The Hooligan

While Mommy was cleaning up the side yard today, Guinness found another way to escape from the yard. Once Guinness started trying to venture from the yard when a puppy, I set up the plastic chickenwire fence at the front to keep him from running away. But there was a gap where he could escape under the bushes and jump off the wall. I filled the gap with a window screen wedged in the branches of the bushes. This past spring, when the leaves grew on the current bushes, I thought that Guinness had grown too big to fit through that opening, and, besides, the leaves hid the fact that there was an escape route there. We were fine all summer. Now that the leaves are gone, Guinness has been investigating this weak spot. I knew that he could push his body through there if he tried hard enough. Well, today while I was pooper scooping, he did it! I didn’t see it happen, but he was in front of the wall, looking rather dazed. His leash was caught on a corner of the concrete wall, keeping him from running away. When I called him to “come,” he jumped back up the wall and I guided him back through the branches. Then I promptly pulled a screen out of the garage and wedged it into the bushes again. Not very pretty in our front yard, but quite utilitarian.


After our walk and before jumping in the shower, I wrapped a gift for Christine and hot glued a stem of holly on the gift ("Dogs Never Lie About Love" by Masson). I placed it in the center of the dining room table so that Guinness would leave it alone. I also placed a bag of treats for Sasha beside the gift. Then I foolishly told Guinness that Sasha and Christine were coming. He went beserk!!! He ran to the window looking for them at the front door, barked at me, ran to the deck door, then back to the kitchen window. He was ecstatic and could not understand that “wait” meant two more hours.

While showering, Guinness did not lie at my shower door, so I wondered what he was up to. You probably think that he reached the bag of treats and ate them. Nope! He left the treats untouched on the table. Guess again! He ate most of the holly stem, leaving the gift otherwise unscathed. It might not have been "cute" if he had left teeth marks in the book! ha!


That placed him in timeout.



The appointed time finally arrived with a canine and a human guest at the door. Talk about excited! Guinness’s spirit and body were unrestrained! Once I was able to pull him away from the doorway so that they could enter, he jumped and jumped (Christine came prepared wearing “dog clothes.”). Then, unbridled, he raced in a circle through the hallway, living room, dining room, and kitchen a couple of times. Sasha tried to tell him off, but it didn’t faze Guinness. By the time Guinness finally calmed down a bit, Christine and I were both out of breath! We were able to sit sedately sipping our eggnog lattes and munching on Christmas treats while keeping Guinness pacified with carrots. Unfortunately, we have caved in to feeding Guinness occasional goodies to keep him well behaved while we eat. Of course, Sasha, with perfect manners, rested politely on his mother’s lap the whole time.





After moving to the living room, we heard Sasha making ferocious sounds. Then we saw Sasha attacking Guinness. Hurray! Sasha is learning that he can tell this boisterous creature to back off. After Sasha had nestled on Christine’s lap on the sofa for a while, he slid off, leaving Guinness the opportunity of climbing up on her lap. It was more important to get him off her than to capture that scene with my camera.

Disappointment

All summer, while neighbors might be in the backyards, we had to hold Guinness on a leash or he would run down the stairs to the driveway to greet someone exuberantly (and unwantedly). Now that winter is approaching, no one is outside. And he has been good about staying in our yard even if he sees a squirrel. For the past month, we take him outside with no leash. What a relief that is! However, four times now in the past few days, he has escaped the yard when I am not watching. The first time he did it, I could not find him anywhere! He was no where in sight in the back or in the front, and, he did not respond to, “Come,” “Treats!” his name, or his song. That first time, I was beginning to panic as several minutes went by before I saw movement on a neighbor’s deck. Ugh! We are back to attaching a leash, but, after three more escapes, we (oops! That should be “I” as Grant has not had this problem.) cannot let our eyes stray from him.

This morning, he was begging for a walk. In spite of the drizzle, I was willing to take him around the neighborhood streets where he would have no freedom and not get muddy. We got ourselves ready in the garage, then I suggested that he go potty in our yard first. Well, he went #1 and #2, so I had to clean it up. Yep! When I turned around, he was gone and on a deck that has a Christmas tree two doors down. He absolutely made no response to my calls to him. When I marched up on the deck, he hid under the tree, then tried to run past me. He got a BIG scolding and was sent to his crate for a long timeout. Mommy was mad!

The Beach

Today was in the upper 40’s with bright sunshine. It was a day to walk the beach! About a week ago, when the sand was frozen and ice was building at the edge of the lake, I took Guinny for his third foray on the beach. That was the first time we had walked the length of the beach. I kept him on a long lead (a better quality one than the one from the dollar store that broke as soon as his paws hit the sand), and he did great. Today, after a couple of minutes on the beach, Guinness came racing back to me and jumped on me to say, “Thank you, thank you, Mommy for bringing me here again!” It was so sweet! The ice and snow had melted at the edge of the lake, so I let him get his feet wet. He was ecstatic, leaping through the water. Since he was on a lead, he could not go out deep enough to swim. When on the sand, he pranced and bounced or strutted with the gait of a Tennessee Walker. He was definitely a happy boy! Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks, some seagulls, and a few Trumpeter Swans which winter in this area, were all along the edge of the lake and scurried away as we approached. Since it was a nice day, there was a smattering of people roaming the beach as well as a few dogs. We walked all the way to the pier lining the channel into the bay. As is usual in winter, that narrow stretch of deep water was full of Oldsquaw Scoters. Since they were disturbed by Guinness’s presence, I turned around half way down the pier. Guinness pled, “Do we have to go home?” He wanted to keep going. But back we went. On the return down the beach, two dogs the size of Guinness were off leash with their master, so, when Guinny pulled to meet them, I allowed the loop to slip off my wrist. They had a couple minutes of playful frenzy. The other master picked up Guinness’s leash and was shocked at how strong he is. He said, “You have your hands full! This is one powerful dog!” Yep. I’m well aware of that. Actually, if I had not released the leash, he easily could drag me face down through the sand.

I must say that there was a smile pasted on my face for the entire walk. I love it as much as Guinness does, plus I was amused to watch how fascinated he is with the beach. The regret crossed my mind again that I wish Hershey had been well enough long enough to have taught Guinness how to behave on the beach without a leash.

Still loves Santa!

Santa has lasted for a full week! Guinness has been so cute with him that I have taken several photos.

Santa

This afternoon, we went to PetsMart to have Guinness’s picture taken with Santa. He LOVES everyone and everything! The only times he has exhibited fear are when he sees inanimate objects such as my large Halloween scrarecrow in the front yard. Well, he did NOT like Santa! He would not go near him, though he did accept treats with trepidation from him. We could not get him to sit close enough to Santa for a photo, though, I must say, Santa himself was not very cooperative. He may as well have been an inanimate object! So I had to get in on the act in order to have the pre-paid picture taken.

















Guinness spent Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning at his pet hotel. As usual, they gave us a stuffed toy for him as we left. We usually hide their presents to give to a friend’s dog, as he is an aggressive chewer and they are destroyed within 10 minutes. Grant must have set this one down within Guinness’s reach because I found him prancing around with the cellophane wrapped package. I decided to let him have his fun. To my surprise, once he had it open, he was gentle with the stuffed toy! It has now lasted for 5 hours and promises to last even longer!

Oh, my...

