard.

Emma said, “Maybe you need a go pro strapped to your head on your walks so we can actually see that dirt heading right at the camera on you head???”

Then Jan K replied to Emma, “I think we should all chip in and get a Go Pro for Jodi. I’m thinking there would be no end to the entertainment value of that. LOL”

You know, I do have a Go Pro, I need to talk to Hubby about getting it set up for me. Can you imagine the money I could make on YouTube? LOL

2 Brown Dawgs said, “We use “sit” a lot. It means stop and sit until released. You can use it in a variety of situations so we stick with that one.”

I think that’s a good solid command. If it works for your dogs and it’s a word you remember (key in my book) then it’s a win-win.

Meagan and Merlin said, “I also use different commands for the same thing, for example when he sits to be fed i use the words “go, ok and hammer time” and he eats his food after waiting. Also saying “food and hungry” to him, makes him run to the kitchen. Labs and their food obsessions lol.”

Bwa Ha Ha, I’m always amused at the words I use and the words my dogs understand. I love hammer time!

Jan K said, “This will sound weird, but for the first time ever today, Luke pooped when we were on a walk! I was excited, because to me that means he’s a little more relaxed, not holding it until we get back home.”

Oh Jan, I get, I truly do. Sampson was always such a private pooper. He would spend 9 hours at daycare, come home and run into the backyard to take his dump. Every time. It was only after he tore his ACL when he couldn’t do a lot of walking, that he started pooping on the leash, because he basically had no choice.

Did I ever tell you, that for the longest time Sampson squatted when he peed? Our trainer said, if they don’t lift their leg by the time they are one or two (I can’t remember which it was) then they won’t do it. He was well past the age she mentioned when he first lifted his leg. I swear to you, I was so proud of him for doing that. LOL

Jenna, Mark, “Husky-Crazed” Drady said, “Omg I am so sorry but I had to laugh at that cloud of dirt hitting your face! hahaha!!!! Oh i’m so so so sorry!!!!!”

PLEASE don’t apologize! I WANT you to laugh. 🙂

Well that’s it for me, thanks for hanging in there with me and have a wonderful weekend!

Stop Means Stop – Barks and Bytes

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Most of the time I enjoy walking with my dogs. It is a time for quiet reflection for me, a time where blog posts come together in my mind and Sirius, philosophical thoughts take place.

It’s also a time for working with and training my dogs. We are constantly working on SOMETHING.

There are certain areas of our woods where Sampson practices his heeling. These areas are typically the entrances to the park, or to Sampson, the place where he meets people and other dogs.

When the dogs are off-leash in the woods we practice our recalls. Delilah is a work in progress. I’ve worked very hard on developing our bond so I am more valuable and rewarding to her than anything else she could possibly find. Still I’m cautious about letting her have her freedom and keep recalling her back to me in the hopes it will be so habitual that should the opportunity ever present itself, she won’t give in to temptation.

Sampson also needs to work on his recall because he has selective hearing lately. Sometimes he completely ignores me and just continues sniffing whatever it is that caught his nose.  Since I don’t worry about him running off like Delilah would, those are the times when I will give Delilah something exciting, like we will run a bit and get lots of treats. Of course, once the straggler comes back to us, he goes on leash or he must heel.

Not coming back to me is unacceptable.

There’s also another command we’ve been working on. It’s called Stop. I typically use this command when the dogs are both off-leash in the woods. Suddenly I will say, “Stop!” and reward them when they do. My thought process is this – to have a command so solid, the dogs will do it without even thinking. So now when that wayward deer shows up and my dog takes off, (and I panic forgetting my recall word) I yell, “Stop!” and my dog will cease what he/she’s doing and actually stop. Once I’ve gotten their attention, (and gathered my wits again)  I can easily recall them back to me.

At least this is how it works in my head.

Stop means stop, but stop what?

Yet, I forget that I use Stop for so many things. Isn’t that the problem with commands?

  • I say Stop when I’m trying to put a harness or collar on and someone will not stand still.
  • I say Stop when someone is licking the counters or the rug, or the cabinets, or… well you get the point.
  • I say Stop when Delilah tries to put her cold, wet Kong on my lap.
  • I say Stop when Delilah is waking me up in the morning by burying her head in my chest and pushing me backward.

