Dog Tales...
That D. Daphne Dog is a piece of work! A work in progress probably better describes her. I'm steadily more amazed at her intelligence, inventiveness and willingness to try new things. Which come to think of it, actually involves seeing what she can get away with.
Over a month ago, the first time it got really cold at night, I let her sleep in the den on a bed made from an old blanket. This worked well for two nights. On the third night I went to sleep alone and woke up with a dog sleeping so close to me she was almost on top of me. She's been there ever since. I was worried at first that being such an active dog during the day she'd be too active at night also. But she's amazingly inactive, the only time she awakens me is when a "potty" event is necessary at which time she sits up in bed and whines until I get up. I'm used to that, I think I had a wife in Dallas who did that.
Daphne also naps on "our" bed during the day, a perfect spot for any dog. Two walls of the bedroom are almost entirely glass so she can recline while guarding against squirrel attacks and the bed is flooded in sunlight in the afternoon, providing a great spot for catching warm rays. I keep a fleece blanket folded at the end of the bed and I noticed it always seemed to get unfolded as the day wore on. One day I was in the walk-in closet out of D. Daphnes sight, when I heard some commotion on the bed. I peeked around the corner and saw her with the blanket in her mouth, running in circles to spread the blanket out, then stop and paw it into a sort of dog nest. When she had it done to her satisfaction she plopped down and went to sleep.
Pretty good, but now it gets better. I have a two seated couch in the bedroom and lately Daphne has been resting there too. D. Daphne being more a feral dog than the genteel Big Gold Dog, likes to sleep in confined spaces and the pillows on the couch give her that feel. She had additional ideas about how to improve the space though. Last night I heard familiar commotion and spied D. Daph dragging her fleece blanket from "our" bed to her new home. Here's a snapshot of the end result. What a dog.
Daphne has also learned much more in our new closer relationship. Sometimes with dogs it's just a matter of finding the right words to convey our wishes. On walks, for some years, I've fought a losing battle with her runaway pulling behavior. I tried "heal" "halt" "no"....all the usual suspects. But the word "hold" was the missing command. When uttered she's now very good about freezing where she is until I catch up. Same situation with the car. She loves to ride and I have no trouble getting her in, but when we arrive back home I've had problems getting her out when I open her door [yeah she prefers to ride in the back, she likes being chaffeured]. I've tried "come", "here", "let's go" the whole gamut. She would just sit there with that dog look that says, "Stop speaking Lithuanian, I don't understand a word you're saying". That is until I arrived a "jump down". The first time I said that it was like magic. The same with "jump up". Magic.
Daphne has a propensity to whine, which has disturbed me. Whining that there's a squirrel outback, whining that there's a dog out front, whining for me to get up from the computer and do something with her. But as we say, when something is disturbing us we need look no further than ourselves for the problem, so I've decided to use her whining to my advantage; I'm going to teach her to speak English. Now when she starts to whine I whine and howl with her, which does get her going. So far we've made it to the point where she tries to bite my face. We've got a ways to go on this one.
And speaking of magic, magic moments. I visit my Mom each day and have been taking Daphne along. At first my Mom was a little put off by Daphnes wilder side, running through the house smelling each and every thing. But now, Mom is disappointed when Daph is not along. Her attitude has changed so much that I am astounded. Those who know Carol realize that to call her neat and germ free is an understatement; she cleans house before the maid comes. So yesterday while sitting in the living room talking, I was flabbergasted when Daphne jumped up on the good white couch and sat down right next to Mom [actually nothing surprises me with Daphne, but I feigned flabbergastedness]. I told Daphne to jump down, but instead my Mom said, "oh let her stay". What a picture, my little 83 year old Mom sitting on the couch right next to Dahpne, looking quite the little lady herself.
That D. Daphne Dog is a piece of work! A work in progress probably better describes her. I'm steadily more amazed at her intelligence, inventiveness and willingness to try new things. Which come to think of it, actually involves seeing what she can get away with.
Over a month ago, the first time it got really cold at night, I let her sleep in the den on a bed made from an old blanket. This worked well for two nights. On the third night I went to sleep alone and woke up with a dog sleeping so close to me she was almost on top of me. She's been there ever since. I was worried at first that being such an active dog during the day she'd be too active at night also. But she's amazingly inactive, the only time she awakens me is when a "potty" event is necessary at which time she sits up in bed and whines until I get up. I'm used to that, I think I had a wife in Dallas who did that.
Daphne also naps on "our" bed during the day, a perfect spot for any dog. Two walls of the bedroom are almost entirely glass so she can recline while guarding against squirrel attacks and the bed is flooded in sunlight in the afternoon, providing a great spot for catching warm rays. I keep a fleece blanket folded at the end of the bed and I noticed it always seemed to get unfolded as the day wore on. One day I was in the walk-in closet out of D. Daphnes sight, when I heard some commotion on the bed. I peeked around the corner and saw her with the blanket in her mouth, running in circles to spread the blanket out, then stop and paw it into a sort of dog nest. When she had it done to her satisfaction she plopped down and went to sleep.
Pretty good, but now it gets better. I have a two seated couch in the bedroom and lately Daphne has been resting there too. D. Daphne being more a feral dog than the genteel Big Gold Dog, likes to sleep in confined spaces and the pillows on the couch give her that feel. She had additional ideas about how to improve the space though. Last night I heard familiar commotion and spied D. Daph dragging her fleece blanket from "our" bed to her new home. Here's a snapshot of the end result. What a dog.
Daphne has also learned much more in our new closer relationship. Sometimes with dogs it's just a matter of finding the right words to convey our wishes. On walks, for some years, I've fought a losing battle with her runaway pulling behavior. I tried "heal" "halt" "no"....all the usual suspects. But the word "hold" was the missing command. When uttered she's now very good about freezing where she is until I catch up. Same situation with the car. She loves to ride and I have no trouble getting her in, but when we arrive back home I've had problems getting her out when I open her door [yeah she prefers to ride in the back, she likes being chaffeured]. I've tried "come", "here", "let's go" the whole gamut. She would just sit there with that dog look that says, "Stop speaking Lithuanian, I don't understand a word you're saying". That is until I arrived a "jump down". The first time I said that it was like magic. The same with "jump up". Magic.
Daphne has a propensity to whine, which has disturbed me. Whining that there's a squirrel outback, whining that there's a dog out front, whining for me to get up from the computer and do something with her. But as we say, when something is disturbing us we need look no further than ourselves for the problem, so I've decided to use her whining to my advantage; I'm going to teach her to speak English. Now when she starts to whine I whine and howl with her, which does get her going. So far we've made it to the point where she tries to bite my face. We've got a ways to go on this one.
And speaking of magic, magic moments. I visit my Mom each day and have been taking Daphne along. At first my Mom was a little put off by Daphnes wilder side, running through the house smelling each and every thing. But now, Mom is disappointed when Daph is not along. Her attitude has changed so much that I am astounded. Those who know Carol realize that to call her neat and germ free is an understatement; she cleans house before the maid comes. So yesterday while sitting in the living room talking, I was flabbergasted when Daphne jumped up on the good white couch and sat down right next to Mom [actually nothing surprises me with Daphne, but I feigned flabbergastedness]. I told Daphne to jump down, but instead my Mom said, "oh let her stay". What a picture, my little 83 year old Mom sitting on the couch right next to Dahpne, looking quite the little lady herself.
