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

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Expect The Unexpected

March 17, 2012 By Jodi

A few weeks back I wrote a post about responsibility, if you missed it you can read it here.

My intention this morning was a half hour morning walk and then another half hour, forty-five minute walk this afternoon.

Alas the best laid plans……

We were joined this morning by Brady and his mom, and then shortly after we were joined by three more dogs.

Just dogs.  No person.

The dogs were the ones I wrote about in this earlier post.  But their human was nowhere to be found.  I’m pretty sure I heard her whistle a couple of times, but she never called for the dogs, and she never showed her face.

There are two entrances to the park. We noticed a vehicle at one entrance, which is the one Brady and his mom use.  The next time we approached the area, there was no vehicle.  But we still had two extra dogs.

Both dogs had collars on, but there weren’t any tags to identify them.

I called them:

White Dog

And

Brown Dog

At first I couldn’t place the dogs, but eventually I remembered the woman and how the two brown dogs (not to be mistaken for the 2Brown Dawgs) had taken off on her the last time.  I thought maybe she had parked at the entrance I use, so I told my friend I would try to take the dogs with me and see if she was waiting.

She wasn’t.

I didn’t know what to do.  I text my friend and asked her if any vehicles were up her way.

There weren’t.

I then asked her for Brenda’s number so I could call and let them know I had two of the dogs, but Brenda didn’t answer.

The white dog left, but the little brown dog stayed near me and took little bits of kibble from me.  I tried to get him into the car so I could at least bring him home and put him in the fenced yard, but he wouldn’t do it.

I put Sampson and Delilah in the car and started walking back up the hill, hoping I could get the dogs to follow me, but the brown dog wandered off too.

Since they didn’t answer to white dog and brown dog, there wasn’t too much I could do.

So as much as I hated it, I got in my car and left.

About an hour and forty-five minutes later my friend text me and said they WERE Brenda’s friend’s dogs and they were at home, safe and sound.

I’m not kidding when I say this woman LEFT the area, without her dogs and was gone a minimum of an hour.  Not to mention her dogs have no form of identification on them!

Sampson and Delilah ALWAYS have a tag with their name, my name and my cell phone number on it, even in the house.

Because you just never know!

When we were in the process of trying to sell our old house, during one of the showings the prospective buyer let Sampson out.  OUT.  Not in the yard where it was fenced, no out in the front which was very close to the busy street.

Luckily for us our neighbor saw him just walking around and was kind enough to get him and put him inside the fence.  Thank god we didn’t have Delilah at the time because that would have been a whole different story!

If our neighbor hadn’t seen him, at least he would have had a tag with a phone number to call.

What about your dog, does your dog have tags?  What kind?   Do they wear one all the time, or only when you are out?

Oh and Happy St. Paddy’s day, we had a yummy corned beef dinner!!

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Filed Under: Hiking, Social Responsibility Tagged With: Delilah, Dog, dog training, Jodi Stone, Labrador Retriever, Obedience training, Pet Writing, Pets, Recreation, Sampson, sampson and delilah, Writing

Follow-Up Friday

March 16, 2012 By Jodi

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! :-)

Adventures In Daycare – Update

Well the ambulance came and took the poor drunk visitor away.  Sara says he just came in, said he needed an ambulance and  he liked dogs better than he liked humans. Who would have thought?  LOL

She had to put two dogs in the very back because they were being very protective about Sara and Dianne.  Tater who I believe is a pit bull mix and one crazy chocolate lab who was trying to go over the counter. :-0

Sara said when he reached in his jacket for the bottle she almost wet herself at first, good thing for Kegel exercises. 🙂

Paws To The Rescue – Author’s Note

I have to admit I was a bit nervous about puppies, since the rescue really stresses using bleach to help prevent the spread of Parvo. I mixed up three bottles full of a bleach solution and as soon as the puppies left, I threw all the towels in one crate and dumped two bottles of bleach in with them.

I probably should have waited until we got home when I could have taken the crate out of the car and sat it in the driveway. Instead we had to drive the 55 minutes home with the windows down to keep from asphyxiating ourselves. Good thing it was a nice day. 😉

Lesson learned.

Sharing Knowledge – Author’s Note

Let’s face it, we dog people are passionate about our fur babies.  We all have ideas on the right way to train a dog and the right way to feed a dog.  None of us likes to hear anything we consider as criticism regarding our babies.