I did not sleep well last night and stayed up reading quite a while, thus I slept in late this morning. Grant was up early and gone, as usual. At 9:30, Guinness woke me up. Then he ran off to the lower level. I went down to see what was so exciting down there. While I was away this past week, Grant indulged in a gift to himself – a black suede, wide-brimmed Tilley hat which was still in its large box on the sofa downstairs. The box was tipped over and empty. From near the laundry room, Guinness dashed past me, hat in mouth, and whizzed upstairs. At first, even with a treat in my hand, he would not let me catch him. When I finally had the hat, I told him, “Go get in your crate.” He raced around the main level a couple of times, then ran to his crate. The hat is destroyed, of course. He had had at least an hour or two to work on it. I went downstairs to assess any other damage. Grant had purchased a hefty suede brush to care for his hat. Guinness had enjoyed the wooden handle tremendously. Wood chips, bristles, and pieces of black suede were all over the floor. I pondered how to break the news to Grant. I waited until he called me. After I finished the story, Grant jovially said, “No problem! It’s insured.”

“What?!”

“They told me that the hat is fully insured for one year whether is it stolen, run over by a car, or falls apart. After the first year, it is insured for 50% of its value.”

So I cleaned up the mess downstairs, ran the vacuum, and let Guinness out of his crate. As I donned clothing to take him outside on this cold, rainy day, Guinness attempted to steal my shoe. Upon returning inside, I heard him prancing around the dining room. He had grabbed a plastic container out of the kitchen sink.

Comprehension

You remember my story about “Leave It” in the last post two days ago. Well, he shocked us with his comprehension skills again today!

Grant is usually up before I am, and often tells Guinness to go upstairs and wake me up around 7. This morning, he jumped on the bed and rooted his nose under my head to get me up. When I came downstairs, Grant was in the shower. I stood in front of the TV watching the news with Guinness sitting staring at me. After a while, he started barking in a high pitched voice and jumping at me. I figured he needed to go potty, so we went outside. He refused to leave the patio. That was not his problem. Surely, he had already had his breakfast, but I went to Grant’s shower to ask. “Yes, he has had breakfast and gone potty #1 and #2.”

So I asked, “Then why is he barking and jumping at me.”

“Well, I told him to go wake Mommy up and have her make me a coffee. He wants you to make the coffee.”

Next-to-the-last Advanced Class

We “discovered” when tested a couple of weeks ago that Guinness heels off leash! Tonight, we perfectly walked the length of the store twice “off leash” (actually a long leash was attached to him just in case). In real life, distractions would ruin his concentration, but, while on an exercise in class, he is focused on his task. Next we were directed to walk in and out of every aisle in the store, stopping at signs to do what was posted such as sit/down/sit, watch me, get on your bed, fast/slow, etc. The dog was on leash, but the master was also holding a spoon with a tennis ball thus we could only correct verbally. If the tennis ball fell, we had to go back to the beginning. We did the entire course in one loop!

Again, we did the “Leave it” routine. This time, the master left the dog sitting at one end of an aisle and walked to the other end. You were to call your dog to “Come” with a treat halfway down the aisle. There is no way that Guinness is going to avoid a treat. So, while walking away from him, I stopped at the treat, pointed it out, and said, “See this treat? You can’t have it. Mommy will give you treats at the end. You have to leave this treat here!” And he did! He understood me! As he approached the treat, he slowed down, looked askance at it, skirted around it with measured steps, then came straight to me for my treats. In fact, he did that twice. Then the teacher wanted us to do it one more time… Oh, well, you can’t win them all.

Email round-about: Quotes for Dog Lovers

This has come to me a couple of times lately. It is clever, and the blog is a good place to remember where I filed it!

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.-Anonymous
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.-Ann Landers
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went..-Will Rogers
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.-Ben Williams
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.-Josh Billings
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.-Andy Rooney
We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare.And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.-M. Acklam
Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people,who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.-Sigmund Freud
I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.-Rita Rudner
A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.-Robert Benchley
Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.-Franklin P. Jones
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.-James Thurber
If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.-Unknown
My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can.That's almost $21.00 in dog money.-Joe Weinstein
Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!-Anne Tyler
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.-Robert A. Heinlein
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you;that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.-Mark Twain
You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'-Dave Barry
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.-Roger Caras
If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocketand then give him only two of them.-Phil Pastoret
My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.-Norm Wright

Book Review: Cesar's Way

Millan, Cesar, with Melissa Jo Peltier. Cesar’s Way: the natural, everyday guide to understanding and correcting common dog problems. NewYork: Harmony Books, 2006.

I hoped that Cesar’s book would assist me in reaching our obedience goals as my current dog, a chocolate lab named Guinness, is a challenge to train. Since Cesar is a dog whisperer, I also hoped to learn how to read my dog – why his hackles go up, what do ear and tail positions mean, what is safe play and what is not safe play, what do growls during play mean, etc.

Cesar became a dog expert by watching the dogs on his grandfather’s farm as a child in Mexico, noting how they interact, deciphering their language, and learning to gain control. He came to America with the dream of training dogs for movies. He crossed the border into San Diego where he was shocked to discover that many dogs in America are “unbalanced.” The reason he found American dogs to be unbalanced is because Americans coddle their dogs, not allowing them to be natural. He contends that dogs need pack leaders, not buddies. This discovery led him to opening the Dog Psychology Center in LA where he became famous as a handler/trainer of aggressive, difficult dogs – particularly rottweilers, shepherds, and pit bulls. His success brought him television fame with the program Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan on the National Geographic Channel demonstrating how to manage dogs. He is renowned for rehabilitating dogs on death row.

His basic premise for dog owners is to walk your dog for two hour walks every morning and one hour every afternoon. Cesar cited pets of homeless people as examples of well-balanced dogs who follow their pack leaders because they have sufficient daily exercise. There are not many productive humans who have the time to give their dogs that much activity.

This book is not for the happy dog that requires some obedience training, but for problem dogs, though he never says that. He promotes his methods should be followed for all dogs. I disagree. He writes about fixations being "wasted energy," and that a dog needs to use up their energy in long walks rather than in "fixations." He writes, "Another kind of fixation is when a dog obsesses or fixates on a toy or activity. Ever meet a dog who goes insane over a tennis ball, begging you to throw the ball again and again and again until you want to pull your hair out? Many owners think they can substitute taking a dog out to play fetch for giving him regular walks. That doesn't work. Yes, it's exercise, but not the kind of primal activity that migrating with a pack leader provides. ... Playing catch is excitement; a walk is calm submission. If an owner skips the walk and just plays with the dog, the dog will have to use that playtime as the only way to totally drain her energy. The dog is being given that activity while her mind is anxious and excited. She'll play until he drops, which will be long after the owner does. At the same time, she'll go into the kind of high gear she would never reach naturally." Then he goes on to say, "The problem is, owners often see fixations as 'cute' or 'funny.' Or they describe them as love, 'She just loves that Frisbee!' 'He just adores playing with that ball' That's not a healthy kind of love. A fixation is just like an addiction in a human, and can be just as dangerous."

He may understand aggressive dogs, but he does not understand a lab. Retrieving is what a Labrador Retreiver was bred to do. It is their passion. He says that dogs need jobs yet neglects to recognize that retrieving is a job.

He advocates that owners must be “calm assertive” to have a “balanced” pet, but he never adequately describes what a calm assertive demeanor is. I would not describe myself as a calm assertive person nor do I think that I am capable of becoming one or even want to. He infers that a person who is not calm assertive cannot be a good dog owner.

He defines energy as the language which dogs understand. They detect the energy that a being, animal or human, emits and responds to that energy. That is an amazing and incontrovertible discovery. It explains how dogs are able to sense when someone is afraid of them. Yet I, a mere human, cannot read the energy of others or of dogs. Does this again mean that I should not own a dog?

