The dog musing/vent thread

[Red.Apricot]

Elsie unlearned down when she was a bratty teenager.

I went back to the beginning and retaught it from the ground up; I spent a lot of time capturing it when she did it on her own. After a couple days of that, if she wanted anything, down was the go-to. Dinner? Down. Ball? Down. Outside? Down.

She figured it out pretty quick.

 

[PWCorgi]

Megan: (Laurelin's) Mia reminds me a lot of Siri.

Me: Really?!

Megan: Not looks wise. But she adores her, even though she seems like she wouldn't be easy to live with, at all.

:rofl1::rofl1:

So apparently we are nuts, Lauren. Maybe it has something to do with the name?

 

[SpringerLover]

Megan: (Laurelin's) Mia reminds me a lot of Siri.

Me: Really?!

Megan: Not looks wise. But she adores her, even though she seems like she wouldn't be easy to live with, at all.

:rofl1::rofl1:

So apparently we are nuts, Lauren. Maybe it has something to do with the name?

Lol. True story, bra!

 

[Laurelin]

Megan: (Laurelin's) Mia reminds me a lot of Siri.

Me: Really?!

Megan: Not looks wise. But she adores her, even though she seems like she wouldn't be easy to live with, at all.

:rofl1::rofl1:

So apparently we are nuts, Lauren. Maybe it has something to do with the name?

Hahaha. Well to be fair, Mia's pretty easy now that she's almost five. There is hope! She's sacked out right now (after me giving up and running her for an hour and a half in the snow mind you)

(Well.... she's easier).

Little crazy dogs are the best kind. And Laurens are the best kind too.

 

[Beanie]

The thing with agility is that it's a game until it's not. And it's not when you introduce ego. You are competing because of human ego, because you want to win. Nobody who is competing walks into a ring and says "oh boy, I hope we don't Q and only have lots of fun!" You might walk into a ring a few times without a lot of concern for the Q and with more focus on fun - but as time goes by the reason you continue to step into the ring is because you want to succeed.

Unless your other hobby is setting money on fire. Or Scrooge McDucking it into your money vault.


I also believe there's a difference between "we do a few trials a year, it's just for fun" and competing with seriousness - people who spend a fair portion of time and funds on training, traveling, competing. Not that either approach is correct or incorrect, but they are different. If you only do a few trials a year, then your perspective may be very different. Think about a kid who plays basketball in high school because he likes playing as opposed to a kid who plays basketball in high school with the hopes he will get a basketball scholarship to college and be drafted into the NBA later in life. Is one of those kids right or wrong because his approach to the game is different?

Everybody has their own goals in life with their dogs. Because somebody else has different ones than you doesn't mean you're right or wrong - it just means you have different goals. I don't really "get" World Team people... it's not something I want to do. I know several of them, I drink with them LOL, but they have different goals than I do. Doesn't make them wrong because that is their goal, doesn't make me wrong because it's not mine. Just different.


And finally... rehoming a dog, for whatever reason, doesn't automatically mean someone doesn't love them. Don't assume to know anybody's journey with their dog(s.) I still argue with myself on if keeping Pepper was the right move or not. Did I keep her because of how much I love her - or do I NOT love her enough to have let her be rehomed somewhere that would have been more ideal? There are people on this board who have rehomed dogs for a variety of reasons... a lack of love is not chief among the reasons I think of.

 

[CharlieDog]

The thing with agility is that it's a game until it's not. And it's not when you introduce ego. You are competing because of human ego, because you want to win. Nobody who is competing walks into a ring and says "oh boy, I hope we don't Q and only have lots of fun!" You might walk into a ring a few times without a lot of concern for the Q and with more focus on fun - but as time goes by the reason you continue to step into the ring is because you want to succeed.

Unless your other hobby is setting money on fire. Or Scrooge McDucking it into your money vault.


