Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
I don't recall if Molly ever had it as a young dog..........c'mon that was a long time ago (lol)........I know Betsy never had an issue with it. Maggie has a severe case of spring fever that is driving me totally nuts!
Instead of me telling her what a good girl she is to jump at the door to go out............. Now??
Maggie, who is about 3 inches taller than Molly was so big dog here except weight wise, jumping up at the kitchen door like she is a chihuahua or something for the 5th time in 10 minutes.
"Maggie, you just went out and did your business."
Maggie continues her jumping and adds a whine. I take her out. She sniffs the yard for a good 15 mins, wrestles a cat, jumps for the neighborhood hawk that is a good 50 feet or more in the air, goes bonkers for the resident squirrel........ Of course she doesn't go potty. It's yet another false alarm.
Soooooooo I take her back inside. I sit down or start doing something. Maggie is jumping at the kitchen door again.
"Maggie, we've been through this. You can't go out an play until the mud dries up."
She stops long enough to literally give me the huge brown puppy dog eyes, cocks her head, and if that doesn't work.........whines again. I try to ignore her, which is not an easy thing to do. She will come up and tug on my jeans and whine again........again with the eyes, then run to the door and do her crazy jumping thing.
At this point it becomes a never ending loop until she goes to bed at night. omg It has caused an accident or two as it is next to impossible to tell which is "I wanna go out and play" or "omg mom I gotta go NOW". Know what I mean??
Molly enjoyed the yard. Betsy tolerated the yard. Dogs I've had in the past have enjoyed the yard/walks ect. But Maggie is the first I've had with an obvious case of spring fever.
Maggie LOVES the yard. She loves it to the point where if I can let her out to play you can't get her back inside for at least 3 hours without bribery. This is regardless of temp. I've never had a dog that enjoyed outside or the yard quite as much as she does. She likes being in the house......but outside is where she'd rather be.
Walks do little to help. Someone never informed Maggie that dogs tend to sleep 12-16 hrs per day or more. LOL I know she is a pup but she would never nap if I could give her I didn't have anything to do but play with her.
She is going to be a freesbie dog. She is a natural, even has an awesome flip thing she does.....now if mom could just do better about tossing it so she could catch it.......But she's been practicing inside all winter with her stuffy toys. She loves soccer the same way Molly did. I was going to permanently retire Molly's huge hard plastic herding ball......until Maggie spotted it a week or so ago. She got so excited I thought she was gonna split in two, I swear. Soooooo.......I rolled it for her. First two times broke my heart because she started to look for Molly, expecting to come after her ball. Once she got past that though, it was hilarious. Molly played with the ball by "herding" it.....or rather pushing it around the yard with her nose as she barked like she was herding cows or some such. Maggie would chase it thrilled to death if I rolled it. But once it stopped she'd start barking at it the way Molly did.....and then stare at it confused. I finally figured out that she thinks Molly's barking "motivated" the ball to roll around the yard. She hasn't yet caught on that Molly was rolling it with her nose! hahahaha I laughed so hard my sides hurt. It is clearly evident that Maggie loves the ball as much as Molly did, she cries the same way Molly did when I put it back into the shed. So I don't think I'm going to retire it after all. I don't think Molly would mind if Maggie took care of her ball. Lord knows I need everything I can get to burn off all this energy Maggie has........because Molly had TONS as a pup and young dog but Maggie seems to have double what Molly did. omg
I *might* try training her on some agility things. Although it's something I've never tried with a dog.......so no clue if I'd be successful. Maggie would be awesome IF I could learn to train her how. No doubt about it. She'd love it too.
