Heart Like a Dog

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

Dogs Can’t Add

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On our walk this morning I was formulating a lovely post about recalls and what Delilah and I have learned and applied in the last eight weeks.

The Key Lies in Repetition

It is naive to think your dog will come back to you from an enticing situation if you only recall occasionally.  I have been working Delilah constantly.  In the course of a 30 minute walk I probably recall her at least 30 times.

I reward her each time she returns to me with a piece of liverwurst.   I even reward her when she comes to me without being called.  Sometimes it is with a piece of liverwurst, sometimes with a lesser food reward and sometimes I give her a rub on the head and tell her what a good girl she is.

Our recall word is HERE.  I say it loudly and clearly.  When she turns toward me I say, YES in an excited voice, sometimes I encourage her, come on, you’re such a good girl.

On the rare occasion she doesn’t respond immediately, I’ve found if I say YES and continue to chatter while rewarding Sampson, curiosity will compel her to come and see what Sampson is getting.

Know Your Dog And His/Her Limitations

With Delilah, I know there are areas where the lure of what else is out there, is greater than the lure of what is in my treat bag.  When I am approaching these areas, I will call her to me and either leash her, or I will hold a treat in my hand down by my side and keep her in a heel position.

Once we have passed that danger zone, I will release her again.

Sometimes Even With All We’ve Learned, We Fail Our Dogs

In the last week I have been giving her a lot more freedom, in fact about 98% of her walks have been off-leash.  She’s done spectacularly…..until today.

Let me be clear, it is I who failed, not Delilah.

I gave her too much freedom in an area that is far too tempting for her.  Today as we approached a danger zone I recalled her, but I failed to secure her on leash or use a heel treat.  She ran out into a neighborhood and investigated Tia’s yard.

I tried to recall her, but the lure of the yard was far more interesting than what I had in my pouch.  Sampson and I had to go out and get her.

Yes, she spent the rest of the walk (about 40 minutes) on leash.

2 Plus 2 Do Not Equal Four To Delilah

At first I was angry with Delilah, she did not respond to my call and I’m ashamed to say when I finally got her back I called her a dumb dog.

I stewed about it for a while on the walk, but then I realized that Delilah does not know how to add, she does not understand, I ran off so I got put back on leash.

Back To Square One

I know she’s capable of learning.  Whenever she is on leash and we approach a steep downhill area, I say easy Delilah, easy.  She’s gotten to the point that even when she is off leash, she walks slowly down these hills.

If I continue to request a heel from her in the danger zones, before long she will automatically heel and stay close even if she is off leash.

Right?

It was lovely while it lasted.

More Thoughts From A Walk

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A while back I wrote a post about thoughts Sampson, Delilah and myself might have on one of our walks. Since that time we’ve had many more walks, and many more thoughts. 🙂

We pull up to the park, I sling Samson’s leash over my shoulder, exit the car and open the door.  The dogs burst out and make a bee-line for the trees.

I shut the door, lock the car and pocket the key.  I reach into my treat bag and pull out some liverwurst.

Here, I say loudly and clearly. Sampson and Delilah run up to me and I give them each a tiny piece of liverwurst.  I grab Delilah’s 15 foot leash and we start hiking in.

We get into the field and all stop to check out a pile of dog poop.

Sampson, Dang, this guy gets different food than I do.

Delilah, I’ve never smelled this brand before.

Me, WTF do they feed that dog, it looks like sunflower seeds in there.

We make our turn into the woods.

Here, I say loudly and clearly.  Sampson stops, turns and looks at me.  Delilah spins on a dime and comes right back to me: where’s my liverwurst? 

I un-clip Delilah from her leash and tell her, free dog.

Sampson looks at me, where’s mine?

Me: Dude, you didn’t hustle back here, you get nothin.

We head towards the back of the woods, you know the place where all the spider parties are.

Sampson and Delilah run ahead.

Me:  Ugh, get it off me, get it off me!  (No, wait I said that out loud.)

Sampson: What’s the racket all about, why can’t we just have a peaceful walk?

Delilah turning on a dime and running back to me: What’s the matter mom, are you okay?  Where’s my liverwurst?

We all hear voices.  The dogs stop, ears up and then start to run ahead.

Here, I say loudly and clearly.

Sampson stops and looks back at me.

Delilah whips around and runs back to me.  Is this important?  Where’s my liverwurst?

I clip Delilah on leash and approach Sampson, he starts to move forward.

Wait, I say loudly and clearly. I grab his collar and clip on his leash.  Together we approach the field.

We see our neighbors with their dogs, it’s safe to let them off-leash.

I un-clip Sampson and drop Delilah’s leash, they take off at a full run.

Here, I say loudly and clearly.

Sampson ignores me, looking up at the neighbor, pet me please.

Delilah turns on a dime and rushes to my side, Again?  Aren’t you tired of this yet?  Where’s my liverwurst?

After a few minutes of playing we head off into the woods to finish our walk.

Me: Didn’t the bugs get the memo about leaving me alone?  There’s a bug on my glasses, go away bug, you’re bugging me.

Sampson: Why does she keep swatting, does she realize how stupid she looks?

Delilah:  Hey Sampson watch this, if I run up to her, I bet she gives me some liverwurst.

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

I think I need to design a badge to match the blog. 🙂

Lick Granuloma – Update:

Many thanks to 2 Brown Dawgs for the suggestion of EMT Gel, if you’ve never heard of this, it’s a natural collagen that seals off the wound and helps promote healing.

Hubby went off to Cabela’s Wednesday night and brought a tube home, I will post a picture in next Friday’s post so you can all see how it’s working.

I did see a review on Amazon where it said that the EMT gel caused burning, but I’d like to say that Sampson never showed any signs of discomfort whatsoever.

Heart Like A Dog – Author’s Note:

Moving the blog has been challenging, just ask any one of the ladies I mentioned in the original post.  I think I may have jumped the gun on the redirect from the free WP.  Since I’ve never done a redirect before I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work. I think some of my readers may have been confused, so I’m thinking of suspending the redirect at least for a bit and putting a link on the free WP Blog letting people know how to find me.

My subscribers went from 111 to 9. 🙁  So I would ask you, if you are a reader, please subscribe.  Or at least update your e-readers to reflect Heart Like A Dog.

Additionally, there was a problem with the title not showing up in my google reader, but I think I have that straightened out now.

Please let me know in the comments if there is anything I need to work on.

A Plea To Rescue Groups – Author’s Note:

What a great conversation this post started!  I’m still behind trying to respond to all the comments.

I really do understand why they have such stringent policies, but I think in some instances they are shooting themselves in the foot.  They will not adopt out a puppy, so the person turns to a breeder.  Not all breeders are bad, but sadly a lot of people don’t know the questions to ask.

II think the key to the whole situation is having a conversation with the prospective adopter to get a feel for what they were willing to do.

In my case, I felt so bad that Sampson was in a crate during the day, that I slept on the couch until midnight or 1:00 am, just so he didn’t have to go back in his crate.  Hubby got up at 3:30 am and took him out, then he would come to bed with me for a snuggle.

I was very relieved when he got the potty training, then he got the freedom of the kitchen and slowly earned other areas.

There was no place on the adoption application for that. 🙂

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend.

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