What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

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JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

Just because...

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Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

Oh Judy, he is just so beautiful! He looks very snuggley there too.

I'm halfway through my exams and we've had awful rain for the past couple of days so Laufey hasn't had a good run. We've been out when it's stopped but not really been the same. Honestly, his hated of the rain would be comical if it didn't just end with me carrying him to the park for a pee and then I had to resort to carrying him home yesterday too because he just stopped dead. Not long now and we'll be free to go find interesting things again :D
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Nettle
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Nettle »

Real family album one that is, JudyN :) those eyes!
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

I think there's an element of 'are you going to tell me to get off?' in those eyes - he doesn't often go on the sofas (far preferred the old fabric ones) and when he does, as we don't share sofas with him, half the time I think he only does it because he knows he'll get rewarded for getting off when asked/bribed as he's just stolen OH's seat :lol:

He's a bit quiet this morning, after a couple of long walks yesterday. On our morning meander at one point he didn't want to walk in any direction, so we lay down on the grass verge in the sun and watched the world go by for a bit. it was most enjoyable :D
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

Bless him, you have brilliant stories of him Judy.

It's come to my attention that mum wasn't lying about MiMi and her harness (I was pretty convinced she was) and whilst she will now happily stick her head in on her own for me, she plays this silly game with mum where she runs around play bowing and talking to her and they never get her harness on :lol: in the end, I took the harness and treats and she put it on first time for me :roll: really not sure what to make of that though
Erica
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Erica »

Nettle wrote:Can you chaps with harness-haters get them up on a higher surface so you are not bending over them?
I've tried putting it on while Delta's on the grooming table (I put his ponytails in right before walks) and he's almost more averse to it there. We're getting pretty good about him sticking his head in the loop on his own; I do have to pull it over his head eventually but he's more and more comfortable with it every day. His starting point is now "nose barely through the loop" instead of "looking at harness from five feet away." We do a few reps, maybe 5-10, and when I'm down to the last three or four treats in hand I just put it on him and give him the rest. I think he dislikes having the straps dangling loose, too, but there's really not much I can do about that. :roll:

He is getting very good at recalls and walking on a loose leash and stuff. When he takes off after a squirrel, I let him run a few yards and then call him back and he takes a sharp turn and runs to me just as fast as he runs after a squirrel. :D He came away from a barking dog, too, though there was a fence in front of him. The big test will be if we surprise some deer, but since the snakes are starting to reappear we probably won't be walking off-leash as much. :( It's just too difficult to see the venomous snakes we have from far off in the forest. I can spot one moving if it's in a close radius of me, but if Delta's off sniffing twenty feet away, I won't be able to spot it. They have really great camouflage, as you can see here!

You'd think after being bitten by one Delta might avoid them...but he smelled a snake in the yard (a harmless worm snake), jumped away and growled...then tried to pounce on it. I moved him away from the poor thing and he just wanted to go back to it!

I bought and have started reading Control Unleashed. I accidentally got the puppy version first, so I'm reading that because Delta's still technically a puppy. It is really wonderful! I love the author's attitude. We're going to be working on off-switch stuff (we have to work on more polite greetings), teaching him to take a breath, and well, eventually all of them but those two seem most useful for him right now.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
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Nettle
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Nettle »

Hell's teeth I would never have seen that snake! :shock:
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

:shock: :shock: :shock: I did manage to spot the snake in a still photo but how on earth are you supposed to spot that when you're out??? I think you can keep your snakes wayyyyy over there with you :wink:
Erica
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Erica »

It's easier when your 3D eyes can spot "round and shiny-smooth and OH MY GOD MOVING" versus "flaky and matte and might-rustle-in-the-wind", but that is the point of them, isn't it, to be difficult to spot! Hence the disinclination to go for off-leash walkies in the woods. :P

Apparently if you get close enough they smell like cucumber or watermelon, but by that point you're too close so it's a bit of useless trivia!

