New Dog, Old Tricks

The Humane Story told us Miss Suzi Q she was corralled by the county dog catcher. She came with no other history than that. We asked the questions but the answers were vague.

House broken?

Who knows?

Good with cats?

Can't tell ya.

Gets into the garbage when no one is looking?

We can't say for sure but she must have been used to foraging for food cause she doesn't look starved.

We fell in love immediately so the answers were kind of a mute point. We'd deal with what we had to deal with. Perhaps we should have given the whole bringing a new dog home from the pound some more thought.

House broken?

Mostly. I can say that our brand new carpet has been properly (or improperly as the case may be) Christened. This doesn't make us happy, but Sweetie and I take responsibility because even though she seems to have a bladder as big as Lake Tahoe the bird brained canine doesn't quite grasp the concept of going outside to pee. Outside is for barking.

Good with other dogs and cats?

After the first day when Boy Cat laid down the law, Suz (Sadie, Lucy, Daisy, or whatever I call her at the moment) has become one of the pack. When she takes me for a walk this dog of mine wants to stop to chat with other dogs and people. She is not leash aggressive. Her feelings are easily hurt if someone walks by without a nice pat on the head.

Digs in the garbage can?

Well, the answer to that is the garbage can has a new place of honor - high and out of the way of a certain sniffing dog's sniffer.

Get her plenty of toys the behaviorist told us. She's a working dog, giver her something to do. With this as my goal, I've become a regular patron of the dog department in every store I go to. I've purchased rope toys; plastic toys; soft, furry, stuffed toys; rawhide bones; and an orthopedic foam dog bed.

If I had to guess I'd say rope toys to play tug of war with Laci are the favorite of both dogs. It is great fun to watch how each warrior employs her own battle skills. Laci's Rottweiler jaw clamps on one end of the rope and doesn't let go. Suzi's longer legs put more leverage on the rope, but mostly she uses the "what's that over there, another rope?" trick to take Laci's mind off her prize causing her to loosen her grip and Suzi then trots off triumphantly with the rope.

None of that, however, seems to be as much fun as shredding the soft toys and shaking stuffing all over the living room. The only thing that can top it is destroying the foam inside the bed.

In this case perhaps a picture is worth more than words.

Scene of the crime.

Notice the perfectly good rubber bone lying there untouched.

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to determine the culprit.

Look at that smile and how proud she is of her work!

Dog tired.

I've met a lady who walks three dogs while I struggle to walk one.

"Be the leader," she told me.

"Make Suzi know who's boss."

"It's a walk not a sniff."

"Change your shoes, walk at a fast pace."

Good golly, you'd think I was in dog walking boot camp.

As you can see from the above pictures which were taken AFTER our morning walk, the one who is most tired out after the walk is me. That whole keep up a fast pace thing needs some more practice!

And so does the toy shopping.

Wishing for you furry 4-legged friends and new tricks to learn,

Merry ME