The Dog Cafe

[Finsky]

Ball in a sock ...

That does look like fun! I have now tried it with my girls. Do you have that game with dog readable manual?
Little one took hold of the ball in the sock...and she is running around table so other one cannot get it...same 'game' that happens without the sock. They are missing the point that little bit of football action would make it even more fun. Though having a sock hanging out of one's mouth makes it little easier to be stolen by the other one

 

[JoanneF]

Your socks come in pairs surely? Just do two!

 

[Finsky]

Your socks come in pairs surely? Just do two!

Yeah....plenty of them but as soon as they have one for each, they just turn into 'chews'. Something to be destroyed...the good thing is the socks slow that process down and I don't have to pick rubber from the carpet.
At least their friendly squabble over the one ball keeps them entertained, so yes..it works but they just have different way of playing with it.

 

[Finsky]

Yeah....plenty of them but as soon as they have one for each, they just turn into 'chews'. Something to be destroyed...the good thing is the socks slow that process down and I don't have to pick rubber from the carpet.
At least their friendly squabble over the one ball keeps them entertained, so yes..it works but they just have different way of playing with it.
View attachment 111978780 View attachment 111978781 View attachment 111978782 View attachment 111978783

And then I knotted the sock...and hey presto..a 'chew'! One end for each dog.

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

And then I knotted the sock...and hey presto..a 'chew'! One end for each dog.
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As terriers,you wait until they learn it's much more fun throwing it around.
COVER

 

[Finsky]

As terriers,you wait until they learn it's much more fun throwing it around.
COVER

Luckily they haven't discovered that style of playing..yet. Mine when they are playing are all about ragging, ripping, tugging, chasing, wrestling etc. All very physical stuff..until they get outdoors. If it is not about satisfying their hunting instincts, it all about running fast when catching a ball..or digging..
Hmm...I wonder if girls play differently than boys? I recall our boys used to throw their toys about...they play was kind of 'entertaining' rather than very targeted purpose as our current girls seem to do. Our boys certainly didn't destroy their toys like girls do =lady killers

 

[JudyN]

Jasper is like my firstborn - he doesn't 'get' entertaining himself, he needs me to get involved (I spent a lot of time making Brio train layouts and pushing the trains around when DS1 was young as he was too idle to do it himself). And then he decides that the 'game' would be much improved if food was involved so he'll thrust the toy into my hand and say, 'I've given it to you Mum, go I get a treat?' before snatching it off me so he can give it to me again. I don't remember DS1 doing that, but it wouldn't have surprised me.

 

[Finsky]

Jasper is like my firstborn - he doesn't 'get' entertaining himself, he needs me to get involved (I spent a lot of time making Brio train layouts and pushing the trains around when DS1 was young as he was too idle to do it himself). And then he decides that the 'game' would be much improved if food was involved so he'll thrust the toy into my hand and say, 'I've given it to you Mum, go I get a treat?' before snatching it off me so he can give it to me again. I don't remember DS1 doing that, but it wouldn't have surprised me.

I would say he is clever finding short cut for getting into the main point....why waste time for unnecessary faff.
I only ever had one dog that didn't play with toys. But since she was acquired as 'second hand' dog and came from working background, she was all about 'being on the job'. I tried to teach her to play but no. Unusually for terrier, all she was interesting was guarding. She would not leave my side, she would sit in car like it was her castle..nobody, part me and OH would dare to enter into car unless we were there to say it was ok and she took to very few people and other dogs were 'NO NO'...most peculiar one for a terrier. But she was MY girl through and through.

 

[Biker John]

My Folly doesn't really play and never has done. She has a number of 'toys' but all she does is either choose one to take to bed where she settles down with it in her mouth, not chewing it just holding it. Or she picks one up and charges around with it in her mouth. Balls she has no interest in I've tried throwing one when we are out all she does is watch it till it stops moving then wanders off doing her own thing. About the only 'game' she likes is when we are out where it is grass she suddenly stops but watches me, (it used to bother me till I got used to it), I carry on then when I'm say 80 yards in front of her she sets of running at full speed goes past me for around the same distance in front then stops and goes back to wandering and sniffing around. Still she's a happy dog so its fine with me.

 

[JudyN]

I met a 7-month-old dog today who looked rather like a small pointer, but not quite... I got chatting to the owner and he told me the dog was a beagle-harrier, which was a new one on me.