Another point he makes is that, in nature, there are very few dominant, pack-leader dogs. While in America, he says, many if not a majority of dogs take on the role of pack leader out of necessity. It is only those natural few who should "strut around with his tail up and chest forward projecting dominant energy to the others." Everyone remarks on the gait of Guinness while heeling: he prances, head high, tail up, literally bouncing with each step. At those moments, he is behaving perfectly – walking at my pace beside me. I cannot be convinced that he sees himself as the pack leader while walking with a spring in his step as he happily heels at my side. It is when he is forging ahead in a position similar to a Pointer that he is trying to usurp my leadership role.

Cesar’s indicators that your dog is the dominate member of your family include:
1. he jumps on you when you come home from work.
2. he dashes through doorways before you.
3. he awakens you at 6 AM to go potty.
If these are true, we have never been the leader of the pack for any of our dogs. I disagree that these are signs of the leader. Obeying commands and allowing objects to be removed from the mouth are greater indicators of who is the leader. Cesar declares that pack members should not roam on a walk but stay behind the leader. Allowing your dog to roam on a long lead should only be done for ten minutes after having heeled for half an hour. Again I disagree. The whole purpose of the walk is for their enjoyment. Dogs need to exercise their strong sense of smell. I contend that they get more exercise by running around on a long lead than by heeling at my pace.

Something which Cesar said that I totally agree with is – do not play tug with your dog as that instills aggression. We have never played tug with our dogs as someone told us that years ago, though, our dogs have played tug between themselves. A local, well-known, expensive school taught Guinness to play tug. The owner was encouraged to place a favorite toy in the dog’s mouth while pulling on it and dancing around saying in a sing-song voice, "Playtime, playtime, playtime." The exercise ended with an assertive "Settle," and the dog was to stop playing and sit. Guinness now wants to play tug. He brings a toy to me wanting to have "playtime," but I refuse the game as it does bring out some aggression.

The author contradicts himself. In the first half of the book, he says that dogs do not have the capacity to love. One of my favorite dog books is Masson’s Dogs Never Lie about Love in which he writes of several emotions expressed by canines along with examples. I am convinced of a dog’s ability to express emotions, especially love. In the second half, Cesar, with no explanation for his discrepancy, states that dogs do love.

His book is annoying with his continual telling, not showing. By the end of the book, you do not know what a calm assertive person really is except that Oprah is one, though she has problem dogs. Another activity he recommends, if you cannot give your dog sufficient walks every day, is to teach your dog to run on a treadmill. But he does not explain how to do that except to hire a professional trainer. He advocates that all humans in the household should be perceived by the dog as the pack leader including infants. How does that happen? Over and over, he tells what he does, but never describes the process so that the reader can learn. This book is an obvious marketing tool for his business.

Many people will read Cesar’s Way because the author is a famous Dog Whisperer with a television show. Though I have never seen his show, I am sure he comes across as a miracle worker. But his methods are not applicable to the average, well-adjusted pet. He does give some concrete suggestions for working with aggressive dogs or dogs with phobias. I would recommend this book only to those who have dangerous, difficult dogs.

Miracles do happen

We are noticing continued improvement in Guinness’s behavior. Yay!

• Today, I got out the Christmas candles and placed them in each window of the house. Guinness was very curious, but he did not try to grab anything or get in the way.
• For more than a week, while it is dark mornings and evenings, we take him out to the side yard for potty time with NO leash! And he does not run away! Even the one time that he did run down to the driveway chasing a squirrel, he came when called!
• For the past many weeks while on our walks on the nearby bike path, when we reach the ball diamond/soccer field area, I test his coming on command which has steadily improved. If there are no people or dogs around at that point, I drop his leash allowing him freedom, and test his recall. He is doing great! Sometimes he is allowed to play in that area with another friendly dog. Last week, he was running in circles with an Old English Sheep Dog which has no obedience training. Their circles were getting wider and wider, taking them around spruce trees where we could not see them. I called Guinness to come. It took a few times, but he eventually obeyed, and the other owner was able to snap her leash on her dog!
• Neighbor Christine and toy poodle, Sasha, came over for tea recently. Sasha was devastated when overactive Guinness moved to the neighborhood. One and a half years later, he is beginning to tolerate Guinness’s presence, so this was the first time in a very long time that he came to our house for a visit. Christine came in her “doggie clothes” (rather than her normal designer wear) to help me teach Guinness to calm down when guests arrive. Both Guinness and Sasha behaved quite well. Guinness needs a little more practice, so we plan to do this more often for working on our social skills. Sasha has two kitty cats, so Guinness is not invited for tea at their house.

Too bad there is no picture!

When Grant got into the car after work today, we leaned towards each other for a hello kiss. Guinness was in the back seat and simultaneously licked my cheek! What a lover.

One year, 6 mos., and 4 days

My handsome boy! But he isn't smiling in these pix. He would rather be chasing bunnies than posing.

Shocking!

Tonight, one of our exercises was to have our dog heel beside us while the teacher held a long lead. I told Guinness, “Let’s go,” and took off, reminding him “side” a few times as we walked down an aisle. He heeled perfectly – even better than when I have a leash on him!

One of our weekly exercises is to put the dog on a sit/stay with a treat in front of him, then call the dog to come and "leave it." This is futile with Guinness, so the teacher kneels on the floor and covers the treat with her hand at the last second. This week, instead of making a beeline to me, he walked around behind the teacher, making a circuitous route to me. I think he thought – “If I trick her, I can grab the treat.” The humans went into hysterics.

What we don't do for our dog!

We had to leave Guinness at the pet hotel this weekend while we partied with our family at a great niece’s wedding. He turned 1.5 years on Saturday, so we ordered an extra Yappy Hour Treat for him on that day.

If he stays in one of the regular kennel accommodations, he barks at all the other dogs and comes home hoarse. So we pay the extra bucks for him to lounge in a villa where he has 4 walls, decorations, a 4-poster bed, and a TV tuned to Animal Planet from 7 AM to 7 PM. On his last visit, he ate the mattress, so they said that he either cannot stay in villa or we have to pay $40 if he ruins another mattress. They refused to move the bed out of the villa for his stay, so I asked if they would remove the mattress and I would bring a substitute mattress. They agreed to that plan. From a glass store, I bought a thick Plexiglas sheet cut to the exact dimensions, for $100. They said it worked perfectly! Since it barely takes any space, they found a place to keep it until his next visit.

Class Clown

Tonight was our second Advanced class. Again, Guinness was the clown of the class. From across the room, we were to tell our dog to “sit,” “down,” and “stay.” Scooby was first. With coaxing, he got through the routine while Guinness was following the commands immediately as given by Scooby’s master. Guinness was next. He was eager to please and win his treat. He was a bit overeager, but he did what he was supposed to do. Last was Snorts. She sat as was ordered, then stood again instead of lying down. Guinness did “sit” and “down” as Snorts’ master dictated. In this picture, you can see the hand of Snorts’ master begging her lie down, and you can see that Guinness is intently paying attention and already had obeyed Snorts' master perfectly.

Cesar's Way

This morning, when we dropped Daddy off at his office at the Garden, Guinness and I took a stroll through the rose garden area. Guinness was ecstatic! He had a wonderful time sniffing new things in new places. As we approached the main building to exit to the parking lot, he jumped over the wall into the fountain. Apparently, he was very thirsty. We had to enter the foyer dripping wet.

