The dog musing/vent thread

Having an LGD that lives inside part of the time is a lot like having a yeti as a housepet. That isn't nearly as cool as it might sound. I have never in my life been this excited to get a new vacuum / detachable blower.
 
Glitch is in the middle of his second fear period. We went for a Santa pic today, hoping for the best. It was as serious "Nope! Nope! Nope!" situation.

Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities rhis month, so we may get one yet!
 
Poor Hero is scared of the way Crystal tries to engage play with him. She'll run around him and bark/groan and play bow, and the barking seems to be too much for him. Although, when she's not playing, he's totally fine with her. Hopefully he'll get used to her play style soon, and she will quiet down a bit.
 
Finally got allergy shots for Brisbane, now I get to shoot him up every two days for a while. He's super sensitive and highly suspicious, so despite the first couple of shots being accompanied by endless peanut butter, he knew I was up to something.

I just spent ten minutes grabbing a handful of scruff and poking it with a plastic fork tine while he stared at an entire bag of treats, knowing he would get one as soon as I did whatever the hell I was doing. Grab, treat, grab, treat, grab, tap, treat, grab, tap, treat, grab, tap, poke, treat...when I did it with the actual needle he didn't seem to even notice.
 
Augh, I have unintentionally conditioned Leo into thinking he gets a Dental Chew every time he comes in from the backyard.

I give him a dental chew in the morning before I leave for work, which incidentally is right after he goes potty.
Yesterday, I happened to decide to clip his nails right after he came in from outside, and rewarded that.

Today, EVERYTIME he has come in from outside, he has zoomed to where the dental chews are stored and sat expectantly for one. He already got one this morning and isn't getting another, so apparently Leo has decided he needs to keep trying.

I just let him out (thinking it was weird he needed to go again) and watched him FAKE PEE! I swear. He lifted his leg for a second, but not a single drop came out.
And, you've guessed it, he then immediately ran to where the dental chews are kept. :rofl1:
 
Augh, I have unintentionally conditioned Leo into thinking he gets a Dental Chew every time he comes in from the backyard.

I give him a dental chew in the morning before I leave for work, which incidentally is right after he goes potty.
Yesterday, I happened to decide to clip his nails right after he came in from outside, and rewarded that.

Today, EVERYTIME he has come in from outside, he has zoomed to where the dental chews are stored and sat expectantly for one. He already got one this morning and isn't getting another, so apparently Leo has decided he needs to keep trying.

I just let him out (thinking it was weird he needed to go again) and watched him FAKE PEE! I swear. He lifted his leg for a second, but not a single drop came out.
And, you've guessed it, he then immediately ran to where the dental chews are kept. :rofl1:

Omg that's hilarious. Our dogs are ridiculous geniuses. This weekend we stayed at an airbnb in CO that didn't allow dogs on the furniture. Hugo is allowed on the couch at every friend and family members house so he was not thrilled. Everytime he would jump up, Allison would ask him to get off and give him a treat. Within 2 hours he would jump on, immediately jump off and sit waiting for his treat like "look! We shaped!"

Genious fool.
 
Augh, I have unintentionally conditioned Leo into thinking he gets a Dental Chew every time he comes in from the backyard.

I give him a dental chew in the morning before I leave for work, which incidentally is right after he goes potty.
Yesterday, I happened to decide to clip his nails right after he came in from outside, and rewarded that.

Today, EVERYTIME he has come in from outside, he has zoomed to where the dental chews are stored and sat expectantly for one. He already got one this morning and isn't getting another, so apparently Leo has decided he needs to keep trying.

I just let him out (thinking it was weird he needed to go again) and watched him FAKE PEE! I swear. He lifted his leg for a second, but not a single drop came out.
And, you've guessed it, he then immediately ran to where the dental chews are kept. :rofl1:

OMG I'VE EXPERIENCED THE FAKE PEE TOO!

Crystal has done this, oh my gosh, I thought she was the only one. :rofl1: She's anxious during storms or fireworks, so sometimes if we let her out to use the restroom during these events, she'll fake pee then run inside expecting a treat. I know it is a fake pee because nothing comes out and she squats down for literally a millisecond -- nothing could come out that fast. It's hilarious how smart dogs can be, haha!
 
