Yesterday was pretty darn nice around here, about the upper 50's so I thought we should head out to the beach. Welllll, it did not work out that way. Forgot I had put a bunch of cardboard in the back of the car so that needed to be hauled off to the recycling place. A really nice lady supervises the recycle place. Murphy got out and she held his lead while I unloaded. For some odd reason she also had treats in her pocket. . . hmmm, this lady seems to know a thing or two. Murph thought it was great of course and was his usual charming self. By that time I figured we could do a bit of shopping. My better half wanted to get him another "squirrel" for XMas and I needed to find him something. So off we went to PetSmart. He loves PetSmart. When we go we pretty much cruise all the aisles including the cat ones. He is fun to watch, when we get to an intersection or anywhere a decision needs to be made he turns to see where I want to go and in a very low voice I just say "this way Murph" and move my hand a bit in the direction I want to go. He met quite a few people and some other dogs. We finally got to the toy aisle. While I was talking with a lady about labs in general he was busy picking out a good toy. He decided on a stuffed furry football. Got it out of the lower bin and promptly laid down with it. He does not wreck things, but after he slobbered on it. . .and obviously loved it. . . . Found his new squirrel and got him a bag of super duper duck treats. While I was there I met another lady (it seems there are a lot more women than men who tend to these matters for some reason) who told me she wished she could bring her six month old lab in the store but he was just way too energetic and unruly. I nodded my head and then asked her "How do you expect him to learn if you never give him the chance?" Long pause. . . ."I never thought of it that way.. ." So I mentioned that if her dog is unruly is not a reflection on her or on the dog, it is just a thing that we all go through. She told me that she had been a bit disappointed because what she really wants is a dog that can go everywhere with her. By the time we were done chatting I had her laughing at tales of the misadventures of Murphy and I as he was growing up. Yanno, it is really great being retired and having time to do these sort of things, go places with Murphy and meet other people. Just thought I would share this experience with others as an insight in to how rewarding it is to develop a good relationship with a labrador.
I am not much into telling others what to do with their dogs especially when it comes to training. What I will mention is that it pays to think about what kind of dog you would like to have as your friend and then work towards that goal with steps that make sense. Some people want a dog that is very disciplined, heels nicely, sits, lays down, stays, etc. Obviously takes a lot of work. What I find interesting is that some of it just seems to come naturally to them. About the only thing we really trained Murph to do was sit down and lay down. Pretty basic. But laying down is not what a lot of people expect, he will look around, find the place he wants to lay down and then do it rather than lay down right where he is standing. That is fine with us, the reason we tell him to lay down is that he is being a bit of bug. We rarely tell him to lay down. It is even rarer to tell him to sit. A treat? He just sits down all by himself. Walking on a leash started out as a real challenge. WOW! Fling himself down, roll around, twist the leash around himself, refuse to get up, all that fun stuff. We just gave up to give it some time. A few months later, he was better, not great, but not as bad. Over time he figured out the leash was a good thing, now we are being told when to get the leash out to go do something. He walks very nicely. I took a big hint from here (I think it was here) about when going for a walk with your dog, the point is that the walk is for the dog, not me. So, he wants to sniff, let him sniff. Surprisingly when we are in situations (like in town) he does not sniff, he walks really nice, stays close and at our sides. Waits politely for doors to be opened, and knows that a certain door in town has a spoon of ice cream waiting for him. I go to outdoor eating places quite a bit so he can go along. He will greet people who want to say hello to him, but then he just lays down and watches people. We have never "treated" him for doing anything. But he does get his treats. He knows that when I have a sausage and egg mcmuffin, he is going to get a bite. But he does not come over and beg, he just waits til I am done to bring it over to him, never told him to do that, he just does it. He knows that when we come in from playing, he gets a treat, that he waits for at the cookie jar lest I forget. Well, this has gotten really long winded but I think my point is that what is important is the relationship you have with your dog, not what others think you should be doing. You bet we run into unruly dogs, they are usually younger so we definitely understand the situation and commiserate with it. When that happens I try to make the person feel comfortable and reinforce the idea that it is a process requiring time. BTW, Murphy can make some people nutz. You know the type, they look at him and in a commanding voice say "Sit!" and he just looks at them. They usually then repeat it in a louder voice. At that point I tell them he is not trained to "sit" and I tell them "Ask him to have a seat". I always thought it a bit rude to be telling one of my best friends to "SIT!" as if he were a dog, sheesh.
Murphy sounds like a brilliant companion. I love taking Harley to the pet shop and it's her favourite place as she raids the biscuits!
Thanks for the replies. He is a wonderful companion/friend. It has been a growing/learning experience for all of us. I am amazed at how he has been able to communicate with us so effectively. Murphy does it mostly with his eyes. He is the master of "look at". He will look at me and then very pointedly look in the direction he wants me to look. He also does it in reverse, he will pick up on anything that has drawn undivided attention and look to see what I am looking at.s There is so much more to these guys than the average person realizes. They are masters at paying attention. Murph likes to spread out in one of our high traffic areas. He will adjust his position to let us by without being told. That happened all by itself. At first we would just carefully step over him, then one day he started adjusting himself so we could get by easier. I play a game we call "blue blanket" with him every night. Normally we both do some reading in our 4 seasons room after dinner. About 7:45 he will come traipsing in with his "blue blanket" and park it at my feet. When I get up he picks it up and carries it to our play area which is between the kitchen/dining/living room. I sit cross legged on the floor and roll it into a ball and toss it around. My wife will usually be messing around in the kitchen. If we try to talk to each other, he just starts slobbering in my face. Evidently we are not allowed to talk during "blue blanket". He eventually gets thirsty, has a drink, a bite to eat and then settles down to get petted. And that is it, his evening is complete until bedtime. He typically lays between us snoring away and dreaming. Labradors are (IMHO) one of the best dogs for retired people. They make you get out and do stuff like play. They are willing to follow you around and "help" or "supervise". But best of all, they have a way of bringing out the kids in all of us. Who would have thought that I would be sitting on the floor playing a made up game at age 68? Something to think about.
@T Reischl I definitely agree with your last paragraph ! I am 70 years young , and very active indeed but I wouldn't necessarily be so, if it weren't for dogs ! They are a reason to be .
I knew a tough gundog trainer who taught his dogs to sit on the command "bot, bot darling" just to see the look on other trainers' faces
Love reading your posts! Although a wee bit concerned at the title, thinking Murphy had taken himself off down to the local store on a shopping spree! Benson did that once in a handbag warehouse, apparently, he couldn't decide between two bags (I kid you not...)
Bean, LOL, yea, the title is a bit misleading, but maybe not, considering how these guys are such masters of manipulation. It may well have been his idea and I was just the chaffuer? Stacia, too funny! In our case Murphy and I were together a lot as my wife was still traveling virtually all week every week for work. At first I would ask him to sit, he did not seem to be all that keen about it. So in frustration I asked him to "have a seat" and he did! Maybe it was my tone, I will never know, but it worked. I am sure everyone has really great stories about their labs and I would love to hear more of them. Heck, I have great stories about a german short hair pointer gundog we had when I was a kid and an irish setter called "red dog". Red Dog was around in my very early childhood. She decided she was in charge of me and figured I was not allowed out of the backyard for any reason. She had no problem getting a hold on the seat of my pants and just digging in. There is a picture of me somewhere complaining to high heaven because she would not let me go where I wanted.
