Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

Come on @Toedtoes, Tell us how you really feel. Lol

So today, Aunt C, Tornado-dog, Cat-dog, and I, went to our local apple orchard region. Lots of bake shops. Not too many craft items as it wasn't the weekend.

Tornado-dog and Cat-dog each got a Pup Cup (cup of whipped cream with a biscuit topper) at one stop and a couple apple donuts. They got 1/2 a donut each when we got home and will get their second halves tomorrow.

At one stop, Tornado-dog had a scary encounter with a horse. He had to bark at the horse and refused to approach the horse. Cat-dog, on the other hand, immediately touched noses with the horse. Finally, after we had lunch, Tornado-dog agreed to approach the horse, with some treats as encouragement.

Oh, and here is the horse...

Hahahaaaa.

Sounds like your pups had a good day out.

Tornado-dog and Cat-dog got invited by their Aunt C to the river yesterday. Tornado-dog was very excited. When we arrived, Aunt C went into the river and splashed, Tornado-dog did NOT approve:


Then Nessie and I got in too, Tornado-dog had a big decision to make:


He decided to join us but he wasn't happy about it:


This was as far as he would go:

Then he found something on the shore to roll in:


And then we threw the stick in the water:


He decided the water wasn't so bad if there was a stick! It took a while for him to understand how the stick flows with the current. If the stick went farther out than he was willing to go, he just turned to Aunt C and had her catch it for him:


Meanwhile Cat-dog got comfy on the shore:

Afterwards someone was very very tired:


He's been sleeping ever since. And when do I love Tornado-dog the best?

When he's sleeping

When he's asleep

And when he's not awake

Oh, at one point, he saw a big blue river monster and had to get out of the water and bark at it:


I did not get a photo of the monster, it was a very clever monster. When it walked out of the river, it somehow turned into my foot in a blue sandal and was no longer a river monster.

Lovely photos Toed, and what a super spot for water games. I wonder whether Tornado dog will ever be confident in water. My Eddie loved it and was a strong swimmer - we had to be aware of the dangers for him. Merry after three or four years would only go in as far as she felt her feet touching the bottom. I only once saw her 'swim' for one yard - and only because she spotted a stray tennis ball on the lake! Tally shows little interest, she will paddle for a drink, that's all.
I do love your GSD cross - she looks a real sweetheart.

What river is that? I feel like all the rivers and creeks local to me are not very clean. My dogs don’t particularly like water anyhow. When we’ve gone to the beach they’d run from the surf, which I found funny. It’s been awhile since I’ve taken them, it’s a lot to handle them on leash’s and try to avoid the off leash dogs that want to say hello.

Thanks. Tornado-dog was funny about the water. He really didn't want to go in further than up to his knees. But when we started throwing the stick, he forgot he didn't like it deeper. A couple times, he got almost to the point of having to swim to get the stick. Then he decided that Aunt C would catch it if he didn't, so he only went as far as he could touch bottom - which was most of the river as it was very shallow.

But when we stopped throwing the stick, he didn't want to go in the river further than his knees again.

So, I'm not sure if he will ever be a swimming dog, but in time he may be willing to swim to get a stick or ball. We're going to just keep doing like we did yesterday and let him decide. And next time, he will be wearing his shark fin life jacket as the current was pretty strong in places.

Cat-dog is a very beautiful girl. She's actually purebred. It was great to see her relax enough to lay down while outside. Her dog fear is still bad, but between the fluoxetine and the zylkene (given right before outings like this), she is able to enjoy being out as long as there aren't any dogs around.

This is the American River. Off highway 50 just east of Sacramento.

Since the river is fed by snow melt and there are many rapids, it stays fairly clean in the less populated areas. When you get into Sacramento and the Discovery park area, it gets dirtier and the shoreline is not clean enough to be safe for dogs.

My akita loved the river. He liked to just get his feet in and cool them off. He wouldn't go further than that. But he'd rush to get to the river and soak his feet.

I took my dad's first akita to the ocean when he was little. He had so much fun running from the surf. And the seaweed was scary and exciting.

My apologies to Cat Dog. I thought you said that there was another breed in her dna - my mistake. She has such a gentle expression, must be the effect of the Prozac. I was on it for a few months some years ago. It made me feel pretty chilled too!