Meg is the queen of the fake pee. She will regularly do one while staring directly into my eyes if I tell her to pee when she doesn't have to. Squat a little, lift a hind leg, look at me to tell me she is an adult and can decide for herself when she has to go, thank you very much.

Then walk in for her cookie. Dogs are amazing.
 
Years and years ago the dogs (Kiba and Stryder) used to be out front on tie outs to go potty before we built the fence. Every time they'd come back in they'd get a cookie. Here it's been at least six years and they'll still stand on the bench to get one whenever they make it out into the mudroom.
 
Up until very recently Sawyer would get a treat every time he came in from outside. Then it got to the point where he would ask to go outside a bazillion times (and being a puppy still, I'm not at the point where I want to ignore him)... I'd let him out and he'd pretty much immediately turn around and come back in, and run to where the treats are. UHHHH, no way buddy. He didn't even try to trick me with a fake pee.

(And now that he doesn't get a treat every time, guess who has stopped asking to go outside 18,000 times between the hours of dinner and bedtime??? :rolleyes:)
 
Ru has to go out approximately every five minutes on warm afternoons. I get focused on whatever I'm doing and just let him out on demand until I realize how ridiculous he's being. He doesn't have to pee, he just wants to lay in the sun. He also wants to sit on my lap, which is not in the sun. Apparently the solution is to go back and forth between the favored napping spots for as long as I will let him.
 
Ru has to go out approximately every five minutes on warm afternoons. I get focused on whatever I'm doing and just let him out on demand until I realize how ridiculous he's being. He doesn't have to pee, he just wants to lay in the sun. He also wants to sit on my lap, which is not in the sun. Apparently the solution is to go back and forth between the favored napping spots for as long as I will let him.
That's like Juno in the summer:
I want to go lay in the sun.
Okay now I'm hot let me back in.
Oh it's cold in here let me back out.
Wait now I'm hot again.
Cold.

And on and on and on....
It takes a while before I realize, this is dumb. Pick a spot and deal with it.
 
Glitch just realized that the shower curtain is not some force field dedicated solely to keeping us apart. Guess who my new shower buddy is? :rofl1:
 
Freaking Leo chewed the cap off of a tiny bottle of pure almond extract :yikes:

Thankfully, I am 99.8% sure he didn't have any, or else just the tiniest of tastes by licking the rim (tiny opening), because the bottle is still the same full as it was initially, despite the fact that I found it lying open on its side in the living room.
I even tested it by putting a dab on my finger and offering it to him, just to see if he seemed interested in it. He ran away from me. My guess is he licked the rim and was luckily disgusted by the flavor. He is also acting 100% normal, so I think we're safe.

But...REALLY DOG? Of all the things you could decide to pluck off of the shelf and carry to the livingroom (which he has never done before), you take the one thing that could definitely kill you if you consumed it?
How he managed to open it, I have no freaking clue.

In related news, I have completely reorganized my housemates food shelf for her. There will be no more baking supplies stored below head level :rolleyes:
 
Freaking Leo chewed the cap off of a tiny bottle of pure almond extract :yikes:

Thankfully, I am 99.8% sure he didn't have any, or else just the tiniest of tastes by licking the rim (tiny opening), because the bottle is still the same full as it was initially, despite the fact that I found it lying open on its side in the living room.
I even tested it by putting a dab on my finger and offering it to him, just to see if he seemed interested in it. He ran away from me. My guess is he licked the rim and was luckily disgusted by the flavor. He is also acting 100% normal, so I think we're safe.

But...REALLY DOG? Of all the things you could decide to pluck off of the shelf and carry to the livingroom (which he has never done before), you take the one thing that could definitely kill you if you consumed it?
How he managed to open it, I have no freaking clue.

In related news, I have completely reorganized my housemates food shelf for her. There will be no more baking supplies stored below head level :rolleyes:

I don't think almond extract would kill a dog?
But bad Leo anyway, naughty naughty!
 
