Now, I'm not saying Murray is a brainiac. He doesn't instantly learn things I'm trying to teach him. Though, he has managed to train me pretty darn well, like how to drop whatever I'm doing to throw his toy for him. All he has to do is drop it at my feet and give me that look, and I'm off to do his bidding. So, who's the smarter of the two? :/
My family was teasing me last night that I was turning into one of those mothers who thinks their child can do no wrong, or at least, he didn't until he started hanging out with their child. I guess that could be because I've gotten into the habit of saying that Murray didn't do that until he saw one of their dogs doing it. Okay, guilty as charged. Well, except I don't think Murray is a little angel. Just ask him how many times I've yelled at him since he's moved in as evidence.
Here's an example of Murray picking up one of his cousin's behaviors: Mom's dog Oscar will excitedly bark and look back and forth between you and the door to get you to take him outside. I fall for it every time, and sometimes he was out only 5 minutes before I got there. Well, now Murray has picked up on this little trick, but he's added his own twist to it. He barks at me whenever I'm taking too long to do what he wants (e.g., take him for a ride to visit Oscar).
Mind you, all of this is a two-way street, because Murray's cousins are now doing things that they didn't do before meeting him either...lol. For instance, Oscar has taken to opening his mouth wide and placing it around my puppy's neck to wrangle him in. If you didn't know him, you'd think he was aiming to kill my dog. But knowing what a gentle dog Oscar is, we didn't panic at the first sight of him doing this behavior. It's his way of calming Murray down, and believe it or not, Murray loves it.
The thing is, with any of these behaviors, they're kinda cute when they're doing it, so you go along with it, which enforces the behavior, and they keep repeating it. That's when you've got trouble on your hands, because while you may not mind it when it's just the two of you, or even with close family members, it may become an annoyance when guests are over or when you go visit them in their home.
Don't know if there's any answer to this dilemma. Who wants a dog who's 100% perfect all the time? After all, it's these quirky behaviors that give them their personality, and it's that personality that makes them so special to you and brings much joy and laughter into your life.
Talking about joy and laughter, this is Christine's little guy, Disco, acting as if he's conducting a board meeting or something:
8 comments:
When will they have the show How To Train Your Owner on PBS ? lol
In about 3 months. We're filming it now :/
Just keep up the training with that furry bundle of fun. He is such a cutie!
Hey listen I have a story for you. We took Diesel to Pet Smart to get his nails clipped and buy a new lease since he broke the last one during his walk. Anyway, the girl who was doing the clipping made my baby cry twice. Clipping the nail to far and making him bleed. She got it stopped while we were there but about 2 hours later it started right back up and all over my new carpet. We went back to petsmart and demanded that they fix the problems. Stop the bleeding and give me something to clean my carpet. I guess so that we would make a seen the obeyed our demands. We will never be back there for nail clipping, going to pay the $4.00 more and go to the vet.
amelia,
You're too sweet. Thanks, he thinks so too :)
Actually, I'm sitting out back with him at the moment, and the landscapers are doing the lawn next door about 15 feet away, and he's totally ignoring them. That's a first. He's sticking by my side very calmly. Much more relaxing than usual.ac
texasgal,
Poor Diesel :(
Nail clipping was like that with my old dog too. Though, normally it was me who was doing the clipping, because that was one area she'd bite someone over. One time when I cut her nail too short, I had to call the vet because it wouldn't stop bleeding. They suggested putting it in flour, and believe it or not, that worked. Remember that just in case. The other thing you may want to keep on hand is a styptic pen, which stops the bleeding as well. You can get them at most pet food stores.
While I was looking for the correct spelling of that, I came across THIS web site that tells you the best way to trim your dog's nails yourself. You may wish to check it out.
why thank you. not that I am going to cut his nails in the future the tips on stopping the bleeding helps alot. Even if my boss said not to use flour for some reason. I now am the proud ower of Kwik Stop only because Pet Smart gave me the bottle just incase of more bleeding.
texasgal,
That was nice of them :)
As for the flour, well, if I have nothing else on hand, I'm still gonna use it. It's not like I have a medicine cabinet full of supplies for my little puppy.
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