He stayed in his crate while I went to my hair appointment. As I sat all morning, I read more of Cesar Milan’s book. I have not totally bought into his method yet. I know that some things he says are accurate, but I don’t think I have the personality or will to be the “calm assertive” master he advocates that dog owners must be to have “balanced” pets. He says that dogs do not have the capacity to love. What?! I disagree! One of my favorite dog books is Moussaieff’s Dogs Never Lie About Love. Then I read the indicators that your dog is the dominate member of your family pack: 1 – he jumps on you when you come home from work; 2 – he dashes through doorways before you; 3 – he awakens you at 6 AM to go potty. Reading that was very disheartening. If this is true, we will never be the leader of Guinness’s pack. In fact, we have never been the leader of any of our dog's pack. When I take Guinness for walks in a park, such as the Garden today, I put him on a 20 foot lead so that he can have fun smelling delights, have a bit of freedom, and do some running to gain more exercise than if he were to walk at my pace. But I read that that is the wrong thing to do! That allows him to dictate where we roam, placing him as leader of the pack.

My contentment with my dog was damaged. As we ran errands this afternoon, I decided that I needed to make him be on a down/stay each time I left the car to prevent him from trying to jump out with me and to impress upon him that I am the boss. For about 15 minutes, I knelt on the driver’s seat forcing him on a down/stay in the back seat over and over again. Every time I let go of the leash, he reacted like a jack-in-the-box! My left arm became tired from yanking on his leash, and my voice turned raspy. If anyone noticed us, I would hate to know what they were thinking! Finally, I pretended I didn’t notice that he jumped up, and went in the store. At Home Depot, I allowed him to go shopping with me. He was soooo excited. It took all of my reserve strength to lure him to walk with me without charging ahead at top speed. Even when I thought I had him under control, twice as we passed a shopper, he managed to lunge at them for a kiss -- startling for them and embarrassing for me! I expected to be kicked out at any moment.

Senior Student

Tonight Guinness began Petsmart’s Advanced Class. On the way, he jumped around the car refusing to stay in the back since he knew we were going to school. At the front door, we tried to do a “Wait,” but that lasted only a few seconds before he joyously charged. He greeted his teacher with frenzied delight and was more than thrilled to meet a new class member, ScoobyDoo, a darling 1 year old black cockapoo. ScoobyDoo was shy, and not especially pleased to meet a wild and crazy dog. Guinness was attracted to the open trash basket with a coffee cup inside. While trying to retrieve that, he tipped over the water bowl and soaked his teacher’s pantleg.

Then the third and final class member arrived: Snorts, a pug and fellow Intermetiate Level classmate. Guinness was beside himself with excitement. Once class finally began, he eagerly completed each routine with relative ease – better than his classmates, as if he were showing off. First, we were to put our dogs on a down/stay with a treat one foot in front of them; the owner was to command, “Leave it,” walk away with back to the dog, and the dog was to remain in a stay position until released. Guinness was the first to do this exercise. He stayed for a while, then grabbed the treat after the wait was too long. The other dogs had to be coaxed to be on a down/stay, but, as Guinness watched each one, he shifted from “sit” to “down” perfectly as the other masters commanded, all the while with his eyes intently on the other dog’s treat. Scooby didn’t care about his treat and never did eat it. Guinness was obsessed by that uneaten treat on the floor. He finally seized an opportunity to grab it while the teacher was talking about the next exercise. There were numerous times during the hour when Guinness had the class in stitches with his antics. We did an “obstacle” course around the store, stopping at stations to obey the printed commands: Leave it; Sit/Down/Stay/Sit; Stand/Stay; walk fast and slow; turn left and right, then repeat the circle. Guinness was very eager to please, but also found it necessary to sniff under all the shelves as we passed by. At one point, he nearly knocked over an end stand to retrieve a green object on the floor behind it. The prized object was a cat ball – too tiny to be safe in his mouth. Scooby and Snorts both needed cajoling to perform, while Guinness and I raced through the course. Once he was down, Scooby didn’t want to get up, and his master pulled him across the smooth floor still in a down position. While doing the side-by-side “loose leash” exercise, Guinness ignored his classmate beside him, as he was supposed to, but was seaching elsewhere for some fun. He spied a boxer down one aisle and was determined to meet the new friend. He was running so fast that his paws spun madly in place on the slippery floor as I held his leash.

How he can be the most unruly dog in the class, yet be the most obedient during the lessons? What a character!

Annoying Nose

I remember when Hershey was 1 yr. and 5 mos. We lived in San Diego, and I wore Bermuda shorts most days. Hershey followed me everywhere and craved touching me. As I worked in the kitchen, he squeezed himself between the kitchen cabinets and me whenever possible. I remember the sensation of his nose touching my skin and tickling me.

Guinness is 1 yr. and 5 mos. old now. He also wants to be close enough to touch. It isn’t often that he wedges himself between me and kitchen cabinets, although, this morning, he plopped himself on the floor in front of the cabinets where I was working. I managed to step on his tail and again on his paw before he decided it would be safer to move. However, his nose… His nose drives me nuts! It is not pleasurable. He has a nose fixation! We had to clean windows occasionally from Hershey’s nose prints, but not daily. Guinness seems to think his nose must touch everything! And it is cold and wet. He leaves nose prints on the car windows, in particular. They are always a mess. While traveling in the car, he finds it necessary to walk back and forth across the back seat. At each turn, he must bang his nose into the back of heads. When I am wearing shorts, his nose is touching my skin whether I am walking around the house or sitting at my computer. There is no titillating tingle. It is downright irritating! I know that sight and hearing are the principle senses for humans, and smell is the prime sense for a canine. Smelling is one thing, but nose touching is something else… If only there were some way to cap his nose.

Nightmare

Guinness and I were visiting my sister-in-law. She lives one block from the center of town which is denoted by the one stop light. Guinness was off leash and behaving as if he were Hershey. Suddenly, he bolted across the main street to a little plaza parking lot. Fortunately, no cars were coming. I ran after him calling his name and “Come!” frantically. When I also reached the parking lot, he took off towards the street again and started running down the road which no longer was empty of cars. My voice was now hoarse from screaming and my body was weak from running. I knew he was going to be killed. He was out of my sight … I awoke.

Two minutes later, I heard him racing up the stairs to jump on me, asking for his morning song. I leaped out of bed before he had a chance to slime me. Happily, I crooned “Good morning, good morning, good morning, I hope you’re feeling fine…”

Redux

This evening, Guinness managed to get in my closet and grab one of the new, dressy shoes I had worn today. I heard him prancing, so went to see what he had. I chased him around the dining room table, back up the stairs, and stood in the center of the bedroom as he ran around me, up on the bed and off again, sometimes audaciously brushing against me. When he is lying on the bed, if I move quickly, of course, he runs faster than I can move. But if I move slowly, I can occasionally trick him by playing “Creepy Mouse.” He is mesmerized as I casually walk two fingers across the bed to him, up his leg, until I can grasp the shoe. That doesn’t always work, but it did tonight on the third try.

I told Grant, “His Catch-Me-If-You-Can game is really annoying sometimes, but he is so cute about it. He just loves taunting me. He is not trying to be naughty; he is just having fun. I will be glad when he is old enough to stop stealing things, yet I will miss those fun times.”

Fetch

Guinness made me play Fetch a few times today. It no longer is a daily activity since his most desirable items to steal are no longer available. But today, he found Karin’s teddy bear which has been in hiding, a toothpaste container still in its bag from the store, and Daddy left his closet open, so he swiped a slipper.

Guinness is usually not interested in playing Fetch; just the opposite of Hershey who lived for Fetch. Hershey would play until he dropped. Guinness might retrieve a few throws, but that’s it. The most he has ever retrieved was eight. Tonight, in the dark, he ran and ran after his rubber Frisbee – thirteen times! He does not relinquish the Frisbee easily. “Drop it” means nothing unless I have a treat in my hand. He wants to play tug, but I refuse that game and pry the Frisbee out of his mouth. It would be so wonderful if we could wear him out by playing Fetch.