The prosac has made a huge difference. With her dog fear, just being outdoors put her over the stress threshhold. The prosac eases that enough so she can manage basic functions when outdoors. I give her zylkene before we do outtings and that helps a lot.

My other trick is to find spots where she is protected on a couple sides. In this case, we had an enbankment at our back and a bunch of brambles and tree roots blocking access from one direction of the shore. That allowed her to focus her attention in the one direction a dog could approach from and not stress that she'd be jumped from behind.

It was nice to see her relax like that - it hurts to see the fear and anxiety on her face all the time.

Today, Tornado-dog nabbed himself a piece of stale bread off the counter. He immediately ran it to his sissy's dog bed to eat. As he layed down with it, I said "did you just steal that?"

He started to try to gulp in down so I said "you stole it fair and square, it's yours".

He stopped gulping, got up and brought over his stolen treasure to show me. Stuck it right in my face and said "see what I stole!". I told him he was clever and it was a great theft. Then he went back and finished off his stolen goods.

I could have simply said "drop it" and he would have. But I think sometimes letting him keep his stolen treasures is far more beneficial than always being in control.

He trusted me enough to willingly and without being told to bring me his stolen food.

We have also agreed to stop using the word "off". It refers to too may things, it doesn't sound nice, and it is really difficult to say in a happy voice. Instead, we now say "four on the floor" when he puts his front feet on people, counters, etc. He's responding much quicker after just a day.

And his sissy Cat-dog has decided she should have a dog bed. I offered her one last year, but she wouldn't go near it. Last month, I caught her trying to curl up on a cat bed (note, she's about 85 lbs), so I ordered a dog bed. We started with it in the bathroom. She decided she really likes it. With the cold weather, I've moved it into the living in front of the stairs (she likes that spot) so I can keep the bathroom door closed to conserve heat. She is now spending her time curled up on her bed in the living room. And Looney2 can't get underneath it and poke her. And Tornado-dog is being very good about not pushing her off it. Best of all, she is coming to me for rubs and scratches more often and not worrying when I talk to her.

My ultimate goal is the teach them to read the clock.

I agree that some of the interrupters that we use are too general, and can sound a little too harsh. Tally has a recurring patch of dermatitis on one front foot and I used to give a firm 'No' if I caught her licking it. This usually made her look startled, and wasn't really telling her what I wanted her to stop doing. I now say, 'Not licky leg' instead, which comes out as a gentler sound and actually tells her what I want her to stop doing. She learned the meaning very quickly, and now just stops the licking, without giving me that startled look.
Short sharp commands do have their place - to warn the dog of danger, or to prevent injury to another dog or person, but in some cases they can be out of proportion for minor breaches of the rules.

With my shepherds and shepherd mixes, I didn't have to say things like "off" or "no" as much, so it never really caught my attention how it sounded.

But Tornado-dog is different. He doesn't like the same old same old. He gets tired of me saying the same thing.

When he barks, I have to come up with new weird comments. I used to say "you have weird nostrils"* and he'd stop barking and look at me like "what?". But after a while, he got used to that and it no longer makes him stop and think.

And I think he sees "off" as a command whereas "four on the floor" is an interaction. He doesn't like being ordered - I think it offends him. But he responds well to conversations.

And I realize I didn't share Tornado-dog's last escapade...

One night, I was on the couch and he came and stood at my feet looking at me. All of a sudden, he bounced around like he was trying to get a fly that bit him.

A couple days later, I was upstairs in the bathroom and he was in the hallway. The cat Looney1 was sitting on a bench in the hallway waiting for me to feed him and Looney2. Tornado-dog started trying to play with Looney1 when all of a sudden, he ran into the bathroom startled. He went back out and just stared at Looney1 - too nervous to approach him.

It appears that in both instances, Looney2 was hiding under the furniture and reaching out to swat Tornado-dog on the legs whenever he approached. Looney2 doesn't really care for Tornado-dog so this is not play on his part. He is hunting wildebeast. Fortunately, Tornado-dog doesn't realize that Looney2 doesn't like him.

*Tornado-dog has a solid black nose. However the inside of his nostrils are pink. They ARE weird looking.