I got to thinking earlier about comparisons of baby Delta and big boy Delta, since I weighed him yesterday to see what dose of heartworm and flea/tick meds he needs. He's a whole 48 pounds at ~10 months old. :)

Here are some fun pics of then-and-now:

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Early days with Opal

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(he isn't actually bigger than Opal; he just has better posture in this pic)

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Tiny fluff's first walk

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Shaggy fluff

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Not-so fluff ready for summer
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

Erica wrote:It's easier when your 3D eyes can spot "round and shiny-smooth and OH MY GOD MOVING" versus "flaky and matte and might-rustle-in-the-wind", but that is the point of them, isn't it, to be difficult to spot! Hence the disinclination to go for off-leash walkies in the woods. :P

Apparently if you get close enough they smell like cucumber or watermelon, but by that point you're too close so it's a bit of useless trivia!

I got to thinking earlier about comparisons of baby Delta and big boy Delta, since I weighed him yesterday to see what dose of heartworm and flea/tick meds he needs. He's a whole 48 pounds at ~10 months old. :)
I can imagine it slightly easier :) I don't think the smell would be useful at all but great trivia there :P I have to confess to looking at pictures of Delta quite often and wondering at how he's growing. I'm still planning to add a standard to the family in a few years and I've reached out to a lady I met through a raw feeding group to find out more about the breed in general and good breeders etc. but there are things I definitely want to do with Laufey before adding anything else to the dynamic.

On the topic of Laufey, very proud of him this afternoon. I took him out (late :oops: ) for his afternoon pee and it was busier than I anticipated. He decided he was going meet a lady and her mother, with his very cute cheeky face and his little sit - he does look adorable and attention starved - but was very calm about it and no wild jumping on them. H then pulled the same stunt at a jack russel x poodle but again was very calm about it. A little spaniel puppy passed us which was clearly scared and he left it in peace. THEN we calmly met another dog in the same manner before finally meeting a basset hound with the same calm. We did loose it a little towards the end with the unknown cross and the basset but that was because the three of them were all very close together. His insistence on meeting people/dogs is getting more insistent and less distractable (not sure how to work on that effectively) which I do need to stop before it becomes a big problem but his greetings are getting more calm-bum-sniffing than the jump-on-your-head nightmare that they were. PLUS, his leave it is coming along excellently with him even spitting some chewing gum out and not snaffling at the random onion at the end of my road.
JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

Della, that sounds like awesome progress for Laufey :D

Jasper's in big trouble. He often likes to have a scrabble before settling down. I'd covered the scratches he'd made on the leather sofa with cushions for a couple of days, but OH discovered them this afternoon. Happy he was not..... :shock:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

Thank you! It wasn't perfect but so much better than he used to be and I feel like he's trying too :D

Oh no! I've never had new leather sofas, so ours are scratched anyway but that doesn't sound good for Jasper. You'll just have to doctor the scratches out and then say he was imagining things :wink:
MPbandmom
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by MPbandmom »

Sky and Sirius had a marvelous deersiting walk at the battlefield this evening. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
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Nettle
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Nettle »

MPbandmom wrote:Sky and Sirius had a marvelous deersiting walk at the battlefield this evening. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have you now got very long arms?
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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MPbandmom
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by MPbandmom »

Nettle wrote:
MPbandmom wrote:Sky and Sirius had a marvelous deersiting walk at the battlefield this evening. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have you now got very long arms?
Haha Nettle, I loooooooove my walkabelt and homemade bungee section. :D :lol: OH has a walkabelt now too and likewise loves his. I can combine body weight/force/leg strength and add arm strength if necessary. It isn't perfect as in the dogs have still managed to pull me down a time or two, but way better than dealing with such exciting circumstances with arms only. Have to put in a plug for White Pine Outfitters who make and sell this marvelous gadget. Bungee section made by me but one could just buy a bungee leash.
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
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