I also believe there's a difference between "we do a few trials a year, it's just for fun" and competing with seriousness - people who spend a fair portion of time and funds on training, traveling, competing. Not that either approach is correct or incorrect, but they are different. If you only do a few trials a year, then your perspective may be very different. Think about a kid who plays basketball in high school because he likes playing as opposed to a kid who plays basketball in high school with the hopes he will get a basketball scholarship to college and be drafted into the NBA later in life. Is one of those kids right or wrong because his approach to the game is different?

Everybody has their own goals in life with their dogs. Because somebody else has different ones than you doesn't mean you're right or wrong - it just means you have different goals. I don't really "get" World Team people... it's not something I want to do. I know several of them, I drink with them LOL, but they have different goals than I do. Doesn't make them wrong because that is their goal, doesn't make me wrong because it's not mine. Just different.


And finally... rehoming a dog, for whatever reason, doesn't automatically mean someone doesn't love them. Don't assume to know anybody's journey with their dog(s.) I still argue with myself on if keeping Pepper was the right move or not. Did I keep her because of how much I love her - or do I NOT love her enough to have let her be rehomed somewhere that would have been more ideal? There are people on this board who have rehomed dogs for a variety of reasons... a lack of love is not chief among the reasons I think of.

I was going to edit out some of this, but really, all of it bears re-reading. :hail:

 

[Red Chrome]

I got Logan specifically to train as a service dog. If he hadn't worked out...I'd still have kept him. I know not everyone has that luxury, but it's far from "silly" to keep a dog you love just because they didn't work out for their intended purpose.

It's not silly but sometimes it's not realistic either.

I want to compete and have a very specific job in mind for Rasta when he is older and if he can't hack it, well, I gave him a great start and he will be an amazing dog for someone else. I love him, I'd cry and cry if it turns out he won't fit what I need, then I'll have a choice to make. It doesn't make it right or wrong, it makes it different.

 

[Laurelin]

I don't mind rehoming dogs on occasion if it's really not going to work out. I get frustrated when it starts seeming like a pattern for whatever reason be that pet, sports, whatever. And that's all I'm going to say on that.

I do get wanting to be competitive and that's a big goal of mine one day. It's something I've thought long and hard about but in the end it is just a game. A game I want to do well in, sure, but a game nonetheless. I'll survive if I can't play to the highest level I want to. And I'll probably become a better trainer for working through the challenges each dog presents me.

Heck, I'd love to be super competitive NOW but I don't have the dogs for it. And it did rub me wrong when someone mentioned that I should rehome Summer to get my sports dog. No thank you. I'm a firm believer in the best dog being the one you own regardless of everything else. I'm not giving up my old dog to get a shiny new sports puppy. Shiny new sports puppy will have their time, but it's Summer's time right now. And Summer is teaching me a lot if I'd just listen. And what she's teaching me will help with Nextdog.

Though it does help when my friend's husband comes to a trial because it's just all so foreign to him. He seems to put it in context as far as how serious agility is. Then again he seems to think we're all weirdos for teaching dogs to run PVC obstacle courses for our hobby. :lol-sign:

 

[Saeleofu]

For the record, I wasn't saying rehoming is unacceptable. Far from it. I simply said that keeping the dog because it's not exactly what you wanted isn't unacceptable, either. That's all. There's a reason I said "not everyone has the luxury." I don't judge other people for rehoming, I simply ask that you don't judge people for keeping a dog, either. Gavroche has issues and isn't what I thought he would be, but I don't think keeping him is silly.

 

[Whisper]

If I came out sounding like I think rehoming is teh evil, I really didn't mean to, because I don't believe that. I know several people on here who have rehomed dogs, and I support their choices, regardless if I would have made the same decision or not. Sometimes rehoming is best for the owner and the dog.
However, I agree with Laur on a pattern of rehoming that concerns me. Rehoming a dog because it's not working out is one thing, cycling through dogs like used socks, I don't get.