I wasn't familiar with the Harrier, either (a separate breed - the Beagle-Harrier isn't simply a cross between the two breeds), but looking online this year will be the first time Harriers will be recognised at Crufts.

Unlike most beagles, this pup is very well behaved and never wanders off on his own with ears turning to cloth, and neither is he a great chewer. The owner wasn't sure if this was because of the different breeding or if he just got lucky.

 

[JudyN]

There was a man throwing a ball for his dog on the field in the woods this morning. At one point the dog had gone off the game and was just wandering round. The man must have called 'Come HERE!!' about 20 times, each one increasingy grumpy, completely ignored by the dog! If that were me, I'd have called something like 'off you go then!' to make it look as if I was being obeyed Then when the dog did return, the owner threw the ball again and immediately called 'WAIT!! SIT!!', which the dog did do. Then the man walked off, commanding 'STAY', and the dog wandered off....

Poor dog - they could have been having so much fun together

I then bumped into a friend walking her bearded collie, who has a beautiful long, flowing coat. Or rather, she would have had a beautiful long, flowing coat at the start of the walk. We were walking through a muddier, more treed area, and after the gales at the weekend there were twigs everywhere. My friend had to stop pretty much every 10 feet to disentangle the latest twig that had snagged on her coat, some long enough to stop her in her tracks. She's like a walking nature collection!

 

[Josie]

Ah this annoys me so much @JudyN ! I saw a similar thing the other day when out walking. The dog looked like a boxer cross and was a young boisterous boy but very well behaved with other dogs (the walk was the ‘sea wall’ so they were in front of me and I was following behind at a distance so could see/hear everything) and every time he ran off to play in puddles or just generally having a happy time they would shout him back and just keep repeating his name till he came and then when he did they wouldn’t say ‘good boy’ or give him a pat.
I think soon he’ll start ignoring his name!!

 

[Finsky]

I had quite a dog walk this morning..as much as it was upsetting sort it ended up being rewarding as well.
So...I decided to 'nip out' for a 'quick walk' with girls into local woods..yeah As soon as I got the dogs out of car, older one with her spilling excitement managed to pull the runner lead off from my hand and she took off...'squirrels..loads of them...here I come'. And my heart jumped into my throat as we were still so close to the main road and I knew even if she were to avoid going to that direction, it would take aaaages for her to come back with her own will..she totally blanks out any kind of call outs
AND of course she headed out to the muddy part of the wood, which I wasn't prepared to go in the first place...no wellies, but that was my least worry now.
So the younger one and I, we rambled through the mud to try to find the escapee and we did! She didn't get that far as the lead had tangled on bunch of big branches and she was 'stuck'...PHEEEEW!
Originally my plan was to have a go at walking them on the new split lead and now I thought I better 'grab the bull by the horn' and not just try but turn my so far upsetting walk into full blown training session...no 'quickie'!
They both are ok on individual leads, not so much when they are together as they pull like plough horses (competition going on there), but when walked separately they are just fine...and I haven't yet mastered this pulling with them.
But after the escape, there was no way I would go through that anymore and would juggle with 2 leads anymore when on my own...so split lead training full on it is.
It took full hour before penny dropped what was expected from them...but they finally GOT IT! They still have some synchronizing details between themselves to work out, but boy was it rewarding feeling to see how in relatively short period of time they managed to use their brain cells and hold down their hunting urges to behave.
I think we might be on a winner now...it just takes repeating practice sessions over and over again until in the foreseeable future the new lessons have properly soaked in.
It is now confirmed..verbal rewards or treats don't have much use when training them. Best behaviour started to happen when I stopped all that nonsense, kept quiet, did what I did and I let them work it out what all that 'stop and start' when walking was all about.
Now that I have got that off from my chest..I'm going to have celebration with nice and strong cup of coffee...MMMMM!

