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Online Diary 2007 November |
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The online diary started life as a blog of my strange 'other life' with the dog. I wanted to record some of the experiences that I had as a first-time dog owner. To access the archive, click on the appropriate month. The most recent articles are listed separately. You are most welcome to send comments about any of the articles. Record your comments via the Contact Me page. Letting Beattie off the lead on a walk is becoming more of a game of 'cat and mouse' nowadays. The problem is not that she runs off - she usually stays quite close, unless she finds something dead to roll about in, and then she will not come if I call. I usually have to walk back and shoo her away. No, the fun begins when I try to put her back on the lead. She very quickly senses that I am trying to catch her and she will lay down as if she is submitting to the inevitable, but you can see that she is poised, muscles as taut as a clock spring, ready to fly as soon as I go near her! I know it's going to happen and as soon as I put out my hand to catch her collar, she is off, up and running and barking excitedly! The first time this happened, I found a stick which I would not give her until she would let me put on her lead. That trick worked twice, but she had now got wise to that particular gambit and the third time she was not playing ball. The stick was not a powerful enough reason to allow herself to be caught. In desperation, I shouted at her, 'Do you want to see mummy?' Poor A hates being called 'mummy' but Beattie knows the word and immediately she looked interested and I had her on the lead very quickly. Yesterday, I was having the same problem but I tried a different tack. I had 'treats' with me, but even a biscuit, which she loves, was not inducement enough to be captured straight away! We had to go through the little charade where she would try to snatch the biscuit away from me and I held on tight with my other hand hoping to catch her by the collar. Eventually, she gave in, but I had the feeling that it was her deciding to be caught and not being lured or tricked into it! It's as if she was saying, All right, I've had my little game, now we can go home!' In this game of 'cat and mouse', it seems to me that the roles are reversed! Back To post a comment click here
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from
sablonneuse Comment from Tracey Lilly Comment from
Gary
SICK AS A
DOG! - PART 1 Last week, AT came to dinner. During the course of the evening she suggested that I buy Beattie a lamb chop from the butcher, for her to gnaw. Consequently, when I next visited the butcher I asked him for a lamb chop with a nice bone and plenty of meat. He did not have a chop, but suddenly he disappeared into the back of the shop and reappeared a minute later with a lamb's foot for her! It was exactly what I had asked for - a meaty bone! I took the lamb's foot home and decided to give it to Beattie in the evening instead of her usual tea. I decided she was going to have the bone in her crate so as not to make too much mess. When I gave it to her she looked a bit uncertain and sniffed at it for a few minutes before trying to 'bury' it in the bottom of her crate. This meant trying to conceal it below her vetbed. After a while when nothing had happened, I decided to take her bone away and try again the next day. Perhaps she was not hungry. I opened her crate door and bent down to retrieve the bone. But Beattie had other ideas! She was not going to allow me to take back her prized possession and growled quite menacingly in a way she had never done before! Wisely, I thought, I retreated and considered what to do. I decided to call AT for advice as Beattie had never reacted like this before. When I described her behaviour, AT was quite unphased and told me that she was just behaving like a dog, guarding her food and warning me off. 'The trouble is', she said, 'You have already backed off and that is not what the Alpha dog would do. You will have to take that bone away and risk getting bitten', she concluded. 'My advice is to put on a garden glove and grab the bone quickly whilst the other hand hooks her collar. You may not get bitten that way!' I was not brimming with confidence at this suggestion, but said I would give it a go. I rang off and went to the shed to find my gloves - not easy in the dark! With the glove on my right hand, I summoned up my courage, took a deep breath and opened the cage door. Beattie was instantly alert to what was happening and went to grab the bone. But I was determined to win and grabbed it from her before she knew what had happened. With the bone safely retrieved, I held on to it for a short time before returning it to her. This is what AT said I should do. She said that the message to the dog would be that it was my bone but I was letting her eat it until I decided otherwise! Triumphant, I phoned AT and when she answered I said, 'Piece of cake!' 'Well done, she replied. 'You have done the right thing now.' I told AT that Beattie had now decided to tuck into the bone and that all seemed well now. Little did I know what was to follow... Back To post a comment click here
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from
sablonneuse
SICK AS A
DOG! - PART 2 I let Beattie chew away at her bone for nearly an hour. By this time there was very little meat left and she was even cracking into the bone. I decided that enough was enough for one day and I took it away without too much protest this time. Meanwhile I was busy cooking dinner for A and her sister JT, who had flown up from Exeter for the week. They arrived just about the time I took Beattie's bone away so she had lots to occupy her for quite a while... Dinner was served. We had just sat down when Beattie, very suddenly and very quietly vomited! A huge pile of undigested lamb lay on the floor in front of her! Great! I hadn't even taken my first mouthful! I grabbed some kitchen towel to clear up the mess when, bingo! a repeat performance in another part of the room! Poor thing! How could one little dog be so sick? Just how much had she eaten? Was it just the lamb or was breakfast there as well? I grabbed another handful of kitchen towel and cleared up a second mess! I remembered then that she had been off colour the last time she had lamb. On that occasion she had widdled in her crate! (quite unlike her). That was it! No more lamb! I telephoned AT to tell her what had happened. 'Never mind', she said, 'Try her with a beef bone next week!' Beattie seemed quite unperturbed by her experience, as if bringing up the entire contents of her stomach was a normal occurrence! Half an hour later she was clamouring for her 'dental stick' as if nothing had happened! I had heard of the phrase, 'sick as a dog', but I had never seen it in action before that day! Back To post a comment click here
Comment
from
sablonneuse Comment from Tracey Lilly Comment from
Gary
Photographs taken with a
Fuji MX-2900 Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D |
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