Over the years when listening to the radio I've always had a chuckle when they play Gershwin's 'Walking the dog". I don't know what kind of dog it's meant to be, but it's not a Labrador! I got to thinking about what my current dog's (then a yellow girl called Barley) tune would be and decided it would be the "Peter" theme from "Peter and the Wolf". After we lost Barley, Solstice came along and her tune was without doubt "The Ride of the Valkyries"! During the year we've had Joy I've often tried to work out what her tune should be as she can be really quiet and deep in thought at times, as well as very gentle, then it's as if she suddenly remembers she's a young Labrador and chaos breaks out. Today she was so sweet and good, sitting and staying when bikes and runners went past, often without being asked, and I thought "Oh bless her! She's really growing up!" Huh! She then spotted this couple who she must have liked the look of as she ran to them and jumped up (totally normal for Solstice, practically unheard of for Joy) then proceeded to play bow and bark at them. Luckily they were OK about it and she came back when called then did full on Zoomies through some bushes for a few minutes. When I got home and was cooking tea the " William Tell Overture" came on the radio and that's it! That's Joy's tune! All gentle and calm and pretty to start with, then rip-roaring boisterous Zoomie Music! Wonderful! Does anyone else have theme tunes for their dogs, or am I totally losing it?
When it's bed time (and hence supper time), Coco desperately tries to heard OH into the kitchen to let him out, he runs back and forth and behind and around him - and it's definitely to the Benny Hill theme tune
Just catching up on all the excitement! If a chocolate one is eventually on the horizon I think you should just ‘do a snowbunny’ and get a yellow too! Is your OH aware yet, or still in blissful ignorance!
There was resistance from one member if the family when we chose Wispa - “We’ve always has black dogs...” (not quite true, as our first ‘family dog’ was a wheaten cairn terrier). It was a wonder that Wispa didn’t find herself dipped in hair dye!
Ha ha ha. I'm going to go with 'Atomic Dog' because Maxx just explodes in everyone's face wherever we go So training update. I got some quotes for private dog training and as expected they were eye-wateringly expensive. OH doesn't work (a lifestyle choice for us both) so he does feel responsible for keeping a rein on our spending. If you know what I mean. So now he is glued to You-Tube, has made a long leash and is excitedly telling me about the full-on training he is doing with Maxx. I have to say, on our walk on Saturday I noticed a big difference after just a few days. Yesterday not so much, he ended up in the bog and came out a half/half yellow/black Labrador . Early days. I am just so happy that OH has FINALLY realised that we need to put in a lot of hard work. He is giving himself a few weeks and if that doesn't work we will go with the trainer. I am so relieved; I was starting to worry about the impact Maxx's behavior was having on our lives/31 year relationship. Yay!
Really like the Atomic Dog thing! Husband and I had, shall we say, not exactly shared views on training and we did find that going to a basic training class was helpful in many ways, particularly in that it got us using the same methods and not thinking that someone needed to be "Alpha" ( Me? Smug? Never!) It really is very early days and I'm sure you'll get there in the end. I always finish up wondering how I could ever have doubted it would turn out OK. (That's with my relationship with puppy and also with husband when puppy's quite new) We're still here 18 years on, so don't worry too much! Love and all the best to you from I think the other side of the World.
Poppy now has kennel cough as well as Amber. Well, I'm using up a lot of stored honey. Poppy is a lot easier to help than Amber, thankfully.
I was training my dog heel work and LAT training at the park by my house last night and this little Chihuahua looking dog ran up to my dog off lead, barked in his face, and ran off. His owners were not even close to him. They had to be about 100 yards away. Pretty annoying.
I so feel your pain about people who don't attend to their dogs! We were working on LAT in our local park (not a "dog park", but an off lead shared park) and there was an off lead Italian greyhound a few meters away- owners a few metres behind. Chewie (on lead) is looking at it calmly, I am treating. The greyhound approaches us. Since Chewie hasn't pulled or barked and the dog is right there in his face I let him say hello- and he did well with a polite sniff. The greyhound immediately starts growling and snapping. Its owners took forever to come over and remove it, and apologised with a smirk- like it was funny. I was so annoyed. If I let Chewie do that I'm sure people would have a lot to say!
I trained my 7 month old pup to get my keys from nightstand in the bed room and bring them to me, put his toys away, and get me a beer from the cooler! Really proud of how quick he learns things.
