Took Ripple to the beach this afternoon and he was a really good boy, walking nicely on a loose lead, retrieving his ball from the edge of the water (on a longish line). Also not taking too much interest in other dogs or eating anything. So I decided to let him off the lead to chase his ball along the beach, 3 retrieves of his ball and he was off - I could see him eating something which pretty quickly became obvious was poo, followed swiftly by a large crunchy crab - when will I ever learn ? He's only just recovering from a bad tummy and last night was the first night I didn't have to get up and take him out. What an idiot! (Me - not him - well probably him as well).
Oh dear! It can happen so quickly. I think they like to lull you into a false sense of security... Hope all's well tonight.
Urghhhh. Easily done! More or less every other day I think, "wow she has been so well behaved, we are getting there with this training lark". Then I give her slightly too much leeway and we have some sort of incident at the end of the walk!
Well, Ripple's iron stomach has returned (probably thanks to the doses of Pro Kolin over the last couple of days) he did actually manage to last all night. However there were copious amounts of squidgy poo on his walk this morning (TMI ). True to form after an eating and poo binge he was going crazy on the lead trying to stuff everything in reach in his mouth - it's always the same when this happens, I don't know if he's extra hungry or just he's got a taste for it again. I think the only place to safely walk Ripple would be a fenced-in concrete yard - even then he'd probably find something to eat!
Rory has colitis and we can always tell when he going to have an attack because his temprement changes. He sounds very like RIpple. Wanting gab things hes very excitable we think its because his tummy hurts. Once his tummies back under control he's back to himself. When he starts to behave like a idiot I know what's going to happen and start is bad belly protocol.It must really hurt. I hope Ripples ok
I took Ripple for his walk today armed with freshly roasted chicken and lots of home made treats to try and keep his interest. We walked from the car park at the West Lomond hill towards Falkland. It was very quiet so I decided to start working on the problem with Ripple's recall using the about turn walk from Total Recall, he was brilliant and quickly cottoned on to keeping an eye on me and stayed nice and close. The way back was uphill and Ripple was getting tired so I put him on the lead and practised loose lead walking using the remaining roast chicken. All of a sudden he shot across in front of me to snatch up some poo I hadn't noticed, tripping me up and knocking me over in the process. Another lesson learnt - even roast chicken doesn't trump poo .
Well, celebrate the good bits! I don't use treats for loose lead. I just stop if the lead gets tight. But Charlie is not allowed to cross in front of me, only behind me. This is the only reason I will tighten the lead myself, to stop a dog crossing in front of me. They soon get the hang of it. But what are your rules for loose lead? Mine are that the dog can do what he wants, but not pull. My rules for heel are that he is walking with his shoulder in line with my knee and his head up, looking forward. If your rules for loose lead are similar, then Ripple was within the rules going for the poo (and no poo eating has to be trained separately). Of course, your rules for loose lead might be tighter than mine.
Hee Hee - and a very good one it is too. But how does that translate into something Ripple understands?