I know first hand, Christine who used to own First Command (before it became The Mellow Mutt) once said to me that I might like to consider putting Sampson on low-calorie kibble.  I was never a big fan of hers nor she mine and therefore when she told me that I looked her dead in the eye and said, “I don’t want to.”

As it turns out, I did put him on a low-calorie kibble, and then moved him to raw.  We like raw, but not everyone does nor is it inexpensive and in this economy, sometimes we need to make hard decisions.

The Murphy situation is a tough one, and I think if I ever get the opportunity to speak with one of her parents I will, in the meantime the best we all can do is try to educate people.

Talk about it, you never know who might be listening!

Book update: My book has 19,477 words.

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Filed Under: Follow-Up Friday Tagged With: Delilah, Dog, dog training, Jodi Stone, Labrador Retriever, Obedience training, Pet Writing, Pets, Recreation, Sampson, sampson and delilah, Writing

Dog Training….Delilah Style

March 15, 2012 By Jodi

After last week’s fiasco where Delilah took off on me I vowed to find another way and I promised to share that with you.  Well here goes!

Many of you, so very many of you rallied to my support and offered suggestions and ideas for working with her.  There were so many awesome suggestions that I couldn’t pick just one….or two…or three.   Here’s what I came up with.

I really think Delilah is a very smart girl and as such I need to keep her interested.  I need to vary her walks and keep them interesting to her, so interesting that she can’t possibly leave me, because she might miss something.

In other words, our walks are going to be like going to Disney World….for dogs.

I put her on a 15 foot leash so she isn’t too far away from me.

I’m sure all of you positive dog trainers know the name for this game, but I’m calling it, “Oh you caught me.”

I play it this way, I wait until I have a loose leash (this can be a while because she is almost always at the end of her leash) and I place a few pieces of whatever is in my treat bag on a flat rock.  Most times she turns around and catches me in the act and I say, “Oh you caught me,” or “My you are quicker than I am.”

Sometimes I have to wait a minute and pretend that I’m just placing it, because she isn’t really paying attention. 🙂

Currently I have some ‘diet’ Blackwood chicken kibble and some beef jerky from Trader Joe’s in my treat bag.  I have to be sure and place the treats on a flat rock that doesn’t have moss, sticks, or rocks on it or for sure that crazy girl would inhale it all.

Sometimes I can’t get her to leave my side.  Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

I’ve been playing the “You caught me game” since last Saturday and decided yesterday to incorporate some other ideas into our walk.

First I had her sit while Sampson and I walked away from her.  My goal was to recall her to me, but as I walked out of her sight she came running to me.  I was actually excited by this, but since she didn’t ‘stay’ I brought her back and re-sat her and then walked away again and this time she did awesome.

I also played a little game of Kibble Catch with her.

I think the best thing would be for Delilah to have a job, and will be looking for some kind of training or class that she and I can participate in together, to help cement our bond.  I also intend on Thursday obedience class to be our thing, Hubby and Sampson will need to find something else to do.

I intend to get a harness for her and a doggie backpack, one day she can wear a harness, one day she can walk on long leash, one day she will wear a pack.  The key for Delilah is to not get too comfortable with any given thing.

When I first put her on the 30 foot leash, she became a model walker.  She rarely left the trails and stayed very close to me.  Once she became comfortable, she started exploring farther and farther away, and eventually started running off.

Oh and Dr. McConnell’s dvd came the other day, I hope to check that out this weekend. 🙂

Changing the topic really quickly, Mel Freer of No Dog About It Blog is a strong warrior fighting a battle against puppy mills.  Mel lives in Minnesota and you may or may not be aware but a bill is prepping for a house vote and Mel needs your support.  If you live in Minnesota, please visit Mel’s blog and follow the link to sign the petition.

If you don’t live in Minnesota, please visit Mel’s blog and re-post it on facebook, tweet it, stumble it, or consider adding a link to your blog.

Together we really can make a difference!!

Book update: My book has 19,083 words.

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Filed Under: Delilah, Dog Training, Positive Dog Training Tagged With: Delilah, Dog, dog training, Jodi Stone, Labrador Retriever, Obedience training, Pet Writing, Pets, Recreation, Sampson, Writing

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About Jodi

jodiHi, my name is Jodi. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! I have all kinds of fun writing about my two crazy pups, Sampson and Delilah. Find out more!

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Heart Like A Dog by Jodi E. Stone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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