Canine GPS System

I have always marveled at how dogs know where we are going and perceive when we are close to the destination.

Blackberry did not ride with us in the car all the time like our labs have, but there were places that she did go with us. She would know by the direction we took, where we were heading. Just before reaching our destination, she would be on full alert. The time when her directional sense was most remarkable was the day I picked her up from being groomed. Instead of heading South for home, we turned East to pick up Karin from her orchestra rehearsal. Blackberry had never traveled to orchestra from that direction before and was very upset that I did not seem to know the way home! Once she realized we were picking up Karin, she settled down.

Andy did not have the opportunity to travel in the car regularly, but he did know the difference between going to the vet and heading for the pet store. He loved traveling in the car. In fact, when he got loose (as he did many times since we did not have a fence for 3 of his 5 years), one of the best ways to catch him, if he was within sight of the road, was to pull the Jeep out of the garage or drive down the road near him, open up the back and ask him if he wanted to go for a ride. He was always ready for a drive – anywhere! Except one time. We were moving. In his mind, his world was totally changing, and he didn’t like it. Actually, he and I shared the same sentiment. Neither of us wanted to move! Everything was emptied out of our house. The three boys (Daddy, Greg, and Andy) were beginning our 16 hour drive in the Jeep Wagoneer. The three girls (Mommy, Karin, and Blackberry) were driving the Peugeot wagon. Our St. Louis house had a section of yard behind the house with a picket fence where the dogs were waiting for us to prepare for our final departure from our beloved home. Beside the fence was the rear-entry driveway and entrance to the garage. We could open a vehicle door, then the fence gate and be guaranteed that Andy would jump in. Not this time. He bolted! He ran into the woods behind our house and was gone. Neighbors joined the search. We combed the woods for two hours when Grant finally decided that he, Greg, and Blackberry needed to leave in order to be at our new home in time for the moving van to arrive. Karin and I were going to stay at our house, which was yet not sold, for as long as it took, until we found Andy. They had just left, when Andy was found by friends deep in woods on the other side of our house.

Once we moved to California where Hershey magically became the perfect dog, he was privileged to accompany us on nearly every excursion. We even bought a Jeep Cherokee to be his Hershey Mobile. His most remarkable GPS sense was exhibited when we drove 8 hours to Greg’s house, or 3 hours to Mark’s house, or 3 hours to Janet’s house. Once we were within 5 miles of those destinations, he would become excited and pace in the back of the SUV.

We had an experience where Hershey was much smarter about directions than I. If only I had heeded his lead! Hershey and I went to visit our daughter and her husband as soon as they moved into their new home in NC. Behind their backyard is a stand of woods. Hershey and I love woods, so we went for an early morning walk. We discovered that the woods were not very deep directly behind their house and opened into a huge meadow with a pond at the far end. We walked all the way to the pond and around the edge of the meadow. We had had a pleasant walk for both of us – seeing bunnies and butterflies, flowers, and song birds. We were ready to go home, but I couldn’t remember where the path was back to the house. I could see housetops in the distance beyond the woods and walked in that direction. We came upon a “No Trespassing” sign hanging on a chain between two posts. Hershey ran way ahead, and I called him to come back. I was sure we had not come on posted land nor had I seen that sign before. I started searching for the path along the edge of the unposted woods. It had vanished! I told Hershey, “You must know the way home. Take Mommy home!” The sun was shining brightly, and I knew their house was to the East. I took off into the woods, headed into the sun thinking that I would eventually come out behind one of their neighbor’s homes or out to the street leading into their subdivision. We walked quite a way until the woods were becoming deeper and thicker with more bugs torturing us. The ground was becoming very uneven making it more difficult to maneuver and remain unscathed while wearing slip-on sneakers, shorts and sleeveless top. Stupidly, I had not brought my cellphone. Fear was beginning to grip me, so I decided that I should backtrack to the meadow, return to the “No Trespassing” sign, and head for those houses I could see from there, even though it was posted land. We had not gone far on the forbidden land when the path appeared. Once back, my major worry was to make sure that Hershey and I had no ticks and that we totally scrubbed to get any poison ivy off us as there had been plenty of it in the woods. My son-in-law showed me a map of the area. I was in very deep woods and could have walked for miles before finding civilization as this section of the city had not been developed yet. If only Hershey could have talked. He did know the way home!

Guinness has learned that, when we go to the Toronto Airport, Daddy is there waiting. He knew from the time we left home this morning that we were going to pick up Daddy. The whole trip he was so excited that he demanded placing his fore paws on the front center console to have a better view. I would expect this direction-savvy dog to detect that we were close to the airport once we turned off the 401, but he started jumping all around a few hundred yards before the airport roadway veered to the left. What a smart boy! If he could talk, he could have told me where to turn! After Daddy joined us in the car, he curled up on the backseat and slept all the way home.

Bedtime

Daddy is complaining that we need a bigger bed now that Guinness has joined us. Hershey began the night in his bed, on the floor beside us. But, when we awoke in the morning, he mysteriously was on our bed. Hershey never disturbed our sleep. Guinness is not Hershey! Settling three of us takes some maneuvering. I read that, if you add up the number of feet in a bed and divide that sum into 100, you know what percentage each foot is apportioned of the bed. So with 8 feet, each foot is allowed 12.5%. That means that Daddy gets 25% of the bed; Mommy gets 25% of the bed; and Guinness gets 50%. Does that seem fair? But those are the “rules.”

I was expecting that 3 nights without Daddy would mean that I would have at least 50% of the bed. Not! Guinness snuggled right up to me. I awoke in the middle of the night to find that I was being pushed off the bed. Easy fix. I got up and walked around to Daddy’s side of the bed. It took all of 60 seconds for Guinness to realize I had moved, to shift his position and curl up close to me again, taking at least 75% of the bed. Shouldn’t I have had 33.3% of the bed and he 66.9%? It didn’t work that way! Yawn….

Yummy Trash Treat

Plop! What was that noise? Oh, yeah…. I left a bag of kitchen waste on the counter. I found him scampering around with a cantaloupe skin in his mouth. When I was eating cantaloupe a couple of days ago, I accidentally dropped a spoonful which Guinness gobbled. Yesterday, he licked the edge of my cantaloupe when I turned my head. Yuck! Apparently, he really liked his one bite of melon. He looked so funny with a quarter slice hanging out of his mouth, that, instead of removing it, I ran for my camera. By the time I returned, a small piece was on the carpet but nothing was sticking out of his mouth anymore.

Remember the butter tart incident? This past week we brought home two magnificent butter tarts from a restaurant. When I got them out to serve, his nose remembered that delicious smell! He definitely thought they were for him.

Play Time

This morning we were invited to play in Cadence’s new, fenced yard. I shouldn’t have told Guinness that we were going to play with a friend, because he went bonkers! He was SO excited! He danced to the car, then jumped continually all the way there. I did not bring his pinch collar, so he dragged me, literally, to Cadence’s house. They ran and ran in the back yard. True bliss. Cadence wanted to play stick, and Guinness chased her but did not take her stick. She eventually put it down on the ground so that Guinness would pick it up as she wanted to play tug. But he refused. Dumb dog! He loves playing tug, and I refuse to play that game. He waited for her to pick it up again then chased her some more. In human terms, he was being polite. In dog terms, he probably was ceding dominance. When they were too tired to run, they had a huge drink together. Again Guinness was either polite or letting Cadence be the leader of the pack. I am pleased whichever it is -- pleased that he is either mannered or not an alpha dog. Once recovered, the wrestling match began. Eventually, they were both too pooped to play.

