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

[Nettle]

Looking forward to hearing (and maybe seeing a few films of) Mattie doing his training. Super exciting!

[Shalista]

Oh Bax! Doing his bloodlines proud.

That he do

People are all like "oh you're moving, he'll have lots of room to run around off leash now"

I'm all, "yeah, Bax, off leash, in the country, surrounded by squirrels. That's a FANTASTIC idea."

[JudyN]

Sigh. I thought Jasper was getting better about having his ear drops in but he's regressed. Even letting him lick mayonnaise off the fridge door didn't stop him getting VERY nasty when OH lifted his ear. We ended up having to take him for another walk & wrap his lead round a tree, then I slipped my fingers through his muzzle ( ) to try to hold his head still for OH to get them in. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't positive, and I'm not sure it was even safe - as it was, I've lost a bit of skin where the muzzle rubbed my fingers as he kicked off. Tomorrow I'm going to wear my motorbike gloves...

Of course, I'm kicking myself for not having got him used to this earlier on... but thinking about it, I have cleaned his ears before, and I think with all the desensitisation in the world, once we started squirting stuff in we'd be back to square one I don't think oral or injectable antibiotics are any use for ear infections but if anyone knows otherwise, let me know!

[Shalista]

well THATS not good saw the woman walking on a leash Bax's nemesis, the golden retriever, with her Burmese mountain dog....... and another golden, NOT on a leash. the other golden was bouncing all over hers trying to get it to play and shes just ignoring it. so shes walking all three dogs down the road with this golden darting out into the road and then back trying to get the other two to play with it. idk if it was hers and she didnt have a leash on it? or if its just a stray that decided to say hi? but she walked it a good distance down the road, past many houses, without stopping to check for an owner. all i could think was "this dog is gonna get pancaked by a car "

[Shalista]

That was terrifying O.o the door to outside didn't latch properly and i heard it swing open. i got there just in time to see bax's stubby little tail disappearing out the door. i called him, clapped and ran away, called him again, he completely ignored me as he wandered around sniffing. I bolted inside and swiped a gob of butter out of the dish. I could hear the chickens clucking outside and all i could think was that Bax was going to take off after one. i got outside with the butter and went parallel to him calling and bending down with the butter. he came up and sniffed the butter but he was skittish like he knew he wasn't supposed to be out there and didn't want to get caught? he started eating the butter and i slipped my finger under his collar and told him what a good boy he was. i let him lick my fingers and the stones clean before i scooped him up and brought him inside.

Guess it's time to do a refresher on recall!

[JudyN]

i slipped my finger under his collar and told him what a good boy he was. i let him lick my fingers and the stones clean before i scooped him up and brought him inside.

I think that's the key - not to immediately put him on lead and lead him away as soon as he's come to you, but to make it seem all about the reward so he doesn't even click that he's lost out on an opportunity to play with the chickens. But given that he doesn't usually get to go out there and it must have been really exciting for him, don't underestimate how awesome it was that he came to you when you called him with the butter - well done both of you!

[Shalista]

Bax's cousin the ridgback pup is over and Bax went from happy playing to no nonsense in about an hr. He's gonna draw blood in a minute >.< this puppy does not take no for an answer

[Shalista]

welp bax just got back from the vets and he's gained a bit of weight since i last took him a few weeks ago. prolly because i started him on his vitamisn again. it was also time for heartworm testing so i got him checked for heartworm, lyme, basic liver and kidneys values, and a CBC and he's all set! totally healthy pupper =) so happy!

[Shalista]

I found out that my favorite little glutton does in fact have a maximum capacity. went for my monthly restocking and i bought him his very own little Cornish Game Hen. He ate about a third of it and then sacked out by the heater with a very swollen tummy. he looks pleased with himself but i hope he doesn't pay the price for his over indulgence (bonus points for him not getting feisty when i took the left overs away to put in the fridge for tomarrow!)

[Nettle]

My word - that looks a chunky little snack. Lucky dog!

[JudyN]

Either cornish game hens are smaller than standard chickens, or Bax is HUGE

Jasper seemed to think 5.30am was morning this morning He's been having a mega whinge just now (8.45am) and I'm not sure what the problem was (I refused to shift till I'd finished my coffee). It might be connected to the foxes we heard yelling at each other in the night.

He's been whingeing a good hour before getting-up time for a while now. When we finally get up he doesn't seem desperate to go outside. I'm wondering if we should try black-out blinds, but any other suggestions are welcome.

[Ari_RR]

About 7:15 am here. We are back already from 1 hr walk, His Highness already had breakfast, and unsuccessfully tried to wake up dear wife upstairs, now back downstairs full of energy asking me to chase him around the house.. if i don't - he will run around by himself and bark, which will wake up wife and that won't be good... i guess my morning cup of coffee will have to wait a bit longer.

The day hasn't started yet, the sun is barely up, and I am already tired!
But that's Sunday.

Monday-Friday, when i have to go to work and need him up early, he sleeps late. Foxes might as well be yelling in his ear - it won't help....

[Shalista]

yeah Judy Cornish Game Hens are SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than a full sized chicken. that one was only 31 oz.

[JudyN]

Jasper went ballistic at the monsters down the garden at bedtime last night The whistle, calls of 'sausage' and the sound of the sausage container being opened had no effect. He was running up & down the garden and I suspect foxes had come into next-door's garden to drink from their pond. By the time he came in he was panting, wild-eyed and limping. I took him on up to bed after checking him over but he was still pacing the bedroom & whining, and had another bout of barking and soft growling. He also didn't want me to get up for a wee before 'lights out', but that's one situation in which I can 'pull rank' on him, put him in a down and tell him firmly to desist.

However, I can now report that he understands what 'show me your bad ouchy' means - he'll lift the affected leg for me to examine without me needing to gesticulate - which is rather cute. I couldn't see any damage and he's fine this morning.

He found a rack of deer ribs on the heath this morning He was on lead as it was close to the gate and I was so dozy I didn't realise what he was sniffing at first. I managed to lead him away before he got to the 'woo hoo' stage and claimed ownership of them, but we were alongside three other smaller dogs and he was fairly softly growling at them to tell them they were NOT allowed to have it I was just glad he didn't have a tantrum and direct it at me. One of the owners said that someone else had found a deer leg not far away. I think we'll give that heath a miss for a few days.

[Erica]

It's raining for the next few days down here!

Yesterday, Delta ran away from me when I pulled out his rainjacket. Okay, no problem, I put it away and we went walking without the jacket. He was rather miserable so we turned around and went home early.

This morning I opened the door to let him out for a potty break. He took one look (listen?) at the heavy rain and ran to where I hang his jacket up. Clever dog! Once I put his jacket on he trotted out and did his business.