And I made sure to mention that my opinion of rehoming dogs for sports is something that I truly do not get, but that's because I have never even had an agility dog. I personally would love to do it, and I think Fable would be bomb at it, but if she didn't work out. . .it wouldn't cross my mind to send her off somewhere else for her skills of jumping over PVC pipes and running through chutes.

I can never see being a true competitive agility person, so maybe I have no right to judge someone's actions from that perspective. I just tried to offer my inexperienced opinion, that's all.

 

[Laurelin]

I must be all hormonal because with Summer out of the next two trials we had planned and thinking about when people told me to rehome her to get a 'better dog', I'm getting all choked up.

I'm going to go cuddle my old dog.

 

[Whisper]

I must be all hormonal because with Summer out of the next two trials we had planned and thinking about when people told me to rehome her to get a 'better dog', I'm getting all choked up.

I'm going to go cuddle my old dog.

I can't believe someone said that! Summer is just. . .<3 Will you give Summer a cuddle for me?

 

[Dogdragoness]

That reminds me of another discussion on another forum about people who regime dogs who don't work out in sports or weren't as good as they had hoped :/

 

[Laurelin]

I can't believe someone said that! Summer is just. . .<3 Will you give Summer a cuddle for me?

I will!

To be honest that has just stuck with me and is probably why it bothers me. At the end of the day it's not my choice and a long a dogs have good homes then I can't complain. But please don't tell me to get rid of my dog to get a better one. No dog is better than Summer.

 

[Dogdragoness]

That person was a jerk ... Summer is awesome! Don't listen to people like that, they don't deserve your time.

My dog vent: is it just me or does anyone else hate it when their dogs lick their lips incessantly or lick themselves? It doesn't bother me when they are licking a bone or antler or whatever ... ESP butt licking :wall: . I know it's terrible but I will snark at them to stop it xD

 

[CharlieDog]

If it gets to the point that I'm irritated I tell them to stop it or send them out of the room. They know what STFU and GTFO mean, as well as to "go to bed" and will thusly remove themselves from my hearing to finish whatever the hell it is they're cleaning.

 

[Dogdragoness]

Well there is no where else they can go since buddy stays in a crate and since this is my parents house, they don't want them in the carpeted areas (my room, my bathroom and the kitchen have linoleum) so I usually tell them (after I give Them little chance to stop it lol) if they don't then I will tell them to STFU

I just feel like a terrible person sometimes because I know they can't help it ... But I just friggin hate that lip licking ... Licking in general sound.

 

[Whisper]

Back when we had Harley, goodness, his licking was gross and slurpy and loud. He totally went to town on himself and it kind of freaked me out.

Lip-licking doesn't bother me, though. Millie does that out of anxiety and I feel sad she's sending out stress signals rather than being irritated.

I will!

To be honest that has just stuck with me and is probably why it bothers me. At the end of the day it's not my choice and a long a dogs have good homes then I can't complain. But please don't tell me to get rid of my dog to get a better one. No dog is better than Summer.

Summer is not even my dog and I feel bothered, too. Just knowing how sweet she is and looking at her adorable little face in your siggy. <3 She is a Very Good Dog.

 

[Elrohwen]

Last night Watson played with a 3.5 month old GSD puppy for ~4 hours. They were the same weight. :lol-sign: At least Watson still has the athletic advantage for now.

It was extremely amusing when the puppy would bark in Watson's face because Watson stopped playing. Normally Watson is the one to bark at other dogs for ending a game. I asked him how he likes it when the shoe is on the other foot.

I have to give props to my little dog too. Usually he is so obsessed with other dogs that he doesn't pay any attention to me during a play session, but he was so mature yesterday. When they were outside off leash, Watson actually recalled every time I called him back, and could listen to me while still wanting to play. He was also super appropriate with the 10 week old pup and 9 year old dog who were there for a short time. Maybe he's actually growing up!

 

[sassafras]

Edit... never mind, just too tired for this.