Pillowmate

Normally, Grant is in bed first, then I climb in, and Guinness jumps up last trying to settle himself on me or near my face. Grant rescues me by manhandling him to the bottom of the bed. Tonight, Grant is away. I got into bed, Guinness jumped up, I reached over to turn out the light, and, when I went to lie down, Guinness was sideways on my pillow coving the entire thing. Would he move? It was a struggle, but I finally was able to retrieve my pillow for myself. Good grief! He could have had Grant’s. Why did he want mine?

Jumping Jack

Guinness is rather hysterical about having the sunroof open. He places his front paws on the console between the front seats and bounces to reach his head out the roof. He makes quite the funny scene and brings laughter from all who see him as we drive down the road. Last Saturday, we were sitting at the border waiting our turn at customs as he carried on his jumping exercise. Several cars around us found him to be very amusing. It is rather difficult to catch a picture of this behavior when I am sitting in the car, so, today, I left him inside parked behind our garage, grabbed my camera, and pleaded with him to pop out the top.

I Spoke None too Soon

The bloom hanging over the front of the fence is gone. Guinness grabbed it today before I had a chance to yell at him. Oh well. It is only one bloom gone with several still to harvest.

I am so Sneaky

As the blooms were beginning to develop on my hydrangea bush mid-summer, I used leftover pieces of the plastic chicken wire fencing to create a shield around the bush. It worked! Guinness did not eat the blooms! The blossoms have matured, and are turning gorgeous shades of color. They are almost ready to be picked for drying and use in decorations.

On the Loose

This morning we stopped at the “On the Go” gas station/Tim Hortons Coffee. Grant was pumping gas, and I jumped out to buy us coffees. This is the second time Guinness captured an opportunity to follow me out of the car. With no warning, he was out and running between the gas pumps. I yelled to him to “Come!” He paused, then decided that it would be more fun not to obey. He ran around the gas islands, between cars, with a good Samaritan and me trying to catch him. He ran past the door to the station. I knew he would want to go in, so I put my hand on the door handle and called him. He came running to go inside, but he never saw the interior of the store. Back to the car…

Beach Excursion

This morning was beautiful. Since Guinness is doing well on walks at the local park with the 20 ft. lead and is responding to “Come,” I thought we would try the beach. After our last foray at the lake (see Dec. 3, 2005), I needed to wait until I had better control of him and until the summer crowds were gone. As soon as we walked off the beach sidewalk onto the sand, he went crazy, breaking the 20 ft. lead and racing down the beach. But he came when called!!! I took off his pinch collar and snapped on his leather leash to drag. He did great! Three times I tested him with “Come!” before proceeding to the next area of beach where people might be present. Each time, he came when called! Well, it took three calls before he turned around, but he CAME! We moved on, and, fortunately, no one was around. We found a stick to play fetch, and he enjoyed playing the game. He has not learned to drop the object when told. He prefers to play tug before releasing it. Also he was so excited that he behaved a bit bonkers. After I removed it from his mouth and raised my arm to throw it, he jumped to take it from me, but clamped my hand, puncturing the skin. Ouch! I tried a new trick: as he returned with the stick, instead of fighting for it, I threw a second stick. Thus he dropped the first one and ran for the second. Naturally, he dropped it in the lake, forcing me to wade in to pick it up for the next throw before he returned with the second stick in mouth. This altered game worked very well. I practiced calling him to come to me and ran from him to make him chase me. It was great fun! After 10 minutes on the beach, I was afraid to press our luck, so we packed it up to head for home.

On the beachwalk, we met an elderly man walking with a gnarled walking stick. He asked if Guinness could have a treat. I said, “Only if he will sit nicely for you.” He sat, saw the treat, lost some control, but he did OK and was awarded two treats.

The elderly man and the walking stick reminded me of sweet Hershey. Hershey roamed the beach leash free, never running up to anyone on the beach. Of course, he always came when called too. His attention was focused on his own business of sniffing every interesting item on the beach and playing fetch with a stick in the lake… unless he saw an old man with a stick style cane. He thought that the man intended to throw the stick for him! More than once, I had to call Hershey to come to me as he pranced towards a fragile stranger.

Sunning

What a handsome boy! He often crosses his legs.

Guinness broke Mommy's harp

I take Guinness outside on a long lead to prevent him from running out of our unsecured yard. Daddy’s car appeared in the driveway; Guinness was excited and raced towards Daddy. Mommy did not move as quickly, so his long lead tipped the angel over, broke her arm and tore off several harp strings (chimes).

Shocked Mommy!

This afternoon I took Guinness in the car, with no leash, while I went shopping. At the store, he jumped out of the driver’s door directly behind me! That was a first! He began cavorting across the parking lot; I screamed, “Guinness, come!”; and he came! :-0 What a good boy!

When we arrived home, I took him from the garage up to the side yard to go potty. Then he ran back down to the driveway while I was still in the yard. Again, I called him to come, and HE CAME!!!! Our practice seems to be paying off finally!

Guinness's Pet

A couple of nights ago, Guinness found something on the patio in the darkness and was gently jumping to play with it. It was a small toad, so I led Guinness away from the patio. Today, the little friend was hopping in the grass until he saw me when he took refuge in the garden under lily leaves. Guinness was too busy chewing a stick to notice. Isn’t he cute?

Break Out

For the past month or more, when we go to the side yard, I have a 20 foot cloth lead on him with a leather lead attached to that looped onto my wrist, so that he cannot run away from the yard. Today he suddenly raced away from me, breaking the cloth lead, forcing his way through the plastic chicken wire fencing, ripping it, while I am screaming his name. A woman with a 1 year old yellow lab was walking past on the sidewalk. Guinness was madly in love with her dog. Funny. Dogs and owners walk past all the time, but it is only Oakley and now this yellow lab that have captured his attention. The woman seemed to understand, but she had to be frightened to have this 75 pound aggressively friendly beast come pounding at her from behind the bushes!

Bed Fellow

This morning I slept in. Guinness doesn’t like me sleeping in. At 7:30, he jumped on the bed and snuggled up to my back. Then he placed his head on top of my head with his face dangling over my face. OK. I was up rather quickly!

Trampoline

Yesterday I finished putting together my new little exercise trampoline. When I jump on it, Guinness tries to get on with me, forcing me off. Then he takes over, but not in exercise mode.

The funny thing is that Grant brought in Hershey’s bed (sitting behind the trampoline) from the garage a few months ago, and Guinness loved it. After being in the garage all winter, I thought it should be washed. Since being laundered, Guinness wants nothing to do with it. He apparently enjoyed Hershey’s scent. He prefers the trampoline to the comfy bed which could be his.

And he wasn't even present!

Today I went to the vet’s office to pick up more eye medicine for Guinness’s conjunctivitis. No clients were there when I arrived; only the new vet and several of the women on staff were present. The vet immediately said, “No one has nibbled on my ear this week.” He told the staff that I had taken pictures, and I informed him that he is on my blog now.

“I just bought Cesar Millan’s book. Do you think it will help?” No one knew what it was, so I told them that it is about understanding dog behavior.

The vet said, “It probably would help with a normal dog, but your dog is a different kind of creature.”

I said I was there to pick up more eye medicine as Guinness is going to his pet hotel for the coming week and I wanted them to put it in his eyes as I cannot. The vet joked, “It will probably take four of them to do it.”

One of the women cajolingly commented, “He is a very happy dog.”

As I was paying for the med, I mentioned to Debbie, “Believe it or not, Hershey was just like Guinness when he was a puppy. But, I guess he was a bit hyper when he came here even as an old dog, though he was well behaved.”

She replied, “Hershey was a happy dog. Guinness is insane.” With that, we all cracked up.

Between howls, I told her, “You are going to be quoted in my blog!”

