there are some universal truths in the world.
.trying to type with jam on your fingers is a bad idea...
and a bunch of great dane pups are not golden retriever
pups
colleen had a very active night...-- and i may have to cut
this short and help explain the facts of life to these pups.
golden pups are lovely sweet and stay that way... dane pups
are high powered much more inquisitive and creative- with a bit of a sense of
humor thrown in... so colleen found herself at 3am in all seroiusness saying "
what is with all of you tonight --casper you are fine... chaos why aren't you
helping with them" and the look she got from chaos was "i like watching.... i
heard you say this bit is easy.. "
this is why our dogs do not have a list of "commands" as many
dogs do...
ours respond to
knock it off
don't eat that chair
wait your turn
don't put your feet on me
get off my lap
get out of the icebox
and the most important ....whoa !
please & thank you
you talk to a dane-- for instance...take bailey-- i can
say "down"
and she will look at me with "really? why? ?"
and then i say "yes damnit' and she will understand exactly,
and bend 1/2 way down and look at me "that floor is cold- you better have a good
reason ... and (in case of a photo shoot ) roast beef"
you talk--- and people who have these dane dogs have
to get used to having a running conversation with them-- and carefully watch
their dogs for their 1/2 the conversation.
prime example is a lovely merle" peggity"- in penna-- "i am
not going in that smelly ladies room- i will just lie here outside the door and
wait" and tiffany just leaves her there-- it works..-- tiffany-- is deaf with
balance.. and when peggity jumped on her bed one night tiff told her to get
lost-- peggity got down-- then jumped up again clearly saying "i am serious..
wake up" so tif did and smelled the smoke--- picked up the cat and left to
watch the apt burn down.
sometimes they have to disobey
i said sometimes
w/r/t these cute little puppies -- even the smallest will
weigh over 120 pounds - and under no circumstances may they think of putting
their feet on someone's shoulders.. especially mine.
this happened in the puppy hill crowd last week and a camera
person was shocked to see one of our experienced kids swing her arms and hit
the pups
welllllll... i have found saying "please don't do that "
does not work at the teenage puppy years... my instructions are to swing your
arms hands in a horizontal plane and if th e puppy jumps up and hits your arms
and hands-- so be it...-- it is a delicate balance-- you never pursue them and
hit them.. you stand and swing and when they run into your arms it becomes their
fault.
i have also been known to swing the end of the leash in a
verticle circle in front of me as i walk- it doesnt touch them unless they try
and get their nose ahead of me... it is their fault-- and they think of it
that way..
********
i remember (here we go ) back in lynnfield i was taking a
bunch of 12 year old boy scouts around our back field in the raibn one day (wet
ground... good contact)-- and i casually said to the group "don't touch the
wire" knowing full well some smart *** would grab the wire-- it being an
electric fence- he yelled-- i said that is how you learn-- now don't drive too
fast when you get your license.
experience often comes from bad experience..
i really should go help with the little darlings
today schedule
first figure out which day it is... i think
Monday
polly/bob here..
polly stays in the office and i can go ou
tracy also holding sdown the fort.
i have a dr apt at 2;00
other than that...
