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

[Erica]

I went to assist two puppy classes this morning and ended up assisting one and teaching the other The head trainer wanted to spend time with her dogs (one is sick and is on steroids so needs frequent potty breaks) and trusted me to handle the class of five puppies on my own It went well and I had a great time!

[MPbandmom]

Way to go Erica!

I took the kayak on it's maiden voyage yesterday with my brother and his wife. OH came along to "watch." We met my brother at a church along the route and then followed him to the park with the boat launch. (Good that we followed, there had been an accident and road closure and his gps system took him around all that. We had a very scenic drive)

When we arrived at the park, my SIL commented that she had thought she would ride with me after we met up, but then realized OH was in the car. She said she was expecting to see a dog not a human.

She is allergic to the dogs, so this rather surprised me. Some of the parks where one can kayak don't allow dogs on the water. I wasn't sure about this one plus I wanted to test things out without the added distraction of dog.

It was rather pleasant. Last time I rode in a kayak with Sky, there apparently wasn't any current in the little cove where we were. Last night there was definite current as each time I stopped paddling to take a picture, I couldn't get the picture taken before I found myself drifting away from what I wanted to photograph.

The dogs got a walk after we got back home. Brother and SIL had gone for an impromptu trip, and we had just enough time to feed the dogs and grab a quick bite to eat before we had to go.

Sirius had an adventure today. Something she hasn't done in quite some time. Oldest came over with new little grandson. We put the dogs outside so they wouldn't mob the baby and because we don't trust Sirius. Oldest went out to visit with the dogs but didn't see them at first. We told him they were likely in the back in the shade. So he went in search of them in the back. There were all the way in the back and he could tell then were up to something so called them and they came running. Sirius with a dead groundhog in her mouth.

We separated Sirius from groundhog and oldest confirmed that groundhog had not survived and collected the body in a trash bag. We then let the dogs back outside and Sirius spent a good bit of time searching for her treasure. The dogs were still racing to the spot the groundhog had last been even hours later when they were let outside.

[JudyN]

We went on the Great Global Greyhound Walk yesterday - an international event of walks for greyhounds and other sighthounds. The latest figures are that 3614 dogs were walked in the UK, and 1111 in other countries. Our walk comprised 86 sighthounds and 4 'companion dogs' (dogs of other breeds who live with a pointy dog and wouldn't want to miss out).

Gathering for the off at Upton Country Park:





In other news, very sadly, Jezebel, my friends' staffie, had to be put down a while back, just a few weeks after they lost their spaniel, Max. She tweaked her back and as she already had nerve damage in her spine, she couldn't get up and there was realistically no chance of recovery. She was such a character, I do miss her. But, on Saturday, her parents took home a new dog, a 2-year-old rescue lurcher called Ted Best guess at the cross would be something like whippet/saluki/poodle... I'm interested to see how fluffy he gets I'm a bit disconcerted that his owner messaged me last night to ask if Jasper sat on command, as she's not getting anywhere teaching Ted to sit..... I explained about sighthounds not being natural sitters, even if they can physically do it, and also that lurchers, particularly saluki lurchers, are very sensitive and this could be far too much pressure too soon.

I'm hoping to meet him this afternoon but will put Jasper on lead if I spot them in the woods - he normally heads for Ted's 'dad' (aka the treat fairy) like an exocet missile aimed for the groin. Not only could this freak Ted out, Ted was only neutered a few days ago, will be on lead, and may still have a whiff of testosterone about him. I'm hoping they'll become best buddies soon though

[Nettle]

My goodness JudyN - they are flooding him, aren't they/

Please explain asap that he is NOT LIKE A STAFFIE. They need to take him way more slowly. And have more empathy - even if they didn't know about sighthounds and sitting, couldn't they feel his newly-neutered stitches pulling?

Massive sighthound walk looks amazing - didn't Jas do well to take all that in his stride?

Erica, that's brilliant - you rock!

MPb what a day - and well done Sirius with Groundhog Day! "I've brought you dinner".

[JudyN]

Massive sighthound walk looks amazing - didn't Jas do well to take all that in his stride?

He's pretty well rock solid in that sort of setting - he loves being in the company of other sighthounds. Though he does get bored and whingy waiting for everyone to gather. I'm sure he thinks we're all going on a hunting expedition together My only worry is if people make too much of a fuss of him - I can't quite work out how to say 'don't pet his head' when he's shoving his head into their hands and acting like they're his NBF. Generally he's fine but sometimes he changes his mind about them rather suddenly.

My friends with the new lurcher also asked how much walking Jasper needs as they were surprised how tired Ted was after a couple of walks. I think they've just discovered the sighthound off switch! I had to laugh when I saw a vid of him racing round their garden (I don't think those stitches can be too uncomfortable ). They have a circular lawn with a circular patio in the middle... so in effect a racetrack. Bye bye grass

They also thought he may be underweight - I've yet to meet him in person but from what I've seen I'm pretty sure he's not. Jezebel & Max were built like the Luggage in Terry Pratchett's Discworld: https://7yearstodiagnosis.files.wordpre ... uggage.jpg Still, with positive reinforcement I'm sure I'll be able to train them to be proper lurcher owners

I forgot to put the bread away yesterday, and suddenly saw J trotting past me into the garden with a whole sliced loaf. He didn't eat all of it so I went through my usual military operation to retrieve the rest of it safely without him getting stressed & guardy, but luckily I'm well practised I can report that his capacity for eating bread is half a standard loaf - I'm surprised he didn't force it all down - and that sharing a bedroom with him after eating half a loaf of bread is a little whiffy, to say the least.