Sunday in the Park

Loverboy Lounging on the Loveseat

I am not happy about this scene! If I had my way, he would be taught that the loveseat is off limits, but Daddy is way too permissive. He thinks it is cute and even called me to take this picture. Daddy says the loverboy deserves the loveseat.

Annual Exam

Today was our day for annual shots. If we drive past Home Depot, he knows our destination is the vet’s, and he starts going crazy. He, like Hershey, loves visiting the vet’s office. He cannot wait to get inside. After we entered the exterior door, I paused in the entryway to reassemble myself, put the car keys away, and adjust the leash before opening the interior door. Guinness couldn’t wait! He pushed it open himself, bounding to the front desk where he bounced repeatedly on his hind legs to greet the staff on the other side. Katie, who looks after billing and dispenses treats at the end of a visit, was in her office – his next place to invade.

We were ushered into an exam room and a new vet introduced himself, though I could not absorb what he was saying as my attention was diverted by a dynamo dog. I explained to him that the goofball is too excited to settle for being weighed unless I am alone in the room with him. He exited, and Guinness sat on the scale: 75.6 pounds. He has lost three pounds, but the vet explained that he still does not have a defined waist, so we need to cut back on his food by another quarter of a cup per serving or do more exercising. It is unfortunate that he does not enjoy fetching like Hershey did. Hershey would retrieve until our arms were sore from throwing. Guinness might fetch a toy eight times, at most.

The new doctor chuckled at our comic. Guinness put on quite an exuberant show including nibbling the doctor’s ear. Keep in mind that these snapshots are just that – a snap of a second in time. Guinness was in constant motion!

Morning Song

From the beginning, as I released Guinness from his crate each morning,
I had the routine of singing this rousing ditty:

Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope you’re feeling fine.
Good morning, good morning, good morning,
It’s time to rise and shine.
It’s time to get up, you sleepyhead.
It’s time to get up, get out of bed.
Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope your feeling fine.
(from Bullfrogs and Butterflies)

Now that he no longer sleeps in the crate, it is Daddy who usually is first to get up with him in the morning. As soon as I awake, he demands that I sing to him! He won’t leave me alone unless I sing, staring into his eyes and petting him as he sinks to the floor exposing his tummy for rubs.

Security System

We were all tucked into bed when a motorcycle roared past our house. Guinness immediately sprinted to the kitchen barking ferociously and continued to bark long after the cycle was gone. I am not sure if that is what bothered Guinness or if he saw someone outside in the dark. I eventually had to go downstairs, look out the window with him, and assure him that no one was there. It is nice to know that he is eager to protect us.

Cookie Monster (almost)

We have made it far more difficult for Guinness to play Catch-me-if-you-can by removing all his favorite objects. The hand soap at the kitchen sink is now kept in the sink with the dishcloth. So he has to be more creative. Tonight he took a Tupperware container of cookies off the counter to play the game. No harm done to cookies or Tupperware.

H2

Hershey loved to lie in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. In fact, we kept a throw rug there so that he would not soil the carpet. Today is the first I have seen Guinness lie there. Yep! He is Hershey the second aka H2.

Goody Two Shoes

Back to the crate!

This is what we found when we came in this evening.

Funny thing is, as we left, we told him he had to stay home and be a good boy. This was the first time that he didn’t even try to dash out the door with us. He knew he was staying home alone. We did one thing wrong: we didn’t turn the TV on for him! We always leave the TV on Fox News to educate him as a Conservative. He has been loose in the house when we are away since June 23rd, with almost no problems. My shoe a week ago was the first casualty, then the butter tarts a few days ago. Tonight was a mess, but no calamity. It is a miracle that the two books he chose to remove from the shelf were out of date scrapbooking catalogs. They probably were the only two books that were disposable! I was so lucky! I could have had a disaster, because this is where my scrapbooking supplies, albums, and magazines are as well as some of our personal library.

BTW, yesterday around 1 AM, I heard Guinness running in our bedroom. He had a shoe. I dragged myself out of bed to retrieve it. I followed him to the living room where I could see, in the darkness, that something was on the floor. I turned on a light. Butter tart evidence had surfaced.

Evidence

Around 1 AM, I heard Guinness running around. He had a shoe. So I had to get up to retrieve it. He ran through the living room where I could see, in the darkness, that something was on the floor. I turned on a light. Butter tart evidence had surfaced.

Neat Boy

Check out his toys!

New Trick

Yesterday while cleaning the house, I vacuumed the sofa and turned the cushions over. I wondered if Guinness was noting that the seat cushions come off the sofa. He is a smart boy.

We went out briefly this morning. When we returned, the blanket was off the sofa as well as the seat cushions, plus he had ripped apart a tag that was inside the sofa. [sigh]

Houdini

On the way to the airport to pick up Grant, I stopped at a Farmer’s Market to buy him some treats – a cherry pie, some butter tarts, and banana oat cookies for me. At home, I placed the pie box on the counter, the four tarts wrapped individually in plastic wrap on top of the pie box, with the cookies beside the box.

When we returned from dinner, Guinness was in his normal spot – on the sofa downstairs. He has been on a kick again of removing the blanket. Today I had shaken it out and tucked it in firmly on all sides. I was pleased to see that he had not pulled on the blanket. We assumed he had been a very good boy.

There are few items which Guinness can find for his catch-me-if-you-can games. The dishcloth, which has always hung on the faucet or over the center of the sink until recently, now must lie in the bottom of the sink. We heard Guinness prancing around and a sound like gushing water. Grant asked if I had turned the dishwasher on, which I had not. I was mystified at what the noise was. I found Guinness dancing in the dining room with a dishcloth. In the process of stealing the dishcloth out of the sink, his head must have pushed the faucet handle up, turning it on. Time to find a plastic gismo for hanging the dishcloth under the sink inside the cupboard. Also it would be a good idea to ensure that the drains are always left open.

Since I was in the kitchen, I asked Grant if he was ready for some pie. I reached for the pie box, and realized that the large, gooey, sweet, raisin butter tarts had vanished. In fact, there is not a crumb or piece of plastic or stickiness anywhere! I wonder how they evaporated??? It seems highly unlikely that he would have taken them from the counter. He has not done anything like that in months!

Grant said, “You must have left them in the trunk.”
“I know I didn’t leave them in the trunk.”
“You are accusing him falsely. Find evidence that he ate them.”
“There is no evidence.”
“See?”

The Game

The Catch-Me-If-You-Can Game continues to be his favorite. Here he has my shoe for the one hundred and fifty sixth time. As long as we are home, there is no destruction. But today, I absent-mindedly left my closet door open when we left the house. My shoes were put away, so it should not have been a problem. But, he discovered that he can pull shoes off the shoe rack. My new left black sandal is no more.

Intermediate Graduation

Of the three students in this session of Intermediate classes, Guinness was the only one to show up for the final exam. We went through all the paces and he did OK. Well, he was too goofy and excited to concentrate, so the first time for some exercises were flops. We went through our paces of waiting at the front door to the store, walking slow, fast, to the left then right, and doing a sit/stay, down/stay, and stand/stay.

Another task to accomplish is for the dog to obey the commands sit, down, and come while the owner is barking the commands from ten feet away without holding a leash. Guinness is capable of doing that, but that is not how our teacher performs this maneuver. For the past several weeks, she takes the dog to one end of a long aisle in the store with her holding the dog on a 40 foot lead. The owner is to stand 40 to 50 feet away and command the dog, “sit,” followed by “down,” then “come.” As if that is not difficult enough, she throws some treats in the middle of the path. We are to tell the dog, “Leave it” while they are bounding to us.