A lot of extracts have a pretty high alcohol content or propylene glycol as an emulsifier, which I believe is toxic for dogs?

Leo, eat normal stuff next time.
 
I don't think almond extract would kill a dog?
But bad Leo anyway, naughty naughty!

Oh, well that's good then.

I googled it, and came across a few posts where their dog almost died from having a sugar cookie with three teaspoons in it, so I feared the worst. All the better then! He was definitely completely fine through the night, so I am not at all worried about him, especially now after rearranging the cooking supplies.

Leo is so weird about his naughtiness though. He will go weeks and weeks like a perfect angel, and then all of a sudden I come home to a single piece of mischief.
Like...there will be an entire trash can full of used tissues, and he has grabbed just ONE and shredded it all over the floor. Or he pulls ONE food item from a full shopping bag on the table, and then eats just that food item. Or in this case, he takes and transports one little bottle amongst all the others available to him.

He does just little enough mischief that I don't think about crating him, because it is so rare or so inconsequential. Unfortunately, these occasional bouts of mischief have also included eating an entire chocolate cake on one occasion and an entire bag of milk chocolate chips on another, so it is actually something I have to look out for, despite how deceiving he can be.
 
(So I got Lilah back and she already found a new potential home... one of my classmates at Calarts. She's getting picked up on Sunday! Yay)

Ahah so for those who don't know: when Lancer is JUST with my mom and I'm not at home (all weekdays), he has no tolerance for anything, completely lacks security and control of himself, all his fear is out, literally the lowest possible threshold where a leaf blowing in the wind will set him off flying at the end of the leash (well, when my mom is on the other end). Once I'm home or even when I'm on the phone with my mom, and he hears my voice on the phone, my mom describes that he would suddenly get a calm look in his eyes and become totally quiet and relaxed. Which is how he is when he is with me.

So Lilah is at my parent's house now... Lancer is DA, and I'm not at home on weekdays, I can't have her in my apartment because my roommate is terrified of and hates dogs, I guess. Lilah's separated into a room connected with a hallway, and Lancer is gated off in the living room and dining room, and they have an entire family room between them. Apparently Lancer has just been insane and going off for hours every day, of course Lilah is quiet- and my mom is going crazy LOL. I go home Friday night and weekends...

Lancer has this complete insecurity with my mom, because she was THE ONE who brought him into all scary situations when he was a puppy. His genetics of course plays a role in how terribly he bounces back from shocking situations, but my mom was the enabler, essentially. She decided to bring him to the dog park when he was 4 months old thinking it would cure him of his nervousness around dogs, and he was "attacked/bullied" by a mob of dogs the 3rd time. The crazy airedale in our neighborhood frightened him badly when he was with my mom- not my mom's fault in this case. Apparently Lancer froze to the ground and peed himself... and more. All these things happened, because I was away at college- and my mom did not listen to my instruction over the phone, deciding to do things her way. I vividly remember my mom arguing with me over the phone to take him to the dog park, while I repeatedly told her not to.

So basically, I refuse to get another puppy when I still live in my parent's house- not even just because of Lancer's DA (which is a big reason too), but because my mom is a very stubborn person and VERY often still refuses to listen to my direction over the phone or in real life regarding how to handle and train Lancer, what he's scared of, where they shouldn't go, etc.

And my dad is even worse... haha... Even nowadays, he tells me, "I don't think Lancer's scared of dogs. I think he can meet dogs!" Dad, no. No. Lol. He only appears fine from a distance, because of the training I did with him. My dad has zero sense of canine body language or behavior.

That turned into one long rant about Lilah into Lancer's puphood into my mom and dad.... argh.

Anyway, Lancer's been freaking out with Lilah on the opposite side of the house because I'm not home, and I hope nothing terrible happens before I'm back home tomorrow night. ._____.
 
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So, Mimi broke her skull Wednesday. Because of course that happens. That's a normal thing.

She'll be fine and doesn't seem to notice anything is wrong. She's giving me grey hair. Effing squirrel.
 

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