Meet Bob

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
161

I’d like to congratulate Bob on his first A-plus evening walk. At this rate, he may not only pass, he may make the dean’s list. There were some added challenges on our walk and he handled them as well as could be expected. Pedestrians, dogs playing in yards and fields, a guy sitting on a stoop (right a Bob eye level), a chihuahua in a car that wouldn’t stop barking … not a step out of line (with a few gentle reminders on the leash). I found a new walking trail and I generally give him a little more lead off the sidewalks like that and he even handled that without tugging me around - even with two dogs playing over in the field right next to us.

There was one squirrel on the walk that Bob did not respond to in any way, shape or form. Of course he didn’t see it … but I did and that counts.

There’s still the issue of the D- in International Feline Relations and a solid C in Stop Digging In The Fucking Yard 101, but he’s got all semester to work on those.

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He’s doing great. My only concern is Mort.
You’re attention to his behaviours means you understand his Doggie thinking. That puts you miles ahead of most dog carers.
Proud of ‘our’ Bob.

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Bob had a D-minus walk last night. Aside: is it weird that not only do I grade my dog on his walks, but that I have conversations with about his grades afterwards? Oh, I gave him a bit of a break on the out, just because he tends to walk a little quick - quicker that I usually walk - when he’s got a dookie brewing. But on the way, this time he saw the squirrel and I didn’t and he just about yanked my arm out of my socket. It was a definite sit and chill exercise - right in front of the police station too. How embarrassing. He was still too amped to pull out an A walk, but I was hoping for at the very least a B-minus. The gorgeous jogger who smiled at Bob and got a mini-lunge for her trouble sealed his bad walk status. Not a lunge, but an attempt to turn around once she past and a yank on my arm - not good, but I did understand the motivation … she was smoking hot.

Anyway, once we got home I informed him he was on thin ice and that I was sitting on a C-minus for his walk, but if he could do extra credit of the evening, I would consider raising his grade to a B. Nope, playing on the bed and he got too rambunctious and wouldn’t listen, so I had to lower the boom. Drop the hammer. Hit the shit with a fan. Whatever. That’s it, Bob. D-minus. I hope you’re happy.
Now today, oh today … we just got back from the dog park. It’s the first time I’ve been back there with him since the infamous, “control your dog,” incident. I am convinced neither I nor Bob was at fault, but still. He was a perfect angel today. He met several other dogs of several other sizes and he was very polite. Playful with out being aggressive. Respectful but energetic. He ran circles around the other dogs - literally. He ran about ten laps in a thirty yard circle at top speed. I thought he was going to generate a twister. And the tennis balls … there were about 20 tennis balls just laying around. My arm isn’t what it used to be, but holy shit this dog can run!

He got plenty of compliments on his speed, his polite behavior and his downright handsomeness from the other owners at the park, so time well spent.

Now, I’m about to go pick up a pizza and he’s getting another alone in the house test. He’s nice and tuckered out, so I expect it to go well.

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As the former owner of a Weimaraner, get a Chuck-It. It’s money very well spent. Or you can build up your throwing arm’s strength. From past experience, you will probably run out of oomph before Bob runs out of energy.

If Bob is sufficiently sneaky, he’ll seek out people to throw the toy for him instead of you. So it moves, but not that far. Mine loved picking out large-breasted women to do this to. Usually it worked, for everybody. Then there was the time she picked an, I’m guessing, collegiate softball player… I could see the dog mentally cursing the entire, very long, run to get the ball.

He sounds like he’s doing really well, Jack. You should be proud, of him and you.

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Is there an area in the yard you could make into his “dig zone”? Loosen up dirt (or put in sand) and hide some toys. He digs in the wrong place, he gets “leave it” and taken to the DZ and told to “dig”.

Another trick, if you really need him to stop digging somewhere, drop some of his poop at the bottom of the hole and then fill it in. Turns out dogs don’t like digging up poop, at least not their poop.

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It’s perfectly normal to grade Bobs walks. If you know what level he’s on then you know what he needs to work on. The dogpark just sounds like a good energy expender. I’d consider going more.
Bobs pictures show such a handsome boy.

167

Bob update.

He’s doing really well. A+ walks are common, but on average I’d say he’s still in the B+ average range, but he’s dealing with distractions like a champ. Except for those fucking squirrels, but he’s getting a little better even with that. Lately I’ve found myself correcting him a lot more than I’d like to for walking in front of me, or a little too fast, it’s regular at the beginnings of walk - especially when he’s got to shit, or if he’s particularly amped about something. By the end of most walks he’s right at my side though. He met a couple of dogs on a walk the other night and he was a perfect gentleman. A little old lady with a little Pomeranian looking thing was stopped at a corner we were approaching and she was all smiley and neighborly looking so the pups had a little meet up with no major ado. And then later we were walking past a fenced in field where a guy was playing with his two Malamute looking dogs and they came over to the fence to check us out. They seemed friendly so Bob went and sniffed them through the fence. I was going to stay and let him in to run around with them, but it’s not a gated field - I don’t fully trust him to not bolt on me yet.