There are several problems with this. First, if the dogs do not want to sit or go down when we dictate to them from afar, there is absolutely no way to correct them to encourage them to obey. We have done this repeatedly week after week with the same result. Eventually, the dogs might obey after repetitive tries. It is entirely frustrating for the owner to stand there helplessly begging the dog to respond.

The second issue is that Guinness is a large dog with long legs and can run very fast. His two classmates are tiny dogs – a Yorkie and a pug. It takes them a long time to run from the teacher to their owner 40 feet away. The owner has time to note if they are going to be distracted by the treats or not and command them to “leave it” if necessary. Guinness moves quickly enough that, if I tell him “leave it” before he sees the treats, that clues him to search for a forbidden item. Once he sees the treats, it is all over, because I cannot yell “leave it” quickly enough nor is there any way to correct him when he does eat the treats. One night, a customer walked past during this ridiculous scene and commented, “You call this dog training?”

However, once Guinness is down, when the come call is uttered, he bounds towards me, devours the treats, and sits at my feet. The next step, after the dog is sitting in front of the owner, is to tell the dog to stay while the owner walks down an intersecting aisle out of sight. After a few seconds, the owner calls the dog to come again. Guinness almost always succeeds.

For the finish, a throw rug is in the center aisle, and the owner is to tell their dog, “Go to your bed,” then “Lie down.” We have fair success with those commands.

There has been no improvement in response to this useless and unrequired ordeal. Of course, it is an ultimate goal to have your dog obey from a distance, but you cannot teach them without corrections if they choose not to obey readily upon command. Guinness learned that there is no consequence if he doesn’t listen to me, thus delaying our goal of teaching him to come on command.

Despite this negative of the class, the teacher is sweet, knowledgable, loves the dogs, and loves her job. I cannot say these things about the “professional” teachers!

He did receive his diploma, but I felt like it was a gift. This was the opposite of the exam at the "professional" school. There he legitimately earned his diploma but was denied it for no obvious reason.

Playtime with Cadence

This past winter, Guinness and Cadence were in Grade 2 together at a “professional” school. They do not allow the students to interact, so dogs and owners never really get to know each other. Serendipitously, we met on a Labrador Retriever’s Yahoo Group this spring, so we arranged to meet at a dog park today. Initially, they played with anyone and everyone, then they seemed to gravitate to each other naturally. Who knows? Maybe they did recognize each other! They certainly had fun playing together. Both left the park exhausted and very dirty!

Teaching Mom Who's Boss

I rented a dog video (“Eight Below”) recommended by a friend, to watch this evening while home alone. Guinness is not used to Mommy watching TV. He begged for my attention again and again. I was sitting with my feet on a hassock. He climbed up on the hassock, then tried to walk up my legs. His next ploy for attention was jumping around in the kitchen with something he was not supposed to have – the hand lotion bottle. He had not touched that or the soft soap container in months. Except for dish cloths, he is very good about leaving things on the kitchen counter alone. But he was desperate for attention. From the kitchen, he went to the dining room, of course. I closed the door, and the chase was on. He ran upstairs. When I reached the top, he ran down. I chased him out of the dining room again; back upstairs. I closed us into the master bedroom and he raced in circles around me. When he paused, I nabbed his collar, and he forfeited the prize. Thankfully, there were no holes in the bottle.

Another Major Advancement

I have been thinking for the last few weeks that we are ready to try leaving him uncrated for a few minutes. There hasn’t been a time yet when I really wanted to try that – either he was going with me or I would be away too long. Today, it was too warm for him to make a brief half hour trip with me. I took him to the sofa on the lower level, told him “down/stay.” As soon as I picked up my keys, he was behind me, but I told him he had to “wait.” When I returned a half hour later, he was at the door to greet me, and the house was exactly as I had left it. Hurray! Then I continued my day and realized he was not around. I looked downstairs, and there he was lounging on the sofa. I assume he stayed there while I was away too. What a good boy!

Indulgence

A neighbor’s home was broken into in broad daylight last week. We have beefed up our security measures making sure that the alarm is on all the time. My knight in shining armor is away for a couple of nights, yet I have a dog – my best protection! Why would I close him into his crate incapacitating his defense ability? So Guinness had the privilege of sleeping with mommy last night! He did VERY well! He was a good bedfellow.

The Game Continues

We have eliminated most of the alluring objects from Guinness’s grasp – flowers, plants, wastebaskets, my shoes (he doesn’t bother Grant’s shoes), washcloths – making the house a temptation-free zone for him to roam. However, he misses the catch-me-if-you-can game. I left my closet door open this morning, affording him the opportunity to grab a shoe. Later, I heard him bouncing around upstairs, meaning that he has something he shouldn’t. Since the house has become sterile of his favored booty, the excited activity means that he has found something else suitable as a game piece – this time, a remote control.

The game now has a strategy: begin the chase in the dining room where he can run around the table making it impossible to catch him.
Solution: I close the door to the kitchen and chase him out of the dining room to the living room.
Alternatives: From the living room, he can escape to the – a) den, b) kitchen, c) lower level, d) upstairs.
Den: This means the game is over, because I close the doors and he has no where to go.
Kitchen: He has a smidgen of a chance here if he runs around the table, past me, and out the doorway again. Usually, I do corner him behind the table and game is over.
Lower level: This choice can extend the game a bit, because he can keep me at bay around the coffee table. That can also give him the opportunity to race back upstairs. More often than not, I am able to corner him and retrieve the prized game piece.
Upstairs: He will find himself closed in and cornered in any of the three rooms he chooses. The game does last a bit longer in the master bedroom, because he has learned that staying on the bed is defeat. If he runs in a dizzying circle – on the bed, off the bed, round the room, back on the bed, off again, etc. – he can prevent me from catching him for a while. But his latest angle is to stand in the master bedroom doorway and wait for me to catch up to him at the top of the stairs. At that moment, he dashes past me at top speed back down the stairs to another room.

Unless the item is valuable and in mortal danger, I am in hysterics before the end of the game.

The breeder suggested that the chase can be stopped by sitting in the middle of the room playing with his favorite toy. But he doesn’t have a toy that he likes better than the forbidden object! If I have no patience, treats will win the game, though, it does take coaxing for him to decide that a cookie would be a nicer end than to continue playing The Gingerbread Boy. Can you believe it? I treat my dog for stealing contraband!!!

Playing

Tonight, he decided that it was time for mischief. First, he stole Mom’s shoe. Then he tried to play with Dad’s Panama sun hat. When that was put away, he pulled out Mom’s straw sunhat. We heard him running around upstairs and knew he had something that he knew he should not have. He had found the money pouch Mom had left on the stairs. Next he found a handkerchief to chew up. All of this was a ploy to play games and get attention.

Pool

He had fun playing in his pool today

Parade

Today was The Sound of Music Festival Parade. We took Guinness, and he was amazingly good! He found many who wanted to pet him, and many who complimented his handsome looks and jovial behavior. Only one man was annoyed by the slimy lick on his hand as he walked past.

The Relaxed Retriever

Every week we see improvement in Guinness’s behavior. We can leave him to wander the house without checking on him every second he is away from us. Tonight he had been away from us for 15 minutes or more before we went looking for him. He was lying on the sofa downstairs in the dark, relaxing. Just last week, he would not allow this blanket to remain on the sofa. He had pushed the small decorative cushions on the floor, so I stuffed them behind the couch and pulled out this old blanket we purchased for Hershey to rest on when we were out of the house (he never got on this sofa when we were home). Guinness pulled it off the sofa; I tucked it in on three sides; he pulled it off; I tucked it in on four sides; he struggled and tugged to get it off. Now, one week later, he leaves it alone.