As humans we can differentiate the context in which a word is being used, but our dogs are literal, they are only understanding the command as we are teaching it to them.

I forget these things sometimes.

Last Saturday we took our early morning walk. Delilah is the dog who ALWAYS attempts to cover her business by kicking dirt/grass/leaves etc over it. I want to tell her she’s a big ass dog and grass isn’t going to cover her business, but I keep quiet because she wouldn’t understand me anyway.

There, that ought to cover it.

So this particular morning Delilah does her business on someone’s lawn and started kicking grass over it.  Naturally I want to pick it up, so I say “Stop.”

In my mind I am telling her to stop kicking grass, but Delilah’s mind and my mind do not work the same way and my “Stop” command has taught her to cease moving forward.  Still, somehow, miraculously she does stop and she stands there looking at the road. So I bend down to pick up the doody and BAM, a clod of dirt and grass hit me right in the side of my head.

I wondered how hard someone who observed us would have laughed. I know I would have laughed, if I wasn’t the one grass on my glasses and dirt in my ear.

She did stop walking though. 🙂

Chocolate Lab

You might want to clean that dirt out of your ear, you’ll be able to hear me better.

Do you have any commands that mean more than one thing? Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this.

 

Heart Like a Dog

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Don’t Count Us Out

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In last Sunday’s (August 16, 2015) You Make Me Smile post,  Jan said, “I liked the posts of yesteryear when she led you on some hilarious misadventures. Funny for us, not for you.”

I responded with “Oh trust there are still adventures, don’t count us out yet. “

These aren’t epic. Like her running off and getting her leash lodged under the concrete of a central air conditioning unit (Part 1, Part 2 )or walking into someone’s garage to check for food, or even knocking me into the street while she chased a leaf.

Still I hope these might be enough so you don’t count us out just yet.

Petals in the wind – Some of you may recall I was helping my sister care for my aunt who passed away in June.  My sister (having cared for her for many years) and I sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to place in the casket.

After the service I brought the flowers home and placed them on my fireplace mantle, where I let them sit, and sit, and sit. Eventually as the flower petals dropped to the floor, I determined it was time to toss them.

I kept one flower. It was a yellow rose and I was drying it so I could press it. I set the flower on the dining room table, where it stayed. For about a month.

Last week I came home to find the stem and the ovary (I looked it up. Holy shit, who knew flowers had ovaries?) on the floor. The petals were gone, eaten by a hungry chocolate lab.

Two petals, the ovary and the stem, that's all that's left.

Two petals, the ovary and the stem, that’s all that’s left.

Thanks for eating Aunt Edie’s flower Delilah!

Here’s the big surprise. I didn’t even call the vet.

Sunday Funday – Sunday Hubby made breakfast. (It’s been a long time since he made breakfast and I was quite excited about it.) Of course, he was rushing to leave the house and so the pans and utensils sat on the stove where he left them.

I was running out myself and had seen Delilah eyeing the stove, so I moved what I thought was everything into the back of the sink, where I was certain she wouldn’t be able to reach them.

I ran to throw a quick load of laundry in, so it would be ready for the dryer when I got home. I stepped out of the laundry to discover this on the floor.

That's my small, very sharp Santoku knife.

That’s my small, very sharp Santoku knife.

I siriusly checked her mouth for blood.

Breakfast of Champions – Yesterday she jumped backwards so high, she was able to get a lick of her food from her food bowl being held at about the five foot level.

Tempting Fate – Yesterday during our afternoon walk, I took her off-leash in the field. I held my hand out to her in the “wait” command and started walking away. I got about 15 feet away and she ran right up to me. Considering all the times she’s run in the opposite direction, I couldn’t be mad. Instead I treated her.

Three minutes later when we entered the woods, she took off down a trail the kids made. She stood on the rock, staring out at the great unknown, with all of it’s delicious and intriguing smells and noms.

“Don’t do it” I said.

She squatted and peed as if to say, I only had to pee, geez what’s your angst about?

Still with us Jan? We good? If not, check back with me on Thursday when I fill you in about our STOP command.

Finally, I’d like to send some love to my friend Sue at My Golden Life, her girl Callie went to the bridge yesterday, our hearts are with you my friend. 

Run fast, run free Callie.

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