 

[Finsky]

I had quite a dog walk this morning..as much as it was upsetting sort it ended up being rewarding as well.
So...I decided to 'nip out' for a 'quick walk' with girls into local woods..yeah As soon as I got the dogs out of car, older one with her spilling excitement managed to pull the runner lead off from my hand and she took off...'squirrels..loads of them...here I come'. And my heart jumped into my throat as we were still so close to the main road and I knew even if she were to avoid going to that direction, it would take aaaages for her to come back with her own will..she totally blanks out any kind of call outs
AND of course she headed out to the muddy part of the wood, which I wasn't prepared to go in the first place...no wellies, but that was my least worry now.
So the younger one and I, we rambled through the mud to try to find the escapee and we did! She didn't get that far as the lead had tangled on bunch of big branches and she was 'stuck'...PHEEEEW!
Originally my plan was to have a go at walking them on the new split lead and now I thought I better 'grab the bull by the horn' and not just try but turn my so far upsetting walk into full blown training session...no 'quickie'!
They both are ok on individual leads, not so much when they are together as they pull like plough horses (competition going on there), but when walked separately they are just fine...and I haven't yet mastered this pulling with them.
But after the escape, there was no way I would go through that anymore and would juggle with 2 leads anymore when on my own...so split lead training full on it is.
It took full hour before penny dropped what was expected from them...but they finally GOT IT! They still have some synchronizing details between themselves to work out, but boy was it rewarding feeling to see how in relatively short period of time they managed to use their brain cells and hold down their hunting urges to behave.
I think we might be on a winner now...it just takes repeating practice sessions over and over again until in the foreseeable future the new lessons have properly soaked in.
It is now confirmed..verbal rewards or treats don't have much use when training them. Best behaviour started to happen when I stopped all that nonsense, kept quiet, did what I did and I let them work it out what all that 'stop and start' when walking was all about.
Now that I have got that off from my chest..I'm going to have celebration with nice and strong cup of coffee...MMMMM!

They say 'all bad things come in threes'...yeah? WELL...I just found a big tick on the younger one's face I have never found any of them before on any of my dogs ...YUK YUK! I've now learned how to remove one and with its head still attached to its body too..'pheww'.
But it just shows how mild the weather has been if there is ticks about at this time of the year.
Oh yes, and then the third one that I think qualify to complete the curse. Younger one (again) got hold of some post that is well and truly shredded. I don't blame her with but OH is on the dog house now, leaving the post to wrong place and accessible.
So I think I've had enough 'excitement' for one day...'the cup is full'

 

[JudyN]

Erk, that's early for a tick, Finsky. I must get Jasper a new Seresto collar. I don't mind removing ticks as long as Jasper doesn't object. I hope there was nothing too important in the shredded post!

@Josie, you've got me fantasising about the sea wall at Clevedon again and the happy holidays of my childhood Now we don't have to stay at home because of Monty, as soon as the weather warms up I'm looking forward to heading over to stay with my mum in Nailsea

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

They say 'all bad things come in threes'...yeah? WELL...I just found a big tick on the younger one's face I have never found any of them before on any of my dogs ...YUK YUK! I've now learned how to remove one and with its head still attached to its body too..'pheww'.
But it just shows how mild the weather has been if there is ticks about at this time of the year.
Oh yes, and then the third one that I think qualify to complete the curse. Younger one (again) got hold of some post that is well and truly shredded. I don't blame her with but OH is on the dog house now, leaving the post to wrong place and accessible.
So I think I've had enough 'excitement' for one day...'the cup is full'

Fancy having to remove this little git

 

[JudyN]

Eeew, that's gross, @Rinkydinkydo Jasper had a couple right on his eyelid, which he was surprisingly good about having removed. They normally end up on his boy bits though

 

[JoanneF]

Fancy having to remove this little git

I doubt I'd have been able to get anywhere close to removing that.

 

[Finsky]

Fancy having to remove this little git

I am no good with dealing with any sort of blood suckers and that would totally freak me out. 'shudder'.
That tick must have had some serious hydration problems! Which reminds me one occasion that I managed to get leech under my eye lid after swimming and diving in the muddy lake water. It must have confused about it is location as it never did attach but laid flat quite deep into the eye socket. I never felt it and it showed it presence by accident when I happened to have my head and eyes tilted certain way and my mother happened to look at me at the right moment.....talking about freaking out!
OH and I, we had educational afternoon after that tick removal. For having to deal with such a thing before, I started to wonder all manner of things like 'why such a things exist..what purpose they have..how do they live..' etc.
So good old 'google' got out of 'shelf' and now we are filled with so much more info about life various weird and not so wonderful insects.

 

[Finsky]

I doubt I'd have been able to get anywhere close to removing that.

Yeah...thought of gurgling with whisky to kill it did come to my mind, but it is in dogs mouth...
That 'remedy' might not be appreciated by our little ones. I just wonder if alcohol would kill a tick that easily..?