She is doing well with her commands. Although "stay" was a problem. Until one day while we're walking her Travis pops up and says "why don't you try to use Wait as her stay command? She already knows that one." So "stay" has changed to "wait" and she is making progress finally. While walking when we come to a street that needs to be crossed she is given the Wait command which means she has to stop and wait until I give her the command to Go which of course means she can proceed. Wait and Go has evolved from something I used to do with a dog when I was a kid. I was so terrified he'd be hit by a car that I made him Sit each and every time he came to a street. Then I picked him up and carried him across. He was never allowed to cross himself. If he did get loose........we were able to get him easily because every time he got near the curb he Sat. LOL In his whole life that dog's feet never touched pavement. Molly, Betsy, and Rowdy didn't tend to dart into roads and I never thought to teach them. But Maggie has so much enthusiasm outside that I started teaching her a modified version without thinking much about it. (she is much too big to pick up and carry across)
Now that she is older....... 11 months on the 13th (wow that was fast) she is more consistent in following commands. Not perfect, but her energy level makes her easily distracted. She's also doing what Molly did......and often I can just talk to her and get her to do whatever it is I want her to do with no real command at all. I can tell her to go get her bird (rubber angry bird) or whatever and she'll bring it to me.
I have noticed though that things that have Molly's scent she cherishes. A microfiber blanket Molly often laid on.....Maggie now plays with like it's another dog and then when she is tired she'll make it up into a bed and sleep on it. She uses Molly's fleece bed in her crate. I'm in the process of weening her out of the crate, she only uses it to sleep now. Maggie misses the other dogs terribly. I considered adopting, I watch the dogs/pups filtering in and out of the pound, but I dunno. I'd rather only have one dog right now.......for a while, to just enjoy her. And the thought of two young pups zipping around chasing each other playing the way she and Nichole's Baily does I figure would get old quick. However, when she gets to playing with her blankie like it's another dog it's just as bad. LOL
All this time with Maggie and I still can't get her to cuddle. She finally will lie next to me on the couch after she has utterly exhausted herself. She will try to get into the chair with me (which is new) except she thinks she is 6 wk size when she is larger than Molly and does not actually fit in my lap.......sooo it doesn't work out so well. LOL
When spring finally does arrive and when the yard is not a bed of mud (have to replant grass too) she's going to have a blast..........until then it's walks and me dealing with the constant request to go out. ugh
Instead of me telling her what a good girl she is to jump at the door to go out............. Now??
Maggie, who is about 3 inches taller than Molly was so big dog here except weight wise, jumping up at the kitchen door like she is a chihuahua or something for the 5th time in 10 minutes.
"Maggie, you just went out and did your business."
Maggie continues her jumping and adds a whine. I take her out. She sniffs the yard for a good 15 mins, wrestles a cat, jumps for the neighborhood hawk that is a good 50 feet or more in the air, goes bonkers for the resident squirrel........ Of course she doesn't go potty. It's yet another false alarm.
Soooooooo I take her back inside. I sit down or start doing something. Maggie is jumping at the kitchen door again.
"Maggie, we've been through this. You can't go out an play until the mud dries up."
She stops long enough to literally give me the huge brown puppy dog eyes, cocks her head, and if that doesn't work.........whines again. I try to ignore her, which is not an easy thing to do. She will come up and tug on my jeans and whine again........again with the eyes, then run to the door and do her crazy jumping thing.
At this point it becomes a never ending loop until she goes to bed at night. omg It has caused an accident or two as it is next to impossible to tell which is "I wanna go out and play" or "omg mom I gotta go NOW". Know what I mean??
Molly enjoyed the yard. Betsy tolerated the yard. Dogs I've had in the past have enjoyed the yard/walks ect. But Maggie is the first I've had with an obvious case of spring fever.
Maggie LOVES the yard. She loves it to the point where if I can let her out to play you can't get her back inside for at least 3 hours without bribery. This is regardless of temp. I've never had a dog that enjoyed outside or the yard quite as much as she does. She likes being in the house......but outside is where she'd rather be.
Walks do little to help. Someone never informed Maggie that dogs tend to sleep 12-16 hrs per day or more. LOL I know she is a pup but she would never nap if I could give her I didn't have anything to do but play with her.
