canine cleverness

sam is hardly any fun anymore, he has calmed down considerably since we adopted him. they talk about a six-month settling-in period; and as sam has been with us for six months and is indeed quite settled, i am a believe in it.

that's not to say he doesn't ever do mischief, or has stopped bouncing or any and all monkey business. oh, no. it's just more of a surprise these days, and usually a big surprise.

his biggest recent trick happened when he was out in the garden for a long time. a very long time. i had a touch of that star wars feeling, and went outside to investigate.

our garden has its oddities: because of an extension, it's impossible to see half of it from indoors. because of the river at the bottom, there's a fence enclosing the inner part of it. as soon as i entered the garden, i saw that the gate in the fence was open.

now, sam has opened this door previously, but that was only when i was on the other side and he was very excited. this time, he must have gotten excited all by himself. all the stuff he'd get to do, without me saying no, too!

this is where experience and training stepped in as my friends. i knew he'd been very interested in one of the neighbouring gardens. i also had been doing a lot of recall training on our walks, although i'd been too nervous to let him off the leash for ages. i went out to the river section, and called 'come' with a bright and happy voice. i yelled again. and then, galloping down that very garden, sam came bounding towards me. he did some manic playing while i herded him back into the garden. with the relief of him not having gone completely astray, and the astonishment of his perfect recall, it was easy for me to give him tons and tons of praise.

we now lock the gate with a chain.

blondes have more fun

dogs do silly and embarassing things sometimes. sam will have to put some effort into bettering this: bailey the golden retriever stole a bonephone, ran away with it between his teeth and somehow dialled 999. the emergency services heard confused noises and the shout "come out, or else -- I'm warning you!" before the call was cut.

bailey's owners finally managed to lure him out from behind the shed with biscuits and treats, and salvaged the phone. this dog must really like phones... or biscuits.

back in the swing of things

had a nice long walk with sam tonight, unencumbered by prams and such. we walked an unusual route where we'd been only once before, many months ago. that first time, at a particular spot, sam suddenly started jumping up on me, to play. at that time, that included nipping quite hard, so i was not happy.

this time, when approaching the same spot, sam became very alert and eager to snif, but he didn't jump. however, he became very energetic, and when we rounded the corner and saw another dog, i became apprehensive. especially as the dog looked like a shih tzu -- those small barkers spell trouble! when we were five metres away, sam began jumping. i was half-expecting this, so i pulled him with me across the road -- sam kept jumping high into the air. we must have made an intriguing sight.

this was not the only time he jumped on the walk. after sniffing the ground outside an apartment complex with an air of absorption, sam suddenly looked up, and jumped sideways. he was spooked by something he saw -- possibly a hanging flower pot. this i can assure you was both intriguing and amusing.

when we came home, sam still had a lot of bounce in him. i gave him a bone which he jumped high up to get, just because he was so silly and bouncy. hmm, encouraging mad behaviour... i must be mad, too.

break

quite unexpectedly, we had to go abroad and leave sam in a kennel. HELP! we were definitely not ready -- that is to say, we did not think he was ready to be left in a kennel and be trusted to behave decently.

but death waits for no dog, and we really had to go to that funeral. we scoured the net and the neighbourhood for good, professional yet friendly, kind yet strong dogsitters. the search was successful, and we left sam behind bars, slightly nervous that he'd destroy the keepers, their stuff, our reputation, or everything in one go.

after he'd spent a night there we hadn't received any angry calls, so we left, hoping for the best. after a week, i went back to pick him up.

"best" may not be the best way to describe sam's behaviour when he saw mOHBOYOHBOYMOMMYDOGHASCOMEFORME MUSTJUMPMUSTPULLMUSTJUP! the kennel owner also mentioned that he might benefit from classes because he had, it seems, pulled them around a bit. but there was no destroyed stuff and, as far as i could tell, no traumas. success!

after sam's big, bouncy welcome-home hugs, including one where he literally bowled over my daughter, something he's never done before, i was a little afraid he'd forgotten the few good habits he does possess, or even developed new, bad ones. however, once he'd been home for a while, he settled down very nicely. he almost seems calmer than he was when we left. perhaps he thinks if he's very good, we'll never send him away again?

i believe in dog

we had a busy easter with lots of visitors, which temporarily removed my mind, it seems. i would take sam for walks and forget a "scoopy doo" bag. i was in danger of embarassing myself, my dog and dog owners everywhere by becoming one of those people, the ones who don't clean up after their dogs.

halfway through one of these walks i realised my predicament, and started praying to the big dog in the sky that sam wouldn't need to poo on this walk. especially since i knew he had a slightly upset tummy from adventurous treats given by guests.

sam did, of course, need to poo. but a miracle happened. he did it straight over a sewer grate. there were four little plops... and our honour was saved.

the photo: 'Wuff by Zickie on flickr.

in training

we have put various schemes into practice in order to become better dogs and owners (let who is what be endlessly debated by philosophers scholars). first, a most enjoyable training session: sitting by the river enjoying coffee and easter choklit while sam practised being good in the fenced-in part of the garden. he was very good, with no jumping onto the fence at all, and only a few pawings at the gate. this good behaviour was probably helped by the fact that one of the trainers was the great leader himself.

then, another session today where sam was supposed to be nice and quiet indoors while mom and daughter spent some time out front. he was quite calm, neither barking nor howling. unfortunately, though, i hadn't shut the door between corridor and living room, so sam soon went into that inviting room with its bay window. i realised something was wrong when i heard a thump and saw a huge dog leaning against the glass. amazingly, the potted plants and sewing machine which live in the window were still standing -- sam has become more dainty, possibly learnt from my daughter, possibly not.

but we aren't the only ones being trainers! sam must have sniffed out news about weave poles, because that's what he started practising with me in the thicket today. sam wove between the trees, and i unwove his long lead behind him. fun was had by some.

there's no such thing as a good dog

when i said sam hadn't done any mischief lately, i was of course being amnesiac. i guess since his latest antics haven't left visible scars, they're more likely to be forgotten.

item number one: daughter and i bought a nice, crisp, tasty loaf of bread in town. we came home to madhappydog and were amused at his antics. i was putting away the shopping when she said, bemusedly: "he took the parcel!" i went upstairs to his hideout to see what "parcel" the dog had been stealing, but only saw the usual scattered paper bags. i went down again to look for the bread in its white paper bag. in vain. that's when i realised the true meaning of "parcel".

item number two: my mother, not presently used to dogs or toddler in her home life, had left some pills on the stairs in order to take them up into the bathroom later. sam found them out and helped her take them upstairs. he even helpfully opened the box and started crushing one of the pills. fortunately, it seems they didn't have a very nice taste, because he didn't eat them all up. from now on, i'll be leaving all his medicine in enticing places.

i think that's all for the moment. but yon sam hath a mean and hungry look... i'd better be on the lookout.

an hour later: sam just tried to eat a wet wipe which had been used in the snot-wiping business. however, i was on the lookout, and he only got half of it.