As far as squirrels go - he’s learning “leave it” slowly but surely. I haven’t whipped out the hot dog incentive yet but he’s starting to get it with a verbal command and leash correction. He’ll still bolt after a squirrel but if I stop him and give him the command a few times, well, he doesn’t respond immediately, but he does respond eventually. I’ll keep working on it.

We went to the dog park earlier this afternoon and it was deserted when we got there. Two other dogs came an went and we basically had the place to ourselves. One guy showed up with a nervous little dog who was jumping all over me and we wasn’t doing anything to stop her, just saying, “she loves people.” Yeah, well I love burritos but I don’t jump all over them when I see them. Anyway, he was an okay guy and his dog was just a little nervous - she was playing with Bob, sort of. She looked like she wanted to play but she was tucking her tail right between her legs and every time Bob started to play with her she yipped at him. So he said fuck that and went back to chasing his ball. I invested in a Chuck-It. Now I have to learn how to use it. I can’t throw the damn thing straight.

I am developing some nice dog-walking injuries. When Bob was sniffing around those Malamutes through the fence, they decided they wanted to take a little run … and so did Bob. No, he didn’t pull me off my feet. He was actually really good, but I thought, sure, I can trot along the fence line for a little while with you all. Stepped in a hole. Luckily I didn’t wrench my ankle, but I wrenched every muscle in my lower back. I thought I was going to give myself a spinal compression fracture. Ow. And then today on the way to the dog park as I was heading in another dog was coming out and Bob was interested and I was letting him sniff around a little and I don’t know exactly what happened, but he got behind me and as I turned, I tripped over my own feet and started to tumble. I got right to the point where I knew there was no saving myself - and I don’t know where these Jason Bourne instincts came from - I tucked into a perfect shoulder roll and popped back up on my feet. “Ta-da!” The other guy is like, “holy shit, are you okay?” I said, “I think so. I think I just pulled off the perfect shoulder roll.” A little scrape on my wrist and on my elbow and that’s it. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow paralyzed.

Anyway, here’s some Bob vids.

Bob’s Fetch - Be Nice …
Bob’s Last Run of the Day
Smart Bob(figuring out his treat dispensing toy)

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Just as a heads up:

It might have been fine, especially if the Malamutes didn’t think of the field as their home ground. But, for dogs, coming through a fence can change things entirely. The fence seems to sometimes form a mental barrier between home and not-home, even if it’s easy to see through and even to sniff through – think of the difference between nodding to somebody on the public sidewalk and suddenly finding them coming through your bedroom window.

(Even more drastic: reaching through an open car window to pat a dog. Unless you know that dog really well – don’t do that!)

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The videos are great. Bob may be a genius. :slight_smile:

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Of all the acorn joints and back yards in suburbia, she had to stroll into mine. Sure, she was a swell dame with gams that wouldn’t quit, but I just couldn’t have a squirrel throwing a monkey wrench in the works like that. It wouldn’t fly with the fellas down an McGillicuddy’s.

Bobby Noir
I never noticed that Bob’s got a weird ear too.

Bob’s Weird Ear

171

Don’t talk about Bob like that:)

172

He’s got multi-dimensional, swiveling squirrel detectors. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Bobby Boy is having a great weekend. I was looking back to the start of this thread and I can see my anxiety dripping off my posts. He has come so far so well in … 45 days. That’s as long as I’ve had him. Just over six weeks. It seems like so much longer than that.

Great walks lately. Pedestrians and other dogs (as long as they’re calm) are non-issues. The squirrel distractions are becoming more and more manageable. I got him to ignore a squirrel that ran up a tree five feet from him with two leash corrections and some authoritative “leave it’s”. This afternoon it was another trip to the dog park and this time it was Grand Central Station. At one point there were, I think, fourteen dogs in there. It was harmony all around. Bob was polite to every other dog. There was another dog there who could have been his twin and they had a lot of fun chasing each other. I finally learned how to throw that Chuck-It straight, now I have to learn not to throw it too far.

When we got back from the park I ran a little Mort test and it went fairly well, from Bob’s perspective. I went downstairs and secured Mort in his carrier so he’d be safe and put him in one of the rooms with the door closed. Then I brought Bob down and let him sniff all around the place before going into the room where Mort was. He did not charge. He was very curious, but his ears were back and he was leading with his nose but once he got too close Mort didn’t like it. So I turned the exercise into a space respect thing and had Bob sit like three feet from the carrier and be calm. So I had Bob as calm as I wanted him with Mort still secured and that gives me hope. Mort was still not very into it and he peed in his carrier again. But I’ve scoured it out and I think the next test is going to involve a barrier to the room somehow so Mort can cower wherever he wants while Bob looks on.

