Heart Like a Dog

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

Sampson is Home and Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers Day 12

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Today we are joining our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs Blog and Ruckus the Eskie for This ‘N That Thursday.  Many thanks to our hosts for this awesome hop.

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Sampson’s Dental Procedure

Sampson’s procedure was on Tuesday and everything went exactly as our vet expected.  His teeth were cleaned and required no extractions, both the Sebaceous Cyst and the fatty tumor were removed and neither one presented as anything other than what they were.  I had her check his back end (remember that lazy sit) and she had no concerns.  I’m planning on writing a full post on the day, but just wanted to fill you in and let you know how he is doing.

I also wanted to really thank Linda at 2 Brown Dawgs, Donna from Donna and the Dogs, Jen from My Brown Newfies and my trainer Ariane for helping me get through the excruciating hours when Sampson was under anesthesia.  I honestly couldn’t have gotten through it without your support and I wanted you to know how very much I appreciated it!

And a big thanks to the incredible Dr. Soutter and her amazing staff at Manchester Veterinary clinic, who took such awesome care of my puppy.

We were all so happy to be together again.

 

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I hadn’t gone home at lunch to walk Delilah because I wasn’t sure how she was doing home alone and if she was doing well I didn’t want to disrupt her by coming home and leaving again.  Once Sampson was home and settled I grabbed Delilah’s leash and we headed out for a walk.

A winter storm had been spitting on and off all day and I marveled at the serenity as we stepped out into the frigid cold.  A movement to my left caught my eye and Delilah and I watched in wonder as a pack of deer stepped carefully across the frozen street.  We turned to our right and headed off, alone in the beauty of the snow.

Christmas Lights

Too bad all I had was my camera phone, it just doesn’t do the beauty of the snow and Christmas lights justice.

And speaking of Christmas…

Advent Calendar for Dog Lovers
Win Who I Am I Am dog-centric apparel 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 Who I Am I Am. You could win doggy theme t-shirts for humans. Click here to check out the Advent Calendar and enter today’s giveaway!

 

Please join me tomorrow for Follow-up Friday when we wrap up the week, highlight some comments and respond to some questions.

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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