Heart Like a Dog

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

Dogs Just Want to Have Fun

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Sung to the tune of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, by Cyndi Lauper.

The phone rings, in the middle of the night
It’s Jodi Chick yelling, “you know it’s K-9 Kamp, right?”
Oh Jodi dear, you know that labs like to run
But this time we’re gonna have fu-un,
Oh this time, we’re gonna have fun.
 
k9kampbadge-300x300
 

Delilah here, letting you know that the Mama dropped the ball (literally and figuratively) once again for the K-9 Kamp challenge hosted by Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place. Luckily she has me here to pull her into it, kicking and screaming if necessary.

I’m definitely up for that challenge.

Siriusly, I generally have to pull the Mama up the hills while we’re walking.  You’d think after three years of daily walks, she’d be in some kind of shape, but sadly, no.

The last time she managed to make it up the hill on her own she swallowed a bug.  Honestly, you’d have thought her life was ending.  She choked, coughed and gagged then cried, “I swallowed a bug,  a bug!  I swallowed a bug!”

Good grief Mama, it’s just a little extra protein, be glad you didn’t get charged for it.

So the Mama’s all goofing off on facebook the other day and she sees that Kol’s Notes posted a reminder about K-9 Kamp.  Then some really bad words came out of her mouth and she got all feverish on the facebook chat with Jodi Chick about K-9 Kamp.

Rumor has it the Mama asked Jodi Chick if an e-mail went out.  I’m a dog and if dogs could get embarrassed that would certainly embarrass me.  Let’s just say, that the Mama has decent organizational skills when she chooses to use them, but Jodi Chick puts her to shame.  Oh Mama, it’s a good thing Koly and Fe live so far away, Sampson and I would never live this down.

Let’s face it, the Mama totally did not do her part in the last K-9 Kamp challenge.  Oh she walked us all right, but she should have been shouting up a storm about what we were doing and trying her best to keep people motivated.  Truthfully, it’s sometimes difficult keeping the Mama motivated.  We try, we really do but short of dangling M & M’s  in front of her, not much motivates that one.

So the theme for this portion of K-9 Kamp is  “Get active with your dog, 30 minutes extra, 3 or 4 times a week.  And they’re looking for fun things to do, like play fetch, chase your dog, let your dog chase you, swim, do agility, play frisbee.

Bubbers

Good thing the Mama found (yes FOUND) this Frisbee at the park, would you believe the woman didn’t own a Frisbee?  It’s a wonder I’m in any kind of shape at all.  Although dragging her around on the leash really does give me quite a bit of resistance.

Well I’ve heard it said, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”  So I’m taking over for the K-9 Kamp Challenge, and I’m going to make sure the Mama does her part to help us have a little bit of fun every single day.

It’s true Sampson is a bit older, and doesn’t care much for fetching, but I’m going to give the Mama some suggestions and hopefully get her motivated.  I happen to know there is a big old bag of M & M’s in the fridge, so I have plenty of treats to get her up and moving.  AND to keep her honest, we’re going to be reporting back at least once a week and giving YOU some ideas and fun things you can do with your dogs, even if they’re a bit older and don’t have the stamina they once had.

So are you up for this challenge?

Say yes, say yes, say yes! (Sorry, I’m a lab after-all.)

Alright then, let’s do this!!

FOLLOW-UP Friday – the Mama’s working with Lynda from Two Ears and a Tail, to be tomorrow’s co-host of the Follow-Up Friday Blog hop.  She’ll update this post if for some reason that changes.

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

 

Today we’re joining our friends Thunder, Storm and Freighter from 2 Brown Dawgs Blog along with their new co-host Ruckus the Eskie for This ‘N That Thursday!

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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