So this is what it's like to be a mother...
I'm totally lj cutting this so folks don't randomly get text bombed by someone who rarely posts... ;)
"Why??" I hear you ask. "Was he nipping?"
Yes.
"Ooooh... roughplay with other dogs?"
No.
You see, he was nipping the counselors. Not maliciously, mind you. This dog doesn't have a malicious bone in his body.
He does, however, love to go after things that hang loose and paper. So, when they keep a leash dangling around their neck or are waving around a piece of paper (a list of the day's campers...), it's a temptation the like of Jesus couldn't resist if he were a dog. And when they move, to avoid him snatching whatever he's after, they get nipped.
So, he gets kicked out of daycamp and they won't let him back until we do more training classes.
So, yeah, Friday nights ... we're in school together.
Friday night we went to booling's house for her birthday party the next day, conveniently held the day after Xander's first birthday. I love watching him with the cats. Doughty still holds his own, having taken a swipe that was successfully dodged, Baby and the one who's name I always forget largely stayed upstairs, but Charlie ... Charlie has decided to hold his ground no matter what my large monstrosity of a pooch may do.
So there's Charlie, sitting on a TV table, minding his p's and q's when Xander decides he desperately wants to play. He prances around Charlie, doing the puppy version of the pee-pee dance, begging him to play. booling insists that "You're going to learn cats aren't very exciting, Xander..." but that doesn't dissuade Mr Fuzzy-britches in the least.
He leans forward and nuzzles Charlie's belly with his nose, leading to a loud "Mrow?!" from a terribly confused feline. Unfortunately to Xander's doggy mind, that was not the reaction he was looking for.
So, he leans forward and licks Charlie's paw, dangling over the edge of the TV table.
I have now officially seen disgust on a cat's face. He pulls his paw up, tucking it under the rest of his body, his expression saying "It... it... licked me!!!" This also not being the response Xander was looking for, he turns and walks away, depressed.
And his tail whomps Charlie in the back of the head, adding insult to injury.
So Saturday arrives and I realize I've forgotten Xander's lead, the piece of cable to restrict his movement to a particular radius. booling and instantj's house, doesn't have a fence, so now I'm somewhat torn what to do.
While helping them set up, I keep an eye on him, off leash, to see how it goes. He seems to behave himself, so I decide I'll give it a go and if he misbehaves, he'll go back in the house or I'll take his crate out of the car and he'll go there.
I don't really know what to say other then, our dog is amazing. There were about half a dozen children there ranging from 10 weeks old (who's feet Xander licked) to an older autistic (albeit high-functioning) boy, and Xander was amazing with all of them.
He made the rounds. He'd check on this group of kids, then that group of kids. Make sure all the adults were okay, make absolutely certain all the food was still on the table and no one had dropped anything, then go down to the water and make sure the folks down there were okay. Once certain, he'd maybe go in the water a little, dig on the beach for what I later found out were snails, and then head back up to the party to look in on the house and make sure everything was alright there.
He watched some children eat, did "tricks" (sitting and lying down mostly...) for hotdogs, didn't invade anyone's plate but was more then happy to clean up any spills. And he'd start his rounds over again. He was bopped in the head by a child and didn't even blink.
He didn't stop moving from the time the first guests arrived until all but one child had left.
And 90% of the people there were absolute strangers that he'd never seen in his life.
He was so exhausted, he slept on the car ride home that night, and straight through until I woke him up at 9am, a pleasant little bit of revenge I might add. And even then, he slept away just about all of yesterday.
He is an absolutely amazing dog, personality, temperament ... and mexican_bandit and I couldn't have done any better with him. Having him in our lives the last 9 months hasn't always been easy, but seeing him Saturday night and how impressed everyone was with him showed me how worth it, it all has been.
"Why??" I hear you ask. "Was he nipping?"
Yes.
"Ooooh... roughplay with other dogs?"
No.
You see, he was nipping the counselors. Not maliciously, mind you. This dog doesn't have a malicious bone in his body.
He does, however, love to go after things that hang loose and paper. So, when they keep a leash dangling around their neck or are waving around a piece of paper (a list of the day's campers...), it's a temptation the like of Jesus couldn't resist if he were a dog. And when they move, to avoid him snatching whatever he's after, they get nipped.
So, he gets kicked out of daycamp and they won't let him back until we do more training classes.
So, yeah, Friday nights ... we're in school together.
Friday night we went to booling's house for her birthday party the next day, conveniently held the day after Xander's first birthday. I love watching him with the cats. Doughty still holds his own, having taken a swipe that was successfully dodged, Baby and the one who's name I always forget largely stayed upstairs, but Charlie ... Charlie has decided to hold his ground no matter what my large monstrosity of a pooch may do.
So there's Charlie, sitting on a TV table, minding his p's and q's when Xander decides he desperately wants to play. He prances around Charlie, doing the puppy version of the pee-pee dance, begging him to play. booling insists that "You're going to learn cats aren't very exciting, Xander..." but that doesn't dissuade Mr Fuzzy-britches in the least.
He leans forward and nuzzles Charlie's belly with his nose, leading to a loud "Mrow?!" from a terribly confused feline. Unfortunately to Xander's doggy mind, that was not the reaction he was looking for.
So, he leans forward and licks Charlie's paw, dangling over the edge of the TV table.
I have now officially seen disgust on a cat's face. He pulls his paw up, tucking it under the rest of his body, his expression saying "It... it... licked me!!!" This also not being the response Xander was looking for, he turns and walks away, depressed.
And his tail whomps Charlie in the back of the head, adding insult to injury.
So Saturday arrives and I realize I've forgotten Xander's lead, the piece of cable to restrict his movement to a particular radius. booling and instantj's house, doesn't have a fence, so now I'm somewhat torn what to do.
While helping them set up, I keep an eye on him, off leash, to see how it goes. He seems to behave himself, so I decide I'll give it a go and if he misbehaves, he'll go back in the house or I'll take his crate out of the car and he'll go there.
I don't really know what to say other then, our dog is amazing. There were about half a dozen children there ranging from 10 weeks old (who's feet Xander licked) to an older autistic (albeit high-functioning) boy, and Xander was amazing with all of them.
He made the rounds. He'd check on this group of kids, then that group of kids. Make sure all the adults were okay, make absolutely certain all the food was still on the table and no one had dropped anything, then go down to the water and make sure the folks down there were okay. Once certain, he'd maybe go in the water a little, dig on the beach for what I later found out were snails, and then head back up to the party to look in on the house and make sure everything was alright there.
He watched some children eat, did "tricks" (sitting and lying down mostly...) for hotdogs, didn't invade anyone's plate but was more then happy to clean up any spills. And he'd start his rounds over again. He was bopped in the head by a child and didn't even blink.
He didn't stop moving from the time the first guests arrived until all but one child had left.
And 90% of the people there were absolute strangers that he'd never seen in his life.
He was so exhausted, he slept on the car ride home that night, and straight through until I woke him up at 9am, a pleasant little bit of revenge I might add. And even then, he slept away just about all of yesterday.
He is an absolutely amazing dog, personality, temperament ... and mexican_bandit and I couldn't have done any better with him. Having him in our lives the last 9 months hasn't always been easy, but seeing him Saturday night and how impressed everyone was with him showed me how worth it, it all has been.