Other than that, no more challenges, the calmest of nights watching movies with me, the politest requests for attention. I have had so many compliments for him from strangers just walking around. I’m so glad I got this guy. He’s certainly put a spring in my step lately.

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I’m happy for you both! :slight_smile:

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I now refer to Bob solely by his mob name:

Bobby Weird-Ear

176

What a smile that Bob has. He could be a political candidate.
{{{Bob}}}
I’ll vote for you!

177

Bobby’s still doing great but I have to say, this is a tough time of year for a squirrel addict. Every oak tree is raining acorns right now. Squirrels are out like Oompah-Loompahs. I look out the back window and routinely see three or four burying nuts back there. Bobby does okay on walks with squirrels as long as he doesn’t surprise me with it. If I’m on top of it, I can - for the most part - keep him from charging. Most of the time that reads like sitting him down for a few minutes but I’ve managed to walk him past a loose squirrel in a yard a time or two.

Bob’s interactions with Mort are promising. Mort’s interactions with Bob are not. I’ve had them meet a few more times, with Bob tethered and while he is being calm and relatively polite, Mort still growls and hisses and takes off. But Mort is getting to be a little more himself. He’s roaming around a lot more as long as Bob isn’t around.

The dog park is Bob’s favorite spot and I’m growing fond of it myself. We were there yesterday with about five or six other dogs and, again, it was harmony all around. There were some nice people there as well including some very comely young ladies that I managed to talk dog-talk with (I’m sure I’m old enough to be their father) one of whom had a miniature version of Bob who she said was a Great Dane / Shepherd mix.

Bob does still tend to get unruly occasionally in the house if I don’t give him enough exercise (rainy days and early work starts sometime result in short to no walks in the morning) but he’s easy enough to refocus now. Other than than he is such a great house dog. Every morning he’s laying right next to me in bed hoping for a face scrunch and a belly scratch. The other morning he rolled over and fell out of bed. I just about pissed my pants laughing.

Anyway, here’s more Bob:
Bobby Backyard
Sittin’ Bobby Backyard
Bob’s Thousand Yard Stare
Ol’ Bobby Weird-Ear

The SQUIRREL! series … a squirrel perched on the back fence that Bob, remarkably, just stood there and stared at for like ten minutes.

SQUIRREL! 1
SQUIRREL! 2
SQUIRREL! 3

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Bob is awesome. :smiley:

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That actually is encouraging; I’m glad that Mort is now using more of his house.

Bear in mind that Mort’s the one who got stuck with a large bouncy invader into his home, who he can’t get rid of and can’t count on being able to avoid (other than by living in the basement; and sometimes not then, if you’ve forcibly brought him upstairs while Bob’s there.) Bob came into a new home that already had Mort in it, and is much larger than Mort. Mort’s got a whole lot more at stake here, and also a lot more reason to take offense in the first place. It’s not surprising if it takes him a long time to reconcile to the new situation.

They may, or may not, ever be friends; and if they ever do become friends, it may take years. But it does sound as if a degree of neutrality can be reached which will allow Mort to feel that he’s got his home back.

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I just got back from a walk with Bob and there were some interesting interactions. First off, he was quite tuggy out of the gate, but again he had a crap that would choke a donkey on deck. Once he unloaded, he was so goddamned perfect on the walk I almost started to cry. There were points that I had to look down to make sure he was still there and hadn’t slipped the leash somehow.

Then something weird happened. We were walking past a high school football game going on and we stopped to watch a few plays through the fence. I looked down and it looked like Bob was analyzing the defense, he was so interested in the game, so reached down to scratch his head and he freaked out on me. Jumped up on me, bit at me - or at my jacket anyway. I had to get him by the collar to calm him down and get him to sit. It was like I startled him out of a sleepwalk or something. So we turned to leave and he was a perfect angel again. Whaddayagonnado?

We get to the intersection at the end of the walk where we have to wait for the light and another pedestrian walked up and was waiting with us. Bob turned to pay him attention but he wasn’t really tugging so I let him pay attention. But I thought it looked like he was fixating a little bit so I pulled him back and he walked around me and started staring at the guy again. After the freak out earlier, I was getting a little paranoid, so I looked down, snapped my fingers and said, “Bob. Sit.” He sat down and looked up at me like he was valedictorian of puppy school. He would look back at the guy and I would give his leash a little tug and he would look right up at me. He ended up laying down on the sidewalk while we waited. Light turns and I give a little leash-tug and a, “come on, Bob,” and up he pops right at my side again.

Don’t get me wrong. Getting Bob to sit and lay down is not a problem, but it’s much harder to gain his attention on a walk, especially with distractions around, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him react like that with the pedestrian. I just can’t make sense of this dog’s behavior sometimes. I supposed it was because he was tired at the end of the walk, but the football game freak out was on the way back too, about a half mile from the traffic light. Go figure.