She is going to be a freesbie dog. She is a natural, even has an awesome flip thing she does.....now if mom could just do better about tossing it so she could catch it.......But she's been practicing inside all winter with her stuffy toys. She loves soccer the same way Molly did. I was going to permanently retire Molly's huge hard plastic herding ball......until Maggie spotted it a week or so ago. She got so excited I thought she was gonna split in two, I swear. Soooooo.......I rolled it for her. First two times broke my heart because she started to look for Molly, expecting to come after her ball. Once she got past that though, it was hilarious. Molly played with the ball by "herding" it.....or rather pushing it around the yard with her nose as she barked like she was herding cows or some such. Maggie would chase it thrilled to death if I rolled it. But once it stopped she'd start barking at it the way Molly did.....and then stare at it confused. I finally figured out that she thinks Molly's barking "motivated" the ball to roll around the yard. She hasn't yet caught on that Molly was rolling it with her nose! hahahaha I laughed so hard my sides hurt. It is clearly evident that Maggie loves the ball as much as Molly did, she cries the same way Molly did when I put it back into the shed. So I don't think I'm going to retire it after all. I don't think Molly would mind if Maggie took care of her ball. Lord knows I need everything I can get to burn off all this energy Maggie has........because Molly had TONS as a pup and young dog but Maggie seems to have double what Molly did. omg
I *might* try training her on some agility things. Although it's something I've never tried with a dog.......so no clue if I'd be successful. Maggie would be awesome IF I could learn to train her how. No doubt about it. She'd love it too.
She is doing well with her commands. Although "stay" was a problem. Until one day while we're walking her Travis pops up and says "why don't you try to use Wait as her stay command? She already knows that one." So "stay" has changed to "wait" and she is making progress finally. While walking when we come to a street that needs to be crossed she is given the Wait command which means she has to stop and wait until I give her the command to Go which of course means she can proceed. Wait and Go has evolved from something I used to do with a dog when I was a kid. I was so terrified he'd be hit by a car that I made him Sit each and every time he came to a street. Then I picked him up and carried him across. He was never allowed to cross himself. If he did get loose........we were able to get him easily because every time he got near the curb he Sat. LOL In his whole life that dog's feet never touched pavement. Molly, Betsy, and Rowdy didn't tend to dart into roads and I never thought to teach them. But Maggie has so much enthusiasm outside that I started teaching her a modified version without thinking much about it. (she is much too big to pick up and carry across)
Now that she is older....... 11 months on the 13th (wow that was fast) she is more consistent in following commands. Not perfect, but her energy level makes her easily distracted. She's also doing what Molly did......and often I can just talk to her and get her to do whatever it is I want her to do with no real command at all. I can tell her to go get her bird (rubber angry bird) or whatever and she'll bring it to me.
I have noticed though that things that have Molly's scent she cherishes. A microfiber blanket Molly often laid on.....Maggie now plays with like it's another dog and then when she is tired she'll make it up into a bed and sleep on it. She uses Molly's fleece bed in her crate. I'm in the process of weening her out of the crate, she only uses it to sleep now. Maggie misses the other dogs terribly. I considered adopting, I watch the dogs/pups filtering in and out of the pound, but I dunno. I'd rather only have one dog right now.......for a while, to just enjoy her. And the thought of two young pups zipping around chasing each other playing the way she and Nichole's Baily does I figure would get old quick. However, when she gets to playing with her blankie like it's another dog it's just as bad. LOL
All this time with Maggie and I still can't get her to cuddle. She finally will lie next to me on the couch after she has utterly exhausted herself. She will try to get into the chair with me (which is new) except she thinks she is 6 wk size when she is larger than Molly and does not actually fit in my lap.......sooo it doesn't work out so well. LOL
When spring finally does arrive and when the yard is not a bed of mud (have to replant grass too) she's going to have a blast..........until then it's walks and me dealing with the constant request to go out. ugh