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

[JudyN]

How come Jasper is more reactive to the front door when OH is at home? Delivery people often leave parcels in our porch, and he's usually fine with that. Also fine if they ring the doorbell, though he can react if they knock instead, particularly if they come into the porch and knock on the inner door.

But just now, with OH here, a delivery person left something in the porch and J reacted - he barked, came in to me and growled, half-thinking about stopping me opening the door. There does seem to be a pattern that he's worse when OH is here though I haven't figured out why.

In other news, we've just about succeeded in teaching J that there is one place in the garden he's allowed to dig. (When it's hot he'll dig to uncover cool soil to lie in.) He'll still start digging somewhere else, but we can generally redirect him to 'his' place before he's dug up whole shrubs and spread soil across the lawn. Soil on the patio is much easier to sweep up!





In other other news, I'm going to be a mother in law! DS2 proposed to his girlfriend in California, where they're on holiday. I've emailed to ask if the earth moved for them last night.... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... in-decades

[Nettle]

I love the nesting lurcher pics!

Re: the barking/not barking at deliveries - it's possible that J feels more confident with both of you at home. Does he bark if OH is on his own?

[JudyN]

IDoes he bark if OH is on his own?

I'll have to ask him - ask OH that is, not ask J That's worth thinking about, but I'd have said he was the sort of dog who is likely to be more reactive the less confident he is in a situation. Maybe he worries that there are two of us for him to protect instead of one - and we're usually in different rooms making it even more challenging.

Also - OH is off work for a couple of weeks, so our routine has been slightly different. I can't think of a reason for this to make him feel different about people coming to the door, but it doesn't mean there isn't one. He could just generally be more twitchy.

Mind you, what goes on in Jasper's head is usually a bit of a mystery

[Ari_RR]

In other other news, I'm going to be a mother in law!

I am sure being a MIL is not as bad as it may sound
Congrats!

[jacksdad]

In other other news, I'm going to be a mother in law!

I am sure being a MIL is not as bad as it may sound
Congrats!

being a MIL is never bad for the MIL....

it's everyone else that it can be bad for :p

[JudyN]

Whinge, whine, whinge, whine....

OH has been on holiday the last two weeks. Jasper starts the day whining for his walk as soon as OH has finished his coffee, because that's what he expects. Once they're home and the day has warmed up we get wall-to-wall whining because he wants to be in the garden but not in his own. He doesn't want to play, he just flops on the lawn - and there's only so much time we want to spend out there (because I have work and OH doesn't like the heat either).

Then we get the 'time for afternoon walk' whining even though he doesn't want a walk and won't get up when OH is all booted up and ready to go.

Shortly after that, the 'It's only 1.5 hours till teatime and I'm hungry' whining starts up.

Then the evening starts with random whining (not sure why he's whining then, but it might be that we're mostly having lunches out and just snacks for tea, so there's no plates for him to clean). Followed by whining because there's a fly in the room which as most lurcher owners know, can be very scary...

We are trying to entertain him, honestly, and I'm sure it's just because he doesn't like the heat, but it's difficult not to get fed up with it!

In other news, following an MRI scan, I now have a new (fourth so far ) definitive (I hope) diagnosis for my gammy knee - a torn meniscus, for which I should have keyhole surgery in around 3 months.

[Nettle]

They can be such grizzlers, can't they?! But we can never think they don't communicate. It's just that it's mostly transmit and not much receive.

I hope you manage to get your knee sorted. I have 2 dud ones and OH is having to do the dogwalking at the moment. Our one remaining dog has gone feral in the heat and holes up in her outside bed most of the day.

[JudyN]

I hope your knees get better too, Nettle. It's such a pain when your life revolves around walking with the dog, isn't it? I've just cancelled our October holiday in the Purbecks (just half an hour from home because of the geriatric cat), despite only getting about 50% of the cost refunded - OH would have to walk J on his own which he'd regard as a chore, and unless we had a particularly good week weatherwise I'd mostly be stuck in the cottage. Maybe next year...

[JudyN]

Interesting... OH is back at work today and Jasper is a lot less whingy, even though when OH was here a fair share of his whingeing was directed at me. As I work from home he's probably more used to the fact that I'm 'unavailable' for much of the time - and as much as he likes OH being around, he may be more relaxed now we're back to 'normal'. Actually, I can sympathise with that

[Nettle]

Dog normally has 2 walks per day but when OH is home, she often gets another, as he loves to walk and my various aches and pains are a bit limiting.

It's muggy but not as hot as it has been recently. OH waggled the lead at the dog and made the usual noises. Dog, lying in her bed, put her paw over her eyes.

That's him told, then. He's gone on his own.

[JudyN]

[JudyN]

I'd love it if I could persuade Jasper to use a paddling pool in the summer to help him cool off... I've taught him to stand with his front legs in a shallow trug (I'd need a much bigger trug or a proper paddling pool for him to get all four legs in at the same time, but thought this would do for starters). He had no problem picking that up.

Then I poured a dribble of water in - only enough to cover about half the base of the trug - and asked him to get in it again. He manouvred round it, and when he realised that wasn't getting him a treat he lifted a paw, gingerly lowered it into the trug... Oh no, scary, he can't put his foot down, it might get wet, it simply wasn't happening! Yet he'll happily wade through water on walks, or lie in it to cool off. Why is trug water so scary?

It's not a problem really - we have a cool house so if he's getting too hot outside he's better off just coming inside again. Though as he likes to be with me, that means I have to come in too!

Couple of pics, just because I have a new camera...

[Ari_RR]

Very nice pictures.... must be a good camera?

I had a new camera, but it was too darn difficult to fiddle with 5 controls an all sides, so we returned it, now looking for something that doesn’t require 3 hands to operate.

[JudyN]

Very nice pictures.... must be a good camera?

Yep - DS2 is into photography and he recommended it for me. It's a compact digital and has more controls than the Space Shuttle console, but he reckoned it would give the best results even if I just point & click. But now I feel it's wasted on me, like someone with a Ferarri who only ever drives to the shops. One day I'll get my head around aperture, speed, zoom, macro and what all the little buttons do...

[Nettle]

I have one similar, and feel it's wasted on me and it was a lot of money on a camera I don't use to the nth degree. Then I thought: it still does my job the way I want it done, it still takes good pictures, and I don't need to be a camera geek just because I have a geeky camera. Unfortunately they all come with bells and whistles these days, and the choices are fewer because most people use their phones or else want something like the Space Shuttle.
I do find controls in unexpected places don't help either, and I have small hands, so goodness knows what it is like with man-sized hands. Weight is a critical issue too.

What I would like most of all would be instructions that actually can be followed, on paper, in English, and a print size you don't have to be an ant to read.