[Shalista]

Haha i love Bax's business trot when he nicks something he shouldn't. he's always please as punch

[JudyN]

I call it the naughty trot

[JudyN]

I know this isn't positive, but...

...when an 11-month-old pug barks and barks and BARKS at your dog - 'I could HAVE you I could!' - and your dog, having being a paragon of virtue for as long as he could, finally turns and goes 'RAAAAAHHHHH!!!!' and the pug squeals like a piglet and hurtles back to his owners

I could trust Jasper to be proportionate in his response with this dog as he wasn't the sort of dog Jasper wants to bully. That's what spaniels are for And I'd have removed him from the pug earlier, but he was soaking in the stream and as it's 26c here I wasn't going to make him get out before he was ready.

[Nettle]

I'd have chuckled too

[JudyN]

Another for the 'You can't fix stupid' archives... I met a man yesterday who made a fuss of Jasper, and I warned him that he doesn't always like having his head petted. 'Oh, I'm not afraid of any dog,' he replied. 'I've had bigger dogs than him - I've had Irish wolfhounds.' Yeah, fine, you win the 'who has had the biggest dog' competition

And then he said, 'When you've had an Irish wolfhound charging at you, with its jaws wide open - in play - you learn not to be afraid of any dog.'

Maybe there's just a slight difference between a dog, even an enormous one, charging towards you in play and one who actually intends to do you real physical damage? If only I'd taught Jasper the 'kill' command......

[Shalista]

ugh i had a woman the other day walking past on a trail that was clearly marked for MUST LEASH DOGS. three dogs, all unleashed all waaayyy out of sight of her. i thought they were strays. they start mobbing bax for a butt sniff and he took it like a champ but im hurrying him along cause i know bax tolerating something can quickly turn into a snark when she pops over the rise. "oh dont worry they're all friendly" "well he isn't" "thats okay, they're super friendly." "HE ISN'T!!!!!!" AGHHHH i dont care if your dogs are the patron saints of polite butt sniffs. bax wants you to bugger off and he WILL tell you so very unpolitly.

she continued on her walk in her preppy little coordinated outfit and i STILL don't think she got it by the end. just because YOUR dogs are nice doesn't mean MINE are. his leash is on for a reason.

[Erica]

I find a "Please call and leash your dogs" (and possibly a second "Leash your dog!") work fairly well most of the time. Or pulling out my phone and saying "I'm calling animal control, as this is a place for on-leash dogs only" usually at least gets them moving away, rather than making excuses about how friendly their dogs are, even if they don't leash their darn dogs. Then again, I am usually walking larger dogs than Bax, which may help as well! Someone with a German Shepherd saying "Please call your dog" has a little more intimidation factor than someone with a small dog, sadly. :/ Both deserve respect and whatever space they need to feel comfortable!

[Nettle]

I feel your collective pain.

Avatar lady is 13 now, very frail, and other dogs want to take a pop at her because she's weak. I don't allow it to happen, and I don't get annoyed about dogs acting like dogs, but BOY do I get antsy when people won't get their mutts back and then argue about their being playful/friendly/whatever.


One day my self-control WILL fail me.

[Shalista]

Bax and i have finally reached an agreement. I will stop buying him toys he doesn't want, and he will continue to give me his undying loyalty and love.

I spent FOREVER in the pet store today trying to find the perfect bone that i was sure, this one, this bone, would finally be a bone my dog would like. when bax was a pup he'd chew anything and everything but it has literally been YEARS since he had a bone he'd chew. still, here i am, silly human, buying a product just because hes a dog, of course he likes to chew. he USED to.

so i bought him a bone. after five min of bax pulling out every trick he knew because THAT must be what the silly human wanted he finally grasped that the bone was something special and he proceeded to grab it and run at high speeds around the house tossing it into the air... before dropping it and forgetting it for the rest of the day. did he chew it? not even once.

So once again i'm forced to learn the lesson of being happy with the dog i HAVE not the ideal perfect cookie cutter dog i imagine.

so i gave bax an egg. and THAT was a toy he loved. he nosed it all over his towel mouthing it before cracking it open and slurping out the good stuff. walked away and came back a few min later to crush up the egg shell and spread it to the farthest corners of my room.

so this is me back to square one, trying to figure out the toys BAX likes, not the ones i think he SHOULD like. so far, i have eggs. so bax is going to be eating eggs for awhile.

[JudyN]

Is it possible that Bax just doesn't 'do' toys? Jasper will hardly ever entertain himself. He'll happily catch balls I throw, would play tug if my shoulders were up to it, and will prance around with his rubber spiral toy or Kong Snugga Wubba in the garden for a few seconds if I've thrown them. And if he's a bit stressed he might nibble on a fluffy fleecy toy, though usually I need to give it to him. He enjoys interactive treat toys but that's really all about the food... he might enjoy it even more if I just gave him the treats

Thinking about it, he does like it if I give him a new toy but after five minutes, during which he may well have disemboweled it anyway, it's an 'old toy'.

Don't try to search for the Holy Grail that may not exist