Bought A New Rug For Xmas....does Jacques Approve????/

[Sadie]

Answers on a postcard to: :thumbsup:

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

I think the answer to that is pretty clear

My cats have a choice of sheepskins and cuddly beds to sleep on, and if you go into their room in the morning they're always snuggled up, comfortable and warm.

Molly, on the other hand, often sleeps on the doormat, strange beastie.

 

[Sadie]

LOL I hope she doesn't feel out numbered by all those moggies!!! (w00t)

Jacques is becoming so chilled out now....he did his "Training" tricks for the postman today, and although he didn't get treats straight away, he spun round and round as he was so happy!!

We guessed he would claim the rug though! Those were the days when we had four whips inching their way towards the hottest spot by the fire!!! BUT hubby is thinking about the spring as being a possible time to add a `friend` for Jacques, so we are making progress!! :thumbsup:

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

Awwww, I'm so glad that you're hitting his spot with some positive strokes for him, and even better that he's understanding so well when he's doing something that you want him to do

Until I had to stop fostering a couple of months ago Molly used to have a litter of kittens for fostering most of the time so she was more than a little outnumbered. 8 kittens do make a mummy dog very busy and a dog bed very full you know. She's raised somewhere between 50 and 100 kittens (we lost count) and the house often had up to 20 cats in it at a time.

When she's got babies Mol won't allow the other adult cats into the room, but until she died earlier on this year my lovely old black Persian Tiffy ignored Molly if the fire was on because she had to have the warmest spot. She was both deaf and blind as she got older, but I'm sure she could smell the fire being lit, and when she lost her sight and hearing she lost all her nervousness and got a huge amount of 'yeah? deal with it!' attitude, which I admired hugely.

 

[Sadie]

LOL that's a lovely story Eingana, (where does that name come from??) I can't imagine a GSD nursing kittens! What a wonderful Nana!! I've always been a bit afraid of big dogs, especially Rotts and GSD, although there is no reason why!!! :>

The way animals remember sounds/sights/ etc is quite amazing. Jacques knows when I put my trainers on, that we are going walking but if I put casual shoes on, he stays on the sofa! The same as when I dry his feet. I often say "stand still and you can have some sweeties" then he stands perfectly still then goes across to his dish, expectantly!!! We ask him to find "Panda" and he brings the glove puppet (which is right!) He watches everything and picks up on words very quickly. Now that we have finished nursing Sam, :huggles: Jacques has the full attention of 3 adults which is proving very helpful in rebuilding his confidence! (just have to be careful we don't over do it!!)

Hubby used to keep cats (before me!) but I've never liked the species. Too much killing for my liking but they do look adorable! :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing!

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

Sounds like you're getting into engaging Jacques' brain, which is great I think that a lot of very nervous dogs are the really intelligent ones that are capable of looking at how many things could go wrong with any situation, whereas the really dense dogs don't tend to struggle with nerves or separation anxiety because they don't have the imagination about how bad things could get.

If you were anywhere near me I'd arrange a meet up for you to change your opinion of GSDs. Molly is at the simpering end of the GSD behaviour spectrum and she's very much a ladies' dog. We are outranked by babies and children, but if she has a choice she'll choose women over men every time. I think that the media plays a big part in why so many people are scared of Rotts, GSDs and Dobies. I get so frustrated at films that show really engaged and happy dogs as aggressive ones, because that teaches people that a GSD running towards you with their ears up and their tails wagging is about to rip your head off, whereas what I see is a pair of dogs that are thinking, 'yeaaaah, if I run over here and stop there then start barking I'll get some steak! This is fun!'. The problem with this, of course, is that when a GSD is playing and perfectly relaxed in a park full of people, at least half of the people, having been taught that the body language they are seeing is a sign that they're about to be eaten, get all needlessly panicky, which in turn upsets both other people and the dog that wasn't upset in the first place.

Cats are way more dangerous than most dogs on a pound for pound basis and they're so much better armed than dogs too- they have weapons on 5 out of the 6 ends. I groomed for a cat shelter for a number of years and I'd much rather groom a dog, I can tell you I'm also wearing a selection of plasters because I wormed all of my cats yesterday (with the exception of my very scared boy Al, who isn't comfortable being touched yet) and I can tell you that I'd also much rather give pills to a dog than to a cat! Beautiful and elegant they may be, but they aren't often very easy.

Eingana is the Aboriginal goddess of creation and death, who is mother to all of the animals on the land. I tend to go for strong women- I'm Nemesis, Kali or Hel on a number of forums, but since Eingana takes the form of a snake and many people know me as medusa, I thought that was an appropriate name to choose for an animal related forum.

 

[Sadie]

Wow what a fount of information you are!! LOL! You are so right about the media portrayal of big dogs....I love greyhounds and deerhounds but the sheer size and strength of the big working dogs is too much for me!

Thanks for sharing!

Sadie x

 

[Dizzyjenni]

Awww soooooo cosy!